Iatrogenic cerebral amyloid angiopathy, a disease caused by contact with neurosurgical material or human growth hormone contaminated by beta-amyloid peptide (Aβ), has a prion-like transmission mechanism. We present a series of three patients under 55 years of age who underwent cranial surgery. All of them developed multiple cerebral hemorrhages, transient focal neurological deficits, and/or cognitive impairment after 3-4 decades.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIsocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutant gliomas are the most common malignant primary brain tumors in young adults. This condition imposes a substantial burden on patients and their caregivers, marked by neurocognitive deficits and high mortality rates due to tumor progression, coupled with significant morbidity from current treatment modalities. Although surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy improve survival, these treatments can adversely affect cognitive function, quality of life, finances, employment status, and overall independence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) requires innovative therapeutic strategies to counteract its progression and metastatic potential. Since the majority of patients are diagnosed with advanced metastatic disease, treatment strategies targeting not only the primary tumor but also metastatic lesions are needed. Tumor-Associated Macrophages (TAMs) have emerged as central players, significantly influencing PDAC progression and metastasis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEven though gene duplication is a key source of new genes and evolutionary innovation, it is unclear how duplicates survive the period immediately following gene duplication, in which both copies are functionally redundant. In the absence of epigenetic silencing, the abundance of the gene product would double after gene duplication, which would often have deleterious effects. However, recent duplicates exhibit low expression levels, which could be at least partially explained by high levels of promoter methylation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAging is characterized by oxidative stress and immune function impairment, and is associated with increased morbidity. Cannabidiol (CBD) has anti-oxidant properties, but its role in aging has been scarcely studied. This work aims to test the effect of CBD on the redox state and immunity during aging in rats.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is evidence of the effect of probiotic intake on the immune system. However, the effect probiotics may have on the rate of aging is unknown. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of a probiotic blend on immunity, redox state, inflammation, and the rate of aging or biological age.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe positive effect of AM3, spermidine, and hesperidin, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, on immunity is known, but their effect on the rate of aging, known as biological age (BA), is unclear. This work aims to test if the intake of a blend of AM3 (150 mg), spermidine (0.6 mg), and hesperidin (50 mg) for 2 months could decrease BA and improve immunity, redox, and inflammatory states.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe rate of aging can be determined, among other factors, by the diet during childhood and adolescence. Many additives are currently added to food, including carrageenan (E-407), a thickener derived from red algae. Although the acceptable daily intake for carrageenan is periodically re-evaluated, children show the highest levels of exposure with unknown potential effects on the aging process and longevity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol
November 2024
Anthropogenic stressors in terrestrial ecosystems require focused research on adaptive responses in soil organisms such as Eisenia fetida, a model earthworm species. We analyzed the gene expression of five small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) in response to various stressors: heat stress (31 and 35 °C), desiccation (10 % and 20 % humidity), and chemical exposure (bisphenol A and endosulfan) under standard and elevated temperatures. Under moderate heat (31 °C), early upregulation of sHSP transcripts suggests their involvement in initial stress responses, possibly mitigating protein aggregation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUncontrolled regeneration leads to neoplastic transformation. The intestinal epithelium requires precise regulation during continuous homeostatic and damage-induced tissue renewal to prevent neoplastic transformation, suggesting that pathways unlinking tumour growth from regenerative processes must exist. Here, by mining RNA-sequencing datasets from two intestinal damage models and using pharmacological, transcriptomics and genetic tools, we identified liver X receptor (LXR) pathway activation as a tissue adaptation to damage that reciprocally regulates intestinal regeneration and tumorigenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConventional navigation systems (CNS) in surgery require strong spatial cognitive abilities and hand-eye coordination. Augmented Reality Navigation Systems (ARNS) provide 3D guidance and may overcome these challenges, but their accuracy and efficiency compared to CNS have not been systematically evaluated. In this randomized crossover study with 36 participants from different professional backgrounds (surgeons, students, engineers), drilling accuracy, time and perceived workload were evaluated using ARNS and CNS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Comput Assist Radiol Surg
November 2024
Purpose: Although the literature shows that robotic assistance can support the surgeon, robotic systems are not widely spread in clinics. They often incorporate large robotic arms adopted from the manufacturing industry, imposing safety hazards when in contact with the patient or surgical staff. We approached this limitation with a modular dual robot consisting of an ultra-lightweight carrier robot for rough prepositioning and small, highly dynamic, application-specific, interchangeable tooling robots.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFViral mimicry refers to the activation of innate anti-viral immune responses due to the induction of endogenous retroelement (RE) expression. Viral mimicry has been previously described to augment anti-tumor immune responses and sensitize solid tumors to immunotherapy including colorectal cancer, melanoma, and clear renal cell carcinoma. Here, we found that targeting a novel, master epigenetic regulator, Zinc Finger Protein 638 (ZNF638), induces viral mimicry in glioblastoma (GBM) preclinical models and potentiates immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) formulations have become valuable therapeutic tools in regenerative medicine. In addition, these blood derivates have been successfully included in cell therapy as fetal bovine serum substitutes, due to the real need to avoid the risk of host immunologic reactions and the animal disease transmission associated with reagents from animal origin. However, the protocols for obtaining them should be optimized to improve their biological potential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Glioblastoma changes during chemoradiation therapy are inferred from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before and after treatment but are rarely investigated due to logistics of frequent MRI. Using a combination MRI-linear accelerator (MRI-linac), we evaluated changes during daily chemoradiation therapy.
