669 results match your criteria: "de la Universitat de Barcelona[Affiliation]"

A Nanoencapsulated Ir(III)-Phthalocyanine Conjugate as a Promising Photodynamic Therapy Anticancer Agent.

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces

July 2024

Departament de Química Inorgànica i Orgànica, Secció de Química Orgànica, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), and Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona (IBUB), Martí i Franquès 1-11, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain.

Article Synopsis
  • The text discusses the challenges in developing effective photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy (PDT) in cancer treatment, focusing on the necessity of finding stable molecules that can operate with long-wavelength light.
  • Researchers introduce a novel Ir(III)-phthalocyanine conjugate as a promising photosensitizer, utilizing its photostability and high phototoxicity with near-infrared light for more efficient PDT.
  • The study shows that encapsulating this conjugate in specialized nanocapsules enhances its water solubility and effectiveness, achieving significant cancer cell growth inhibition even in low-oxygen conditions, paving the way for more reliable cancer treatment options.
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The synthesis of three novel [C,N,N'] Pt(IV) cyclometallated compounds containing hydroxo, dichloroacetato or trifluoroacetato axial ligands is reported. Compound [PtCl(OH){(CH)N(CH)NCH(4-FCH)}] (3) was prepared by the oxidative addition of hydrogen peroxide to [C,N,N'] Pt(II) cyclometallated compound [PtCl{(CH)N(CH)NCH(4-FCH)}] (1) and further the reaction of compound 3 with dichloroacetate or trifluoroacetate anhydrides led to the formation of the corresponding compounds [PtCl(CHClCOO){(CH)N(CH)NCH(4-FCH)}] (4) and [PtCl(CFCOO){(CH)N(CH)NCH(4-FCH)}] (5). The properties of the new compounds along with those of the compound [PtCl{(CH)N(CH)NCH(4-FCH)}] (2), including stability in aqueous media, reduction potential using cyclic voltammetry, cytotoxic activity against the HCT116 CRC cell line, DNA interaction, topoisomerase I and cathepsin inhibition, and computational studies involving reduction of the Pt(IV) compounds and molecular docking studies, are presented.

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Tumor necrosis factor receptors (TNFRs) control pleiotropic pro-inflammatory functions that range from apoptosis to cell survival. The ability to trigger a particular function will depend on the upstream cues, association with regulatory complexes, and downstream pathways. In Drosophila melanogaster, two TNFRs have been identified, Wengen (Wgn) and Grindelwald (Grnd).

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The archaeological record offers insights into our evolutionary past by revealing ancient behaviour through stone and fossil remains. Percussive foraging is suggested to be particularly relevant for the emergence of tool-use in our lineage, yet early hominin percussive behaviours remain largely understudied compared to flaked technology. Stone tool-use of extant primates allows the simultaneous investigation of their artefacts and the associated behaviours.

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Sex differences in the effects of N-ethylpentylone in young CD1 mice: Insights on behaviour, thermoregulation and early gene expression.

Br J Pharmacol

November 2024

Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutic Chemistry, Pharmacology Section, Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

Background And Purpose: New psychoactive substances such as N-ethylpentylone (NEP) are continuously emerging in the illicit drug market, and knowledge of their effects and risks, which may vary between sexes, is scarce. Our present study compares some key effects of NEP in male and female mice.

Experimental Approach: Psychostimulant, rewarding and reinforcing effects were investigated by tracking locomotor activity, conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm and through a self-administration (SA) procedure, respectively, in CD1 mice.

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Introduction: The overvaluation of weight and shape is a diagnostic criterion in eating disorders, except in binge eating disorder (BED), where it has received less attention. This aspect is also not usually analyzed in people with overweight or obesity without an eating disorder. This research aims to identify the indicators of symptomatology, as well as those of self-construction and cognitive structure, that are associated with overvaluation in obesity, either alone or in conjunction with BED.

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Shared vulnerability and sex-dependent polygenic burden in psychotic disorders.

Eur Neuropsychopharmacol

September 2024

Departament Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona (IBUB), Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Madrid, Spain.

Evidence suggests a remarkable shared genetic susceptibility between psychiatric disorders. However, sex-dependent differences have been less studied. We explored the contribution of schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) polygenic scores (PGSs) on the risk for psychotic disorders and whether sex-dependent differences exist (CIBERSAM sample: 1826 patients and 1372 controls).

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Objective: Food addiction is a multifactorial disorder characterised by a loss of control over food intake that may promote obesity and alter gut microbiota composition. We have investigated the potential involvement of the gut microbiota in the mechanisms underlying food addiction.

