Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) modulates stress-induced autophagy in endothelial cells.

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), a cardiac hormone involved in the regulation of water/sodium balance and blood pressure, is also secreted by endothelial cells, where it exerts protective effects in response to stress. Autophagy is an intracellular self-renewal process involved in the degradation of dysfunctional cytoplasmic elements. ANP was recently reported to act as an extracellular regulator of cardiac autophagy.

Abnormal expression of sphingolipid-metabolizing enzymes in the heart of spontaneously hypertensive rat models.

Sphingolipids exert important roles within the cardiovascular system and related diseases. Perturbed sphingolipid metabolism was previously reported in cerebral and renal tissues of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Specific defects related to the synthesis of sphingolipids and to the metabolism of Sphingosine-1-Phospahte (S1P) were exclusively identified in the stroke-prone (SHRSP) with the respect to the stroke-resistant (SHRSR) strain.

Polymorphic variants at NDUFC2, encoding a mitochondrial complex I subunit, associate with cardiac hypertrophy in human hypertension.

Background: A dysfunction of NADH dehydrogenase, the mitochondrial Complex I (CI), associated with the development of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in previous experimental studies. A deficiency of Ndufc2 (subunit of CI) impairs CI activity causing severe mitochondrial dysfunction. The T allele at NDUFC2/rs11237379 variant associates with reduced gene expression and impaired mitochondrial function.

Incidental Diagnosis of Oligosymptomatic Bilateral Perirenal Erdheim-Chester Disease during Emergency Investigation for COVID-19 Infection.

Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD), a rare form of non-Langerhans histiocytosis, is a multisystem disorder. The case reported here refers to a 49-year-old man presenting at the emergency room with respiratory symptoms. While undergoing diagnostic tests for COVID-19 infection, tomography revealed asymptomatic bilateral perirenal tumors, while renal function remained unaltered.

Atrial natriuretic peptide stimulates autophagy/mitophagy and improves mitochondrial function in chronic heart failure.

Mitochondrial dysfunction, causing increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, is a molecular feature of heart failure (HF). A defective antioxidant response and mitophagic flux were reported in circulating leucocytes of patients with chronic HF and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) exerts many cardiac beneficial effects, including the ability to protect cardiomyocytes by promoting autophagy.

A scoping review on innovative methods for personality observation.

Background: Personality's investigation has always been characterized as a central area of research for psychology, such that it was established in the 1920s as an autonomous scientific-disciplinary field. Identifying and observing the people's typical ways of "being in the world" has made possible to define the predictability of a pattern of behavioral responses related both to the possession of distinct characteristics of the agent subject and to specific environmental situations. In the actual scientific landscape, there is a strand of research that makes a description of personality through methodologies and indicators not usually used by psychology, but scientifically validated through standardized procedures.

1,5-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazoles counteract mitochondrial dysfunction acting on FF-ATPase in models of cardiovascular diseases.

The compromised viability and function of cardiovascular cells are rescued by small molecules of triazole derivatives (Tzs), identified as 3a and 3b, by preventing mitochondrial dysfunction. The oxidative phosphorylation improves the respiratory control rate in the presence of Tzs independently of the substrates that energize the mitochondria. The FF-ATPase, the main candidate in mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) formation, is the biological target of Tzs and hydrophilic F domain of the enzyme is depicted as the binding region of Tzs.

Computational Methods in Psychotherapy: A Scoping Review.

Background: The study of complex systems, such as the psychotherapeutic encounter, transcends the mechanistic and reductionist methods for describing linear processes and needs suitable approaches to describe probabilistic and scarcely predictable phenomena.

Objective: The present study undertakes a scoping review of research on the computational methods in psychotherapy to gather new developments in this field and to better understand the phenomena occurring in psychotherapeutic interactions as well as in human interaction more generally.

Design: Online databases were used to identify papers published 2011-2022, from which we selected 18 publications from different resources, selected according to criteria established in advance and described in the text.

Role of Uncoupling Protein 2 Gene Polymorphisms on the Risk of Ischemic Stroke in a Sardinian Population.

The mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) acts as an anion transporter and as an antioxidant factor able to reduce the reactive oxygen species level. Based on its effects, UCP2 prevents the membrane lipids, proteins, and DNA damage while preserving normal cellular functions. Many variants have been identified within the human .

Inhibition of miR-155 Attenuates Detrimental Vascular Effects of Tobacco Cigarette Smoking.

Background The role of microRNAs dysregulation in tobacco cigarette smoking-induced vascular damage still needs to be clarified. We assessed the acute effects of tobacco cigarette smoking on endothelial cell-related circulating microRNAs in healthy subjects. In addition, we investigated the potential role of microRNAs in smoking-dependent endothelial cell damage.