Bio-Landwirtschaft in Österreich - Einstellungen, Erwartungen und Wissen Jugendlicher und junger Erwachsener

Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene bestimmen durch ihr Verhalten, ihre Erwartungen und Meinungen zur Bio-Land- und Lebensmittelwirtschaft wesentlich die zukünftige Entwicklung des Bio-Sektors mit. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Studie wurden in Österreich Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene (15-19 Jahre bzw. 20-25 Jahre) gezielt zu Ihren Einstellungen zur Landwirtschaft und Lebensmittelproduktion, zu ihrem Konsum- und Einkaufverhalten, zu den Wünschen und Erwartungen an die Bio-Lebensmittelwirtschaft sowie zu ihrem Bio-Wissen befragt. 47 % der Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen gaben an, dass sie eine sehr hohe und 26 % eine hohe Wertschätzung der Bio-Land- und Lebensmittelwirtschaft entgegen bringen. Eine überdurchschnittlich hohe Bio-Wertschätzung zeigte sich für jene Befragten, welche angaben sich gesund zu ernähren, wenig bzw. kein Fleisch zu essen, weniger gerne Fast-Food zu konsumieren sowie gerne zu kochen. Die „intensiv-Bio-Kunden/innen“ waren überdurchschnittlich gut über „Bio“ informiert, stellten die höchsten Anforderungen an die Bio-Lebensmittelwirtschaft, zeigten aber gleichzeitig auch die höchste Bio-Mehrpreis-Kaufbereitschaft. Einen besonders hohen Stellenwert für die Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen haben folgende Aspekte: 1) Auslauf ins Freie von Tieren, 2) keine Kinderarbeit bei Importwaren, 3) fairer Handel 4) strenge Kontrollen beim Bio-Lebensmittelimport, 5) regionale Herkunft der Lebensmittel, 6) Weidehaltung von Wiederkäuern, 7) Schonung von Boden, Wasser und Umwelt im Bio-Pflanzenbau. 60 % der Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen gaben an zukünftig mehr Bio-Produkte konsumieren zu wollen. 81 % wünschte sich einen weiteren Ausbau der Bio-Land- und Lebensmittelwirtschaft in Österreich

Chitosan nanoparticles as antigen vehicles to induce effective tumor specific T cell responses

Cancer vaccinations sensitize the immune system to recognize tumor-specific antigens de novo or boosting preexisting immune responses. Dendritic cells (DCs) are regarded as the most potent antigen presenting cells (APCs) for induction of (cancer) antigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses. Chitosan nanoparticles (CNPs) used as delivery vehicle have been shown to improve anti-tumor responses. This study aimed at exploring the potential of CNPs as antigen delivery system by assessing activation and expansion of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells by DCs and subsequent T cell-mediated lysis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells. As model antigen the ovalbumin-derived peptide SIINFEKL was chosen. Using imaging cytometry, intracellular uptake of FITC-labelled CNPs of three different sizes and qualities (90/10, 90/20 and 90/50) was demonstrated in DCs and in pro- and anti-inflammatory macrophages to different extents. While larger particles (90/50) impaired survival of all APCs, small CNPs (90/10) were not toxic for DCs. Internalization of SIINFEKL-loaded but not empty 90/10-CNPs promoted a pro-inflammatory phenotype of DCs indicated by elevated expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Treatment of murine DC2.4 cells with SIINFEKL-loaded 90/10-CNPs led to a marked MHC-related presentation of SIINFEKL and enabled DC2.4 cells to potently activate SIINFEKL-specific CD8+ OT-1 T cells finally leading to effective lysis of the PDAC cell line Panc-OVA. Overall, our study supports the suitability of CNPs as antigen vehicle to induce potent anti-tumor immune responses by activation and expansion of tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T cells

Interventions targeting glucocorticoid-Krüppel-like factor 15-branched-chain amino acid signaling improve disease phenotypes in spinal muscular atrophy mice

The circadian glucocorticoid-Krüppel-like factor 15-branched-chain amino acid (GC-KLF15-BCAA) signaling pathway is a key regulatory axis in muscle, whose imbalance has wide-reaching effects on metabolic homeostasis. Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a neuromuscular disorder also characterized by intrinsic muscle pathologies, metabolic abnormalities and disrupted sleep patterns, which can influence or be influenced by circadian regulatory networks that control behavioral and metabolic rhythms. We therefore set out to investigate the contribution of the GC-KLF15-BCAA pathway in SMA pathophysiology of Taiwanese Smn−/−;SMN2 and Smn2B/− mouse models. We thus uncover substantial dysregulation of GC-KLF15-BCAA diurnal rhythmicity in serum, skeletal muscle and metabolic tissues of SMA mice. Importantly, modulating the components of the GC-KLF15-BCAA pathway via pharmacological (prednisolone), genetic (muscle-specific Klf15 overexpression) and dietary (BCAA supplementation) interventions significantly improves disease phenotypes in SMA mice. Our study highlights the GC-KLF15-BCAA pathway as a contributor to SMA pathogenesis and provides several treatment avenues to alleviate peripheral manifestations of the disease. The therapeutic potential of targeting metabolic perturbations by diet and commercially available drugs could have a broader implementation across other neuromuscular and metabolic disorders characterized by altered GC-KLF15-BCAA signaling

Cow's milk protein β-lactoglobulin confers resilience against allergy by targeting complexed iron into immune cells

Departamento de Biotecnología (INIA)Beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) is a bovine lipocalin in milk with an innate defense function. The circumstances under which BLG is associated with tolerance of or allergy to milk are not understood.Supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF (grant SFB F4606-B28 ) and in part by Biomedical International R+D GmbH, Vienna, Austria, and by Bencard Allergie GmbH, Munich, Germany. S.M.A. was supported by a grant from the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education .Peer reviewed18 Pág

Cow's milk protein β-lactoglobulin confers resilience against allergy by targeting complexed iron into immune cells

Departamento de Biotecnología (INIA)Beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) is a bovine lipocalin in milk with an innate defense function. The circumstances under which BLG is associated with tolerance of or allergy to milk are not understood.Supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF (grant SFB F4606-B28 ) and in part by Biomedical International R+D GmbH, Vienna, Austria, and by Bencard Allergie GmbH, Munich, Germany. S.M.A. was supported by a grant from the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education .Peer reviewed18 Pág

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts