Effect of stretching on inflammation in a subcutaneous carrageenan mouse model analyzed at single-cell resolution.

Understanding the factors that influence the biological response to inflammation is crucial, due to its involvement in physiological and pathological processes, including tissue repair/healing, cancer, infections, and autoimmune diseases. We have previously demonstrated that in vivo stretching can reduce inflammation and increase local pro-resolving lipid mediators in rats, suggesting a direct mechanical effect on inflammation resolution. Here we aimed to explore further the effects of stretching at the cellular/molecular level in a mouse subcutaneous carrageenan-inflammation model.

Establishment of a Novel Porcine Model to Study the Impact of Active Stretching on a Local Carrageenan-Induced Inflammation.

Objective: Active stretching of the body is integral to complementary mind-body therapies such as yoga, as well as physical therapy, yet the biologic mechanisms underlying its therapeutic effects remain largely unknown. A previous study showed the impact of active stretching on inflammatory processes in rats. The present study tested the feasibility of using a porcine model, with a closer resemblance to human anatomy, to study the effects of active stretching in the resolution of localized inflammation.

Stretching Reduces Skin Thickness and Improves Subcutaneous Tissue Mobility in a Murine Model of Systemic Sclerosis.

Objective: Although physical therapy can help preserve mobility in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), stretching has not been used systematically as a treatment to prevent or reverse the disease process. We previously showed in rodent models that stretching promotes the resolution of connective tissue inflammation and reduces new collagen formation after injury. Here, we tested the hypothesis that stretching would impact scleroderma development using a mouse sclerodermatous graft-versus-host disease (sclGvHD) model.

Identification of Nef-HIV-1 domains involved in p22-phox interaction and superoxide production.

Nef -HIV-1 has been shown to be involved in NADPH complex interaction and superoxide production. The aim of this work was to study the domains involved in the interaction between Nef and p22-phox. Two approaches were used: 1) in silico modelling, to determine the potential binding motifs and design Nef truncated forms and 2) functional assays.

Stretching Impacts Inflammation Resolution in Connective Tissue.

Acute inflammation is accompanied from its outset by the release of specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs), including resolvins, that orchestrate the resolution of local inflammation. We showed earlier that, in rats with subcutaneous inflammation of the back induced by carrageenan, stretching for 10 min twice daily reduced inflammation and improved pain, 2 weeks after carrageenan injection. In this study, we hypothesized that stretching of connective tissue activates local pro-resolving mechanisms within the tissue in the acute phase of inflammation.

[Effects of occupational exposure to pesticides on semen quality of workers in an agricultural community of Merida state, Venezuela].

Numerous studies report adverse effects of pesticides on male reproductive health. The objectives of this study were to investigate whether there is a relationship between occupational exposure to pesticides and semen quality, and to determine whether chronic exposure to pesticides differentially affects semen quality in men of different ages. A comparative study of 64 farmers and 64 control men was performed.

Programmed hepatocytes cell death associated with FLIP downregulation in response to extracellular preS1/2.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection involves liver damage resulting in continuous cell injury and death. During HBV infection, hepatocytes exhibit changes in death receptor expression and in their susceptibility to death. These changes are observed not only in infected cells but also in bystander cells.

Occupational exposure to organophosphate and carbamate pesticides affects sperm chromatin integrity and reproductive hormone levels among Venezuelan farm workers.

Objectives: Several reports suggest that chronic pesticide exposure may affect semen quality and male fertility in humans. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between occupational exposure to organophosphate (OP) and carbamate (CB) pesticides and semen quality, as well as levels of reproductive and thyroid hormones of Venezuelan farm workers.

Methods: Thirty-five healthy men (unexposed group) and 64 male agricultural workers (exposed group) were recruited for clinical evaluation of fertility status.

Muscarinic antibodies and heart rate responses to dynamic exercise and to the Valsalva maneuver in chronic chagasic patients.

We have studied the cardiac chronotropic responses to the Valsalva maneuver and to dynamic exercise of twenty chronic chagasic patients with normal left ventricular function and no segmental wall abnormalities by two-dimensional echocardiogram. The absolute increase in heart rate of the patients (Δ = 21.5 ± 10 bpm, M±SD) during the maneuver was significantly diminished when compared to controls (Δ = 31.

Cardiac autonomic control mechanisms in the pathogenesis of chagas' heart disease.

Primary abnormalities of the autonomic nervous system had been postulated as the pathogenic mechanisms of myocardial damage, in patients with Chagas disease. However, recent investigations indicate that these abnormalities are secondary and amenable to treatment with beta-adrenergic blockers. Moreover, muscarinic cardiac autoantibodies appear to enhance parasympathetic activity on the sinus node.

Fas and FasL expression in leukocytes from chronic granulomatous disease patients.

Abstract. Chronic Granulomatous Disease (CGD) is a primary immunodeficiency characterized by defects in superoxide (O2-) production, which result from mutations in one of the four NADPH oxidase components, predisposing to bacterial and fungal infections. Besides the O2-defect, it has been described that neutrophils from CGD patients are resistant to cell death, a phenomenon that has been connected to chronic inflammation and predisposition to autoimmune diseases.

[Analysis of p22-phox and p47-phox subcellular localization and distribution in neutrophils from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients].

Introduction: During human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection a dysfunction of polymorphonuclear (PMN) cells has been described including a progressively altered superoxide production as disease progression. The NADPH oxidase has been described as a major source of superoxide. The neutrophil NADPH oxidase comprises a plasma membrane-bound cytochrome b558 (which is a heterodimer of one p22-phox and one gp91-phox subunit) and cytosolic subunits, namely p47-phox, p67-phox and p40-phox.

[Immune tolerance at 50 years from the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology: a perspective as a mechanism of immune response against pathogens].

The immune system has the capability of protection against infectious disease which is accomplished by an enormous repertoire of receptors specifically reactive to foreign antigens, but it is tolerant to self-antigens, establishing biological identity. The ability to discriminate between self and non-self is a central property of the immune system, by using complex network of cellular and molecular mechanisms in order to prevent autoimmunity; this function is called immune tolerance. Thus, the Interaction between immune system and antigens is required for the generation of tolerance and it is critical in different physiological and pathological conditions in order to limit the damage to self tissues.

[Evaluation of the quality of the human spermatozoon: comparison between spermatic DNA integrity and semen variables].

Semen analysis does not have an absolute predictive value on fertility, however it is a reflection of male fertility potential, which is related to its spermatozoa quality and other semen variables. Great variability in human semen parameters has been demonstrated within a single individual, an observation that could explain why a male with low semen quality can successfully fertilize an egg. Although conventional semen analysis, such as sperm concentration, motility and morphology, provide important information about the clinical status of male fertility, new procedures to predict the sperm functional capability have been developed in the last decade, such as analysis of nuclear DNA integrity, which have improved considerably the clinical diagnosis of male infertility, and increased the knowledge about spermatozoa function.

HIV-1 Nef associates with p22-phox, a component of the NADPH oxidase protein complex.

Altered neutrophil function may contribute to the development of AIDS during the course of HIV infection. It has been described that Nef, a regulatory protein from HIV, can modulate superoxide production in other cells, therefore altered superoxide production in neutrophils from HIV infected patients, could be secondary to a direct effect of Nef on components of the NADPH oxidase complex. In this work, we describe that Nef, was capable of increasing superoxide production in human neutrophils.

Altered T cell costimulation during chronic hepatitis B infection.

T-cell response to hepatitis B virus (HBV) is vigorous, polyclonal and multi-specific in patients with acute hepatitis who ultimately clear the virus, whereas it is narrow and inefficient in patients with chronic disease, where inappropriate early activation events could account for viral persistence. We investigated the induction of activation receptors and cytokine production in response to HBcAg and crosslinking of CD28 molecules, in CD4+ cells from a group of chronically infected patients (CIP) and naturally immune subjects (NIS). We demonstrated that CD4+ cells from CIP did not increase levels of CD40L and CD69 following stimulation with HBcAg alone or associated to CD28 crosslinking, in contrast to subjects that resolved the infection (p<0.

[Impaired activation and costimulation of T CD4+ lymphocytes during chronic hepatitis C infection].

Hepatitis C chronic infection occurs in 80% of the cases and eventually leads to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. A deficient adaptive immune response has been described during chronic infection which contributes to viral persistence. This altered T cell response could be associated to deficient costimulation signals during priming of T cells.

CD40/CD40L expression in leukocytes from chronic granulomatous disease patients.

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is an inherited disorder caused by defects in the NADPH oxidase complex, which generates superoxide, the precursor of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) and other reactive oxygen derivatives with microbicidal activity. Because CGD patients are at risk of chronic inflammatory manifestations, including inflammatory bowel disease and autoimmune diseases, and it is not clear whether these pathologies are exclusively secondary to altered superoxide production, or whether distinct immunologic defects are involved, we explored cell proliferation, lymphocyte cell counts, immunoglobulin levels, presence of autoimmune antibodies and expression of costimulatory molecules in leukocytes from CGD patients. We found that CGD patients have a diminished phytohemagglutinin-induced proliferation of blood mononuclear cells.

Antigen-induced regulatory T cells in HBV chronically infected patients.

T cell response against HBV is vigorous in patients with acute hepatitis who clear the virus, whereas it is weak and narrowly focused in patients with chronic disease. We report that following incubation with HBcAg, a population of CD4+FoxP3+ cells expressing phenotypic markers of both natural and induced Tregs, can be antigen-induced from peripheral mononuclear cells. Conversely, naive and naturally immune subjects did not increase CD4+FoxP3+ Tregs following stimulation with HBcAg, supporting the idea that natural Tregs are able to respond specifically to HBV antigen.

[Pattern of T cell activation in absence of protective immunity against hepatitis B virus. Review].

Hepatitis B is an important cause of morbidity and mortality around the world. One-third of the world's population has been estimated to be infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV). A significant amount of evidence suggests that both humoral and cellular immune responses are important to eliminate the virus and that, cellular immunity is involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.