MODIFICA SUPERFICIALE DI FILM DI POLY(ETILENE-co-ACIDO ACRILICO) CON NANOPARTICELLE DI SILICE ATTIVATA

"Flora e fauna antartica di interesse biotecnologico: esperienze e future prospettive in Italia ed Argentina"

In Antartide sono presenti estreme condizioni ambientali e, fra i viventi, alcuni batteri, recentemente descritti da studiosi italiani, aventi la caratteristica di produrre molecole antibiotico-simili utili a curare soggetti affetti da fibrosi cistica. Studi condotti da esperti argentini e di altri paesi hanno portato alla scoperta di comunità batteriche con grosso potenziale biotecnologico sfruttabile nell’industria alimentare, tessile, dei biocarburanti ed anche utili come degradatori di idrocarburi da usare in protocolli di ripristino di suoli contaminati; anche lieviti e virus antartici sono di interesse biotecnologico. In conclusione l’Antartide è una miniera ecosostenibile di risorse …

Modification of carboxyl groups of poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid) via facile wet chemistry method: A kinetic study

Abstract In this work, we present the results of a kinetic study of the surface modification of the carboxyl group of poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid) into acyl chloride. Reaction temperature and time, concentration of the reactants, kind of agitation have been changed in order to understand their effect on the conversion. A study on the penetration of the reaction inside the sample bulk was also performed. The results indicate that, when short reaction times are adopted, the reaction limits to the outer layers of the samples and, in this case, on increasing the temperature, the concentration of the reactants and the stirring allows having a faster kinetic. At longer reaction times, the react…

Cytotoxic effect of the HDAC3 inhibitor Pojamide and its variants on MDA-MB231 breast cancer cells

IL-1b induces DNA demethylation, at genome level and in specific CpG sites of IL-6 and IL-8 genes in human intestinal epithelial cells

Inflammation is a complex physiological response that requires the activity of a sophisticated regulatory network involving the activation of specific genes for defense, tissue repair and remodeling. Although transcriptional activation has been shown to be critical in the regulation of inflammatory genes (1) the role of epigenetic phenomena in the modulation of the inflammatory response is now emerging (2). Specifically, it has been recently reported that proinflammatory stimuli induce DNA demethylation in the interleukin IL-1 promoter of human articular chondrocytes (3). IL-1 cytokine, among several proinflammatory agents, represents an essential player in the inflammatory conditions of …

"Gustare" la genetica

Siamo diversi o siamo uguali? Questa apparentemente banale domanda posta a soggetti non esperti di biologia e genetica ha tendenzialmente sempre dato una risposta a favore dell’uguaglianza. Molte delle pratiche mediche sono state consolidate negli anni, sia in tipologia che in posologia, sull’assioma dell’uguaglianza di effetti e di controindicazioni che farmaci somministrati potevano dare ad un insieme di soggetti. Anche determinati stili di vita sono, in un primo momento, misurati da chiunque sull’assioma dell’uguaglianza: “se chi fuma non sta male, il fumo non farà male neanche a me” era il sillogismo in vigore fino agli anni 90.La percezione del gusto, nei vertebrati e nella specie uman…

CYP2E1 VNTR genotyping associated to anti–tuberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major worldwide health problem with an estimated of 9.0 million of new cases and 1.5 million of deaths in 2013. Anti–TB drug-induced hepatotoxicity (ATDH) is considered the most serious and prevalent adverse drug reaction in TB treatment. Isoniazid (INH), one of the first-line drugs against TB, is more commonly associated to ATDH and, it is well known that the enzyme Citochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) is involved in INH metabolism. It has been found that variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphic sequences in the promoter region regulate negatively CYP2E1 gene transcription: consequently, it could be put in relationship with adverse TB-drugs reactions. In this re…

Farmacogenética de la Tuberculosis: Nuevo modelo de predicción de hepatotoxicidad inducida por fármacos antituberculosis

Introducción: La hepatotoxicidad inducida por fármacos antituberculosis (HIFA) es una reacción adversa grave y potencialmente fatal del tratamiento de la tuberculosis (TB). Tres de los cuatro fármacos utilizados como terapia de primera línea (isoniacida, rifampicina, pirazinamida), han sido asociados a HIFA. Estudios sobre farmacogenética de la TB han asociado el desarrollo de HIFA con variaciones en genes de enzimas que metabolizan estos fármacos. Objetivos: Debido a que en Argentina la TB es una enfermedad re-emergente y a la elevada prevalencia de HIFA encontrada en pacientes internados, nos propusimos evaluar la posible asociación de factores ambientales y variantes genéticas en enzimas…

ALLELIC VARIANTS OF CYP2E1 GENE IN HEPATOCARCINOMA PATIENTS AND IN HEPATIC TUMOR CELL LINES

Background and Aims: Hepatic enzyme CYP2E1 is involved in the metabolism of a number of exogenous and endogenous substances (i.e. ethanol, drugs and chemical carcinogens). Being polymorphic, CYP2E1 gene can give different xeno-metabolic capabilities in a population and it is well known that inadequate or no enzymatic deactivation of xenobiotics could induce an increased susceptibility to disease and cancer. In particular, one of the 5 -flanking region polymorphisms, able to differentiate CYP2E1 gene transcriptional activity, is caused by the appearance/disappearance of RsaI and PstI restriction sites, which generates two different alleles, namely *C1(Rsa+/Pst−) and *C2(Rsa−/Pst+) respective…