La sexualidad humana “riqueza de toda la persona”

Para comprender plenamente el gran valor encerrado en la relación sexual-genital, debemos recordar que la relación, en la cual el hombre y la mujer se entregan recíprocamente, es también el lugar donde puede concretarse la llamada a la existencia de una nueva vida. De este modo el origen del ser humano viene a ser fruto y signo de la unión no sólo física sino también afectiva-espiritual de sus padres, los cuales deben sentir luego como derecho/deber el garantizar al hijo un crecimiento sereno en un contexto familiar estable

Diversity of cervical microbiota in asymptomatic chlamydia trachomatis genital infection: a pilot study

Chlamydia trachomatis genital infection continues to be an important public health problem worldwide due to its increasing incidence. C. trachomatis infection can lead to severe sequelae, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, obstructive infertility, and preterm birth. Recently, it has been suggested that the cervico-vaginal microbiota may be an important defense factor toward C. trachomatis infection as well as the development of chronic sequelae. Therefore, the investigation of microbial profiles associated to chlamydial infection is of the utmost importance. Here we present a pilot study aiming to characterize, through the metagenomic analysis of sequenced 16s rRNA gene amplicons, the cervical microbiota from reproductive age women positive to C. trachomatis infection. The main finding of our study showed a marked increase in bacterial diversity in asymptomatic C. trachomatis positive women as compared to healthy controls in terms of Shannon's diversity and Shannon's evenness (P = 0.031 and P = 0.026, respectively). More importantly, the cervical microbiota from C. trachomatis positive women and from healthy controls significantly separated into two clusters in the weighted UniFrac analysis (P = 0.0027), suggesting that differences between the two groups depended entirely on the relative abundance of bacterial taxa rather than on the types of bacterial taxa present. Furthermore, C. trachomatis positive women showed an overall decrease in Lactobacillus spp. and an increase in anaerobes. These findings are part of an ongoing larger epidemiological study that will evaluate the potential role of distinct bacterial communities of the cervical microbiota in C. trachomatis infection

Design of hybrid gels based on gellan-cholesterol derivative and P90G liposomes for drug depot applications

Gels are extensively studied in the drug delivery field because of their potential benefits in therapeutics. Depot gel systems fall in this area, and the interest in their development has been focused on long-lasting, biocompatible, and resorbable delivery devices. The present work describes a new class of hybrid gels that stem from the interaction between liposomes based on P90G phospholipid and the cholesterol derivative of the polysaccharide gellan. The mechanical properties of these gels and the delivery profiles of the anti-inflammatory model drug diclofenac embedded in such systems confirmed the suitability of these hybrid gels as a good candidate for drug depot applications

Promjenjljivost elektroforetskoga proteinskog profila u “Quarter” konja tijekom natjecanja u obuzdavanju.

