Desiccating stress-induced disruption of ocular surface immune tolerance drives dry eye disease

Dry eye is an allegedly autoimmune disorder for which the initiatingmechanisms and the targeted antigens in the ocular surface are not known,yet there is extensive evidence that a localized T helper type 1 (Th1)/Th17effector T cell response is responsible for its pathogenesis. In this work, weexplore the reconciling hypothesis that desiccating stress, which is usuallyconsidered an exacerbating factor, could actually be sufficient to skew theocular surface?s mucosal response to any antigen and therefore drive thedisease. Using a mouse model of dry eye, we found that desiccating stresscauses a nuclear factor kappa B (NF-jB)- and time-dependent disruption ofthe ocular surface?s immune tolerance to exogenous ovalbumin. Thispathogenic event is mediated by increased Th1 and Th17 T cells andreduced regulatory T cells in the draining lymph nodes. Conversely, topicalNF-jB inhibitors reduced corneal epithelial damage and interleukin (IL)-1band IL-6 levels in the ocular surface of mice under desiccating stress. Theobserved effect was mediated by an augmented regulatory T cell response, afinding that highlights the role of mucosal tolerance disruption in dry eyepathogenesis. Remarkably, the NF-jB pathway is also involved in mucosaltolerance disruption in other ocular surface disorders. Together, theseresults suggest that targeting of mucosal NF-jB activation could havetherapeutic potential in dry eye.Fil: Guzman, Mauricio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Keitelman, Irene Angélica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Sabbione, Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Trevani, Analía Silvina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Giordano, Mirta Nilda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Galletti, Jeremías Gastón. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; Argentin

Practical Experiences of a Smart Livestock Location Monitoring System leveraging GNSS, LoRaWAN and Cloud Services.

Livestock farming is, in most cases in Europe, unsupervised, thus making it difficult to ensure adequate control of the position of the animals for the improvement of animal welfare. In addition, the geographical areas involved in livestock grazing usually have difficult access with harsh orography and lack of communications infrastructure, thus the need to provide a low-power livestock localization and monitoring system is of paramount importance, which is crucial not for a sustainable agriculture, but also for the protection of native breeds and meats thanks to their controlled supervision. In this context, this work presents an Internet of things (IoT)-based system integrating low-power wide area (LPWA) technology, cloud and virtualization services to provide real-time livestock location monitoring. Taking into account the constraints coming from the environment in terms of energy supply and network connectivity, our proposed system is based on a wearable device equipped with inertial sensors, Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and LoRaWAN transceiver, which can provide a satisfactory compromise between performance, cost and energy consumption. At first, this article provides the state-of-the-art localization techniques and technologies applied to smart livestock. Then, we proceed to provide the hardware and firmware co-design to achieve very low energy consumption, thus providing a significant positive impact to the battery life. The proposed platform has been evaluated in a pilot test in the Northern part of Italy, evaluating different configurations in terms of sampling period, experimental duration and number of devices. The results are analyzed and discussed for packe delivery ratio, energy consumption, localization accuracy, battery discharge measurement and delay

Validation of a Paraoxon-based method for measurement of Paraoxonase (PON-1) activity and establishment of RI in horses

Paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) is an anti-oxidant compound considered as negative acute phase protein in animals (Rossi et al., 2013) and people (Novak et al., 2010). The paraoxon-based method for measurement of PON-1 in equine serum has not yet been validated.The aim of this study is to validate a paraoxon-based method to measure PON-1 and to establish reference intervals (RIs) in healthy horses and foals.120 horses (40 geldings, 40 stallions, 40 mares; median age: 11 years; 57 Warmbloods, 46 Trotters) and 55 foals (27 females, 28 males; median age: 47 days; 22 Warmbloods, 31 Trotters) considered healthy after physical examination and biochemistry were examined. Horses were grouped by breed: Thoroughbreds, Trotters, Warmbloods, Draft horses and Ponies. Serum PON-1 was measured with an automated spectrophotometer and an enzymatic method validated in other species (Giordano et al., 2013). After the analytical validation (precision, accuracy, interference studies), RIs were determined using the Reference Value Advisor software, according to ASCVP guidelines (Friedrichs et al., 2012). The possible gender-, age- and breed-related differences were statistically investigated.The paraoxon-based method was precise (CVs <4.0%) and accurate (P<0.001 in linearity under dilution and spike-recovery testing) but is affected by interference from mild bilirubinemia, severe lipemia or hemoglobinemia. The RIs recorded in the whole population was 38.1-80.8 U/mL. According to the Harris and Boyd test, separate RIs are recommended only for adult females and for Warmblood and Trotter adults (Figure 1).This study demonstrated that analytical performances of the paraoxon-based method for measurement of PON-1 in horses are acceptable. PON-1 is lower in horses than in other species.If future studies will demonstrate that oxidative stress induces a significant decrease of PON-1, this results will be useful to correctly classify healthy and sick horses; PON-1 could be used, as in human medicine, as a marker of oxidative stress

