Morphological and Receptorial Changes in the Epididymal Adipose Tissue of Rats Subjected to a Stressful Stimulus.

Obesity is nowadays related to other pathological conditions such as inflammation, insulin resistance, and diabetes, but little is known about the relationship between psychological stress and adipocytes. We decided to study the expression of the translocator protein (TSPO) 18-kDa, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-\u3b3 (PPAR-\u3b3), mitochondrial uncoupling protein-1 (UCP-1), and adipocyte morphology in the adipose tissue of rats subjected to stress conditions. In our model of stress, rats fasted for 24 h were placed in a restraint cage and then immersed vertically to the level of the xiphoid process in a water bath at 23 \ub0C for 7 h. After that period, we removed the epididymal adipose tissues for the subsequent analysis. The optical and electron microscopy revealed that adipocytes of control rats formed a continuous epithelial-like cell layer; on the contrary in the adipocytes of stressed rats some cells have merged together and the number of vessels formed seems to increase. Stressed adipocytes presented unilocular cells with numerous mitochondria with a morphology ranging between that of brown adipose tissue (BAT) and white adipose tissue (WAT). Interestingly, when we investigated the subcellular distribution of UCP-1 by immunogold electron microscopy, the adipose tissue of stressed rats was positive for UCP-1. From the immunoblot analysis with anti-PPAR-\u3b3 antibody, we observed an increased expression of PPAR-\u3b3 in the adipocytes of stressed group compared with control group (P < 0.05). Stress induced the expression of TSPO 18-kDa receptor (B(max) = 106.45 \ub1 5.87 fmol/mg proteins), which is undetectable by saturation-binding assay with [(3)H]PK 11195 in the control group

Geoquímica sedimentaria y tasas de acumulación en la plataforma nororiental del golfo de Cádiz (SO de la península Ibérica)

Geochemistry, total organic carbon and total nitrogen of three sediment cores collected in the Gulf of Cádiz and the Guadalquivir prodelta areas in Spain were investigated. The C/N ratio, mostly around 10, seems to indicate a predominantly marine origin for the sedimentary organic matter. Major and minor elements (Si, Ti, Al, Fe, Mg, Ca, K, Na, P, S) and trace elements (Mn, Sc, V, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Ba, Ce, Pb, Hg) showed significant differences in bulk chemical composition between the two areas. Despite the effects of bioturbation, vertical changes in downcore profiles of heavy metals occur only in the cores of the Cádiz area, although the concentrations keep to low levels. The relatively high concentrations of Zr and Y, elements commonly associated with the heavy minerals fraction, at the top of cores from the Cádiz area are attributed to an enrichment of heavy minerals related to selective transport that concentrates this fraction. 137Cs and 210Pb activities in one of the two sediment cores collected in the Gulf of Cádiz were also measured. The distribution of excess 210Pb was used to determine the modern (last 100 yr) mass accumulation rate and the depth of sediment mixing on the continental shelf of the gulf. Estimated sediment accumulation rate was 0.1 g cm-2 yr-1. The uppermost 4 cm had uniform excess 210Pb activity profiles above a region of steadily decreasing 210Pb activity, and this phenomenon was attributed to sediment mixing (bioturbation). 137Cs activity was lower than 3 Bq kg-1 and the profile does not show evidence of fallout peaks.Se ha estudiado la geoquímica, el carbono orgánico total y el nitrógeno total de tres testigos de sedimento tomados en el área del Golfo de Cádiz así como en el área del prodelta del río Guadalquivir (España). El cociente C/N, con un valor alrededor de 10, parece indicar un origen predominantemente marino para la materia orgánica sedimentaria. Elementos mayoritarios y minoritarios (Si, Ti, Al, Fe, Mg, Ca, K, Na, P, S) y oligoelementos (Mn, Sc, V, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Ba, Ce, Pb, Hg) muestran diferencias significativas en el grueso de la composición química entre las dos áreas. A pesar de los efectos de la bioturbación, sólo aparecen cambios verticales en los perfiles de metales traza de los testigos del área de Cádiz, si bien las concentraciones se mantuvieron en niveles bajos. Las concentraciones relativamente altas de Zr y Y, elementos generalmente asociados a fracciones de minerales pesados, en la parte superior de los testigos del área de Cádiz se atribuyen a un enriquecimiento de minerales pesados relacionado con el transporte selectivo que ayuda a concentrar esta fracción. También se han medido las actividades de 137Cs y 210Pb en uno de los dos testigos de sedimento tomados en el Golfo de Cádiz. Se ha empleado la distribución de exceso de 210Pb para determinar la tasa reciente de acumulación de masa (para los últimos 100 años), así como la profundidad de mezcla de sedimentos en la plataforma continental del golfo. La tasa de acumulación de sedimentos estimada fue de 0.1 g -2 yr-1. Los 4 cm superiores mostraron unos perfiles de exceso de actividad de 210Pb uniformes, por encima de una región de firme actividad decreciente en actividad de 210Pb y este fenómeno se atribuyó a mezcla del sedimento (bioturbación). La actividad de 137Cs fue inferior a 3 Bq kg-1 sin presentar los perfiles evidencias de picos debidos a lluvia radiactiva

