Knockout mice are an important tool for human monogenic heart disease studies.

Mouse models are relevant to studying the functionality of genes involved in human diseases; however, translation of phenotypes can be challenging. Here, we investigated genes related to monogenic forms of cardiovascular disease based on the Genomics England PanelApp and aligned them to International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC) data. We found 153 genes associated with cardiomyopathy, cardiac arrhythmias or congenital heart disease in humans, of which 151 have one-to-one mouse orthologues.

Placental Inflammation Significantly Correlates with Reduced Risk for Retinopathy of Prematurity.

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a blinding condition affecting preterm infants, is an interruption of retinal vascular maturation that is incomplete when born preterm. Although ROP demonstrates delayed onset following preterm birth, representing a window for therapeutic intervention, there are no curative or preventative measures available for this condition. The in utero environment, including placental function, is increasingly recognized for contributions to preterm infant disease risk.

Restoring Fertility of Patients with Severe Asherman's Syndrome in the Office Setting: A Step-by-Step Recipe for Success.

Objective: To describe an effective in-office hysteroscopic strategy to restore fertility of patients with severe Asherman's syndrome.

Design: A step-by-step video demonstration of the technique with an emphasis on the key portions of the procedure. A detailed narrated description of the steps is provided.

Dormancy, stemness, and therapy resistance: interconnected players in cancer evolution.

The biological complexity of cancer represents a tremendous clinical challenge, resulting in the frequent failure of current treatment protocols. In the rapidly evolving scenario of a growing tumor, anticancer treatments impose a drastic perturbation not only to cancer cells but also to the tumor microenvironment, killing a portion of the cells and inducing a massive stress response in the survivors. Consequently, treatments can act as a double-edged sword by inducing a temporary response while laying the ground for therapy resistance and subsequent disease progression.

Silver thiolate nanoclusters as support for chiral ligands: application in heterogeneous phase asymmetric catalysis.

Silver thiolate nanoclusters have been functionalized with a chiral amino alcohol ligand that has previously shown high catalytic efficiency in different asymmetric reactions. The as-developed nanostructured catalyst, which can be easily recovered by simple centrifugation, has been tested in the addition of nitromethane to aromatic aldehydes, showing the same catalytic activity as the homogeneous ligand. Moreover, it was reused for two further recycling cycles without loss of efficiency.

Effect of olive by-products feed supplementation on physicochemical and microbiological profile of Provola cheese.

Introduction: With the purpose to evaluate the effects of dietary olive cake, a source of bioactive phenolic compounds, as feed supplementation of lactating dairy cows on fatty acid composition, volatile organic compounds, and microbiological profiles of Provola cheese, we performed a two-arm study where control and experimental administered cows derived dairy have been compared.

Methods: Our panel of analyses include metabolomics, physicochemical detected variables, culture dependent and independent analyses, and a stringent statistical approach aimful at disclosing only statistically significant results.

Results And Discussion: Looking at the physicochemical variable's profiles, a higher content of unsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acid, and conjugated linoleic acids as well of proteins were observed in experimental cheese samples, indicating the beneficial effect of dietary supplementation.

Immunomodulatory and Anti-inflammatory effect of Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells in the Central Nervous System.

Neuroinflammation is a critical event that responds to disturbed homeostasis and governs various neurological diseases in the central nervous system (CNS). The excessive inflammatory microenvironment in the CNS can adversely affect endogenous neural stem cells, thereby impeding neural self-repair. Therapies with neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) have shown significant inhibitory effects on inflammation, which is mainly achieved through intercellular contact and paracrine signalings.

Genome-Wide Pleiotropy Study Identifies Association of with Age-Related Macular Degeneration and COVID-19 Infection Outcomes.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has been implicated as a risk factor for severe consequences from COVID-19. We evaluated the genetic architecture shared between AMD and COVID-19 (critical illness, hospitalization, and infections) using analyses of genetic correlations and pleiotropy (i.e.

Colonic budesonide delivery by multistimuli alginate/Eudragit® FS 30D/inulin-based microspheres as a paediatric formulation.

The purpose of this study was to develop an oral paediatric formulation of budesonide (BUD) for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. A formulation realized as microspheres using the prilling/vibration technique is proposed as an innovative drug delivery system ensuring BUD-specific colonic release in response to different triggers, such as pH, transit time, and resident microbiota. BUD, or the inclusion complex BUD/hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin, was loaded into microspheres consisting of different ratios of alginate, Eudragit® FS 30D, with or without inulin.

Targeting SARS-CoV-2 by synthetic dual-acting thiol compounds that inhibit Spike/ACE2 interaction and viral protein production.

The SARS-CoV-2 life cycle is strictly dependent on the environmental redox state that influences both virus entry and replication. A reducing environment impairs the binding of the spike protein (S) to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor (ACE2), while a highly oxidizing environment is thought to favor S interaction with ACE2. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 interferes with redox homeostasis in infected cells to promote the oxidative folding of its own proteins.

Influenza virus replication is affected by glutaredoxin1-mediated protein deglutathionylation.

Several redox modifications have been described during viral infection, including influenza virus infection, but little is known about glutathionylation and this respiratory virus. Glutathionylation is a reversible, post-translational modification, in which protein cysteine forms transient disulfides with glutathione (GSH), catalyzed by cellular oxidoreductases and in particular by glutaredoxin (Grx). We show here that (i) influenza virus infection induces protein glutathionylation, including that of viral proteins such as hemagglutinin (HA); (ii) Grx1-mediated deglutathionylation is important for the viral life cycle, as its inhibition, either with an inhibitor of its enzymatic activity or by siRNA, decreases viral replication.