An overview of the Italian contribution to the international multisite SPRISTAD study on psychotherapy training

open5openMessina I.; Gullo S.; Gelo O.C.G.; Giordano C.; Salcuni S.Messina, I.; Gullo, S.; Gelo, O. C. G.; Giordano, C.; Salcuni, S

Application of ultrasound and microencapsulation on Limosilactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 as a metabolic attenuation strategy for tomato juice probiotication

Counteracting probiotic-induced physicochemical and sensory changes is a challenge in the development of probiotic beverages. The aim of the study is to apply ultrasound and microencapsulation for the attenuation of Limosilactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 to avoid change in a probiotic tomato juice. Preliminarily, six ultrasound treatments were applied. Probiotic survival in acid environment (pH 2.5) and bile salts (1.5 g/l) after ultrasound treatment was also studied. The probiotic was inoculated in tomato juice in four forms: free cells (PRO-TJ), sonicated-free cells (US-TJ), untreated-microencapsulated (PRO-MC-TJ) and sonicated-microencapsulated cells (US-MC-TJ). Probiotic viability and pH were monitored during 28 days of storage at 4 and 20 °C. Sensory analysis was performed for PRO-TJ and US-MC-TJ sample (4 °C). Ultrasound (57 W for 6 min) did not affect cell survival and transitorily modulated probiotic acidifying capacity; it reduced probiotic survival in acidic environment but increased probiotic survival in bile salts solution. Ultrasound was effective in maintain pH value of tomato juice but only at 4 °C. Instead, microencapsulation with sodium-alginate leads to a more stable probiotic juice, particularly at 20 °C. Finally, probiotication slightly modified some sensory attributes of the juice. This study shows the potential of ultrasound and microencapsulation as attenuation strategies and highlights the need for process optimization to increase ultrasound efficacy

Monoprotesi per il trattamento simultaneo del cistocele e dell’incontinenza urinaria da stress (protocollo NAZCA): studio prospettico

La riparazione protesica del prolasso della parete vaginale anteriore di III e IV grado (Classificazione di Baden e Walker) con doppio approccio transotturatorio da luogo a IUS de novo fino al 20-30% secondo i dati riportati in letteratura. Da qui il razionale per la riparazione protesica simultanea di cistocele e IUS con monoprotesi sintetica in polipropilene (Prepubic/TOT Mesh-Promedon S.A, Argentina) che rinforza i ligamenti pubouretrali e la fascia pubo-vescico-vaginale. Nel nostro campione di 6 pazienti abbiamo riscontrato l’80% di successo anatomico a fronte di un successo funzionale del 100% con un miglioramento significativo nella qualità di vita delle pazienti, una consistente riduzione dei sintomi legati al prolasso e la correzione dell’incontinenza urinaria da sforzo (IUS) nel 100% dei casi

Effect of TiO2 and Al2O3 Addition on the Performance of Chitosan/Phosphotungstic Composite Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

: Composite chitosan/phosphotungstic acid (CS/PTA) with the addition of TiO2 and Al2O3 particles were synthesized to be used as proton exchange membranes in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The influence of fillers was assessed through X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, liquid uptake, ion exchange capacity and methanol permeability measurements. The addition of TiO2 particles into proton exchange membranes led to an increase in crystallinity and a decrease in liquid uptake and methanol permeability with respect to pristine CS/PTA membranes, whilst the effect of the introduction of Al2O3 particles on the characteristics of membranes is almost the opposite. Membranes were successfully tested as proton conductors in a single module DMFC of 1 cm2 as active area, operating at 50 °C fed with 2 M methanol aqueous solution at the anode and oxygen at the cathode. Highest performance was reached by using a membrane with TiO2 (5 wt.%) particles, i.e., a power density of 40 mW cm-2, almost doubling the performance reached by using pristine CS/PTA membrane (i.e., 24 mW cm-2)

New advances in leukaemia immunotherapy by the use of Chimeric Artificial Antigen Receptors (CARs): state of the art and perspectives for the near future

Leukaemia immunotherapy represents a fascinating and promising field of translational research, particularly as an integrative approach of bone marrow transplantation. Adoptive immunotherapy by the use of donor-derived expanded leukaemia-specific T cells has showed some kind of clinical response, but the major advance is nowadays represented by gene manipulation of donor immune cells, so that they acquire strict specificity towards the tumour target and potent lytic activity, followed by significant proliferation, increased survival and possibly anti-tumour memory state. This is achieved by gene insertion of Chimeric T-cell Antigen Receptors (CARs), which are artificial molecules containing antibody-derived fragments (to bind the specific target), joined with potent signalling T-Cell Receptor (TCR)-derived domains that activate the manipulated cells. This review will discuss the main application of this approach particularly focusing on the paediatric setting, raising advantages and disadvantages and discussing relevant perspectives of use in the nearest future