Commentary: IL-17 in chronic inflammation: From discovery to targeting

A recent article titled “IL-17 in chronic inflammation: From discovery to targeting,” by Beringer et al. (2016), greatly reviewed the biology of interleukin-17 (IL-17) family members highlighting the contributions of IL-17 cytokines toward diseases and IL-17-based treatment options. Authors attractively reported how preclinical and clinical studies have provided a solid scientific justification for targeting IL-17 and/or IL-17 receptor (IL-17RA) in human diseases such as inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. Here, I wish to implement the description of the biological properties of IL-17A on the cardiovascular system, the novel underlying mechanisms on platelets aggregation, and thrombus formation, and to report the contribution of IL-17A/IL-17RA axis in the association of autoimmune diseases with cardiovascular risk

Role of Natural Compounds in Inflammation and Inflammatory-Related Diseases

The papers reported here will contribute to proposing new insights into the mechanisms of several conditions, as well as suggesting new diagnostic alternatives and therapeutic targets in widespread pathologies such inflammation and inflammatory-based diseases. The discovery of the new is, as always, anchored in recourse to the old

Modeling Mergers of Known Galactic Systems of Binary Neutron Stars

We present a study of the merger of six different known galactic systems of binary neutron stars (BNS) of unequal mass with a mass ratio between $0.75$ and $0.99$. Specifically, these systems are J1756-2251, J0737-3039A, J1906+0746, B1534+12, J0453+1559 and B1913+16. We follow the dynamics of the merger from the late stage of the inspiral process up to $\sim$ 20 ms after the system has merged, either to form a hyper-massive neutron star (NS) or a rotating black hole (BH), using a semi-realistic equation of state (EOS), namely the seven-segment piece-wise polytropic SLy with a thermal component. For the most extreme of these systems ($q=0.75$, J0453+1559), we also investigate the effects of different EOSs: APR4, H4, and MS1. Our numerical simulations are performed using only publicly available open source code such as, the Einstein Toolkit code deployed for the dynamical evolution and the LORENE code for the generation of the initial models. We show results on the gravitational wave signals, spectrogram and frequencies of the BNS after the merger and the BH properties in the two cases in which the system collapse within the simulated time.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure

Spectral analysis of gravitational waves from binary neutron star merger remnants

In this work we analyze the gravitational wave signal from hypermassive neutron stars formed after the merger of binary neutron star systems, focusing on its spectral features. The gravitational wave signals are extracted from numerical relativity simulations of models already considered by De Pietri et al. [Phys. Rev. D 93, 064047 (2016)], Maione et al. [Classical Quantum Gravity 33, 175009 (2016)], and Feo et al. [Classical Quantum Gravity 34, 034001 (2017)], and allow us to study the effect of the total baryonic mass of such systems (from $2.4 M_{\odot}$ to $3 M_{\odot}$), the mass ratio (up to $q = 0.77$), and the neutron star equation of state, both in equal and highly unequal mass binaries. We use the peaks we find in the gravitational spectrum as an independent test of already published hypotheses of their physical origin and empirical relations linking them with the characteristics of the merging neutron stars. In particular, we highlight the effects of the mass ratio, which in the past was often neglected. We also analyze the temporal evolution of the emission frequencies. Finally, we introduce a modern variant of Prony's method to analyze the gravitational wave postmerger emission as a sum of complex exponentials, trying to overcome some drawbacks of both Fourier spectra and least-squares fitting. Overall, the spectral properties of the postmerger signal observed in our simulation are in agreement with those proposed by other groups. More specifically, we find that the analysis of Bauswein and Stergioulas [Phys. Rev. D 91, 124056 (2015)] is particularly effective for binaries with very low masses or with a small mass ratio and that the mechanical toy model of Takami et al. [Phys. Rev. D 91, 064001 (2015)] provides a comprehensive and accurate description of the early stages of the postmerger.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figure

Stiffness effects on the dynamics of the bar-mode instability of Neutron Stars in full General Relativity

We present results on the effect of the stiffness of the equation of state on the dynamical bar-mode instability in rapidly rotating polytropic models of neutron stars in full General Relativity. We determine the change in the threshold for the emergence of the instability for a range of the adiabatic $\Gamma$ index from 2.0 to 3.0, including two values chosen to mimic more realistic equations of state at high densities.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1403.806

Valutazione della guarigione mucosale con CLE in pazienti con RCU in trattamento con mesalazina e criteri predittivi per la riacutizzazione della malattia

