Publications by authors named "Luca Spaggiari"

Probiotics are living microbes that provide benefits to the host. The growing data on health promotion, following probiotics administration, increased interest among researchers and pharmaceutical companies. Infections of the lower genital tract in females, caused by a wide range of pathogens, represent one of the main areas for the use of probiotics and postbiotics.

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Candida albicans (C. albicans) can behave as a commensal yeast colonizing the vaginal mucosa, and in this condition is tolerated by the epithelium. When the epithelial tolerance breaks down, due to C.

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Article Synopsis
  • * CPAY1's CFS demonstrated significant activity against various pathogenic microorganisms and showed notable resistance to proteolytic enzymes and heat stability.
  • * Time-kill studies indicated that antimicrobial production began after 4 hours and was effective after 7 hours of co-culture, while CPAY1 was found to be susceptible to all tested antibiotics and lacked plasmids.
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Lactic acid bacteria are considered an inexhaustible source of bioactive compounds; indeed, products from their metabolism are known to have immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory activity. Recently, we demonstrated that Cell-Free Supernatants (CFS) obtained from , (.) , (.

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The Candida albicans population displays high genetic diversity illustrated by 18-well differentiated genetic clusters. Cluster 13, also known as Candida africana, is an outlying cluster and includes strains first described as atypical C. albicans isolates of vaginal origin, showing apparent tropism for the female genital tract.

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Vaginal ecosystem is a unique environment where, in physiological conditions, lactobacilli dominate. However, pathogenic microbial species responsible for vaginitis and vaginosis can also harbor vaginal microbiota. To extend our previously published data, we analyzed here both the anti- and anti-inflammatory properties of the vaginal gel formulation, Respecta Balance Gel (RBG), commercialized as an adjuvant to treat vaginitis and vaginosis.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Nearly 75% of women experience vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) in their lifetime, leading to significant quality of life issues, yet the reasons for its development, such as whether the disease-causing strains differ from commensal strains, are still unclear.
  • - Research on C. albicans strains shows no genetic differences between VVC-causing and colonizing strains; however, VVC strains exhibit stronger interaction with vaginal epithelial cells, resulting in increased fungal proliferation and cell shedding.
  • - RNA sequencing revealed different signaling pathways activated during infections, particularly the type I interferon pathway, suggesting that the pathogenic potential of VVC strains may be related to their ability to exploit epithelial responses differently.
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Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a common clinical condition with symptoms and signs of vaginal inflammation in the presence of species. At least one episode of VVC is experienced in up to 75% of women in the reproductive age group during their lifetime, and 5% to 8% of such women suffer from the chronic form. Most cases of VVC are still caused by C.

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