Is “Unconsummated Marriage” still an appropriate term? A snapshot of reality

The most shared definition of Unconsummated Marriage (UM) refers to “the failure to perform successful sexual intercourse at the beginning of the marriage. UM usually occurs in the first few nights of marriage and so it is frequently referred to as “honeymoon impotence” or “wedding night impotence”. In the Middle-Eastern (MES) and Western (WS) societies, sexuality follows different patterns in terms of meaning and rules. Moreover the evolution of societies all around the world created new contexts and kinds of relationship. This could hamper a correct taxonomy of such sexual dysfunction where a social variable seems crucial. Aim: To analyze and review data on UM all around the world, to understand if in different societies it refers to the same situation. Method: A review of published literature on UM from 1970 to date, was conducted. Results: Substantial difference emerged from MES to WS. In MES, sexuality is allowable only in marriage, while in WS sexuality and relationship are not strongly linked. This could suggest that the term “marriage” is unable to cover the phenomenon in such different countries. Moreover, the average time before the consultation, causal attribution and prevalence are very different in Western and Middle Eastern countries. Conclusion: We found that the term “first attempts dysfunction” could be better used to describe male, female or both difficulties related to ignorance about sexuality or state/performance anxiety. On the other hand over the individual category of sexual dysfunctions, we suggest a new term as “Unconsummated relationship”, where individual difficulties toward sexuality are involved creating a couple’s dysfunction. Keywords: Unconsummated marriage; Honeymoon impotence; White marriage; Vaginismus; Infertilit

Null-Flux Coils in Permanent Magnets Bearings

In this paper, the stability analysis of a new permanent magnets (PMs) bearings is presented and discussed. The suspension is assured by the repulsive force of properly shaped PMs placed on both the stator and the rotor. Then, exploiting currents induced on a system of null-flux coils attached to the stator, a stabilizing force for the translation of the center of mass of the rotor is obtained. The performance of the proposed bearing is investigated by a research code, previously developed at DESTEC and capable to simulate six degrees of freedom electromechanical devices

Whole-genome doubling affects pre-mirna expression in plants

Whole-genome doubling (polyploidy) is common in angiosperms. Several studies have indicated that it is often associated with molecular, physiological, and phenotypic changes. Mounting evidence has pointed out that micro-RNAs (miRNAs) may have an important role in whole-genome doubling. However, an integrative approach that compares miRNA expression in polyploids is still lacking. Here, a re-analysis of already published RNAseq datasets was performed to identify microRNAs’ precursors (pre-miRNAs) in diploids (2x) and tetraploids (4x) of five species (Arabidopsis thaliana L., Morus alba L., Brassica rapa L., Isatis indigotica Fort., and Solanum commersonii Dun). We found 3568 pre-miRNAs, three of which (pre-miR414, pre-miR5538, and pre-miR5141) were abundant in all 2x, and were absent/low in their 4x counterparts. They are predicted to target more than one mRNA transcript, many belonging to transcription factors (TFs), DNA repair mechanisms, and related to stress. Sixteen pre-miRNAs were found in common in all 2x and 4x. Among them, pre-miRNA482, pre-miRNA2916, and pre-miRNA167 changed their expression after polyploidization, being induced or repressed in 4x plants. Based on our results, a common ploidy-dependent response was triggered in all species under investigation, which involves DNA repair, ATP-synthesis, terpenoid biosynthesis, and several stress-responsive transcripts. In addition, an ad hoc pre-miRNA expression analysis carried out solely on 2x vs. 4x samples of S. commersonii indicated that ploidy-dependent pre-miRNAs seem to actively regulate the nucleotide metabolism, probably to cope with the increased requirement for DNA building blocks caused by the augmented DNA content. Overall, the results outline the critical role of microRNA-mediated responses following autopolyploidization in plants

HBV vaccination with Fendrix is effective and safe in pre-dialysis CKD population

Background: Patients with chronic kidney disease have a poor response to hepatitis B vaccine due to the immunodeficiency conferred from chronic uremia. A recombinant HB vaccine containing an improved adjuvant system AS04 (HBV-AS04) has been manufactured but scarce evidence exists on HBV-AS04 use among patients with CKD. Aim: To assess efficacy and safety of an adjuvanted recombinant vaccine (HBV-AS04) in a large cohort of CKD patients at pre-dialysis stage (with susceptibility to HBV infection). Methods: Patients were prospectively enrolled to receive four 20-mcg doses of HBV-AS04 by intramuscular route (deltoid muscle) at months 1, 2, 3, and 4. Anti-HBs surface antibody concentrations were tested at intervals of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 12 months. Multivariate analyses were performed to assess the parameters, which predicted immunologic response to HBV-AS04 vaccine. Results: One hundred and seven patients were included and 102 completed the study. At completion of vaccine schedule, the frequency of responders (anti-HBs titers 65 10 mIU/mL) was 95% (97/102) (mean anti-HBs antibody titers, 688.9 \ub1 385 mIU/mL), according to per-protocol analysis. Serum haemoglobin levels were greater in responder than non- or low-responder patients to HBV-AS04 (P = 0.04) and this was confirmed by multivariate analysis. The seroprotection rate at month 50 was 88% (30/34) with lower anti-HBs antibody titers (218.5 \ub1 269.6 mIU/mL, P = 0.001). No major side effects were observed. Conclusions: Our prospective study performed in a real-world setting showed a high immunogenicity and safety of HBV-AS04 vaccine in patients with CKD not yet on maintenance dialysis. Studies provided with longer follow-ups are under way to assess the durability of seroprotection in responders

