75 research outputs found
Antioxidant capacity of Rigenase®, a specific aqueous extract of triticum vulgare
Reactive species of oxygen (ROS), responsible for oxidative stress, accumulate in various
tissues damaged by burns, decubitus ulcers, and vascular lesions. Antioxidants play an important
and well-documented role in healing of chronic and acute wounds. Rigenase®, a specific extract of
Triticum vulgare manufactured by Farmaceutici Damor, is employed in products used for the
regeneration of tissue injuries. In this work, we show that Rigenase® exhibits a scavenging effect
toward free radicals, thus pointing to its relevant antioxidant activity
Cellular Prion Protein and Caveolin-1 Interaction in a Neuronal Cell Line Precedes Fyn/Erk 1/2 Signal Transduction
It has been reported that cellular prion protein (PrPc) is enriched in caveolae or caveolae-like domains with caveolin-1 (Cav-1) participating to signal transduction events by Fyn kinase recruitment. By using the Glutathione-S-transferase (GST)-fusion proteins assay, we observed that PrPc strongly interacts in vitro with Cav-1. Thus, we ascertained the PrPc caveolar localization in a hypothalamic neuronal cell line (GN11), by confocal microscopy analysis, flotation on density gradient, and coimmunoprecipitation experiments. Following the anti-PrPc antibody-mediated stimulation of live GN11 cells, we observed that PrPc clustered on plasma membrane domains rich in Cav-1 in which Fyn kinase converged to be activated. After these events, a signaling cascade through p42/44 MAP kinase (Erk 1/2) was triggered, suggesting that following translocations from rafts to caveolae or caveolaelike domains PrPc could interact with Cav-1 and induce signal transduction events
Tracing and tracking epiallele families in complex DNA populations
DNA methylation is a stable epigenetic modification, extremely polymorphic and driven by stochastic and deterministic events. Most of the current techniques used to analyse methylated sequences identify methylated cytosines (mCpGs) at a single-nucleotide level and compute the average methylation of CpGs in the population of molecules. Stable epialleles, i.e. CpG strings with the same DNA sequence containing a discrete linear succession of phased methylated/non-methylated CpGs in the same DNA molecule, cannot be identified due to the heterogeneity of the 5′–3′ ends of the molecules. Moreover, these are diluted by random unstable methylated CpGs and escape detection. We present here MethCoresProfiler, an R-based tool that provides a simple method to extract and identify combinations of methylated phased CpGs shared by all components of epiallele families in complex DNA populations. The methylated cores are stable over time, evolve by acquiring or losing new methyl sites and, ultimately, display high information content and low stochasticity. We have validated this method by identifying and tracing rare epialleles and their families in synthetic or in vivo complex cell populations derived from mouse brain areas and cells during postnatal differentiation
Effects of Different Up-Dosing Regimens for Hymenoptera Venom Immunotherapy on Serum CTLA-4 and IL-10
BACKGROUND: Cytotoxic T lymphocyte associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) is involved in the activation pathways of T lymphocytes. It has been shown that the circulating form of CTLA-4 is elevated in patients with hymenoptera allergy and can be down regulated by immunotherapy. OBJECTIVE: to assess the effects on CTLA-4 of venom immunotherapy, given with different induction protocols: conventional (6 weeks), rush (3 days) or ultra rush (1 day). METHODS: Sera from patients with hymenoptera allergy were collected at baseline and at the end of the induction phase. CTLA-4 and IL-10 were assayed in the same samples. A subset of patients were assayed also after 12 months of VIT maintenance. RESULTS: Ninety-four patients were studied. Of them, 50 underwent the conventional induction, 20 the rush and 24 the ultra-rush. Soluble CTLA-4 was detectable in all patients at baseline, and significantly decreased at the end of the induction, irrespective of its duration. Of note, a significant decrease of sCTLA-4 could be seen already at 24 hours. In parallel, IL-10 significantly increased at the end of the induction. At 12 months, sCTLA-4 remained low, whereas IL-10 returned to the baseline values. CONCLUSIONS: Serum CTLA4 is an early marker of the immunological effects of venom immunotherapy, and its changes persist after one year of maintenance treatment
An approach to prevent frailty in community dwelling older adults: a pilot study performed in Campania region in the framework of the PERSSILAA project
We developed and tested an innovative physical
training method in older adults that embeds the gym
program into everyday life in the most conservative
way possible. Physical training was included in the
activities of local parishes where older women from
