Hyaluronan and cardiac regeneration

Hyaluronan (HA) is abundantly expressed in several human tissues and a variety of roles for HA has been highlighted. Particularly relevant for tissue repair, HA is actively produced during tissue injury, as widely evidenced in wound healing investigations. In the heart HA is involved in physiological functions, such as cardiac development during embryogenesis, and in pathological conditions including atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction. Moreover, owing to its relevant biological properties, HA has been widely used as a biomaterial for heart regeneration after a myocardial infarction. Indeed, HA and its derivatives are biodegradable and biocompatible, promote faster healing of injured tissues, and support cells in relevant processes including survival, proliferation, and differentiation. Injectable HA-based therapies for cardiovascular disease are gaining growing attention because of the benefits obtained in preclinical models of myocardial infarction. HA-based hydrogels, especially as a vehicle for stem cells, have been demonstrated to improve the process of cardiac repair by stimulating angiogenesis, reducing inflammation, and supporting local and grafted cells in their reparative functions. Solid-state HA-based scaffolds have been also investigated to produce constructs hosting mesenchymal stem cells or endothelial progenitor cells to be transplanted onto the infarcted surface of the heart. Finally, applying an ex-vivo mechanical stretching, stem cells grown in HA-based 3D scaffolds can further increase extracellular matrix production and proneness to differentiate into muscle phenotypes, thus suggesting a potential strategy to create a suitable engineered myocardial tissue for cardiac regeneration

Enhanced engraftment and repairing ability of human adipose-derived stem cells, conveyed by pharmacologically active microcarriers continuously releasing HGF and IGF-1, in healing myocardial infarction in rats

One of the main cause of ineffective cell therapy in repairing the damaged heart is the poor yield of grafted cells. To overcome this drawback, rats with 4-week-old myocardial infarction (MI) were injected in the border zone with human adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) conveyed by poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) microcarriers (PAMs) releasing hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) (GFsPAMs). According to treatments, animals were subdivided into different groups: MI_ADSC, MI_ADSC/PAM, MI_GFsPAM, MI_ADSC/GFsPAM, and untreated MI_V. Two weeks after injection, a 31% increase in ADSC engraftment was observed in MI_ADSC/PAM compared with MI_ADSC (p < 0.05). A further ADSC retention was obtained in MI_ADSC/GFsPAM with respect to MI_ADSC (106%, p < 0.05) and MI_ADSC/PAM (57%, p < 0.05). A 130% higher density of blood vessels of medium size was present in MI_ADSC/GFsPAM compared with MI_ADSC (p < 0.01). MI_ADSC/GFsPAM also improved, albeit slightly, left ventricular remodeling and hemodynamics with respect to the other groups. Notably, ADSCs and/or PAMs, with or without HGF/IGF-1, trended to induce arrhythmias in electrically driven, Langendorff-perfused, hearts of all groups. Thus, PAMs releasing HGF/IGF-1 markedly increase ADSC engraftment 2 weeks after injection and stimulate healing in chronically infarcted myocardium, but attention should be paid to potentially negative electrophysiological consequences

Comparison between Culture Conditions Improving Growth and Differentiation of Blood and Bone Marrow Cells Committed to the Endothelial Cell Lineage

The aim of this study was to compare different cell sources and culture conditions to obtain endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) with predictable antigen pattern, proliferation potential and in vitro vasculogenesis. Pig mononuclear cells were isolated from blood (PBMCs) and bone marrow (BMMCs). Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were also derived from pig bone marrow. Cells were cultured on fibronectin in the presence of a high concentration of VEGF and low IGF-1 and FGF-2 levels, or on gelatin with a lower amount of VEGF and higher IGF-1 and FGF-2 concentrations. Endothelial commitment was relieved in almost all PBMCs and BMMCs irrespective of the protocol used, whilst MSCs did not express a reliable pattern of EPC markers under these conditions. BMMCs were more prone to expand on gelatin and showed a better viability than PBMCs. Moreover, about 90% of the BMMCs pre-cultured on gelatin could adhere to a hyaluronan-based scaffold and proliferate on it up to 3 days. Pre-treatment of BMMCs on fibronectin generated well-shaped tubular structures on Matrigel, whilst BMMCs exposed to the gelatin culture condition were less prone to form vessel-like structures. MSCs formed rough tubule-like structures, irrespective of the differentiating condition used. In a relative short time, pig BMMCs could be expanded on gelatin better than PBMCs, in the presence of a low amount of VEGF. BMMCs could better specialize for capillary formation in the presence of fibronectin and an elevated concentration of VEGF, whilst pig MSCs anyway showed a limited capability to differentiate into the endothelial cell lineage

