Texture and color enhancement imaging versus high definition white-light endoscopy for detection of colorectal neoplasia: a randomized trial.

Background:  Texture and color enhancement imaging (TXI) was recently proposed as a substitute for standard high definition white-light imaging (WLI) to increase lesion detection during colonoscopy. This international, multicenter randomized trial assessed the efficacy of TXI in detection of colorectal neoplasia.

Methods:  Consecutive patients aged ≥ 40 years undergoing screening, surveillance, or diagnostic colonoscopies at five centers (Italy, Germany, Japan) between September 2021 and May 2022 were enrolled.

Bariatric reduction system - BARS: device, technique and first clinical experience.

Background: Roux-en-Y gastric by-pass (RYGB) is one of the most effective bariatric procedures, but the rate of weight regain (WR) can reach 63% after the second year. Enlargement of the gastrojejunal anastomosis is one of the reported causes. A newly CE-marked flexible endoscopic system, Bariatric Anastomotic Reduction System (BARS) (Ovesco Endoscopy, Tuebingen, Germany), derivative of the well-established endoscopic over-the-scope-clip (OTSC) clipping system, has been recently developed.

Diagnostic yield and miss rate of EndoRings in an organized colorectal cancer screening program: the SMART (Study Methodology for ADR-Related Technology) trial.

Background And Aims: The EndoRings add-on has been claimed to improve adenoma detection at colonoscopy, but available data are inconsistent. When testing a new technology, parallel and crossover methodologies measure different outcomes, leaving uncertainty about their correspondence. The aims of this study were to compare the diagnostic yield and miss rate of the EndoRings for colorectal neoplasia.

Development of Blood-Brain Barrier Permeable Nanoparticles as Potential Carriers for Salvianolic Acid B to CNS.

The blood-brain barrier hinders the passage of systemically delivered therapeutics and the brain extracellular matrix limits the distribution and durability of locally delivered agents. Drug-loaded nanocarriers represent a promising strategy to overcome these barriers and address specific drug delivery challenges due to their small size and versatile design. We synthetized [fluorescent poly(ethyl-cyanoacrylate) nanoparticles coated with Tween 80 by an emulsion polymerization method to target and reach the brain after intravenous and intraperitoneal administration.

Albumin Nanoparticles for Brain Delivery: A Comparison of Chemical versus Thermal Methods and in vivo Behavior.

Human serum albumin nanoparticles (NPs) have gained considerable attention owing to their high loading capacity for various drugs and the fact that they are well tolerated. The aim of this work was to investigate two different methods to produce NPs without the use of organic solvents and to obtain useful drug-delivery systems to cross the blood-brain barrier. NPs were obtained by coacervation, using both chemical and thermal cross-linking processes.

Curative endoscopic submucosal dissection of large nonpolypoid superficial neoplasms in ulcerative colitis (with videos).

Background: Endoscopic resection of superficial neoplasms in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is appropriate if a complete resection can be achieved. However, EMR is ineffective for large, nonpolypoid neoplasms in IBD due to submucosal fibrosis, and no data are available on the efficacy of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD).

Objective: To assess ESD feasibility and efficacy for large, nonpolypoid neoplasms in patients with IBD.

Oleuropein Aglycone: A Possible Drug against Degenerative Conditions. In Vivo Evidence of its Effectiveness against Alzheimer's Disease.

The amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles found in the Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain arise as a result of self-assembly into fibrillar material of amyloid-β protein (Aβ) and hyperphosphorylated tau, respectively, through a pathological process starting with the appearance of aggregation nuclei and neurotoxic oligomers. Accordingly, the search of inhibitors of oligomer nucleation and growth is considered a promising target to prevent amyloid toxicity. In recent years, a number of dietary factors including antioxidants, vitamins, and polyphenols have been characterized for their ability to protect cells stressed by several factors including the presence of amyloid deposits as well as to inhibit amyloid self-assembly and cytotoxicity and some of them are currently in clinical trial.

Oleuropein aglycone protects against pyroglutamylated-3 amyloid-ß toxicity: biochemical, epigenetic and functional correlates.

Amyloid-ß (Aß) fragments, oligomeric Aß aggregates, and pyroglutamylated-Aß peptides, as well as epigenetic mechanisms and autophagy dysfunction all appear to contribute in various ways to Alzheimer's disease progression. We previously showed that dietary supplementation of oleuropein aglycone, a natural phenol abundant in the extra virgin olive oil, can be protective by reducing Aß42 deposits in the brain of young and middle-aged TgCRND8 mice. Here, we extended our study to aged TgCRND8 mice showing increased pE3-Aß in the brain deposits.

Oleuropein aglycone counteracts Aβ42 toxicity in the rat brain.

Previous data have shown that oleuropein aglycone (OLE), the main secoiridoid phenol present in extra virgin olive oil, counteracts in vitro aggregation of the Aβ42 peptide and protects cultured cells and model organisms against aggregates toxicity. In this study we investigated the relative tissue toxicity of Aβ42 aggregated in vitro in the presence or in the absence of OLE by injecting the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) of adult male Wistar rats with a 1.5 μl solution containing OLE (450 μM) or Aβ42 (50 μM) aggregated in the absence (oligomers) or in the presence of 450 μM OLE.