Southern Italy spend most of their free time and was
delivered by trained physical therapists with the
support of an ICT tool known as CoCo. 113 older
women (aged 72.0 [69.0-75.0] years) noncompliant
to conventional exercise programs participated to
the study. 57 of them underwent the final
anthropometric assessment and 50 the final physical
tests. In study completers handgrip strength and
physical performance evaluated with the chair-stand,
the two minutes step and the chair-sit and -reach
tests significantly improved. Quality of life as
evaluated with the EuroQol-5dimension (EQ-5D)
questionnaire improved as well. In conclusion, a
training program designed to minimally impact on
life habits of older people is effective in improving
fitness in patients noncompliant to other to physical
exercise programs
Innovative approaches to active and healthy ageing: Campania experience to improve the adoption of innovative good practices
The demographic projections on the
European population predict that people aged over
60 will increase by about two million/year in the next
decades. Since 2012, the Campania Reference Site of
the European Innovation Partnership on Active and
Healthy Ageing supports the innovation of the
Regional Health System, to face up demographic
changes and sustainability. Campania Reference Site
provides the opportunity to connect loco-regional
stakeholders in social and health care services
(universities, healthcare providers, social services,
local communities and municipalities), with
international organizations, in order to adopt and
scale up innovative solutions and approaches. This
paper describes the building process of Campania
Reference Site and the main results achieved, that
have been allowing it to become a hub for open
innovation in the field of active and healthy aging at
regional, national and international level
APPLICATION OF MCA FOR STUDYING AS THE LIFESTYLE AND THE AIR QUALITY CAN AFFECT FORMS OF SLEEP DISORDERED BREATHING
Analytical discrimination of poisonous and non-poisonous chemotypes of giant fennel (Ferula communis l.) through their biologically active and volatile fractions
Combined effects of radiotherapy and photodynamic therapy on an in vitro human prostate model.
Human prostate cancer cells were evaluated for growth after photodynamic therapy, radiotherapy, and combined treatment. Indocyanine green was tested as a photosensitizer and radiosensitizer. Two human cell lines were used: PC-3 derived from prostate carcinoma, and EPN derived from normal prostate tissue. The light source used for the photoactivation experiments was a diode laser peaked at 805 nm. The light dose incident on cells was 108 J/cm2. Ionizing radiation was produced by a linear accelerator, and the dose was 2, 4 and 6 Gy. Cytotoxicity was evaluated by measuring the colony forming ability of cells. Our results show that indocyanine green induces cell death by photoactivation, but it does not act as a radiosensitizer if used with ionizing radiation. The combined treatment of photodynamic therapy and radiotherapy produces an additive effect which does not depend on the sequence of the two treatments. Combined treatments could be more useful since they allow the reduction of the ionizing radiation dose to obtain the same effect as one obtainable by radiotherapy alone
Elevated expression of the tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1 defines a subset of high-grade breast tumors.
OBJECTIVES: Protein tyrosine phosphatases are key regulators of intracellular signaling that contribute to determining cancer cell growth, which thus makes them attractive targets for therapeutic and diagnostic agents. SHP-1 phosphotyrosine phosphatase is rarely expressed in epithelial tumor cells, but expression has been found in several breast cancer cell lines and tumors. To determine the potential significance of SHP-1 as a prognostic marker in the clinical setting, we examined SHP-1 protein expression in breast tumors. METHODS: We analyzed SHP-1 expression by immunohistochemistry in a breast tissue microarray composed of 2,081 cores, either alone or in combination with known prognostic markers. RESULTS: Our data showed that SHP-1 expression was confined to a well-defined subset of high-grade tumors characterized by unique biological parameters. SHP-1 expression correlated directly with expression of the tyrosine kinase receptor HER-2 and inversely with expression of the estrogen receptor, while it was weakly associated with Bcl-2 expression. CONCLUSIONS: Levels of SHP-1 were correlated with conventional pathologic parameters of tumor aggressiveness and were associated with reduced patient survival, suggesting that elevated expression of SHP-1 is a common molecular abnormality in a defined subset of breast tumors and might be used in routine diagnosis to identify patients with high-risk tumors
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