Knockout of the Complex III subunit Uqcrh causes bioenergetic impairment and cardiac contractile dysfunction.

Ubiquinol cytochrome c reductase hinge protein (UQCRH) is required for the electron transfer between cytochrome c and c of the mitochondrial cytochrome bc Complex (CIII). A two-exon deletion in the human UQCRH gene has recently been identified as the cause for a rare familial mitochondrial disorder. Deletion of the corresponding gene in the mouse (Uqcrh-KO) resulted in striking biochemical and clinical similarities including impairment of CIII, failure to thrive, elevated blood glucose levels, and early death.

In-Silico Functional Metabolic Pathways Associated to Genital Infection.

The advent of high-throughput technologies, such as 16s rDNA sequencing, has significantly contributed to expanding our knowledge of the microbiota composition of the genital tract during infections such as . The growing body of metagenomic data can be further exploited to provide a functional characterization of microbial communities via several powerful computational approaches. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the predicted metabolic pathways of the cervicovaginal microbiota associated with genital infection in relation to the different Community State Types (CSTs), via PICRUSt2 analysis.

Multicomponent Synthesis of Diaminopurine and Guanine PNA's Analogues Active against Influenza A Virus from Prebiotic Compounds.

Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) play a key role in prebiotic chemistry as a chimera between RNA and proteins. We developed an alternative synthesis of bioactive PNA's diaminopurine and guanine analogues from prebiotic compounds, such as aminomalononitrile (AMN), urea, and guanidine, using a two-step multicomponent microwave-assisted and solvent-free approach in the presence of selected amino acids. The novel derivatives showed selective inhibitory activity against influenza virus A/Puerto Rico/8/34 H1N1 encompassing the range of nanomolar activity.

Analysis of genome-wide knockout mouse database identifies candidate ciliopathy genes.

We searched a database of single-gene knockout (KO) mice produced by the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC) to identify candidate ciliopathy genes. We first screened for phenotypes in mouse lines with both ocular and renal or reproductive trait abnormalities. The STRING protein interaction tool was used to identify interactions between known cilia gene products and those encoded by the genes in individual knockout mouse strains in order to generate a list of "candidate ciliopathy genes.

Modulation of Virulence-Associated Traits in by BET Inhibitor JQ1.

is a disease-causing, opportunistic fungus that can establish infection due to its capacity to respond to a wide range of environmental conditions. Secreted proteins and metabolites, which play a critical role in fungal-host interactions and pathogenesis, are modulated by epigenetic players, such as bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) proteins. In this study, we evaluated the in vitro and in vivo capability of the BET inhibitor JQ1 to modulate the extracellular proteins and virulence of The abundance of 25 of the 76 extracellular proteins identified through LC-MS/MS proteomic analysis changed following JQ1 treatment.

Extension of the shelf-life of fresh pasta using modified atmosphere packaging and bioprotective cultures.

Microbial stability of fresh pasta depends on heat treatment, storage temperature, proper preservatives, and atmosphere packaging. This study aimed at improving the microbial quality, safety, and shelf life of fresh pasta using modified atmosphere composition and packaging with or without the addition of bioprotective cultures (, , spp., and ) into semolina.

Evaluation of the Effects of the Tritordeum-Based Diet Compared to the Low-FODMAPs Diet on the Fecal Metabolome of IBS-D Patients: A Preliminary Investigation.

Since irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)-a common gastrointestinal (GI) disorder-still lacks effective therapy, a nutritional approach may represent a practical alternative. Different reports demonstrated that a low-fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols (FODMAPs) diet (LFD) reduces symptoms in IBS with diarrhea (IBS-D) patients, also inducing beneficial pathophysiological and biochemical modifications. More recently, diets with alternative cereals having a different gluten composition, such as tritordeum, have also been considered (TBD).

FDF-DB: A Database of Traditional Fermented Dairy Foods and Their Associated Microbiota.

Background: Fermented foods are attracting increasing interest due to their nutritional and health benefits, including a positive impact on gut microbiota exerted by their associated microbes. However, information relative to traditional fermented dairy products, along with their autochthonous microbiota, is still fragmented and poorly standardized. Therefore, our aim was to collect and aggregate data useful for obtaining a comprehensive overview translated in a classical database interface that can be easily handled by users.

Trends in Caesarean Section Rate According to Robson Group Classification among Pregnant Women with SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Single-Center Large Cohort Study in Italy.

Background: Since there is no available data on temporal trends of caesarean section (CS) rates in pregnant women with COVID-19 through the pandemic, we aimed to analyze the trends in caesarean section rate in a large cohort of pregnant women with COVID-19, according to the Robson Ten Group Classification System of deliveries.

Methods: We prospectively enrolled pregnant women with a diagnosis of COVID-19 who delivered in our center between March 2020 and November 2021. Deliveries were classified, according to the Robson group classification, and according to three time periods: (1) deliveries from March 2020 to December 2020; (2) deliveries from January 2021 to April 2021; (3) deliveries from May 2021 to November 2021.

A Different Exosome Secretion Pattern Characterizes Patient-Derived Colorectal Cancer Multicellular Spheroids and Their Mouse Xenografts.

Up-to-date in vitro and in vivo preclinical models expressing the patient-specific cancer lineage responsible for CRC and its metastatic behavior and responsiveness to therapy are needed. Exosomes' role in tumorigenesis and the metastatic process was demonstrated, and the material content and size of the exosomes are associated with a poor prognosis of CRC. Exosomes are generally imagined after their recovery from blood serum as isolated entities, and our work aims to investigate them "in situ" in their native environment by scanning and transmission electron microscopy to understand their secretion modalities.