Search results for "RIP"
showing 10 items of 9780 documents
A sensitive real-time RT-PCR reveals a high incidence of Southern tomato virus (STV) in Spanish tomato crops
2018
[EN] Southern tomato virus (STV) is a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) virus belonging to genus Amalgavirus (family Amalgamaviridae). STV has been detected in tomato plants showing different symptoms although it has not been demonstrated that STV is the causal agent. To study the STV incidence and its pathogenic role, a sensitive and quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assay (RT-qPCR) was developed. The standard curve perfonned with viral RNA transcripts allowed a wide dynamic range for STV quantitation from 10(4) to 10(11) copies/ng of total RNA. STV detection by RT-qPCR was 10(2)-fold more sensitive than conventional RT-PCR or RT-LAMP and 10(4)-fold more sens…
GABA and Gap Junctions in the Development of Synchronized Activity in Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Networks.
2017
The electrical activity of the brain arises from single neurons communicating with each other. However, how single neurons interact during early development to give rise to neural network activity remains poorly understood. We studied the emergence of synchronous neural activity in human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived neural networks simultaneously on a single-neuron level and network level. The contribution of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and gap junctions to the development of synchronous activity in hPSC-derived neural networks was studied with GABA agonist and antagonist and by blocking gap junctional communication, respectively. We characterized the dynamics of the network-wide…
Polyphosphate as a metabolic fuel in Metazoa: A foundational breakthrough invention for biomedical applications
2015
In animals, energy-rich molecules like ATP are generated in the intracellular compartment from metabolites, e.g. glucose, taken up by the cells. Recent results revealed that inorganic polyphosphates (polyP) can provide an extracellular system for energy transport and delivery. These polymers of multiple phosphate units, linked by high-energy phosphoanhydride bonds, use blood platelets as transport vehicles to reach their target cells. In this review it is outlined how polyP affects cell metabolism. It is discussed that polyP influences cell activity in a dual way: (i) as a metabolic fuel transferring metabolic energy through the extracellular space; and (ii) as a signaling molecule that amp…
Dry selection and wet evaluation for the rational discovery of new anthelmintics
2017
Helminths infections remain a major problem in medical and public health. In this report, atom-based 2D bilinear indices, a TOMOCOMD-CARDD (QuBiLs-MAS module) molecular descriptor family and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were used to find models that differentiate among anthelmintic and non-anthelmintic compounds. Two classification models obtained by using non-stochastic and stochastic 2D bilinear indices, classified correctly 86.64% and 84.66%, respectively, in the training set. Equation 1(2) correctly classified 141(135) out of 165 [85.45%(81.82%)] compounds in external validation set. Another LDA models were performed in order to get the most likely mechanism of action of anthelmin…
Mast cells contribute to autoimmune diabetes by releasing interleukin-6 and failing to acquire a tolerogenic IL-10+ phenotype
2017
Mast cells (MCs) are innate immune cells that exert positive and negative immune modulatory functions capable to enhance or limit the intensity and/or duration of adaptive immune responses. Although MCs are crucial to regulate T cell immunity, their action in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases is still debated. Here we demonstrate that MCs play a crucial role in T1D pathogenesis so that their selective depletion in conditional MC knockout NOD mice protects them from the disease. MCs of diabetic NOD mice are overly inflammatory and secrete large amounts of IL-6 that favors differentiation of IL-17-secreting T cells at the site of autoimmunity. Moreover, while MCs of control mice acquire…
Peculiarities of studying the effects of pathogen reduction technologies on platelets.
2016
The transfusion of platelet concentrates (PCs) is mainly used for treatment of thrombocytopenic, trauma or surgery patients. The integrity and safety of these platelet preparations, however, is compromised by the presence of pathogens, such as viruses, bacteria and parasites. The transfer of allogeneic donor leukocytes contaminating PCs can also potentially cause adverse reactions in recipients. These considerations prompted the development and implementation of pathogen reduction technologies (PRT), which are based on chemically induced cross-linking and inactivation of nucleic acids. While the incumbent PRT may provide some protection against transfusion-transmitted infections, they are i…
Bone regeneration in the stem cell era: safe play for the patient?
2017
The past decade has seen outstanding scientific progress in the field of stem cell (SC) research and clinical application. SCs are convenient both technically and biologically: they are easy to find and to culture and they can differentiate in virtually all tissues and even in whole organs. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSs) are a type of pluripotent SC generated in vitro directly from mature cells through the introduction of key transcription factors. The use of iPSs, however tantalizing, poses serious safety concerns because of their genomic instability. Recently, it has been suggested that the main mechanism of SC action relies on paracrine signals. Therefore, the secretome would be p…
Amorphous, Smart, and Bioinspired Polyphosphate Nano/Microparticles: A Biomaterial for Regeneration and Repair of Osteo-Articular Impairments In-Situ
2018
Using femur explants from mice as an in vitro model, we investigated the effect of the physiological polymer, inorganic polyphosphate (polyP), on differentiation of the cells of the bone marrow in their natural microenvironment into the osteogenic and chondrogenic lineages. In the form of amorphous Ca-polyP nano/microparticles, polyP retains its function to act as both an intra- and extracellular metabolic fuel and a stimulus eliciting morphogenetic signals. The method for synthesis of the nano/microparticles with the polyanionic polyP also allowed the fabrication of hybrid particles with the bisphosphonate zoledronic acid, a drug used in therapy of bone metastases in cancer patients. The r…
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…
Haploinsufficiency of the Primary Familial Brain Calcification Gene SLC20A2 Mediated by Disruption of a Regulatory Element
2020
OBJECTIVE Primary familial brain calcification (PFBC) is a rare cerebral microvascular calcifying disorder with diverse neuropsychiatric expression. Five genes were reported as PFBC causative when carrying pathogenic variants. Haploinsufficiency of SLC20A2, which encodes an inorganic phosphate importer, is a major cause of autosomal-dominant PFBC. However, PFBC remains genetically unexplained in a proportion of patients, suggesting the existence of additional genes or cryptic mutations. We analyzed exome sequencing data of 71 unrelated, genetically unexplained PFBC patients with the aim to detect copy number variations that may disrupt the expression of core PFBC-causing genes. METHODS Afte…