Immunotargeting of extracellular tau could slow the prion-like spreading of neurodegeneration. Albert et al. report that antibodies that recognize a central epitope on tau are the most effective at blocking both seeding and propagation of tau pathological species in transgenic mouse models seeded by materials derived from Alzheimer’s disease brains.

Background: Air pollution is increasingly associated with cardiovascular events. As for ozone (O3 ) pollution, results are inconsistent though O3 levels are associated with hospital admissions, global mortality, and respiratory, and cardiovascular mortality. Methods: In this time-stratified case-crossover study, the associations between short-term exposure to O3 (on an hourly and daily scale) and out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) were investigated. Specific subgroups were explored by sex, age, diabetes status, for OHCA during non-holiday periods. Data were collected in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, France, in 2015. Data were statistically analyzed using conditional logistic regression (CLR). Results: The study included 1039 cases of OHCA. Significant negative associations were found between OHCA and O3 levels measured in 3 or 4 days before the arrest for all the people, and 1, 2 or 3 days before the arrest for men. As for OHCA during non-holiday periods, there was no significant negative associations but a positive association was revealed for women between OHCA and O3 levels measured in 5 days before the arrest (OR=1.53, P=0.008). Conclusion: According to the results, OHCA should be investigated during non-holiday periods to control potential confounders that would lead to negative associations. Women might be a susceptible subgroup to O3 pollution.

There is increasing evidence of association between particulate matter air pollution and cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. However, the association with the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) event is less clear. We investigated the effects of short-term particulate matter exposure on OHCA especially among specific subgroups. The study included OHCA that occurred in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, France, in 2015. A time-stratified casecrossover study design coupled with a conditional logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between OHCA and particle levels of 10 or 2.5 micrometers or less (PM10 or PM2.5 respectively) measured within the hour of the arrest up to 5 days before. Susceptible subgroups by sex, age, diabetes status among OHCA that occurred during non-holiday periods were investigated. In all, 1039 cases were included. Significant associations were found between OHCA during non-holiday periods and PM2.5 and PM10 exposure four days before the arrest and on the day of the arrest. The largest OR were found for the cumulative average twelve hours before the arrest of PM2.5 (OR = 1.17, p = 0.016) and PM10 (OR = 1.33, p < 0.001). With PM2.5, larger OR with smaller p-values were generally obtained within the subgroups of men, age 50 to 75 years old and cases with diabetes. The findings show a significant link between short-term exposure to particulate matter and OHCA during non-holiday periods, with susceptible subgroups to PM2.5 (men, age 50 to 75 years old and diabetics).

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder without cure. Among the suggested pathogenic factors of AD development, amyloid-beta (Aß) and tau have attracted extensive attention for drug discovery campaign. Recently, tau proteins,