Search results for " ALPHA"
showing 10 items of 1610 documents
Validity and reliability of the Palliative Care Transition Measure for Caregivers (PCTM-C).
2018
AbstractObjectivePatients suffering from advanced disease face different care transitions. The transition from acute to palliative care is challenging and may lead to the discontinuity of care. Family caregivers become important sources of information, as patients begin to experience difficulties in coping with emotional transition events. The Care Transition Measure was developed to evaluate care transitions as experienced by the elderly. It has never been used in palliative care. The aim of this study was to test the validity and reliability of a modified version of the Palliative Care Transition Measure, specifically the Palliative Care Transition Measure for Caregivers (PCTM-C).MethodTh…
Myoglobin, expressed in brown adipose tissue of mice, regulates the content and activity of mitochondria and lipid droplets
2021
Abstract The identification of novel physiological regulators that stimulate energy expenditure through brown adipose tissue (BAT) activity in substrate catalysis is of utmost importance to understand and treat metabolic diseases. Myoglobin (MB), known to store or transport oxygen in heart and skeletal muscles, has recently been found to bind fatty acids with physiological constants in its oxygenated form (i.e., MBO2). Here, we investigated the in vivo effect of MB expression on BAT activity. In particular, we studied mitochondrial function and lipid metabolism as essential determinants of energy expenditure in this tissue. We show in a MB-null (MBko) mouse model that MB expression in BAT i…
Predominant pathogenic role of tumor necrosis factor in experimental colitis in mice
1997
Antibodies to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha have been recently proposed as effective treatment for patients with Crohn's disease. Here, we analyze the functional role of TNF-alpha in a mouse model of chronic intestinal inflammation induced by the hapten reagent 2,4,6,-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) that mimics some characteristics of Crohn's disease in humans. Macrophage-enriched lamina propria (LP) mononuclear cells from mice with TNBS-induced colitis produced 10-30-fold higher levels of TNF-alpha mRNA and protein than cells from control mice. When mice with chronic colitis were treated by intraperitoneal injection of antibodies to TNF-alpha, an improvement of both the clinical a…
Fixed points for weak alpha-psi-contractions in partial metric spaces
2013
Recently, Samet et al. (2012) introduced the notion of $\alpha $ - $\psi $ -contractive mappings and established some fixed point results in the setting of complete metric spaces. In this paper, we introduce the notion of weak $\alpha $ - $\psi $ -contractive mappings and give fixed point results for this class of mappings in the setting of partial metric spaces. Also, we deduce fixed point results in ordered partial metric spaces. Our results extend and generalize the results of Samet et al.
Reconstruction of Endometrium from Human Endometrial Side Population Cell Lines
2011
Endometrial regeneration is mediated, at least in part, by the existence of a specialized somatic stem cell (SSC) population recently identified by several groups using the side population (SP) technique. We previously demonstrated that endometrial SP displays genotypic, phenotypic and the functional capability to develop human endometrium after subcutaneous injection in NOD-SCID mice. We have now established seven human endometrial SP (hESP) cell lines (ICE 1-7): four from the epithelial and three from the stromal fraction, respectively. SP cell lines were generated under hypoxic conditions based on their cloning efficiency ability, cultured for 12-15 passages (20 weeks) and cryopreserved.…
Surveillance of spontaneous breast cancer metastasis by TRAIL-expressing CD34⁺ cells in a xenograft model
2012
Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), delivered as a membrane-bound molecule expressed on the surface of adenovirus-transduced CD34+ cells (CD34-TRAIL+), was analyzed for its apoptotic activity in vitro on 12 breast cancer cell lines representing estrogen receptor-positive, HER2+ and triple-negative (TN) subtypes and for its effect on tumor growth, vascularization, necrosis, and lung metastasis incidence in NOD/SCID mice xenografted with the TN breast cancer line MDA-MB-231. Mesenchymal TN cell lines, which are the richest in putative tumor stem cells among the different breast cancer cell subtypes, were the most susceptible to apoptosis induced by CD34-TRAIL+ cel…
IL-22 is produced by innate lymphoid cells and limits inflammation in allergic airway disease
2011
Interleukin (IL)-22 is an effector cytokine, which acts primarily on epithelial cells in the skin, gut, liver and lung. Both pro- and anti-inflammatory properties have been reported for IL-22 depending on the tissue and disease model. In a murine model of allergic airway inflammation, we found that IL-22 is predominantly produced by innate lymphoid cells in the inflamed lungs, rather than TH cells. To determine the impact of IL-22 on airway inflammation, we used allergen-sensitized IL-22-deficient mice and found that they suffer from significantly higher airway hyperreactivity upon airway challenge. IL-22-deficiency led to increased eosinophil infiltration lymphocyte invasion and production…
SPARC oppositely regulates inflammation and fibrosis in bleomycin-induced lung damage.
2011
Fibrosis results from inflammatory tissue damage and impaired regeneration. In the context of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis, we demonstrated that the matricellular protein termed secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) distinctly regulates inflammation and collagen deposition, depending on its cellular origin. Reciprocal Sparc(-/-) and wild-type (WT) bone marrow chimeras revealed that SPARC expression in host fibroblasts is required and sufficient to induce collagen fibrosis in a proper inflammatory environment. Accordingly, Sparc(-/-) >WT chimeras showed exacerbated inflammation and fibrosis due to the inability of Sparc(-/-) macrophages to down-regulate tumor necrosis …
Collagenase-3 (MMP-13) Enhances Remodeling of Three-Dimensional Collagen and Promotes Survival of Human Skin Fibroblasts
2006
Collagenase-3 (MMP-13) is a matrix metalloproteinase capable of cleaving a multitude of extracellular matrix proteins in addition to fibrillar collagens. Human MMP-13 is expressed by fibroblasts in chronic cutaneous ulcers, but not in normally healing adult skin wounds. However, MMP-13 is produced by fibroblasts in adult gingival and in fetal skin wounds characterized by rapid collagen remodeling and scarless healing. Here, we have examined the role of human MMP-13 in remodeling of three-dimensional (3D) collagenous matrix by primary adult human skin fibroblasts. The high level of human MMP-13 expression by fibroblasts achieved by adenoviral gene delivery resulted in potent enhancement of r…
A novel monoclonal antibody to a distinct subset of cutaneous dendritic cells.
1992
A monoclonal antibody was generated by immunizing rats with Langerhans cell (LC)–enriched epidermal cells obtained from BALB/c mouse earskin after epicutaneous application of the contact sensitizer 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB). The antibody 4F7 detects in normal mouse skin, few dermal cells showing the morphologic, phenotypic, and functional properties of accessory dendritic cells, but lacking Birbeck granules. The capacity to stimulate allogenic T cells in the mixed leucocyte reaction resembles that of freshly isolated LCs. After DNFB application, an increased number of 4F7+ dendritic cells are found in the dermis and, in addition, some labeled dendritic cells occur in the epidermis. So…