Methods And Materials: Patients with glioblastoma were prospectively imaged daily during chemoradiation therapy on 0.
Background: The LYP tyrosine phosphatase presents a SNP (1858C > T) that increases the risk of developing autoimmune diseases such as type I diabetes and arthritis. It remains unclear how this SNP affects LYP function and promotes the development of these diseases. The scarce information about LYP substrates is in part responsible for the poor understanding of LYP function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSuccinate dehydrogenase (also known as complex II) plays a dual role in respiration by catalyzing the oxidation of succinate to fumarate in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and transferring electrons from succinate to ubiquinone in the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC). Owing to the privileged position of SDH/CII, its dysfunction leads to TCA cycle arrest and altered respiration. This review aims to elucidate the widely documented profound metabolic effects of SDH/CII deficiency, along with the newly unveiled survival mechanisms in SDH/CII-deficient cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe evolutionary processes that underlie variation in plant genome size have been much debated. Abiotic factors are thought to have played an important role, with negative and positive correlations between genome size and seasonal or stressful climatic conditions being reported in several systems. In turn, variation in genome size may influence plant traits which affect interactions with other organisms, such as herbivores.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA comprehensive dynamic analysis of the dielectric relaxation-time data across a broad temperature range for both isotropic and nematic phases has been conducted on the CBO3O.Py liquid crystal dimer, the shorter chain-length compound within the highly nonsymmetric pyrene-based series of liquid crystal dimers (CBOnO.Py, with n ranging from 3 to 11).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAging is a heterogeneous process, so individuals of the same age may be aging at a different rate. A natural model of premature aging in mice have been proposed based on the poor response to the T-maze. Those that take longer to cross the intersection are known as Prematurely Aging Mice (PAM), while those that show an exceptional response are known as Exceptional non-PAM (E-NPAM), being the rest non-PAM (NPAM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProteins are biological macromolecules well known to regulate many cellular signaling mechanisms. For instance, they are very appealing for their application as therapeutic agents, presenting high specificity and activity. Nonetheless, they suffer from unfolding, instability and low bioavailability making their administration through systemic and other routes very tough.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPancreatic cancer is a very aggressive disease with a dismal prognosis. The tumor microenvironment exerts immunosuppressive activities through the secretion of several cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-1. The IL-1/IL-1 receptor (IL-1R) axis is a key regulator in tumor-promoting T helper (Th)2- and Th17-type inflammation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObesity has reached global epidemic proportions, and even though its effects are well-documented, studying the interactions among all influencing factors is crucial for a better understanding of its physiopathology. In a high-fat-diet-induced obesity animal model using C57BL/6J mice, behavioural responses were assessed through a battery of tests, while stress biomarkers and systemic inflammatory cytokines were measured using an Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay and a Bio-Plex Multiplex System. The peritoneal macrophage microbicide capacity was analysed via flow cytometry, and crown-like structures (CLSs) in white adipose tissue (WAT) were evaluated through staining techniques.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAging is associated with chronic oxidative stress, which contributes to the deterioration of the immune system, increasing morbidity and mortality. A positive social environment permits health maintenance and a slower rate of aging. Improvements in immune function and oxidative stress were shown in peritoneal leukocytes and organs of old mice and adult prematurely aging mice (PAM) after cohabitation with adults or exceptional non-prematurely aging mice (ENPAM), respectively, for 2 months, but adults and ENPAM experienced deterioration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF