Personalized Medicine and Machine Learning: A Roadmap for the Future

: In the last ten years, many advances have been made in the treatment and diagnosis of immune-mediated diseases [...]

Catalyst-Free Hydrogen Synthesis from Liquid Ethanol: An ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Study

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from American Chemical Society via the DOI in this record.The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the ACS Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b01037.Hydrogen is the simplest, oldest, and most widespread molecule in nature. Nevertheless, the vast majority of the hydrogen industrial production stems from steam reforming of methane performed at high temperatures or pressures. Albeit other chemical routes to the hydrogen synthesis, involving, for example, water electrolysis and novel photocatalysts, have recently been explored, no catalyst-free reaction pathways have been identified, seriously limiting the large-scale deployment of hydrogen. On the basis of state-of-the-art ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, here, we present a study revealing a novel synthesis route to hydrogen from neat liquid ethanol, which has been achieved at room temperature and in the absence of any catalyst, upon electric field exposure. This result paves the way to the unprecedented catalyst-free experimental synthesis of hydrogen from liquid ethanol by exploiting a commonly employed field emitter tip apparatus

Diagnosis, Clinical Features and Management of Interstitial Lung Diseases in Rheumatic Disorders: Still a Long Journey

: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is one of the most frequent pulmonary complications of autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs), and it is mainly associated with connective tissue diseases (CTDs) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) [...]

Heavy barbell hip thrusts do not effect sprint performance: an 8-week randomized–controlled study

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an 8-week barbell hip thrust strength training program on sprint performance. Twenty-one collegiate athletes (15 males and 6 females) were randomly assigned to either an intervention (n = 11, age 27.36 ± 3.17 years, height 169.55 ± 10.38 cm, weight 72.7± 18 kg) or control group (n = 10, age 27.2 ± 3.36 years, height 176.2 ± 7.94 cm, weight 76.39 ± 11.47 kg). 1RM hip thrust, 40m sprint time, and individual 10m split timings: 0-10, 10-20, 20-30, 30-40m, were the measured variables; these recorded at both the baseline and post testing time points. Following the 8-week hip thrust strength training intervention significantly greater 1RM hip thrust scores for the training group were observed (p 0.05, r = 0.05 – 0.37). No significant differences were seen for the control group for 1RM hip thrust (p = 0.106, d = 0.24 [mean difference 9.4 kg]) or sprint time (all sprint performance measures: p > 0.05, r = 0.13 – 0.47). These findings suggest that increasing maximum hip thrust strength through use of the barbell hip thrust does not appear to transfer into improvements in sprint performance in collegiate level athletes

Pirfenidone for the treatment of interstitial lung disease associated to rheumatoid arthritis: a new scenario is coming?

Introduction: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a frequent extra-articular manifestation of Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but nowadays there are no randomized controlled clinical trials to support therapeutic guidelines. RA-ILD, especially with UIP pattern, shares some similarities with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, suggesting a possible role of antifibrotic therapy in these patients. To date, there are no published data supporting the use of pifenidone in RA-ILD. We describe for the first time two patients with a diagnosis of RA-ILD successfully treated with hydroxychloroquine and pirfenidone, without adverse events. Case presentation: Patient 1 and patient 2 were first diagnosed with IPF (UIP pattern at high-resolution computed tomography, no other signs or symptoms suggesting other forms of ILD, routine laboratory examinations and immunological texts negative). Patients started pirfenidone 2403 mg daily. Few months later, they referred to our multidisciplinary outpatient for arthritis. ACPA and RF were positive. A diagnosis of RA was performed and treatment with corticosteroids and hydroxychloroquine was started, in association with pirfenidone. In both cases we assessed the stabilization of articular and lung manifestations, without adverse events. Discussion: In absence of randomized controlled trials, the optimal treatment of RA-ILD has not been determined and remains challenging. When considering therapeutic options for RA-ILD, both pulmonary and extra-thoracic disease manifestations and degrees of activity should be assessed and taken into consideration. Future prospective research might change RA-ILD management, moving to a more personalized approach based on the identification of different phenotypes of the disease or to a combination of immunosuppressive and antifibrotic treatment

The Premammillary Nucleus of the Hypothalamus Is Not Necessary for Photoperiodic Timekeeping in Female Turkeys (\u3cem\u3eMeleagris gallopavo\u3c/em\u3e)

In birds, seasonal reproduction is regulated by day length, with long days in the spring activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and reproductive behaviors. The photoreceptors mediating this process remain unknown, but recently, the premammillary nucleus (PMM) of the hypothalamus has been implicated as the site of photoperiodic signaling in turkeys. We performed electrolytic lesions of the PMM to elucidate its role in the photoactivation and maintenance of egg production in female turkeys. Our results show that ablation of the PMM does not alter the normal lay cycle. No differences were found between lesioned birds and sham controls in the latency to lay following photostimulation, nor in subsequent egg production over a period of 29 weeks. No differences in the incidence of gonadal regression were found, indicating that the PMM is not essential for the termination of breeding. We conclude that any role of the PMM in photoperiodic regulation, if it exists, is redundant with other components of the system

The Toll-like Receptor 2/6 Ligand MALP-2 Reduces the Viability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Murine Macrophages

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) sense conserved structures of pathogens and influence macrophage functions. Here we investigated the impact of TLR signaling on the modulation of macrophage defense mechanisms against infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), the causative agent of tuberculosis. We found that a synthetic derivative of the TLR2/6 agonist MALP-2 and the potent TLR4 agonist lipopolysaccharide inhibited the intracellular growth of MTB in murine macrophages. Likely the microbicidal effect was mediated by production of nitric oxide while it is still unclear the role played by release of TNF-α , IL-6, MIP-1β and IL-10. These results suggest that the activation of microbicidal defense via TLR ligands is an appealing target for the establishment on immune intervention against tuberculosis

Nailfold videocapillaroscopy in antisynthetase syndrome

A 57-year-old woman with a diagnosis of antisynthetase syndrome (ASSD) underwent a nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) showing a scleroderma pattern. Alterations in capillary morphology have been reported in adults with inflammatory myositis (IM) but only recently have the differences in NVC findings between these two diseases been established. ASSD is currently classified as a subset of IM, for which reason only a few studies in literature evaluate its specific hallmarks, showing nonspecific features of NVC in patients with polymyositis and dermatomyositis (DM) and antisynthetase antibodies. To our knowledge, this is the first description of ASSD capillaroscopy features, and the first report of NVC in ASSD with evidence of scleroderma pattern. Further studies are needed to define clearly frequency, typical features, and possible correlation with clinical and serological data of NVC changes in ASSD, differences between microangiopathy in ASSD and systemic sclerosis or DM

Nailfold videocapillaroscopy in antisynthetase syndrome

A 57-year-old woman with a diagnosis of antisynthetase syndrome (ASSD) underwent a nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) showing a scleroderma pattern. Alterations in capillary morphology have been reported in adults with inflammatory myositis (IM) but only recently have the differences in NVC findings between these two diseases been established. ASSD is currently classified as a subset of IM, for which reason only a few studies in literature evaluate its specific hallmarks, showing nonspecific features of NVC in patients with polymyositis and dermatomyositis (DM) and antisynthetase antibodies. To our knowledge, this is the first description of ASSD capillaroscopy features, and the first report of NVC in ASSD with evidence of scleroderma pattern. Further studies are needed to define clearly frequency, typical features, and possible correlation with clinical and serological data of NVC changes in ASSD, differences between microangiopathy in ASSD and systemic sclerosis or DM