Liver Involvement in Patients with Rare Variants and Intellectual Disability: A Case Report and Literature Review.

The membrane-bound O-acyltransferase domain-containing 7 (MBOAT7) protein is an acyltransferase catalyzing arachidonic acid incorporation into lysophosphatidylinositol. Patients with rare, biallelic loss-of-function variants of the gene display intellectual disability with neurodevelopmental defects. The rs641738 inherited variant associated with reduced hepatic MBOAT7 expression has been linked to steatotic liver disease susceptibility.

Solid State Processing of BCZT Piezoceramics Using Ultra Low Synthesis and Sintering Temperatures.

Lead-free (BaCa) (Ti Zr) O (BCZT) ceramics were prepared by a solid-state route (SSR) using ultra-low synthesis (700 °C/30 min and 700 °C/2 h) and sintering temperatures (from 1150 °C to 1280 °C), due to prior activation and homogenization by attrition milling of the starting high purity raw materials for 6 h before the synthesis and of the calcined powders for 3 h before the sintering. The comparison of the thermal analysis of the mixture of the starting raw materials and the same mixture after 6 h attrition milling allowed to evidence the mechanisms of activation, resulting in a significant decrease of the perovskite formation temperature (from 854 °C down to 582 °C). The secondary phases that limit the functional properties of the ceramic and their evolution with the sintering conditions were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which allowed the design of a two-step sintering method to eliminate them.

The role of fetal programming in human carcinogenesis - May the Barker hypothesis explain interindividual variability in susceptibility to cancer insurgence and progression?

The growing incidence of cancers is pushing oncologists to find out new explanations other than the somatic mutation theory, based on the accumulation of DNA mutations. In particular, the embryo-fetal exposure to an increasing number of environmental factors during gestation might represent a trigger able to influence the susceptibility of the newborn to develop cancer later in life. This idea agrees with the fetal programming theory, also known as the Barker hypothesis.