Semi-continuous Chlorella vulgaris Cultivation Using Anaerobic Digestate Liquid Fraction Pre-treated by Ultrasonic Cavitation to Improve Carbon Dioxide Solubilization

Nutrients-enriched effluents such as digestate can represent a suitable and economically appealing substrate for microalgae growth since they combine the effluent treatment with biomass production. Then, microalgae biomass can be exploited to produce several bio-based compounds. However, the use of digestate for microalgae cultivation can be challenging due to its high levels of ammonia nitrogen and its low C/N ratio. For this reason, an ultrasonic cavitation (UC) process combined with carbon dioxide (CO2) insufflation was tested on digestate, in order to obtain a faster solubilization of the CO2 in the medium and thus an increase in the C/N ratio. The test was carried out growing Chlorella vulgaris on both digestate (mixotrophic condition) and BG-11 medium (autotrophic condition) in 1 L photobioreactors. For the first 14 days of the experiment the reactors were maintained in batch conditions to acclimatize microalgae. Then, they were switched to semi-continuous for 32 days. The reactors were fed three times a week, with an HRT (Hydraulic Retention Time) of 10.5 d as weekly average. Regarding the test on digestate, both UC pre-treated and untreated conditions reached the highest biomass production at the end of the batch (4.8 and 4.1 g L-1 respectively) and a complete ammonium (NH4+) removal after 9 days. The switch to semi-continuous caused an increase in NH4+ concentration and a consistent decrease in biomass concentration. Biomass production reached the steady-state, with a concentration of 1.9 and 1.2 g L-1 for the UC pre-treated and untreated digestate, respectively (+55.6 % biomass production obtained with UC pre-treated digestate). Moreover, an NH4+ removal of 93.5 % and 92.3 % was reached for UC pre-treated and untreated conditions, respectively

SERPINB3 delays glomerulonephritis and attenuates the lupus-like disease in lupus murine models by inducing a more tolerogenic immune phenotype

Objective: To explore the effects of SERPINB3 administration in murine lupus models with a focus on lupus-like nephritis. Methods: 40 NZB/W F1 mice were subdivided into 4 groups and intraperitoneally injected with recombinant SERPINB3 (7.5 \u3bcg/0.1 mL or 15 \u3bcg/0.1 mL) or PBS (0.1 mL) before (group 1 and 2) or after (group 3 and 4) the development of proteinuria ( 65100 mg/dl). Two additional mice groups were provided by including 20 MRL/lpr mice which were prophylactically injected with SERPINB3 (10 mice, group 5) or PBS (10 mice, group 6). Time of occurrence and levels of anti-dsDNA and anti-C1q antibodies, proteinuria and serum creatinine, overall- and proteinuria-free survival were assessed in mice followed up to natural death. Histological analysis was performed in kidneys of both lupus models. The Th17:Treg cell ratio was assessed by flow-cytometry in splenocytes of treated and untreated MRL/lpr mice. Statistical analysis was performed using non parametric tests and Kaplan-Meier curves, when indicated. Results: Autoantibody levels and proteinuria were significantly decreased and time of occurrence significantly delayed in SERPINB3-treated mice vs. controls. In agreement with these findings, proteinuria-free and overall survival were significantly improved in SERPINB3-treated groups vs. controls. Histological analysis demonstrated a lower prevalence of severe tubular lesions in kidneys of group 5 vs. group 6. SERPINB3-treated mice showed an overall trend toward a reduced prevalence of severe lesions in both strains. Th17:Treg ratio was significantly decreased in splenocytes of MRL/lpr mice treated with SERPINB3, compared to untreated control mice. Conclusions: SERPINB3 significantly improves disease course and delays the onset of severe glomerulonephritis in lupus-prone mice, possibly inducing a more tolerogenic immune phenotype

Serum Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen-Immunoglobulin M complex levels predict survival in patients with cirrhosis

Complications of chronic liver diseases - particularly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) - are a major cause of mortality worldwide. Several studies have shown that high or increasing levels of serum Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen-Immunoglobulin M complex (SCCA-IgM) are associated with development of HCC in patients with advanced liver disease and worse survival in patients with liver cancer. The aim of the present study was to assess, in patients with advanced liver disease, differences in long-term clinical outcomes in relation to baseline levels of serum SCCA-IgM. Ninety one consecutive outpatients with liver cirrhosis of different etiologies, without hepatocellular carcinoma at presentation, were enrolled from April 2007 to October 2012 in a prospective study. For a median time of 127 months, patients were bi-annually re-evaluated. SCCA-IgM complex levels were determined with a validated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The results provided evidence that serum SCCA-IgM is a predictor of overall survival. The best cut-off to discriminate both HCC-free and overall survival rates was 120\u2009AU/mL. Patients with baseline values higher than this threshold showed a substantial increase in both HCC incidence rate and all-cause mortality rate. In conclusion, a single measurement of serum SCCA-IgM helps to identify those patients with liver cirrhosis with increased risks of HCC development and mortality

Hypoxia up-regulates SERPINB3 through HIF-2\u3b1 in human liver cancer cells.

