Long-term monitoring of a population of greater horseshoe bat emphasises the importance of a pest beetle prey on demographic trends.

The global decline in insect biomass has far-reaching implications for terrestrial and freshwater food webs, impacting species reliant on insects as a crucial component of their diet. This issue extends to species traditionally considered agricultural pests, such as the common cockchafer . In the race to combat cockchafers through collection, insecticide use, and other control methods, the repercussions of their numerical fluctuations on predators, including species of high conservation importance like bats, have been largely overlooked.

Investigating the role of organizational stress in nurses' psychosomatic complaints: Evidence from a study in northeastern Italy.

Background: Nursing is pivotal to healthcare delivery but is often associated with high levels of organizational stress. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to investigate the associations between exposure to organizational stressors, measured using the Health and Safety Executive Management Standards Indicator Tool, and psychosomatic complaints among nurses in a medium-sized city hospital in northeastern Italy.

Methods: A total of 215 nurses participated in the study, completing self-report questionnaires assessing organizational stressors and the prevalence of psychosomatic complaints experienced over the preceding six months.

Three-dimensional environment sensitizes pancreatic cancer cells to the anti-proliferative effect of budesonide by reprogramming energy metabolism.

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most lethal cancer with an aggressive metastatic phenotype and very poor clinical prognosis. Interestingly, a lower occurrence of PDAC has been described in individuals with severe and long-standing asthma. Here we explored the potential link between PDAC and the glucocorticoid (GC) budesonide, a first-line therapy to treat asthma.

Job demands and DHEA-S levels: a study on healthcare workers.

Background: The intricate interplay between work-related stress and its physiological impact has drawn extensive research attention. Dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S) emerges as a potential biomarker reflecting stress-related endocrine changes.

Aims: This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the association between job demands and DHEA-S levels among healthcare workers.

CRIPTO-based micro-heterogeneity of mouse muscle satellite cells enables adaptive response to regenerative microenvironment.

Skeletal muscle repair relies on heterogeneous populations of satellite cells (SCs). The mechanisms that regulate SC homeostasis and state transition during activation are currently unknown. Here, we investigated the emerging role of non-genetic micro-heterogeneity, i.

Optimization and evaluation of oxygen-plasma-modified, aligned, poly (Є-caprolactone) and silk fibroin nanofibrous scaffold for corneal stromal regeneration.

The shortage of human donor corneas for transplantation necessitates the exploration of tissue engineering approaches to develop corneal substitutes. However, these substitutes must possess the necessary strength, transparency, and ability to regulate cell behaviour before they can be used in patients. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of an oxygen plasma surface-modified poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) combined with silk fibroin (SF) nanofibrous scaffold for corneal stromal regeneration.

Budesonide Analogues Preserve Stem Cell Pluripotency and Delay 3D Gastruloid Development.

Small molecules that can modulate or stabilize cell-cell interactions are valuable tools for investigating the impact of collective cell behavior on various biological processes such as development/morphogenesis, tissue regeneration and cancer progression. Recently, we showed that budesonide, a glucocorticoid widely used as an anti-asthmatic drug, is a potent regulator of stem cell pluripotency. Here we tested the effect of different budesonide derivatives and identified CHD-030498 as a more effective analogue of budesonide.

Hand Eczema in Apprentice Nurses during the COVID-19 Pandemic after a Skin Prevention Program.

Background: Healthcare workers, particularly nurses and apprentice nurses, are at high risk of the development of hand eczema due to daily exposure to wet work. This study aimed to assess the occurrence of hand eczema in a group of first-, second-, and third-year apprentice nurses at the University Hospitals of Trieste (northeastern Italy) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Two hundred forty-two Nursing School students were recruited.

Stabilization of cell-cell adhesions prevents symmetry breaking and locks in pluripotency in 3D gastruloids.

