Search results for "Time"
showing 10 items of 12336 documents
Identification of Candida auris and related species by multiplex PCR based on unique GPI protein‐encoding genes
2020
Background The pathogen Candida auris is rapidly gaining clinical importance because of its resistance to antifungal treatments and its persistence in hospital environments. Early and accurate diagnosis of C. auris infections is crucial, however, the fungus has often been misidentified by commercial systems. Objectives To develop conventional and real-time PCR methods for accurate and rapid identification of C. auris and its discrimination from closely related species by exploiting the uniqueness of certain glycosylphosphatidylinositol-modified protein-encoding genes. Methods Species-specific primers for two unique putative GPI protein-encoding genes per species were designed for C. auris, …
Candida blood stream infections observed between 2011 and 2016 in a large Italian University Hospital: A time-based retrospective analysis on epidemi…
2019
Candida bloodstream infection (BSI) represents a growing infective problem frequently associated to biofilm production due to the utilization of intravascular devices. Candida species distribution (n = 612 strains), their biofilm production and hospital antifungal drug consumption were evaluated in different wards of a tertiary care academic hospital in Italy during the years 2011–2016. In the considered time window, an increasing number of Candida BSI (p = 0.005) and of biofilm producing strains were observed (p<0.0001). Although C. albicans was the species more frequently isolated in BSI with a major biofilm production, an increased involvement of non-albicans species was reported, partic…
DNA demethylation caused By 5-Aza-2'-Deoxycytidine induces mitotic alterations and aneuploidy
2016
Aneuploidy, the unbalanced number of chromosomes in a cell, is considered a prevalent form of genetic instability and is largely acknowledged as a condition implicated in tumorigenesis. Epigenetic alterations like DNA hypomethylation have been correlated with cancer initiation/progression. Furthermore, a growing body of evidence suggests the involvement of epigenome-wide disruption as a cause of global DNA hypomethylation in aneuploidy generation. Here, we report that the DNA hypomethylating drug 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (DAC), affects the correct ploidy of nearly diploid HCT-116 human cells by altering the methylation pattern of the chromosomes. Specifically, we show that a DAC-induced reduc…
Epilepsy in neuropathologically verified Alzheimer's disease.
2018
Abstract Purpose Subjects with Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been shown to be at a higher risk for epilepsy. The vast majority of the previous studies have not included a full neuropathological examination. Methods The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of epilepsy and clinicopathological characteristics in a well-defined study group of 64 subjects with AD. We evaluated the clinicopathological findings in 64 subjects (mean age at death 85 ± 8.6 years) from a longitudi-nal study cohort of patients with dementia. Results Eleven out of the 64 subjects (17%) had a history of epilepsy, which is comparable to previous studies. The subjects with AD and epilepsy were significantly…
Gene Expression and Apoptosis Levels in Cumulus Cells of Patients with Polymorphisms of FSHR and LHB Undergoing in Vitro Fertilization Program
2017
Background/Aims: FSH receptor (FSHR) Ala307Thr and Asn680Ser and LHβ chain (LHB) Trp28Arg and Ile35Thr polymorphisms affect the response to pharmacological ovarian stimulation with r-FSH in women undergoing assisted reproductive treatment (ART). Here, we evaluated the expression level of selected genes involved in follicle maturation and the possible onset of apoptosis in cumulus cells of patients with single and double FSHR and LHB polymorphisms, as potential markers of oocyte competence. Methods: Cumulus cells from 36 stimulated patients were collected and SNP genotyping performed by PCR. Gene expression was evaluated through real-time PCR, and apoptosis estimated via TUNEL assay, and cle…
Autophagy is induced by resistance exercise in young men, but unfolded protein response is induced regardless of age.
2017
AIM Autophagy and unfolded protein response (UPR) appear to be important for skeletal muscle homoeostasis and may be altered by exercise. Our aim was to investigate the effects of resistance exercise and training on indicators of UPR and autophagy in healthy untrained young men (n = 12, 27 ± 4 years) and older men (n = 8, 61 ± 6 years) as well as in resistance-trained individuals (n = 15, 25 ± 5 years). METHODS Indicators of autophagy and UPR were investigated from the muscle biopsies after a single resistance exercise bout and after 21 weeks of resistance training. RESULTS Lipidated LC3II as an indicator of autophagosome content increased at 48 hours post-resistance exercise (P < .05) and …
Simultaneous lipidomic and transcriptomic profiling in mouse brain punches of acute epileptic seizure model compared to controls
2018
In this study, we report the development of a dual extraction protocol for RNA and lipids, including phospholipids, endocannabinoids, and arachidonic acid, at high spatial resolution, e.g., brain punches obtained from whole frozen brains corresponding to four brain subregions: dorsal hippocampus, ventral hippocampus, basolateral amygdala, and hypothalamus. This extraction method combined with LC/multiple reaction monitoring for lipid quantification and quantitative PCR for RNA investigation allows lipidomic and transcriptomic profiling from submilligram amounts of tissue, thus benefiting the time and animal costs for analysis and the data reliability due to prevention of biological variabil…
Effect of mifepristone on the transcriptomic signature of endometrial receptivity
2018
Study question How does a single dose of mifepristone on Day 2 after the LH peak (LH + 2) affect the endometrial receptivity transcriptome as assessed by the receptive signature established by the endometrial receptivity analysis (ERA)? Summary answer A single dose of mifepristone on day LH + 2 renders the endometrium non-receptive by altering the transcriptome associated with endometrial receptivity. What is known already Mifepristone is a progesterone receptor modulator that has been shown to alter endometrial receptivity. The ERA is a computational predictor that utilizes gene expression data of 248 genes from next generation sequencing to identify endometrial receptivity status. Study d…
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…
Role of pulmonary surfactant protein Sp-C dimerization on membrane fragmentation: An emergent mechanism involved in lung defense and homeostasis.
2020
Surfactant protein C (SP-C) is a protein present in the pulmonary surfactant system that is involved in the biophysical properties of this lipoprotein complex, but it also has a role in lung defense and homeostasis. In this article, we propose that the link between both functions could rely on the ability of SP-C to induce fragmentation of phospholipid membranes and generate small vesicles that serve as support to present different ligands to cells in the lungs. Our results using bimolecular fluorescence complementation and tunable resistive pulse sensing setups suggest that SP-C oligomerization could be the triggering event that causes membrane budding and nanovesiculation. As shown by flu…