Synthesis and biological evaluation of new 3-amino-2-azetidinone derivatives as anticolorectal cancer agents

Several synthetic combretastatin A4 (CA-4) derivatives were recently prepared to increase the drug efficacy and stability of the natural product isolated from the South African tree Combretum caffrum. A group of ten 3-amino-2-azetidinone derivatives, as combretastatin A4 analogues, was selected through docking experiments, synthesized and tested for their anti-proliferative activity against the colon cancer SW48 cell line. These molecules, through the formation of amide bonds in position 3, allow the synthesis of various derivatives that can modulate the activity with great resistance to hydrolytic conditions. The cyclization to obtain the 3-aminoazetidinone ring is highly diastereoselective and provides a trans biologically active isomer under mild reaction conditions with better yields than the 3-hydroxy-2-azetidinone synthesis. All compounds showed IC50 values ranging between 14.0 and 564.2 nM, and the most active compound showed inhibitory activity against tubulin polymerization in vitro, being a potential therapeutic agent against colon cancer

A cryptic RNA-binding domain mediates Syncrip recognition and exosomal partitioning of miRNA targets

Exosomal miRNA transfer is a mechanism for cell-cell communication that is important in the immune response, in the functioning of the nervous system and in cancer. Syncrip/hnRNPQ is a highly conserved RNA-binding protein that mediates the exosomal partition of a set of miRNAs. Here, we report that Syncrip's amino-terminal domain, which was previously thought to mediate protein-protein interactions, is a cryptic, conserved and sequence-specific RNA-binding domain, designated NURR (N-terminal unit for RNA recognition). The NURR domain mediates the specific recognition of a short hEXO sequence defining Syncrip exosomal miRNA targets, and is coupled by a non-canonical structural element to Syncrip's RRM domains to achieve high-affinity miRNA binding. As a consequence, Syncrip-mediated selection of the target miRNAs implies both recognition of the hEXO sequence by the NURR domain and binding of the RRM domains 5′ to this sequence. This structural arrangement enables Syncrip-mediated selection of miRNAs with different seed sequences. © 2018 The Author(s)

Cholestasis: The Close Relationship between Bile Acids and Coenzyme Q10

Cholestasis is defined as the impairment in formation or excretion of bile from the liver to the intestine. It may result from defects in intrahepatic production of bile, impairment of hepatic transmembrane transporters, or mechanical obstruction to bile flow. In cholestasis, hepatocytes are exposed to high levels of bile acids, particularly those bearing hydrophobic properties. The increase in bile acids induces oxidative stress, leading to an imbalance in the prooxidant:antioxidant ratio which determines the final cellular redox status. This chapter will focus on the close relationship between bile acids and the most powerful endogenous antioxidant, coenzyme Q10 in cholestasis, and the eventual alternative therapeutic option of CoQ10 supplementation to current traditional therapies

MiR-675-5p supports hypoxia induced epithelial to mesenchymal transition in colon cancer cells

The survival rates in colon cancer patients are inversely proportional to the number of lymph node metastases. The hypoxia-induced Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT), driven by HIF1\uce\ub1, is known to be involved in cancer progression and metastasis. Recently, we have reported that miR-675-5p promotes glioma growth by stabilizing HIF1\uce\ub1 here, by use of the syngeneic cell lines we investigated the role of the miR-675-5p in colon cancer metastasis. Our results show that miR-675-5p, over expressed in metastatic colon cancer cells, participates to tumour progression by regulating HIF1\uce\ub1 induced EMT. MiR-675- 5p increases Snail transcription by a dual strategy: i) stabilizing the activity of the transcription factor HIF1\uce\ub1 and ii) and inhibiting Snail's repressor DDB2 (Damage specific DNA Binding protein 2). Moreover, transcriptional analyses on specimens from colon cancer patients confirmed, in vivo, the correlation between miR-675-5p over-expression and metastasis, thus identifying miR-675-5p as a new marker for colon cancer progression and therefore a putative target for therapeutic strategies

Bilateral acute macular neuroretinopathy in a young patient: Imaging and visual field during two-year-follow-up

Acute macular neuroretinopathy (AMN) is a rare disorder. We report a case of bilateralAMN in a young female patient, without any risk factors. She referred a positive scotoma in both eyes after flu-like symptoms. Fundus examination revealed parafoveal dark-reddish oval lesions in both eyes. Therefore, we performed visual field, optical coherence tomography (OCT), fluorescein angiography (FA) and indocyanine green angiography (ICG) at baseline and several times during the two years of follow-up. The infrared (IR) imaging showed one rounded hyporeflective lesion in the left eye and two similar lesions in the right eye. The OCT demonstrated the characteristic alterations in the outer retina. The visual field also demonstrated scotomas corresponding with these lesions. The OCT and IR features disappeared at the end of the follow-up except for the left eye, which continued to have hyperreflective spots in the outer plexiform layer. The patient complained about a residual scotoma only in the left eye after two years. Our case shows a difference in disease progression in the two eyes of the same patient, suggesting that several mechanisms can be implicated in the pathology of AMN