A Case of Capillary Hemangioma of the Nasal Septum in a Patient With Chronic Ischemic Heart Disease and Antiplatelet Treatment Non-Suspendable

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The analysis of pendolino (peo) mutants reveals differences in the fusigenic potential among Drosophila telomeres

Drosophila telomeres are sequence-independent structures that are maintained by transposition to chromosome ends of three specialized retroelements (HeT-A, TART and TAHRE; collectively designated as HTT) rather than telomerase activity. Fly telomeres are protected by the terminin complex (HOAP-HipHop-Moi-Ver) that localizes and functions exclusively at telomeres and by non-terminin proteins that do not serve telomere-specific functions. Although all Drosophila telomeres terminate with HTT arrays and are capped by terminin, they differ in the type of subtelomeric chromatin; the Y, XR, and 4L HTT are juxtaposed to constitutive heterochromatin, while the XL, 2L, 2R, 3L and 3R HTT are linked to the TAS repetitive sequences; the 4R HTT is associated with a chromatin that has features common to both euchromatin and heterochromatin. Here we show that mutations in pendolino (peo) cause telomeric fusions (TFs). The analysis of several peo mutant combinations showed that these TFs preferentially involve the Y, XR and 4th chromosome telomeres, a TF pattern never observed in the other 10 telomere-capping mutants so far characterized. peo encodes a non-terminin protein homologous to the E2 variant ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes. The Peo protein directly interacts with the terminin components, but peo mutations do not affect telomeric localization of HOAP, Moi, Ver and HP1a, suggesting that the peodependent telomere fusion phenotype is not due to loss of terminin from chromosome ends. peo mutants are also defective in DNA replication and PCNA recruitment. However, our results suggest that general defects in DNA replication are unable to induce TFs in Drosophila cells. We thus hypothesize that DNA replication in Peodepleted cells results in specific fusigenic lesions concentrated in heterochromatinassociated telomeres. Alternatively it is possible that Peo plays a dual function being independently required for DNA replication and telomere capping

Pyrene lipids as markers of peroxidative processes in different regions of low and high density lipoproteins

AbstractThree different pyrene derivatives, pyrene decanoyl phosphatidylcholine (P10PC), pyrene dodecanoyl sulfatide (P12CS) and cholesteryl pyrenyl hexanoate (P6Chol), were used to follow lipid peroxidation in low and high density lipoproteins. Probe-labelled lipoproteins were subjected to Cu2+ catalyzed peroxidation. In all cases the fluorescence of the probes progressively decreased due to the involvement of pyrene in the peroxidative reaction. Thus, we used the fluorescence decrease of P6Chol to monitor the lipid peroxidation in the hydrophobic core of LDL and HDL, and that of the amphipatic probes, P10PC and P12CS, to follow lipid peroxidation in the envelope of both lipoproteins. The possibility of following lipid peroxidation in individual lipoprotein regions could lead to more detailed information on the oxidative modifications that play an important role in the altered cholesterol homeostasis involved in the formation of atherosclerotic lesions. No differences were observed in the peroxidation kinetics of the hydrophobic core of HDL and LDL monitored with P6Chol. On the contrary kinetics obtained with P10PC and P12CS demonstrated the HDL envelope to be more susceptible to Cu2+-dependent lipid peroxidation than that of the LDL. This could be due to a greater radical generating capacity of the HDL envelope and can be explained on the basis of low vitamin E levels and large amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids esterified on phospholipids determined in HDL, and on literature evidence that indicates HDL as the principal vehicle of circulating plasma lipid peroxides

Acute Respiratory Distress in Patient with Laryngeal Schwannoma

Schwannoma is a neurogenic benign tumour arising from the proliferation of Schwann cells present in the peripheral nerve sheath of myelinated nerves. This proliferation can hypothetically appear in every anatomic region of the human body, but the nerve sheath tumors rarely occur within the larynx. In this paper the authors discuss the case of a 74-year-old female who presented to Emergency Unit (EU) for an important acute respiratory distress. Airway flexible endoscopy revealed a bulky mass of the aryepiglottic fold measuring 3.5 cm in diameter. The patient underwent tracheotomy and a single-step surgical excision treatment of the mass which was recognized as a schwannoma at pathological examination. Tracheotomy was closed 2 weeks postoperatively. After 18 months of followup, the patient is alive and free of disease and her voice had improved markedly

Letteratura e prospettive emergenti sul rapporto fra innovazione e competizione fra imprese

L'obiettivo del lavoro è di identificare e argomentare i contributi più significativi pubblicati nelle riviste Research Policy e European Journal of Innovation Management, rilevanti ai fini di una interpretazione del rapporto tra innovazione e competitività. Alcuni principali temi emersi dallo studio sono: 1) l'evoluzione da innovazione di prodotto a innovazione di mercato; 2) i requisiti per l'implementazione dell'innovazione; 3) i fenomeni di "conservazione" nell'impresa; 4) l'innovazione come "solution provider"; 5) "solution innovation" come nuovo paradigma per la competitività; 6) gli orientamenti all'innovazione. L'analisi dei contributi permette di individuare alcune interessanti ambiti per future ricerche

