White adipose tissue (WAT) is a dynamic organ capable of remodelling in response to metabolic state. For example, in response to stimuli such as cold exposure, WAT can develop inducible brown adipocytes ('browning') capable of non-shivering thermogenesis, through concurrent changes to mitochondrial content and function. This is aided by increased neurite outgrowth and angiogenesis across the tissue, providing the needed neurovascular supply for uncoupling protein 1 activation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci
November 2024
The Midwest Aging Consortium (MAC) has emerged as a critical collaborative initiative aimed at advancing our understanding of aging and developing strategies to combat the rising prevalence of age-related diseases. Founded in 2019, MAC brings together researchers from various disciplines and institutions across the Midwestern United States to foster interdisciplinary geroscience research. This report summarizes the highlights of the Fourth Annual Symposium of MAC, which was held at Iowa State University in May 2023.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Due to the need to increase social awareness about dementia and the needs of patients living with dementia in Poland, the (eng. ) campaign was created. The aim of the study was to evaluate its effectiveness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs vaccinations against the SARS-CoV-2 virus have become a crucial tool in controlling the spread of the disease, reports of rare health complications have emerged, including new-onset antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV). We systematically reviewed new-onset AAV following COVID-19 vaccination case reports and case series published in three databases before January 2024 following PRISMA guidelines to understand the characteristics of possible causal relationships or coincidences. In total, 404 articles were screened respectively by title, abstracts, and full-texts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: This explorative cross-country qualitative study aims to describe experiences of receiving a dementia diagnosis and experiences of support following a diagnosis in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Poland.
Method: Qualitative study using projective techniques during online focus groups, online and telephone interviews with people with dementia and caregivers.
Results: Twenty-three people with dementia and 53 caregivers participated.
Postepy Kardiol Interwencyjnej
March 2024
Introduction: Rotational atherectomy (RA) presents superior efficacy over traditional balloon angioplasty in managing calcified plaques, albeit being associated with a perceived heightened aggressiveness and increased risk of periprocedural complications.
Aim: To assess the frequency and predictive factors of periprocedural myocardial infarction (MI) following RA.
Material And Methods: This was a retrospective observational study, encompassing 534 patients.
In light of the current International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) guidelines, the topic of cannabinoids in relation to pain remains controversial, with insufficient research presently available. Cannabinoids are an attractive pain management option due to their synergistic effects when administered with opioids, thereby also limiting the extent of respiratory depression. On their own, however, cannabinoids have been shown to have the potential to relieve specific subtypes of chronic pain in adults, although controversies remain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent years have brought progress in understanding the role of the neutrophil, dispelling the dogma of homogeneous cells mainly involved in the prime defence against pathogens, shedding light on their pathogenic role in inflammatory diseases and on the importance of antineutrophil-cytoplasmic antibodies' pathogenic role in ANCA-associated vasculitides vasculitis (AAV). Myeloperoxidase (MPO) and proteinase 3 (PR3) expressed in neutrophil granulocytes are the most common targets for ANCAs and contribute to the formation of MPO-ANCAs and PR3-ANCAs which, released to the bloodstream, become an excellent diagnostic tool for AAV. In this study, we focus on increasing the clinical and experimental evidence that supports the pathogenic role of ANCAs in AAV.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiabetes mellitus (DM) is a growing problem nowadays, and diabetic retinopathy (DR) is its predominant complication. Currently, DR diagnosis primarily relies on fundoscopic examination; however, novel biomarkers may facilitate that process and make it widely available. In this current review, we delve into the intricate roles of various factors and mechanisms in DR development, progression, prediction, and their association with therapeutic approaches linked to the underlying pathogenic pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is a crucial arm of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and includes catecholaminergic neurons that release norepinephrine (NE) onto numerous effector tissues and organs in the body. SNS innervation of both white (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT) is clearly essential for proper tissue function and metabolic control, as decades of surgical, chemical, and genetic denervation studies have demonstrated. Despite our vast knowledge about adipose sympathetic innervation, especially in the context of cold-stimulated browning and thermogenesis that are under SNS control, newer data now provide a nuanced view of the SNS supply to adipose, including its regulation by local neuroimmune cells and neurotrophic factors, the co-release of modulatory neuropeptides along with NE, the importance of local SNS drive to adipose versus systemic increases in circulating catecholamines, and the long-overlooked interplay between adipose sympathetic and sensory nerves.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeripheral neuropathy, which can include axonal degeneration and/or demyelination, impacts adipose tissues with obesity, diabetes, and aging. However, the presence of demyelinating neuropathy had not yet been explored in adipose. Both demyelinating neuropathies and axonopathies implicate Schwann cells (SCs), a glial support cell that myelinates axons and contributes to nerve regeneration after injury.