Psychic Life-Biological Molecule Bidirectional Relationship: Pathways, Mechanisms, and Consequences for Medical and Psychological Sciences-A Narrative Review.

Today, it is possible to investigate the biological paths and mechanisms that link mental life to biological life. Emotions, feelings, desires, and cognitions influence biological systems. In recent decades, psychoneuroendocrinoimmunology research has highlighted the routes linking the psyche-brain-immune systems.

Effect of decreasing population growth-rate on deforestation and population sustainability.

We consider the effect of non-constant parameters on the human-forest interaction logistic model coupled with human technological growth introduced in [1]. In recent years in fact, a decrease in human population growth rate has emerged which can be measured to about 1.7% drop per year since 1960 value, which coincides with latest UN projections for next decades up to year 2100 [2].

Effect of Ergodic and Non-Ergodic Fluctuations on a Charge Diffusing in a Stochastic Magnetic Field.

In this paper, we study the basic problem of a charged particle in a stochastic magnetic field. We consider dichotomous fluctuations of the magnetic field where the sojourn time in one of the two states are distributed according to a given waiting-time distribution either with Poisson or non-Poisson statistics, including as well the case of distributions with diverging mean time between changes of the field, corresponding to an ergodicity breaking condition. We provide analytical and numerical results for all cases evaluating the average and the second moment of the position and velocity of the particle.

Tau oligomers accumulation sensitizes prostate cancer cells to docetaxel treatment.

Purpose: Human tau is a highly dynamic, multifunctional protein expressed in different isoforms and conformers, known to modulate microtubule turnover. Tau oligomers are considered pathologic forms of the protein able to initiate specific protein accumulation diseases, called tauopathies. In our study, we investigated the potential association between autophagy and tau oligomers accumulation and its role in the response of prostate cancer cells to docetaxel.

Caputo Fractional Derivative and Quantum-Like Coherence.

We study two forms of anomalous diffusion, one equivalent to replacing the ordinary time derivative of the standard diffusion equation with the Caputo fractional derivative, and the other equivalent to replacing the time independent diffusion coefficient of the standard diffusion equation with a monotonic time dependence. We discuss the joint use of these prescriptions, with a phenomenological method and a theoretical projection method, leading to two apparently different diffusion equations. We prove that the two diffusion equations are equivalent and design a time series that corresponds to the anomalous diffusion equation proposed.

Deforestation and world population sustainability: a quantitative analysis.

In this paper we afford a quantitative analysis of the sustainability of current world population growth in relation to the parallel deforestation process adopting a statistical point of view. We consider a simplified model based on a stochastic growth process driven by a continuous time random walk, which depicts the technological evolution of human kind, in conjunction with a deterministic generalised logistic model for humans-forest interaction and we evaluate the probability of avoiding the self-destruction of our civilisation. Based on the current resource consumption rates and best estimate of technological rate growth our study shows that we have very low probability, less than 10% in most optimistic estimate, to survive without facing a catastrophic collapse.

Psychoneuroendocrinoimmunology-based meditation (PNEIMED) training reduces salivary cortisol under basal and stressful conditions in healthy university students: Results of a randomized controlled study.

Background: Meditation represents an effective and safe practice to lower distress and promote well-being. PsychoNeuroEndocrinoImmunology-based Meditation (PNEIMED) is a validated method that can reduce stress-related symptoms and salivary cortisol secretion. To date, few randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have assessed cortisol levels through salivary samples, collected both in the morning phase and during acute mental stress elicitation, in healthy young subjects following brief meditation training.

Body mass index represents a good predictor of vitamin D status in women independently from age.

Background & Aims: Vitamin D is a pleiotropic hormone targeting several tissues and is involved in basic homeostatic processes, including bone mineralization, immune response and muscle strength. Although hypovitaminosis D is common in Europe and North America, representing a risk factor for several chronic diseases, the contribution of factors other than sun exposure is largely underestimated.

Methods: In our study, we retrospectively collected data from medical records of women with age between 19 and 80 screened in Central Italy (42°N) for increased risk of metabolic syndrome.

Non-Poisson renewal events and memory.

