Background/objectives: Amyloid peptides, whose accumulation in the brain as senile plaques is associated with the onset of Alzheimer's disease, are also found in cerebral vessels and in circulation. In the bloodstream, amyloid peptides promote platelet adhesion, activation, oxidative stress, and thrombosis, contributing to the cardiovascular complications observed in Alzheimer's disease patients. Natural compounds, such as curcumin, are known to modulate platelet activation induced by the hemostatic stimuli thrombin and convulxin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEven with the use of hearing aids (HAs), speech in noise perception remains challenging for older adults, impacting communication and quality of life outcomes. The association between music perception and speech-in-noise (SIN) outcomes is of interest, as there is evidence that professionally trained musicians are adept listeners in noisy environments. Thus, this study explored the association between music processing, cognitive factors, and the outcome variable of SIN perception, in older adults with hearing loss.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRemote magneto-mechanical actuation (MMA) of magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) is emerging as a promising therapy method in oncology. However, translation to the clinic faces the challenge of whole-body action and the reluctance about indiscriminate mechanical action of the nanoparticles on tumor and healthy cells. Here, we show how the MMA method based on magnetically-rotated gold-coated MNP boosts only the activity of an unbound antitumor drug, without physical damage of cells via MNP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aims to generate a satellite-based qualitative emission source characterization for the heavily polluted eastern part of China in the 2010-2016 time period. The applied source identification technique relies on satellite-based NO and SO emission estimates by OMI, their SO:NO ratio, and the MIX anthropogenic emission inventory to distinguish emissions from different emission categories (urban, industrial, natural) and characterize the dominant source per 0.25° × 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is a complex interrelationship between the nervous system and the cardiovascular system. Comorbidities of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) with mental disorders, and vice versa, are prevalent. Adults with mental disorders such as anxiety and depression have a higher risk of developing CVD, and people with CVD have an increased risk of being diagnosed with mental disorders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlatelets are classically recognized for their important role in hemostasis and thrombosis but they are also involved in many other physiological and pathophysiological processes, including infection. Platelets are among the first cells recruited to sites of inflammation and infection and they exert their antimicrobial response actively cooperating with the immune system. This review aims to summarize the current knowledge on platelet receptor interaction with different types of pathogens and the consequent modulations of innate and adaptive immune responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are key participants in both early- and late-stage atherosclerosis and influence neighbouring cells possibly by means of bioactive molecules, some of which are packed into extracellular vesicles (EVs). Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) is expressed and secreted by VSMCs. This study aimed to unravel the role of PCSK9 on VSMCs-derived EVs in terms of content and functionality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVirus-like particles (VLPs) resemble authentic virus while not containing any genomic information. Here, we present a fast and powerful method for the production of SARS-CoV-2 VLP in insect cells and the application of these VLPs to evaluate the inhibition capacity of monoclonal antibodies and sera of vaccinated donors. Our method avoids the baculovirus-based approaches commonly used in insect cells by employing direct plasmid transfection to co-express SARS-CoV-2 envelope, membrane, and spike protein that self-assemble into VLPs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Obesity and depression are intertwined diseases often associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) complications. Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), altered in the brain both of subjects with depression and obesity, provides a potential link between depression and thrombosis. Since the relationship among peripheral BDNF, depression and obesity is not well-defined, the aim of the present report has been to address this issue taking advantage of the contribution played by extracellular vesicle (EV)-derived miRNAs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Biosci (Landmark Ed)
May 2022
Background: Platelet-derived extracellular vesicles (PEVs) are small vesicles released by activated platelets that are gaining growing interest in the field of vascular biology. The mode of platelet activation is a critical determinant of PEVs release, phenotype and function. However, only very limited information is available concerning the impact of the platelet purification procedure on PEVs release.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrenylcysteine Oxidase 1 (PCYOX1) is an enzyme involved in the degradation of prenylated proteins. It is expressed in different tissues including vascular and blood cells. We recently showed that the secretome from -silenced cells reduced platelet adhesion both to fibrinogen and endothelial cells, suggesting a potential contribution of PCYOX1 into thrombus formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDepression is associated with thrombotic risk and arterial events, its proper management is strongly recommended in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. We have previously shown that the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)Val66Met polymorphism, related to depression, is associated with arterial thrombosis in mice, and with an increased risk of acute myocardial infarction in humans. Herein, expanding the previous findings on BDNFVal66Met polymorphism, we show that desipramine, a norepinephrine reuptake-inhibitor, rescues behavioral impairments, reduces the arterial thrombosis risk, abolishes pathological coagulation and platelet hyper-reactivity, normalizes leukocyte, platelet, and bone marrow megakaryocyte number and restores physiological norepinephrine levels in homozygous knock-in BDNF Val66Met (BDNF) mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Understanding speech-in-noise can be highly effortful. Decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of speech increases listening effort, but it is relatively unclear if decreasing the level of semantic context does as well. The current study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy to evaluate two primary hypotheses: (1) listening effort (operationalized as oxygenation of the left lateral PFC) increases as the SNR decreases and (2) listening effort increases as context decreases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExosomes are nano-sized biovesicles of endocytic origin physiologically released by nearly all cell types into surrounding body fluids. They carry cell-specific cargos of protein, lipids, and genetic materials and can be selectively taken up by neighboring or distant cells. Since the intrinsic properties of exosomes are strictly influenced by the state of the parental cell and by the cellular microenvironment, the analysis of exosome origin and content, and their cell-targeting specificity, make them attractive as possible diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Congenital malaria is a serious and common infection in tropical Africa. It has multiple consequences on the newborn and the mother.
Objective: The objective of this study is to calculate the prevalence of congenital malaria, describe its clinical signs, and analyze its associated factors.
Psychological stress induces different alterations in the organism in order to maintain homeostasis, including changes in hematopoiesis and hemostasis. In particular, stress-induced hyper activation of the autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis can trigger cellular and molecular alterations in platelets, coagulation factors, endothelial function, redox balance, and sterile inflammatory response. For this reason, mental stress is reported to enhance the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDepression is a major cause of morbidity and low quality of life among patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), and it is now considered as an independent risk factor for major adverse cardiovascular events. Increasing evidence indicates not only that depression worsens the prognosis of cardiac events, but also that a cross-vulnerability between the two conditions occurs. Among the several mechanisms proposed to explain this interplay, platelet activation is the more attractive, seeing platelets as potential mirror of the brain function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Res
January 2021
Platelets have been extensively implicated in the progression of cancer and platelet-derived extracellular vesicles (PEVs) are gaining growing attention as potential mediators of the platelet-cancer interplay. PEVs are shed from platelet membrane in response to extracellular stimuli and carry important biological signals for intercellular communication. In this study we demonstrate that PEVs specifically bind to different breast cancer cells and elicit cell-specific functional responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF