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“In contrast to seasonal influenza virus infections, which typically cause significant morbidity and mortality in the elderly, the 2009 H1N1 virus caused severe infection buy Saracatinib in young adults. This phenomenon was attributed to the presence of cross-protective antibodies acquired by older individuals during previous exposures to H1N1 viruses. However, this hypothesis could not be empirically tested. To address this question, we compared viral replication and the development of the immune response in naive young adult and aged female rhesus macaques infected with A/California/04/2009 H1N1 (CA04) virus. We show higher viral loads in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and nasal and ocular swabs in aged animals, suggesting increased viral replication in both the lower and upper respiratory tracts. T cell proliferation was higher in the BAL fluid but delayed and reduced in peripheral blood in aged animals. This delay in proliferation correlated with a reduced frequency of effector CD4 T cells in old animals. Aged animals also mobilized inflammatory cytokines to higher levels in the BAL fluid. Finally, we compared changes in gene expression using microarray analysis of BAL fluid samples. Our analyses revealed that the largest difference in host response between

aged and young adult animals was detected at day 4 postinfection, with a significantly higher induction of genes associated with inflammation and the innate immune response in aged animals. Overall, our data suggest that, in the absence of preexisting antibodies, CA04 infection in aged macaques is associated with BIBF 1120 chemical structure changes in innate and adaptive immune responses that were shown to correlate with increased disease severity in other below respiratory disease models.”
“Suicide is a public health problem all around the world. Family studies showed a strong heritability but, to date, few genetic data are available. Thus, in the present study we investigated whether a panel of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in neuronal cell adhesion molecule 1 (NCAM) 1 was associated with suicidal behaviour

as well as specific traits related to suicide. A total of two hundred and fifty-nine individuals with a positive history of suicidal behaviour and 312 healthy subjects were enrolled in the study. Rs2301228, rs1884, rs1245113, rs1369816, rs2196456 and rs584427 in NCAM1 were genotyped. No marker was significantly associated with suicidal behaviour vs. controls or with sub-types of attempted vs. completed, violent vs. nonviolent, impulsive vs. non-impulsive suicide. Nonetheless rs1884 and rs2196456 SNPs were both marginally associated with the trait “”inhibition of aggressiveness”" in suicide attempters. Even though the investigated SNPs in NCAM1 do not seem to be directly associated with suicidal behaviour, our results could suggest that SNP variants in NCAM1 may impact on related traits, particularly by mediating inhibition of aggressiveness.