Search results for "Education"

Half a Century of Research on Membrane-Containing Bacteriophages: Bringing New Concepts to Modern Virology

2019

Half a century of research on membrane-containing phages has had a major impact on virology, providing new insights into virus diversity, evolution and ecological importance. The recent revolutionary technical advances in imaging, sequencing and lipid analysis have significantly boosted the depth and volume of knowledge on these viruses. This has resulted in new concepts of virus assembly, understanding of virion stability and dynamics, and the description of novel processes for viral genome packaging and membrane-driven genome delivery to the host. The detailed analyses of such processes have given novel insights into DNA transport across the protein-rich lipid bilayer and the transformati…

Global prevalence, treatment, and prevention of hepatitis B virus infection in 2016: a modelling study

2018

PubMed: 29599078

Exploring diversity and biotechnological potential of lactic acid bacteria from tocosh - traditional Peruvian fermented potatoes - by high throughput…

2018

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) diversity associated with tocosh, Peruvian traditional fermented potatoes, was for the first time investigated by culturing and high throughput sequencing (HTS) approaches. They were applied on three samples i.e. freshly harvested potatoes, one-month and eight-months production. While by culture-dependent approach a few Lactobacillus (Lb) species (Lb. sakei, Lb. casei, Lb. farciminis, Lb. brevis, Lb. fermentum) and Leuconostoc (Ln) mesenteroides were identified, twenty-four OTUs belonging to six LAB genera were considered in tocosh samples by HTS, being Lactobacillus dominant in all three samples. LAB predominated on fresh potatoes, while Clostridium, Zymophilus a…

2018

The retrieval of ancient DNA from osteological material provides direct evidence of human genetic diversity in the past. Ancient DNA samples are often used to investigate whether there was population continuity in the settlement history of an area. Methods based on the serial coalescent algorithm have been developed to test whether the population continuity hypothesis can be statistically rejected by analysing DNA samples from the same region but of different ages. Rejection of this hypothesis is indicative of a large genetic shift, possibly due to immigration occurring between two sampling times. However, this approach is only able to reject a model of full continuity model (a total absenc…

Ultrastructural characterization of human oligodendrocytes and their progenitor cells by pre-embedding immunogold.

2021

Oligodendrocytes are the myelinating cells of the central nervous system. They provide trophic, metabolic, and structural support to neurons. In several pathologies such as multiple sclerosis (MS), these cells are severely affected and fail to remyelinate, thereby leading to neuronal death. The gold standard for studying remyelination is the g-ratio, which is measured by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Therefore, studying the fine structure of the oligodendrocyte population in the human brain at different stages through TEM is a key feature in this field of study. Here we study the ultrastructure of oligodendrocytes, its progenitors, and myelin in 10 samples of human white …

Baseline metabolic disturbances and the twenty-five years risk of incident cancer in a Mediterranean population.

2016

Abstract Background and aims Obesity is predictive of metabolic syndrome (metS), type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular (CV) disease and cancer. The aim of the study is to assess the risk of incident cancer connected to obesity and metS in a Mediterranean population characterized by a high prevalence of obesity. Methods and results As many as 1133 subjects were enrolled in two phases and followed for 25 years (859 subjects) or 11 years (274 subjects) and incident cancer was registered in the follow-up period. Anthropometric measures and biochemical parameters were filed at baseline and evaluated as predictors of incident cancer by measuring hazards ratios (HR) using multivariate Cox parametric haz…

The role of CD40 and CD40L in bone mineral density and in osteoporosis risk: A genetic and functional study.

2015

Compelling data are revealing that the CD40/CD40L system is involved in bone metabolism. Furthermore, we have previously demonstrated that polymorphisms in both genes are associated with bone phenotypes. The aim of this study is to further characterize this association and to identify the causal functional mechanism. We conducted an association study of BMD with 15 SNPs in CD40/CD40L genes in a population of 779 women. In addition, we assessed the functionality of this association through the study of the allele-dependent expression of CD40 and CD40L in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) and in human osteoblasts (OBs) obtained from bone explants by qPCR and by sequencing. When an allelic im…

Deregulated Lipid Sensing by Intestinal CD36 in Diet-Induced Hyperinsulinemic Obese Mouse Model

2016

International audience; The metabolic syndrome (MetS) greatly increases risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes and is generally associated with abnormally elevated postprandial triglyceride levels. We evaluated intestinal synthesis of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TRL) in a mouse model of the MetS obtained by feeding a palm oil-rich high fat diet (HFD). By contrast to control mice, MetS mice secreted two populations of TRL. If the smaller size population represented 44% of total particles in the beginning of intestinal lipid absorption in MetS mice, it accounted for only 17% after 4 h due to the secretion of larger size TRL. The MetS mice displayed accentuated postprandial hypertrigl…

Analysis of T and NK cell subsets in Sicilian population from young to supercentenarian: the role of age and gender

2021

Summary Ageing dramatically affects number and function of both innate and adaptive arms of immune system, particularly T cell subsets, contributing to reduced vaccination efficacy, decreased resistance to infections and increased prevalence of cancer in older people. In the present paper, we analysed the age‐related changes in the absolute number of lymphocytes in 214 Sicilian subjects, and in the percentages of T and natural killer (NK) cells in a subcohort of donors. We compared these results with the immunophenotype of the oldest living Italian supercentenarian (aged 111 years). The results were also sorted by gender. The correlation between number/percentage of cells and age in all ind…

Behavioural and structural interventions in cancer prevention: towards the 2030 SDG horizon

2020

Interventions in individual lifestyles have often been viewed as the main component of cancer prevention strategies. However, environmental factors may facilitate or impede healthy behaviours. The behavioural‐structural dichotomy of cancer prevention can only be resolved by incorporating the ‘Health in All Policies’ perspective at multiple levels (legislation, promotion of healthy choices, health support groups, health education).