Search results for " Muscle"

High-density ZnO Nanowires as a Reversible Myogenic-Differentiation-Switch

2018

Mesoangioblasts are outstanding candidates for stem-cell therapy and are already being explored in clinical trials. However, a crucial challenge in regenerative medicine is the limited availability of undifferentiated myogenic progenitor cells because growth is typically accompanied by differentiation. Here reversible myogenic-differentiation switching during proliferation is achieved by functionalizing the glass substrate with high-density ZnO nanowires (NWs). Specifically, mesoangioblasts grown on ZnO NWs present a spherical viable undifferentiated cell state without lamellopodia formation during the entire observation time (8 days). Consistently, the myosin heavy chain, typically express…

2019

Post-activation potentiation (PAP) is a well-described phenomenon with a short half-life (~28 s) that enhances muscle force production at submaximal levels of calcium saturation (i.e., submaximal levels of muscle activation). It has been largely explained by an increased myosin light chain phosphorylation occurring in type II muscle fibers, and its effects have been quantified in humans by measuring muscle twitch force responses to a bout of muscular activity. However, enhancements in (sometimes maximal) voluntary force production detected several minutes after high-intensity muscle contractions are also observed, which are also most prominent in muscles with a high proportion of type II fi…

Relaxant effects of flavonoids on the mouse isolated stomach: structure-activity relationships.

2008

Flavonoids are a large heterogeneous group of benzo-gamma-pyrone derivatives, which are abundantly present in our diet. In this study we investigated the effects of six flavonoids (apigenin, genistein, quercetin, rutin, naringenin and catechin) on the gastric tone in mouse isolated stomach. The mechanical activity was recorded as changes of intraluminal pressure. All flavonoids tested produced a concentration-dependent relaxation, which was reversible after washout. The relative order of potency of the flavonoids was apigenin> or =genistein>quercetin>naringenin> or =rutin>catechin. Analysis of the chemical structure showed that the relaxant activity was progressively diminished by the prese…

Expression of the proto-oncogene c-myc in human stenotic aortocoronary bypass grafts.

2002

Summary Proliferation and differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) are central events in vascular pathobiology and play a major role in the development of stenotic and restenotic lesions [ 15, 27 ] . The proto-oncogene c-myc and other early cell cycle-regulating genes have been implicated in the induction of cell proliferation and differentiation under diverse pathophysiological conditions [ 11, 13 ] . In the present study we analyzed c-myc mRNAexpression by indirect nonradioactive in situ hybridization technique (NISH) in human stenotic venous bypass grafts (n = 32) retrieved during re-do operations of coronary artery disease and compared the results with 28 native veins (ven…

Short-term atorvastatin treatment does not modify neointimal morphology but reduces MMP-2 expression in normocholesterolemic rabbit stented arteries.

2006

The aim of our study was to explore some potential pleiotropic effects of atorvastatin, after stenting in the iliac arteries of normocholesterolemic rabbits. On day 0, 27 rabbits underwent stent implantation and were randomized into either the control group (standard chow, CTRL, n = 15) or the atorvastatin group (10 mg/kg/d per os, Ator, n = 12). On day 30, the stented arteries were harvested for histomorphometry and neointimal analysis [macrophages, matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-2), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2, vascular smooth muscle cells, and collagen]. Atorvastatin did not induce significant histomorphometric and inflammatory modifications but reduced neointimal expression …

Rapamycin vermindert die Neointimaausbildung nach vaskulärer Schädigung

2003

Background: Proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) mark the key processes in the development of bypass graft disease and during neointima formation in restenosis after angioplasty. Growth factors are potent SMC mitogens as they are involved in SMC proliferation and in extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis. Based on these premises, we examined the effect of the proliferation inhibitor rapamycin in human SMC culture and in a rabbit vascular injury model. Materials and methods: Injection of rapamycin or its vehicle was performed with an infusion-balloon catheter directly into the vessel wall during vascular injury. The intima/media ratio was determined histologicall…

Involvement of PKC and NF-κB in Nitric Oxide Induced Apoptosis in Human Coronary Artery Smooth Muscle Cells

2001

Apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells is critically involved in progression of atherosclerosis and may prevent intimal hyperplasia in restenosis and vascular remodeling. Nitric oxide (NO) is known to induce apoptosis, but the signaling pathways still remain unclear. We investigated p53 accumulation, protein kinase C (PKC) activation and nuclear transcription factor (NF-kappaB) binding activity as possible signaling mechanisms of NO-induced apoptosis. Apoptosis was induced dose-dependently with the NO-donors sodiumnitroprusside (SNP: 232+/-48%) and SIN-1 (241+/-90% of actinomycin D induced apoptosis; means +/- SEM, *por =0.05 vs. control) in HSMC. Inhibition of PKC significantly attenuat…

RE-TREATMENT BY INTRAVESICAL THERAPY IN RECURRING PATIENTS AFFECTED BY INTERMEDIATE RISK NON-MUSCLE INVASIVE BLADDER CANCER (NMI-BC)

2011

Introduction & Objectives: Up to 70% of patients affected by intermediate risk NMI-BC recur after intravesical therapy (IT). The majority of them will be retreated by IT. The therapeutic strategy for these patients is not well defined. BCG is advocated when intravesical chemotherapy (ICH) fails. However, some patients are retreated by ICH and some others repeat BCG adopted as the first treatment. Not many studies have been published on second line IT. A retrospective analysis on 179 intermediate-risk patients undergoing re-treatment by IT is presented. Materials & Methods: The clinical files of patients affected by NMI-BC recurring after TUR and IT and retreated by IT were reviewed. The pat…

Open Question in UrologiaIl Tumore vescicale non muscolo-invasivo

2013

Open Questions in Practical Urology (OpenQ) è un’iniziativa formativa nata spontaneamente durante il congresso EAU del 2008 dal suggerimento di alcuni giovani urologi e specializzandi intervenuti in una nostra discussione relativamente alle attese che ciascuno di noi ha nel partecipare ai convegni scientifici. L’osservazione più comune è stata che spesso ci si trova ad ascoltare relazioni di alto contenuto scientifico in un contesto in cui non è facile intervenire con domande semplici, dirette e di immediato impatto pratico. Limite questo particolarmente vero per i colleghi più giovani che, in parte per timidezza e in parte per il tempo limitato dedicato alla discussione, non riescono a pre…

Identification of Spatial-Temporal Muscle Synergies from EMG Epochs of Various Durations: A Time-Warped Tensor Decomposition

2018

Extraction of muscle synergies from electromyography (EMG) recordings relies on the analysis of multi-trial muscle activation data. To identify the underlying modular structure, dimensionality reduction algorithms are usually applied to the EMG signals. This process requires a rigid alignment of muscle activity across trials that is typically achieved by the normalization of the length of each trial. However, this time-normalization ignores important temporal variability that is present on single trials as result of neuromechanical processes or task demands. To overcome this limitation, we propose a novel method that simultaneously aligns muscle activity data and extracts spatial and tempor…