Search results for " SEM"
showing 10 items of 1467 documents
Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy using diode laser activated indocyanine green as an adjunct in the treatment of chronic periodontitis: A randomize…
2016
Abstract Introduction Clinical studies have shown the usefulness of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) as an adjunctive in periodontal therapy. These studies did not utilize indocyanine green (ICG) as a recently introduced photosensitizer. The aim of this study was to perform a full-mouth double-blind randomized controlled clinical study to test the efficacy of adjunctive aPDT with ICG compared with scaling and root planing (SRP) alone in chronic periodontitis treatment. Materials and methods Fifty patients were selected for this study. All patients received SRP. Then, each patient was randomly assigned to either the test group (aPDT + SRP) or the control group (SRP). aPDT was perfor…
Exosomes in semen: opportunities as a new tool in prostate cancer diagnosis
2017
Abstract: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common cancer in men. Nowadays, it is diagnosed through the test of serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and rectal examination; however, there is still debate about the PSA-based diagnosis. Seminal fluid (SF), contains a high concentration of subcellular lipid-bound microparticles, traditionally termed "prostasomes", that are extracellular vesicles (EVs) released into the extracellular space by prostate gland's epithelial cells. These vesicles, first described in 1982 promote motility of sperm cells, regulation of sperm cell capacitation, acrosome reaction and immune suppression within the female reproductive tract. It was demonstrated that pros…
Characterization of the porcine seminal plasma proteome comparing ejaculate portions.
2016
Full identification of boar seminal plasma (SP) proteins remains challenging. This study aims to provide an extensive proteomic analysis of boar SP and to generate an accessible database of boar SP-proteome. A SP-pool (33 entire ejaculates/11 boars; 3 ejaculates/boar) was analyzed to characterize the boar SP-proteome. Twenty ejaculates (5 boars, 4 ejaculates/boar) collected in portions (P1: first 10 mL of sperm rich ejaculate fraction (SRF), P2: rest of SRF and P3: post-SRF) were analyzed to evaluate differentially expressed SP-proteins among portions. SP-samples were analyzed using a combination of SEC, 1-D SDS PAGE and NanoLC-ESI-MS/MS followed by functional bioinformatics. The identified…
Sample Preservation, DNA or RNA Extraction and Data Analysis for High-Throughput Phytoplankton Community Sequencing
2017
Phytoplankton is the basis for aquatic food webs and mirrors the water quality. Conventionally, phytoplankton analysis has been done using time consuming and partly subjective microscopic observations, but next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies provide promising potential for rapid automated examination of environmental samples. Because many phytoplankton species have tough cell walls, methods for cell lysis and DNA or RNA isolation need to be efficient to allow unbiased nucleic acid retrieval. Here, we analyzed how two phytoplankton preservation methods, three commercial DNA extraction kits and their improvements, three RNA extraction methods, and two data analysis procedures affect…
Semaphorins in Adult Nervous System Plasticity and Disease
2021
Semaphorins, originally discovered as guidance cues for developing axons, are involved in many processes that shape the nervous system during development, from neuronal proliferation and migration to neuritogenesis and synapse formation. Interestingly, the expression of many Semaphorins persists after development. For instance, Semaphorin 3A is a component of perineuronal nets, the extracellular matrix structures enwrapping certain types of neurons in the adult CNS, which contribute to the closure of the critical period for plasticity. Semaphorin 3G and 4C play a crucial role in the control of adult hippocampal connectivity and memory processes, and Semaphorin 5A and 7A regulate adult neuro…
The ascidian Styela plicata hemocytes as a potential biomarker of marine pollution: In vitro effects of seawater and organic mercury.
2017
Toxic metals, such as mercury, contribute substantially to anthropogenic pollution in many estuarine environments. Animals living in those environments, particularly invertebrate filter feeders like tunicates, can be used as bioindicators. In an attempt to identify cellular markers for revealing pollution, this study examined in vitro the effects of different concentrations of methyl mercury on Styela plicata hemocytes. The harvested hemocytes from S. plicata that were exposed to the metal had a significant mortality, cellular count and morphometric alterations. These findings provided evidence of MeHg immunotoxic effects on S. plicata, resulting in hemocyte death and morphological changes …
A widely used sampling device in colorectal cancer screening programmes allows for large-scale microbiome studies.
2018
We read with interest the article by Passamonti et al ,1 reporting the performance of two different faecal immunochemical tests (FITs) highlighting the importance of standardisation and validation of screening methodologies. Conventionally, laboratory-based FIT is the preferred approach in testing for occult blood in faeces, which includes colorectal cancer screening programmes.2–4 The potential of preserving stable faecal samples in a widely used FIT buffer for microbiome research would enable prospective microbiome studies in generally healthy subjects undergoing colorectal cancer screening. For this purpose, we evaluated faecal sample stability in the commonly used OC-Sensor (Eiken Chemi…
Photocatalytic Activity of Polymer Nanoparticles Modulates Intracellular Calcium Dynamics and Reactive Oxygen Species in HEK-293 Cells
2018
Optical modulation of living cells activity by light-absorbing exogenous materials is gaining increasing interest, due to the possibility both to achieve high spatial and temporal resolution with a minimally invasive and reversible technique and to avoid the need of viral transfection with light-sensitive proteins. In this context, conjugated polymers represent ideal candidates for photo-transduction, due to their excellent optoelectronic and biocompatibility properties. In this work, we demonstrate that organic polymer nanoparticles, based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) conjugated polymer, establish a functional interaction with an in vitro cell model (Human Embryonic Kidney cells, HEK-293). Th…
Whole genome semiconductor based sequencing of farmed European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) Mediterranean genetic stocks using a DNA pooling appro…
2016
European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) is an important marine species for commercial and sport fisheries and aquaculture production. Recently, the European sea bass genome has been sequenced and assembled. This resource can open new opportunities to evaluate and monitor variability and identify variants that could contribute to the adaptation to farming conditions. In this work, two DNA pools constructed from cultivated European sea bass were sequenced using a next generation semiconductor sequencing approach based on Ion Proton sequencer. Using the first draft version of the D. labrax genome as reference, sequenced reads obtained a total of about 1.6 million of single nucleotide polymorp…
Towards understanding nonmanuality : A semiotic treatment of signers’ head movements
2019
This article discusses a certain type of nonmanual action, signers’ head movements, from a semiotic perspective. It presents a typology of head movements and their iconic, indexical and symbolic features based on Peircean and post-Peircean semiotics. The paper argues for the view that (i) indexical strategies are very prominent in head movements, (ii) iconic features are most evident in enacting, while non-enacting description is less common, (iii) symbolic types for tokens are infrequent, although some movements—such as nodding and shaking the head—may become more conventional or schematized, and (iv) different types of head movements involve different proportions of iconicity, indexicalit…