Krill oil, vitamin D and Lactobacillus reuteri cooperate to reduce gut inflammation

Current research into original therapies to treat intestinal inflammation is focusing on no-drug therapies. KLD is a mixture of krill oil (KO), probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri (LR), and vitamin D (VitD3). The aim of this study was to assess in vitro and in vivo the potential cooperative effects of KLD in reducing gut inflammation. Colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines, CACO2 and HT29, and C57BL/6 mice were used for in vitro and in vivo analyses, respectively. Cells were exposed to cytomix (interferon gamma + tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a)) to induce inflammation or co-exposed to cytomix and KO, LR and VitD3 alone or to cytomix and KLD. Animals were treated for 7 days with dextran sodium sulphate (DSS) to induce colitis or with DSS and KLD. In vitro assays: F-actin expression was analysed by immunofluorescence; scratch test and trans-epithelial electric resistance test were performed to measure wound healing; adhesion/invasion assays of adhesive and invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) bacteria were made; mRNA expression of TNF-α, interleukin (IL)-8 and vitamin D receptor (VDR) was detected by quantitative PCR. In vivo assays: body weight, clinical score, histological score and large intestine weight and length were estimated; mRNA expression of TNF-α, IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-10 by quantitative PCR; VDR expression was detected by quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry. In vitro: KLD restores epithelial cell-cell adhesion and mucosal healing during inflammation, while decreases the adhesiveness and invasiveness of AIEC bacteria and TNF-α and IL-8 mRNA expression and increases VDR expression. In vivo: KLD significantly improves body weight, clinical score, histological score and large intestine length of mice with DSS-induced colitis and reduces TNF-α, IL-1ß and IL-6 mRNA levels, while increases IL-10 mRNA and VDR levels. KLD has significant effects on the intestinal mucosa, strongly decreasing inflammation, increasing epithelial restitution and reducing pathogenicity of harmful commensal bacteria

Porous dipeptide crystals as volatile-drug vessels

Anesthetic vapors find temporary hospitality in porous dipeptide crystals, which behave as biologically friendly hosts and carriers

A rapid method for determining arachidonic:eicosapentaenoic acid ratios in whole blood lipids: correlation with erythrocyte membrane ratios and validation in a large Italian population of various ages and pathologies

BACKGROUND: Omega-3 and -6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA), are important for good health conditions. They are present in membrane phospholipids.The ratio of total n-6:n-3 LCPUFA and arachidonic acid:eicosapentaenoic acid (AA and EPA), should not exceed 5:1. Increased intake of n-6 and decreased consumption of n-3 has resulted in much higher, ca 10/15:1 ratio in RBC fatty acids with the possible appearance of a pathological "scenario". The determination of RBC phospholipid LCPUFA contents and ratios is the method of choice for assessing fatty acid status but it is labour intensive and time consuming. AIMS OF THE STUDY: [i] To describe and validate a rapid method, suitable for large scale population studies, for total blood fatty acid assay; [ii] to verify a possible correlation between total n-6:n-3 ratio and AA:EPA ratios in RBC phospholipids and in whole-blood total lipids, [iii] to assess usefulness of these ratio as biomarkers of LCPUFA status. METHODS: 1 Healthy volunteers and patients with various pathologies were recruited.2 Fatty acid analyses by GC of methyl esters from directly derivatized whole blood total lipids and from RBC phospholipids were performed on fasting blood samples from 1432 subjects categorised according to their age, sex and any existing pathologies.AA:EPA ratio and the total n-6:n-3 ratio were determined. RESULTS: AA:EPA ratio is a more sensitive and reliable index for determining changes in total blood fatty acid and it is correlated with the ratio derived from extracted RBC phospholipids. CONCLUSIONS: The described AA:EPA ratio is a simple, rapid and reliable method for determining n-3 fatty acid status

Lack of correlation between N-myc and MAX expression in neuroblastoma tumors and in cell lines: implication for N-myc-MAX complex formation

Detectable levels of MAX messenger RNA were found in a set of human neuroblastoma tumors and established cell lines. MAX mRNA levels were independent of tumor stage and N-myc genomic amplification. By contrast, N-myc mRNA transcripts were detectable only in tumors with amplification of N-myc gene and in cell lines. Analysis by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and hybridization to specific oligodeoxynucleotide probes revealed approximately equal amounts of two MAX transcripts in all cases analyzed. Immunoprecipitations with a specific antibody to MAX detected two proteins of M(r) 21,000 and 22,000 in approximately equal amounts in all neuroblastoma lines regardless of N-myc amplification and/or expression. On the other hand, protein binding to the myc DNA consensus sequence correlated with N-myc expression in neuroblastoma cells. Thus, N-myc expression might be a limiting factor in the formation of the N-myc-MAX heterodimer in neuroblastomas

