Oxytocin and vasopressin expression in the turbinates of patients with chronic sinusitis

Many peptides are present in the nasal mucosa, but few studies have investigated the presence or absence of the oxytocin and vasopressin peptides. This immunohistochemical study on the inferior turbinates of patients affected by chronic sinusitis shows, for the first time, that these peptides are present in the epithelium of both nasal mucosa and glands. Their presence could be related to the presence of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), like previously demonstrated in other organs such as heart and prostate, since in some circumstances they play in antagonism

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and oxytocin-expression in the adult and mouse cerebellum

Abstract Background: Many studies are in the literature on the ANP and oxytocin-presence in the brain, but very few studies with controversial results are reported on the presence of these peptides in the cerebellum. This immunohistochemical study investigates on the ANP and oxytocin-presence in the cerebellum of the adult rat and mouse rodents. Results: This study, firstly, evidences the ANP- immunopositivity in cerebellar cortex of both rat and mouse rodents. In rat the molecular layer presents some few immunopositive fibers, but no neuron resulted immunopositive; the granular and Purkinje cells are immunopositive. In mouse the cerebellar cortex ANP-immunopositivity is present in all layers. The oxytocin-presence in the rat the afferent fibers are immunopositive are in the granular layer; in mouse the OT-immunopositivity is in the molecular layer only. Conclusions: This study, firstly, shows that ANP and OT are present in the cerebellar cortex both in rat and mouse rodents. In the mouse cerebellar cortex ANP-presence is more diffuse and OT- localization differences in the two species

The Bio-Molecular Dynamics of Dental Pulp in Different Clinical Scenarios

Dental pulp (DP) is a very dynamic tissue both in health and in disease. When exposed to stressors and pathological conditions. It undergoes a complex series of biological reactions whereby alterations affect the pulp tissue at tissue cellular and molecular levels. The aim of this review is to update the reader on the various bio-molecular alterations in the dental pulp under different clinical conditions: orthodontic treatment (OT), caries, pulpitis and others. The morphological changes in the composition of the DP rang from the reversible remodeling to apoptosis and sometimes necrosis. Many apoptotic factors are involved like Bcl2, Bax and the significant increase in Caspases 9 and 3, as well as, Hsp60, its possible role and its mitochodrial localization. The inflammatory responses in dental pulp and the role of diffusible and cellular factors as well as DP stem cells were highlighted, in particular, where caries was involved in the pulpitis.Recent data report changes in tissue metabolism and homeostasis inside the DP caused by OT leading to increased levels of iNOS reactivity in the nerve fibers of the pulp. Moreover, remodeling of the extra cellular matrix(ECM) is an important feature in clinical scenarios like OT and caries whereby alterations in MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression patterns are reported leading to degradation of type IV and V collagens in the ECM. Furthermore, neurogenic factors are also modified after injuries and OT. Neuropeptides play a significant role not onlyin pain perception but also in vascular responses. Substance P increases in DP and enhances pain perception and so is the increase in CGRP which is correlated with concomitant gain in bone morphogenetic protein expression resulting in more dentin formation. The role of stem cells and the possible molecular mechanisms of dentin genesis are presented in this review. They focus on important signaling proteins and the possible role of various scaffolds in this regeneration process. In conclusion, most alterations inpulpal structure are reversible unless the pulp has a history of caries, restorations, trauma or prolonged heavy orthodontic forces. Pulpal symptoms arising from these clinical conditions should be treated appropriately and swiftly.Otherwise, exacerpation of pulpitis and the interplay of the various bio-molecular factors will lead to inhibition of repair and regeneration

The ecological approach to multimodal system design

Following the ecological approach to visual perception, this paper presents a framework that emphasizes the role of vision on referring actions. In particular, affordances are utilized to explain gestures variability in a multimodal human-computer interaction. Such a proposal is consistent with empirical findings obtained in different simulation studies showing how referring gestures are determined by the mutuality of information coming from the target and the set of movements available to the speaker. A prototype that follows anthropomorphic perceptual principles to analyze gestures has been developed and tested in preliminary computational validations

Expression of angiogenic regulators, VEGF and leptin, is regulated by the EGF/PI3K/STAT3 pathway in colorectal cancer cells.

Abstract Both leptin and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are growth and angiogenic cytokines that are upregulated in different types of cancer and have been implicated in neoplastic progression. Here we investigated the molecular mechanism by which leptin and VEGF expression are regulated in colon cancer by epidermal growth factor (EGF). In colon cancer cell line HT-29, EGF induced the binding of signal transducer and activator transcription 3 (STAT3) to STAT3 consensus motifs within the VEGF and leptin promoters and stimulated leptin and VEGF mRNA and protein synthesis. All these EGF effects were significantly blocked when HT-29 cells were treated with an inhibitor of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway, LY294002, or with small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting STAT3. Thus, our study identified the EGF/PI3K/STAT3 signaling as an essential pathway regulating VEGF and leptin expression in EGF-responsive colon cancer cells. This suggests that STAT3 pathways might constitute attractive pharmaceutical targets in colon cancer patients where anti-EGF receptor drugs are ineffective

Immunohistochemical expression of apoptotic factors, cytokeratins, and metalloproteinase-9 in periapical and epithelialized gingival lesions

The aim of the study was to assess the involvement of apoptotic factors, cytokeratins and metalloproteinase- 9 in the histogenesis of both Epithelialized Gingival Lesions (EGL) and Periapical Lesions (PAL). 55 consecutive patients, 30 with PAL and 25 with EGL, were selected for the study after clinical and radiological examinations. The PAL patients had severe periapical lesions and tooth decay with exposure of the pulp chamber. All PAL and EGL biopsies were surgically extracted, fixed in 10% buffered formalin, and processed for routine light microscopy. Ten biopsies of each category were processed for immunohistochemistry (IHC). Serial paraffin sections were stained by IHC with appropriate antibodies to detect cytokeratins (CKs) 1, 5, 8, 10 and 14, caspase-3 and -9, metalloproteinase-9, and for PCNA and TUNEL assays. Both PAL and EGL showed a high expression of the cytokeratin 1, 5 and 8 with higher expression in EGL. Moreover, CK10 was markedly less intense expressed in EGL compared to PAL, while CK14 was almost three times stronger expressed in EGL. The expression of caspase-3 and -9 was stronger in PAL compared to EGL, however, the difference was only significant for caspase-9. In PAL apoptosis detected by TUNNEL method and the expression of MMP-9 were higher than in EGL, whereas PCNA was significantly more expressed in EGL. The results clearly suggest that both lesions have exclusively an epithelial origin and that epithelial proliferation was correlated with the degree of apoptosis in both entities. PAL and EGL presented mostly similar cytokeratin expression except for CK10 and CK14, though with marked differences in the distribution and intensity of IHC reactions. Finally, the degradation of extracellular matrix in both lesions could be partially attributed to the strong presence of MMP-9. (Folia Histochemica et Cytobiologica 2012, Vol. 50, No. 4, 497\u2013503