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeural communication between the brain and adipose tissues regulates energy expenditure and metabolism through modulation of adipose tissue functions. We have recently demonstrated that under pathophysiological conditions (obesity, diabetes, and aging), total subcutaneous white adipose tissue (scWAT) innervation is decreased ('adipose neuropathy'). With advanced age in the C57BL/6J mouse, small fiber peripheral nerve endings in adipose tissue die back, resulting in reduced contact with adipose-resident blood vessels and other cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeripheral nerves allow a bidirectional communication between brain and adipose tissues, and many studies have clearly demonstrated that a loss of the adipose nerve supply results in tissue dysfunction and metabolic dysregulation. Neuroimmune cells closely associate with nerves in many tissues, including subcutaneous white adipose tissue (scWAT). However, in scWAT, their functions beyond degrading norepinephrine in an obese state remain largely unexplored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIncreasing the mass and/or activity of brown adipose tissue (BAT) is one promising avenue for treating obesity and related metabolic conditions, given that BAT has a high potential for energy expenditure and is capable of improving glucose and lipid homeostasis. BAT occurs either in discrete "classical" depots, or interspersed in white adipose tissue (WAT), termed "inducible/recruitable" BAT, or 'beige/brite' adipocytes. We and others have demonstrated that bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7) induces brown adipogenesis in committed and uncommitted progenitor cells, resulting in increased energy expenditure and reduced weight gain in mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHere we provide a clearing-free protocol for processing intact, whole mount subcutaneous white adipose tissue (scWAT) for immunofluorescence as an alternative to current clearing-based approaches. We use a combination of Z-depth reduction and autofluorescence quenching techniques to fluorescently label, image, and quantify adipose tissue innervation effectively throughout intact mouse tissues without the need for optical clearing or light sheet microscopy. This protocol has been optimized and validated for adipose neurovascular labeling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConnecting pathways are essential for cultural and economic exchange. Commonly, historians investigate the role of routes for cultural development, whereas the environmental impacts of historical routes attract less attention. Here, we present a high-resolution reconstruction of the impact of the major trade route via Marchionis in the southern Baltic lowlands on landscape evolution since more than 800 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLittle is known about the diversity and function of adipose tissue nerves, due in part to the inability to effectively visualize the tissue's diverse nerve subtypes and the patterns of innervation across an intact depot. The tools to image and quantify adipose tissue innervation are currently limited. Here, we present a method of tissue processing that decreases tissue thickness in the z-axis while leaving cells intact for subsequent immunostaining.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
December 2020
Focused attention meditation (FAM) is a category of meditation based on an EEG pattern, which helps the wandering mind to focus on a particular object. It seems that prayer may, in certain respects, be similar to FAM. It is believed that emotional experience correlates mainly with theta, but also with selective alpha, with internalized attention correlating mainly with the synchronous activity of theta and alpha.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Innervation of adipose tissue is essential for the proper function of this critical metabolic organ. Numerous surgical and chemical denervation studies have demonstrated how maintenance of brain-adipose communication through both sympathetic efferent and sensory afferent nerves helps regulate adipocyte size, cell number, lipolysis, and 'browning' of white adipose tissue. Neurotrophic factors are growth factors that promote neuron survival, regeneration, and plasticity, including neurite outgrowth and synapse formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe difficulty in obtaining as well as maintaining weight loss, together with the impairment of metabolic control in conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, may represent pathological situations of inadequate neural communication between the brain and peripheral organs and tissues. Innervation of adipose tissues by peripheral nerves provides a means of communication between the master metabolic regulator in the brain (chiefly the hypothalamus), and energy-expending and energy-storing cells in the body (primarily adipocytes). Although chemical and surgical denervation studies have clearly demonstrated how crucial adipose tissue neural innervation is for maintaining proper metabolic health, we have uncovered that adipose tissue becomes neuropathic (ie: reduction in neurites) in various conditions of metabolic dysregulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrown and white adipose tissues are essential for maintenance of proper energy balance and metabolic health. In order to function efficiently, these tissues require both endocrine and neural communication with the brain. Brown adipose tissue (BAT), as well as the inducible brown adipocytes that appear in white adipose tissue (WAT) after simulation, are thermogenic and energy expending.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConsumption of diets that differ in fat type and amount, and sequestration of various fatty acids to tissues and organs likely have effects on overall physiology and metabolic health. However, the contributions of dietary lipids to brain-adipose communication and adipose tissue function are poorly understood. We designed six custom diets that differed only in amount and type of dietary fat, with high or low levels of saturated fatty acids (SFA), omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-6 PUFA) or omega-3 (n-3) PUFA.
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