Physico-Chemical Investigation and Antimicrobial Efficacy of Ozonated Oils: The Case Study of Commercial Ozonated Olive and Sunflower Seed Refined Oils.

Drug resistance represents one of the great plagues of our time worldwide. This largely limits the treatment of common infections and requires the development of new antibiotics or other alternative approaches. Noteworthy, the indiscriminate use of antibiotics is mostly responsible for the selection of mutations that confer drug resistance to microbes.

α-Synuclein seeding activity in duodenum biopsies from Parkinson's disease patients.

Abnormal deposition of α-synuclein is a key feature and biomarker of Parkinson's disease. α-Synuclein aggregates can propagate themselves by a prion-like seeding-based mechanism within and between tissues and are hypothesized to move between the intestine and brain. α-Synuclein RT-QuIC seed amplification assays have detected Parkinson's-associated α-synuclein in multiple biospecimens including post-mortem colon samples.

Real-Time Quaking- Induced Conversion Assays for Prion Diseases, Synucleinopathies, and Tauopathies.

Prion diseases, synucleinopathies and tauopathies are neurodegenerative disorders characterized by deposition of abnormal protein aggregates in brain and other tissues. These aggregates consist of forms of prion, α-synuclein (αSyn), or tau proteins that cause neurodegeneration and represent hallmarks of these disorders. A main challenge in the management of these diseases is the accurate detection and differentiation of these abnormal proteins during the early stages of disease before the onset of severe clinical symptoms.

Parkinson's Disease: A Prionopathy?

The principal pathogenic event in Parkinson's disease is characterized by the conformational change of α-synuclein, which form pathological aggregates of misfolded proteins, and then accumulate in intraneuronal inclusions causing dopaminergic neuronal loss in specific brain regions. Over the last few years, a revolutionary theory has correlated Parkinson's disease and other neurological disorders with a shared mechanism, which determines α-synuclein aggregates and progresses in the host in a prion-like manner. In this review, the main characteristics shared between α-synuclein and prion protein are compared and the cofactors that influence the remodeling of native protein structures and pathogenetic mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration are discussed.

Gut microbiota markers associated with obesity and overweight in Italian adults.

In the present study, we characterized the distinctive signatures of the gut microbiota (GM) from overweight/obese patients (OB), and normal-weight controls (NW), both of Sardinian origin. Fecal bacterial composition of 46 OB patients (BMI = 36.6 ± 6.

Clinical Phenotypes of Parkinson's Disease Associate with Distinct Gut Microbiota and Metabolome Enterotypes.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a clinically heterogenic disorder characterized by distinct clinical entities. Most studies on motor deficits dichotomize PD into tremor dominant (TD) or non-tremor dominant (non-TD) with akinetic-rigid features (AR). Different pathophysiological mechanisms may affect the onset of motor manifestations.

Gut microbiota and metabolome distinctive features in Parkinson disease: Focus on levodopa and levodopa-carbidopa intrajejunal gel.

Background And Purpose: Recent data suggest that imbalances in the composition of the gut microbiota (GM) could exacerbate the progression of Parkinson disease (PD). The effects of levodopa (LD) have been poorly assessed, and those of LD-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) have not been evaluated so far. The aim of this study was to identify the effect of LD and LCIG, in particular, on the GM and metabolome.

Genetic variants of TAS2R38 bitter taste receptor associate with distinct gut microbiota traits in Parkinson's disease: A pilot study.

The non-tasting form of the bitter taste receptor, TAS2R38, has been shown as a genetic risk factor associated with the development of Parkinson's disease (PD). Specific taste receptors that are expressed in the lower gastrointestinal tract may respond to alteration in gut microbiota composition, detecting bacterial molecules, and regulate immune responses. Given the importance of brain-gut-microbiota axis and gene-environment interactions in PD, we investigate the associations between the genetic variants of TAS2R38 and gut microbiota composition in 39 PD patients.

Gut Microbiota and Metabolome Alterations Associated with Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the accumulation of intracellular aggregates of misfolded alpha-synuclein along the cerebral axis. Several studies report the association between intestinal dysbiosis and Parkinson's disease, although a cause-effect relationship remains to be established. Herein, the gut microbiota composition of 64 Italian patients with Parkinson's disease and 51 controls was determined using a next-generation sequencing approach.

Impact of a Moderately Hypocaloric Mediterranean Diet on the Gut Microbiota Composition of Italian Obese Patients.

Although it is known that the gut microbiota (GM) can be modulated by diet, the efficacy of specific dietary interventions in determining its composition and diversity in obese patients remains to be ascertained. The present work aims to evaluate the impact of a moderately hypocaloric Mediterranean diet on the GM of obese and overweight patients (OB). The GM of 23 OB patients (F/M = 20/3) was compared before (T0) and after 3 months (T3) of nutritional intervention (NI).

Genetic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in Sardinia: a case series linked to the PRNP R208H mutation due to a single founder effect.

In genetic prion diseases (gPrD), five genetic variants (E200K, V210I, V180I, P102L, and D178N) are responsible for about 85% of cases. The R208H is one of the several additional rare mutations and to date, only 16 cases carrying this mutation have been reported worldwide. To describe the phenotypic features of 5 affected patients belonging to apparently unrelated Sardinian (Italian) families with R208H gPrD, and provide evidence for a possible founder effect are the aims of this study.

Correction to: Synthesis, protonation constants and biological activity determination of amino acid-salicylaldehyde‑derived Schiff bases.

Unfortunately in the online published article, the name of compound "L-salicylidenealanine" was published with incorrect spelling in the section "Synthesis of L‑salicylideneaniline (1a)". The section should correctly read as "Synthesis of L-salicylidenealanine".

