Advanced AI techniques for classifying Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.

Background: Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment are often difficult to differentiate due to their progressive nature and overlapping symptoms. The lack of reliable biomarkers further complicates early diagnosis. As the global population ages, the incidence of cognitive disorders increases, making the need for accurate diagnosis critical.

The Impact of Music Therapy in a Pediatric Oncology Setting: An Italian Observational Network Study.

Background: Music Therapy (MT) is a non-pharmacological, art-based intervention that employs music experiences within a therapeutic alliance to attend to clients' physical, emotional, cognitive, and social requirements. This is the first study aiming at investigating the impact of MT on the psychological facets of children suffering from cancer.

Methods: The study, combining the AQR and m-YPAS assessment tools, evaluated behavioral, sound-musical, and interactive parameters in pediatric oncology patients undergoing MT sessions during hospitalization.

A translational and multidisciplinary approach to studying the Garcia effect, a higher form of learning with deep evolutionary roots.

Animals, including humans, learn and remember to avoid a novel food when its ingestion is followed, hours later, by sickness - a phenomenon initially identified during World War II as a potential means of pest control. In the 1960s, John Garcia (for whom the effect is now named) demonstrated that this form of conditioned taste aversion had broader implications, showing that it is a rapid but long-lasting taste-specific food aversion with a fundamental role in the evolution of behaviour. From the mid-1970s onward, the principles of the Garcia effect were translated to humans, showing its role in different clinical conditions (e.

Hemispheric Dominance and Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Global Effects for Intensive Motor Training on White Matter Plasticity.

Cerebral maturation is characterized by different age-dependent molecular and cellular processes and follows a different course for grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM). During brain development, a crucial point seems to be represented by the establishment of a hemispheric specialization with the left hemisphere dominant for language and motor control and the right hemisphere dominant for visuospatial processing and attention. Therefore, motor and cognitive development are strongly connected.

Emotional, Behavioral, and Physical Health Consequences in Caregivers of Children with Cancer: A Network Analysis Differentiation in Mothers' and Fathers' Reactivity.

Background: Pediatric cancer presents mental and physical challenges for patients and their caregivers. However, parental distress has been understudied despite its negative impact on quality of life, disability, and somatic disorders. Parents of oncopediatric patients experience high levels of suffering with their resilience tested throughout their children's illness.

Predictors of functional outcome in patients with major depression and bipolar disorder: A dynamic network approach to identify distinct patterns of interacting symptoms.

The purpose of this study is to use a dynamic network approach as an innovative way to identify distinct patterns of interacting symptoms in patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and patients with Bipolar Type I Disorder (BD). More precisely, the hypothesis will be testing that the phenotype of patients is driven by disease specific connectivity and interdependencies among various domains of functioning even in the presence of underlying common mechanisms. In a prospective observational cohort study, hundred-forty-three patients were recruited at the Psychiatric Clinic "Villa dei Gerani" (Catania, Italy), 87 patients with MDD and 56 with BD with a depressive episode.

Nonylphenol and Octylphenol Differently Affect Cell Redox Balance by Modulating the Nitric Oxide Signaling.

Nonylphenol (NP) and octylphenol (OP) are pervasive environmental contaminants belonging to the broader class of compounds known as alkylphenols, with potential human toxic effects. Classified as "xenoestrogens," NP and OP are able to interfere with the cell endocrine physiology via a direct interaction with the estrogen receptors. Here, using HepG2 cells in culture, the changes of the cell redox balance and mitochondrial activity induced by OP and NP have been investigated at M concentrations, largely below those provoking acute toxicity, as those typical of environmental contaminants.

VLDL Induced Modulation of Nitric Oxide Signalling and Cell Redox Homeostasis in HUVEC.

High levels of circulating lipoprotein constitute a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, and in this context, the specific role of the very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) is poorly understood. The response of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) to VLDL exposure was studied, especially focusing on the pathways involved in alteration of redox homeostasis and nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability. The results obtained by the analysis of the expression level of genes implicated in the NO metabolism and oxidative stress response indicated a strong activation of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) upon 24 h exposure to VLDL, particularly if these have been preventively oxidised.

