Extracorporeal Shock Wave Treatment (ESWT) enhances the in vitro-induced differentiation of human tendon-derived stem/progenitor cells (hTSPCs)

Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) is a non-invasive and innovative technology for the management of specific tendinopathies. In order to elucidate the ESWT-mediated clinical benefits, human Tendon-derived Stem/Progenitor cells (hTSPCs) explanted from 5 healthy semitendinosus (ST) and 5 ruptured Achilles (AT) tendons were established. While hTSPCs from the two groups showed similar proliferation rates and stem cell surface marker profiles, we found that the clonogenic potential was maintained only in cells derived from healthy donors. Interestingly, ESWT significantly accelerated hTSPCs differentiation, suggesting that the clinical benefits of ESWT may be ascribed to increased efficiency of tendon repair after injury

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Exploits Lipid A and Muropeptides Modification as a Strategy to Lower Innate Immunity during Cystic Fibrosis Lung Infection

Pseudomonas aeruginosa can establish life-long airways chronic infection in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) with pathogenic variants distinguished from initially acquired strain. Here, we analysed chemical and biological activity of P. aeruginosa Pathogen-Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPs) in clonal strains, including mucoid and non-mucoid phenotypes, isolated during a period of up to 7.5 years from a CF patient. Chemical structure by MS spectrometry defined lipopolysaccharide (LPS) lipid A and peptidoglycan (PGN) muropeptides with specific structural modifications temporally associated with CF lung infection. Gene sequence analysis revealed novel mutation in pagL, which supported lipid A changes. Both LPS and PGN had different potencies when activating host innate immunity via binding TLR4 and Nod1. Significantly higher NF-kB activation, IL-8 expression and production were detected in HEK293hTLR4/MD2-CD14 and HEK293hNod1 after stimulation with LPS and PGN respectively, purified from early P. aeruginosa strain as compared to late strains. Similar results were obtained in macrophages-like cells THP-1, epithelial cells of CF origin IB3-1 and their isogenic cells C38, corrected by insertion of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). In murine model, altered LPS structure of P. aeruginosa late strains induces lower leukocyte recruitment in bronchoalveolar lavage and MIP-2, KC and IL-1β cytokine levels in lung homogenates when compared with early strain. Histopathological analysis of lung tissue sections confirmed differences between LPS from early and late P. aeruginosa. Finally, in this study for the first time we unveil how P. aeruginosa has evolved the capacity to evade immune system detection, thus promoting survival and establishing favourable conditions for chronic persistence. Our findings provide relevant information with respect to chronic infections in CF

Raising awareness on gender issues: A path through physics, outreach and diversity.

When and where it is convenient to start working on raising awareness on gender issues? Our answer is that high school is definitely a good start, mainly if we think that outreach activities can have a role in the transition to an environment for learning, teaching and researching in physics that is equally attractive and supportive to all genders, at each stage of their education and career path. As researchers of INFN and CNR we promoted a school competition devoted to consider the role of women in science and particularly in Physics. Outreach activities can have the role of raising awareness, knowledge through an active involvement of students for changing the culture and removing stereotypes. In these years we organized 3 contests, with 226 videos, more than 100 high schools and a thousand of students involved. The idea was to try to understand the thinking and knowledge of young people on present and past gender issues connected to women and science, to know how they imagine the society of the future, to understand if they are unaware "carriers" of stereotypes and prejudices and if the cultural change can start from/with them. The students have been asked to produce a video on subjects regarding these questions. The article describes the contests, the evaluation process, the results of first analysis. The work started inside the EU-funded GENERA project, to which both research groups belong, and continues inside the GENERA Network. The collaboration among physicists and sociologists has been, and still is, fundamental in these years

In vitro characterization of mitochondrial function and structure in rat and human cells with a deficiency of the NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase Ndufc2 subunit

