The Alcoholic Bark Extract of Terminalia Arjuna Exhibits Cytotoxic and Cytostatic Activity on Jurkat Leukemia Cells

Abstract: Background: Natural products are characterized by complex chemical composition and are capable of concurrently modulate several signalling pathways. Considering the biological com- plexity of carcinogenesis, natural products represent key components of the therapeutic armamen- tarium for oncological diseases. The bark of Terminalia arjuna is used in traditional Ayurvedic medicine for its astringent, expectorant, cardiotonic, styptic, and antidysenteric properties. Along- side its traditional uses, Terminalia arjuna exhibits different biological activities including an- timutagenic and anticarcinogenic. Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the toxic effects of an alcoholic extract obtained from the bark of T. arjuna on a human T-lymphoblastic cell line (Jurkat). We explored the phyto- chemical composition and investigated the cytotoxic, cytostatic, genotoxic, and anti-genotoxic effects. Methods: The phytochemical composition was analyzed using spectrophotometric methods; all the biological endpoints were assessed through flow cytometry. Results: The phytochemical screening showed that polyphenols represent about 64% of the extract. Moreover, the extract was cytotoxic on Jurkat cells by inducing both apoptosis and necrosis and blocked the cell cycle in the G2/M phase. Additionally, it was found that the extract lacks any geno- toxic effect, but was not effective in protecting Jurkat cells from the DNA damage induced by H2O2 and etoposide. Conclusion: The results of our study show the toxic effects of Terminalia arjuna on Jurkat cells and confirm the pivotal role played by natural compounds in the oncological field. Further studies should be performed to better understand its clinical potential and deepen its toxicological profile

Attachment, Self-Esteem and Shame in Emerging Adulthood

AbstractAttachment styles are critical to the organization and representation of self and for regulating emotions. 209students between the ages of 19 and 24 completed three self-report measures on attachment styles, self-esteem and feelings of shame. Males showed higher self-esteem and lower feelings of shame. In the entire sample, securely attached students reported a higher level of self-esteem and a lower level of shame than insecurely attached students. Moreover, this study showed a relationship between insecure attachment, low self-esteem and shame.The present study suggests the relevance of attachment styles and self-esteem for the understanding of feelings of shame among emerging adults.This can have important implications for the development of preventative measures to reduce the risk of a disorder

A Network of X-Band Meteorological Radars to Support the Motorway System (Campania Region Meteorological Radar Network Project)

he transport sector and road infrastructures are very sensitive to the issues connected to the atmospheric conditions. The latter constitute a source of relevant risk, especially for roads running in mountainous areas, where a wide spectrum of meteorological phenomena, such as rain showers, snow, hail, wind gusts and ice, threatens drivers’ safety. In such contexts, to face out critical situations it is essential to develop a monitoring system that is able to capillary surveil specific sectors or very small basins, providing real time information that may be crucial to preserve lives and assets. In this work, we present the results of the “Campania Region Meteorological Radar Network”, which is focused on the development of X-band radar-based meteorological products that can support highway traffic management and maintenance. The X-band measurements provided by two single-polarization systems, properly integrated with the observations supplied by disdrometers and conventional automatic weather stations, were involved in the following main tasks: (i) the development of a radar composite product; (ii) the devise of a probability of hail index; (iii) the real time discrimination of precipitation type (rain, mixed and snow); (iv) the development of a snowfall rate estimator. The performance of these products was assessed for two case studies, related to a relevant summer hailstorm (which occurred on 1 August 2020) and to a winter precipitation event (which occurred on 13 February 2021). In both cases, the X-band radar-based tools proved to be useful for the stakeholders involved in the management of highway traffic, providing a reliable characterization of precipitation events and of the fast-changing vertical structure of convective cells

Discovery of Sulforaphane as an Inducer of Ferroptosis in U-937 Leukemia Cells: Expanding Its Anticancer Potential

In recent years, natural compounds have emerged as inducers of non-canonical cell death. The isothiocyanate sulforaphane (SFN) is a well-known natural anticancer compound with remarkable pro-apoptotic activity. Its ability to promote non-apoptotic cell-death mechanisms remains poorly investigated. This work aimed to explore the capacity of SFN to induce non-apoptotic cell death modalities. SFN was tested on different acute myeloid leukemia cell lines. The mechanism of cell death was investigated using a multi-parametric approach including fluorescence microscopy, western blotting, and flow cytometry. SFN triggered different cell-death modalities in a dose-dependent manner. At 25 μM, SFN induced caspase-dependent apoptosis and at 50 μM ferroptosis was induced through depletion of glutathione (GSH), decreased GSH peroxidase 4 protein expression, and lipid peroxidation. In contrast, necroptosis was not involved in SFN-induced cell death, as demonstrated by the non-significant increase in phosphorylation of receptor-interacting protein kinase 3 and phosphorylation of the necroptotic effector mixed lineage kinase domain-like pseudokinase. Taken together, our results suggest that the antileukemic activity of SFN can be mediated via both ferroptotic and apoptotic cell death modalities

Short wheat challenge is a reproducible in-vivo assay to detect immune response to gluten.

