Search results for "Integra"

Evolution of transmitted HIV-1 drug resistance and viral subtypes circulation in Italy from 2006 to 2016

2018

Objectives: The aim was to evaluate the evolution of transmitted HIV-1 drug resistance (TDR) prevalence in antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naïve patients from 2006 to 2016. Methods: HIV-1 sequences were retrieved from the Antiviral Response Cohort Analysis (ARCA) database and TDR was defined as detection of at least one mutation from the World Health Organization (WHO) surveillance list. Results: We included protease/reverse transcriptase sequences from 3573 patients; 455 had also integrase sequences. Overall, 68.1% of the patients were Italian, the median CD4 count was 348 cells/μL [interquartile range (IQR) 169–521 cells/μL], and the median viral load was 4.7 log 10 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL (IQR …

Dietary protein restriction reduces circulating VLDL triglyceride levels via CREBH-APOA5-dependent and -independent mechanisms

2018

Hypertriglyceridemia is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Dietary interventions based on protein restriction (PR) reduce circulating triglycerides (TGs), but underlying mechanisms and clinical relevance remain unclear. Here, we show that 1 week of a protein-free diet without enforced calorie restriction significantly lowered circulating TGs in both lean and diet-induced obese mice. Mechanistically, the TG-lowering effect of PR was due, in part, to changes in very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) metabolism both in liver and peripheral tissues. In the periphery, PR stimulated VLDL-TG consumption by increasing VLDL-bound APOA5 expression and promoting VLDL-TG hydrolysis and…

Radiographic evaluation of conical tapered platform‐switched implants in the posterior mandible: 1‐year results of a two‐center prospective study

2015

Abstract Objective Long‐term success of dental implants depends on healthy peri‐implant soft tissues and adequate bone levels. This prospective study aims to assess bone level changes around implants with internal conical connection and platform‐switching abutments in the posterior mandible. Material and methods Adult patients missing at least two teeth in the posterior mandible and with a natural tooth mesial to the implant site received two or three adjacent internal conical connection implants. After a minimum transmucosal healing period of 8 weeks, single crown restorations were cemented over platform‐switching abutments. Changes in marginal bone levels were measured in standardized per…

Brain circuit-gene expression relationships and neuroplasticity of multisensory cortices in blind children.

2017

Sensory deprivation reorganizes neurocircuits in the human brain. The biological basis of such neuroplastic adaptations remains elusive. In this study, we applied two complementary graph theory-based functional connectivity analyses, one to evaluate whole-brain functional connectivity relationships and the second to specifically delineate distributed network connectivity profiles downstream of primary sensory cortices, to investigate neural reorganization in blind children compared with sighted controls. We also examined the relationship between connectivity changes and neuroplasticity-related gene expression profiles in the cerebral cortex. We observed that multisensory integration areas e…

Biological insertion of computationally designed short transmembrane segments

2016

The great majority of helical membrane proteins are inserted co-translationally into the ER membrane through a continuous ribosome-translocon channel. The efficiency of membrane insertion depends on transmembrane (TM) helix amino acid composition, the helix length and the position of the amino acids within the helix. In this work, we conducted a computational analysis of the composition and location of amino acids in transmembrane helices found in membrane proteins of known structure to obtain an extensive set of designed polypeptide segments with naturally occurring amino acid distributions. Then, using an in vitro translation system in the presence of biological membranes, we experimental…

A Janus-Faced IM30 Ring Involved in Thylakoid Membrane Fusion Is Assembled from IM30 Tetramers.

2017

Summary Biogenesis and dynamics of thylakoid membranes likely involves membrane fusion events. Membrane attachment of the inner membrane-associated protein of 30 kDa (IM30) affects the structure of the lipid bilayer, finally resulting in membrane fusion. Yet, how IM30 triggers membrane fusion is largely unclear. IM30 monomers pre-assemble into stable tetrameric building blocks, which further align to form oligomeric ring structures, and differently sized IM30 rings bind to membranes. Based on a 3D reconstruction of IM30 rings, we locate the IM30 loop 2 region at the bottom of the ring and show intact membrane binding but missing fusogenic activity of loop 2 mutants. However, helix 7, which …

Harmonising and linking biomedical and clinical data across disparate data archives to enable integrative cross-biobank research

2015

A wealth of biospecimen samples are stored in modern globally distributed biobanks. Biomedical researchers worldwide need to be able to combine the available resources to improve the power of large-scale studies. A prerequisite for this effort is to be able to search and access phenotypic, clinical and other information about samples that are currently stored at biobanks in an integrated manner. However, privacy issues together with heterogeneous information systems and the lack of agreed-upon vocabularies have made specimen searching across multiple biobanks extremely challenging. We describe three case studies where we have linked samples and sample descriptions in order to facilitate glo…

Genomic Amplifications and Distal 6q Loss: Novel Markers for Poor Survival in High-risk Neuroblastoma Patients.

2018

Abstract Background Neuroblastoma is characterized by substantial clinical heterogeneity. Despite intensive treatment, the survival rates of high-risk neuroblastoma patients are still disappointingly low. Somatic chromosomal copy number aberrations have been shown to be associated with patient outcome, particularly in low- and intermediate-risk neuroblastoma patients. To improve outcome prediction in high-risk neuroblastoma, we aimed to design a prognostic classification method based on copy number aberrations. Methods In an international collaboration, normalized high-resolution DNA copy number data (arrayCGH and SNP arrays) from 556 high-risk neuroblastomas obtained at diagnosis were coll…

Microbial Colonization of the Peri-Implant Sulcus and Implant Connection of Implants Restored With Cemented Versus Screw-Retained Superstructures: A …

2016

The aim of this study is to investigate peri-implant and intraconnection microflora of healthy implants restored with cemented and screwed superstructures.Patients with two to three implants restored with cemented or screwed restorations and 5 years of follow-up were recruited. Samples were taken from peri-implant sulci, adjacent teeth, and the inner portion of connections. Prevalence of positive sites and bacterial loads for 10 microorganisms were obtained with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Implant connection permeability to the studied microorganisms was estimated using a standardized bacterial contamination index. Statistical analysis was performed using a generalized…

2021

While the importance of the iron-load of lipocalin-2 (Lcn-2) in promoting tumor progression is widely appreciated, underlying molecular mechanisms largely remain elusive. Considering its role as an iron-transporter, we aimed at clarifying iron-loaded, holo-Lcn-2 (hLcn-2)-dependent signaling pathways in affecting renal cancer cell viability. Applying RNA sequencing analysis in renal CAKI1 tumor cells to explore highly upregulated molecular signatures in response to hLcn-2, we identified a cluster of genes (SLC7A11, GCLM, GLS), which are implicated in regulating ferroptosis. Indeed, hLcn-2-stimulated cells are protected from erastin-induced ferroptosis. We also noticed a rapid increase in rea…