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Cortical amyloid deposition is one of the hallmark biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease. However, given how cost- and time-intensive amyloid imaging can be, there is a continued need for a low-cost, non-invasive, and accessible enrichment strategy to pre-screen individuals for their likelihood of amyloid prior to imaging. Previous work supports the use of coordinated limb movement as a potential screening tool, even after controlling for cognitive and daily function. Thirty-six patients diagnosed with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment over the age of 65 underwent 18F-Flutemetamol amyloid-positron emission tomography imaging, then completed a timed motor task involving upper limb coordination. This task takes ∼5 minutes to administer and score. Multivariate linear regression and Receiver Operator Characteristic analyses showed that including motor task performance improved model prediction of amyloid burden. Results support the rationale for including functional upper extremity motor assessment as a cost- and time-effective means to screen participants for amyloid deposition.

The explosive growth of patient‐specific genomic information relevant to drug therapy will continue to be a defining characteristic of biomedical research. To implement drug‐based personalized medicine (PM) for patients, clinicians need actionable information incorporated into electronic health records (EHRs). New clinical decision support (CDS) methods and informatics infrastructure are required in order to comprehensively integrate, interpret, deliver, and apply the full range of genomic data for each patient.1

Mitsuhiro Ebara, Koichiro Uto, Naokazu Idota, John M Hoffman, Takao AoyagiBiomaterials Unit, International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (WPI-MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Namiki, Tsukuba, JapanAbstract: We report here that the direction of aligned cells on nanopatterns can be tuned to a perpendicular direction without use of any biochemical reagents. This was enabled by shape-memory activation of nanopatterns that transition from a memorized temporal pattern to the original permanent pattern by heating. The thermally induced shape-memory nanopatterns were prepared by chemically crosslinking semi-crystalline poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) in a mold to show shape-memory effects over its melting temperature (Tm = 33°C). Permanent surface patterns were first generated by crosslinking the PCL macromonomers in a mold, and temporary surface patterns were then embossed onto the permanent patterns. The temporary surface patterns could be easily triggered to transition quickly to the permanent surface patterns by a 37°C heat treatment, while surface wettability was independent of temperature. To investigate the role of dynamic and reversible surface nanopatterns on cell alignment on the PCL films before and after a topographic transition, NIH 3T3 fibroblasts were seeded on fibronectin-coated PCL films with a temporary grooved topography (grooves with a height of 300 nm and width of 2 µm were spaced 9 µm apart). Interestingly, cells did not change their direction immediately after the surface transition. However, cell alignment was gradually lost with time, and finally cells realigned parallel to the permanent grooves that emerged. The addition of a cytoskeletal inhibitor prevented realignment. These results clearly indicate that cells can sense dynamic changes in the surrounding environments and spontaneously adapt to a new environment by remodeling their cytoskeleton. These findings will serve as the basis for new development of spatiotemporal tunable materials to direct cell fate.Keywords: shape-memory surface, poly(ε-caprolactone), nanopatterns, temperature-responsive polymers, cell orientation

The Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC) Guidelines for HLA-B Genotype and Abacavir Dosing were originally published in April 2012. We reviewed recent literature and concluded that none of the evidence would change the therapeutic recommendations in the original guideline; therefore, the original publication remains clinically current. However, we have updated the Supplementary Material online and included additional resources for applying CPIC guidelines to the electronic health record. Up-to-date information can be found at PharmGKB (http://www.pharmgkb.org).

We performed a metagenomic survey (6.6Gbp of 454 sequence data) of Southern Ocean (SO) microorganisms during the austral summer of 2007-2008, examining the genomic signatures of communities across a latitudinal transect from Hobart (44°S) to the Mertz Glacier, Antarctica (67°S). Operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of the SAR11 and SAR116 clades and the cyanobacterial genera Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus were strongly overrepresented north of the Polar Front (PF). Conversely, OTUs of the Gammaproteobacterial Sulfur Oxidizer-EOSA-1 (GSO-EOSA-1) complex, the phyla Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia and order Rhodobacterales were characteristic of waters south of the PF. Functions enriched south of the PF included a range of transporters, sulfur reduction and histidine degradation to glutamate, while branched-chain amino acid transport, nucleic acid biosynthesis and methionine salvage were overrepresented north of the PF. The taxonomic and functional characteristics suggested a shift of primary production from cyanobacteria in the north to eukaryotic phytoplankton in the south, and reflected the different trophic statuses of the two regions. The study provides a new level of understanding about SO microbial communities, describing the contrasting taxonomic and functional characteristics of microbial assemblages either side of the PF. © 2012 Society for Applied Microbiology and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.