Differential lectin binding patterns in the oviductal ampulla of the horse during oestrus

We investigated the oligosaccharide sequence of glycoconjugates, mainly sialoglycoconjugates, in the horse oviductal ampulla during oestrus by means of lectin and pre-lectin methods such as the KOH-neuraminidase procedure to remove sialic acid residues and incubation with N-glycosidase F to cleave N-linked glycans. Ciliated cells displayed N-linked oligosaccharides throughout the cytoplasm. The cilia glycocalyx expressed both N- and O-linked (mucin-type) oligosaccharides, both showing a high variety of terminal sequences. In the most non-ciliated cells, the whole cytoplasm contained N-linked oligosaccharides with terminal αGal as well as mucin-type glycans with terminal Forssman pentasaccharides. In a few scattered non-ciliated cells, the whole cytoplasm displayed sialylated N-linked oligosaccharides with terminal Neu5Ac-GalNAc and O-linked glycans terminating with neutral and/or αGalNAc, Neu5Acα2,6Gal/ GalNAc, Neu5AcGalβ1,3GalNAc. Supra-nuclear granules, probably Golgi zones, of non-ciliated cells showed mainly O-linked glycans rich in sialic acid residues. The luminal surface of non-ciliated cells showed N-linked oligosaccharides, containing terminal/internal αMan/αGlc, βGlcNAc and terminal αGal, as well as mucin-type oligosaccharides terminating with a large variety of either neutral saccharides or sialylated sequences. Apical protrusions containing O-linked oligosaccharides with terminal Forssman pentasaccharide, Neu5Ac-Galβ1,4GlcNAc, Neu5Ac-GalNAc were seen in nonciliated cells scattered along the epithelium. These findings show the presence of sialoglycoconjugates in the oviductal ampulla epithelium of the mare and the existence of different lectin binding profiles between ciliated and non-ciliated (secretory) cells, as well as the presence of non-ciliated cell sub-types which might determine functional differences along the ampullary epithelium of mare oviduct

Training in psychotherapy: A call for embodied and psychophysiological approaches

Psychotherapy research studies are increasingly focused on the clinical process, which has allowed for the definition of general models about clinical functioning and the role of the therapist. Embodiment-based research has shown that interpersonal processes, such as synchrony and attunement, are critical for the development of crucial therapist skills and that these mechanisms are mediated by physiological processes. Although the connection between these embodied processes and clinical practice is currently a topic of investigation in psychotherapy research, its implications for clinical training are potentially broad, but they remain unexplored. The present contribution proposes the idea of embodied trainings for psychotherapy trainees, which could support their acquisition of clinical skills through implicit, embodied, and affective learning. We present detailed potential mechanisms, study designs, and psychological variables that could be used to develop such an in vivo training and suggest some possible applications, ranging from biofeedback sessions to experimental settings and roleplaying. Additional research in this field can help bridge the gap between psychotherapy research and psychotherapy training, by overcoming some of the limitations of post-session and external evaluations, by enriching psychotherapy training programs, and by facilitating the implicit and automatic attunement of the attitudes of the students who will become tomorrow's therapists

CTLA-4 and PD-1 ligand gene expression in epithelial thyroid cancers

The dysregulation of PD-1 ligands (PD-L1 and PD-L2) and CTLA-4 ligands (CD80 and CD86) represents a tumor strategy to escape the immune surveillance. Here, the expression of PD-L1, PD-L2, CD80 and CD86 was evaluated at mRNA level in 94 patients affected by papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and 11 patients affected by anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC). Variations in the mRNAs in PTC patients were then correlated with clinicopathological features. The expression of all genes was deregulated in PTC and ATC tissues compared to normal tissues. In particular, the down-regulation of CD80 was observed in above all ATC. In addition, the increased expression of CD80 associated to longer disease-free survival in PTC. Higher expression of PD-L1 associated with the classical histological variant and with the presence of BRAFV600E mutation in PTC. The increased PD-L2 expression correlated with BRAFV600E mutation and lymph node metastasis, while its lower expression correlated with the follicular PTC variant. The latter was also associated with the CD80 down-regulation, which was also related to the absence of lymph node metastasis. In conclusion, we documented the overall dysregulation of PD-1 and CTLA-4 ligands in PTC and ATC tissues and a possible prognostic value for CD80 gene expression in PTC

Partial purification and MALDI-TOF MS analysis of UN1, a tumor antigen membrane glycoprotein.

