Suspect and non-targeted screening of chemicals of emerging concern for human biomonitoring, environmental health studies and support to risk assessment: From promises to challenges and harmonisation issues

Pourchet,M.; Debrauwer,L.; Klanova,J.; Price,E.J.; Covaci,A.; Caballero-Casero,N.; Oberacher,H.; Lamoree,M.; Damont,A.; Fenaille,F.; Vlaanderen,J.; Meijer,J.; Krauss,M.; Sarigiannis,D.; Barouki,R.; LeBizec,B.; Antignac,J.P.; Large-scale suspect and non-targeted screening approaches based on high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) are today available for chemical profiling and holistic characterisation of biological samples. These advanced techniques allow the simultaneous detection of a large number of chemical features, including markers of human chemical exposure. Such markers are of interest for biomonitoring, environmental health studies and support to risk assessment. [Read More]

Targeting NAD immunometabolism limits severe graft-versus-host disease and has potent antileukemic activity

Gerner,R.R.; Macheiner,S.; Reider,S.; Siegmund,K.; Grabherr,F.; Mayr,L.; Texler,B.; Moser,P.; Effenberger,M.; Schwaighofer,H.; Moschen,A.R.; Kircher,B.; Oberacher,H.; Zeiser,R.; Tilg,H.; Nachbaur,D.; Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) and tumor relapse remain major complications after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Alloreactive T cells and cancer cells share a similar metabolic phenotype to meet the bioenergetic demands necessary for cellular proliferation and effector functions. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) is an essential co-factor in energy metabolism and is constantly replenished by nicotinamide phosphoribosyl-transferase (Nampt), the rate-limiting enzyme in the NAD salvage pathway. [Read More]

The lot-to-lot variability in the mitochondrial genome of controls

Cihlar,J.C.; Peters,D.; Strobl,C.; Parson,W.; Budowle,B.; Current research in the biomedical field has illustrated how cell lines used as reference standards can change over time and, more importantly, can affect research and diagnostic results obtained from these cell lines. With the use of increasingly sensitive and highly resolving technologies (e.g., massively parallel sequencing), forensic scientists must be aware of and account for potential variability in the cell lines used as controls in their validation studies and day-to-day casework. [Read More]

The mitogenome portrait of Umbria in Central Italy as depicted by contemporary inhabitants and pre-Roman remains

Modi,A.; Lancioni,H.; Cardinali,I.; Capodiferro,M.R.; RambaldiMigliore,N.; Hussein,A.; Strobl,C.; Bodner,M.; Schnaller,L.; Xavier,C.; Rizzi,E.; BonomiPonzi,L.; Vai,S.; Raveane,A.; Cavadas,B.; Semino,O.; Torroni,A.; Olivieri,A.; Lari,M.; Pereira,L.; Parson,W.; Caramelli,D.; Achilli,A.; Umbria is located in Central Italy and took the name from its ancient inhabitants, the Umbri, whose origins are still debated. Here, we investigated the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation of 545 present-day Umbrians (with 198 entire mitogenomes) and 28 pre-Roman individuals (obtaining 19 ancient mtDNAs) excavated from the necropolis of Plestia. [Read More]

The STRidER Report on Two Years of Quality Control of Autosomal STR Population Datasets

Bodner,M.; Parson,W.; STRidER, the STRs for Identity ENFSI Reference Database, is a curated, freely publicly available online allele frequency database, quality control (QC) and software platform for autosomal Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) developed under the endorsement of the International Society for Forensic Genetics. Continuous updates comprise additional STR loci and populations in the frequency database and many further STR-related aspects. One significant innovation is the autosomal STR data QC provided prior to publication of datasets. [Read More]