Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells enhance engraftment, vasculogenic and pro-angiogenic activities of endothelial colony forming cells in immunocompetent hosts

The clinical use of endothelial colony forming cells (ECFC) is hampered by their restricted engraftment. We aimed to assess engraftment, vasculogenic and pro-angiogenic activities of ECFC in immunocompetent (C57BL/6: WT) or immunodeficient (rag1−/−C57BL/6: Rag1) mice. In addition, the impact of host immune system was investigated where ECFC were co-implanted with mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) from adult bone marrow (AdBM-MSC), fetal bone marrow (fBM-MSC), fetal placental (fPL-MSC), or maternal placental (MPL-MSC). Transplantation of ECFCs in Matrigel plugs resulted in less cell engraftment in WT mice compared to Rag1 mice. Co-implantation with different MSCs resulted in a significant increase in cell engraftment up to 9 fold in WT mice reaching levels of engraftment observed when using ECFCs alone in Rag1 mice but well below levels of engraftment with MSC-ECFC combination in Rag1 recipients. Furthermore, MSCs did not reduce murine splenic T cell proliferation in response to ECFCs in vitro. ECFCs enhanced the murine neo-vascularization through paracrine effect, but with no difference between Rag1 and WT mice. In conclusions, the host adaptive immune system affects the engraftment of ECFCs. MSC co-implantation improves ECFC engraftment and function even in immunocompetent hosts mostly through non-immune mechanisms

Coastal flood: a composite method for past events characterisation providing insights in past, present and future hazards—joining historical, statistical and modelling approaches

International audienc

Homeopathy: from tradition to science?

Homeopathy is a form of therapy based on the similarity (\u201csimilia similibus curantur\u201d, like cures like), whose popularity is increasing but whose scientific basis is still under discussion. Starting from the premise that it is a \u201cholistic\u201d medicine, programmatically aimed at the whole person in its entirety and individuality, here we go through an overview of his history, basic concepts and scientific evidence. This therapy was founded by Samuel Hahnemann in the late 18th century, although similar concepts existed previously. It has spread around the world in the 19th century, in part because of its success in epidemics outbreaks, but declined during most of the 20th century. Its popularity was increased in the late 20th and early 21st century in many parts of the world and today stands the problem of its integration with conventional medicine. There are different schools of homeopathy. Homeopathy is controversial mainly because of its use of highly diluted medicines, but there is growing evidence that is not a mere placebo. There is a significant body of clinical research including randomized clinical trials suggesting that homeopathy has an effectiveness in curing many symptoms and in improving the quality of life of patients. Cohort studies, observational and economic have produced favorable results. Despite the long history of scientific controversy, homeopathy is an \u201canomaly\u201d of modern medicine that deserves further investigation for its potential scientific and ethical merits