It has been reported that interferon (IFN)-γ-secreting T cells reactive to gluten can be detected in the peripheral blood of individuals with treated coeliac disease (CD) after a short consumption of wheat-containing food. By contrast, very little is known about the reproducibility of this in-vivo procedure in the same patient cohort which underwent two, or more, gluten consumptions. Fourteen coeliac patients in remission consumed wheat bread for 3 days; 13 underwent a second gluten challenge after a wash-out of 3-10 months on a strict gluten-free diet. Immune reactivity to gluten was analysed in peripheral blood by detecting IFN-γ before and 6 days after commencing a gluten diet. Gliadin-specific IFN-γ-secreting CD4(+) T cells increased significantly on day 6 of the first challenge. These cells resulted as prevalently human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DQ restricted and with a phenotype of gut homing, as suggested by the expression of β7-integrin. Similarly, reactiveness to gliadin was observed after the second wheat consumption, although with an individual variability of responses at each challenge. Our findings confirmed that the short wheat challenge is a non-invasive approach to investigate the gluten-related immune response in peripheral blood of subjects intolerant to gluten. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the in-vivo procedure can be reproduced in the same subject cohort after a gluten wash-out of at least 3 months. Our study has important implications for the application of this procedure to clinical practice

Poland Syndrome with atypical malformations associated to a de novo 1.5 Mb Xp22.31 duplication

Poland's syndrome (PS; OMIM 173800) is a rare congenital syndrome which consists of absence or hypoplasia of the pectoralis muscle. Other features can be variably associated, including rib defects. On the affected side other features (such as of breast and nipple anomalies, lack of subcutaneous tissue and skin annexes, hand anomalies, visceral, and vertebral malformation) have been variably documented. To date, association of PS with central nervous system malformation has been rarely reported remaining poorly understood and characterized. We report a left-sided PS patient carrying a de novo 1.5 Mb Xp22.31 duplication diagnosed in addiction to strabismus, optic nerves and chiasm hypoplasia, corpus callosum abnormalities, ectopic neurohypophysis, pyelic ectasia, and neurodevelopmental delay. Since, to our knowledge, this features' association has not been previously reported, we argue that this case may contribute to further widening of the variability of PS phenotype

Job performance in chronic hepatitis C virus patients treated with pegylated interferon-α2b plus ribavirin: an observational study

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Circulating Levels of Ferritin, RDW, PTLs as Predictive Biomarkers of Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation Risk after Cardiac Surgery in Extracorporeal Circulation

Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is the most common arrhythmia after cardiac surgery in conventional extracorporeal circulation (CECC), with an incidence of 15-50%. The POAF pathophysiology is not known, and no blood biomarkers exist. However, an association between increased ferritin levels and increased AF risk, has been demonstrated. Based on such evidence, here, we evaluated the effectiveness of ferritin and other haematological parameters as POAF risk biomarkers in patients subjected to cardiac surgery. We enrolled 105 patients (mean age = 70.1 +/- 7.1 years; 70 men and 35 females) with diverse heart pathologies and who were subjected to cardiothoracic surgery. Their blood samples were collected and used to determine hematological parameters. Electrocardiographic and echocardiographic parameters were also evaluated. The data obtained demonstrated significantly higher levels of serum ferritin, red cell distribution width (RDW), and platelets (PLTs) in POAF patients. However, the serum ferritin resulted to be the independent factor associated with the onset POAF risk. Thus, we detected the ferritin cut-off value, which, when >= 148.5 ng/mL, identifies the subjects at the highest POAF risk, and with abnormal ECG atrial parameters, such as PW indices, and altered structural heart disease variables. Serum ferritin, RDW, and PTLs represent predictive biomarkers of POAF after cardiothoracic surgery in CECC; particularly, serum ferritin combined with anormal PW indices and structural heart disease variables can represent an optimal tool for predicting not only POAF, but also the eventual stroke onset

Cerebral palsy and epilepsy in children. clinical perspectives on a common comorbidity

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a frequent cause of childhood disability often associated with a complex group of disorders, including epilepsy, which is reported to impact approximately 40% of affected individuals. This retrospective study involved a group of children affected by CP, some of whom also had comorbid epilepsy. The aim of this study was to report our experience of analyzing, in particular, (a) some of the clinical aspects of the different type of CP, and (b) the relationship between the clinical data of children affected by CP plus epilepsy and each type of CP

Model Numerikal Reservoir Sistem Panasbumi Pada Daerah Topografi Relatif Datar Untuk Mencari Kondisi Natural State Dan Menganalisa Sensitivitas Panas Pada Reservoir Menggunakan Software Tough2

Telah dilakukan pemodelan reservoir menggunakan software Tough2 dengan data sintetik, berupa data permeabilitas dan pororsitas. Dimana terdiri dari 4 lapisan, yaitu lapisan overburden, lapisan clay caps, lapisan recharge area + lapisan reservoir (berada pada lapisan yang sama), dan lapisan basement dengan tujuan untuk menganalisa sensitivitas panas, serta untuk mencari kondisi natural state (natural state merupakan kondisi setimbang, yaitu dimana kondisi tekanan, temperatur dan kondisi reservoirnya tidak berubah terhadap waktu).Dari hasil pemodelan reservoir oleh Tough2 didapat bahwa kondisi natural state selama 2,20857E+4 tahun, dimana terjadi penurunan suhu dari kondisi natural state tanpa sumur produksi berbanding kondisi natural state dengan sumur produksi, dimana suhu pada saat kondisi natural state tanpa sumur produksi sebesar 245OC dan suhu pada saat kondisi natural state dengan sumur produksi sebesar 235OC pada kedalaman 1350 m. Sedangkan untuk penggunaan rate 20 kg/s, 25 kg/s, 30 kg/s dan 35 kg/s untuk melihat sensitivitas heat nya, didapatkan bahwa semakin besar nilai rate yang dipakai dalam suatu sumur produksi, maka akan menurunnya nilai temperatur di sumur produksi tersebut