The Italian National Register of infants with congenital hypothyroidism: twenty years of surveillance and study of congenital hypothyroidism

All the Italian Centres in charge of screening, diagnosis, and follow-up of infants with congenital hypothyroidism participate in the Italian National Registry of affected infants, which performs the nationwide surveillance of the disease. It was established in 1987 as a program of the Health Ministry and is coordinated by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. The early diagnosis performed by the nationwide newborn screening programme, the prompt treatment and the appropriate clinical management of the patients carried out by the Follow-up Centres, and the surveillance of the disease performed by the National Register of infants with congenital hypothyroidism are the components of an integrated approach to the disease which has been successfully established in our country

Educazione sessuale come educazione morale

Il saggio introduce e analizza il dibattito che vede tra i protagonisti il ginecologo Doléris e il sociologo Durkheim permettendo di osservare in che termini e con quali osservanze, alle porte della Grande Guerra, la sessualità entrava nei dibattiti, come anche nelle scuole e negli istituti; dall’altro lato aiuta nella comprensione di una figura poliedrica, eclettica, quella del padre putativo del funzionalismo organicista, tassello fondamentale per l’intera storia della sociologia, Émile Durkheim. Ancora oggi la figura del sociologo è piuttosto dibattuta e si muove all’interno di un paradosso che lo vede sia come un progressista che come un conservatore.The essay introduces and analyzes the debate that sees the gynecologist Doléris and the sociologist Durkheim among the protagonists, allowing us to observe in what terms and with what observances, at the gates of the Great War, sexuality entered debates, as well as in schools and institutes; on the other hand, it helps in the understanding of a multifaceted, eclectic figure, that of the putative father of organicist functionalism, a fundamental piece for the entire history of sociology, Émile Durkheim. Even today the figure of the sociologist is rather debated and moves within a paradox that sees him as both a progressive and a conservative

CRIMINALITÀ, DEVIANZA, MARGINALITÀ E DIVERGENZA. Quattro categorie, una sola realtà

Questo lavoro si basa sull’intensa collaborazione accademica dell’Autore colombiano con Morris L. Ghezzi che, affondando le radici nella comune problematizzazione del concetto di devianza e nell’insoddisfazione condivisa per le risposte fornite, dalla Sociologia e dalla Criminologia, ha indotto i due pensatori a mettere in comune i risultati delle proprie ricerche, per formulare risposte più adeguate e più in linea con la contemporaneità. Il campo della devianza viene, dunque, analizzato secondo la teoria della marginalità di Morris L. Ghezzi, tesi che ha come punto di forza e, nello stesso tempo, come punto di arrivo, il rapporto del soggetto/dei gruppi con il potere (sotto il profilo pubblicistico). Lo studio viene poi ripreso e integrato da Germán Silva García con la sua teoria della divergenza che, oltre a passare all’esame le cause della devianza del singolo/dei consociati, mette in luce anche le caratteristiche civilistiche dei comportamenti non conformi, aprendo nuove ed ulteriori prospettive.This work is based on intense academic collaboration of the Colombian Author with Morris L. Ghezzi who, sinking his roots in the common problematization of the concept of deviance and in dissatisfaction shared for the answers provided, by Sociology and Criminology, led the two thinkers to share the results of own research, to formulate more adequate and more in line answers contemporaneity. The field of deviance is therefore analyzed second Morris L. Ghezzi's theory of marginality, a thesis that has as strong point and, at the same time, as a point of arrival, the relationship of subject/groups with power (from a publicistic perspective). I study it is then taken up and integrated by Germán Silva García with his theory of the divergence which, in addition to examining the causes of the deviance of the individual/of the associates, also highlights the civil characteristics of non-compliant behaviors, opening new and further perspectives

SULL’EDUCAZIONE SESSUALE

On sexual education as a moral educatio