Thinking in 3 dimensions: philosophies of the microenvironment in organoids and organs-on-chip.

Organoids and organs-on-a-chip are currently the two major families of 3D advanced organotypic in vitro culture systems, aimed at reconstituting miniaturized models of physiological and pathological states of human organs. Both share the tenets of the so-called "three-dimensional thinking", a Systems Physiology approach focused on recapitulating the dynamic interactions between cells and their microenvironment. We first review the arguments underlying the "paradigm shift" toward three-dimensional thinking in the in vitro culture community.

Stem Cells and the Microenvironment: Reciprocity with Asymmetry in Regenerative Medicine.

Much of the current research in regenerative medicine concentrates on stem-cell therapy that exploits the regenerative capacities of stem cells when injected into different types of human tissues. Although new therapeutic paths have been opened up by induced pluripotent cells and human mesenchymal cells, the rate of success is still low and mainly due to the difficulties of managing cell proliferation and differentiation, giving rise to non-controlled stem cell differentiation that ultimately leads to cancer. Despite being still far from becoming a reality, these studies highlight the role of physical and biological constraints (e.

Effective targeting of breast cancer stem cells by combined inhibition of Sam68 and Rad51.

Breast cancer (BC) is the second cause of cancer-related deceases in the worldwide female population. Despite the successful treatment advances, 25% of BC develops resistance to current therapeutic regimens, thereby remaining a major hurdle for patient management. Current therapies, targeting the molecular events underpinning the adaptive resistance, still require effort to improve BC treatment.

Dispersion of Natural Airborne TiO Fibres in Excavation Activity as a Potential Environmental and Human Health Risk.

Titanium is the ninth most abundant element, approximately 0.7% of the Earth crust. It is used worldwide in large quantities for various applications.

Breast cancer in previously thyroidectomized patients: which thyroid disorders are a risk factor?

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether there are thyroid diseases in which breast cancer will appear later as well as the role of autoimmunity. This was a retrospective observational study. A total of 410 females (thyroid surgery and later breast cancer) and 524 females (thyroid surgery only) were compared with regard to pathological thyroid findings, thyroid hormones, thyroid autoimmunity and type of breast cancer.

Operationalizing and Testing the Concept of a Physical Activity Desert.

Background: The prevalence of childhood obesity is higher in economically and socially deprived areas. Higher levels of physical activity reduce the risk of excessive weight gain in youth, and research has focused on environmental factors associated with children's physical activity, though the term "physical activity desert" has not come into wide use.

Methods: This exploratory study operationalized the term "physical activity desert" and tested the hypothesis that children living in physical activity deserts would be less physically active than children who do not.

An unusual presentation of breast tuberculosis: A case report.

Primary breast tuberculosis is an uncommon disease, especially in nonendemic areas. Its presentation could mimic a cancer or an abscess, but this entity must be considered for differential diagnosis in women coming from endemic countries.

Functional Integration and Individuality in Prokaryotic Collective Organisations.

Both physiological and evolutionary criteria of biological individuality are underpinned by the idea that an individual is a functionally integrated whole. However, a precise account of functional integration has not been provided so far, and current notions are not developed in the details, especially in the case of composite systems. To address this issue, this paper focuses on the organisational dimension of two representative associations of prokaryotes: biofilms and the endosymbiosis between prokaryotes.

Changes in Diet Quality in Youth Living in South Carolina From Fifth to 11th Grade.

Objective: To examine diet quality levels and changes in a diverse sample of youth from fifth to 11th grade, and interactions by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status.

Design: Transitions and Activity Changes in Kids prospective cohort study.

Setting: Elementary, middle, and high schools in South Carolina.

Familial hypercholesterolemia class II low-density lipoprotein receptor response to statin treatment.

Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor (LDLR) mutations are the primary cause of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). Class II LDLR mutations result in a misfolded LDLR retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). We have developed a model of FH class II and CRISPR-corrected induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) capable of replicating mutant and repaired LDLR functions.

Investigation of RNA Editing Sites within Bound Regions of RNA-Binding Proteins.

Studies in epitranscriptomics indicate that RNA is modified by a variety of enzymes. Among these RNA modifications, adenosine to inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing occurs frequently in the mammalian transcriptome. These RNA editing sites can be detected directly from RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data by examining nucleotide changes from adenosine (A) to guanine (G), which substitutes for inosine (I).

Motility Control of Symbionts and Organelles by the Eukaryotic Cell: The Handling of the Motile Capacity of Individual Parts Forges a Collective Biological Identity.

Motility occupies a decisive role in an organism's ability to autonomously interact with its environment. However, collective biological organizations exhibit individual parts, which have temporally or definitively lost their motor capacities, but still able to autonomously interact with their host. Indeed, although the flagella of bacterial symbionts of eukaryotic cells are usually inhibited or lost, they autonomously modify the environment provided by their host.

The management of the slow transit constipation in the laparoscopic era.

The slow transit constipation (STC) is a functional bowel pathology with slow total gut transit time with normal calibre colon in addition to a variety of other systemic symptoms. Patients with an abnormal colonic motility refractory to conservative treatment are regarded as appropriate candidates for surgery. Laparoscopic total colectomy with ileum-rectum anastomosis represents the commonest surgical operation in the treatment of STC, in well selected patients, after failure of conservative treatment.

Long Non-coding RNAs in Endothelial Biology.

In recent years, the role of RNA has expanded to the extent that protein-coding RNAs are now the minority with a variety of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) now comprising the majority of RNAs in higher organisms. A major contributor to this shift in understanding is RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), which allows a largely unconstrained method for monitoring the status of RNA from whole organisms down to a single cell. This observational power presents both challenges and new opportunities, which require specialized bioinformatics tools to extract knowledge from the data and the ability to reuse data for multiple studies.

A novel long non-coding RNA Myolinc regulates myogenesis through TDP-43 and Filip1.

Myogenesis is a complex process required for skeletal muscle formation during embryonic development and for regeneration and growth of myofibers in adults. Accumulating evidence suggests that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play key roles in regulating cell fate decision and function in various tissues. However, the role of lncRNAs in the regulation of myogenesis remains poorly understood.

Regulates Igf2bp2 Translation in Cardiomyocytes.

Rationale: Increasing evidence indicates the presence of lncRNAs in various cell types. is an imprinting gene transcribed from the paternal chromosome. It is in antisense orientation to the imprinted, but maternally derived, gene, on which exerts its regulation in .

Skin-nipple-sparing mastectomy: The first approach in primary myxoid chondrosarcoma of the breast.

The primary mammary chondrosarcoma corresponds to less than 0,5% of the mammary malignancies. For the period ranging from 1967 to 2014, only 18 cases were reported in the literature. A 41year old woman found a hard nodule on her external right superior quadrant/axillary prolongation through breast self-examination.

IL4 Primes the Dynamics of Breast Cancer Progression via DUSP4 Inhibition.

The tumor microenvironment supplies proinflammatory cytokines favoring a permissive milieu for cancer cell growth and invasive behavior. Here we show how breast cancer progression is facilitated by IL4 secreted by adipose tissue and estrogen receptor-positive and triple-negative breast cancer cell types. Blocking autocrine and paracrine IL4 signaling with the IL4Rα antagonist IL4DM compromised breast cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and tumor growth by downregulating MAPK pathway activity.

Airborne asbestos fibres monitoring in tunnel excavation.

Tunnelling across ophiolitic formation with Naturally Occurring Asbestos (NOA) can release fibres into the environment, exposing workers, and the population, if fibres spread outside the tunnel, leading to increased risk of developing asbestos-related disease. Therefore, a careful plan of environmental monitoring is carried out during Terzo Valico tunnel excavation. In the present study, data of 1571 samples of airborne dust, collected between 2014 and 2016 inside the tunnels, and analyzed by SEM-EDS for quantification of workers exposure, are discussed.

Is it really useful the Harmonic scalpel in axillary dissection for locally advanced breast cancer? A case series.

Background: The seroma is one of the most common complications in the axillary lymph nodal dissection (different surgical approaches have been tried to reduce the seroma incidence). In our study we evaluate the outcome of patients using or not the ultrasonic scalpel (Harmonic scalpel) according to a standardized surgical technique.

Patients And Methods: From January 2011 to December 2015 120 patients underwent axillary dissection for breast cancer.

Logic programming to infer complex RNA expression patterns from RNA-seq data.

To meet the increasing demand in the field, numerous long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) databases are available. Given many lncRNAs are specifically expressed in certain cell types and/or time-dependent manners, most lncRNA databases fall short of providing such profiles. We developed a strategy using logic programming to handle the complex organization of organs, their tissues and cell types as well as gender and developmental time points.

ANGIOGENES: knowledge database for protein-coding and noncoding RNA genes in endothelial cells.

Increasing evidence indicates the presence of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) is specific to various cell types. Although lncRNAs are speculated to be more numerous than protein-coding genes, the annotations of lncRNAs remain primitive due to the lack of well-structured schemes for their identification and description. Here, we introduce a new knowledge database "ANGIOGENES" (http://angiogenes.