Publications by authors named "Benedetti C"

Article Synopsis
  • Researchers investigated how high-intensity laser pulses propagate through a plasma channel by adjusting its length, successfully guiding 500 terawatt pulses over distances of 30 cm in hydrogen plasma.
  • They observed the initial energy transfer involving higher-order modes and a transition to more efficient propagation, noting a depletion of laser energy that generates wakefields.
  • Utilizing 21.3 joules of laser energy for localized electron injection, they achieved electron bunches with nearly monenergetic peaks reaching 9.2 GeV and total charge exceeding 10 GeV.
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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) contain microRNAs (miRNAs), which are important regulators of embryonic development. Nevertheless, little is known about the precise molecular processes controlling blastocyst development and quality. In a previous study, we identified bta-miR-665 as one of the miRNAs more abundantly present in extracellular vesicles of embryo-conditioned culture media of blastocysts compared to degenerate ones.

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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are future promising therapeutics, but their instability in vivo after administration remains an important barrier to their further development. Many groups evaluated EV surface modification strategies to add a targeting group with the aim of controlling EV biodistribution. Conversely, fewer groups focused on their stabilization to obtain "stealth" allogenic EVs.

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Background: Within the follicular fluid, extracellular vesicles (EVs) guide oocyte growth through their cargo microRNAs (miRNAs). Here, we investigated the role of EVs and their cargo miRNAs by linking the miRNAs found in EVs, derived from the fluid of an individual follicle, to the ability of its oocyte to become a blastocyst (competent) or not (non-competent).

Methods: Bovine antral follicles were dissected, categorized as small (2-4 mm) or large (5-8 mm) and the corresponding oocytes were subjected to individual maturation, fertilization and embryo culture to the blastocyst stage.

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Article Synopsis
  • * The study investigated how miRNAs communicate between oocytes and surrounding cumulus cells, using gap junctions, with a particular focus on bta-miR-21-5p, which was previously identified as important for cell viability and maturation.
  • * Results showed that miRNA exchange occurs through gap junctions in the bovine cumulus-oocyte complex, providing new insights into the communication mechanisms during this process.
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  • This study focused on creating predictive models for fat mass ratio (FMR) in individuals living with HIV, using various body measurement techniques to assess body composition.
  • A total of 106 Brazilian participants were evaluated, and six models were developed with varying effectiveness in predicting FMR based on different health-related and anthropometric factors.
  • The most effective model combined several measurements and showed strong agreement with traditional methods, improving the understanding of body composition and potential lipodystrophy diagnosis in people with HIV.
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Dental implants have been clinically used for almost five decades with high success rates. research models used in implant dentistry are limited to two-dimensional experiments, which are reproducible and well adapted to evaluate a single parameter but do not reproduce the complexity of clinical settings. On the contrary, the research models using animals offer similar histological and anatomical features to humans, and tissue healing can be close to a clinical situation, but those models are usually accompanied with ethical concerns, and their outcomes could not be extrapolated to humans because of interspecies variabilities.

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In steam cracking, upstream pyrolysis oil hydroprocessing, and in many downstream processes, olefinic content is key to assess process performance and process safety risk associated with highly exothermic reactions. When looking to plastic pyrolysis oils as a potential feedstock, as well as downstream products such as pyrolysis gasoline (pygas), these materials contain unsaturated hydrocarbons which are not present in fossil feedstocks. Pygas is a product of pyrolysis and exhibits a large number of chemical structural similarities with plastic pyrolysis oils, especially in terms of olefins structure.

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Purpose Of Review: The integration of risk prediction in managing chronic kidney disease (CKD) is universally considered a key point of routine clinical practice to guide time-sensitive choices, such as dialysis access planning or counseling on kidney transplant options. Several prognostic models have been developed and validated to provide individualized evaluation of kidney failure risk in CKD patients. This review aims to analyze the current evidence on existing predictive models and evaluate the different advantages and disadvantages of these tools.

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Children receiving maintenance dialysis (chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 5d) have unique risk factors for micronutrient deficiency or toxicity. Children receiving chronic dialysis often require specialized diet plans that may provide more than the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of water-soluble vitamins and micronutrients, with or without the addition of a kidney-friendly vitamin. The following is a comprehensive review of current literature on disorders of micronutrients in this population including those of water-soluble vitamins (vitamin C and vitamin B complexes) and trace elements (copper, selenium, and zinc) and has three areas of focus: (1) the risk factors and clinical presentations of disorders of micronutrients, both deficiency and toxicity, (2) the tools to evaluate micronutrient status, and (3) the central role of renal dietitians in optimizing nutritional status from a micronutrient perspective.