SERPINB3 is a cysteine-proteases inhibitor up-regulated in a significant number of cirrhotic patients carrying hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and recently proposed as a prognostic marker for HCC early recurrence. SERPINB3 has been reported to stimulate proliferation, inhibit apoptosis and, similar to what reported for hypoxia, to trigger epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and increased invasiveness in liver cancer cells. This study has investigated whether SERPINB3 expression is regulated by hypoxia-related mechanisms in liver cancer cells. Exposure of HepG2 and Huh7 cells to hypoxia up-regulated SERPINB3 transcription, protein synthesis and release in the extracellular medium. Hypoxia-dependent SERPINB3 up-regulation was selective (no change detected for SERPINB4) and operated through hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-2\u3b1 (not HIF-1\u3b1) binding to SERPINB3 promoter, as confirmed by chromatin immuno-precipitation assay and silencing experiments employing specific siRNAs. HIF-2\u3b1-mediated SERPINB3 up-regulation under hypoxic conditions required intracellular generation of ROS. Immuno-histochemistry (IHC) and transcript analysis, performed in human HCC specimens, revealed co-localization of the two proteins in liver cancer cells and the existence of a positive correlation between HIF-2\u3b1 and SERPINB3 transcript levels, respectively. Hypoxia, through HIF-2\u3b1-dependent and redox-sensitive mechanisms, up-regulates the transcription, synthesis and release of SERPINB3, a molecule with a high oncogenic potential

MicroRNA expression in HTLV-1 infection and pathogenesis

Our laboratory is examining the profiles of microRNA expression in ATLL cells and infected T-cell lines using microarrays and small RNA libraries. Microarray analysis of ATLL samples revealed 6 upregulated and 21 downregulated microRNAs in ATLL cells compared to CD4+ T-cell controls. Potential targets for deregulated microRNAs were identified by integrating microRNA and mRNA expression profiles. Current experiments are aimed at verifying these predicted microRNA-target interactions

MAGIA, a web-based tool for miRNA and Genes Integrated Analysis

MAGIA (miRNA and genes integrated analysis) is a novel web tool for the integrative analysis of target predictions, miRNA and gene expression data. MAGIA is divided into two parts: the query section allows the user to retrieve and browse updated miRNA target predictions computed with a number of different algorithms (PITA, miRanda and Target Scan) and Boolean combinations thereof. The analysis section comprises a multistep procedure for (i) direct integration through different functional measures (parametric and non-parametric correlation indexes, a variational Bayesian model, mutual information and a meta-analysis approach based on P-value combination) of mRNA and miRNA expression data, (ii) construction of bipartite regulatory network of the best miRNA and mRNA putative interactions and (iii) retrieval of information available in several public databases of genes, miRNAs and diseases and via scientific literature text-mining. MAGIA is freely available for Academic users at http://gencomp.bio.unipd.it/magia

Estrutura vertical de uma pastagem natural com predomínio de capim-caninha sob manejos de altura.

As pastagens naturais, além de possuírem uma grande diversidade de fauna e flora, servem de base para a produção pecuária. O objetivo deste estudo foi detectar variações na estrutura do dossel de uma pastagem natural com predomínio de capim-caninha (A. lateralis), submetida a diferentes intensidades de pastejo, com alturas pré-pastejo de 12, 20, 28 e 36 cm e severidade de 40% dessas alturas. A metodologia utilizada foi a do ponto inclinado, na condição de pré-pastejo, com a qual se constatou que o4 manejo é um fator determinante da estrutura vertical dessa pastagem natural

Consumo de forragem por novilhos em pastagem natural palha grossa manejada em diferentes alturas.

O desempenho dos animais em pastejo possui relação direta com a estrutura do dossel forrageiro, uma vez que esta influência no consumo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o consumo por novilhos em uma pastagem natural palha grossa manejada com diferentes alturas. Os tratamentos foram 12, 20, 28 e 36 cm de altura em pré-pastejo, aferidos na espécie dominante (A. lateralis), com severidade de desfolha de 40%. O consumo diário foi mensurado através da excreção de nitrogênio fecal. O consumo de forragem foi similar em todos os tratamentos com uma média de 1,78% do peso vivo (PV). As alturas pré-pastejo entre 12 e 36 cm, baseadas na espécie A. lateralis não interferiram no consumo diário de matéria seca de novilhos em pastejo