Summary of the SUSY Working Group of the 1999 Les Houches Workshop

The results obtained by the Working Group on Supersymmetry at the 1999 Les Houches Workshop on Collider Physics are summarized. Separate chapters treat "general" supersymmetry, R-parity violation, gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking, and anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking.Comment: LaTeX, 110 pages with numerous .ps and .eps files. proc.tex is main tex fil

A case report of accidental intoxication following ingestion of foxglove confused with borage : high digoxinemia without major complications

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea L.) leaves are frequently confused with borage (Borago officinalis L.), which is traditionally used as a food ingredient. Due to the presence of the cardiac glycosides, mostly digitoxin, foxglove leaves are poisonous to human and may be fatal if ingested. A 55-year-old Caucasian woman complaining weakness, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting was admitted to the Emergency Department. Her symptoms started following consumption of a home-made savory pie with 5 leaves from a plant bought in a garden nursery as borage. Digoxinemia was high (10.4\u2009\u3bcg/L). The patient was admitted to the cardiac intensive care unit for electrocardiographic monitoring. Two days after admission, a single episode of advanced atrioventricular (AV) block was recorded by telemetry, followed by a second-degree AV block episode. Plasma samples at day 11 were analysed by LC-MS spectrometry, and gitoxin was identified suggesting that this compound may be responsible for the clinical toxicity rather than digoxin. In the case of Digitalis spp. poisoning, laboratory data should be interpreted according to the clinical picture and method of analysis used since a variety of glycosides, which are chemically similar to the cardioactive glycosides but without or with fewer cardiac effects, may be incorrectly recognized as digoxin by the test, giving misleading results

Genetic diversity of the highly variable V1 region interferes with Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 envelope functionality.

BACKGROUND: The HIV envelope (Env) promotes viral entry in the host cell. During this process, Env undergoes several conformational changes to ensure its function. At the same time, the gp120 component of Env is the protein of the virus presenting the largest genetic diversity. Understanding how the virus maintains the balance between the competing requirements for maintenance of functionality and antigenic variation of this protein is central for the comprehension of its strategies of evolution and can highlight vulnerable aspects of its replication cycle. We focused on the variable domains V1 and V2 of the HIV-1 gp120 that are involved in conformational changes and are critical for viral escape from antibody neutralization. RESULTS: Despite the extensive sequence diversity found in the epidemic for these regions and their location on the external face of the protein, we observed that replacing V1V2 of one primary isolate with that of another severely interferes with Env functionality in more than half of the cases studied. Similar results were obtained for intra- and intersubtype chimeras. These observations are indicative of an interference of genetic diversity in these regions with Env functionality. Therefore, despite the extensive sequence diversity that characterizes these regions in the epidemic, our results show that functional constraints seem to limit their genetic variation. Defects in the V1V2 chimeras were not relieved by the insertion of the V3 region from the same isolate, suggesting that the decrease in functionality is not due to perturbation of potential coevolution networks between V1V2 and V3. Within the V1V2 domain, the sequence of the hypervariable loop of the V1 domain seems to be crucial for the functionality of the protein. CONCLUSIONS: Besides the well-documented role of V1V2 in the interplay with the immune response, this work shows that V1 is also involved in the selection of functional envelopes. By documenting a compromise between the opposing forces of sequence diversification and retention of functionality, these observations improve our understanding of the evolutionary trajectories of the HIV-1 envelope gene

Catheter ablation in an 80-year-old male with late-onset Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome

Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome is a congenital condition involving abnormal conductive cardiac tissue between atria and ventricles, that provides a pathway for a re-entrant tachycardia circuit or rapid repetitive ventricular response during atrial fibrillation. Clinical onset is usually from childhood to middle age, and symptoms vary in severity from palpitations (with or without syncope) to cardiac arrest. Presentation varies depending on the patient\u2019s age and presence of comorbidities, as arrhythmias are less tolerated in case of an associated heart disease. In individuals who do not experience symptoms, the condition may go unnoticed for years. We describe the case of an 80-year-old Caucasian male with late-onset of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. He presented with a regular, hemodynamically unstable wide-complex tachycardia with left bundle branch morphology, successfully treated with medical therapy. After recurrence of tachycardia, he underwent an electrophysiological study that showed an orthodromic atrioventricular re-entrant tachycardia using a posterolateral accessory pathway and with functional left bundle branch block. Transseptal radiofrequency catheter ablation of the accessory pathway was successfully performed. After 15 months of follow-up, there was no tachycardia recurrence or findings of pre-excitation on the electrocardiogram. The treatment of both supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias may be challenging especially in elderly patients. Catheter ablation of left accessory pathways with transseptal approach is feasible and effective in old patients with late-onset Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome