An in vitro model for osteoarthritis using long-cultured inflammatory human macrophages repeatedly stimulated with TLR agonists.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized by an abundance of inflammatory M1-like macrophages damaging local tissues. The search for new potential drugs for OA suffers from the lack of appropriate methods of long-lasting inflammation. Here we developed and characterized an in vitro protocol of long-lasting culture of primary human monocyte-derived macrophages differentiated with a combination of M-CSF+GM-CSF that optimally supported long-cultured macrophages (LC-Mϕs) for up to 15 days, unlike their single use.

In Vitro Study of a Novel -Based Collagenase for Future Medical Application.

Mesenchymal stem cells extracted from adipose tissue are particularly promising given the ease of harvest by standard liposuction and reduced donor site morbidity. This study proposes a novel enzymatic method for isolating stem cells using collagenase, obtaining a high-quality product in a reduced time. Initially, the enzyme concentration and incubation time were studied by comparing cellular yield, proliferation, and clonogenic capacities.

A PCR-based method for the diagnosis of in stool samples, specifically designed for clinical application.

Background: () is a nematode that infects up to 200 million people worldwide, despite effective medications being available. Conventional diagnostic tests are hindered by low sensitivity and poor patient compliance. Furthermore, no biomolecular techniques are available for clinical application.

The Role of Bifidobacteria in Predictive and Preventive Medicine: A Focus on Eczema and Hypercholesterolemia.

Bifidobacteria colonize the human gastrointestinal tract early on in life, their interaction with the host starting soon after birth. The health benefits are strain specific and could be due to the produced polysaccharides. The consumption of probiotics may prevent obesity, irritable bowel syndrome, eczema or atopic dermatitis, and asthma.

Structural equation modeling to shed light on the controversial role of climate on the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

Climate seems to influence the spread of SARS-CoV-2, but the findings of the studies performed so far are conflicting. To overcome these issues, we performed a global scale study considering 134,871 virologic-climatic-demographic data (209 countries, first 16 weeks of the pandemic). To analyze the relation among COVID-19, population density, and climate, a theoretical path diagram was hypothesized and tested using structural equation modeling (SEM), a powerful statistical technique for the evaluation of causal assumptions.

Functional Hyperspectral Imaging by High-Related Vegetation Indices to Track the Wide-Spectrum Biocontrol Activity Against Soil-Borne Diseases of Baby-Leaf Vegetables.

Research has been increasingly focusing on the selection of novel and effective biological control agents (BCAs) against soil-borne plant pathogens. The large-scale application of BCAs requires fast and robust screening methods for the evaluation of the efficacy of high numbers of candidates. In this context, the digital technologies can be applied not only for early disease detection but also for rapid performance analyses of BCAs.

Managing Rhizoctonia Damping-Off of Rocket () Seedlings by Drench Application of Bioactive Potato Leaf Phytochemical Extracts.

Plants produce a huge array of secondary metabolites that play a key role in defense mechanisms against detrimental microorganisms and herbivores, and represent a suitable alternative to synthetic fungicides in sustainable agriculture. In this work, twelve crude hydroethanolic extracts derived from leaves of different potato cultivars were chemically characterized by LC/MS and their antioxidant properties were investigated in vitro. Furthermore, the biological activity against the fungal pathogen was evaluated both in vitro and in vivo.

Diffusion through skin in the light of a fractional derivative approach: progress and challenges.

This review is focussed on modelling the transport processes of different drugs across the intact human skin by introducing a memory formalism based on the fractional derivative approach. The fundamental assumption of the classic transport equation in the light of the Fick's law is that the skin barrier behaves as a pseudo-homogeneous membrane and that its properties, summarized by the diffusion coefficient D,  do not vary with time and position. This assumption does not hold in the case of a highly heterogeneous system as the skin is, whose outermost layer (the stratum corneum) is comprised of a multi-layered structure of keratinocytes embedded in a lamellar matrix of hydrophobic lipids, followed by the dermis that contains a network of capillaries that connect to the systemic circulation.

Collagenase-assisted wound bed preparation: An in vitro comparison between Vibrio alginolyticus and Clostridium histolyticum collagenases on substrate specificity.

Bacterial collagenase from the aerobic non-pathogenic Vibrio alginolyticus chemovar iophagus is an extracellular metalloproteinase. This collagenase preparation is obtained through a fermentation process and is purified chromatographically, resulting in a highly purified 82-kDa single-band protein that does not contain non-specific proteases or other microbial impurities. V.

Fractional derivatives in the diffusion process in heterogeneous systems: The case of transdermal patches.

In this note, we present a simple mathematical model of drug delivery through transdermal patches by introducing a memory formalism in the classical Fick diffusion equation based on the fractional derivative. This approach is developed in the case of a medicated adhesive patch placed on the skin to deliver a time released dose of medication through the skin towards the bloodstream.The main resistance to drug transport across the skin resides in the diffusion through its outermost layer (the stratum corneum).

Hyaluronic Acid as a Protein Polymeric Carrier: An Overview and a Report on Human Growth Hormone.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a natural polysaccharide primarily present in the vitreous humor and in cartilages where it plays a key structural role in organizing the cartilage extracellular matrix. HA is used in a wide range of applications including treatment of arthritis (as a viscosupplementation agent for joints) and in a variety of cosmetic injectable products. Its safety profile is thus well established.

Wave simulation in biologic media based on the Kelvin-Voigt fractional-derivative stress-strain relation.

The acoustic behavior of biologic media can be described more realistically using a stress-strain relation based on fractional time derivatives of the strain, since the fractional exponent is an additional fitting parameter. We consider a generalization of the Kelvin-Voigt rheology to the case of rational orders of differentiation, the so-called Kelvin-Voigt fractional-derivative (KVFD) constitutive equation, and introduce a novel modeling method to solve the wave equation by means of the Grünwald-Letnikov approximation and the staggered Fourier pseudospectral method to compute the spatial derivatives. The algorithm can handle complex geometries and general material-property variability.

Enhancing the personal narrative skills of elementary school-aged students who use AAC: the effectiveness of personal narrative intervention.

Unlabelled: Children who use augmentative and alternative communication have been found to experience significant difficulties in the production of fictional and personal narratives. The important role of personal narratives in establishing personal and social identity has received substantial attention in developmental psychology but little attention in the field of communication disorders. The present study analyzes the effect of an intervention program designed to improve the personal narrative skills of three girls who experience severe communication disorders and use AAC.

Diffusion with memory in two cases of biological interest.

The complexity of a biological structure, such as membrane where the transport process may carry solid particles which may obstruct some of the pores, diminishing their size and making the permeability dependent on the local structure of the medium, suggests the introduction of a space-dependent diffusion constant. In this note, the profile concentration of diffusing solutes inside a cell membrane has been calculated on the basis of the Fick diffusion equation modified by introducing a memory formalism (diffusion with memory). This approach has been employed to describe the concentration profile inside the membrane when a sudden change of the concentration in the medium bathing one of its face is applied for a limited interval of time.