Quality of primary care for children: Autism Spectrum Disorders and Immunization indicators in the EU MOCHA project

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Evaluation of skin temperature change as stress indicator in rabbit through infrared thermography

AbstractStress-induced reactions in animals include behavioural and physiological modifications aiming at coping towards the stressor, such as manipulations. Thermography, that is the detection of ..

When data sharing gets close to 100%. What human paleogenetics can teach the open science movement

This study analyzes data sharing regarding mitochondrial, Y chromosomal and autosomal polymorphisms in a total of 162 papers on ancient human DNA published between 1988 and 2013. The estimated sharing rate was not far from totality (97.6% ± 2.1%) and substantially higher than observed in other fields of genetic research (evolutionary, medical and forensic genetics). Both a questionnaire-based survey and the examination of Journals’ editorial policies suggest that this high sharing rate cannot be simply explained by the need to comply with stakeholders requests. Most data were made available through body text, but the use of primary databases increased in coincidence with the introduction of complete mitochondrial and next-generation sequencing methods. Our study highlights three important aspects. First, our results imply that researchers’ awareness of the importance of openness and transparency for scientific progress may complement stakeholders’ policies in achieving very high sharing rates. Second, widespread data sharing does not necessarily coincide with a prevalent use of practices which maximize data findability, accessibility, useability and preservation. A detailed look at the different ways in which data are released can be very useful to detect failures to adopt the best sharing modalities and understand how to correct them. Third and finally, the case of human paleogenetics tells us that a widespread awareness of the importance of Open Science may be important to build reliable scientific practices even in the presence of complex experimental challenges

Resveratrol promotes myogenesis and hypertrophy in murine myoblasts

Background: Nutrigenomics elucidate the ability of bioactive food components to influence gene expression, protein synthesis, degradation and post-translational modifications.Resveratrol (RSV), natural polyphenol found in grapes and in other fruits, has a plethora of health benefits in a variety of human diseases: cardio- and neuroprotection, immune regulation, cancer chemoprevention, DNA repair, prevention of mitochondrial disorder, avoidance of obesity-related diseases. In skeletal muscle, RSV acts on protein catabolism and muscle function, conferring resistance against oxidative stress, injury and cell death, but its action mechanisms and protein targets in myogenesis process are not completely known. Myogenesis is a dynamic multistep process regulated by Myogenic Regulator Factors (MRFs), responsible of the commitment of myogenic cell into skeletal muscle: mononucleated undifferentiated myoblasts break free from cell cycle, elongate and fuse to form multinucleated myotubes. Skeletal muscle hypertrophy can be defined as a result of an increase in the size of pre-existing skeletal muscle fibers accompanied by increased protein synthesis, mainly regulated by Insulin Like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1), PI3-K/AKT signaling pathways.Aim of this work was the study of RSV effects on proliferation, differentiation process and hypertrophy in C2C12 murine cells.Methods: To study proliferative phase, cells were incubated in growth medium with/without RSV (0.1 or 25 \u3bcM) until reaching sub confluence condition (24, 48, 72 h). To examine differentiation, at 70% confluence, cells were transferred in differentiation medium both with/without RSV (0.1 or 25 \u3bcM) for 24, 48, 72, 96 hours. After 72 hours of differentiation, the genesis of hypertrophy in neo-formed myotubes was analyzed.Results: Data showed that RSV regulates cell cycle exit and induces C2C12 muscle differentiation. Furthermore, RSV might control MRFs and muscle-specific proteins synthesis. In late differentiation, RSV has positive effects on hypertrophy: RSV stimulates IGF-1 signaling pathway, in particular AKT and ERK 1/2 protein activation, AMPK protein level and induces hypertrophic morphological changes in neo-formed myotubes modulating cytoskeletal proteins expression.Conclusions: RSV might control cell cycle promoting myogenesis and hypertrophy in vitro, opening a novel field of application of RSV in clinical conditions characterized by chronic functional and morphological muscle impairment

Metabolic and hormonal studies of Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients after successful pancreas and kidney transplantation

Long-term normalization of glucose metabolism is necessary to prevent or ameliorate diabetic complications. Although pancreatic grafting is able to restore normal blood glucose and glycated haemoglobin, the degree of normalization of the deranged diabetic metabolism after pancreas transplantation is still questionable. Consequently glucose, insulin, C-peptide, glucagon, and pancreatic polypeptide responses to oral glucose and i.v. arginine were measured in 36 Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic recipients of pancreas and kidney allografts and compared to ten healthy control subjects. Despite normal HbA1 (7.2±0.2%; normal <8%) glucose disposal was normal only in 44% and impaired in 56% of the graft recipients. Normalization of glucose tolerance was achieved at the expense of hyperinsulinaemia in 52% of the subjects. C-peptide and glucagon were normal, while pancreatic polypeptide was significantly higher in the graft recipients. Intravenous glucose tolerance (n=21) was normal in 67% and borderline in 23%. Biphasic insulin release was seen in patients with normal glucose tolerance. Glucose tolerance did not deteriorate up to 7 years post-transplant. In addition, stress hormone release (cortisol, growth hormone, prolactin, glucagon, catecholamines) to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia was examined in 20 graft recipients and compared to eight healthy subjects. Reduced blood glucose decline indicates insulin resistance, but glucose recovery was normal, despite markedly reduced catecholamine and glucagon release. These data demonstrate the effectiveness of pancreatic grafting in normalizing glucose metabolism, although hyperinsulinaemia and deranged counterregulatory hormone response are observed frequently

