An extracellular vesicle epitope profile is associated with acute myocardial infarction

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Adrenocortical Carcinoma and CT Assessment of Therapy Response: The Value of Combining Multiple Criteria

We evaluated tumor response at Computed Tomography (CT) according to three radiologic criteria: RECIST 1.1, CHOI and tumor volume in 34 patients with metastatic adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) submitted to standard chemotherapy. These three criteria agreed in defining partial response, stable or progressive disease in 24 patients (70.5%). Partial response (PR) was observed in 29.4%, 29.4% and 41.2% of patients according to RECIST 1.1, CHOI and tumor volume, respectively. It was associated with a favorable prognosis, regardless of the criterion adopted. The concordance of all the 3 criteria in defining the disease response identified 8 patients (23.5%) which displayed a very good prognosis: median progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) 14.9 and 37.7 months, respectively. Seven patients (20.6%) with PR assessed by one or two criteria, however, still had a better prognosis than non-responding patients, both in terms of PFS: median 12.3 versus 9.9 months and OS: 21 versus 12.2, respectively. In conclusions, the CT assessment of disease response of ACC patients to chemotherapy with 3 different criteria is feasible and allows the identification of a patient subset with a more favorable outcome. PR with at least one criterion can be useful to early identify patients that deserve continuing the therapy

Effects of high-intensity interval training combined with traditional strength or power training on functionality and physical fitness in healthy older men : a randomized controlled trial

Concurrent training (CT) is an efficient strategy to improve neuromuscular function and cardiorespiratory fitness in older adults, which are factors of pivotal importance for the maintenance of functional capacity with aging. However, there is a lack of evidence about the effectiveness of power training (PT) as an alternative to traditional strength training (TST) during CT. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine the effect of 16 weeks (twice weekly) TST combined with high intensity interval training (TST + HIIT) vs. PT combined with HIIT (PT + HIIT) on functional performance, cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition in older men. Thirty five older men (65.8 ± 3.9 years) were randomly allocated into two training groups: TST + HIIT (n = 18), and PT + HIIT (n = 17). TST + HIIT performed resistance training at intensities ranging from 65% to 80% 1RM at slow controlled speed (≅ 2 s for each concentric phase), whereas PT + HIIT trained at intensities ranging from 40% to 60% of 1RM at maximal intentional speed. Both groups performed HIIT at intensities ranging from 75 to 90% of VO2peak. Participants performed functional tests (sit-to-stand, timed-up-and-go, stair climbing); cardiopulmonary exercise testing (maximal cycling power output: Wmax, peak oxygen uptake: VO2peak, cycling economy), as well as body composition assessment (DXA) before, post 8 and post 16 weeks of training. The groups improved similarly (P < 0.05) with training in all functional capacity outcomes, Wmax, cycling economy, VO2peak and body composition (P < 0.05). These findings suggest that HIIT based CT programs involving TST vs. PT are equally effective in improving functionality, cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition in healthy older men

Risk stratification of patients with SARS-CoV-2 by tissue factor expression in circulating extracellular vesicles

Inflammatory response following SARS-CoV-2 infection results in substantial increase of amounts of intravascular pro-coagulant extracellular vesicles (EVs) expressing tissue factor (CD142) on their surface. CD142-EV turned out to be useful as diagnostic biomarker in COVID-19 patients. Here we aimed at studying the prognostic capacity of CD142-EV in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Expression of CD142-EV was evaluated in 261 subjects admitted to hospital for pneumonia and with a positive molecular test for SARS-CoV-2. The study population consisted of a discovery cohort of selected patients (n = 60) and an independent validation cohort including unselected consecutive enrolled patients (n = 201). CD142-EV levels were correlated with post-hospitalization course of the disease and compared to the clinically available 4C Mortality Score as referral. CD142-EV showed a reliable performance to predict patient prognosis in the discovery cohort (AUC = 0.906) with an accuracy of 81.7%, that was confirmed in the validation cohort (AUC = 0.736). Kaplan-Meier curves highlighted a high discrimination power in unselected subjects with CD142-EV being able to stratify the majority of patients according to their prognosis. We obtained a comparable accuracy, being not inferior in terms of prediction of patients' prognosis and risk of mortality, with 4C Mortality Score. The expression of surface vesicular CD142 and its reliability as prognostic marker was technically validated using different immunocapture strategies and assays. The detection of CD142 on EV surface gains considerable interest as risk stratification tool to support clinical decision making in COVID-19