We study two different forms of fluctuation-dissipation processes generating anomalous relaxations to equilibrium of an initial out-of-equilibrium condition, the former being based on a stationary although very slow correlation function and the latter characterized by the occurrence of crucial events, namely, non-Poisson renewal events, incompatible with the stationary condition. Both forms of regression to equilibrium have the same nonexponential Mittag-Leffler structure. We analyze the single trajectories of the two processes by recording the time distances between two consecutive origin recrossings and establishing the corresponding waiting time probability density function (PDF), ψ(t).

Ergodicity breaking and localization.

We study the joint action of the non-Poisson renewal events (NPR) yielding Continuous-time random walk (CTRW) with index α<1 and two different generators of Hurst coefficient H≠0.5, one generating fractional Brownian motion (FBM) and another scaled Brownian motion (SBM). We discuss the ergodicity breaking emerging from these joint actions and we find that in both cases the adoption of time averages leads to localization.

Serum 25(OH)D seasonality in urologic patients from central Italy.

Hypovitaminosis D is increasingly recognized as a cofactor in several diseases. In addition to bone homeostasis, vitamin D status influences immune system, muscle activity and cell differentiation in different tissues. Vitamin D is produced in the skin upon exposure to UVB rays, and sufficient levels of serum 25(OH)D are dependent mostly on adequate sun exposure, and then on specific physiologic variables, including skin type, age and Body Mass Index (BMI).

Nonergodic complexity management.

Linear response theory, the backbone of nonequilibrium statistical physics, has recently been extended to explain how and why nonergodic renewal processes are insensitive to simple perturbations, such as in habituation. It was established that a permanent correlation results between an external stimulus and the response of a complex system generating nonergodic renewal processes, when the stimulus is a similar nonergodic process. This is the principle of complexity management, whose proof relies on ensemble distribution functions.

Leptin contributes to long-term stabilization of HIF-1α in cancer cells subjected to oxygen limiting conditions.

Leptin, a cytokine produced by the adipose tissue in response to food intake, is a key player in the regulation of energy balance and body weight control. Physiological action of leptin in modulating the metabolic adaptation of different peripheral tissues supports the hypothesis that it could also exert a direct effect on cancer cells. In vitro, treatment with leptin up-regulated HIF-1α and stimulated adhesion and invasion of prostate cancer cells cultured in hypoxia.

A non-linear mathematical model for a three species ecosystem: Hippos in Lake Edward.

In this work we study a non-linear mathematical model based on three different interacting species. We apply our model to Lake Edward ecosystem consisting in hippos, tilapia fishes and human inhabitants. In this case, we estimate the values of the key parameters using actual data and show the reliability of the proposed model as a predictive tool.

Tumor-stroma metabolic relationship based on lactate shuttle can sustain prostate cancer progression.

Background: Cancer cell adopts peculiar metabolic strategies aimed to sustain the continuous proliferation in an environment characterized by relevant fluctuations in oxygen and nutrient levels. Monocarboxylate transporters MCT1 and MCT4 can drive such adaptation permitting the transport across plasma membrane of different monocarboxylic acids involved in energy metabolism.

Methods: Role of MCTs in tumor-stroma metabolic relationship was investigated in vitro and in vivo using transformed prostate epithelial cells, carcinoma cell lines and normal fibroblasts.

Renewal and memory origin of anomalous diffusion: a discussion of their joint action.

The adoption of the formalism of fractional calculus is an elegant way to simulate either subdiffusion or superdiffusion from within a renewal perspective where the occurrence of an event at a given time t does not have any memory of the events occurring at earlier times. We illustrate a physical model to assign infinite memory to renewal anomalous diffusion and we find (i) a condition where the simultaneous action of a renewal and a memory source of subdiffusion generates localization and (ii) a condition where they make subdiffusion weaker and superdiffusion emerge. We argue that our approach may provide important contributions to the current search to distinguish the renewal from the memory source of subdiffusion.

Linear response at criticality.

We study a set of cooperatively interacting units at criticality, and we prove with analytical and numerical arguments that they generate the same renewal non-Poisson intermittency as that produced by blinking quantum dots, thereby giving a stronger support to the results of earlier investigation. By analyzing how this out-of-equilibrium system responds to harmonic perturbations, we find that the response can be described only using a new form of linear response theory that accounts for aging and the nonergodic behavior of the underlying process. We connect the undamped response of the system at criticality to the decaying response predicted by the recently established nonergodic fluctuation-dissipation theorem for dichotomous processes using information about the second moment of the fluctuations.

Increased expression of a set of genes enriched in oxygen binding function discloses a predisposition of breast cancer bone metastases to generate metastasis spread in multiple organs.

Bone is the preferential site of distant metastasis in breast carcinoma (BrCa). Patients with metastasis restricted to bone (BO) usually show a longer overall survival compared to patients who rapidly develop multiple metastases also involving liver and lung. Hence, molecular predisposition to generate bone and visceral metastases (BV) represents a clear indication of poor clinical outcome.

A mathematical model for the Andean Tiwanaku civilization collapse: climate variations.

We propose a mathematical nonlinear model for the Tiwanaku civilization collapse based on the assumption, supported by archeological data, that a drought caused a lack of the main resource, water. We evaluate the parameter of our model using archaeological data. According to our numerical simulation the population core should have decreased from 45,000 to 2000 inhabitants due to lake surface contraction.

Identification of potent c-Src inhibitors strongly affecting the proliferation of human neuroblastoma cells.

Neuroblastoma (NB) represents the most common extracranial paediatric solid tumor for which no specific FDA-approved treatment is currently available. The tyrosine kinase c-Src has been reported to play an important role in the differentiation, cell-adhesion and survival of NB cells. Starting from dual Src/Abl inhibitors previously found active in NB cell lines (1-3), small modification of the original structures almost abolished the Abl activity with a contemporary improvement of affinity and specificity for c-Src.

Transmission of information between complex systems: 1/f resonance.

We study the transport of information between two complex systems with similar properties. Both systems generate non-Poisson renewal fluctuations with a power-law spectrum 1/f(3-μ), the case μ=2 corresponding to ideal 1/f noise. We denote by μ(S) and μ(P) the power-law indexes of the system of interest S and the perturbing system P, respectively.

Tissue print of prostate biopsy: a novel tool in the diagnostic procedure of prostate cancer.

Background: Nowadays, the histological examination of prostate core needle biopsies is still regarded as the gold standard in the diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa). We investigated if the tissue print of core needle biopsy (biopsy print) could be used as adjunctive molecular investigative procedures in conjunction with routine histological examination of biopsy to improve PCa diagnosis.

Methods: The direct contact of PCa core biopsy to nitrocellulose membrane resulted in the release of a cellular micropeel that was used for downstream analytical procedures.

EphA2 induces metastatic growth regulating amoeboid motility and clonogenic potential in prostate carcinoma cells.

EphA2 kinase regulates cell shape, adhesion, and motility and is frequently overexpressed in several cancers, including melanoma, prostate, breast, and colon cancers and lung carcinoma. Although a function in both tumor onset and metastasis has been proposed, the role played by EphA2 in tumor progression is still debated. In melanoma, EphA2 has been reported to affect cell migration and invasiveness allowing cells to move by a proteolysis-independent strategy, commonly referred as amoeboid motility.

Beyond the death of linear response: 1/f optimal information transport.

Nonergodic renewal processes have recently been shown by several authors to be insensitive to periodic perturbations, thereby apparently sanctioning the death of linear response, a building block of nonequilibrium statistical physics. We show that it is possible to go beyond the "death of linear response" and establish a permanent correlation between an external stimulus and the response of a complex network generating nonergodic renewal processes, by taking as stimulus a similar nonergodic process. The ideal condition of 1/f noise corresponds to a singularity that is expected to be relevant in several experimental conditions.

Memory effects in fractional Brownian motion with Hurst exponent H<1/3.

We study the regression to the origin of a walker driven by dynamically generated fractional Brownian motion (FBM) and we prove that when the FBM scaling, i.e., the Hurst exponent H<1/3 , the emerging inverse power law is characterized by a power index that is a compelling signature of the infinitely extended memory of the system.