Search results for "RFA"
showing 10 items of 11106 documents
Marathon Race Affects Neutrophil Surface Molecules: Role of Inflammatory Mediators
2016
The fatigue induced by marathon races was observed in terms of inflammatory and immunological outcomes. Neutrophil survival and activation are essential for inflammation resolution and contributes directly to the pathogenesis of many infectious and inflammatory conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of marathon races on surface molecules related to neutrophil adhesion and extrinsic apoptosis pathway and its association with inflammatory markers. We evaluated 23 trained male runners at the Sao Paulo International Marathon 2013. The following components were measured: hematological and inflammatory mediators, muscle damage markers, and neutrophil function. The maratho…
NKCC1-Mediated GABAergic Signaling Promotes Postnatal Cell Death in Neocortical Cajal-Retzius Cells.
2016
During early development, a substantial proportion of central neurons undergoes programmed cell death. This activity-dependent process is essential for the proper structural and functional development of the brain. To uncover cell type-specific differences in the regulation of neuronal survival versus apoptosis, we studied activity-regulated cell death in Cajal-Retzius neurons (CRNs) and the overall neuronal population in the developing mouse cerebral cortex. CRNs in the upper neocortical layer represent an early-born neuronal population, which is important for cortical development and largely disappears by apoptosis during neonatal stages. In contrast to the overall neuronal population, ac…
Mutations in SKI in Shprintzen-Goldberg syndrome lead to attenuated TGF-β responses through SKI stabilization.
2020
ABSTRACTShprintzen-Goldberg syndrome (SGS) is a multisystemic connective tissue disorder, with considerable clinical overlap with Marfan and Loeys-Dietz syndromes. These syndromes have commonly been associated with enhanced TGF-β signaling. In SGS patients, heterozygous point mutations have been mapped to the transcriptional corepressor SKI, which is a negative regulator of TGF-β signaling that is rapidly degraded upon ligand stimulation. The molecular consequences of these mutations, however, are not understood. Here we use a combination of structural biology, genome editing and biochemistry to show that SGS mutations in SKI abolish its binding to phosphorylated SMAD2 and SMAD3. This resul…
Effect of contact lens surface properties on comfort, tear stability and ocular physiology.
2018
Aim: Retrospective analysis of different contact lens wearing groups suggests lens surface lubricity is the main factor influencing contact lens comfort. However, the examined commercially available contact lenses differ in material and design as well as surface properties. Hence this study isolates the contribution of lens surface properties using an ultra-thin coating technology. Methods: Nineteen habitual contact lens wearers (21.6. ±. 1.7years) wore formofilcon B soft monthly disposable contact lenses with and without coating technology modified surface properties for a month each in a randomised double-masked cross-over study. Objective non-invasive: breakup time (NIKBUT), NIKBUT avera…
Determinants of the Quality of Warfarin Control after Venous Thromboembolism and Validation of the SAMe-TT2-R2 Score: An Analysis of Hokusai-VTE.
2019
Background Time in therapeutic range (TTR) measures the quality of vitamin K antagonist (VKA) anticoagulation. In patients with atrial fibrillation, the dichotomized SAMe-TT2-R2 score (≥2 vs. < 2 points) can predict if adequate TTR is unlikely to be achieved. Aims We validated the SAMe-TT2-R2 score in patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) randomized to the warfarin arm of the Hokusai-VTE trial. Patients and Methods A total of 3,874 patients were included in the primary analysis (day 31–180 from randomization). The efficacy and safety outcomes were symptomatic recurrent VTE and major or clinically relevant non-major bleeding. Results The rates of recurrent VTE and bleeding events we…
Native Mitral Valve Endocarditis Caused by Neisseria elongata subsp. nitroreducens in a Patient with Marfan Syndrome: First Case in Italy and Review …
2016
Neisseria elongata(NE) is an aerobic Gram-negative organism that constitutes part of the commensal human normal oropharyngeal flora. Although previously considered not to be pathogenic, it has been recognized as an occasional cause of significant infections in humans. We report here the first case in Italy of infective endocarditis of a native prolapsing mitral valve in a patient with Marfan syndrome, caused by NE subspeciesnitroreducenswhich has been rarely isolated from clinical specimens. The culprit organism has been confirmed by mass spectrometry directly from the positive blood culture, as previously reported. The amplified gene has been deposited in GenBank under accession number KT5…
A poly-L-lactic acid/ collagen/glycosaminoglycan matrix for tissue engineering applications
2017
Adhesion of tissue cells to biomaterials is a prerequisite of paramount importance for the effectiveness of a tissue engineering construct (cell and scaffolds). Functionalization of polymeric scaffolds with organic polymers, such as collagen or proteoglycans, is a promising approach in order to improve the cytocompatibility. As a matter of fact, organic polymers, isolated directly from the extracellular matrix, contain a multitude of surface ligand (fibronectin, laminin, vitronectin) and arginine–glycine–aspartic acid-containing peptides that promote cell adhesion. In tissue engineering, the combination of organic and synthetic polymers gives rise to scaffolds characterized simultaneously …
Redox-Active Ferrocene grafted on H-Terminated Si(111): Electrochemical Characterization of the Charge Transport Mechanism and Dynamics
2019
AbstractElectroactive self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) bearing a ferrocene (Fc) redox couple were chemically assembled on H-terminated semiconducting degenerate-doped n-type Si(111) substrate. This allows to create a Si(111)|organic-spacer|Fc hybrid interface, where the ferrocene moiety is covalently immobilized on the silicon, via two alkyl molecular spacers of different length. Organic monolayer formation was probed by Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements, which were also used to estimate thickness and surface assembled monolayer (SAM) surface coverage. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements all…
Silver nanoparticle based coatings enhance adipogenesis compared to osteogenesis in human mesenchymal stem cells through oxidative stress.
2020
Silver nanoparticle (AgNP) based antibacterial surfaces were fabricated using plasma polymerization technology and their effects on differentiation of human bone-marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) were investigated in this study. The results showed that AgNP coated surfaces do not affect the initial adhesion, spreading and proliferation of hMSCs. Furthermore, the silver coated surface promoted adipogenic differentiation of hMSCs as demonstrated by more accumulation of lipid droplets and upregulation of adipogenesis-related genes such as peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPAR gamma), adipocyte determination and differentiation factor (ADD1) and CCAAT/enhancer bindi…
Matching the Directions of Electric Fields from Triboelectric and Ferroelectric Charges in Nanogenerator Devices for Boosted Performance
2020
Summary Embedding additional ferroelectric dipoles in contacting polymer layers is known to enhance the performance of triboelectricnanogenerator (TENG) devices. However, the influence of dipoles formed between the triboelectric surface charges on two contacting ferroelectric films has been ignored in all relevant studies. We demonstrate that proper attention to the alignment of the distinct dipoles present between two contacting surfaces and in composite polymer/BaTiO3 ferroelectric films can lead to up to four times higher energy and power density output compared with cases when dipole arrangement is mismatched. For example, TENG device based on PVAc/BaTiO3 shows energy density increase f…