Manganese-56 coincidence-counting facility precisely measures neutron-source strength

Precise measurement of neutron-source strength is provided by a manganese 56 coincidence-counting facility using the manganese-bath technique. This facility combines nuclear instrumentation with coincidence-counting techniques to handle a wide variety of radioisotope-counting requirements

Plasmatic and urinary glycosaminoglycans characterization in mucopolysaccharidosis II Patient treated with enzyme-replacement therapy with Idursulfase

We report the structural characterization of plasmatic and urinary GAGs in a Patient affected by MPS II (Hunter syndrome) before and during the first ten months of enzyme-replacement therapy (ERT). Plasmatic GAGs before ERT were rich in pathological DS consisting of iduronic acid (IdoA) and composed of ~90% \uf044Di4s and trace amounts of disulfated disaccharides. DS was also characterized as the main (~90%) urinary GAG mainly composed of ~90% \uf044Di4s with minor percentages of monosulfated and disulfated disaccharides, in particular \u394Di2,4dis. After 300 days of ERT, plasmatic DS strongly decreased but ~14% of IdoA-rich \uf044Di4s was still detected. Similarly, urinary galactosaminoglycans were mainly composed of 78% \uf044Di4s, ~11% \uf044Di6s and ~4% \uf044Di0s with the persistence of \u394Di2,4dis (~4%). About 40% of IdoA-formed \uf044Di4s were also calculated thus confirming that pathological DS is still present in excreted urinary GAGs during ERT. By considering the % of IdoA, we observed rather similar kinetics of excretion in fluids from the beginning of the treatment. Immediately after the first enzyme infusion, a large amount of abnormal DS is removed from tissues reaching the blood compartment and eliminated via the urine, and this process lasts for about two weeks. After this, the percentage of IdoA-rich material present in biological fluids remains fairly constant over the following nine months of treatment. To date, these are the first data regarding plasmatic and urinary kinetics directly measured on products released by the activity of the recombinant enzyme Idursulfase, iduronate-2-sulfatase, evaluated using specific and sensitive analytical procedures

The role of CD180 in hematological malignancies and inflammatory disorders.

Toll-like receptors play a significant role in the innate immune system and are also involved in the pathophysiology of many different diseases. Over the past 35 years, there have been a growing number of publications exploring the role of the orphan toll-like receptor, CD180. We therefore set out to provide a narrative review of the current evidence surrounding CD180 in both health and disease. We first explore the evidence surrounding the role of CD180 in physiology including its expression, function and signaling in antigen presenting cells (APCs) (dendritic cells, monocytes, and B cells). We particularly focus on the role of CD180 as a modulator of other TLRs including TLR2, TLR4, and TLR9. We then discuss the role of CD180 in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, as well as in hematological malignancies of B cell origin, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Based on this evidence we produce a current model for CD180 in disease and explore the potential role for CD180 as both a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target. Throughout, we highlight specific areas of research which should be addressed to further the understanding of CD180 biology and the translational potential of research into CD180 in various diseases

Chondroitin Sulfate Safety and Quality.

The industrial production of chondroitin sulfate (CS) uses animal tissue sources as raw material derived from dierent terrestrial or marine species of animals. CS possesses a heterogeneous structure and physical-chemical profile in dierent species and tissues, responsible for the various and more specialized functions of these macromolecules. Moreover, mixes of dierent animal tissues and sources are possible, producing a CS final product having varied characteristics and not well identified profile, influencing oral absorption and activity. Finally, dierent extraction and purification processes may introduce further modifications of the CS structural characteristics and properties and may lead to extracts having a variable grade of purity, limited biological eects, presence of contaminants causing problems of safety and reproducibility along with not surely identified origin. These aspects pose a serious problem for the final consumers of the pharmaceutical or nutraceutical products mainly related to the traceability of CS and to the declaration of the real origin of the active ingredient and its content. In this review, specific, sensitive and validated analytical quality controls such as electrophoresis, eHPLC (enzymatic HPLC) and HPSEC (high-performance size-exclusion chromatography) able to assure CS quality and origin are illustrated and discussed

Recent advances in analytical approaches for the standardization and quality of polyphenols of propolis

Analytical approaches utilized for the characterization of polyphenols from propolis useful for the determination of its quality is investigated in this study. A qualitative and quantitative evaluation of propolis bioactive molecules is of interest in medicine and nutraceuticals. Recent powerful analytical techniques are of great utility to separate and quantify polyphenols in extracts and finished products due to their capacity to produce typical fingerprints and a reliable identification of many components. According to this, an HPLC-UV-MS procedure was validated and applied for the characterization and quantification of bioactive substances in propolis and for an accurate assessment of their content in extract samples. By using this analytical approach, we obtained specific compositions related to brown propolis acquired from different geographic areas (and preparations and treatment). This is more important by considering the scientific opinion of European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) which provided a negative response related to health claims of propolis and its polyphenols. These results prove that HPLC-MS is an attractive tool for the standardization and quality control of propolis and may be realistically applied to screen raw material and to evaluate finished commercial preparations and nutraceutical benefits

Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Propolis Prepared in Different Forms and in Different Solvents Useful for Finished Products

Different products from a unique propolis extract obtained by using various solvents such as hydroalcoholic, glycolic (98% propylene glycol), and glyceric solutions, and oil, as well as in powder form, named ESIT12, were prepared. The molecular composition of the different preparations was evaluated and their antioxidant activity determined. All the preparations showed a quite similar polyphenol composition and comparable percentage even if ESIT12 was found to be richer in phenolic acids (caffeic, coumaric, ferulic, and isoferulic). Overall, flavones and flavonols ranged from ~20% up to ~36% in the glyceric extract, while flavanones and diidroflavonols were between ~28% and ~41%. Besides their quite similar composition, glycolic and hydroalcoholic extracts were found to be richer in the total polyphenols content. When the antioxidant properties were determined for the four preparations, the activity was similar among them, thus revealing that it is strictly related to the polyphenols content for propolis products whose composition is quite comparable. To date, very few data are available on propolis composition in glyceric and glycolic extracts and information has never been published on propolis in oil. This study could be of interest to the food and nutraceutical industries to choose suitable solvents and conditions to produce propolis preparations useful for active finished products

Molecular vibration in cold collision theory

Cold collisions of ground state oxygen molecules with Helium have been investigated in a wide range of cold collision energies (from 1 $\mu$K up to 10 K) treating the oxygen molecule first as a rigid rotor and then introducing the vibrational degree of freedom. The comparison between the two models shows that at low energies the rigid rotor approximation is very accurate and able to describe all the dynamical features of the system. The comparison between the two models has also been extended to cases where the interaction potential He - O$_2$ is made artificially stronger. In this case vibration can perturb rate constants, but fine-tuning the rigid rotor potential can alleviate the discrepancies between the two models.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

PURIFICATION OF PROPOLIS FROM POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS AND PRESERVATION OF ACTIVE POLYPHENOL COMPONENT.

Organic pollutants have become an increasing concern due to their potential of mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, teratogenicity and high bioaccumulation. The adverse effects on health and environment caused by specific organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been considered as critical problems. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has defined 16 priority PAH that are both genotoxic and carcinogenic and identified eight (PAH8) or four (PAH4) priority PAH as good indicators of the toxicity and occurrence of PAH in food. Several available techniques (photocatalytic degradation, combined photo-fenton and ultrasound, advanced oxidation, aerobic degradation, filtration, ozonation, coagulation, flocculation, distillation, extraction, precipitation, and adsorption, etc.) have been developed for PAH removal. Food supplements containing propolis were also found to show relatively high PAHs. As a consequence, a main goal is to adopt purification procedures to remove PAH from propolis and preserve its polyphenol components before its use in finished products. Here we report an extractive procedure (M.E.D., Multi Dynamic Extraction) able to purify propolis from a great content of PAH by using a balanced mixture of organic and water solvents. Obtained propolis extracts are still rich in polyphenols and glycosylated derivatives showing PAH8 and specific benzo[a]pyrene content below limits recommended by EFSA

Altered intra-nuclear organisation of heterochromatin and genes in ICF syndrome.

The ICF syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder, the most common symptoms of which are immunodeficiency, facial anomalies and cytogenetic defects involving decondensation and instability of chromosome 1, 9 and 16 centromeric regions. ICF is also characterised by significant hypomethylation of the classical satellite DNA, the major constituent of the juxtacentromeric heterochromatin. Here we report the first attempt at analysing some of the defining genetic and epigenetic changes of this syndrome from a nuclear architecture perspective. In particular, we have compared in ICF (Type 1 and Type 2) and controls the large-scale organisation of chromosome 1 and 16 juxtacentromeric heterochromatic regions, their intra-nuclear positioning, and co-localisation with five specific genes (BTG2, CNN3, ID3, RGS1, F13A1), on which we have concurrently conducted expression and methylation analysis. Our investigations, carried out by a combination of molecular and cytological techniques, demonstrate the existence of specific and quantifiable differences in the genomic and nuclear organisation of the juxtacentromeric heterochromatin in ICF. DNA hypomethylation, previously reported to correlate with the decondensation of centromeric regions in metaphase described in these patients, appears also to correlate with the heterochromatin spatial configuration in interphase. Finally, our findings on the relative positioning of hypomethylated satellite sequences and abnormally expressed genes suggest a connection between disruption of long-range gene-heterochromatin associations and some of the changes in gene expression in ICF. Beyond its relevance to the ICF syndrome, by addressing fundamental principles of chromosome functional organisation within the cell nucleus, this work aims to contribute to the current debate on the epigenetic impact of nuclear architecture in development and disease