Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) surrounds the brain and spinal column and contains small molecules, peptides, proteins etc., which play critical roles in many physiological processes in the central nervous system (CNS). CSF is considered a prime reservoir for neurological studies because the content of proteins and metabolites and the changes in their concentrations directly reflect the internal milieu of the brain: it offers a unique window to search for new biomarkers and to improve early diagnosis of neurological diseases [1-3]. However, the complexities of the brain and human neurological disorders represent a severe roadblock to identify novel neurological biomarkers. A biomarker can be defined as a biochemical, pharmacological or physiological, indicator of a specific biological state or of a defined biological stage of an organism as represented in its characteristic specific sample. Such an indicator should be measurable and possible useful for diagnostic and/or prognostic purposes such as the prediction of disease progression, disease activity and targeted therapy efficacy. The identification of specific biomarkers is essential for the realization of personalized medicine, in terms of better-estimate disease risk, personalized therapies and improve the disease outcome [4]. Fundamental to biomarker research is access to quality biospecimens that have to be carefully annotated with clinical, molecular and collection data. In fact, sample collection has to be based on well defined protocols which provide the fundamental standard operative procedures (SOPs) for workflow certification.
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has recognized biobanks as essential tools for research and biomedical sciences. Large biob...
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...e been widely described to be associated with non optimal sample collection and storage [8, 9]. Several different proteins have been proposed as an index of correct storage of the sample. Bearing in mind all the literature to date, we review these proteins useful for CSF quality control [10-12]. We propose the direct assessment of sample quality (DASQ) by applying a fast MALDI-TOF-MS methodology to evaluate molecular features of sample degradation and oxidation that have been often correlated with a sub-optimal pre-analytical and storage phases of CSF. This approach will provide a direct and analytical evaluation of the proper collection and storage phases of CSF samples. Such an analysis will check for the presence of blood contamination (e.g. haemoglobin chains), molecular truncated isoforms (e.g. Cystatin C) and oxidized proteins (e.g Transthyretin) [8, 12, 13].
Neurodegeneration is used mainly for diseases that are characterised by progressive loss of structure and function of neurons. There are many neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis that...
Around the world, many people are living with neurologically debilitating disorders like multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis is best described as a pathological “inflammatory-mediated demyelinating disease of the human central nervous system,” and affects more than 2.5 million people globally (Trapp & Nave, 2008).
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease of the central nervous system. It is understood as an autoimmune disease, a condition where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks normal tissues. In Multiple Sclerosis, the patient’s own cells & antibodies attack the fatty myelin sheath that protects and insulates nerve fibres in the brain and spinal cord, the two components of the CNS. This ultimately causes damage to the nerve cells and without the insulation the myelin sheath provides, nerve communication is disrupted. Hence, Multiple Sclerosis is characterized by symptoms that reflect central nervous system involvement (Luzzio, 2014).
The blood-brain barrier breakdown has often been documented in patients with TBI which may also be used as a biomarker in the clinic and drug trials.[12] The blood-brain barrier ...
Page-Reeves, J., Niforatos, J., Mishra, S., Regino, L., Gingrich, A., & Bulten, J. (2011). Health
The Johns Hopkins Individualized Health Initiative will bring together physicians, scientists, engineers, and information experts to connect and analyze huge databases of clinical information, plus new data sources such as DNA sequences, methylation analyses, RNA expression levels, protein structures, and high-tech images. The initiative will help doctors to customize treatment for the individual patient, reduce unnecessary (and often painful) testing, recommend behavioral changes,
Pawar, A. K. (2009). the diagnosis of brain death. Retrieved january 29, 2014, from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2772257/
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE, is a neurodegenerative disease where an excess amount of tau, an abnormal protein, builds up inside of the brain. According to “A critical review of chronic traumatic encephalopathy”, the disease also creates “multiple blockages of the axonal transport to the brain cells, along with white spaces in the brain on a MRI scan.”, as
Pawar, A. K. (2009). the diagnosis of brain death. Retrieved january 29, 2014, from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2772257/
Ajay Kumar Goila and Mridula Pawar (2009). The Diagnosis of Brain Death. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2772257/. [Last Accessed 11 February 2014].
Voelker, Roger B. ¡§Who¡¦s Afraid of the Human Genome?¡¨ Hastings Center Report, July/August 1989: 19-21.
In April 2003, researchers successfully completed the Human Genome Project, more than two years ahead of schedule. The Human Genome Project has already led to the discovery of more than 1,800 genes that cause disease (“NIH Fact Sheets…”). As a result of the Human Genome Project, researchers can find a gene suspected of causing an inherited disease in a matter of days, rather than the years it would have taken before. “One major step was the development of the HapMap. The HapMap is a catalog of common genetic differences in the human genome. The HapMap has accelerated the search for genes that have a say in common human disease, and have already produced results in finding genetic factors involved in conditions ranging from age-related blindness to obesity”(NIH Fact Sheet). The Can...
To begin discussion about the HGP, we first must understand what it is. It is a massive undertaking of collaboration of geneticists that begin in 1990. Their goals are to identify all the estimated 80,000 to 100,000 genes in human DNA and determine the sequences of 3 billion bases composed of adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. The project is being funded jointly by the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Health. This massive undertaking is estimated at a cost of three billion dollars, with the most current target date for the project's completion at the year 2003. They will then store this information in a centralized database so it can be used as tools for their analysis. Also as a first for science, they are going to address the logical, ethical, and social issues that the project will give rise to.
Hoever, K. (2005). The ethics of research using biobanks: reason to question the importance attributed to informed consent. Archives of Internal Medicine, 165-198.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (2011). National Institutes of Health. Retrieved [18th April 2011] from http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/picks/picks.htm.