Age-dependent alterations of cigarette smoke-induced oxidative and inflammatory responses in rats

Oral PresentationBACKGROUND: Cigarette smoking (CS) is a leading cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The prevalence of COPD is much higher among the elderly. However, the impact of early-age CS exposure on CS induced COPD is unknown. This study aimed to investigate whether CS-induced oxidative and inflammatory responses were ...published_or_final_versionThe 17th Medical Research Conference, Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 14 January 2012. In Hong Kong Medical Journal, 2012, v. 18 n. 1, suppl. 1, p. 39, abstract no. 5

(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate Reduces Cigarette Smoke-Induced Airway Neutrophilic Inflammation and Mucin Hypersecretion in Rats

published_or_final_versio

The effect of human mesenchymal stem cell on cigarette smoke-induced alterations of cardiac function and lipid metabolism in rat

Oral PresentationINTRODUCTION: Cigarette smoking is recognised as a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) were reported to attenuate cardiac injury of myocardial infarction. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of bone marrow–derived MSCs (BM-MSC) and induced pluripotent stem …published_or_final_versio

O bebé que não veio

Este artigo para além de uma breve revisão bibliográfica sobre a infertilidade e o processo FIV (fecundação in vitro) baseia-se no estudo de quatro entrevistas clínicas, feitas a quatro diferentes mulheres que já fizeram mais do que um processo FIV, mas não obtiveram sucesso. Analizámos os pontos em comum e os específicos de cada uma das entrevistadas.This article deside a brief bibliographical review about infertility and the IVF process (in vitro fertilization) is based on forir unic clinic interview to four diferent women that have experienced more than one IVF process but didn't succeed, We've analyse the comon and specific points to each one of the interviewe

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Attenuate Cigarette Smoke-Induced Cardiac Remodeling and Dysfunction

published_or_final_versio

Amelioration of cigarette smoke-induced cardiac dysfunction and inflammation by mesenchymal stem cells

This journal issue contain abstracts of Eighteenth Annual Scientific Meeting, Institute of Cardiovascular Science and MedicineOral Presentation: OP2OBJECTIVES: Cigarette smoke (CS) is recognized as a major cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Inflammatory responses play important roles in the pathophysiological processes of CS-induced cardiac damage. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are regarded as a promising candidate for cell-based therapy in CVD. We aimed to compare the effects of bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs) and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived MSC (iPSC-MSCs) on cardiac function ...postprin

iPSC-derived mesenchymal stem cells exert SCF-dependent recovery of cigarette smoke-induced apoptosis/proliferation imbalance in airway cells

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have emerged as a potential cell‐based therapy for pulmonary emphysema in animal models. Our previous study demonstrated that human induced pluripotent stem cell–derived MSCs (iPSC‐MSCs) were superior over bone marrow–derived MSCs (BM‐MSCs) in attenuating cigarette smoke (CS)‐induced airspace enlargement possibly through mitochondrial transfer. This study further investigated the effects of iPSC‐MSCs on inflammation, apoptosis, and proliferation in a CS‐exposed rat model and examined the effects of the secreted paracrine factor from MSCs as another possible mechanism in an in vitro model of bronchial epithelial cells. Rats were exposed to 4% CS for 1 hr daily for 56 days. At days 29 and 43, human iPSC‐MSCs or BM‐MSCs were administered intravenously. We observed significant attenuation of CS‐induced elevation of circulating 8‐isoprostane and cytokine‐induced neutrophil chemoattractant‐1 after iPSC‐MSC treatment. In line, a superior capacity of iPSC‐MSCs was also observed in ameliorating CS‐induced infiltration of macrophages and neutrophils and apoptosis/proliferation imbalance in lung sections over BM‐MSCs. In support, the conditioned medium (CdM) from iPSC‐MSCs ameliorated CS medium‐induced apoptosis/proliferation imbalance of bronchial epithelial cells in vitro. Conditioned medium from iPSC‐MSCs contained higher level of stem cell factor (SCF) than that from BM‐MSCs. Deprivation of SCF from iPSC‐MSC‐derived CdM led to a reduction in anti‐apoptotic and pro‐proliferative capacity. Taken together, our data suggest that iPSC‐MSCs may possess anti‐apoptotic/pro‐proliferative capacity in the in vivo and in vitro models of CS‐induced airway cell injury partly through paracrine secretion of SCF.published_or_final_versio

