Platelet rich plasma from different preparations: effect on chondrocytes and synoviocytes of osteoarthritis patients

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The body of evidence of late-life depression: the complex relationship between depressive symptoms, movement, dyspnea and cognition

Background: Physical symptoms play an important role in late-life depression and may contribute to residual symptomatology after antidepressant treatment. In this exploratory study, we examined the role of specific bodily dimensions including movement, respiratory functions, fear of falling, cognition, and physical weakness in older people with depression.Methods: Clinically stable older patients with major depression within a Psychiatric Consultation-Liaison program for Primary Care underwent comprehensive assessment of depressive symptoms, instrumental movement analysis, dyspnea, weakness, activity limitations, cognitive function, and fear of falling. Network analysis was performed to explore the unique adjusted associations between clinical dimensions.Results: Sadness was associated with worse turning and walking ability and movement transitions from walking to sitting, as well as with worse general cognitive abilities. Sadness was also connected with dyspnea, while neurovegetative depressive burden was connected with activity limitations.Discussion: Limitations of motor and cognitive function, dyspnea, and weakness may contribute to the persistence of residual symptoms of late-life depression

TECHNICAL EVALUATION OF MECHANICAL HARVESTING OF HEMP FIBRE

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is considered a high-yielding crop providing raw materials for a large number of final products. Nowadays, the growing demand for more sustainable production systems brought a renewed interest in this crop. Despite the increase, the total hemp cultivated area is still relatively small when compared to most of the commodity crops in Europe. Moreover, the European hemp fibre market is stagnating while the seeds and secondary metabolites markets have had a relevant increase since 2010. To support the sustainable growth of the European hemp fibre market, the hemp stalks should be valorized with optimized agronomic technique and harvesting systems and with an adequate transformation of the raw materials. The study aim at evaluating the technical sustainability of a traditional mechanization system for fibre hemp harvesting that involves cutting, windrowing, baling and logistic chain for industrial process. Two hemp varieties were cultivated in two farms in Northern Italy and harvested at the full flowering stage. The hemp plants processed at the harvesting time resulted adequate in height for the mechanized harvesting and the subsequent baling without compromising crop productivity. The drying period in the field (around 40 days) was adequate to obtain stable and homogeneous balers. The crops were cutted into three sections using a tractor front mounted prototype machine patented by the University of Bologna (UNIBO. To complete the harvesting operations conventional windrowers and round balers, properly adjusted, were used. The working times were in line with other traditional agricultural crops and the qualitative aspects of the harvested hemp were adequate, without damage or clogging. The use of partially modified farm machines resulted in a decrease of the harvesting time with respect to specific machines and in line with other crops management (eg. haymaking)

Increased serum vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 levels in patients with erosive hand osteoarthritis

Un numero sempre crescente di evidenze sottolinea l\u2019importante contributo dell\u2019angiogenesi nell\u2019ambito dei meccanismi che inducono le modificazioni articolari caratteristiche dell\u2019osteoartrosi (OA). Nei pazienti con OA, alcune molecole correlate al processo angiogenetico, quali vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) e fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) sono espresse a livello articolare e possono avere un ruolo non solo in relazione all\u2019angiogenesi, ma anche all\u2019omeostasi cartilaginea. Questo studio si propone di valutare i livelli circolanti di VEGF, VCAM-1 e FGF-2 in pazienti con OA della mano affetti da forma erosiva (OA-E) e non-erosiva (OA-NE) e di determinare le eventuali associazioni con il danno articolare valutato tramite analisi radiologica convenzionale. Sono stati analizzati, con metodo ELISA, i sieri di 146 pazienti con OA-E, di 148 pazienti con OA-NE e di 148 soggetti di controllo (CN). I livelli circolanti di sVCAM-1 nei pazienti con OA-E sono risultati pi\uf9 elevati rispetto a quelli evidenziati nei CN; non sono state dimostrate differenze tra i pazienti con OAE e i pazienti con OA-NE. L\u2019analisi di VEGF e FGF-2 non ha evidenziato differenze significative tra pazienti con OA e CN, inoltre non sono emerse correlazioni tra i livelli circolanti di VEGF, sVCAM-1 e FGF-2 e parametri radiologici e clinici. I dati ottenuti, dimostrando un aumento dei livelli circolanti di sVCAM-1 nei pazienti con forma erosiva di OA della mano, caratterizzata da una peggiore decorso e maggiore aggressivit\ue0, aggiungono nuove informazioni circa la possibilit\ue0 di identificare sVCAM-1 come biomarcatore di severit\ue0 di malattia

Cultures of a human synovial cell line to evaluate platelet-rich plasma and hyaluronic acid effects

Synovial inflammation plays an important role in osteoarthritis (OA) pathogenesis. Different biological compounds have been tested mainly on chondrocytes, to treat early stages of OA. However, because OA has been recently defined as "an organ" pathology, investigation on synoviocytes is also needed. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to validate a human fibroblast-like synoviocytes cell line (K4IM) to test the effects of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and hyaluronan (HA) on anabolic and catabolic gene expression and on HA secretion from cell cultures. In order to determine the effect of PRP and HA, K4IM cells were maintained in culture with or without TNF-\u3b1 stimulation. In the presence of PRP, unstimulated K4IM cells presented the same expression of IL1B, IL6, CXCL8, VEGF, TIMP1, and hyaluronic synthase isoform HAS3 as primary human synoviocytes, while HA addition did not change their expression pattern, which was similar to control cells. Stimulated cells expressed significantly higher values of IL1B, CXCL8, and VEGF compared with unstimulated ones. PRP did not show any modification, except for VEGF, while HA addition modulated IL1B expression. PRP did not modulate HA release of both stimulated and unstimulated cells. Our study showed the possibility to use K4IM synoviocytes as an in vitro model to test biological compounds useful for the treatment of early OA. Primary cells reflect the phenotype of cells in vivo, but limited recovery from biopsies and restricted lifespan makes experimental manipulation challenging. Therefore, despite cell lines present some limitations, they could be used as an alternative for preliminary experiments

Imbalance between angiogenic and anti-angiogenic factors in sera from patients with large-vessel vasculitis

OBJECTIVES: To investigate serum levels of a panel of angiogenic inducers (VEGF, FGF-2, Angiopoietin 1, -2, soluble VCAM-1) and inhibitors (angiostatin, endostatin, pentraxin-3) in patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) and Takayasu's arteritis (TAK), in order to gain further insights into the molecular mechanisms driving angiogenesis dysregulation in large-vessel vasculitis (LVV). METHODS: Sera were obtained from 33 TAK patients and 14 GCA patients and from two groups of age-matched normal controls (NC). Disease activity was assessed using 18F-FDG PET/CT and clinical indices including NIH/Kerr criteria and ITAS. Angiogenic and anti-angiogenic factor serum levels were evaluated using commercial ELISA kits. Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) serum levels were evaluated by non-commercial ELISA, as already described. RESULTS: Among the angiogenic factors, only VEGF serum levels were significantly higher in TAK patients compared to NC. No difference was found between angiogenic factor levels in GCA patients compared to those detected in NC. Anti-angiogenic factor (Angiostatin, Endostatin, PTX3) serum levels were significantly higher in both GCA and TAK patients compared to NC. Significant associations were observed between VEGF and PTX3 levels and disease activity evaluated using PET scan and clinical indices. Cluster analysis based on PET scan scores in TAK patients showed significant ordered differences in VEGF and angiostatin serum levels. Indeed, we noted a progressive increase of VEGF and angiostatin from NC to the cluster including patients with the highest and more diffuse scan positivity. CONCLUSIONS: Our overall results demonstrate a circulating molecular profile characterised by a prevailing expression of anti-angiogenic soluble factors