Neurogenic Fever after Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in Animal Models: A Systematic Review

The observation of neurogenic fever resulting from subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in animal models is a useful tool for the interpretation of its pathophysiology in humans, which is still a major challenge in the management of neurocritical patients. This systematic review aims to identify the prognostic factors and pathophysiological elements that determine the onset of neurogenic fever and its severity in animal models. In addition, our study aims to analyze which pharmacological treatments are most effective. All the articles available in Pubmed, Embase, and the Biological Science Collection until August 2021 concerning in vivo experimental studies on SAH animal models, including full texts and abstracts written in English and Italian, were considered. The risk of bias was assessed with SYRCLE’s Risk of Bias tool. In total, 81 records were retrieved; after excluding duplicates, 76 records were potentially relevant. A total of 64 articles was excluded after title and abstract screening. The remaining 12 studies were evaluated as full texts, and 6 other studies were excluded (SAH-induced animal studies without a body temperature assessment). In one study, body temperature was measured after SAH induction, but the authors did not report temperature recording. Therefore, only five studies met the search criteria. The high methodological heterogeneity (different animal species, different temperature measurement methods, and different methods of the induction of bleeding) prevented meta-analysis. Synthesis methodology without meta-analysis (SWiM) was used for data analysis. The total number of animals used as controls was 87 (23 rabbits, 32 mice, and 32 rats), while there were 130 animals used as interventions (54 rabbits, 44 mice, and 32 rats). The presence of blood in the subarachnoid space, particularly red blood cells, is responsible for neurogenic fever; the role of hemoglobin is unclear. The mechanism is apparently not mediated by prostaglandins. The autonomic nervous system innervating brown adipose tissue is undoubtedly implicated in the onset of neurogenic fever. The activation of the central adenosine-1 receptor is effective in controlling the temperature of animals with neurogenic fever (by inhibiting thermogenesis of brown adipose tissue)

REM Sleep and Endothermy: Potential Sites and Mechanism of a Reciprocal Interference

Numerous data show a reciprocal interaction between REM sleep and thermoregulation. During REM sleep, the function of thermoregulation appears to be impaired; from the other hand, the tonic activation of thermogenesis, such as during cold exposure, suppresses REM sleep occurrence. Recently, both the central neural network controlling REM sleep and the central neural network controlling thermoregulation have been progressively unraveled. Thermoregulation was shown to be controlled by a central "core" circuit, responsible for the maintenance of body temperature, modulated by a set of accessory areas. REM sleep was suggested to be controlled by a group of hypothalamic neurons overlooking at the REM sleep generating circuits within the brainstem. The two networks overlap in a few areas, and in this review, we will suggest that in such overlap may reside the explanation of the reciprocal interaction between REM sleep and thermoregulation. Considering the peculiar modulation of thermoregulation by REM sleep the result of their coincidental evolution, REM sleep may therefore be seen as a period of transient heterothermy

Reduced Graphene Oxide Embedded with ZnS Nanoparticles as Catalytic Cathodic Material for Li-S Batteries

Lithium-sulfur technology is a strong candidate for the future generation of batteries due to its high specific capacity (1675 mAh g−1), low cost, and environmental impact. In this work, we propose a facile and solvent-free microwave synthesis for a composite material based on doped (sulfur and nitrogen) reduced graphene oxide embedded with zinc sulfide nanoparticles (SN-rGO/ZnS) to improve the battery performance. The chemical-physical characterization (XRD, XPS, FESEM, TGA) confirmed the effectiveness of the microwave approach in synthesizing the composite materials and their ability to be loaded with sulfur. The materials were then thoroughly characterized from an electrochemical point of view (cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic cycling, Tafel plot, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and Li2S deposition test); the SN-rGO/ZnS/S8 cathode showed a strong affinity towards polysulfides, thus reducing their loss by diffusion and improving redox kinetics, allowing for faster LiPSs conversion. In terms of performance, the composite-based cathode increased the specific capacity at high rate (1 C) from 517 to 648 mAh g−1. At the same time, more stable behavior was observed at 0.5 C with capacity retention at the 750th cycle, where it was raised from 32.5% to 48.2%, thus confirming the beneficial effect of the heteroatomic doping process and the presence of zinc sulfide nanoparticles

