The Effect of Chronic Immunosuppressive Regimen Treatment on Apoptosis in the Heart of Rats.

Chronic immunosuppressive therapy is currently the only effective method to prevent acute rejection of a transplanted organ. Unfortunately, the expected effect of treatment brings a number of grave side effects, one of the most serious being cardiovascular complications. In our study, we wanted to investigate how treatment with commonly used immunosuppressive drugs affects the occurrence of programmed cardiac cell death.

The Effects of Chronic Immunosuppressive Treatment on Morphological Changes in Cardiac Tissue and the Balance between Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMP-2 and MMP-9) and Their Inhibitors in the Rat Heart.

Using different three-drug immunosuppressive treatment regimens in a rat model, we aimed to determine the effects of long-term therapy on metalloproteinase-2 and metalloproteinase-9 activity and the expression of their inhibitors, as well as to assess the morphology of the animals' cardiac tissue. Our results suggest that chronic use of immunosuppressive drugs disrupts the balance between the activity of MMPs and TIMPs. Depending on the type of drug regimen used, this leads to abnormalities in the cardiac structure, collagen fiber accumulation, or cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.

Immunolocalization of Matrix Metalloproteinases 2 and 9 and Their Inhibitors in the Hearts of Rats Treated with Immunosuppressive Drugs-An Artificial Intelligence-Based Digital Analysis.

Background: Immunosuppressive agents represent a broad group of drugs, such as calcineurin inhibitors, mTOR inhibitors, and glucocorticosteroids, among others. These drugs are widely used in a number of conditions, but lifelong therapy is crucial in the case of organ recipients to prevent rejection. To further increase the safety and efficacy of these agents, their off-target mechanisms of action, as well as processes underlying the pathogenesis of adverse effects, need to be thoroughly investigated.

Depressive and anxiety symptoms in adolescents with type 1 diabetes - a single-centre observational study.

Introduction: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) significantly affects the everyday functioning of the child and its family. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of symptoms of depression and anxiety and estimate their potential association with various clinical parameters.

Material And Methods: 59 adolescents with T1DM (age 15-18) and their parents answered validated questionnaires (Children's Depression Inventory 2, The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) and a survey assessing everyday functioning.

The Effect of Prenatal and Neonatal Fluoride Exposure to Morphine-Induced Neuroinflammation.

Physical dependence is associated with the formation of neuroadaptive changes in the central nervous system (CNS), both at the molecular and cellular levels. Various studies have demonstrated the immunomodulatory and proinflammatory properties of morphine. The resulting neuroinflammation in drug dependence exacerbates substance abuse-related behaviors and increases morphine tolerance.

The Effect of Calcineurin Inhibitors on MMPs Activity in Heart and Their Side Effects-A Review of Literature.

This review focuses on the role of metalloproteinases in the pathogenesis of myocardial injury in various disease entities. It reveals how the expression and serum levels of metalloproteinases and their inhibitors change in many disease states. At the same time, the study offers a review of the impact of immunosuppressive treatment on this relationship.

Vitamin D Status in Patients before Thyroidectomy.

Thyroid neoplasms (tumors) are the most common pathology of the endocrine system that requires surgery, and in most cases changes are benign. The surgical treatment of thyroid neoplasms consists in total, subtotal, or one lobe excision. Our study aimed to assess the concentration of vitamin D and its metabolites in patients before thyroidectomy.

A combined X-ray fluorescence and infrared microspectroscopy study for new insights into elemental-biomolecular obesity-induced changes in rat brain structures.

The objective of our research was to determine the brain changes at the molecular and elemental levels typical of early-stage obesity. Therefore a combined approach using Fourier transform infrared micro-spectroscopy (FTIR-MS) and synchrotron radiation induced X-ray fluorescence (SRXRF) was introduced to evaluate some brain macromolecular and elemental parameters in high-calorie diet (HCD)- induced obese rats (OB, n = 6) and in their lean counterparts (L, n = 6). A HCD was found to alter the lipid- and protein- related structure and elemental composition of the certain brain areas important for energy homeostasis.

Combined spectroscopic, biochemical and chemometric approach toward finding of biochemical markers of obesity.

Background: Early-stage detection of subclinical obesity-driven systemic changes is a challenging area of medical diagnostics, where the most popular existing measures - such as body mass index - BMI - often fall short of providing a realistic estimate of adiposity and, therefore, of ongoing pathologies at the systemic, tissue and cellular level. In the quest for identifying new more robust diagnostic markers, whole-organ analysis of chemical elements is a promising approach for identifying candidate proxies of obesity status in the system.

Methods: Total Reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) coupled with biochemical assays, chemometrics and statistical validation was used as a new integrated pipeline for marker identification in external ear samples of obese animals.

Obesity in adolescents may be associated with limitations in daily activities and an increased level of anxiety in patients and their parents - preliminary results of a pilot study.

Unlabelled: Obesity is a chronic disease, that in adolescents may lead to serious consequences affecting somatic and mental health. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of depressive symptoms and anxiety in adolescents with obesity and their parents. The relationships between depressive and anxiety symptoms and the somatic consequences of obesity were also analyzed.

Repetitive transcranial direct current stimulation modulates the brain-gut-microbiome axis in obese rodents.

Background: Complex interactions between the brain, gut and adipose tissue allow to recognize obesity as a neurometabolic disorder. The recent data have shown that gut microbiota can play a potential role in obesity development. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a safe and non-invasive technique to modulate the activity of cerebral cortex and other connected brain areas also in context of appetite control.

The Effect of Chronic Immunosuppressive Regimens Treatment on Aortal Media Morphology and the Balance between Matrix Metalloproteinases (mmp-2 and mmp-9) and Their Inhibitors in the Abdominal Aorta of Rats.

Immunosuppressive drugs are widely and chronically used to avoid graft rejection in transplant recipients. However, they are also known to have organotoxic effects and can exert numerous side effects. The aim of this study was to assess whether the chronic treatment of rats with the most commonly used clinical immunosuppressive regimens in organ recipients had an effect on the morphology and function of the aorta.

Study of the Spatio-Chemical Heterogeneity of Tannin-Furanic Foams: From 1D FTIR Spectroscopy to 3D FTIR Micro-Computed Tomography.

Tannin-furanic rigid foams are bio-based copolymers of tannin plant extract and furfuryl alcohol, promising candidates to replace synthetic insulation foams, as for example polyurethanes and phenolics, in eco-sustainable buildings thanks to their functional properties, such as lightness of the material and fire resistance. Despite their relevance as environmental-friendly alternatives to petroleum derivatives, many aspects of the polymerization chemistry still remain unclear. One of the open issues is on the spatial heterogeneity of the foam, i.

On 2D-FTIR-XRF microscopy - A step forward correlative tissue studies by infrared and hard X-ray radiation.

Correlative Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) and hard X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) microscopy studies of thin biological samples have recently evolved as complementary methods for biochemical fingerprinting of animal/human tissues. These are seen particularly useful for tracking the mechanisms of neurological diseases, i.e.

Plastics, (bio)polymers and their apparent biogeochemical cycle: An infrared spectroscopy study on foraminifera.

To understand the fate of plastic in oceans and the interaction with marine organisms, we investigated the incorporation of (bio)polymers and microplastics in selected benthic foraminiferal species by applying FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) microscopy. This experimental methodology has been applied to cultured benthic foraminifera Rosalina globularis, and to in situ foraminifera collected in a plastic remain found buried into superficial sediment in the Mediterranean seafloor, Rosalina bradyi, Textularia bocki and Cibicidoides lobatulus. In vitro foraminifera were treated with bis-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) molecule to explore its internalization in the cytoplasm.

The Effect of Immunosuppressive Drugs on MMPs Activity in The Walls of Blood Vessels - A Systematic Review.

The current study focuses on the role of MMPs in the pathogenesis of the vascular damage and at the same time it offers the review referring to the influence of the immunosuppressive treatment on this interdependence. Contemporary immunosuppressive treatment constitutes of four groups of medications, such as: calcineurin inhibitors including cyclosporine A and tacrolimus; inhibitors of the inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase - the only agent from this group currently used in transplantation is mycophenalate mofetil (MMF); mTOR inhibitors, consisting of everolimus and glucocorticosteroids. Due to the fact that the properties of immunosuppressive drugs still remain unclear and transplant recipients need to use these medicines every day, knowledge of this should be further expanded.

Soft X-ray induced radiation damage in thin freeze-dried brain samples studied by FTIR microscopy.

In order to push the spatial resolution limits to the nanoscale, synchrotron-based soft X-ray microscopy (XRM) experiments require higher radiation doses to be delivered to materials. Nevertheless, the associated radiation damage impacts on the integrity of delicate biological samples. Herein, the extent of soft X-ray radiation damage in popular thin freeze-dried brain tissue samples mounted onto SiN membranes, as highlighted by Fourier transform infrared microscopy (FTIR), is reported.

Model-based correction algorithm for Fourier Transform infrared microscopy measurements of complex tissue-substrate systems.

Model-based algorithms have recently attracted much attention for data pre-processing in tissue mapping and imaging by Fourier transform infrared micro-spectroscopy (FTIR). Their versatility, robustness and computational performance enabled the improvement of spectral quality by mitigating the impact of scattering and fringing in FTIR spectra of chemically homogeneous biological systems. However, to date, no comprehensive algorithm has been optimized and automated for large-area FTIR imaging of histologically complex tissue samples.

Molecular and elemental effects underlying the biochemical action of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in appetite control.

Recent studies highlight that obesity may alter the electric activity in brain areas triggering appetite and craving. Transcranial direct current brain stimulation (tDCS) has recently emerged as a safe alternative for treating food addiction via modulating cortical excitability without any high-risk surgical procedure to be utilized. As for anodal-type tDCS (atDCS), we observe increased excitability and spontaneous firing of the cortical neurons, whilst for the cathodal-type tDCS (ctDCS) a significant decrease is induced.

Combined brain Fe, Cu, Zn and neurometabolite analysis - a new methodology for unraveling the efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in appetite control.

Obesity is a chronic, multifactorial origin disease that has recently become one of the most frequent lifestyle disorders. Unfortunately, current obesity treatments seem to be ineffective. At present, transcranial direct current brain stimulation (tDCS) represents a promising novel treatment methodology that seems to be efficient, well-tolerated and safe for a patient.

FTIR imaging of the molecular burden around Aβ deposits in an early-stage 3-Tg-APP-PSP1-TAU mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease is one of the major causes of dementia in the elderly. The disease is caused by the misfolding of water soluble alpha-helical proteins, which leads to the accumulation of β-sheets in the form of amyloid plaques, which can subsequently affect surrounding tissue areas by oxidative stress neurotoxicity. The aim of the present study was to design a novel methodology to analyze the extent to the neuronal burden around protein-rich Aβ plaques suspected to affect molecular components by oxidative stress induced by inflammatory states.