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a reining session on serum total protein and their fractions. In the present study, eight Quarter Horses aged 5-15 years were subjected to reining pattern 5 of the National Reining Horse Association (NRHA). Blood samples were collected from each animal before (T0), immediately after the pattern (T1), after 1h (T2), 2h (T3) and 24h (T4), during the recovery period. On all samples serum total proteins (TP), albumin (Alb), α1-globulins, α2-globulins, β1-globulins, β2-globulins and γ-globulins concentrations, and albumin/globulin ratio (A/G) were assessed. One way repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed the statistical significant effect of time on TP and Alb. The application of Bonferroni’s post-hoc comparison showed a statistical significant increase in TP values at T1 compared to T0. Alb concentration increased at T1 compared to T0, T2, T3 and T4. The present study shows how reining exercise affects electrophoretic parameters by increasing TP and Alb levels immediately after exercise. These results provide insight into the reining horse’s physiological response to exercise, allowing better evaluation of the athletic performance of this sport horse.Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je procijeniti učinak natjecanja u obuzdavanju konja na ukupne serumske proteine i na njihove pojedine frakcije. U istraživanju je osam konja Quarter pasmine u dobi od 5 do 15 godina bilo podvrgnuto vježbi 5. stupnja obuzdavanja prema Nacionalnoj udruzi za obuzdavanja konja. Uzorci krvi bili su uzeti od svakog konja prije vježbe (T0), neposredno nakon vježbe (T1), zatim nakon jednog sata (T2), dva sata (T3) i 24 sata (T4) odmora. U svim uzorcima seruma određena je koncentracija ukupnih proteina, albumina (Alb), α1-globulina, α2-globulina, β1-globulina, β2-globulina i γ-globulina te je određen omjer između albumina i globulina (A/G). Jednosmjerna analiza varijance (ANOVA) pokazala je statistički značajan učinak vremena na ukupne proteine i albumin. Primjena Bonferronijeve post-hoc usporedbe pokazala je statistički značajno povećanje vrijednosti ukupnih proteina neposredno nakon vježbe u odnosu na one prije vježbe. Koncentracija albumina bila je povećana neposredno nakon vježbe u usporedbi s koncentracijom prije vježbe te onom jednog sata, dva sata i 24 sata nakon vježbe. Istraživanje pokazuje kako natjecateljsko obuzdavanje konja utječe na elektroforetske pokazatelje povećanjem razine ukupnih proteina i albumina neposredno nakon vježbe. Rezultati pružaju uvid u fiziološki odgovor na vježbu što omogućuje bolju prosudbu atletskih sposobnosti ove pasmine športskog konja

Open-source automated external defibrillator

The Automated External Defibrillator (AED) is a medical device that analyzes a patient's electrocardiogram in order to establish whether he/she is suffering from the fatal condition of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), and subsequently allows the release of a therapeutic dose of electrical energy (i.e. defibrillation). SCA is responsible for over 300,000 deaths per year both in Europe and in USA, and immediate clinical assistance through defibrillation is fundamental for recovery. In this context, an open-source approach can easily lead in improvements to the distribution and efficiency of AEDs. The proposed Open-Source AED (OAED) is composed of two separate electric boards: a high voltage board (HV-B), which contains the circuitry required to perform defibrillation and a control board (C-B), which detects SCA in the patient and controls the HV-B. Computer simulations and preliminary tests show that the OAED can release a 200 J biphasic defibrillation in about 12 s and detects SCA with sensitivity higher than 90% and specificity of about 99%. The OAED was also conceived as a template and teaching tool in the framework of UBORA, a platform for design and sharing medical devices compliant to international standards

Mir-34a-5p Mediates Cross-Talk between M2 Muscarinic Receptors and Notch-1/EGFR Pathways in U87MG Glioblastoma Cells: Implication in Cell Proliferation

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive human brain tumor. The high growth potential and decreased susceptibility to apoptosis of the glioma cells is mainly dependent on genetic amplifications or mutations of oncogenic or pro-apoptotic genes, respectively. We have previously shown that the activation of the M2 acetylcholine muscarinic receptors inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in two GBM cell lines and cancer stem cells. The aim of this study was to delve into the molecular mechanisms underlying the M2-mediated cell proliferation arrest. Exploiting U87MG and U251MG cell lines as model systems, we evaluated the ability of M2 receptors to interfere with Notch-1 and EGFR pathways, whose activation promotes GBM proliferation. We demonstrated that the activation of M2 receptors, by agonist treatment, counteracted Notch and EGFR signaling, through different regulatory cascades depending, at least in part, on p53 status. Only in U87MG cells, which mimic p53-wild type GBMs, did M2 activation trigger a molecular circuitry involving p53, Notch-1, and the tumor suppressor mir-34a-5p. This regulatory module negatively controls Notch-1, which affects cell proliferation mainly through the Notch-1/EGFR axis. Our data highlighted, for the first time, a molecular circuitry that is deregulated in the p53 wild type GBM, based on the cross-talk between M2 receptor and the Notch-1/EGFR pathways, mediated by mir-34a-5p