High Diagnostic Accuracy of RT-QuIC Assay in a Prospective Study of Patients with Suspected sCJD.

The early and accurate in vivo diagnosis of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) is essential in order to differentiate CJD from treatable rapidly progressive dementias. Diagnostic investigations supportive of clinical CJD diagnosis include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalogram (EEG), 14-3-3 protein detection, and/or real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) assay positivity in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or in other tissues. The total CSF tau protein concentration has also been used in a clinical setting for improving the CJD diagnostic sensitivity and specificity.

Synthesis, protonation constants and biological activity determination of amino acid-salicylaldehyde-derived Schiff bases.

Schiff bases represent a class of molecules widely studied for their importance in organic and coordination chemistry. Despite the large amount of studies on the chemical and biological properties of the Schiff bases, the different experimental conditions prevent a useful comparison to search for a correlation structure-activity. Moreover, literature is lacking in comprehensive data on the spectroscopic characterization of these compounds.

Antiproliferative and antiviral activity of methanolic extracts from Sardinian Maltese Mushroom ( L.).

is a non-photosynthetic plant that grows in Mediterranean countries and that is amply used in the traditional medicine. The aim of this study was to extend previous studies on the chemical and biological properties of evaluating the potential antiviral and antiproliferative activity of the methanolic extract. The MTT assay was used for the cytotoxic studies against human cancer-derived cell lines, while both MTT and plaque reduction (PRT) methods were used to evaluate the potential inhibitory effect of the extract against a panel of mammal viruses.

Mass spectrometric discrimination of phospholipid patterns in cisplatin-resistant and -sensitive cancer cells.

Rationale: Development of therapy-resistant cancer is a major problem in clinical oncology, and there is an urgent need for novel markers identifying development of the resistant phenotype. Lipidomics represents a promising approach to discriminate lipid profiles of malignant phenotype cells. Alterations in phospholipid distribution or chemical composition have been reported in various pathologies including cancer.

Novel coumarins and related copper complexes with biological activity: DNA binding, molecular docking and in vitro antiproliferative activity.

Coumarins show biological activity and are widely exploited for their therapeutic effects. Although a great number of coumarins substituted by heterocyclic moieties have been prepared, few studies have been carried out on coumarins containing pyridine heterocycle, which is known to modulate their physiological activities. We prepared and characterized three novel 3-(pyridin-2-yl)coumarins and their corresponding copper(II) complexes.

PrP Knockout Cells Expressing Transmembrane PrP Resist Prion Infection.

Unlabelled: Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchoring of the prion protein (PrP) influences PrP misfolding into the disease-associated isoform, PrP, as well as prion propagation and infectivity. GPI proteins are found in cholesterol- and sphingolipid-rich membrane regions called rafts. Exchanging the GPI anchor for a nonraft transmembrane sequence redirects PrP away from rafts.

(1)H NMR brain metabonomics of scrapie exposed sheep.

While neurochemical metabolite modifications, determined by different techniques, have been diffusely reported in human and mice brains affected by transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), this aspect has been little studied in the natural animal hosts with the same pathological conditions so far. Herein, we investigated, by high resolution (1)H NMR spectroscopy and multivariate statistical data analysis, the brain metabolite profile of sheep exposed to a scrapie agent in a naturally affected flock. On the basis of clinical examinations and western blotting analysis for the pathological prion protein (PrP(Sc)) in brain tissues, sheep were catalogued as not infected (H), infected with clinical signs (S), and infected without clinical signs (A).

Novel copper(II) complexes as new promising antitumour agents. A crystal structure of [Cu(1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione)2(OH2)(OClO3)](ClO4).

The cytotoxic properties of copper(II) complexes with 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) can be modified by substitution in the phen backbone. For this purpose, Cu(II) complexes with phen, 1,10-phenanthrolin-5,6-dione (phendione) and 1,10-phenanthrolin-5,6-diol (phendiol) have been synthesised and characterised. The crystal structure of [Cu(phendione)2(OH2)(OClO3)](ClO4) is discussed.

Prion seeding activities of mouse scrapie strains with divergent PrPSc protease sensitivities and amyloid plaque content using RT-QuIC and eQuIC.

Different transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE)-associated forms of prion protein (e.g. PrP(Sc)) can vary markedly in ultrastructure and biochemical characteristics, but each is propagated in the host.

New generation QuIC assays for prion seeding activity.

The ability of abnormal TSE-associated forms of PrP to seed the formation of amyloid fibrils from recombinant PrP(Sen) has served as the basis for several relatively rapid and highly sensitive tests for prion diseases. These tests include rPrP-PMCA (rPMCA), standard quaking-induced conversion (S-QuIC), amyloid seeding assay (ASA), real-time QuIC (RT-QuIC) and enhanced QuIC (eQuIC). Here, we summarize recent improvements in the RT-QuIC-based assays that enhance the practicality, sensitivity and quantitative attributes of assays QuIC and promote the detection of prion seeding activity in dilute, inhibitor-laden fluids such as blood plasma.

Accumulation and aberrant composition of cholesteryl esters in Scrapie-infected N2a cells and C57BL/6 mouse brains.

Objective: Cholesterol changes have been described in prion-cell models and in experimental rodent scrapie; yet, the pattern of this association is still controversial.

Methods: To shed light on the matter, we analysed and compared cholesterol variations in ScN2a cells and in brains of Scrapie-infected C57Bl/6 mice, using two different methods: a fluorimetric-enzymatic cholesterol assay, and high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (HPLC-MS).

Results: Compared to uninfected controls, similar cholesterol metabolism anomalies were observed in infected cells and brains by both methods; however, only HPLC-MS revealed statistically significant cholesterol variations, particularly in the cholesteryl esters (CE) fraction.