Stard1 promotes cholestatic liver injury and disease progression by sensitizing to bile acid hepatotoxicity.

Background And Aims: Cholestatic liver diseases (CLD) are often accompanied by hepatocellular injury, fibrosis, and cirrhosis due to the intracellular accumulation of solutes that cannot be excreted into bile, including bile acids (BAs). These are synthesized in hepatocytes from cholesterol mainly via the classic pathway and in a lower proportion through the mitochondrial acidic pathway. The latter requires STARD1-dependent cholesterol transport to the mitochondrial inner membrane for metabolism, whose contribution to BA-induced hepatotoxicity and CLD is unknown.

Effective Messages to Reduce Stigma among People Newly Diagnosed with HIV during Rapid ART Initiation.

HIV stigma has a negative influence on antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation and persistence and viral suppression. Immediate access to ART (RAPID ART) has been shown to accelerate viral suppression (VS) that is sustained up to one year after HIV diagnosis. Little is known about the role of RAPID ART in reducing individual-level stigma.

S-Adenosyl-l-methionine restores brain mitochondrial membrane fluidity and GSH content improving Niemann-Pick type C disease.

Niemann-Pick type C (NPC) disease is a lysosomal storage disorder characterized by impaired motor coordination due to neurological defects and cerebellar dysfunction caused by the accumulation of cholesterol in endolysosomes. Besides the increase in lysosomal cholesterol, mitochondria are also enriched in cholesterol, which leads to decreased membrane fluidity, impaired mitochondrial function and loss of GSH, and has been shown to contribute to the progression of NPC disease. S-Adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) regulates membrane physical properties through the generation of phosphatidylcholine (PC) from phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) methylation and functions as a GSH precursor by providing cysteine in the transsulfuration pathway.

Difficulties in emotion regulation and well-being in breast cancer.

Objective: Breast cancer is responsible for disruptive changes in women's lives, causing them to experience diverse and intense negative emotions that can affect their perception of well-being. The present study aimed to characterize difficulties in emotion regulation (ER), according to Gratz and Roemer's multidimensional assessment, in women with breast cancer and to relate them with General Well-Being and its different domains: Physical, Social/Familial, Emotional, and Functional.

Method: Ninety-five Portuguese women with breast cancer aged between 32 and 75 years answered a sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire and the Portuguese versions of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - General.

Bioconjugate based on cisplatin and bacterial exopolysaccharide with reduced side effects: A novel proposal for cancer treatment.

Background: In the search for alternatives that attenuate the toxicity associated to oncologic treatment with cisplatin (CDDP) and considering the potential health-beneficial properties of exopolysaccharides (EPS) produced by lactic acid bacteria, it was aimed on this study to evaluate the cytotoxic, toxicologic and antitumoral efficacy of a bioconjugate based on CDDP and EPS, on the experimental tumor of sarcoma 180.

Methods: After the synthesis of the cis-[Pt(NH3)2(Cl)2] complex and of the conjugate containing Lactobacillus fermentum exopolysaccharide was tested both in vitro and in vivo for evaluating the acute toxicity.

Results: The antitumoral study was performed using mice transplanted with sarcoma 180.

Psychometric analysis of the body responsiveness questionnaire in the Portuguese population.

Body responsiveness refers to the tendency to be attuned to the body's needs and use interoceptive information to guide behavior. Despite its potential beneficial effect on the development of positive body image, this construct is currently understudied. To boost research in this area, we examined the factor structure, gender invariance, and psychometric properties of a Portuguese translation of the Body Responsiveness Questionnaire (BRQ).

Oral clinical findings and intensive care unit prognostic scores.

Objective: Hospitalisation in intensive care unit (ICU) may cause changes in oral environment, which may influence patients' health status. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of intraoral and extraoral findings observed during ICU admission, and to verify if there is an association with clinical prognosis scores.

Methods: Data regarding clinical characteristics of patients hospitalised in an ICU were collected from medical records.

Untreated osteoporosis and higher FRAX as risk factors for tooth loss: a 5-year prospective study.

Introduction: Studies have shown that an impaired bone condition, represented by osteoporosis and increased fracture risk, may potentially aggravate periodontal disease and, consequently, the risk of tooth loss. This 5-year prospective study aimed to investigate whether systemic bone condition represents risk factor for tooth loss due to periodontal disease amongst elderly women.

Material And Methods: Seventy-four participants, aged ≥ 65 years, who attended the 5-years recall for periodontal evaluation were involved.

Civic engagement among foreign-born and native-born older adults living in Europe: a SHARE-based analysis.

Civic engagement is one of the cornerstones of participatory democracy and fundamental to preventing old-age social exclusion. Even though civic engagement late-in-life has received considerable attention, there is a lacuna of research on older migrants' civic engagement. This study aims therefore to examine potential predictors of civic engagement in terms of formal volunteering and participation in political organisations among foreign-born and native-born older adults in Europe.

Differences among a Portuguese cohort of BRCA pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants carriers choosing risk-reducing mastectomy or intensive breast surveillance.

Purpose: Women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BRCA1/2) pathogenic/likely pathogenic (P/LP) variants have a higher risk to develop breast and ovarian cancer. In structured high-risk clinics, risk-reducing measures are adopted. This study aimed at characterizing these women and identify factors that may have influenced their choice between risk reduction mastectomy (RRM) and intensive breast surveillance (IBS).

Mitochondrial cholesterol: Metabolism and impact on redox biology and disease.

Cholesterol is a crucial component of membrane bilayers by regulating their structural and functional properties. Cholesterol traffics to different cellular compartments including mitochondria, whose cholesterol content is low compared to other cell membranes. Despite the limited availability of cholesterol in the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM), the metabolism of cholesterol in the IMM plays important physiological roles, acting as the precursor for the synthesis of steroid hormones and neurosteroids in steroidogenic tissues and specific neurons, respectively, or the synthesis of bile acids through an alternative pathway in the liver.

Neprilysin-dependent neuropeptide Y cleavage in the liver promotes fibrosis by blocking NPY-receptor 1.

Development of liver fibrosis is paralleled by contraction of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), the main profibrotic hepatic cells. Yet, little is known about the interplay of neprilysin (NEP) and its substrate neuropeptide Y (NPY), a potent enhancer of contraction, in liver fibrosis. We demonstrate that HSCs are the source of NEP.

Dietary and genetic disruption of hepatic methionine metabolism induce acid sphingomyelinase to promote steatohepatitis.

Alcoholic (ASH) and nonalcoholic. (NASH).steatohepatitis are advanced.

Role of synthetical amynoquinone ethyl 2-(1,4-dioxo-1,4-dihydronaphthalen-2-ylamino) acetate in inhibition of Ehrlich's tumor.

Quinones are naturally or synthetically occurring secondary metabolites that have various bio-dynamics, highlighting their antitumor potential. This has been explored through their selective cytotoxicity, and studies in medicinal chemistry about the relation between biological activity versus chemical structure may lead to the solution of the toxicity problems associated with quinones. In this context, the antitumor effect of a synthetic naphthoquinone, named Ethyl 2-(1,4-Dioxo-1,4-Dihydronaphthalen-2-Ylamino) Acetate, was tested using mice transplanted with Ehrlich ascitic tumor as an experimental model.

Olanzapine treatment of lactating females causes testicular atrophy in prepuberal rat offspring.

The antipsychotic drug, olanzapine, is prescribed for postpartum psychosis. Possible adverse effects on fertility of offspring are unclear. We investigated the effects of administering olanzapine via lactation on testicular development and endocrine function of prepuberal male rats.