Antioxidants in sport sarcopenia

The decline of skeletal muscle mass and strength that leads to sarcopenia is a pathology that might represent an emergency healthcare issue in future years. Decreased muscle mass is also a condition that mainly affects master athletes involved in endurance physical activities. Skeletal muscles respond to exercise by reshaping the biochemical, morphological, and physiological state of myofibrils. Adaptive responses involve the activation of intracellular signaling pathways and genetic reprogramming, causing alterations in contractile properties, metabolic status, and muscle mass. One of the mechanisms leading to sarcopenia is an increase in reactive oxygen and nitrogen species levels and a reduction in enzymatic antioxidant protection. The present review shows the recent experimental models of sarcopenia that explore molecular mechanisms. Furthermore, the clinical aspect of sport sarcopenia will be highlighted, and new strategies based on nutritional supplements, which may contribute to reducing indices of oxidative stress by reinforcing natural endogenous protection, will be suggested

Large, sustained cardiac lipid peroxidation and reduced antioxidant capacity in the coronary circulation after brief episodes of myocardial ischemia

AbstractOBJECTIVESWe sought to investigate whether a brief episode of myocardial ischemia produces a detectable cardiac oxidative stress in patients undergoing elective coronary angioplasty (PTCA).BACKGROUNDAlthough cardiac oxidative stress has been clearly demonstrated in experimental models of ischemia-reperfusion, its presence in patients after transient myocardial ischemia is still unclear.METHODSIn order to evaluate oxidative stress in ischemic cardiac regions, plasma conjugated dienes (CD), lipid hydroperoxides (ROOHs) and total antioxidant capacity (TRAP), independent indexes of oxidative stress, were measured in the aorta and great cardiac vein (GCV) before (t0), 1, (t1), 5 (t5) and 15 min (t15) after first balloon inflation in 15 patients undergoing PTCA on left anterior descending coronary artery (Group 1); six patients with right coronary artery stenosis (Group 2), which is not drained by the GCV, were studied as controls.RESULTSIn Group 1 at baseline, CD and ROOHs levels were higher in GCV than in aorta (p < 0.01 for both), and TRAP levels were lower (p < 0.01). Aortic levels of CD, ROOHs and TRAP did not change at any time after t0; venous levels of CD and ROOHs levels markedly increased at t1, at t5and remained elevated at t15(p < 0.01 for all comparisons vs. t0); venous levels of TRAP decreased at t1and t5(p < 0.01 vs. t0) and returned to normal at t15. In Group 2, CD, ROOHs and TRAP levels were similar in the aorta and GCV and did not change throughout the study.CONCLUSIONSShort episodes of myocardial ischemia during PTCA induce a sustained oxidative stress, which is detectable in the venous effluent of reperfused myocardium

Fatty acids and triacylglycerols profiles from sicilian (Cold pressed vs. soxhlet) grape seed oils

Among the Sicilian economic productive sectors, that of wine production has today a considerable economic value. However, with the growth of this sector, notable was the increase in the production of waste, which to date is not only an economic damage for companies, but also a threat to the environment. It is known that waste from wine production has properties (e.g., antioxidants) which have potential reuse at cosmetic, pharmaceutical and nutritional levels to obtain economically sustainable applications. A new goal is given by the recovery of added value compounds from agri-food wastes and by-products. Grape seed oil is a promising vegetable fat and cold pressing does not involve the use of chemicals, which are harmful to health. It implies that cold-pressed seed oils may contain phytochemicals, as well as natural antioxidants, more than refined oils. In this context, this works aims at studying the chemical characterization (triglycerides profile and composition in fatty acids) of grape seed oils obtained from Soxhlet and cold pressed extraction from Sicilian red grape seeds and white grape seeds. The possibility of obtaining high yields of triglycerides and fatty acids from the waste of wine production through new extraction methods would open up new perspectives for the reuse of waste in a human and animal food context. The results of this work allow the opening up of new perspectives to reuse and then reduce these wastes, helping not only to reduce the damage to the environment and costs for companies but also to create a new product that is environmentally sustainable and with an important economic value

Management of syncope: clinical and economic impact of a Syncope Unit

Aims Aim of this observational study is to evaluate the clinical performance of a Syncope Unit, in order to assess whether the implemented organization really improves syncope management. Methods and results The study enrolled patients with unexplained syncope who were consecutively referred to our Syncope Unit, either as outpatients or during hospitalization, in a 2-month period. The design of this observational study consists in three phases: a retrospective analysis of their clinical. management in the 9 months prior to the first attendance at the Syncope Unit (phase one), their subsequent clinical management in the Syncope Unit (phase two) and a 9-month follow-up (phase three). The retrospective analysis of phase one showed that 25% of patients had already been hospitalized without diagnosis. After Syncope Unit evaluation, diagnosis was obtained in 82% of patients, with 15% of patients indicated to pacing. In the follow-up, 23% of patients experienced a syncopal recurrence. Our analysis indicated an 85% reduction of hospital costs in the follow-up period. Conclusion The clinical and economic analysis of the three phases of our study demonstrates that a Syncope Unit allows an improved management of patients with syncope

Studio multidisciplinare finalizzato alla riqualificazione ambientale della valle del Rio della Rocca (Comune di Castellarano, Provincia di Reggio Emilia)