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In vivo-matured oocytes exhibit higher developmental competence than those matured in vitro but mimicking the in vivo environment by in vitro conditions has been challenging. Until now, conventional two-dimensional (2D) systems have been used for in vitro maturation of bovine cumulus-oocytes-complexes (COCs). However, using such systems present certain limitations.

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Embryo development is a dynamic process and critical stages may go unnoticed with the use of traditional morphologic assessments, especially the timing of embryonic divisions and aberrant zygotic cleavage patterns. Bovine embryo development is impaired after oocyte vitrification, but little is known about the underlying morphokinetic behavior. Here, bovine zygotes from fresh (n = 708) and vitrified oocytes (n = 182) were monitored by time-lapse imaging and the timing and nature of early blastomere divisions were modeled to find associations with blastocyst development at day 8.

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Transcription activator-like effectors are key virulence factors of . They are secreted into host plant cells and mimic transcription factors inducing the expression of host susceptibility (S) genes. In citrus, is a direct target of PthA4, the primary effector associated with citrus canker symptoms.

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Citrus cancer, caused by strains of Xanthomonas citri (Xc) and Xanthomonas aurantifolii (Xa), is one of the most economically important citrus diseases. Although our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying citrus canker development has advanced remarkably in recent years, exactly how citrus plants fight against these pathogens remains largely unclear. Using a Xa pathotype C strain that infects Mexican lime only and sweet oranges as a pathosystem to study the immune response triggered by this bacterium in these hosts, we herein report that the Xa flagellin C protein (XaFliC) acts as a potent defence elicitor in sweet oranges.

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The ovary and its hormones may have major effects on the in vitro developmental capacity of the oocytes it contains. We related intrinsic ovarian factors namely the presence of corpus luteum (CL) and/or dominant follicle (>8 mm) and the follicular count to cumulus expansion (CE), embryo development, and blastocyst quality in a bovine model. Cumulus-oocyte-complexes (COCs) were aspirated from follicles between 4 and 8 mm in diameter.

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Article Synopsis
  • The nucleocapsid (N) protein of coronaviruses is crucial for genome transcription and packaging, making it a prime focus for antiviral development.
  • A novel fluorescence polarization assay identified small molecules, notably L-chicoric acid (CA), that inhibit the N protein's binding to viral RNA.
  • CA was confirmed as a high-affinity ligand for the N protein and demonstrated effectiveness in reducing SARS-CoV-2 replication in cell cultures, highlighting potential new antiviral strategies.
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Background: The incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is increased in patients with diabetic kidney disease (DKD).

Summary: Aortic stiffness is a well-accepted biomarker for cardiovascular (CV) events in all stages of CKD. The worldwide prevalence of diabetes continues to grow, as does the prevalence of DKD.

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Selenium is commonly used as an antioxidant in a serum-free culture medium setting. However, lycopene has emerged as a potent antioxidant being twice as efficient as β-carotene and 10 times as efficient as α-tocopherol with beneficial effects when supplemented in a serum-free maturation medium. Here, we aimed to evaluate the effect of lycopene supplementation in a serum-free culture medium on blastocyst development and quality.

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The nucleocapsid (N) protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the causal agent of COVID-19, is a multifunction phosphoprotein that plays critical roles in the virus life cycle, including transcription and packaging of the viral RNA. To play such diverse roles, the N protein has two globular RNA-binding modules, the N- (NTD) and C-terminal (CTD) domains, which are connected by an intrinsically disordered region. Despite the wealth of structural data available for the isolated NTD and CTD, how these domains are arranged in the full-length protein and how the oligomerization of N influences its RNA-binding activity remains largely unclear.

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The genus Xanthomonas includes more than 30 phytopathogenic species that infect a wide range of plants and cause severe diseases that greatly impact crop productivity. These bacteria are highly adapted to the soil and plant environment, being found in decaying material, as epiphytes, and colonizing the plant mesophyll. Signal transduction mechanisms involved in the responses of to environmental changes are still poorly characterized.

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