Search results for "RCU"
showing 10 items of 6516 documents
Chair-based exercise programs in institutionalized older women: Salivary steroid hormones, disabilities and frailty changes.
2020
Abstract Purpose Many people experience aging-related losses in different physical domains, which leads to a condition often called physical frailty (PF). The aim of this study was to analyse the effects of two different, 28-weeks, class chair-exercise protocols on salivary steroid hormones (SH), PF, and functional disabilities (FD) in frail older women. Methods A sample of older frail individuals (n = 60, 817.84 years) participated in the study and were divided into three groups: chair elastic-band muscle strength exercises (CSE), n = 20), chair-multimodal exercise (CME, n = 21) and a control non-exercise group (CGne, n = 19). Both exercise programs consisted of 45 min of supervised chair-…
Platelet Pathogen Reduction Technologies Alter the MicroRNA Profile of Platelet-Derived Microparticles
2020
Despite improvements in donor screening and increasing efforts to avoid contamination and the spread of pathogens in clinical platelet concentrates (PCs), the risks of transfusion-transmitted infections remain important. Relying on an ultraviolet photo activation system, pathogen reduction technologies (PRTs), such as Intercept and Mirasol, utilize amotosalen, and riboflavin (vitamin B2), respectively, to mediate inactivation of pathogen nucleic acids. Although they are expected to increase the safety and prolong the shelf life of clinical PCs, these PRTs might affect the quality and function of platelets, as recently reported. Upon activation, platelets release microparticles (MPs), which …
Curcumin-like compounds designed to modify amyloid beta peptide aggregation patterns
2017
International audience; Curcumin is a natural polyphenol able to bind the amyloid beta peptide, which is related to Alzheimer's disease, and modify its self-assembly pathway. This paper focuses on a multi-disciplinary study that starts from the design of curcumin-like compounds with the key chemical features required for inhibiting amyloid beta aggregation, and reports the effects of these compounds on the in vitro aggregation of amyloid beta peptides. Chemoinformatic screening was performed through the calculation of molecular descriptors that were able to highlight the drug-like profile, followed by docking studies with an amyloid beta peptide fibril. The computational design underlined t…
Structural characterization of polysaccharides of a productive strain of the culinary-medicinal king oyster mushroom, pleurotus eryngii (Agaricomycet…
2018
A preliminary biological investigation of the dry basidiomata of strain C-142-c of Pleurotus eryngii has shown significant antioxidant activity. Two different polysaccharides (PEPS-A1 and PEPS-A2) were isolated from the cultivated edible mushroom, P. eryngii C-142-c strain. Based on acid hydrolysis, methylation analysis, and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments (1H, 13C, distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer, double quantum filtered correlation spectroscopy, total correlation spectroscopy, nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy, heteronuclear singlequantum correlation spectroscopy, and heteronuclear multiple-bond correlation spectroscopy), the structures of the repeating uni…
Natural Compounds as Beneficial Antioxidant Agents in Neurodegenerative Disorders: A Focus on Alzheimer’s Disease
2019
The positive role of nutrition in chronic neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) suggests that dietary interventions represent helpful tools for preventing NDs. In particular, diets enriched with natural compounds have become an increasingly attractive, non-invasive, and inexpensive option to support a healthy brain and to potentially treat NDs. Bioactive compounds found in vegetables or microalgae possess special properties able to counteract oxidative stress, which is involved as a triggering factor in neurodegeneration. Here, we briefly review the relevant experimental data on curcuminoids, silymarin, chlorogenic acid, and compounds derived from the microalga Aphanizomenon flos aquae (AFA) whi…
Culture into perfusion-assisted bioreactor promotes valve-like tissue maturation of recellularized pericardial membrane
2020
Derivation of tissue-engineered valve replacements is a strategy to overcome the limitations of the current valve prostheses, mechanical, or biological. In an effort to set living pericardial material for aortic valve reconstruction, we have previously assessed the efficiency of a recellularization strategy based on a perfusion system enabling mass transport and homogenous distribution of aortic valve-derived “interstitial” cells inside decellularized pericardial material. In the present report, we show that alternate perfusion promoted a rapid growth of valve cells inside the pericardial material and the activity of a proliferation-supporting pathway, likely controlled by the YAP transcrip…
How Glutamate Is Managed by the Blood-Brain Barrier.
2016
A facilitative transport system exists on the blood–brain barrier (BBB) that has been tacitly assumed to be a path for glutamate entry to the brain. However, glutamate is a non-essential amino acid whose brain content is much greater than plasma, and studies in vivo show that glutamate does not enter the brain in appreciable quantities except in those small regions with fenestrated capillaries (circumventricular organs). The situation became understandable when luminal (blood facing) and abluminal (brain facing) membranes were isolated and studied separately. Facilitative transport of glutamate and glutamine exists only on the luminal membranes, whereas Na+-dependent transport systems for g…
Quantitative and qualitative profiles of circulating monocytes may help identifying tuberculosis infection and disease stages
2017
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most important cause of morbidity and death among infectious diseases, and continuous efforts are needed to improve diagnostic tools and therapy. Previous published studies showed that the absolute cells number of monocytes or lymphocytes in peripheral blood or yet the ratio of monocytes to lymphocytes displayed the ability to predict the risk of active TB. In the present study we evaluated the ratio of monocytes to lymphocytes variation and we also analyzed the ex-vivo expression of CD64 on monocytes as tools to identify biomarkers for discriminating TB stages. Significant differences were found when the average ratio of monocytes to lymphocytes of active TB…
Tree species identity and diversity drive fungal richness and community composition along an elevational gradient in a Mediterranean ecosystem
2017
Ecological and taxonomic knowledge is important for conservation and utilization of biodiversity. Biodiversity and ecology of fungi in Mediterranean ecosystems is poorly understood. Here, we examined the diversity and spatial dis- tribution of fungi along an elevational gradient in a Mediterranean ecosystem, using DNA metabarcoding. This study provides novel information about diversity of all eco- logical and taxonomic groups of fungi along an elevational gradient in a Mediterranean ecosystem. Our analyses revealed that among all biotic and abiotic variables tested, host species identity is the main driver of the fungal richness and fungal community composition. Fungal richness was strongly…
Curcumin as a therapeutic option in retinal diseases
2020
Este artículo se encuentra disponible en la siguiente URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/9/1/48 Este artículo pertenece al número especial "Natural products in health promotion and disease prevention". En este artículo también participa: Vincent M. Villar. The retina is subjected to oxidative stress due to its high vascularization, long time light exposition and a high density of mitochondria. Oxidative stress can lead to pathological processes, like cell apoptosis, angiogenesis and inflammation ending in retinal pathologies. Curcumin, a major bioactive component obtained from the spice turmeric (Curcuma longa) rhizome has been used for centuries in Asian countries for cooking and for curi…