Ndufc2, a subunit of the NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase, plays a key role in the assembly and activity of complex I within the mitochondrial OXPHOS chain. Its deficiency has been shown to be involved in diabetes, cancer and stroke. To improve our knowledge on the mechanisms underlying the increased disease risk due to Ndufc2 reduction, we performed the present in vitro study aimed at the fine characterization of the derangements in mitochondrial structure and function consequent to Ndufc2 deficiency. We found that both fibroblasts obtained from skin of heterozygous Ndufc2 knock-out rat model showed marked mitochondrial dysfunction and PBMC obtained from subjects homozygous for the TT genotype of the rs11237379/NDUFC2 variant, previously shown to associate with reduced gene expression, demonstrated increased generation of reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial damage. The latter was associated with increased oxidative stress and significant ultrastructural impairment of mitochondrial morphology with a loss of internal cristae. In both models the exposure to stress stimuli, such as high-NaCl concentration or LPS, exacerbated the mitochondrial damage and dysfunction. Resveratrol significantly counteracted the ROS generation. These findings provide additional insights on the role of an altered pattern of mitochondrial structure-function as a cause of human diseases. In particular, they contribute to underscore a potential genetic risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, including stroke

Stucture of macromolecules from Gram-negative bacteria involved in elicitation of plant immune system

This project was entirely focused on increasing the knowledge of the structure/activity relationships of LPS in plant immune system and their roles in instauration of important biological process like symbiosis. In the first part of the work, chemical characterization of LPSs from different Burkholderia species was presented. Firstly, we have completely characterized the LPS and the LOS produced by the endosymbiont Burhkolderia rhizoxinica strain B1 isolated from Rhizopus microsporus fungi responsible for causing rice seedling blight. The O-chain fraction from LPS was constituted by a peculiar homopolimer of gactofuranose that presented a particular biological activity since it is able to mimic the host cell wall thus avoiding the immune response. We have also reported the chemical characterization of the LPS from Burhkolderia rhizoxinica strain B4 isolated from Rhizopus microsporus var. microsporus. The O-chain domain was constituted by a mixture of two polysaccharides with different primary structure. The lipid A moiety possessed, in all analyzed Burhkolderia rhizoxinica strains, the typical carbohydrate backbone and revealed to be constituted by a mixture of penta and tetra acylated species carrying on the polar heads the non-stoichiometric presence of Ara4N. Similar data were founded also for lipid A isolated from Burkholderia cepacia strain ASP B 2D, an endophytic bacterium. In this case the lipid A has been found to possess an identical structure of lipid a from Burhkolderia rhizoxinica but with higher amount of under-acylated species and a lower amount of phosphate. Probably, the presence of under-acylated/phosphorylated species and the presence of Ara-4N residues might allow B. cepacia strain ASP B 2D to survive as an endophyte in plant host by reducing the net charge. In the last part of the project, we have reported the full chemical characterization of the LPS from Bradyrhizobium sp. BTAi1 and ORS278, peculiar strains that do not possess a canonical genes for nod factors biosynthesis. The O-chain fraction from these LPSs is formed by a homopolymer with the presence of a unique carbociclic sugar that we named Bradyrhizose; this novel monosaccharide resulted to be linked in the polymer with a-(1→7) linkage for Bradyrhizobium sp. BTAi1 O-chain, while the sugar fraction from Bradyrhizobium sp. ORS278 presented a mixture of polysaccharides constituted by a-(1→7) and a-(1→9) linked Bradyrhizose. Important structural results were found for what corcerns the lipid A fraction from both strains of Bradyrhizobium. The lipid A resulted manly composed of a mixture of hexa- and penta-acylated species with asymmetrical distribution of the acyl chains (arrangement 4+2). Notable is the presence of lipid A species carrying an additional fatty acid (D m/z 512) not yet identified but likely present as terziary fatty acid linked to the o-1 position of the long fatty acids and resulting in an unusual 5+2 arrangement of the acyl chains on the saccharide backbone. This lipid A structure is innovative since it is among the first Bradyrhizobium structures characterized so far. Preliminary biological assays demonstrated that the LPS from both strains of Bradyrhizobium showed a very reduced immune response (tested with callose formation) in Arabidopsis thaliana

Gluing of posets, and lattices of subgroups

We discuss a notion of gluing for arbitrary posets which extends the standard one for lattices. We show that the gluing of two sublattices along a suitable intersection often is a lattice. This is not always the case, though; we amend an imprecise statement in the literature on this point. Next we consider some instances of the problem of determining when the gluing of some given lattices gives rise to the lattice of all subgroups of a group, and for which groups does this happen. Our main result answers these problem for repeated gluing of finite lattices whose maximal chains have length 2