Serum glial fibrillary acidic protein (sGFAP) is an astroglial biomarker preliminarily investigated in acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We aimed to investigate its temporal pattern and clinical value in two German AIS cohorts. Using immunoassay, we measured sGFAP concentrations in 952 samples of 572 AIS patient and 32 samples of controls recruited in Halle [AIS n = 102, age: 70.9 (± 15.9) years, 52.0% males; controls n = 32, age:...

The prion protein (PrP) is a broadly expressed glycoprotein linked with a multitude of (suggested) biological and pathological implications. Some of these roles seem to be due to constitutively generated proteolytic fragments of the protein. Among them is a soluble PrP form, which is released from the surface of neurons and other cell types by action of the metalloprotease ADAM10 in a process termed ‘shedding’. The latter aspe...

Untangling the relationship between network complexity and ecological stability under climate change is an arduous challenge for theoretical and empirical ecology. Even more so, when considering extreme climatic events. Here, we studied the effects of extreme climatic events (heatwaves) on the complexity of realistic freshwater ecosystems using topological and quantitative trophic network metrics. Next, we linked changes in ne...

RAG1-deficient mice are a frequently used immunodeficient mouse strain lacking mature lymphocytes. Apart from an elevated risk for infections, no predispositions for diseases of this strain have been described so far. We here report a high incidence of spontaneous pro B cell leukemia resulting in hind limb paralysis in our colony of RAG1-deficient mice. At an age of 7–13 months, animals developed hind limb paralysis and rapid...

Freshwater ecosystems are strongly influenced by weather extremes such as heatwaves (HWs), which are predicted to increase in frequency and magnitude in the future. In addition to these climate extremes, the freshwater realm is impacted by the exposure to various classes of chemicals emitted by anthropogenic activities. Currently, there is limited knowledge on how the combined exposure to HWs and chemicals affects the structur...

Disrupted neuronal plasticity due to subtle inflammation is considered to play a fundamental role in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder. Interferon-α (IFN-α) potentiates immune responses against viral pathogens that induce toll-like receptor-3 (TLR3) activation but evokes severe major depressive disorder in humans by mechanisms that remain insufficiently described. By using a previously established mouse model of de...

The structurally disordered N-terminal half of the prion protein (PrP C ) is constitutively released into the extracellular space by an endogenous proteolytic cleavage event. Once liberated, this N1 fragment acts neuroprotective in ischemic conditions and interferes with toxic peptides associated with neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyloid-beta (Aβ) in Alzheimer’s disease. Since analog protective effects of N1 in prion di...

Summary The denitrifying betaproteobacterium Sterolibacterium denitrificans serves as model organism for studying the oxygen‐independent degradation of cholesterol. Here, we demonstrate its capability of degrading various globally abundant side chain containing zoo‐, phyto‐ and mycosterols. We provide the complete genome that empowered an integrated genomics/proteomics/metabolomics approach, accompanied by the characterization...