UN1 is a membrane glycoprotein that is expressed in immature human thymocytes, a subpopulation of peripheral T lymphocytes, the HPB acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) T-cell line and fetal thymus. We previously reported the isolation of a monoclonal antibody (UN1 mAb) recognizing the UN1 protein that was classified as "unclustered" at the 5th and 6th International Workshop and Conference on Human Leukocyte Differentiation Antigens. UN1 was highly expressed in breast cancer tissues and was undetected in non-proliferative lesions and in normal breast tissues, indicating a role for UN1 in the development of a tumorigenic phenotype of breast cancer cells. In this study, we report a partial purification of the UN1 protein from HPB-ALL T cells by anion-exchange chromatography followed by immunoprecipitation with the UN1 mAb and MALDI-TOF MS analysis. This analysis should assist in identifying the amino acid sequence of UN

Trasformazioni sociali, affettivizzazione della sfera pubblica e ricerca di senso

Western societies are crossed by a plurality of critical phenomena. The perception is that of being grappled with an uncontrollable anthropological drift, which make us powerless, leading towards a point of no return. A constitutive character of such a drift is the enslaving of the public spheres to the affects (i.e. affectivization). Any public affair and discussion is less and less addressed in terms of functional criteria (i.e. in terms of optimization of utility in reason of objective data) and more and more as the trigger as well as the target of affective acting-out. Such a dynamics challenges all individuals and institutions that think that civilization and progress are a matter of the human efforts to enslave the affective exercise of the present moment to the capacity of the reason to draw futurables. Education – and higher education within it – is at the front line of this challenge, because it is up to it the effort of promoting the symbolic resources that enables people to succeed in the twofold task of valorizing subjectivity and enslaving its affective substance to aims of social and civic progress. The present paper intends to contribute to address such a challenge. To this end, it proposes an interpretation of the affectivization spreading the contemporary social landscape, based on current debate in cognitive sciences. On this grounds, the general idea that such a phenomenon is something different from and more than a mere epidemy of irrationality – as it is more or less implicitly treated by observers and analysts – is deepened. Following that, strategic and methodological implications for higher education are discussed. It is called for an extension of the function of higher education, in the direction of taking charge of the demand of symbolic resources required to address the uncertainty generated by the contemporary socio-institutional turmoil

Immunohistochemistry and biomolecular investigation for the evidence of JSRV-like retrovirus in human bronchiolo-alveolar carcinomas

The bronchioloalveolar adenocarcinoma was described in several species (human, bovine, ovine and domestic carnivores). Ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA) or pulmonary adenomatosis is a contagious carcinoma of sheep caused by an exogenous type D retrovirus denominated also jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV). JSRV is responsible of the neoplastic transformation of type II pneumocytes and Clara cells. The human bronchioloalveolar adenocarcinoma (BAC) have histo-morphological features much similar to OPA. We report the study about ten BAC cases and one negative human control (lung). DNA extraction, PCR, sequencing of amplified product, immunohistochemistry and insitu hybridization were performed on all paraffin-embedded samples. Our results demonstrated the presence of JSRVlike sequences in all cases of human bronchiolo-alveolar carcinoma

Distribution of sialoglycoconjugates in the oviductal isthmus of the horse during anoestrus, oestrus and pregnancy: a lectin histochemistry study

The distribution of sialic acid residues as well as other glycosidic sugars has been investigated in the horse oviductal isthmus during anoestrus, oestrus and pregnancy by means of lectin and pre-lectin methods. Ciliated cells and non-ciliated (secretory) cells exhibited different lectin binding profiles that were found to change during the investigated stages. Ciliated cells did not show any reactivity in the basal cytoplasm, while the supra-nuclear cytoplasm displayed a few of oligosaccharides with terminal and internal amannose (Man) and/or aglucose (Glc) during oestrus and pregnancy and a moderate presence of oligosaccharides terminating in afucose (Fuc) during oestrus; cilia exhibited a more complex glycoconjugate pattern for the presence of oligosaccharides terminating in N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc), GalNAca1,3 GalNAca1,3galactose(Gal)b1,4Galb1,4N-acetylglucosamine( GlcNAc), Fuc, sialic acid (Neu5Ac)-aGalNAc belonging or not to the GalNAca1,3GalNAca1,3 Galb1,4 Galb1, 4GlcNAc sequence, and.aGalNAc and Neu5Aca 2,6Gal/GalNAc increased during oestrus. Cilia displayed terminal Galb1,3 GalNAc in pregnancy, terminal aGal in anoestrus and pregnancy and terminal or internal D-GlcNAc during anoestrus and pregnancy, respectively. The whole cytoplasm of non-ciliated cells showed oligosaccharides terminating with aGalNAc, Neu5Aca2,6Gal/GalNAc, Neu5Ac GalNAca 1,3GalNAca1,3Galb1,4Galb1,4GlcNAc during the investigated stages, as well as GlcNAc in anoestrus and pregnancy. The supra-nuclear zone of non-ciliated cells exhibited oligosaccharides with terminal Galb1,4GlcNAc and internal Man during oestrus and pregnancy as well as terminal aGal and Fuc in oestrus and Neu5Ac-Galb1,3GalNAc in pregnancy. The luminal surface of non-ciliated cells showed glycans terminating with aGalNAc and/or Neu5Ac GalNAca1,3 GalNAca1,3Galb1,4Galb1,4GlcNAc in all specimens, oligosaccharides with terminal Galb1,4GlcNAc and internal Man during oestrus and pregnancy, Neu5Ac a2,6Gal/GalNAc in anoestrus and oestrus, and glycans terminating with Galb1,3GalNAc, Neu5A aca2,3 Galb1, 4GlcNac, Neu5ac- Galb1,3GalNAc, Neu5Ac-Galb1,4 GlcNAc in pregnancy. These findings show the presence of sialoglycoconjugates in the oviductal isthmus of the mare as well as the existence of great modifications in the glycoconjugates linked to different physiological conditions