Cold exposure impairs dark-pulse capacity to induce REM sleep in the albino rat

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73940/1/j.1365-2869.2008.00658.x.pd

Satisfaction with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treatment: results from a multicenter, observational study

Background: Understanding the level of patients\u2019 satisfaction with treatment and its determinants have the potential to impact therapeutic management and clinical outcome in chronic conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: A national, multicenter, longitudinal, observational study of COPD from 20 Italian pulmonary centers to explore patients\u2019 satisfaction to treatment [assessed by the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire, 9 items (TSQM-9)] and association with clinical parameters [including dyspnea score, COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score, exacerbation rate], adherence to treatment [Morisky Medication-Taking Adherence Scale (MMAS-4)], illness perception [evaluated by Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (B-IPQ)] in a 1-year follow up. Results: A total of 401 COPD patients were enrolled [69.4% group B Global Initiative for COPD (GOLD), considering 366 patients with available GOLD 2017 classification at enrollment]. At enrollment, satisfaction with treatment was moderate, being TSQM-9 mean scores for effectiveness 64.2 [95% confidence interval (CI) 62.5\u201365.9], for convenience 75.8 (95% CI 74.2\u201377.3), and for global satisfaction 65.7 (95% CI 64.0\u201367.4). Global satisfaction was negatively associated with disease perception (\u3b2 = 120.4709, p < 0.0001), and grade of dyspnea (\u3b2 = 124.2564, p = 0.009). Satisfaction with treatment was lower in patients with poor compared with optimal adherence to treatment (\u3b2 = 124.5608, p = 0.002). Changes in inhalation regimens during follow up did not modify the satisfaction with treatment. Conclusions: The results of this real-life study showed that the patients\u2019 satisfaction with treatments is only moderate in COPD. A high grade of patients\u2019 satisfaction is associated mainly with a low perception of the disease, high adherence to treatment and lower level of dyspnea

SIRT6 promotes metastasis and relapse in HER2-positive breast cancer

The histone deacetylase sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) has been endowed with anti-cancer capabilities in many tumor types. Here, we investigate the impact of SIRT6-overexpression (SIRT6-OE) in Delta16HER2 mice, which are a bona fide model of HER2-positive breast cancer. After an initial delay in the tumor onset, SIRT6-OE induces a more aggressive phenotype of Delta16HER2 tumors promoting the formation of higher number of tumor foci and metastases than controls. This phenotype of SIRT6-OE tumors is associated with cancer stem cell (CSC)-like features and tumor dormancy, and low senescence and oxidative DNA damage. Accordingly, a sub-set of HER2-positive breast cancer patients with concurrent SIRT6-OE has a significant poorer relapse-free survival (RFS) probability than patients with low expression of SIRT6. ChIP-seq, RNA-seq and RT-PCR experiments indicate that SIRT6-OE represses the expression of the T-box transcription factor 3 (Tbx3) by deacetylation of H3K9ac. Accordingly, loss-of-function mutations of TBX3 or low TBX3 expression levels are predictive of poor prognosis in HER2-positive breast cancer patients. Our work indicates that high levels of SIRT6 are indicative of poor prognosis and high risk of metastasis in HER2-positive breast cancer and suggests further investigation of TBX3 as a downstream target of SIRT6 and co-marker of poor-prognosis. Our results point to a breast cancer subtype-specific effect of SIRT6 and warrant future studies dissecting the mechanisms of SIRT6 regulation in different breast cancer subtypes

Anticipating species distributions:handling sampling effort bias under a Bayesian framework

Anticipating species distributions in space and time is necessary for effective biodiversity conservation and for prioritising management interventions. This is especially true when considering invasive species. In such a case, anticipating their spread is important to effectively plan management actions. However, considering uncertainty in the output of species distribution models is critical for correctly interpreting results and avoiding inappropriate decision-making. In particular, when dealing with species inventories, the bias resulting from sampling effort may lead to an over- or under-estimation of the local density of occurrences of a species. In this paper we propose an innovative method to i) map sampling effort bias using cartogram models and ii) explicitly consider such uncertainty in the modeling procedure under a Bayesian framework, which allows the integration of multilevel input data with prior information to improve the anticipation species distributions

Efeito de cortes de estacas e da presença de folhas na produção de mudas de Mentha sp.

