Oral Feeding Competences of Healthy Preterm Infants: A Review

Background. With increasing sophistication and technology, survival rates hugely improved among preterm infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. Nutrition and feeding remain a challenge and preterm infants are at high risk of encountering oral feeding difficulties. Objective. To determine what facts may impact on oral feeding readiness and competence and which kind of interventions should enhance oral feeding performance in preterm infants. Search Strategy. MEDILINE database was explored and articles relevant to this topic were collected starting from 2009 up to 2011. Main Results. Increasingly robust alertness prior to and during feeding does positively impact the infant's feeding Skills. The review found that oral and non-oral sensorimotor interventions, provided singly or in combination, shortened the transition time to independent oral feeding in preterm infants and that preterm infants who received a combined oral and sensorimotor intervention demonstrated more advanced nutritive sucking, suck-swallow and swallow-respiration coordination than those who received an oral or sensorimotor intervention singly

Quercetin and Cancer Chemoprevention

Several molecules present in the diet, including flavonoids, can inhibit the growth of cancer cells with an ability to act as “chemopreventers”. Their cancer-preventive effects have been attributed to various mechanisms, including the induction of cell-cycle arrest and/or apoptosis as well as the antioxidant functions. The antioxidant activity of chemopreventers has recently received a great interest, essentially because oxidative stress participates in the initiation and progression of different pathological conditions, including cancer. Since antioxidants are capable of preventing oxidative damage, the wide use of natural food-derived antioxidants is receiving greater attention as potential anti-carcinogens. Among flavonoids, quercetin (Qu) is considered an excellent free-radical scavenging antioxidant, even if such an activity strongly depends on the intracellular availability of reduced glutathione. Apart from antioxidant activity, Qu also exerts a direct, pro-apoptotic effect in tumor cells, and can indeed block the growth of several human cancer cell lines at different phases of the cell cycle. Both these effects have been documented in a wide variety of cellular models as well as in animal models. The high toxicity exerted by Qu on cancer cells perfectly matches with the almost total absence of any damages for normal, non-transformed cells. In this review we discuss the molecular mechanisms that are based on the biological effects of Qu, and their relevance for human health

Changes in CD4+ cells’ miRNA expression following exposure to HIV-1

Background: MiRNAs inhibit HIV-1 expression by either modulating host innate immunity or by directly interfering with viral mRNAs. Here, we investigated the miRNA profile that discriminates different classes of HIV-1 infected patients from multiple exposed uninfected individuals. Methods: The expression levels of 377 miRNAs were selectively analyzed in CD4+ cells isolated from whole blood of HIV-1 \ue9lite LTNP (\ue9LTNP), naive, and multiply exposed uninfected individuals (MEU). MiRNA extraction was performed by the mirVana miRNA Isolation Kit (Ambion) and their expression was subsequently examined by real-time PCR-based arrays. The expression of miRNAs was also determined in primary culture of CD4+T cells and monocyte-macrophages infected in vitro by R5 strains. Expression of Dicer and Drosha was evaluated by real-time PCR. Results: We only considered miRNAs that were expressed in the 70% of patients of at least one class and varied by at least 1 log10 from healthy controls. Out of 377 miRNAs, 26 were up-regulated, while 88 were down-regulated. Statistical analysis showed that 21 miRNAs significantly differentiated \ue9LTNP from MEU and 23 miRNAs distinguished naive from MEU, while only 1 (miR-155) discriminated \ue9LTNP from naive. By hierarchical clustering of the miRNAs according to patient class, \ue9LTNP clustered with naive whereas all MEU subjects grouped together. The Dicer and Drosha expression in the patient classes correlated with miRNA profile changes. Among miRNAs differentially expressed in patient classes, 32 were detected in in vitro infection model: the most of the up-regulated miRNAs were expressed in monocyte-macrophages, whereas the most of the down-regulated miRNAs were expressed in T lymphocytes. Conclusions: These findings support that miRNA profile could be the result not only of a productive infection, but also of the exposure to HIV products that leave a signature in immune cells. These data provide some intriguing issues relative to the development of HIV vaccines targeting viral proteins

Effects of mushroom and chicory extracts on the shape, physiology and proteome of the cariogenic bacterium Streptococcus mutans

open16siDental caries is an infectious disease which results from the acidic demineralisation of the tooth enamel and dentine as a consequence of the dental plaque (a microbial biofilm) accumulation. Research showed that several foods contain some components with antibacterial and antiplaque activity. Previous studies indicated antimicrobial and antiplaque activities in a low-molecular-mass (LMM) fraction of extracts from either an edible mushroom (Lentinus edodes) or from Italian red chicory (Cichorium intybus).Signoretto, Caterina; Marchi, Anna; Bertoncelli, Anna; Burlacchini, Gloria; Milli, Alberto; Tessarolo, Francesco; Caola, Iole; Papetti, Adele; Pruzzo, Carla; Zaura, Egija; Lingström, Peter; Ofek, Itzhak; Spratt, David A; Pratten, Jonathan; Wilson, Michael; Canepari, PietroSignoretto, Caterina; Marchi, Anna; Bertoncelli, Anna; Burlacchini, Gloria; Milli, Alberto; Tessarolo, Francesco; Caola, Iole; Papetti, Adele; Pruzzo, Carla; Zaura, Egija; Lingström, Peter; Ofek, Itzhak; Spratt, David A; Pratten, Jonathan; Wilson, Michael; Canepari, Pietr