Employing Alzheimer disease animal models for translational research: focus on dietary components.

Background: Translational research needs valid animal models of disease to discover new pathogenetic aspects and treatments. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), transgenic models are of great value for AD research and drug testing.

Objective: It was the aim of this study to analyze the power of dietary polyphenols against neurodegeneration by investigating the effects of oleuropein aglycone (OLE), the main phenol in the extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), a key component of the Mediterranean diet (MD), in a mouse model of amyloid-β deposition.

The polyphenol oleuropein aglycone protects TgCRND8 mice against Aß plaque pathology.

The claimed beneficial effects of the Mediterranean diet include prevention of several age-related dysfunctions including neurodegenerative diseases and Alzheimer-like pathology. These effects have been related to the protection against cognitive decline associated with aging and disease by a number of polyphenols found in red wine and extra virgin olive oil. The double transgenic TgCRND8 mice (overexpressing the Swedish and Indiana mutations in the human amyloid precursor protein), aged 1.

Stepwise training in rectal and colonic endoscopic submucosal dissection with differentiated learning curves.

Background: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has revolutionized the resection of GI superficial neoplasms, but adoption in Western countries is significantly delayed.

Objective: To evaluate a stepwise colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) learning and operative training protocol.

Design: Prospective study in the Western setting.

Aβ plaque-associated glial reaction as a determinant of apoptotic neuronal death and cortical gliogenesis: a study in APP mutant mice.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the microglia-driven apoptosis and the Aβ deposits triggered generation of new microglial cells in the neocortex of TgCRND8 mice. Three- and seven-month-old TgCRND8 mice, displaying an early and widespread amyloid deposition, respectively, were used. In 7-month-old TgCRND8 mice the Aβ-associated glial reaction was accompanied by an intense immunoreactivity of both TNF-α and inducible nitric oxide synthase, increased immunoreactivity of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax and a decrease in levels of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2.

Lithium improves hippocampal neurogenesis, neuropathology and cognitive functions in APP mutant mice.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive deterioration of cognitive functions, extracellular β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles within neocortex and hippocampus. Adult hippocampal neurogenesis plays an important role in learning and memory processes and its abnormal regulation might account for cognitive impairments associated with AD.

Methodology/principal Findings: The double transgenic (Tg) CRND8 mice (overexpressing the Swedish and Indiana mutations in the human amyloid precursor protein), aged 2 and 6 months, were used to examine in vivo the effects of 5 weeks lithium treatment.

A comparison of the biochemical modifications caused by toxic and non-toxic protein oligomers in cells.

Peptides and proteins can convert from their soluble forms into highly ordered fibrillar aggregates, giving rise to pathological conditions ranging from neurodegenerative disorders to systemic amyloidoses. It is increasingly recognized that protein oligomers forming early in the process of fibril aggregation represent the pathogenic species in protein deposition diseases. The N-terminal domain of the HypF protein from Escherichia coli (HypF-N) has previously been shown to form, under distinct conditions, two types of HypF-N oligomers with indistinguishable morphologies but distinct structural features at the molecular level.

Increased Dickkopf-1 expression in transgenic mouse models of neurodegenerative disease.

To investigate the role of the Wnt inhibitor Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases, we analysed DKK-1 expression and localization in transgenic mouse models expressing familial Alzheimer's disease mutations and a frontotemporal dementia mutation. A significant increase of DKK-1 expression was found in the diseased brain areas of all transgenic lines, where it co-localized with hyperphosphorylated tau-bearing neurons. In TgCRND8 mice, DKK-1 immunoreactivity was detected in neurons surrounding amyloid deposits and within the choline acetyltransferase-positive neurons of the basal forebrain.

Clioquinol decreases amyloid-beta burden and reduces working memory impairment in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Clioquinol (CQ) is a "metal protein attenuating compound" that crosses the blood-brain barrier and binds, with high affinity, copper(II) and zinc(II), two metal ions critically involved in amyloid-beta aggregation and toxicity. CQ was recently proposed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, but controversial data have been reported so far concerning its real therapeutic advantages. We describe here results of chronic CQ treatment in the TgCRND8 mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Combined treatment with atorvastatin and minocycline suppresses severity of EAE.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common inflammatory demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system (CNS). An approach to improve MS treatment is to identify a rational combination of new medications or existing therapies that impact different aspects of the disease process. Statins are effective in the treatment of MS animal models and are promising candidates for future treatment.

Abnormal processing of tau in the brain of aged TgCRND8 mice.

Amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles are the main histopathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In the neocortex and hippocampus of aged TgCRND8 mice, tau is hyperphosphorylated at different sites recognized by PHF-1, AT100, AT8 and CP13 antibodies. Phospho-SAPK/JNK levels were increased in the tg mouse brain, where activated SAPK/JNK co-localizes with PHF-1-positive cells.