Mentha sp. (mint) is an herbaceous plant belonging to the Lamiaceae family and is easily propagated by stem cuttings. We aimed to evaluatethe effect of plant parts and presence of leaves in mint cuttings on the survival and vigor of seedlings. The experiment was carriedout in a 3x2 factorial scheme (plant parts x presence of leaves, respectively) with three replications of 15 seedlings. Data wasanalyzed using software JMP IN, SAS Institute, and means were compared by Tukey test at 5% probability. The results showedthat apical cuttings showed the highest means in all tests. Additionally, cuttings with leaves showed higher means than thosewithout leaves. Survival of apical cuttings with and without leaves at 20 days after planting was 93.3% and 73.3% respectively.Shoot fresh weight was 8.2 g in apical cuttings with leaves and 5.0 g in apical cuttings without leaves. Root dry weight was 7.3and 4.3 g in apical cuttings with and without leaves, respectively, while root length was 11.4 and 11.5, respectively. We concludethat apical cuttings bearing leaves provide the highest rates of survival and vigor in mint seedlings.A hortelã (Mentha sp.) é uma planta herbácea pertencente à família Lamiaceae e facilmente propagada por estacas retiradas do caule. O objetivo desteestudo foi avaliar o efeito de cortes e a presença de folhas em estacas de hortelã na porcentagem de pegamento e vigor de mudas.O experimento foi realizado em viveiro, no esquema fatorial 3 (parte da planta) X 2 (presença de folhas) com três repetiçõesde 15 mudas. Os dados foram analisados utilizando-se o programa estatístico JMP IN, SAS Institute, e as médias comparadaspelo Teste de Tukey a 5% de probabilidade. Os resultados mostraram que para todas as avaliações, estacas apicais apresentaramas melhores médias. Além disso, os tratamentos do grupamento com folhas apresentaram médias superiores às do grupamentosem folhas. Para a porcentagem de pegamento aos 20 dias após plantio as médias das estacas apicais com folhas e apicais semfolhas foram 93,3% e 73,3%, respectivamente. Para o peso fresco da parte aérea, estacas apicais com folhas obtiveram 8,2 gramasseguida por estacas apicais sem folhas com 5,0 gramas. Para o comprimento de raízes, as médias foram 11,5 centímetrospara estacas apicais sem folhas e 11,4 centímetros para estacas apicais com folhas, e para o peso fresco de raízes, os resultadosforam 7,3 gramas para estacas apicais com folhas e 4,3 gramas para estacas apicais sem folhas. Conclui-se que estacas apicais,assim como a presença de folhas, proporcionam melhores resultados de porcentagem de pegamento de estacas de hortelã paraprodução de mudas

Expression of Mutant or Cytosolic PrP in Transgenic Mice and Cells Is Not Associated with Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress or Proteasome Dysfunction

The cellular pathways activated by mutant prion protein (PrP) in genetic prion diseases, ultimately leading to neuronal dysfunction and degeneration, are not known. Several mutant PrPs misfold in the early secretory pathway and reside longer in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) possibly stimulating ER stress-related pathogenic mechanisms. To investigate whether mutant PrP induced maladaptive responses, we checked key elements of the unfolded protein response (UPR) in transgenic mice, primary neurons and transfected cells expressing two different mutant PrPs. Because ER stress favors the formation of untranslocated PrP that might aggregate in the cytosol and impair proteasome function, we also measured the activity of the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS). Molecular, biochemical and immunohistochemical analyses found no increase in the expression of UPR-regulated genes, such as Grp78/Bip, CHOP/GADD153, or ER stress-dependent splicing of the mRNA encoding the X-box-binding protein 1. No alterations in UPS activity were detected in mutant mouse brains and primary neurons using the UbG76V-GFP reporter and a new fluorogenic peptide for monitoring proteasomal proteolytic activity in vivo. Finally, there was no loss of proteasome function in neurons in which endogenous PrP was forced to accumulate in the cytosol by inhibiting cotranslational translocation. These results indicate that neither ER stress, nor perturbation of proteasome activity plays a major pathogenic role in prion diseases