Bovine milk lactoferrin selectively kills highly metastatic prostate cancer PC-3 and osteosarcoma MG-63 cells in vitro

Prostate cancer and osteosarcoma are the second most common type of cancer affecting men and the fifth most common malignancy among adolescents, respectively. The use of non-toxic natural or natural-derived products has been one of the current strategies for cancer therapy, owing to the reduced risks of induced-chemoresistance development and absence of secondary effects. In this perspective, lactoferrin (Lf), a natural protein derived from milk, emerges as a promising anticancer agent due to its well-recognized cytotoxicity and anti-metastatic activity. Here, we aimed to ascertain the potential activity of bovine Lf (bLf) against highly metastatic cancer cells. The bLf effect on prostate PC-3 and osteosarcoma MG-63 cell lines, both displaying plasmalemmal V-ATPase, was studied and compared with the breast cancer MDA-MB-231 and the non-tumorigenic BJ-5ta cell lines. Cell proliferation, cell death, intracellular pH, lysosomal acidification and extracellular acidification rate were evaluated. Results show that bLf inhibits proliferation, induces apoptosis, intracellular acidification and perturbs lysosomal acidification only in highly metastatic cancer cell lines. In contrast, BJ-5ta cells are insensitive to bLf. Overall, our results establish a common mechanism of action of bLf against highly metastatic cancer cells exhibiting plasmalemmal V-ATPase. This study opens promising perspectives for further research on the anticancer role of Lf, which ultimately will contribute to its safer and more rational application in the human therapy of these life-threatening cancers.This study was supported by national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) under the scope of the projects: UID/BIA/04050/2013 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007569), UID/ BIO/04469/2013 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684), FCT-ANR/ BEX-BCM/0175/2012, PEstOE/BIA/UI4050/2014, RECI/BBBEBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462), and PTDC/ SAU-BMA/121028/2010.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Discriminating goal-directed from nongoal-directed movements and its potential impact for BCI control

Differences in the electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings between the execution of goal-directed and nongoal-directed movements have been recently shown in [1]. Such differences can be of interest for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) control, when combined with information on the kinematic level (e.g. velocity decoding), since this combination mirrors the hierarchic way one plans a movement. In this study, we show that the time-domain differences between these movements are discriminable in a single-trial classification

Time domain classification of grasp and hold tasks

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) enable its users to interact with their environment only by thought. Earlier studies indicated [1, 2] that BCI might be a suitable method for controlling a neuroprostheses, which could assist people with spinal cord injuries (SCI) in their daily life. One drawback for the end user is that only simple motor imaginations (MI) are available for control e.g. MI of both feet to control ones arm is abstract and in contradiction to an associated natural movement. Therefore we are looking for means to design a more natural control modality. One promising scenario would be to use MI of different grasps to actually control different grasps of the neuroprosthesis. In this study we attempt to classify the execution of different grasp types in low-frequency time-domain EEG signals

Hydrogels in acellular and cellular strategies for intervertebral disc regeneration

Article first published online: 9 nov. 2011Low back pain is an extremely common illness syndrome causing patient’s suffering and disability which demands for urgent solutions in order to improve life quality of the patients. Treatment options aimed to regenerate the intervertebral disc (IVD) are still under development. The huge cellular complexity of IVD, and consequently its fine regulatory system, makes it a challenge to the scientific community. Biomaterials-based therapies are the most interesting solutions nowadays, wherein tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TE&RM) strategies are included. By using such strategies, i.e., combining biomaterials, cells and biomolecules, the ultimate goal of reaching a complete integration between native and neo-tissue can be achieved. Hydrogels are promising materials to restore IVD, mainly nucleus pulposus (NP). Herein, an overview of the use of hydrogels in acellular and cellular strategies for intervertebral disc regeneration is presented. To better understand the IVD and its functioning, several topics will be focused, i.e., anatomy, pathophysiology, cellular and biomolecular performance, intrinsic healing processes and current therapies. In this review, the application of hydrogels as NP substitutes will be addressed, due to the similarity to NP mechanical properties and extracellular matrix. These hydrogels can be used in cellular strategies, when combined with cells from different sources,, or in acellular strategies, by performing the functionalization of the hydrogels with biomolecules. In addition, a brief summary of therapies based on simple injection envisaging primarily the biological repair will be tackled. At last, a special emphasis has been given to original works reporting the use of autologous cells and biomolecules (e.g.,Platelet-rich plasma) and envisioning the clinical application.Fundação para a Ciência e tecnologia (FCT) through POCTI and FEDER including Project Proteolight. European Union-funded Collaborative Project Disc Regeneratio

Gellan-gum based bilayered scaffolds for application in osteochondral tissue engineering