Molecular Detection of Anaerobic Ammonium-Oxidizing (Anammox) Bacteria in High-Temperature Petroleum Reservoirs

Anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing (anammox) process plays an important role in the nitrogen cycle of the worldwide anoxic and mesophilic habitats. Recently, the existence and activity of anammox bacteria have been detected in some thermophilic environments, but their existence in the geothermal subterranean oil reservoirs is still not reported. This study investigated the abundance, distribution and functional diversity of anammox bacteria in nine out of 17 high-temperature oil reservoirs by molecular ecology analysis. High concentration (5.31–39.2 mg l−1) of ammonium was detected in the production water from these oilfields with temperatures between 55°C and 75°C. Both 16S rRNA and hzo molecular biomarkers indicated the occurrence of anammox bacteria in nine out of 17 samples. Most of 16S rRNA gene phylotypes are closely related to the known anammox bacterial genera Candidatus Brocadia, Candidatus Kuenenia, Candidatus Scalindua, and Candidatus Jettenia, while hzo gene phylotypes are closely related to the genera Candidatus Anammoxoglobus, Candidatus Kuenenia, Candidatus Scalindua, and Candidatus Jettenia. The total bacterial and anammox bacterial densities were 6.4 ± 0.5 × 103 to 2.0 ± 0.18 × 106 cells ml−1 and 6.6 ± 0.51 × 102 to 4.9 ± 0.36 × 104 cell ml−1, respectively. The cluster I of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed distant identity (<92%) to the known Candidatus Scalindua species, inferring this cluster of anammox bacteria to be a new species, and a tentative name Candidatus “Scalindua sinooilfield” was proposed. The results extended the existence of anammox bacteria to the high-temperature oil reservoirs

Advances in methods for detection of anaerobic ammonium oxidizing (anammox) bacteria

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox), the biochemical process oxidizing ammonium into dinitrogen gas using nitrite as an electron acceptor, has only been recognized for its significant role in the global nitrogen cycle not long ago, and its ubiquitous distribution in a wide range of environments has changed our knowledge about the contributors to the global nitrogen cycle. Currently, several groups of methods are used in detection of anammox bacteria based on their physiological and biochemical characteristics, cellular chemical composition, and both 16S rRNA gene and selective functional genes as biomarkers, including hydrazine oxidoreductase and nitrite reductase encoding genes hzo and nirS, respectively. Results from these methods coupling with advances in quantitative PCR, reverse transcription of mRNA genes and stable isotope labeling have improved our understanding on the distribution, diversity, and activity of anammox bacteria in different environments both natural and engineered ones. In this review, we summarize these methods used in detection of anammox bacteria from various environments, highlight the strengths and weakness of these methods, and also discuss the new development potentials on the existing and new techniques in the future

Comparison of bacterial communities of conventional and A-stage activated sludge systems

The bacterial community structure of 10 different wastewater treatment systems and their influents has been investigated through pyrosequencing, yielding a total of 283486 reads. These bioreactors had different technological configurations: conventional activated sludge (CAS) systems and very highly loaded A-stage systems. A-stage processes are proposed as the first step in an energy producing municipal wastewater treatment process. Pyrosequencing analysis indicated that bacterial community structure of all influents was similar. Also the bacterial community of all CAS bioreactors was similar. Bacterial community structure of A-stage bioreactors showed a more case-specific pattern. A core of genera was consistently found for all influents, all CAS bioreactors and all A-stage bioreactors, respectively, showing that different geographical locations in The Netherlands and Spain did not affect the functional bacterial communities in these technologies. The ecological roles of these bacteria were discussed. Influents and A-stage bioreactors shared several core genera, while none of these were shared with CAS bioreactors communities. This difference is thought to reside in the different operational conditions of the two technologies. This study shows that bacterial community structure of CAS and A-stage bioreactors are mostly driven by solids retention time (SRT) and hydraulic retention time (HRT), as suggested by multivariate redundancy analysis.Department of Civil EngineeringInstitute of Water Research from the University of GranadaDepartment of Environmental Biotechnology of the Delft University of Technolog