Bowel cleansing quality evaluation in colon capsule endoscopy: what is the reference standard?

Background: The diagnostic accuracy of colon capsule endoscopy (CCE) depends on a well-cleansed bowel. Evaluating the cleansing quality can be difficult with a substantial interobserver variation.

Objectives: Our primary aim was to establish a standard of agreement for bowel cleansing in CCE based on evaluations by expert readers.

Connexin 43 modulates reverse electron transfer in cardiac mitochondria from inducible knock-out Cx43 mice by altering the coenzyme Q pool.

Succinate accumulates during myocardial ischemia and is rapidly oxidized during reperfusion, leading to reactive oxygen species (ROS) production through reverse electron transfer (RET) from mitochondrial complex II to complex I, and favoring cell death. Given that connexin 43 (Cx43) modulates mitochondrial ROS production, we investigated whether Cx43 influences RET using inducible knock-out Cx43 mice. Oxygen consumption, ROS production, membrane potential and coenzyme Q (CoQ) pool were analyzed in subsarcolemmal (SSM, expressing Cx43) and interfibrillar (IFM) cardiac mitochondria isolated from wild-type Cx43 mice and Cx43 knock-out animals treated with 4-hydroxytamoxifen (4OHT).

Targeting the Warburg Effect in Cancer: Where Do We Stand?

The Warburg effect, characterized by the preferential conversion of glucose to lactate even in the presence of oxygen and functional mitochondria, is a prominent metabolic hallmark of cancer cells and has emerged as a promising therapeutic target for cancer therapy. Elevated lactate levels and acidic pH within the tumor microenvironment (TME) resulting from glycolytic profoundly impact various cellular populations, including macrophage reprogramming and impairment of T-cell functionality. Altogether, the Warburg effect has been shown to promote tumor progression and immunosuppression through multiple mechanisms.

Caenorhabditis elegans RAC1/ced-10 mutants as a new animal model to study very early stages of Parkinson's disease.

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) display non-motor symptoms arising prior to the appearance of motor signs and before a clear diagnosis. Motor and non-motor symptoms correlate with progressive deposition of the protein alpha-synuclein (Asyn) both within and outside of the central nervous system, and its accumulation parallels neurodegeneration. The genome of Caenorhabditis elegans does not encode a homolog of Asyn, thus rendering this nematode an invaluable system with which to investigate PD-related mechanisms in the absence of interference from endogenous Asyn aggregation.

Spontaneous reperfusion enhances succinate concentration in peripheral blood from stemi patients but its levels does not correlate with myocardial infarct size or area at risk.

Succinate is enhanced during initial reperfusion in blood from the coronary sinus in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients and in pigs submitted to transient coronary occlusion. Succinate levels might have a prognostic value, as they may correlate with edema volume or myocardial infarct size. However, blood from the coronary sinus is not routinely obtained in the CathLab.