Not feeling well … true or exaggerated? Self-assessed health as a leading health indicator.

We provide original, international evidence documenting that self-assessed health (SAH) is a leading health indicator, that is, a significant predictor of future changes in health conditions, in a large sample of Europeans aged above 50 and living in 13 different countries. We find that, after controlling for attrition bias, lagged SAH is significantly and negatively correlated with changes in the number of chronic diseases, net of the correlations with levels, and changes in sociodemographic factors and health styles, country and regional health system effects, and declared symptoms. Illness-specific estimates document that lagged SAH significantly correlates with arthritis, cholesterol, and lung diseases (and weakly so with ulcer, hypertension, and cataracts) and has a significant correlation with the probability of contracting cancer.

A Cell-Penetrant Manganese Superoxide Dismutase (MnSOD) Mimic Is Able To Complement MnSOD and Exerts an Antiinflammatory Effect on Cellular and Animal Models of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

Inorganic complexes are increasingly used for biological and medicinal applications, and the question of the cell penetration and distribution of metallodrugs is key to understanding their biological activity. Oxidative stress is known to be involved in inflammation and in inflammatory bowel diseases for which antioxidative defenses are weakened. We report here the study of the manganese complex Mn1 mimicking superoxide dismutase (SOD), a protein involved in cell protection against oxidative stress, using an approach in inorganic cellular chemistry combining the investigation of Mn1 intracellular speciation using mass spectrometry and of its quantification and distribution using electron paramagnetic resonance and spatially resolved X-ray fluorescence with evaluation of its biological activity.

Current smoking differentially affects blood mononuclear cells from patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis: relevance to its adverse role in the disease.

Background: Epidemiologic data suggest that smoking increases the risk and the severity of Crohn's disease (CD), although it may protect patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). To investigate this paradox, we evaluated the effect of cigarette smoke in the function of blood mononuclear cells from healthy subjects and patients with CD or UC in flare up.

Methods: The production of mediators associated with inflammation but also with protective functions was evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and enzyme immunoassay (EIA), following either in vivo or in vitro exposure to cigarette smoke.

Regulation of colon cancer cell proliferation and migration by MD-2 activity.

Evidence suggests that signalling through lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has a significant role in the development of gastrointestinal malignancies. We previously demonstrated the critical role of myeloid differentiation (MD)-2, the essential co-receptor of LPS, for induction of cyclooxygenase (Cox)-2 in intestinal epithelial cells. Cyclooxigenase-2 was suggested to play a key role in colorectal cancer through the effects of prostaglandin (PG) E(2) generated.

MD-2 controls bacterial lipopolysaccharide hyporesponsiveness in human intestinal epithelial cells.

Intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) have adapted to the presence of commensal bacteria through a state of tolerance that involves a limited response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Low or absent expression of two LPS receptor molecules, the myeloid differentiation (MD)-2 receptor, and toll-like receptor (TLR)4 was suggested to underlie LPS tolerance in IEC. In the present study we performed transfections of TLR4 and MD-2 alone or combined in different IEC lines derived from intestinal cancer (Caco-2, HT-29, and SW837).

Hsp70 negatively controls rotavirus protein bioavailability in caco-2 cells infected by the rotavirus RF strain.

Previous studies demonstrated that the induction of the heat shock protein Hsp70 in response to viral infection is highly specific and differs from one cell to another and for a given virus type. However, no clear consensus exists so far to explain the likely reasons for Hsp70 induction within host cells during viral infection. We show here that upon rotavirus infection of intestinal cells, Hsp70 is indeed rapidly, specifically, and transiently induced.

Expression of the molecular chaperone Hsp70 in detergent-resistant microdomains correlates with its membrane delivery and release.

Accumulating evidence suggests that some heat shock proteins (Hsps), in particular the 72-kDa inducible Hsp70, associate to the cell membrane and might be secreted through an unknown mechanism to exert important functions in the immune response and signal transduction. We speculated that specialized structures named lipid rafts, known as important platforms for the delivery of proteins to the cell membrane, might be involved in the unknown mechanism ensuring membrane association and secretion of Hsp70. Lipid rafts are sphingolipid-cholesterol-rich structures that have been mainly characterized in polarized epithelial cells and can be isolated as detergent-resistant microdomains (DRMs).

Toxicity of cadmium in tobacco smoke: protection by antioxidants and chelating resins.

The effects of cadmium, an environmental toxin present in tobacco smoke, were studied in vitro in human monocytes and compared to those of tobacco smoke. Overexpression of the 72kDa heat shock/stress protein Hsp70 and cell death occurred with a similar time-course and to a similar extent in human monocytes exposed to either cadmium or tobacco smoke. Cadmium and tobacco smoke-mediated toxicity were associated with a decrease in the cellular content of glutathione and ATP and the glutathione precursor N-acetyl-L-cysteine prevented both cadmium and tobacco smoke-mediated toxicity.

Hyperthermia assists survival of astrocytes from oxidative-mediated necrotic cell death.

In response to many stresses and pathologic states, including different models of nervous system injury, cells synthesize a variety of proteins, most notably the inducible 72 kDa heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70), which plays important roles in maintaining cellular integrity and viability. We report here that cultured astrocytes from rat diencephalon express high levels of Hsp70 upon exposure to elevated temperatures, and are less vulnerable to a subsequent oxidative stress. Complex oxidative stress was induced by exposure of astrocytes to an aqueous extract of tobacco smoke.

Mitochondrial alterations precede Bordetella pertussis-induced apoptosis.

Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent of whooping cough in humans, secretes a number of toxins, including adenylate cyclase-hemolysin (AC-Hly), and induces macrophage apoptosis. We investigated the effects of B. pertussis on mitochondrial membrane potential (deltapsim) and ATP levels, as possible determinants of cell death.