Search results for " Amy"
showing 10 items of 242 documents
FATIGUE, SLEEP, AND NOCTURNAL COMPLAINTS IN PATIENTS WITH AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS.
2012
Background and purpose: Fatigue is a common symptom in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Although sleep disturbances are a candidate factor that may interfere with fatigue in patients with ALS, the role of sleep-related abnormalities in determining fatigue in ALS is unknown. Objective: To evaluate the frequency and determinants of fatigue in a group of 91 consecutive patients with ALS, with special attention to the relationship between fatigue and sleep problems. Methods: Measures included the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), ALS Functional Rating Scale- Revised (ALSFRS-R), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results: T…
The deubiquitinase USP11 is a versatile and conserved regulator of autophagy
2021
Autophagy is a major cellular quality control system responsible for the degradation of proteins and organelles in response to stress and damage to maintain homeostasis. Ubiquitination of autophagy-related proteins or regulatory components is important for the precise control of autophagy pathways. Here, we show that the deubiquitinase ubiquitin-specific protease 11 (USP11) restricts autophagy and that KO of USP11 in mammalian cells results in elevated autophagic flux. We also demonstrate that depletion of the USP11 homolog H34C03.2 in Caenorhabditis elegans triggers hyperactivation of autophagy and protects the animals against human amyloid-β peptide 42 aggregation-induced paralysis. USP11…
Designing trehalose-conjugated peptide inhibitors for the oligomerization and toxicity of Alzheimer’s Aβ 11th Naples
2008
Amygdalostriatal projections in reptiles: A tract-tracing study in the lizardPodarcis hispanica
2004
Whereas the lacertilian anterior dorsal ventricular ridge contains unimodal sensory areas, its posterior part (PDVR) is an associative center that projects to the hypothalamus, thus being comparable to the amygdaloid formation. To further understand the organization of the reptilian cerebral hemispheres, we have used anterograde and retrograde tracing techniques to study the projections from the PDVR and adjoining areas (dorsolateral amygdala, DLA; deep lateral cortex, dLC; nucleus sphericus, NS) to the striatum in the lizard Podarcis hispanica. This information is complemented with a detailed description of the organization of the basal telencephalon of Podarcis. The caudal aspect of the d…
Highly tunable protein microspheres for drug delivery
2019
It is well-known that protein amyloid aggregation has profound implications in several neurodegenerative diseases. In contrast, a natural role for amyloid structures as protection, adhesion and storage materials in living system is also reported, promoting protein aggregates as an interesting platform for the design of multifunctional biomaterials. Among the broad range of different amyloid structures protein particulates deserve special attention; they are spherical protein aggregates with radius ranging from hundreds of nm to few um which are readily formed in solution at pHs values near the isoelectric point of the protein they are made of. Interestingly, particulate appears to be a gene…
Pathogenicity and possible biological control of fungi associated to Botryosphaeria dieback of grapevine in Western Sicily
2018
Botryosphaeria dieback is a widespread grapevine trunk disease caused by species of fungi within the family Botryosphaeriaceae. Symptoms of the disease include bud necrosis, leaf chlorosis, vascular discoloration of the wood, cankers and dieback. In 2013 typical symptoms of Botryosphaeria dieback was observed in Western Sicily and four species associated with the syndrome were isolated and identified as Diplodia seriata, Lasiodiplodia mediterranea, Neofusicoccum parvum and Neofusicoccum vitifusiforme. In order to fulfill Koch’s postulates, pathogenicity tests of eighteen isolates were performed on two-year grapevine cuttings of cv. Inzolia. Six months after inoculation all the Botryosphaeri…
Effectiveness and Safety of Oral Anticoagulants in Cardiac Amyloidosis: Lights and Shadows
2022
Cardiac amyloidosis (CA) is an infiltrative cardiomyopathy characterized by extracellular deposition of mis-folded proteins called amyloid. Cardiac complications of CA are several: heart failure, aortic valve stenosis, thromboembolism, conduction disorders, atrial fibrillation, and ventricular arrhythmias. Atrial dysfunction is common in CA patients. Several evidences suggest to anticoagulated patients with CA in atrial fibrillation independently from CHA2DS2VaSC score. Considering the high thromboembolic risk in CA patients, anticoagulant therapy should be considered also in CA patients in sinus rhythm, when the atria are enlarged and dysfunctional, and the bleeding risk is low. Unfortunat…
Photo-inhibition of Ab fibrillation mediated by a newly designed fluorinated oxadiazole
2015
Uncontrolled aggregation of amyloid beta peptide (A?) is the main cause of Alzheimer's Disease. Therapeutic approaches of intervention in amyloid diseases include the use of small molecules able to stabilize the soluble A? conformation, or to redirect the amyloidogenic pathway towards non-toxic and non-fibrillar states. Fluorometric measurements revealed that the 3-(4'-trifluoromethylphenyl)-5-(4'-methoxyphenyl)-1,2,4-oxadiazole, when irradiated, is able to interact with monomeric A? peptide readdressing the aggregation pathway toward the formation of amorphous aggregates as evidenced by means of CD, AFM, and SAXS measurements. We hypothesize that this compound, under radiation, forms a rea…
Exopolysaccharides favor the survival of Erwinia amylovora under copper stress through different strategies.
2010
Erwinia amylovora causes fire blight, a destructive disease of rosaceous plants very difficult to control. We demonstrated that copper, employed to control plant diseases, induces the "viable-but-nonculturable" (VBNC) state in E. amylovora. Moreover, it was previously reported that copper increases production of its main exopolysaccharide (EPS), amylovoran. In this work, the copper-complexing ability of amylovoran and levan, other major EPS of E. amylovora, was demonstrated. Following this, EPS-deficient mutants were used to determine the role of these EPSs in survival of this bacterium in AB mineral medium with copper, compared to their wild type strain and AB without copper. Tot…