Search results for " Basic"
showing 10 items of 10515 documents
Diseased Social Predators
2017
Social predators benefit from cooperation in the form of increased hunting success, but may be at higher risk of disease infection due to living in groups. Here, we use mathematical modeling to investigate the impact of disease transmission on the population dynamics benefits provided by group hunting. We consider a predator-prey model with foraging facilitation that can induce strong Allee effects in the predators. We extend this model by an infectious disease spreading horizontally and vertically in the predator population. The model is a system of three nonlinear differential equations. We analyze the equilibrium points and their stability as well as one- and two-parameter bifurcations. …
Effects of eight weeks of time-restricted feeding (16/8) on basal metabolism, maximal strength, body composition, inflammation, and cardiovascular ri…
2016
Background: Intermittent fasting (IF) is an increasingly popular dietary approach used for weight loss and overall health. While there is an increasing body of evidence demonstrating beneficial effects of IF on blood lipids and other health outcomes in the overweight and obese, limited data are available about the effect of IF in athletes. Thus, the present study sought to investigate the effects of a modified IF protocol (i.e. time-restricted feeding) during resistance training in healthy resistance-trained males. Methods: Thirty-four resistance-trained males were randomly assigned to time-restricted feeding (TRF) or normal diet group (ND). TRF subjects consumed 100 % of their energy needs…
Immune characterization of the HBHA-specific response in Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected patients with or without HIV infection.
2017
Introduction RD1-based Interferon-γ Release Assays (IGRAs) cannot distinguish latent from active tuberculosis (TB) disease. Conversely, a positive response to heparin-binding haemagglutinin (HBHA)-based IGRAs, among TB-infected subjects, correlates with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) containment and low risk of TB progression. The aim of this study was to characterize HBHA-immune responses in HIV-infected and uninfected subjects with active TB or latent TB infection (LTBI). Methods 49 subjects were prospectively enrolled: 22 HIV-uninfected (13 TB, 9 LTBI) and 27 HIV-infected (12 HIV-TB, 15 HIV-LTBI). Whole blood and peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated with HBHA and RD1 anti…
Distributed and Lumped Parameter Models for the Characterization of High Throughput Bioreactors
2016
Next generation bioreactors are being developed to generate multiple human cell-based tissue analogs within the same fluidic system, to better recapitulate the complexity and interconnection of human physiology. The effective development of these devices requires a solid understanding of their interconnected fluidics, to predict the transport of nutrients and waste through the constructs and improve the design accordingly. In this work, we focus on a specific model of bioreactor, with multiple input/outputs, aimed at gen- erating osteochondral constructs, i.e., a biphasic construct in which one side is cartilagi- nous in nature, while the other is osseous. We next develop a general computat…
Benralizumab: From the Basic Mechanism of Action to the Potential Use in the Biological Therapy of Severe Eosinophilic Asthma
2018
Asthma is a very frequent chronic airway disease that includes many different clinical phenotypes and inflammatory patterns. In particular, eosinophilic bronchial inflammation is often associated with allergic as well as nonallergic asthma. The most important cytokine involved in the induction, maintenance, and amplification of airway eosinophilia in asthma is interleukin-5 (IL-5), released by both T helper 2 (Th2) lymphocytes and group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2). Hence, IL-5 and its receptor are suitable targets for selective biologic drugs which can play a key role in add-on treatment of severe eosinophilic asthma refractory to corticosteroids. Within such a context, the anti-IL-5 mon…
Sex difference in the interaction of alcohol intake, hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus on the risk of cirrhosis
2017
Background The joint effect of the interaction of alcohol intake, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) on the risk of cirrhosis is still unexplored because a large sample size is required for this investigation. Objective Evaluation of interaction of HBV, HCV and alcohol abuse on the risk of cirrhosis. Design We analysed 12,262 consecutive patients with chronic liver disease of various aetiologies referring to 95 Italian liver units in 2001 or 2014. To evaluate the interaction between alcohol abuse, HBV infection, and HCV infection, patients unexposed to either factors were used as reference category. Adjustment for BMI and age was done by multiple logistic regression analysi…
Predictors of therapy failure in newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis cases in Beira, Mozambique.
2018
Abstract Objective Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global health issue, ranking in the top ten causes of death worldwide. A deep understanding of factors influencing poor treatment outcomes may allow the development of additional treatment strategies, focused on the most vulnerable groups. Aims of the study were: (i) to evaluate the treatment outcome among TB subjects followed in an outpatient setting and (ii) to analyze factors associated with treatment failure in newly diagnosed patients with pulmonary TB in Beira, the second largest city of Mozambique. Results A total of 301 TB adult patients (32.6% females) were enrolled. Among them, 62 (20.6%) experienced a treatment failure over a 6…
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), EGFR downstream pathway activation and TKI targeted therapies sensitivity: Effect of the plasma membrane-associat…
2017
Adenocarcinoma of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) is a severe disease. Patients carrying EGFR mutations may benefit from EGFR targeted therapies (e.g.: gefitinib). Recently, it has been shown that sialidase NEU3 directly interacts and regulates EGFR. In this work, we investigate the effect of sialidase NEU3 overexpression on EGFR pathways activation and EGFR targeted therapies sensitivity, in a series of lung cancer cell lines. NEU3 overexpression, forced after transfection, does not affect NSCLC cell viability. We demonstrate that NEU3 overexpression stimulates the ERK pathway but this activation is completely abolished by gefitinib treatment. The Akt pathway is also hyper-activated upo…
C1q acts in the tumour microenvironment as a cancer-promoting factor independently of complement activation
2015
Complement C1q is the activator of the classical pathway. However, it is now recognized that C1q can exert functions unrelated to complement activation. Here we show that C1q, but not C4, is expressed in the stroma and vascular endothelium of several human malignant tumours. Compared with wild-type (WT) or C3- or C5-deficient mice, C1q-deficient (C1qa−/−) mice bearing a syngeneic B16 melanoma exhibit a slower tumour growth and prolonged survival. This effect is not attributable to differences in the tumour-infiltrating immune cells. Tumours developing in WT mice display early deposition of C1q, higher vascular density and an increase in the number of lung metastases compared with C1qa−/− mi…
Rational Design of a Carrier Protein for the Production of Recombinant Toxic Peptides in Escherichia coli
2016
Commercial uses of bioactive peptides require low cost, effective methods for their production. We developed a new carrier protein for high yield production of recombinant peptides in Escherichia coli very well suited for the production of toxic peptides like antimicrobial peptides. GKY20, a short antimicrobial peptide derived from the C-terminus of human thrombin, was fused to the C-terminus of Onconase, a small ribonuclease (104 amino acids), which efficiently drove the peptide into inclusion bodies with very high expression levels (about 200-250 mg/L). After purification of the fusion protein by immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography, peptide was obtained by chemical cleavage in d…