Economic evaluation of a bioinductive implant for the repair of rotator cuff tears compared with standard surgery in Italy

Introduction: Rotator cuff tear (RCT) is a painful, progressive condition resulting from damage to the rotator cuff tendons and is the leading cause of shoulder-related disability. Surgical repair of rotator cuff is an established standard of care (SOC); however, failure of the procedure can occur. In this context, the use of collagen-based bioinductive implant REGENETEN showed long-term improvements in clinical scores. The aim of the study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of REGENETEN combined with SOC (SOC + REGENETEN) compared to SOC alone from both National Healthcare Service (NHS) and societal perspectives in Italy. Methods: A decision analytic model was developed to estimate the number of tears healed and costs for the two considered treatment strategies over 1 year. Clinical data were retrieved from the literature, and the clinical pathways for the management of patients with RCTs were retrieved from four key opinion leaders in Italy. Results: Over a 1-year time horizon, healed lesions were 90.70% and 72.90% for surgical repair of RCTs with and without REGENETEN, respectively. Considering the NHS perspective, mean costs per patient were €7828 and €4650 for the two strategies, respectively, leading to an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of €17,857 per healed tear. From the societal perspective, the mean costs per patient were €12,659 for SOC and €11,784 for REGENETEN, thus showing savings of €4918 per healed tear when the bioinductive implant is used. The sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of the model results. Conclusion: In the context of paucity of cost-effectiveness studies, our findings provide additional evidence for clinicians and payers regarding the value of a new treatment option that supports a tailored approach for the management of patients with RCTs

Estimation of interaction energy and contact stiffness in atomic-scale sliding on a model sodium chloride surface in ethanol

Friction force microscopy (FFM) in aqueous environments has recently proven to be a very effective method for lattice-resolution imaging of crystal surfaces. Here we demonstrate the use of ethanol for similar measurements on water-soluble materials. Lattice resolved frictional stick-slip traces of a cleaved NaCl(100) surface submerged in ethanol are compared with previous obtained FFM results in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV). We use the Prandtl-Tomlinson framework to estimate the amplitude of the corrugation potential and the contact stiffness. The surface potential amplitude scales with the applied normal loads are in good agreement with data obtained for NaCl measured under UHV conditions, but demonstrates deviations from the ideal periodic potential given by the Prandtl-Tomlinson model. An additional finding is that the use of ethanol allows us to explore higher load ranges without detectable evidence of surface wear. The contact stiffness does not vary significantly with the normal load up to 38 nN, while above it a sudden increase by almost one order of magnitude was observed. Comparing this to previous results suggests that considerable atom rearrangements may occur in the contact region, although the (100) surface structure is preserved by ethanol-assisted diffusion of Na and Cl ions

Friction and Wear of Mineral Surfaces in Liquid Environments

Lateral Force Microscopy (LFM) is a very suitable technique to investigate the structure and reactivity of mineral surfaces in liquids. Studies performed in the last two decades have shown that the dissolution and growth of mineral surfaces immersed in water and aqueous solutions can be monitored by recording friction signals with LFM. Moreover, the sensitivity of lateral forces to both structure and chemistry makes possible to use LFM to obtain information about monolayers formed on mineral faces. Finally, numerous mineral surfaces are excellent substrates on which nanoparticles and complex organic molecules can be deposited and subsequently imaged and manipulated. This opens the way to future applications in molecular electronics. This chapter presents an overview of the recent use of LFM in liquid to investigate mineral surfaces and processes occurring on them