Publicado em "Journal ofTissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine", vol. 7, supp. 1 (2013)Bilayered scaffold and cellular strategies are currently applied to solve the challenging problem of osteochondral defects. In this study, several formulations of Gellan gum were developed to fabricate different scaf- folds possessing a cartilage-like layer and a bone-like layer. The bone- like layers were obtained by low acyl Gellan gum (LAGG) at 2 wt% and different amounts of hydroxyapatite powders (HAp) (5,10,15 and 20wt%). The cartilage-like layers were obtained by preparing LAGG formulation at 2wt% and formulations of LAGG at 2wt% and high acyl Gellan gum (HAGG) at 0.75wt% at a ratio of 75:25(v%). The visco- elastic measurements were performed using a TRITEC8000B DMA to characterize the mechanical behaviour of the bilayered scaffolds. The effect of the incorporation of different amount of HAp within the bone- like layer on the mechanical properties of the scaffolds was also investi- gated. Degradation and water uptake studies were performed by soak- ing the scaffolds in a phosphate buffered saline solution (pH 7.4) up to 30 days. The bilayered scaffolds were investigated by stereo microscope to evaluate the interface between both layers. The cytotoxicity of the bilayered scaffolds was investigated in vitro using a L929 cell line. In vi- tro studies regarding adhesion, encapsulation and viability of human chondrocytes (cartilage-like layer) and human osteoblasts (bone-like layer) cultured in the bilayered scaffolds were also carried by perform- ing SEM analysis and Live/Dead assays

Movements of the same upper limb can be classified from low-frequency time-domain EEG signals

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can be used to control neuroprostheses of spinal cord injured (SCI) persons. A neuroprosthesis can restore different movement functions (e.g., hand open/close, supination/pronation etc.), and requires a BCI with a sufficiently high number of classes. However, sensorimotor rhythm-based BCIs can often only provide less than 3 classes, and new types of BCIs need to be developed. Since a couple of years, a new EEG feature has evolved: low-frequency time-domain signals. For example movement trajectories [1] and movement directions [2] were decoded using this feature. In the present study, we investigated whether low-frequency time-domain signals can also be used to classify several (executed) hand/arm movements of the same limb. A BCI relying on the imagination of such movements may be used to control a neuroprosthesis more naturally and provide a higher number of classes

DAOs: Governance in the Blockchain Era

Blockchain technology promises to revolutionize not only the way we transact among peers but also the way we organize to create socio-economic value. Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are governed and owned by the community whose members follow a set of blockchain-embedded governance rules that define and control participation. In this chapter, we will clarify what governance decentralization and automation mean, examining DAOs’ distinguishing characteristics. We will also discuss the problems that DAOs solve (e.g., lack of extrinsic incentives, censorship, mismanagement and lack of transparency and accountability), as well as the problems they face (e.g., lack of participation, rigidity, voting misbehaviours and legal status)

O uso de métodos contracetivos de emergência em estudantes do ensino superior

Os métodos contracetivos apresentam dois objetivos principais: prevenir a gravidez e em alguns casos evitar a transmissão de Doenças Sexualmente Transmissíveis (DST ́s). Atualmente existe uma grande diversidade de métodos contracetivos, para ambos os sexos, no entanto a utilização de qualquer um deles exige uma decisão consciente e responsável. A contraceção de emergência refere - se aos métodos que podem ser utiliza- dos para evitar a gravidez, como resultado de uma relação sexual desprote- gida, falha no método contracetivo ou em caso de violaçã

Comment on "On the Extraction of Purely Motor EEG Neural Correlates during an Upper Limb Visuomotor Task"

Bibian et al. show in their recent paper (Bibi\'an et al. 2021) that eye and head movements can affect the EEG-based classification in a reaching motor task. These movements can generate artefacts that can cause an overoptimistic estimation of the classification accuracy. They speculate that such artefacts jeopardise the interpretation of the results from several motor decoding studies including our study (Ofner et al. 2017). While we endorse their warning about artefacts in general, we do have doubts whether their work supports such a statement with respect to our study. We provide in this commentary a more nuanced contextualization of our work presented in Ofner et al. and the type of artefacts investigated in Bibian et al

Uso de antidepressivos nas regiões do Porto, Braga e Bragança

A depressão é uma das formas de perturbação mental mais frequente com uma prevalência na população geral de aproximadamente 10%. No que diz respeito ao tratamento desta patologia, a terapia a ser utilizada deve abranger a psicoterapia, mudanças no estilo de vida e a terapia farmacológica. Objetivo: Caraterizar o uso de antidepressivos nas regiões do Porto, Braga e Bragança. Metodologia: Este estudo é de caráter transversal, descritivo-correlacional, sustentado por um questionário distribuído por uma amostra de 385 indivíduos nas diferentes regiões. Para a edição e tratamento de dados foi utilizado o programa SPSS, versão 22. Resultados: Neste estudo participaram 385 indivíduos dos quais 38,96% pertencem ao sexo masculino e 61,04% ao sexo feminino. Relativamente ao uso de antidepressivos, 74,29% dos indivíduos afirmam que nunca tomaram antidepressivos. O Porto é a região que apresenta uma maior utilização de antidepressivos e a região de Bragança é a que apresenta um menor uso destes medicamentos. Discussão e Conclusão: Com a análise dos resultados foi possível concluir que os distritos do litoral, são aqueles onde há maior utilização de antidepressivos. Além disso, foi verificado que a utilização destes medicamentos está associada com a idade, o género e o estado civil. Constatou-se também que os antidepressivos mais utilizados foram a sertralina, o escitalopram e a fluoxetina. Apesar de bons resultados, o número de reações de adversas é alarmante, afetando mais de metade da população consumidora.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio