Public attitudes toward the use of human induced pluripotent stem cells: insights from an Italian adult population.

Introduction: Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), derived from reprogrammed adult somatic cells, hold significant promise for disease modelling, personalized medicine, drug discovery, and regenerative therapies. Public awareness and understanding of hiPSCs are crucial for advancing research in this field. However, limited data exists on the general population's knowledge and attitudes toward their use.

Proteomic Characterization of a 3D HER2+ Breast Cancer Model Reveals the Role of Mitochondrial Complex I in Acquired Resistance to Trastuzumab.

HER2-targeted therapies, such as Trastuzumab (Tz), have significantly improved the clinical outcomes for patients with HER2+ breast cancer (BC). However, treatment resistance remains a major obstacle. To elucidate functional and metabolic changes associated with acquired resistance, we characterized protein profiles of BC Tz-responder spheroids (RSs) and non-responder spheroids (nRSs) by a proteomic approach.

Adherence to Mediterranean diet is inversely associated with depressive symptoms in older women: findings from the NutBrain Study.

Data on the association of the Mediterranean diet (MD) with depressive symptoms in older people at high risk of depression are scarce. This study aimed to investigate the cross-sectional association of the adherence to the MD and its components with depressive symptoms in an Italian cohort of older men and women. A total of 325 men and 473 women aged 65–97 years (2019–2023) answered a 102-item semi-quantitative FFQ, which was used to calculate the Mediterranean diet score (MDS).

Investigating the individual and joint effects of socioeconomic status and lifestyle factors on mild cognitive impairment in older Italians living independently in the community: results from the NutBrain study.

Objectives: Despite extensive research, a clear understanding of the role of the interaction between lifestyle and socioeconomic status (SES) on cognitive health is still lacking. We investigated the joint association of socioeconomic factors in early to midlife and lifestyle in later life and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).

Design: Observational cross-sectional study.

Longitudinal Changes of Ocular Surface Microbiome in Patients Undergoing Hemopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT).

Purpose: To evaluate changes in the ocular surface microbiome (OSM) between pre- and post-haemopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) in the same patient, and to assess the potential impact of these changes in ocular graft-versus-host disease (o)GVHD development.

Methods: Lower fornix conjunctival swabs of 24 patients were obtained before and after HSCT and subjected to DNA extraction for amplification and sequencing of the V3-V4 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. The obtained reads were reconstructed, filtered, and clustered into zero-radius operational taxonomic units (zOTUs) at 97% identity level before taxonomic assignment, and biodiversity indexes were calculated.

Devising novel performance measures for assessing the behavior of multilayer perceptrons trained on regression tasks.

This methodological article is mainly aimed at establishing a bridge between classification and regression tasks, in a frame shaped by performance evaluation. More specifically, a general procedure for calculating performance measures is proposed, which can be applied to both classification and regression models. To this end, a notable change in the policy used to evaluate the confusion matrix is made, with the goal of reporting information about regression performance therein.

Framing Apache Spark in life sciences.

Advances in high-throughput and digital technologies have required the adoption of big data for handling complex tasks in life sciences. However, the drift to big data led researchers to face technical and infrastructural challenges for storing, sharing, and analysing them. In fact, this kind of tasks requires distributed computing systems and algorithms able to ensure efficient processing.

Effect of ospemifene on vaginal microbiome in postmenopausal women with vulvovaginal atrophy.

Objectives: This study aimed (i) to compare the vaginal microbiome profiles of women suffering from vulvovaginal atrophy with that of healthy postmenopausal women and to (ii) assess the effect of ospemifene and systemic hormone treatment on the composition of the vaginal microbiome.

Methods: Sixty-seven postmenopausal women attending the Gynecology Clinic of Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria of Bologna (Italy) were enrolled. Of them, 39 received a diagnosis of atrophy and 28 were considered healthy controls.

Identification of risk loci for primary aldosteronism in genome-wide association studies.

Primary aldosteronism affects up to 10% of hypertensive patients and is responsible for treatment resistance and increased cardiovascular risk. Here we perform a genome-wide association study in a discovery cohort of 562 cases and 950 controls and identify three main loci on chromosomes 1, 13 and X; associations on chromosome 1 and 13 are replicated in a second cohort and confirmed by a meta-analysis involving 1162 cases and 3296 controls. The association on chromosome 13 is specific to men and stronger in bilateral adrenal hyperplasia than aldosterone producing adenoma.

Gardnerella vaginalis clades in pregnancy: New insights into the interactions with the vaginal microbiome.

Gardnerella vaginalis (GV) is an anaerobic bacterial species involved in the pathogenesis of bacterial vaginosis (BV), a condition of vaginal dysbiosis associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. GV strains are categorized into four clades, characterized by a different ability to produce virulence factors, such as sialidase. We investigated the distribution of GV clades and sialidase genes in the vaginal ecosystem of a cohort of pregnant women, assessing the correlations between GV clades and the whole vaginal microbiome.

A Deep Look at the Vaginal Environment During Pregnancy and Puerperium.

A deep comprehension of the vaginal ecosystem may hold promise for unraveling the pathophysiology of pregnancy and may provide novel biomarkers to identify subjects at risk of maternal-fetal complications. In this prospective study, we assessed the characteristics of the vaginal environment in a cohort of pregnant women throughout their different gestational ages and puerperium. Both the vaginal bacterial composition and the vaginal metabolic profiles were analyzed.

Mobility and muscle strength trajectories in old age: the beneficial effect of Mediterranean diet in combination with physical activity and social support.