Cardiovascular Mitochondrial Dysfunction Induced by Cocaine: Biomarkers and Possible Beneficial Effects of Modulators of Oxidative Stress.

Cocaine abuse has long been known to cause morbidity and mortality due to its cardiovascular toxic effects. The pathogenesis of the cardiovascular toxicity of cocaine use has been largely reviewed, and the most recent data indicate a fundamental role of oxidative stress in cocaine-induced cardiovascular toxicity, indicating that mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in the mechanisms of oxidative stress. The comprehension of the mechanisms involving mitochondrial dysfunction could help in selecting the most appropriate mitochondria injury biological marker, such as superoxide dismutase-2 activity and glutathionylated hemoglobin.

A Comparative Study of the Applied Methods for Estimating Deflection of the Vertical in Terrestrial Geodetic Measurements.

This paper compares three different methods capable of estimating the deflection of the vertical (DoV): one is based on the joint use of high precision spirit leveling and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), a second uses astro-geodetic measurements and the third gravimetric geoid models. The working data sets refer to the geodetic International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) co-location sites of Medicina (Northern, Italy) and Noto (Sicily), these latter being excellent test beds for our investigations. The measurements were planned and realized to estimate the DoV with a level of precision comparable to the angular accuracy achievable in high precision network measured by modern high-end total stations.

Bioenergetic relevance of hydrogen sulfide and the interplay between gasotransmitters at human cystathionine β-synthase.

Merely considered as a toxic gas in the past, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is currently viewed as the third 'gasotransmitter' in addition to nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO), playing a key signalling role in human (patho)physiology. H2S can either act as a substrate or, similarly to CO and NO, an inhibitor of mitochondrial respiration, in the latter case by targeting cytochrome c oxidase (CcOX). The impact of H(2)S on mitochondrial energy metabolism crucially depends on the bioavailability of this gaseous molecule and its interplay with the other two gasotransmitters.

The Terminal Oxidase Cytochrome bd Promotes Sulfide-resistant Bacterial Respiration and Growth.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) impairs mitochondrial respiration by potently inhibiting the heme-copper cytochrome c oxidase. Since many prokaryotes, including Escherichia (E.) coli, generate H2S and encounter high H2S levels particularly in the human gut, herein we tested whether bacteria can sustain sulfide-resistant O2-dependent respiration.

Evidence for Detrimental Cross Interactions between Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species in Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy Cells.

Here we have collected evidence suggesting that chronic changes in the NO homeostasis and the rise of reactive oxygen species bioavailability can contribute to cell dysfunction in Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) patients. We report that peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), derived from a female LHON patient with bilateral reduced vision and carrying the pathogenic mutation 11778/ND4, display increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), as revealed by flow cytometry, fluorometric measurements of nitrite/nitrate, and 3-nitrotyrosine immunodetection. Moreover, viability assays with the tetrazolium dye MTT showed that lymphoblasts from the same patient are more sensitive to prolonged NO exposure, leading to cell death.

Antioxidant defence systems in the protozoan pathogen Giardia intestinalis.

The microaerophilic protist Giardia intestinalis is the causative agent of giardiasis, one of the most common intestinal infectious diseases worldwide. The pathogen lacks not only respiratory terminal oxidases (being amitochondriate), but also several conventional antioxidant enzymes, including catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase. In spite of this, since living attached to the mucosa of the proximal small intestine, the parasite should rely on an efficient antioxidant system to survive the oxidative and nitrosative stress conditions found in this tract of the human gut.

S-Adenosyl-l-methionine Modulates CO and NO• Binding to the Human H2S-generating Enzyme Cystathionine β-Synthase.

Cystathionine β-synthase (CBS) is a key enzyme in human (patho)physiology with a central role in hydrogen sulfide metabolism. The enzyme is composed of a pyridoxal 5'-phosphate-binding catalytic domain, flanked by the following two domains: a heme-binding N-terminal domain and a regulatory C-terminal domain binding S-adenosyl-l-methionine (AdoMet). CO or NO(•) binding at the ferrous heme negatively modulates the enzyme activity.

Superoxide reductase from Giardia intestinalis: structural characterization of the first SOR from a eukaryotic organism shows an iron centre that is highly sensitive to photoreduction.

Superoxide reductase (SOR), which is commonly found in prokaryotic organisms, affords protection from oxidative stress by reducing the superoxide anion to hydrogen peroxide. The reaction is catalyzed at the iron centre, which is highly conserved among the prokaryotic SORs structurally characterized to date. Reported here is the first structure of an SOR from a eukaryotic organism, the protozoan parasite Giardia intestinalis (GiSOR), which was solved at 2.

Cytochrome bd Protects Bacteria against Oxidative and Nitrosative Stress: A Potential Target for Next-Generation Antimicrobial Agents.

Cytochrome bd is a terminal quinol oxidase of the bacterial respiratory chain. This tri-heme integral membrane protein generates a proton motive force at lower efficiency than heme-copper oxidases. This notwithstanding, under unfavorable growth conditions bacteria often use cytochrome bd in place of heme-copper enzymes as the main terminal oxidase.

Antigiardial activity of novel triazolyl-quinolone-based chalcone derivatives: when oxygen makes the difference.

Giardiasis is a common diarrheal disease worldwide caused by the protozoan parasite Giardia intestinalis. It is urgent to develop novel drugs to treat giardiasis, due to increasing clinical resistance to the gold standard drug metronidazole (MTZ). New potential antiparasitic compounds are usually tested for their killing efficacy against G.

Cytochrome bd from Escherichia coli catalyzes peroxynitrite decomposition.

Cytochrome bd is a prokaryotic respiratory quinol oxidase phylogenetically unrelated to heme-copper oxidases, that was found to promote virulence in some bacterial pathogens. Cytochrome bd from Escherichia coli was previously reported to contribute not only to proton motive force generation, but also to bacterial resistance to nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Here, we investigated the interaction of the purified enzyme with peroxynitrite (ONOO(-)), another harmful reactive species produced by the host to kill invading microorganisms.

Flavodiiron oxygen reductase from Entamoeba histolytica: modulation of substrate preference by tyrosine 271 and lysine 53.

Flavodiiron proteins (FDPs) are a family of enzymes endowed with bona fide oxygen- and/or nitric-oxide reductase activity, although their substrate specificity determinants remain elusive. After a comprehensive comparison of available three-dimensional structures, particularly of FDPs with a clear preference toward either O2 or NO, two main differences were identified near the diiron active site, which led to the construction of site-directed mutants of Tyr(271) and Lys(53) in the oxygen reducing Entamoeba histolytica EhFdp1. The biochemical and biophysical properties of these mutants were studied by UV-visible and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopies coupled to potentiometry.

NO* binds human cystathionine β-synthase quickly and tightly.

The hexa-coordinate heme in the H2S-generating human enzyme cystathionine β-synthase (CBS) acts as a redox-sensitive regulator that impairs CBS activity upon binding of NO(•) or CO at the reduced iron. Despite the proposed physiological relevance of this inhibitory mechanism, unlike CO, NO(•) was reported to bind at the CBS heme with very low affinity (Kd = 30-281 μm). This discrepancy was herein reconciled by investigating the NO(•) reactivity of recombinant human CBS by static and stopped-flow UV-visible absorption spectroscopy.

Cytochrome bd oxidase and bacterial tolerance to oxidative and nitrosative stress.

Cytochrome bd is a prokaryotic respiratory quinol:O2 oxidoreductase, phylogenetically unrelated to the extensively studied heme-copper oxidases (HCOs). The enzyme contributes to energy conservation by generating a proton motive force, though working with a lower energetic efficiency as compared to HCOs. Relevant to patho-physiology, members of the bd-family were shown to promote virulence in some pathogenic bacteria, which makes these enzymes of interest also as potential drug targets.