Design: We used the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) 2.

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Antler is one of the primary animal raw materials exploited for technical purposes by the hunter-gatherer groups of the Eurasian Upper Palaeolithic (UP) all over the ecological range of deers, and beyond. It was exhaustively employed to produce one of the most critical tools for the survival of the UP societies: hunting weapons. However, antler implements can be made from diverse deer taxa, with different ecological requirements and ethological behaviours.

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Widespread horse-based mobility arose around 2200 BCE in Eurasia.

Nature

July 2024

Centre d'Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, CNRS UMR 5288, Université Paul Sabatier, Faculté de Médecine Purpan, Toulouse, France.

Article Synopsis
  • - Horses transformed human mobility, but the timeline of their domestication and integration as transport is debated, with new genetic data being used to clarify this history.
  • - Analysis of 475 ancient horse genomes indicates that modern domestic horses were shaped by human intervention around 2200 BCE, after a domestication bottleneck began around 2700 BCE, leading to a significant expansion across Eurasia.
  • - Evidence also suggests that there was early horse husbandry in central Asia at Botai around 3500 BCE, prior to the establishment of contemporary horse bloodlines, challenging the notion of large herds being linked to migrations around 3000 BCE.
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Use of polygenic risk scores to assess weight loss after bariatric surgery: a 5-year follow-up study.

J Gastrointest Surg

September 2024

Secció de Zoologia i Antropologia Biòlogica, Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red de Salud Mental, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address:

Background: Bariatric surgery (BS) is currently the most effective long-term treatment of severe obesity. However, the interindividual variability observed in surgical outcomes suggests a moderating effect of several factors, including individual genetic background. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of the genetic architecture of body mass index (BMI) to the variability in weight loss outcomes after BS.

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Disentangling heterogeneity in substance use disorder: Insights from genome-wide polygenic scores.

Transl Psychiatry

May 2024

Psychiatric Genetics Unit, Group of Psychiatry, Mental Health and Addiction, Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

Substance use disorder (SUD) is a global health problem with a significant impact on individuals and society. The presentation of SUD is diverse, involving various substances, ages at onset, comorbid conditions, and disease trajectories. Current treatments for SUD struggle to address this heterogeneity, resulting in high relapse rates.

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Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory condition involving dysregulated immune responses and imbalances in the gut microbiota in genetically susceptible individuals. Current therapies for IBD often have significant side-effects and limited success, prompting the search for novel therapeutic strategies. Microbiome-based approaches aim to restore the gut microbiota balance towards anti-inflammatory and mucosa-healing profiles.

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New series of mononuclear β-diketonate cerium(III) field induced single-molecule magnets.

Dalton Trans

June 2024

Departament de Química Inorgànica i Orgànica, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1-11, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.

Five new β-diketonate Ce mononuclear complexes, [Ce(Btfa)(HO)] (1), [Ce(Btfa)(phen)] (2), [Ce(Btfa)(bipy)] (3), [Ce(Btfa)(terpy)] (4) and [Ce(Btfa)(bathophen)(DMF)] (5), where Btfa = 4,4,4-trifluoro-1-phenyl-1,3-butanedionate, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, bipy = 2,2'-bipyridyl, terpy = 2,2':6',2''-terpyridine and bathophen = 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline, have been synthesized and structurally characterized through X-ray diffraction of single crystals. The central Ce atom displays a coordination number of 8 for 1, 2 and 3 and of 9 for 4 and 5. Under a 0 T external magnetic field, none of the given compounds exhibits single molecule magnet (SMM) behaviour.

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Genetic risk score based on obesity-related genes and progression in weight loss after bariatric surgery: a 60-month follow-up study.

Surg Obes Relat Dis

September 2024

Secció de Zoologia i Antropologia Biòlogica, Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER de Salud Mental, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address:

Background: Obesity is a polygenic multifactorial disease. Recent genome-wide association studies have identified several common loci associated with obesity-related phenotypes. Bariatric surgery (BS) is the most effective long-term treatment for patients with severe obesity.

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Eating through time: Understanding dietary practices across late prehistory in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula.

Am J Biol Anthropol

August 2024

IPHES-CERCA, Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Tarragona, Spain.

Objective: This study seeks to contribute to the current understanding of dietary variation in the late Prehistory of the northeastern Iberian Peninsula by examining buccal dental microwear patterns alongside archeological data from the same populations.