Instability/stiffness in elbow fracture dislocation

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Significant low prevalence of antibodies reacting with simian virus 40 mimotopes in serum samples from patients affected by inflammatory neurologic diseases, including multiple sclerosis

Many investigations were carried out on the association between viruses and multiple sclerosis (MS). Indeed, early studies reported the detections of neurotropic virus footprints in the CNS of patients with MS. In this study, sera from patients affected by MS, other inflammatory (OIND) and non-inflammatory neurologic diseases (NIND) were analyzed for antibodies against the polyomavirus, Simian Virus 40 (SV40). An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), with two synthetic peptides, which mimic SV40 antigens, was employed to detect specific antibodies in sera from patients affected by MS, OIND, NIND and healthy subjects (HS). Immunologic data indicate that in sera from MS patients antibodies against SV40 mimotopes are detectable with a low prevalence, 6%, whereas in HS of the same mean age, 40 yrs, the prevalence was 22%. The difference is statistically significant (P = 0.001). Significant is also the difference between MS vs. NIND patients (6% vs. 17%; P = 0.0254), whereas no significant difference was detected between MS vs OIND (6% vs 10%; P>0.05). The prevalence of SV40 antibodies in MS patients is 70% lower than that revealed in HS

Cyto/Biocompatibility of Dopamine Combined with the Antioxidant Grape Seed-Derived Polyphenol Compounds in Solid Lipid Nanoparticles

none10The loss of nigrostriatal neurons containing dopamine (DA) together with the “mitochondrial dysfunction” in midbrain represent the two main causes related to the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Hence, the aim of this investigation is to co-administer the missing DA and the antioxidant grape seed-derived proanthocyanidins (grape seed extract, GSE) in order to increase the levels of the neurotransmitter (which is unable to cross the Blood Brain Barrier) and reducing the oxidative stress (OS) related to PD, respectively. Methods: For this purpose, we chose Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLN), because they have been already proven to increase DA uptake in the brain. DA-SLN adsorbing GSE (GSE/DA-SLN) were formulated and subjected to physico-chemical characterization, and their cytocompatibility and protection against OS were examined. Results: GSE was found on SLN surface and release studies evidenced the efficiency of GSE in preventing DA autoxidation. Furthermore, SLN showed high mucoadhesive strength and were found not cytotoxic to both primary Olfactory Ensheathing and neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells by MTT test. Co-administration of GSE/DA-SLN and the OS-inducing neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (100 μM) resulted in an increase of SH-SY5Y cell viability. Conclusions: Hence, SLN formulations containing DA and GSE may constitute interesting candidates for non-invasive nose-to-brain delivery.openAdriana Trapani, Lorenzo Guerra, Filomena Corbo, Stefano Castellani, Enrico Sanna, Loredana Capobianco, Anna Grazia Monteduro, Daniela Erminia Manno, Delia Mandracchia, Sante Di Gioia and Massimo ConeseTrapani, Adriana; Guerra, Lorenzo; Corbo, Filomena; Castellani, Stefano; Sanna, Enrico; Capobianco, Loredana; Monteduro, ANNA GRAZIA; Manno, Daniela Erminia; Mandracchia, Delia; Di Gioia and Massimo Conese, Sant

„Haltung provozieren“. Ein Gespräch über Möglichkeiten der Kooperation zwischen universitären Lehrveranstaltungen und stadtpolitischen Initiativen

Im Wintersemester 2014/15 fand am Institut für Architektur der TU Berlin eine außergewöhnliche Lehrkooperation statt. Unter dem Namen „Projekt X-Berg“ hat sich das Fachgebiet für Städtebau und Urbanisierung CUD gemeinsam mit der Initiative „Stadt von Unten“, dem „Mietshäuser Syndika“t und der „Kooperations- und Beratungsstelle für Umweltfragen“ KUBUS (ZEWK, TU Berlin) ein Semester lang mit den Potenzialen der Produktion von Stadt als Gemeingut beschäftigt.Mit Lehrbeauftragten und Teilnehmer_innen des Projektes haben wir über die Synergieeffekte und Erkenntnisgewinne, über das gesellschaftskritische Potenzial, aber auch über die Dilemmata eines Lehrformats gesprochen, in dem die Grenzen zwischen Lehre und Forschung, zwischen akademischer und aktivistischer Wissensproduktion und zwischen Seminardebatten und realen stadtpolitischen Kämpfen bewusst überschritten werden