Introduction: Decline in physical function varies substantially across older individuals due to several extrinsic modifiable factors such as dietary patterns, physical activity and social support. We aimed to determine the association of these factors and their interaction with mobility and muscle strength decline.

Methods: We analyzed data from 1686 functionally healthy individuals aged 60 + from the population-based Swedish National study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K).

Rapha Myr, a Blend of Sulforaphane and Myrosinase, Exerts Antitumor and Anoikis-Sensitizing Effects on Human Astrocytoma Cells Modulating Sirtuins and DNA Methylation.

Brain and other nervous system cancers are the 10th leading cause of death worldwide. Genome instability, cell cycle deregulation, epigenetic mechanisms, cytoarchitecture disassembly, redox homeostasis as well as apoptosis are involved in carcinogenesis. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables is inversely related with the risk of developing cancer.

Exploring the relationship between Nutrition, gUT microbiota, and BRain AgINg in community-dwelling seniors: the Italian NutBrain population-based cohort study protocol.

Background: Epidemiological evidence suggests that healthy diet is associated with a slowdown of cognitive decline leading to dementia, but the underlying mechanisms are still partially unexplored. Diet is the main determinant of gut microbiota composition, which in turn impacts on brain structures and functions, however to date no studies on this topic are available. The goal of the present paper is to describe the design and methodology of the NutBrain Study aimed at investigating the association of dietary habits with cognitive function and their role in modulating the gut microbiota composition, and brain measures as well.

Pharyngeal microbiome alterations during Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection.

Pharyngeal gonorrhoea is a common sexually transmitted infection among 'men having sex with other men' (MSM). Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) pharyngeal infections are usually characterized by the absence of symptoms, acting as an important reservoir for their further spread. To the best of our knowledge, no information about the composition of the pharyngeal microbiome during an ongoing NG infection is currently available.

Candidate Genes and MiRNAs Linked to the Inverse Relationship Between Cancer and Alzheimer's Disease: Insights From Data Mining and Enrichment Analysis.

The incidence of cancer and Alzheimer's disease (AD) increases exponentially with age. A growing body of epidemiological evidence and molecular investigations inspired the hypothesis of an inverse relationship between these two pathologies. It has been proposed that the two diseases might utilize the same proteins and pathways that are, however, modulated differently and sometimes in opposite directions.

Specific nutrient patterns are associated with higher structural brain integrity in dementia-free older adults.

Optimal nutrition may play a beneficial role in maintaining a healthy brain. However, the relationship between nutrient intake and brain integrity is largely unknown. We investigated the association of specific nutrient dietary patterns with structural characteristics of the brain.

The impact of nutrient-based dietary patterns on cognitive decline in older adults.

Background & Aims: The impact of nutrient patterns on cognitive decline is complex and findings are still inconclusive. We aimed to identify major nutrient patterns and to explore their association with cognitive decline over time among older adults.

Methods: In a population-based cohort, 2250 cognitively healthy people aged ≥60 years were identified at baseline (2001-2004), and followed-up to 9 years.

An Active Lifestyle Reinforces the Effect of a Healthy Diet on Cognitive Function: A Population-Based Longitudinal Study.

The joint effect of diet and leisure activity on cognitive function remains unknown. We aimed to verify the hypothesis that an active lifestyle reinforces the effect of the Nordic Prudent Dietary Pattern (NPDP) on cognitive function. A total of 2223 dementia-free Swedish adults aged ≥60 with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores ≥27 were followed for an average of 6 years.

Insights Into Vaginal Bacterial Communities and Metabolic Profiles of Infection: Positioning Between Eubiosis and Dysbiosis.

The vaginal microbiota plays a crucial role in maintaining the health and functioning of the female genital tract, preventing the colonization of urogenital pathogens and sexually transmitted infections. In this study, we characterized the vaginal bacterial communities and the metabolome associated to infection (CT: 20 women), compared to healthy condition (H: 22 women) and bacterial vaginosis (BV: 19 women). A microarray-based tool (VaginArray), implemented with a real-time PCR for , was used to determine the vaginal bacterial composition, whereas the metabolic profiles were assessed by a proton-based nuclear magnetic resonance (H-NMR) spectroscopy.

MTGO: PPI Network Analysis Via Topological and Functional Module Identification.

Protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks are viable tools to understand cell functions, disease machinery, and drug design/repositioning. Interpreting a PPI, however, it is a particularly challenging task because of network complexity. Several algorithms have been proposed for an automatic PPI interpretation, at first by solely considering the network topology, and later by integrating Gene Ontology (GO) terms as node similarity attributes.

G4PromFinder: an algorithm for predicting transcription promoters in GC-rich bacterial genomes based on AT-rich elements and G-quadruplex motifs.

Background: Over the last few decades, computational genomics has tremendously contributed to decipher biology from genome sequences and related data. Considerable effort has been devoted to the prediction of transcription promoter and terminator sites that represent the essential "punctuation marks" for DNA transcription. Computational prediction of promoters in prokaryotes is a problem whose solution is far from being determined in computational genomics.

Different Exposures to Risk Factors Do Not Explain the Inverse Relationship of Occurrence Between Cancer and Neurodegenerative Diseases: An Italian Nested Case-control Study.

Several studies reported that cancer is less frequent in persons with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases (AD/PD) and vice-versa. We evaluated whether a different distribution of known nongenetic risk factors for cancer and AD/PD, might explain their inverse relationship of occurrence. We nested 2 case-control studies in a subsample of a large cohort of 1,000,000 resident in Lombardy Region in Italy (n=1515), followed-up for cancer and AD/PD occurrence since 1991 until 2012.