Materials And Methods: Teeth from 84 adult individuals from eight distinct samples spanning the Middle-Late Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (Cova de l'Avi, Cova de Can Sadurní, Cova de la Guineu, Cova Foradada, Cova del Trader, Roc de les Orenetes, Cova del Gegant, Cova dels Galls Carboners) were analyzed using optical microscopy to examine buccal dental microwear patterns.

Results: The analysis did not reveal clear chronological contrasts in the dietary habits of these samples.

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The expression of Neuritin-1 (NRN1), a neurotrophic factor crucial for neurodevelopment and synaptic plasticity, is enhanced by the Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). Although the receptor of NRN1 remains unclear, it is suggested that NRN1's activation of the insulin receptor (IR) pathway promotes the transcription of the calcium voltage-gated channel subunit alpha1 C (CACNA1C). These three genes have been independently associated with schizophrenia (SZ) risk, symptomatology, and brain differences.

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Undiagnosed monogenic diseases represent a challenging group of human conditions highly suspicious to have a genetic origin, but without conclusive evidences about it. We identified two brothers born prematurely from a non-consanguineous healthy couple, with a neonatal-onset, chronic disease characterized by severe skin and bone inflammatory manifestations and a fatal outcome in infancy. We conducted DNA and mRNA analyses in the patients' healthy relatives to identify the genetic cause of the patients' disease.

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Recently, the interest for the family of low dimensional materials has increased significantly due to the anisotropic nature of their fundamental properties. Among them, antimony sulfide (SbS) is considered a suitable material for various solid-state devices. Although the main advantages and physicochemical properties of SbS are known, some doubtful information remains in literature and methodologies to easily assess its critical properties are missing.

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Objective: Vacuoles, E1 enzyme, X-linked, autoinflammatory, somatic (VEXAS) syndrome is a complex immune disorder consequence of somatic UBA1 variants. Most reported pathogenic UBA1 variants are missense or splice site mutations directly impairing the translational start site at p.Met41, with recent studies showing that these variants are frequent causes of recurrent inflammation in older individuals.

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Changes in BDNF methylation patterns after cognitive remediation therapy in schizophrenia: A randomized and controlled trial.

J Psychiatr Res

May 2024

Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain; Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona (IBUB), Barcelona, Spain.

Although cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) produces cognitive benefits in schizophrenia, we do not yet understand whether molecular changes are associated with this cognitive improvement. A gene central to synaptic plasticity, the BDNF, has been proposed as one potential route. This study assesses whether BDNF methylation changes following CRT-produced cognitive improvement are detected.

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Specific photoreceptor cell fate pathways are differentially altered in NR2E3-associated diseases.

Neurobiol Dis

May 2024

Department de Genètica, Microbiologia i Estadística, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona 08028, Spain; IBUB-IRSJD, Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona-Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona 08028, Spain; CIBERER, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Barcelona 08028, Spain; DBGen Ocular Genomics, Barcelona 08028, Spain. Electronic address:

Mutations in NR2E3, a gene encoding an orphan nuclear transcription factor, cause two retinal dystrophies with a distinct phenotype, but the precise role of NR2E3 in rod and cone transcriptional networks remains unclear. To dissect NR2E3 function, we performed scRNA-seq in the retinas of wildtype and two different Nr2e3 mouse models that show phenotypes similar to patients carrying NR2E3 mutations. Our results reveal that rod and cone populations are not homogeneous and can be separated into different sub-classes.

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Controlling the supramolecular synthon outcome in systems with different functionalities has been a key factor for the design of supramolecular materials, which also affected their physicochemical properties. In this contribution, we have analyzed the structural landscape of α-acetamidocinnamic acid (HACA) aiming to find its synthon outcome from the competitivity between its acidic and amidic groups. We prepared four multicomponent forms including one dihydrate (HACA·2HO) and three cocrystals bearing different bipyridine coformers with formulas (HACA)(1,2-bpe) (), (HACA)(4,4'-azpy) (), and (HACA)(4,4'-bipy) () (1,2-bpe = 1,2-(4-pyridyl)ethylene; 4,4'-azpy = 4,4'-azopyridine; 4,4'-bipy = 4,4'-bipyridine).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study highlights that a specific gene regulates numerous genes and influences various neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, possibly through its effect on serotonin levels.
  • The researchers found that mutant zebrafish with altered gene expression had reduced serotonin in key brain areas, affecting their behavior.
  • Treatment with fluoxetine, a common antidepressant, improved some behaviors in zebrafish but not others, indicating the need for further research on the gene's role in neurological functions and potential treatments.
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