Social Responsibility and Environmental Issues Addressed by Businesses in Romania

This article aims to analyze the situation of Romanian companies from an environmental point of view. Environmental issues are addressed very often nowadays, and they reach and affect every domain, including the economical one. Implementing an environmental management system will not only help the companies to comply with laws and regulations, but, above all, will offer them an important competitive advantage

Molecular signatures of oxidative stress: relevance to clinic and research

Study on the redox biology of health and disease has come of age. Redox imbalance also defined as redox stress constitutes one of the main cellular lesion associated with many types of pathologies including cardiometabolic, neurodegenerative, oncological, rheumatic and autoimmune diseases. Reactive species (either centered on oxygen or on nitrogen) can induce many damaging cellular processes, such as DNA oxidative lesions and loss of membrane integrity due to lipid peroxidation. Thus the evaluation of the redox imbalance of biological samples is extremely important in clinical practice as well as in research settings. This may constitute an important tool to evaluate the level of cellular lesions associated with specific pathological mechanisms, or the response to pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment. The present review focuses on the molecular signatures of redox imbalance in various diseased processes.Adipobiology 2013; 5: 33-37

Quercetin and Epigallocatechin Gallate Induce in Vitro a Dose-Dependent Stiffening and Hyperpolarizing Effect on the Cell Membrane of Human Mononuclear Blood Cells

The bioactivity of polyphenols is closely linked to their ability to interact with biological membranes. The study evaluates the in vitro effect of quercetin and epigallocatechin on the membrane anisotropy and transmembrane potential of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from 26 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients compared to 25 age matched controls. The in vitro assays were analyzed in correlation with the biochemical and inflammatory profile of the subjects and with insulin resistance parameters (HOMA-IR, plasma resistin) as well. For type 2 diabetes patients, the increase of HOMA-IR and resistin concentration was associated with a significant decrease of the PBMCs membrane anisotropy. The two tested polyphenols induced a dose-dependent hyperpolarizing effect and stiffening of the cell membranes for all tested subjects. Physiological levels of quercetin and epigallocatechin gallate had the tendency to normalize the PBMCs membrane anisotropy of the cells isolated from diabetes patients, bringing it to the level of cells isolated from normoglycemic ones. Epigallocatechin gallate induced higher effects compared to quercetin on the membranes isolated from subjects with higher cardiovascular risk. The decrease of membrane fluidity and the hyperpolarizing effect could explain the cardiovascular protective action of the tested compounds

Circulating cell-free DNA in health and disease - the relationship to health behaviours, ageing phenotypes and metabolomics

Circulating cell-free DNA (cf-DNA) has emerged as a promising biomarker of ageing, tissue damage and cellular stress. However, less is known about health behaviours, ageing phenotypes and metabolic processes that lead to elevated cf-DNA levels. We sought to analyse the relationship of circulating cf-DNA level to age, sex, smoking, physical activity, vegetable consumption, ageing phenotypes (physical functioning, the number of diseases, frailty) and an extensive panel of biomarkers including blood and urine metabolites and inflammatory markers in three human cohorts (N = 5385; 17–82 years). The relationships were assessed using correlation statistics, and linear and penalised regressions (the Lasso), also stratified by sex.cf-DNA levels were significantly higher in men than in women, and especially in middle-aged men and women who smoke, and in older more frail individuals. Correlation statistics of biomarker data showed that cf-DNA level was higher with elevated inflammation (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6), and higher levels of homocysteine, and proportion of red blood cells and lower levels of ascorbic acid. Inflammation (C-reactive protein, glycoprotein acetylation), amino acids (isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine), and ketogenesis (3-hydroxybutyrate) were included in the cf-DNA level-related biomarker profiles in at least two of the cohorts.In conclusion, circulating cf-DNA level is different by sex, and related to health behaviour, health decline and metabolic processes common in health and disease. These results can inform future studies where epidemiological and biological pathways of cf-DNA are to be analysed in details, and for studies evaluating cf-DNA as a potential clinical marker.</p

Relationships between Serum Biomarkers of Oxidative Stress and Tobacco Smoke Exposure in Patients with Mental Disorders

The role of cigarette smoking as an aggravating factor of systemic oxidative stress in patients with mental disorders has not been extensively investigated, although significantly higher rates of smoking are recorded in these subjects in comparison with the general population. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that smoking might be an exacerbator of systemic oxidative stress, being directly correlated with the degree of exposure to tobacco smoke. We analyzed, in 76 adult subjects from a public health care unit, the relationships between serum cotinine levels as a marker of tobacco smoke exposure, and three biomarkers of oxidative stress: the serum glutathione (GSH), the advanced oxidation protein products (AOPPs), and the total serum antioxidant status (FRAP). The results indicate that the degree of tobacco smoke exposure was inversely associated with GSH levels in both passive and active smokers, suggesting that smoke particulate components’ toxicity is associated with a systemic GSH depletion. Paradoxically, the lowest AOPP levels which were positively associated with GSH, were recorded in active smoking patients whereas in passive smokers individual values of AOPPs decreased along with the increase in GSH levels. Our data suggest that an enhanced inhalation of particulate constituents of cigarette smoke could induce critical changes in systemic redox homeostasis and GSH can no longer exert its antioxidant role

Self-Healing of Pluronic® F127 Hydrogels in the Presence of Various Polysaccharides

Thermoresponsive Pluronic® F127 (PL) gels in water were investigated through rheological tests in different shear conditions. The gel strength was tuned with the addition of 1% polysaccharide solution. In the presence of xanthan gum (XG), the viscoelastic behavior of PL-based hydrogels was improved in aqueous environment, but the rheological behavior was less changed with the addition of XG in PBS solutions, whereas in the presence of 0.1 M NaCl, the viscoelastic parameters decreased. PL micellar networks exhibited a self-healing ability, recovering their initial structure after applying cycles of high strain. The rheological characteristics of the PL hydrogel changed with the addition of 1% polysaccharides (xanthan gum, alginate, κ-carrageenan, gellan, or chitosan). PL/polysaccharide systems form temperature-responsive hydrogels with shear thinning behavior, yield stress, and self-healing ability, being considered a versatile platform for injectable biomaterials or bioinks. Thus, in the presence of xanthan gum in aqueous medium, the gel strength was improved after applying a high strain (the values of elastic modulus increased). The other investigated natural polymers induced specific self-healing behaviors. Good performances were observed with the addition of gellan gum, alginate, and κ-carrageenan, but for high values of strain, the ability to recover the initial structure decreased. A modest self-healing behavior was observed in the presence of chitosan and xanthan gum dissolved in NaCl solution

Relationships Between Serum Expression of IGF-1 and Metabolic Syndrome Metrics in Syrian Women with Breast Cancer

Background and aims: Insulin-like Growth Factors (IGF-1) plays as mediator between metabolic syndrome (MetS), oxidative stress and breast cancer (BrCa) progression. The objective of this study was to examine the relationships between IGF-1 serum levels and metabolic profile biomarkers in a population group of BrCa patients

Oxidative stress and xenobiotic detoxification enzymes in rat astrocytes: Correlations with brain aging

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