Altered fronto-striatal functions in the Gdi1 -null mouse model of X-linked Intellectual Disability

RAB-GDP dissociation inhibitor 1 (GDI1) loss-of-function mutations are responsible for a form of non-specific X-linked Intellectual Disability (XLID) where the only clinical feature is cognitive impairment. GDI1 patients are impaired in specific aspects of executive functions and conditioned response, which are controlled by fronto-striatal circuitries. Previous molecular and behavioral characterization of the Gdi1-null mouse revealed alterations in the total number/distribution of hippocampal and cortical synaptic vesicles as well as hippocampal short-term synaptic plasticity, and memory deficits. In this study, we employed cognitive protocols with high translational validity to human condition that target the functionality of cortico-striatal circuitry such as attention and stimulus selection ability with progressive degree of complexity. We previously showed that Gdi1-null mice are impaired in some hippocampus-dependent forms of associative learning assessed by aversive procedures. Here, using appetitive-conditioning procedures we further investigated associative learning deficits sustained by the fronto-striatal system. We report that Gdi1-null mice are impaired in attention and associative learning processes, which are a key part of the cognitive impairment observed in XLID patients

Moonlighting in mitosis:Analysis of the mitotic functions of transcription and splicing factors

Moonlighting proteins can perform one or more additional functions besides their primary role. It has been posited that a protein can acquire a moonlighting function through a gradual evolutionary process, which is favored when the primary and secondary functions are exerted in different cellular compartments. Transcription factors (TFs) and splicing factors (SFs) control processes that occur in interphase nuclei and are strongly reduced during cell division, and are therefore in a favorable situation to evolve moonlighting mitotic functions. However, recently published moonlighting protein databases, which comprise almost 400 proteins, do not include TFs and SFs with secondary mitotic functions. We searched the literature and found several TFs and SFs with bona fide moonlighting mitotic functions, namely they localize to specific mitotic structure(s), interact with proteins enriched in the same structure(s), and are required for proper morphology and functioning of the structure(s). In addition, we describe TFs and SFs that localize to mitotic structures but cannot be classified as moonlighting proteins due to insufficient data on their biochemical interactions and mitotic roles. Nevertheless, we hypothesize that most TFs and SFs with specific mitotic localizations have either minor or redundant moonlighting functions, or are evolving towards the acquisition of these functions

Moonlighting in Mitosis: Analysis of the Mitotic Functions of Transcription and Splicing Factors

Moonlighting proteins can perform one or more additional functions besides their primary role. It has been posited that a protein can acquire a moonlighting function through a gradual evolutionary process, which is favored when the primary and secondary functions are exerted in different cellular compartments. Transcription factors (TFs) and splicing factors (SFs) control processes that occur in interphase nuclei and are strongly reduced during cell division, and are therefore in a favorable situation to evolve moonlighting mitotic functions. However, recently published moonlighting protein databases, which comprise almost 400 proteins, do not include TFs and SFs with secondary mitotic functions. We searched the literature and found several TFs and SFs with bona fide moonlighting mitotic functions, namely they localize to specific mitotic structure(s), interact with proteins enriched in the same structure(s), and are required for proper morphology and functioning of the structure(s). In addition, we describe TFs and SFs that localize to mitotic structures but cannot be classified as moonlighting proteins due to insufficient data on their biochemical interactions and mitotic roles. Nevertheless, we hypothesize that most TFs and SFs with specific mitotic localizations have either minor or redundant moonlighting functions, or are evolving towards the acquisition of these functions

NeuroDante: Poetry Mentally Engages More Experts but Moves More Non-Experts, and for Both the Cerebral Approach Tendency Goes Hand in Hand with the Cerebral Effort

Neuroaesthetics, the science studying the biological underpinnings of aesthetic experience, recently extended its area of investigation to literary art; this was the humus where neurocognitive poetics blossomed. Divina Commedia represents one of the most important, famous and studied poems worldwide. Poetry stimuli are characterized by elements (meter and rhyme) promoting the processing fluency, a core aspect of neuroaesthetics theories. In addition, given the evidence of different neurophysiological reactions between experts and non-experts in response to artistic stimuli, the aim of the present study was to investigate, in poetry, a different neurophysiological cognitive and emotional reaction between Literature (L) and Non-Literature (NL) students. A further aim was to investigate whether neurophysiological underpinnings would support explanation of behavioral data. Investigation methods employed: self-report assessments (recognition, appreciation, content recall) and neurophysiological indexes (approach/withdrawal (AW), cerebral effort (CE) and galvanic skin response (GSR)). The main behavioral results, according to fluency theories in aesthetics, suggested in the NL but not in the L group that the appreciation/liking went hand by hand with the self-declared recognition and with the content recall. The main neurophysiological results were: (i) higher galvanic skin response in NL, whilst higher CE values in L; (ii) a positive correlation between AW and CE indexes in both groups. The present results extended previous evidence relative to figurative art also to auditory poetry stimuli, suggesting an emotional attenuation “expertise-specific” showed by experts, but increased cognitive processing in response to the stimuli