Greater general startle reflex is associated with greater anxiety levels: a correlational study on 111 young women

Startle eyeblink reflex is a valid non-invasive tool for studying attention, emotion and psychiatric disorders. In the absence of any experimental manipulation, the general (or baseline) startle reflex shows a high inter-individual variability, which is often considered task-irrelevant and therefore normalized across participants. Unlike the above view, we hypothesized that greater general startle magnitude is related to participants\u2019 higher anxiety level. 111 healthy young women, after completing the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), were randomly administered 10 acoustic white noise probes (50 ms, 100 dBA acoustic level) while integrated EMG from left and right orbicularis oculi was recorded. Results showed that participants with greater state anxiety levels exhibited larger startle reflex magnitude from the left eye (r109 = 0.23, p < 0.05). Furthermore, individuals who perceived the acoustic probe as more aversive reported the largest anxiety scores (r109 = 0.28, p < 0.05) and had the largest eyeblinks, especially in the left eye (r109 = 0.34, p < 0.001). Results suggest that general startle may represent a valid tool for studying the neural excitability underlying anxiety and emotional dysfunction in neurological and mental disorders

Iron, Oxidative Damage and Ferroptosis in Rhabdomyosarcoma.

Recent data have indicated a fundamental role of iron in mediating a non-apoptotic and non-necrotic oxidative form of programmed cell death termed ferroptosis that requires abundant cytosolic free labile iron to promote membrane lipid peroxidation. Different scavenger molecules and detoxifying enzymes, such as glutathione (GSH) and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), have been shown to overwhelm or exacerbate ferroptosis depending on their expression magnitude. Ferroptosis is emerging as a potential weapon against tumor growth since it has been shown to potentiate cell death in some malignancies. However, this mechanism has been poorly studied in Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), a myogenic tumor affecting childhood and adolescence. One of the main drivers of RMS genesis is the Retrovirus Associated DNA Sequences/Extracellular signal Regulated Kinases (RAS/ERK)signaling pathway, the deliberate activation of which correlates with tumor aggressiveness and oxidative stress levels. Since recent studies have indicated that treatment with oxidative inducers can significantly halt RMS tumor progression, in this review we covered different aspects, ranging from iron metabolism in carcinogenesis and tumor growth, to mechanisms of iron-mediated cell death, to highlight the potential role of ferroptosis in counteracting RMS growth

New DAG-dependent mechanisms modulate cell cycle progression

Through the years, several studies reported the involvement of nuclear lipid signalling as highly connected with cell cycle progression. Indeed, nuclear Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-Biphosphate (PIP2) hydrolisis mediated by Phospholipases C (PLC), which leads to production of the second messengers Diacylglycerol (DAG) and Inositol-1,4,5-Triphosphate (IP3), is a fundamental event for both G1/S and G2/M checkpoints. In particular, we found that nuclear DAG production was mediated by PLCbeta1, enzyme mainly localized in the nucleus of K562 human erythroleukemia cells. This event triggered the activation and nuclear translocation of PKCalpha, which, in turn, resulted able to affect cell cycle via modulation of Cyclin D3 and Cyclin B1, two important enzymes for G1/S transition and G2/M progression respectively

Effect of different processing methods on the nutritional characteristics and tannin content of fababean seed (Vicia faba minor)

In the last years, because of their high protein content, the demand of legume seeds is significantly increased. In the centre and southern Italy fababean (Vicia faba minor) can play an important role as alternative protein source in ruminant nutrition. In this trial has been studied the effect of different treatments (flaking, cooking, dehulling, germination) on the in vitro digestibility and tannin content of fababean seeds. The in vitro OM and NDF digestibility of seeds were significantly (P<0.05) improved by dehulling and flaking. The in vitro OM digestibility of dehulled fababean (99.27%) showed higher values (P<0.05) than the other treated seeds as well as in vitro NDF digestibility (90.33%, P<0.05). Germination of fababean reduces the in vitro digestibility of OM and NDF. Cooking in water was more effective in reducing tannins than other treatments. Compared to the untreated the cooked has significantly (P<0.05) reduced the tannin content over 55% (2.71 g/kgDM vs. 6.10 g/kgDM). Germinated fababean did not affect the tannin content of seeds. The results from this trial suggest that thermal treatments applied to fababean seeds in order to reduce the tannins must be evaluated according to the cost/benefits ratio because this factors in seeds is low (<10 g/kgDM)