La valle del Rio della Rocca nel Comune di Castellarano (Reggio Emilia) è stata interessata a partire dagli anni ‘50 del secolo scorso da attività estrattive che in parte ne hanno profondamente modificato le caratteristiche ambientali, in particolare quelle geomorfologiche. In considerazione dell’interesse paesaggistico della valle e ai fini di una riqualificazione ambientale del territorio, è stato realizzato uno studio multidisciplinare volto a delineare i principali aspetti geologici, paleontologici, floristici e faunistici. Specifica attenzione è stata posta alla valutazione dell’instabilità dei versanti e alla individuazione dei geositi presenti nell’area. Sulla scorta dei risultati delle ricerche effettuate sono state elaborate proposte di riqualificazione del territorio che prevedono una valorizzazione della valle a fini geoturistici e ricreativi

PD-1 blockade therapy in renal cell carcinoma: current studies and future promises

RCC is considered an immunogenic tumor with a prominent dysfunctional immune cell infiltrate, unable to control tumor growth. Evasion of immune surveillance, a process defined immune-editing, leads to malignant progression. The striking improvement of knowledge in immunology has led to the identification of immune checkpoints (such as CTLA-4 and PD-1), whose blockage enhances the antitumor immunity. The interaction between PD-1, an inducible inhibitory receptor expressed on lymphocytes and DCs, and PD-L1 ligand, expressed by tumor cells, results in a down-regulation of the T-cell response. Therefore, the PD-1/PD-L1 axis inhibition by targeted-antibodies, increasing the T-cell proliferation and cytotoxicity, represents a promising mechanism to stimulate the anti-tumor activity of the immune system, improving the outcomes of cancer patients. Several PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors have been evaluated in different tumor types, showing promising results. The interesting correlation between lymphocytes PD-1 expression and RCC advanced stage, grade and prognosis, as well as the selective PD-L1 expression by RCC tumor cells and its potential association with worse clinical outcomes, have led to the development of new anti PD-1/PD-L1 agents, alone or in combination with anti-angiogenic drugs or other immunotherapeutic approaches, for the treatment of RCC. In this review we discuss the role of PD-1/PD-L1 in RCC, focusing on the biological rationale, current clinical studies and promising therapeutic perspectives to target the PD-1 pathway

Spin dynamics of molecular nanomagnets fully unraveled by four-dimensional inelastic neutron scattering

Molecular nanomagnets are among the first examples of spin systems of finite size and have been test-beds for addressing a range of elusive but important phenomena in quantum dynamics. In fact, for short-enough timescales the spin wavefunctions evolve coherently according to the an appropriate cluster spin-Hamiltonian, whose structure can be tailored at the synthetic level to meet specific requirements. Unfortunately, to this point it has been impossible to determine the spin dynamics directly. If the molecule is sufficiently simple, the spin motion can be indirectly assessed by an approximate model Hamiltonian fitted to experimental measurements of various types. Here we show that recently-developed instrumentation yields the four-dimensional inelastic-neutron scattering function S(Q,E) in vast portions of reciprocal space and enables the spin dynamics to be determined with no need of any model Hamiltonian. We exploit the Cr8 antiferromagnetic ring as a benchmark to demonstrate the potential of this new approach. For the first time we extract a model-free picture of the quantum dynamics of a molecular nanomagnet. This allows us, for example, to examine how a quantum fluctuation propagates along the ring and to directly test the degree of validity of the N\'{e}el-vector-tunneling description of the spin dynamics

Cosmological Parameters from the 2003 flight of BOOMERANG

We present the cosmological parameters from the CMB intensity and polarization power spectra of the 2003 Antarctic flight of the BOOMERANG telescope. The BOOMERANG data alone constrains the parameters of the $\Lambda$CDM model remarkably well and is consistent with constraints from a multi-experiment combined CMB data set. We add LSS data from the 2dF and SDSS redshift surveys to the combined CMB data set and test several extensions to the standard model including: running of the spectral index, curvature, tensor modes, the effect of massive neutrinos, and an effective equation of state for dark energy. We also include an analysis of constraints to a model which allows a CDM isocurvature admixture.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Ap

A Measurement of the Angular Power Spectrum of the CMB Temperature Anisotropy from the 2003 Flight of Boomerang

We report on observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) obtained during the January 2003 flight of Boomerang . These results are derived from 195 hours of observation with four 145 GHz Polarization Sensitive Bolometer (PSB) pairs, identical in design to the four 143 GHz Planck HFI polarized pixels. The data include 75 hours of observations distributed over 1.84% of the sky with an additional 120 hours concentrated on the central portion of the field, itself representing 0.22% of the full sky. From these data we derive an estimate of the angular power spectrum of temperature fluctuations of the CMB in 24 bands over the multipole range (50 < l < 1500). A series of features, consistent with those expected from acoustic oscillations in the primordial photon-baryon fluid, are clearly evident in the power spectrum, as is the exponential damping of power on scales smaller than the photon mean free path at the epoch of last scattering (l > 900). As a consistency check, the collaboration has performed two fully independent analyses of the time ordered data, which are found to be in excellent agreement.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables. High resolution figures and data are available at http://cmb.phys.cwru.edu/boomerang/ and http://oberon.roma1.infn.it/boomerang/b2