Roles of Semaphorins in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Semaphorins are secreted and transmembrane proteins that bind plexin/neuropilin or integrin receptors, providing paracrine axonal guidance signals and ultimately leading to a functional and developed neuronal network. Following semaphorin’s initial discovery, their relevance in the central nervous system (CNS) soon intrigued researchers about the possible links between semaphorins, their receptors and signaling mechanisms and different neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we explore the current knowledge of semaphorin’s function and signaling in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), and Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). We focus on the effects of the most known semaphorin subclasses 3A and 4D, yet extending our discussion to other semaphorins that have been found involved in specific neuropathologies and the potential effect of semaphorins modulating the immune system in disorders with inflammatory components. Molecular, cellular, and genetic evidences are reviewed, highlighting the relevance of semaphorins on each disease etiology, pathophysiology, and progression. The newly discovered semaphorin functions in neurological disorders even suggest alternative therapies that may be highly valuable in diseases that have no current cure

Concentrating n-3 fatty acids from crude and refined commercial salmon oil

The urea complexation was used to concentrate n-3 fatty acids (FA) from crude and refined commercial salmon oils. The experimental procedure included salmon oil saponification, free fatty acid (FFA) collection, formation of urea-FFA inclusion complexes, extraction of free n-3 FA and further analysis by gas-liquid chromatography of the corresponding FA methyl esters. Differences between crude and refined salmon oil could be observed. Crude oil provided higher typical odour, viscosity and suspension particle values, whereas crude salmon oil showed higher EPA and impurities content while p-anisidine and iodine values, moisture content and formation of conjugated dienes and trienes did not provide any significant differences between both oils; refined oil showed lower a* and b* scores when compared to its counterpart crude oil. Related to the n-3 PUFA concentration, a decrease in saturated fatty acids C 14:0, C 16:0, and C 18:0 and monounsaturated fatty acids C 18:1 9c, and C 18:1 11c, as well as a high yield of n-3 PUFA, EPA+DHA and total PUFA recovering could be observed starting from both crude and refined oils, which confirmed salmon oil to be a profitable source of such highly valuable constituents. Factors such as reaction temperature and ureaFFA ratio showed to be markedly significant to achieve higher value concentrations

Identification and evaluation of new Mycobacterium bovis antigens in the in vitro interferon gamma release assay for bovine tuberculosis diagnosis

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a common zoonotic disease, caused by Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), responsible for significant economic losses worldwide. Its diagnosis is based on the detection of cell mediated immunity under the exposure to protein purified derivative tuberculin (PPD), a complex and poorly characterized reagent. The cross-reactivity to non-tuberculous mycobacterium species (false-positive results) has been crucial to develop a more proper antigen. In the present study, we selected six M. bovis Open Reading Frames (Mb1992, Mb2031c, Mb2319, Mb2843c, Mb2845c and Mb3212c) by in-silico analysis and evaluated them in experimental and natural infection; none of these antigens had been previously assessed as diagnostic antigens for bTB. The reactivity performance was tested in animals with both positive and negative Tuberculin Skin Test (TST) results as well as in cattle infected with Mycobacterium avium subesp. paratuberculosis (MAP). The six recombinant antigens individually induced an IFN-γ response, with overall responder frequency ranging from 18.3 to 31%. Mb2845c was the most valuable antigen with the potential to discriminate TST-positive cattle from either TST-negative or MAP infected animals. Mb2845c showed similar performance to that observed with ESAT-6 and PPD-B among TST and MTC specific-PCR positive animals, although this result needs to be proven in further studies with a higher sample size. Our data confirm the feacibility to implement bioinformatic screening tools and suggest Mb2845c as a potential diagnostic antigen to be tested in protein cocktails to evaluate their contribution to bTB diagnosis.Instituto de BiotecnologíaFil: Eirin, Maria Emilia.Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Macias, Analía. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Agronomía y Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Magnano, Gabriel. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Agronomía y Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Morsella, Claudia Graciela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; ArgentinaFil: Mendez, Laura Luján. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; ArgentinaFil: Blanco, Federico Carlos. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Bianco, María Veronica. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Severina, Walter. Actividad privada; ArgentinaFil: Alito, Alicia Elsa. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Pando, Maria de Los Angeles. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida; ArgentinaFil: Singh, Mahavir G. LIONEX GmbH; AlemaniaFil: Spallek, Ralph. LIONEX GmbH; AlemaniaFil: Paoliochi, Fernando. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce. Laboratorio de Bacteriología; ArgentinaFil: Bigi, Fabiana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Cataldi, Angel Adrian. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentin

Discharge protocol in acute pancreatitis: an international survey and cohort analysis.

There are several overlapping clinical practice guidelines in acute pancreatitis (AP), however, none of them contains suggestions on patient discharge. The Hungarian Pancreatic Study Group (HPSG) has recently developed a laboratory data and symptom-based discharge protocol which needs to be validated. (1) A survey was conducted involving all members of the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP) to understand the characteristics of international discharge protocols. (2) We investigated the safety and effectiveness of the HPSG-discharge protocol. According to our international survey, 87.5% (49/56) of the centres had no discharge protocol. Patients discharged based on protocols have a significantly shorter median length of hospitalization (LOH) (7 (5;10) days vs. 8 (5;12) days) p < 0.001), and a lower rate of readmission due to recurrent AP episodes (p = 0.005). There was no difference in median discharge CRP level among the international cohorts (p = 0.586). HPSG-protocol resulted in the shortest LOH (6 (5;9) days) and highest median CRP (35.40 (13.78; 68.40) mg/l). Safety was confirmed by the low rate of readmittance (n = 35; 5%). Discharge protocol is necessary in AP. The discharge protocol used in this study is the first clinically proven protocol. Developing and testifying further protocols are needed to better standardize patients' care