Search results for "Function"
showing 10 items of 14432 documents
IL-12 Expands and Differentiates Human Vγ2Vδ2 T Effector Cells Producing Antimicrobial Cytokines and Inhibiting Intracellular Mycobacterial Growth
2019
While IL-12 plays a key role in differentiation of protective CD4+ Th1 response, little is known about mechanisms whereby IL-12 differentiates other T-cell populations. Published studies suggest that predominant Vγ2Vδ2 T cells in humans/nonhuman primates (NHP) are a fast-acting T-cell subset, with capacities to rapidly expand and produce Th1 and cytotoxic cytokines in response to phosphoantigen (E)-4-hydroxy-3-methyl-but-2-enyl pyrophosphate (HMBPP) produced by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) or others. However, whether IL-12 signaling pathway mediates fast-acting and Th1 or anti-microbial features of Vγ2Vδ2 T cells remains poorly defined. Here, we show that IL-12, but not other IL-12 fami…
Mechanisms of immunosenescence
2009
Abstract On April 7,8, 2009 a Symposium entitled "Pathophysiology of Successful and Unsuccessful Ageing" took place in Palermo, Italy. Here, the lectures of G. Pawelec, D. Dunn-Walters and. G. Colonna-Romano on T and B immunosenescence are summarized. In the elderly, many alterations of both innate and acquired immunity have been described. Alterations to the immune system in the older person are generally viewed as a deterioration of immunity, leading to the use of the catch-all term immunosenescence. Indeed, many immunological parameters are often markedly different in elderly compared to young people, and some, mostly circumstantial, evidence suggests that retained function of both innat…
The effect of residential urban greenness on allergic respiratory diseases in youth: A narrative review
2020
Abstract Background Environmental exposures across the life course may be a contributor to the increased worldwide prevalence of respiratory and allergic diseases occurring in the last decades. Asthma and rhinoconjunctivitis especially contribute to the global burden of disease. Greenness has been suggested to have beneficial effects in terms of reduction of occurrence of allergic respiratory diseases. However, the available evidence of a relationship between urban greenness and childhood health outcomes is not yet conclusive. The current review aimed at investigating the current state of evidence, exploring the relationship between children's exposure to residential urban greenness and dev…
The Strategy of Harm Reduction in Work with People Addicted to Drugs and Alcohol
2016
The policy of EU Member States, the United States, South America and Australia is heading towards the restructuring of the support system for addicts by implementing actions meant to limit the health and social damages resulting from the use of psychoactive substances. Many countries offer access to low-threshold programmes whereby the participant is not forced to maintain abstinence or submit to the excessive rules and obligations of a rehabilitation center. Harm reduction is a philosophy based on pragmatic and realistic goals of working with addicts and users. It assumes that each change, even the smallest, is important and should be supported. Harm reduction programmes usually function i…
«Axí com...» Le comparazioni nella lirica di Jordi de Sant Jordi
2005
Jordi de Sant Jordi uses more than thirty comparisons in his lyric poetry. These may be classified on the basis of their typology and semantic functions: true comparisons (where two elements are compared by means of a connector, the first being defined as ‘real’ and corresponding to the situation of the lyric persona, the second, figurative, presenting in metaphorical terms the same characteristics as the first element); comparisons between the ‘real’ situation and that of an unspecified human being, to which reference is made by means of the demonstrative ‘the one’ («axí com cell...»); hyperbolic comparisons, where the ‘real’ element is given hyperbolically as having to the same or to a gr…
Analogia e omologia: la questione della filogenesi delle emozioni
2013
Aim of this paper is to outline a new evolutionary interpretation of aesthetic emotions, in the light of the most recent developments in Evolutionary Biology, in particular the so-called “Extended Synthesis of Evolution” (Pigliucci-Müller 2010). Focussing on the biological concept of homology, the Author argues that, in order to effectively understand role and evolutionary value of aesthetic emotions, it should be asked not “what aesthetic emotions are for?”, rather “what kind of constraints and homologies influence the specific “shape” of human aesthetic emotions?”. In a few words, we should move from a functionalist approach to human aesthetic emotions towards a morphological one.
High Performance 3D PET Reconstruction Using Spherical Basis Functions on a Polar Grid
2011
Statistical iterative methods are a widely used method of image reconstruction in emission tomography. Traditionally, the image space is modelled as a combination of cubic voxels as a matter of simplicity. After reconstruction, images are routinely filtered to reduce statistical noise at the cost of spatial resolution degradation. An alternative to produce lower noise during reconstruction is to model the image space with spherical basis functions. These basis functions overlap in space producing a significantly large number of non-zero elements in the system response matrix (SRM) to store, which additionally leads to long reconstruction times. These two problems are partly overcome by expl…
Modulation of the Endocannabinoids N-Arachidonoylethanolamine (AEA) and 2-Arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) on Executive Functions in Human.
2013
Animal studies point to an implication of the endocannabinoid system on executive functions. In humans, several studies have suggested an association between acute or chronic use of exogenous cannabinoids (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol) and executive impairments. However, to date, no published reports establish the relationship between endocannabinoids, as biomarkers of the cannabinoid neurotransmission system, and executive functioning in humans. The aim of the present study was to explore the association between circulating levels of plasma endocannabinoids N-arachidonoylethanolamine (AEA) and 2-Arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) and executive functions (decision making, response inhibition and cognit…
La percepción de la funcionalidad familiar. Confirmación de su estructura bifactorial (The perception of the family functionality. Confirmation of it…
2012
Valid, reliable and easy-to-use instruments are required for the assessment of family functionality. The present study confirms the two-factor structure of a 23-item family Functionality Scale, providing indices of reliability and external validity in a sample of 185 families with teenage children. Parent discrepancy is analyzed, and the statistical descriptors of this variable are presented in the two dimensions that constitute the scale: Facilitator and Disturber. The instrument is useful for assessing functionality and for calculating parental discrepancy in the perception of family life, which is also an indicator of functionality.
Relationship Between the Critical Power Test and a 20-min Functional Threshold Power Test in Cycling.
2021
To investigate the agreement between critical power (CP) and functional threshold power (FTP), 17 trained cyclists and triathletes (mean ± SD: age 31 ± 9 years, body mass 80 ± 10 kg, maximal aerobic power 350 ± 56 W, peak oxygen consumption 51 ± 10 mL⋅min–1⋅kg–1) performed a maximal incremental ramp test, a single-visit CP test and a 20-min time trial (TT) test in randomized order on three different days. CP was determined using a time-trial (TT) protocol of three durations (12, 7, and 3 min) interspersed by 30 min passive rest. FTP was calculated as 95% of 20-min mean power achieved during the TT. Differences between means were examined using magnitude-based inferences and a paired-samples…