Graded Poisson-Sigma Models and Dilaton-Deformed 2D Supergravity Algebra

Fermionic extensions of generic 2d gravity theories obtained from the graded Poisson-Sigma model (gPSM) approach show a large degree of ambiguity. In addition, obstructions may reduce the allowed range of fields as given by the bosonic theory, or even prohibit any extension in certain cases. In our present work we relate the finite W-algebras inherent in the gPSM algebra of constraints to algebras which can be interpreted as supergravities in the usual sense (Neuveu-Schwarz or Ramond algebras resp.), deformed by the presence of the dilaton field. With very straightforward and natural assumptions on them --like demanding rigid supersymmetry in a certain flat limit, or linking the anti-commutator of certain fermionic charges to the Hamiltonian constraint-- in the ``genuine'' supergravity obtained in this way the ambiguities disappear, as well as the obstructions referred to above. Thus all especially interesting bosonic models (spherically reduced gravity, the Jackiw-Teitelboim model etc.)\ under these conditions possess a unique fermionic extension and are free from new singularities. The superspace supergravity model of Howe is found as a special case of this supergravity action. For this class of models the relation between bosonic potential and prepotential does not introduce obstructions as well.Comment: 22 pages, LaTeX, JHEP class. v3: Final version, to appear in JHE

A refinement approach in a mouse model of rehabilitation research. analgesia strategy, reduction approach and infrared thermography in spinal cord injury

The principles of Refinement, Replacement and Reduction (3R's) should be taken into account when animals must be used for scientific purpose. Here, a Reduction / Refinement approach was applied to the procedure of spinal cord injury (SCI), an animal model used in rehabilitation medicine research, in order to improve the quality of experiments, avoiding unnecessary suffering. The aims of this investigation were 1- to assess acute surgical pain in mice subjected to SCI, 2- to compare the efficacy of commonly used analgesia (three buprenorphine subcutaneous injection in 48 hours, 0,15 mg/kg each) with a combination of opioid and NSAID (one subcutaneous injection of 5 mg/kg carprofen before surgery followed by three buprenorphine subcutaneous injection in 48 hours, 0,15 mg/kg each) and 3- to test if Infrared Thermography (IRT) could be a potential new Refinement method to easily assess thermoregulation, an important metabolic parameter. Finally, we aimed to achieve these goals without recruiting animals on purpose, but using mice already scheduled for studies on SCI. By using behaviours analysis, we found that, despite being commonly used, buprenorphine does not completely relieve acute surgical pain, whereas the combination of buprenorphine and carprofen significantly decreases pain signs by 80%. IRT technology turned out to be a very useful Refinement tool being a non invasive methods to measure animal temperature, particularly useful when rectal probe cannot be used, as in the case of SCI. We could find that temperatures constantly and significantly increased until 7 days after surgery and then slowly decreased and, finally, we could observe that in the buprenorphine and carprofen treated group, temperatures were statistically lower than in the buprenorphine-alone treated mice. To our knowledge this is the first work providing an analgesic Refinement and a description of thermoregulatory response using the IRT technology, in mice subjected to SCI

Composite foams made from biodegradable polymers for food packaging applications

Polymeric foams are cell structures (porous microstructures) that have been frequently made from synthetic polymers for use in the development of food packaging. Due to the problems concerning the environmental impact caused by polymers from the petrochemical industry, the foams have been more recently studied from biodegradable polymers. However, the polymer materials obtained are usually susceptible to moisture, thus conditioning the collapse of the porous structure of the material. As an alternative, the composite foams have been investigated from nanofillers such as clays, cellulose, nanoparticles, among others. This chapter aims to analyze the recent advances in the studies of composite foams.Fil: Araque Moreno, Luis Miguel. Federal University Of Piauí; BrasilFil: Alvarez, Vera Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Gutiérrez Carmona, Tomy José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; Argentin

RISC-mediated control of selected chromatin regulators stabilizes ground state pluripotency of mouse embryonic stem cells.

BACKGROUND: Embryonic stem cells are intrinsically unstable and differentiate spontaneously if they are not shielded from external stimuli. Although the nature of such instability is still controversial, growing evidence suggests that protein translation control may play a crucial role. RESULTS: We performed an integrated analysis of RNA and proteins at the transition between naïve embryonic stem cells and cells primed to differentiate. During this transition, mRNAs coding for chromatin regulators are specifically released from translational inhibition mediated by RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). This suggests that, prior to differentiation, the propensity of embryonic stem cells to change their epigenetic status is hampered by RNA interference. The expression of these chromatin regulators is reinstated following acute inactivation of RISC and it correlates with loss of stemness markers and activation of early cell differentiation markers in treated embryonic stem cells. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that RISC-mediated inhibition of specific sets of chromatin regulators is a primary mechanism for preserving embryonic stem cell pluripotency while inhibiting the onset of embryonic developmental programs.This work was funded by: FIRB RBAP10L8TY (MIUR), Fondazione Roma and PAINCAGE FP7 Collaborative Project number 603191 (RB,MD); Flagship Project InterOmics PB.05 and MIUR-PRIN-2012 (FC); Wellcome Trust Core Grant reference 092096 and Cancer Research UK Grant Reference C6946/A14492 (LP); CRUK-Cambridge Institute Core Grant reference C14303/A17197 (DB)