The Relationship between Governance Quality and the Cost of Equity Capital in Italian Listed Firms: An Update

This paper investigates the relationship between corporate governance quality and the cost of equity capital, intended as the discount rate the market applies to a firm's expected future cash flows to evaluate the current share price. Using data from the Italian listed corporations in 2018, this paper combines several attributes like board independence, board size, the existence of the internal audit, and CEO duality incorporated in a corporate governance quality index. Our results do not provide evidence of a statistically significant relationship between the corporate governance score and the firm's equity capital cost. A possible explanation is that in recent years a greater homogeneity, and a generalized increase in corporate governance quality standards, has been observed in the Italian framework with worse companies that closed the gap with those with higher performances. Hence, lower variability in the corporate governance index results in a not significant effect of a composite index on reducing the cost of equity capital

Acute myocardial infarction in young patients: nutritional status and biochemical factors.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to establish whether nutritional status and biochemical factors, C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA) protein, serum iron (Fe) and fibrinogen at admission were different in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) at a young age (60 years). We also investigated whether during the stay in the hospital, the increase in acute-phase reactants was different in young vs. older subjects, and if dyslipidemic aspects were different between the two groups. METHODS: The study population consisted of 40 patients, all males with a mean age of 36.7+/-1.16 years, admitted to our facility with AMI. The control group included 40 patients, all males, mean age of 66.3+/-4.24 years, with AMI. CRP, SAA, Fe and fibrinogen were determined at admission to the hospital and daily for 7 days in the two groups of patients. RESULTS: In young patients the median value of the highest levels were 6.2 mg/l (range 0.7-27.30) for CRP, 13.22 mg/l (range 0.7-130) for SAA, 420 mg/dl (range 76-840) for fibrinogen and 49.1 gamma/ml (range 14-102) for Fe levels. In the older patients, the median value of the highest levels were 5.9 mg/l (range 0.6-28.30) for CRP, 12.12 mg/l (range 0.9-280) for SAA, 480 mg/dl (range 60-780) for fibrinogen and 47.1 gamma/ml (range 12-94) for Fe levels. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, acute-phase reactants were quantitatively similar in young and old patients. On the contrary, nutritional status, homocysteine, LDL and triglycerides are significantly higher in young patients than in old patients

Caracterização agronômica de genótipos de milho para a produção de silagem

The aim of this work was to evaluate the agronomic characteristics and yield of six maize genotypes cycle super early in the production of silage in Dois Vizinhos, Paraná. The experiment was conducted at experimental area of the Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná. The average height difference among cultivars, ranging from 1.62 (Al-Piratininga) to 0.90 m (BMX 739). The hybrid AGN30A03 showed less resistance to lodging of plants and culm breakage. The genotypes BMX 739, CD 304, PRE22T11 and Al-Piratininga obtained the highest yield of fresh forage (638.81, 455.18, 620.98, 460.12 g plant -1 , respectively). The variety Al-Piratininga presented a higher number of ears per plant (1,11) than those of the other varieties. Among the materials tested, the genotype BMX 739, showed the highest dry matter yield per area and the percentage share of spike (29 %) and grains (26 %) in the phytomass.O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar às carac- terísticas agronômicas e a produtividade de seis genótipos de milho de ciclo super precoce quanto à produção de silagem no município de Dois Vizinhos, Paraná. O experimento foi conduzido na área experimental da Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná. A altura média diferiu entre os cultivares, variando de 1,62 (Al-Piratininga) a 0,90 m (BMX 739). O híbrido AGN30A03 apresentou menor resistência ao acamamento de plantas e ao quebramento do colmo. Os genótipos BMX 739, CD 304, PRE22T11 e Al-Piratininga obtiveram as maiores produtividades de massa verde (638,81; 455,18; 620,98; 460,12 g planta -1 , respectivamen- te). A variedade Al-Piratininga apresentou número de espigas planta -1 (1,11) superior ao das demais. Entre os materiais avaliados, o genótipo BMX 739, se destacou pelo rendimento de matéria seca ensilável por área e pela participação percentual de espiga (29 %) e grãos (26 %) na fitomassa

La prova da sforzo nella valutazione del rischio ipertensivo.

Scopo della ricerca è valutare se una prova da sforzo possa individuare i soggetti a rischio di ipertensione arteriosa stabile. 49 soggetti Normotesi, 28 soggetti Ipertesi Borderline e 33 soggetti Ipertesi stabili (apparentemente sani e omogenei per sesso, età, pratica sportiva) sono stati sottoposti ad una prova da sforzo ad esaurimento al cicloergometro con rilevazione pressori prima e dopo il test. Nell'ambito di ogni gruppo sono stati evidenziati soggetti con risposta pressoria esagerata (PAS/PAD> 230/110). I soggetti Normotesi hanno presentato valori pressori medi dopo sforzo significativamente più bassi (235 mmHg) di quella dei soggetti Ipertesi Borderline (258 mmHg) e di Ipertesi stabili (267 mmHg). Questa osservazione, supportata da dati bibliografici, suggerisce una diversa stima del rischio nella selezione dei soggetti a rischio ipertensivo