mRNA Expression and Methylation of the , , , , and Genes in Gastric Adenocarcinoma.

Background: Immunohistochemical prognostic significance of the homologous recombination-related proteins RAD51, ATM, BRCA1, and BRCA2 is known in gastric adenocarcinoma, one of the deadliest cancers.

Objective And Design: This retrospective cohort study aimed to evaluate mRNA expression and promoter methylation of some homologous recombination-related genes in this neoplasm.

Methods: We evaluated mRNA expression and methylation of , , , , and in tumor and non-tumor frozen samples from gastrectomy specimens by RT-qPCR and MS-HRM, correlating our results with previous immunohistochemistry data and prognostic features.

Monitoring the effect of cell wall integrity in modulating the starch digestibility of durum wheat during different steps of bread making.

Reduction of starch digestibility in starchy foods is beneficial for lowering the risks for major non-communicable diseases. Preserving cell integrity is known to delay starch digestibility in flour but its effect in bread is not clear. In this study, the effect of increasing particle size on in vitro starch digestibility of durum wheat flour, dough, and bread was investigated.

Searching for an absolute kinetic scale of antioxidant activity against lipid peroxidation.

The inhibition properties of a number of antioxidants against peroxidation, started by a 2,2'-azobis[2-(2-imidazolin-2-yl)propane] radical initiator, of linoleic acid in sodium dodecyl sulfate micelles, have been determined in terms of oxygen consumption by a Clark electrode in an oxygen-tight cell. For the 31 antioxidants investigated at variable concentrations, the experimental results well fit the kinetic equation for competitive reactions. The ratio between the initial rates, monitored in the absence and in the presence of antioxidants, depends linearly on their concentration.

Increased gyrification in schizophrenia and non affective first episode of psychosis.

Background: Prefrontal cortex gyrification has been suggested to be altered in patients with schizophrenia and first episode psychosis. Therefore, it may represent a possible trait marker for these illnesses and an indirect evidence of a disrupted underlying connectivity. The aim of this study was to add further evidence to the existing literature on the role of prefrontal gyrification in psychosis by carrying out a study on a sizeable sample of chronic patients with schizophrenia and non-affective first-episode psychosis (FEP-NA) patients.

White-matter abnormalities in the right posterior hemisphere in generalized anxiety disorder: a diffusion imaging study.

Background: Prior imaging studies have shown structural, functional and biochemical impairments in patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), particularly in the right hemisphere. In this study we investigated, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, the white-matter microstructure organization in GAD.

Method: A total of 12 patients with DSM-IV GAD and 15 matched healthy controls underwent a magnetic resonance imaging session of diffusion weighted imaging, exploring white-matter water molecules by the means of apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs).

Genetic variants in the ErbB4 gene are associated with white matter integrity.

Variations in the signalling NRG1-ErbB4 pathway have been associated with genetic susceptibility for both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, although the underlying neural mechanisms are still uncertain. Reduced integrity of the anterior limb of the internal capsule (ALIC) has been found in association with risk-associated genetic variation in the 5' region of the NRG1 gene. We hypothesised that variation in the gene encoding the NRG1 receptor, ErbB4, would also be associated with reduced ALIC integrity and with cognitive impairments characteristic of individuals with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Genetic variation in the G72 (DAOA) gene affects temporal lobe and amygdala structure in subjects affected by bipolar disorder.

Background: Variation in the G72 (DAOA) gene is understood to convey susceptibility for bipolar disorder through an uncertain mechanism. Little is known about the structural brain phenotypes associated with this gene. We hypothesised that reductions in temporal lobe and amygdala gray matter would be associated with variation at two loci in the gene for which evidence of genetic linkage has been repeatedly demonstrated.

Genetic implications in assortative mating of affective disorders.

Psychiatric disorders in a sample of spouses of probands with recurrent Primary Affective Disorders (PAD) and in their first degree relatives were evaluated and compared with those in the spouse of control subjects without psychiatric illnesses. No differences were found in the risk for PAD, but spouses of PAD patients and their respective first degree relatives manifested a greater incidence of affective spectrum disorders.

Assortative mating and affective disorders.

Seventy-two spouses of subjects with recurrent primary affective disorders (PAD), were investigated for the presence of psychiatric disorders in their lives and in those of their first degree relatives, and compared with 71 spouses of non-psychiatrically ill control subjects. No difference was found in the risk for PAD; on the other hand spouses of affective patients manifested a greater occurrence of psychiatric disorders belonging to the affective spectrum, as did their respective first-degree relatives.