3D embryonic stem cell (ESC) aggregates self-organize into embryo-like structures named gastruloids that recapitulate the axial organization of post-implantation embryos. Crucial in this process is the symmetry-breaking event that leads to the emergence of asymmetry and spatially ordered structures from homogeneous cell aggregates. Here, we show that budesonide, a glucocorticoid drug widely used to treat asthma, prevents ESC aggregates to break symmetry.

Allergic Reactions to COVID-19 Vaccination in High-Risk Allergic Patients: The Experience of Trieste University Hospital (North-Eastern Italy).

Background. Allergic patients may develop reactions following COVID-19 vaccination more frequently than non-allergic individuals. The aim of our study was to assess the risk of reactions in high-risk allergic patients vaccinated for COVID-19 at the University Health Agency Giuliano-Isontina (ASUGI) of Trieste (northeastern Italy).

Capturing Transitional Pluripotency through Proline Metabolism.

In this paper, we summarize the current knowledge of the role of proline metabolism in the control of the identity of Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs). An imbalance in proline metabolism shifts mouse ESCs toward a stable naïve-to-primed intermediate state of pluripotency. Proline-induced cells (PiCs), also named primitive ectoderm-like cells (EPLs), are phenotypically metastable, a trait linked to a rapid and reversible relocalization of E-cadherin from the plasma membrane to intracellular membrane compartments.

Generation of Gastruloids from Epiblast-Like Cells.

The different states of mouse pluripotency described so far rely on a combination of molecular, phenotypic, and functional analysis. Embryonic Stem cells (ESCs) aggregated in suspension culture are able to form 3D embryo-like structures called gastruloids that mimic features of the gastrulation process. Recent findings indicate that gastruloid formation efficiency decreases as pluripotency progresses from naïve to primed state, and suggest that gastruloids formation may represent a functional assay to discriminate different states of mouse pluripotency.

Generation of Epiblast-Like Cells.

Different states of pluripotency can be captured in vitro depending on the embryo stage from which they are derived and the culture conditions. Pluripotency is a continuum of different states between the two extremes of naïve embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and primed Epiblast Stem Cells (EpiSCs), which resemble the pre/peri- and post- implantation embryo, respectively. The transition from naïve to primed pluripotency can be induced by growing naïve ESCs in EpiSCs medium, containing bFGF and Activin.

From a Symptom-Based to a Person-Centered Approach in Treating Depressive Disorders in Adolescence: A Clinical Case Formulation Using the (PDM-2)'s Framework.

Background: Depressive disorders in adolescence are among the most challenging clinical syndromes to diagnostically identify and treat in psychotherapy. The (PDM-2) proposes an integration between nomothetic knowledge and an idiographic understanding of adolescent patients suffering from depression to promote a person-centered approach. This single-case study was aimed at describing and discussing the clinical value of an accurate diagnostic assessment within the PDM-2 framework.

The Multifaceted Roles of Proline in Cell Behavior.

Herein, we review the multifaceted roles of proline in cell biology. This peculiar cyclic imino acid is: A main precursor of extracellular collagens (the most abundant human proteins), antimicrobial peptides (involved in innate immunity), salivary proteins (astringency, teeth health) and cornifins (skin permeability); an energy source for pathogenic bacteria, protozoan parasites, and metastatic cancer cells, which engage in extracellular-protein degradation to invade their host; an antistress molecule (an osmolyte and chemical chaperone) helpful against various potential harms (UV radiation, drought/salinity, heavy metals, reactive oxygen species); a neural metabotoxin associated with schizophrenia; a modulator of cell signaling pathways such as the amino acid stress response and extracellular signal-related kinase pathway; an epigenetic modifier able to promote DNA and histone hypermethylation; an inducer of proliferation of stem and tumor cells; and a modulator of cell morphology and migration/invasiveness. We highlight how proline metabolism impacts beneficial tissue regeneration, but also contributes to the progression of devastating pathologies such as fibrosis and metastatic cancer.

White-Nose Syndrome Confirmed in Italy: A Preliminary Assessment of Its Occurrence in Bat Species.