Further observations on the sensitive innervation of some bird’s proctodeum

The AA. studied the autonomic and sensitive somatic innervation of some female bird's proctodeum, through the properly modified Ruffini's gold chloride method. The vegetative component was constituted by ganglion cells of different size, isolated or grouped to form ganglia, found along the course of nerve trunks or in the concurrent point of different nerve bundles. The sensitive somatic innervation was represented by free and encapsulated endings differently distributed in the thickness of the wall. The former were composed of thin networks, while the latter, located more frequently in the muscular tunica and in the subadventitial connective, were composed of encapsulated receptors classified as Pacini, Pacini-like and Herbst corpuscles. The morphology of these receptors was described and hypotheses were brought up about their probable functional role. The AA. also found, even if very rarely, helicoidal collagen fibres around nerve fascicles

Histochemical analysis of glycoconjugates in the domestic cat testis

The localization and characterization of oligosaccharide sequences in the cat testis was investigated using 12 lectins in combination with the ßelimination reaction, N-Glycosidase F and sialidase digestion. Leydig cells expressed O-linked glycans with terminal aGalNAc (HPA reactivity) and N-glycans with terminal/internal aMan (Con A affinity). The basement membrane showed terminal Neu5Aca2,6Gal/GalNAc, Galß1,3GalNAc, a/ßGalNAc, and GlcNAc (SNA, PNA, HPA, SBA, GSA II reactivity) in O-linked oligosaccharides, terminal Galß1,4GlcNAc (RCA120 staining) and aMan in N-linked oligosaccharides; in addition, terminal Neu5Aca2,3Galß1,4GlcNac, Forssman pentasaccharide, aGal, aL-Fuc and internal GlcNAc (MAL II, DBA, GSA I-B4, UEA I, KOH-sialidase-WGA affinity) formed both O- and N-linked oligosaccharides. The Sertoli cells cytoplasm contained terminal Neu5Ac- Galß1,4GlcNAc, Neu5Ac-ßGalNAc as well as internal GlcNAc in O-linked glycans, aMan in N-linked glycoproteins and terminal Neu5Aca2,6Gal/ GalNAc in both O- and N-linked oligosaccharides. Spermatogonia exhibited cytoplasmic N-linked glycoproteins with aMan residues. The spermatocytes cytoplasm expressed terminal Neu5Aca2,3Galß1,4 GlcNAc and Galß1,3GalNAc in O-linked oligosaccharides, terminal Galß1,4GlcNAc and a/ßGalNAc in N-linked glycoconjugates. The Golgi region showed terminal Neu5aca2,3Galß1,4GlcNac, Galß1,4GlcNAc, Forssman pentasaccharide, and aGalNAc in O-linked oligosaccharides, aMan and terminal ßGal in N-linked oligosaccharides. The acrosomes of Golgi-phase spermatids expressed terminal Galß1,3GalNAc, Galß1,4GlcNAc, Forssmann pentasaccharide, a/ßGalNAc, aGal and internal GlcNAc in O-linked oligosaccharides, terminal a/ßGalNAc, aGal and terminal/internal aMan in N-linked glycoproteins. The acrosomes of cap-phase spermatids lacked internal Forssman pentasaccharide and aGal, while having increased a/ßGalNAc. The acrosomes of elongated spermatids did not show terminal Galß1,3GalNAc, displayed terminal Galß1,4GlcNAc and a/ßGalNAc in N-glycans and Neu5Ac-Galß1,3GalNAc in O-linked oligosaccharides