Multi-band technical imaging in the research of the execution of paintings. The case study of the portrait of Carlos IV, by Francisco de Goya

MBTI has lead us to discover the trial-and-error method used by Goya who, reluctant to work in any other way than the one that involved the live model, adjusted every necessary detail until achieving the portrait. Therefore, the painting may be considered the original prototype of the portrait of King Carlos IV, the one created and patented by Goya between February and April 1789, which generated several replicas with the exact same dimensions. Such copies only modi\ufb01ed the color of the jackets, the dimensions of the canvas, and the context decoration: curtains, tables and crown. However, all of them displayed identical measurements with respect to the upper and main parts of the Sovereign\u2019s portrayed body. Throughout the di\ufb00erent images of the MBTI the way in which the portrait was executed has been shown, revealing hidden parts that help to order the steps and stages of the creative process for this particular painting

Response of different PTH assays to therapy with sevelamer or CaCO3 and active vitamin D sterols

Amino-terminally truncated parathyroid hormone (PTH) fragments are detected to differing degrees by first- and second-generation immunometric PTH assays (PTH-IMAs), and acute changes in serum calcium affect the proportion of these fragments in circulation. However, the effect of chronic calcium changes and different vitamin D doses on these PTH measurements remains to be defined. In this study, 60 pediatric dialysis patients, aged 13.9 ± 0.7 years, with secondary hyperparathyroidism were randomized to 8 months of therapy with oral vitamin D combined with either calcium carbonate (CaCO3) or sevelamer. Serum phosphorus levels did not differ between groups. Serum calcium levels rose from 9.3 ± 0.1 to 9.7 ± 0.1 mg/dl during CaCO3 therapy (p < 0.01 from baseline) but remained unchanged during sevelamer therapy. In the CaCO3 and sevelamer groups, baseline serum PTH levels (1st PTH-IMA; Nichols Institute Diagnostics, San Clemente, CA) were 964 ± 75 and 932 ± 89 pg/ml, and levels declined to 491 ± 55 and 543 ± 59 pg/ml, respectively (nonsignificant between groups). Patients treated with sevelamer received higher doses of vitamin D than those treated with CaCO3. The PTH values obtained by first- and second-generation PTH-IMAs correlated closely throughout therapy and the response of PTH was similar to both PTH-IMAs, despite differences in serum calcium levels

High resolution melting analysis for a rapid identification of heterozygous and homozygous sequence changes in the MUTYH gene

Background: MUTYH-associated polyposis (MAP) is an autosomal recessive form of intestinal polyposis predisposing to colorectal carcinoma. High resolution melting analysis (HRMA) is a mutation scanning method that allows detection of heterozygous sequence changes with high sensitivity, whereas homozygosity for a nucleotide change may not lead to significant curve shape or melting temperature changes compared to homozygous wildtype samples. Therefore, HRMA has been mainly applied to the detection of mutations associated with autosomal dominant or X-linked disorders, while applications to autosomal recessive conditions are less common. Methods: MUTYH coding sequence and UTRs were analyzed by both HRMA and sequencing on 88 leukocyte genomic DNA samples. Twenty-six samples were also examined by SSCP. Experiments were performed both with and without mixing the test samples with wild-type DNA. Results: The results show that all MUTYH sequence variations, including G > C and A > T homozygous changes, can be reliably identified by HRMA when a condition of artificial heterozygosity is created by mixing test and reference DNA. HRMA had a sensitivity comparable to sequencing and higher than SSCP. Conclusions: The availability of a rapid and inexpensive method for the identification of MUTYH sequence variants is relevant for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer susceptibility, since the MAP phenotype is highly variable

Momordica charantia (bitter melon) inhibits primary human adipocyte differentiation by modulating adipogenic genes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Escalating trends of obesity and associated type 2 diabetes (T2D) has prompted an increase in the use of alternative and complementary functional foods. <it>Momordica charantia </it>or bitter melon (BM) that is traditionally used to treat diabetes and complications has been demonstrated to alleviate hyperglycemia as well as reduce adiposity in rodents. However, its effects on human adipocytes remain unknown. The objective of our study was to investigate the effects of BM juice (BMJ) on lipid accumulation and adipocyte differentiation transcription factors in primary human differentiating preadipocytes and adipocytes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Commercially available cryopreserved primary human preadipocytes were treated with and without BMJ during and after differentiation. Cytotoxicity, lipid accumulation, and adipogenic genes mRNA expression was measured by commercial enzymatic assay kits and semi-quantitative RT-PCR (RT-PCR).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Preadipocytes treated with varying concentrations of BMJ during differentiation demonstrated significant reduction in lipid content with a concomitant reduction in mRNA expression of adipocyte transcription factors such as, peroxisome proliferator-associated receptor γ (PPARγ) and sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1c (SREBP-1c) and adipocytokine, resistin. Similarly, adipocytes treated with BMJ for 48 h demonstrated reduced lipid content, perilipin mRNA expression, and increased lipolysis as measured by the release of glycerol.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our data suggests that BMJ is a potent inhibitor of lipogenesis and stimulator of lipolysis activity in human adipocytes. BMJ may therefore prove to be an effective complementary or alternative therapy to reduce adipogenesis in humans.</p

Genetic Cross-Interaction between APOE and PRNP in Sporadic Alzheimer's and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Diseases

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) represent two distinct clinical entities belonging to a wider group, generically named as conformational disorders that share common pathophysiologic mechanisms. It is well-established that the APOE ε4 allele and homozygosity at polymorphic codon 129 in the PRNP gene are the major genetic risk factors for AD and human prion diseases, respectively. However, the roles of PRNP in AD, and APOE in CJD are controversial. In this work, we investigated for the first time, APOE and PRNP genotypes simultaneously in 474 AD and 175 sporadic CJD (sCJD) patients compared to a common control population of 335 subjects. Differences in genotype distribution between patients and control subjects were studied by logistic regression analysis using age and gender as covariates. The effect size of risk association and synergy factors were calculated using the logistic odds ratio estimates. Our data confirmed that the presence of APOE ε4 allele is associated with a higher risk of developing AD, while homozygosity at PRNP gene constitutes a risk for sCJD. Opposite, we found no association for PRNP with AD, nor for APOE with sCJD. Interestingly, when AD and sCJD patients were stratified according to their respective main risk genes (APOE for AD, and PRNP for sCJD), we found statistically significant associations for the other gene in those strata at higher previous risk. Synergy factor analysis showed a synergistic age-dependent interaction between APOE and PRNP in both AD (SF = 3.59, p = 0.027), and sCJD (SF = 7.26, p = 0.005). We propose that this statistical epistasis can partially explain divergent data from different association studies. Moreover, these results suggest that the genetic interaction between APOE and PRNP may have a biological correlate that is indicative of shared neurodegenerative pathways involved in AD and sCJD