Although no mass mortality has been recorded so far, the precise demographic effect of white-nose syndrome (WNS) on European bats still remains to be ascertained. Following the first isolation of in Italy, further surveys were performed to assess the distribution of the fungus in NW Italy and its effects on bats. Data were collected from March 2019 to April 2020 at sites used for hibernation (six sites) and/or for reproduction (four sites) in Piedmont and Aosta Valley.

Gastruloid Development Competence Discriminates Different States of Pluripotency.

Floating spheroidal aggregates of mouse embryonic stem cells can develop into polarized/elongated organoids, namely gastruloids. We set up a high-performing assay to measure gastruloid formation efficiency (GFE), and found that GFE decreases as pluripotency progresses from naive (GFE ≥ 95%) to primed (GFE = 0) state. Specifically, we show that primed EpiSCs fail to generate proper cell aggregates, while early-primed EpiLCs aggregate but eventually fail to develop into elongated gastruloids.

Publisher Correction: 6-Bromoindirubin-3'-oxime intercepts GSK3 signaling to promote and enhance skeletal muscle differentiation affecting miR-206 expression in mice.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Proline Metabolism in Tumor Growth and Metastatic Progression.

Cancer cells show a formidable capacity to survive under stringent conditions, to elude mechanisms of control, such as apoptosis, and to resist therapy. Cancer cells reprogram their metabolism to support uncontrolled proliferation and metastatic progression. Phenotypic and functional heterogeneity are hallmarks of cancer cells, which endow them with aggressiveness, metastatic capacity, and resistance to therapy.

6-Bromoindirubin-3'-oxime intercepts GSK3 signaling to promote and enhance skeletal muscle differentiation affecting miR-206 expression in mice.

Dystrophies are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle degeneration and weakness as consequence of their molecular abnormalities. Thus, new drugs for restoring skeletal muscle deterioration are critically needed. To identify new and alternative compounds with a functional role in skeletal muscle myogenesis, we screened a library of pharmacologically active compounds and selected the small molecule 6-bromoindirubin-3'-oxime (BIO) as an inhibitor of myoblast proliferation.

First Isolation of Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the Fungal Causative Agent of White-Nose Disease, in Bats from Italy.

White-nose disease, caused by the dermatophyte Pseudogymnoascus destructans, is a devastating pathology that has caused a massive decline in the US bat populations. In Europe, this fungus and the related infection in bats have been recorded in several countries and for many bat species, although no mass mortality has been detected. This study reports for the first time the presence of P.

Metabolic-Epigenetic Axis in Pluripotent State Transitions.

Cell state transition (CST) occurs during embryo development and in adult life in response to different stimuli and is associated with extensive epigenetic remodeling. Beyond growth factors and signaling pathways, increasing evidence point to a crucial role of metabolic signals in this process. Indeed, since several epigenetic enzymes are sensitive to availability of specific metabolites, fluctuations in their levels may induce the epigenetic changes associated with CST.

Collagen Prolyl Hydroxylation-Dependent Metabolic Perturbation Governs Epigenetic Remodeling and Mesenchymal Transition in Pluripotent and Cancer Cells.

Collagen prolyl hydroxylation (CPH), which is catalyzed by prolyl 4-hydroxylase (P4H), is the most prevalent posttranslational modification in humans and requires vitamin C (VitC). Here, we demonstrate that CPH acts as an epigenetic modulator of cell plasticity. Increased CPH induced global DNA/histone methylation in pluripotent stem and tumor cells and promoted cell state transition (CST).

Long non-coding RNA in stem cell pluripotency and lineage commitment: functions and evolutionary conservation.

LncRNAs have recently emerged as new and fundamental transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulators acting at multiple levels of gene expression. Indeed, lncRNAs participate in a wide variety of stem cell and developmental processes, acting in cis and/or in trans in the nuclear and/or in the cytoplasmic compartments, and generating an intricate network of interactions with RNAs, enhancers, and chromatin-modifier complexes. Given the versatility of these molecules to operate in different subcellular compartments, via different modes of action and with different target specificity, the interest in this research field is rapidly growing.