Proceedings of the 13th annual conference of INEBRIA

CITATION: Watson, R., et al. 2016. Proceedings of the 13th annual conference of INEBRIA. Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 11:13, doi:10.1186/s13722-016-0062-9.The original publication is available at https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.comENGLISH SUMMARY : Meeting abstracts.https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13722-016-0062-9Publisher's versio

Riociguat treatment in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: Final safety data from the EXPERT registry

Objective: The soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator riociguat is approved for the treatment of adult patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and inoperable or persistent/recurrent chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) following Phase

An Improved Method for Assessing Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) Variation in Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv (Barnyardgrass)

Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv. (barnyardgrass) is one of the most noxious weeds infesting Italian rice fields. It is characterized by high genetic intraspecific variability and has developed resistance to several classes of herbicides. The aim of our study was to assess, for the first time in Italy, the genetic diversity in E. crus-galli from differently managed rice fields in the Lombardy region (Northern Italy) using eight specific SSR markers. To this purpose, an amplification protocol was optimized, testing different DNA concentrations, PCR mixtures, and temperatures. A total of 48 alleles were identified in 144 samples. SSR fingerprint analysis using R 3.6.3 software (poppr, polysat, and StAMPP) allowed us to handle SSRs as codominant and polyploid data. The results suggested that genetic richness and diversity were high. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that genetic variation exists mainly between agronomic managements (47.23%) and among populations (37.01%). Hierarchical clustering and PCoA were in concordance with the identification of four distinct genetic groups. Our results confirm that SSR markers represent a valuable and affordable tool for the assessment of E. crus-galli genetic diversity and would grant useful information to plan more targeted, effective, and sustainable control strategies against barnyardgrass. The improved methodology applied here allowed us to assess the genetic variability of an allo-hexaploid species without information loss and biased results

An Improved Method for Assessing Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) Variation in <i>Echinochloa crus-galli</i> (L.) P. Beauv (Barnyardgrass)

Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv. (barnyardgrass) is one of the most noxious weeds infesting Italian rice fields. It is characterized by high genetic intraspecific variability and has developed resistance to several classes of herbicides. The aim of our study was to assess, for the first time in Italy, the genetic diversity in E. crus-galli from differently managed rice fields in the Lombardy region (Northern Italy) using eight specific SSR markers. To this purpose, an amplification protocol was optimized, testing different DNA concentrations, PCR mixtures, and temperatures. A total of 48 alleles were identified in 144 samples. SSR fingerprint analysis using R 3.6.3 software (poppr, polysat, and StAMPP) allowed us to handle SSRs as codominant and polyploid data. The results suggested that genetic richness and diversity were high. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that genetic variation exists mainly between agronomic managements (47.23%) and among populations (37.01%). Hierarchical clustering and PCoA were in concordance with the identification of four distinct genetic groups. Our results confirm that SSR markers represent a valuable and affordable tool for the assessment of E. crus-galli genetic diversity and would grant useful information to plan more targeted, effective, and sustainable control strategies against barnyardgrass. The improved methodology applied here allowed us to assess the genetic variability of an allo-hexaploid species without information loss and biased results

Involvement of miRNAs in Metabolic Herbicide Resistance to Bispyribac-Sodium in <i>Echinochloa crus-galli</i> (L.) P. Beauv.

Several mechanisms involved in weed herbicide resistance are unknown, particularly those acting at the epigenetic level, such as the capacity of small-non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) to target messenger RNAs of genes involved in herbicide detoxification. The transcription of these sncRNAs is stimulated by epigenetic factors, thereby affecting gene expression. This study was carried out in order to evaluate, for the first time in Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv. (barnyardgrass), the capacity of miRNAs to regulate the expression of genes associated with bispyribac-sodium detoxification. The expression profiles of eight miRNAs with a high degree of complementarity (≥80%) with mRNAs of genes involved in herbicide detoxification (CYP450, GST and eIF4B) were determined by qRT-PCR before and after herbicide spraying. Five of the miRNAs studied (gra-miR7487c, gma-miR396f, gra-miR8759, osa-miR395f, ath-miR847) showed an increased expression after herbicide application in both susceptible and resistant biotypes. All the miRNAs, except gra-miR8759, were more highly expressed in the herbicide-resistant biotypes. In specimens with increased expression of miRNAs, we observed reduced expression of the target genes. The remaining three miRNAs (ata-miR166c-5p, ath-miR396b-5p and osa-miR5538) showed no over-expression after herbicide treatment, and no difference in expression was recorded between susceptible and resistant biotypes. Our results represent a first overview of the capacity of miRNAs to regulate the expression of genes involved in bispyribac-sodium detoxification in the genus Echinochloa. Further research is required to identify novel miRNAs and target genes to develop more focused and sustainable strategies of weed control