Contesto. Il monitoraggio delle lesioni in pazienti affetti da rettocolite ulcerosa (RCU) è condotto attraverso esame endoscopico tradizionale ed esame istopatologico. Tuttavia, una percentuale non trascurabile di lesioni evidenziate all’istologia non è ritrovata all’esame endoscopico. Metodiche più sensibili nell’identificazione di lesioni sono necessarie nel follow-up dei pazienti con RCU. Obiettivo. Valutazione delle alterazioni mucosali coliche con tecnica endoscopica laser confocale (p-CLE), e comparazione all’endoscopia tradizionale e all’esame istopatologico. Pazienti e Metodi. Studio osservazionale in centro di riferimento per la RCU. Pazienti con RCU e controlli sono stati sottoposti a: 1) esame endoscopico tradizionale per valutazione score sec. Mayo; 2) esame p-CLE, per la valutazione dell’architettura delle cripte (diametro cripte, distanza intercriptica, fusione cripte), della microvascolarizzazione e dello stravaso di fluoresceina; 3) esame istopatologico per classificazione RCU sec. Geboes. Risultati. Tutti i parametri della p-CLE correlano con lo score endoscopico di attività della malattia sec. Mayo (p<0.001 per trend per tutti i parametri).La fusione delle cripte è presente in tutti i pazienti RCU, indipendentemente dallo stato di malattia. Alterazioni microvascolari e stravaso di fluoresceina sono presenti nel 18% dei pazienti RCU senza evidenza di malattia all’esame endoscopico tradizionale. L’esame istopatologico rivela attività di malattia nel 40% dei pazienti senza evidenza di malattia all’esame endoscopico tradizionale. Conclusioni. La tecnica p-CLE si rivela un esame sensibile poiché permette di rilevare alterazioni morfologiche anche in pazienti RCU senza evidenza endoscopica di malattia. L’esame si rivela altresì specifico, dal momento che nessun paziente controllo presenta alterazioni endomicroscopiche. L’attività endoscopica di malattia sec. Mayo correla con tutte le alterazioni morfostrutturali ritrovate in p-CLE, suggerendo un potenziale utilizzo anche nella valutazione quantitativa delle lesioni e nella stadiazione della RCU

Models of dielectric relaxation based on completely monotone functions

The relaxation properties of dielectric materials are described, in the frequency domain, according to one of the several models proposed over the years: Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts, Cole-Cole, Cole-Davidson, Havriliak-Negami (with its modified version) and Excess wing model are among the most famous. Their description in the time domain involves some mathematical functions whose knowledge is of fundamental importance for a full understanding of the models. In this work, we survey the main dielectric models and we illustrate the corresponding time-domain functions. In particular, we stress the attention on the completely monotone character of the relaxation and response functions. We also provide a characterization of the models in terms of differential operators of fractional order

Apoptotic gene expression in neuropathic pain

Pain initiated or caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction in the nervous system is defined as neuropathic pain. It results from direct injury to nerves in the peripheral or central nervous system and is associated with several clinical symptoms. Neuropathic pain treatment is extremely difficult, as it is a very complex disease, involving several molecular pathways. Excitatory or inhibitory pathways controlling neuropathic pain development show altered gene expression, caused by peripheral nerve injury.&#xd;&#xa;This study used several experimental pain models to demonstrate the occurrence of programmed cell death in the centers controlling pain induction and maintenance, such as spinal cord and pre-frontal cortex. We combined behavioural, molecular and morphological approaches to assess the involvement of bcl-2 gene family and caspases in neuropathic pain. Chronic constriction injury (CCI) and spared nerve injury (SNI) of rodent sciatic nerve induced the appearance of pain-like behaviours, such as hyperalgesia and allodynia. An early (2-3 days post-CCI) apoptosis appeared in the spinal cord neurons as the pro-apoptotic bax gene increased (320&#xb1;19%). The incidence of apoptosis appeared to be limited to the first few days following nerve injury. Subsequently, increased expression of anti-apoptotic bcl-2 family genes may inhibit further neuron loss. SNI triggered apoptotic pathway and caspases activation in pre-frontal cortex 7, 14, and 21 days post-injury. Among the time-points analyzed, RT-PCR analysis showed increased expression of the bax/bcl-2 ratio (40&#xb1;2%), bid (16&#xb1;2%), caspase-1 (84&#xb1;3%), caspase-8 (53&#xb1;6%), caspase-9 (25&#xb1;6%), caspase-12 (58&#xb1;2%), TNF (32&#xb1;2%) genes in the cortex by 7 days post-injury. Western blot analysis showed increased active Caspase-3 protein levels in the cortex at 3, 7, 14, and 21 post-surgery. This study shows that apoptotic genes could be an useful pharmacological target in neuropathic pain controlling.&#xd;&#xa