Price impact of taxes on sugary drinks in Brazil.

Sugary drink consumption is an important contributor to the current global epidemic of obesity. In recent years, 50 countries or jurisdictions have implemented taxes on sugary drinks as an instrument to discourage consumption. Against the tide, Brazil reduced taxes on these beverages in 2017 and 2018.

Human embryonic stem cells display a pronounced sensitivity to the cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor Roscovitine.

Background: The essentially unlimited expansion potential and the pluripotency of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) make them attractive for cell-based therapeutic purposes. Although hESCs can indefinitely proliferate in culture, unlike transformed cancer cells, they are endowed with a cell-intrinsic property termed mitochondrial priming that renders them highly sensitive to apoptotic stimuli. Thus, all attempts to broaden the insights into hESCs apoptosis may be helpful for establishing pro-survival strategies valuable for its in vitro culture and further use in clinical applications.

Inflammatory myopathy and autoimmune hepatitis in a patient with a flare of systemic lupus erythematosus: An exceptional association.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with a wide clinical expression, and musculoskeletal manifestations are the most frequent manifestations of the disease. Digestive manifestations, however, are less prevalent, appearing in only 2%-30% of the patients. Among these cases, the association of SLE with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is considered to be rare, with only a few cases documented in the medical literature.

Human Pluripotent Stem Cells and Derived Neuroprogenitors Display Differential Degrees of Susceptibility to BH3 Mimetics ABT-263, WEHI-539 and ABT-199.

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are hypersensitive to genotoxic stress and display lower survival ability relative to their differentiated progeny. Herein, we attempted to investigate the source of this difference by comparing the DNA damage responses triggered by the topoisomerase I inhibitor camptothecin, in hESCs, human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and hESCs-derived neuroprogenitors (NP). We observed that upon camptothecin exposure pluripotent stem cells underwent apoptosis more swiftly and at a higher rate than differentiated cells.

Specific Preferences in Lineage Choice and Phenotypic Plasticity of Glioma Stem Cells Under BMP4 and Noggin Influence.

Although BMP4-induced differentiation of glioma stem cells (GSCs) is well recognized, details of the cellular responses triggered by this morphogen are still poorly defined. In this study, we established several GSC-enriched cell lines (GSC-ECLs) from high-grade gliomas. The expansion of these cells as adherent monolayers, and not as floating neurospheres, enabled a thorough study of the phenotypic changes that occurred during their differentiation.

Synergistic anti-tumor effects of melatonin and PUFAs from walnuts in a murine mammary adenocarcinoma model.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of some polyunsaturated fatty acids plus phytomelatonin from walnuts in the development of mammary gland adenocarcinoma.

Methods: BALB/c mice were fed a semisynthetic diet supplemented with either 6% walnut oil and 8% walnut flour containing phytomelatonin (walnut diet: WD); or 6% corn oil plus commercial melatonin (melatonin diet: MD), or the control group (CD), which received only 6% of corn oil. Membrane fatty acids of tumor cells (TCs) were analyzed by gas liquid chromatography, cyclooxygenase (COX) and lipoxygenase (LOX) derivatives, and plasma melatonin by high-performance liquid chromatography; apoptosis and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes by flow cytometry.

Topoisomerase I inhibitor, camptothecin, induces apoptogenic signaling in human embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) need to maintain their genomic integrity in response to DNA damage to safeguard the integrity of the organism. DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) are one of the most lethal forms of DNA damage and, if not repaired correctly, they can lead to cell death, genomic instability and cancer. How human ESCs (hESCs) maintain genomic integrity in response to agents that cause DSBs is relatively unclear.

Effect of ω-3 and ω-9 fatty acid rich oils on lipoxygenases and cyclooxygenases enzymes and on the growth of a mammary adenocarcinoma model.

Background: Nutritional factors play a major role in cancer initiation and development. Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have the ability to induce modifications in the activity of lipoxygenase (LOX) and cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes that affect tumour growth. We studied the effect of two diets enriched in 6% Walnut and Peanut oils that are rich in ω-3 and ω9 PUFAs respectively on a murine mammary gland adenocarcinoma as compared with the control (C) that received commercial diet.