Search results for "Vent"

The role of oxidative stress in cardiovascular disease caused by social isolation and loneliness

2020

Loneliness and social isolation are common sources of chronic stress in modern society. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that loneliness and social isolation increase mortality risk as much as smoking or alcohol consumption and more than physical inactivity or obesity. Loneliness in human is associated with higher blood pressure whereas enhanced atherosclerosis is observed in animal models of social isolation. Loneliness and social isolation lead to activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis, enhanced sympathetic nerve activity, impaired parasympathetic function and a proinflammatory immune response. These mechanisms have been implicated in the development o…

Vitamin D in malaria: more hypotheses than clues

2019

Abstract Vitamin D is a secosteroid hormone regulating calcium and phosphate metabolism, immune response and brain development. Low blood 25(OH)D levels have been reported in patients affected by infectious diseases caused by parasites, including malaria. Despite the high effectiveness of antimalarials, malaria is burdened with high morbidity and mortality, and the search for additional therapies is rapidly growing. Furthermore, available preventive measures have proved to be barely effective so far. Finding new prevention and therapy tools is a matter of urgency. Studies on animal models and humans have hypothesized some mechanisms by which the hormone can influence malaria pathogenesis, a…

Imaging Bacterial Colonies and Phage-Bacterium Interaction at Sub-Nanometer Resolution Using Helium-Ion Microscopy

2017

Imaging of microbial interactions has so far been based on well‐established electron microscopy methods. This study presents a new way to study bacterial colonies and interactions between bacteria and their viruses, bacteriophages (phages), in situ on agar plates using helium ion microscopy (HIM). In biological imaging, HIM has advantages over traditional scanning electron microscopy with its sub‐nanometer resolution, increased surface sensitivity, and the possibility to image nonconductive samples. Furthermore, by controlling the He beam dose or by using heavier Ne ions, the HIM instrument provides the possibility to mill out material in the samples, allowing for subsurface imaging and in …

Paving the way for a gold standard of care for infertility treatment: improving outcomes through standardization of laboratory procedures.

2016

Infertility affects over 70 million couples globally. Access to, and interest in, assisted reproductive technologies is growing worldwide, with more couples seeking medical intervention to conceive, in particular by IVF. Despite numerous advances in IVF techniques since its first success in 1978, almost half of the patients treated remain childless. The multifactorial nature of IVF treatment means that success is dependent on many variables. Therefore, it is important to examine how each variable can be optimized to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients. The current approach to IVF is fragmented, with various protocols in use. A systematic approach to establishing optimum best pra…

Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 4 Regulates Adult Neural Stem Cell Proliferation and Differentiation in Response to Insulin

2017

Abstract Insulin is one of the standard components used to culture primary neurospheres. Although it stimulates growth of different types of cells, the effects of insulin on adult neural stem cells (NSCs) have not been well characterized. Here, we reveal that insulin stimulates proliferation, but not survival or self-renewal, of adult NSCs. This effect is mediated by insulin receptor substrate 2 (IRS2) and subsequent activation of the protein kinase B (or Akt), leading to increased activity of the G1-phase cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (Cdk4) and cell cycle progression. Neurospheres isolated from Irs2-deficient mice are reduced in size and fail to expand in culture and this impaired proliferati…

Editorial: The Molecular Mechanisms of Cyclic AMP in Regulation of Immunity and Tolerance

2017

Fibres as functional foods and the effects on gut hormones: The example of β-glucans in a single arm pilot study

2018

Abstract Nutritional styles as Mediterranean and DASH diets are associated with lower incidences of certain chronic diseases and long life expectancy. The reason lays on their different contribution in fibers, polyphenols (from vegetables and fruit) and proteins. Barley is high fiber cereal that contains high amount of β-glucans and insoluble fibers that it was recognized having healthy benefits. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of β-glucans intake on glycaemic response, cholesterol and intestinal hormones levels. A single arm pilot study was performed with ten healthy individual which, consumed pasta enriched with 6% β-glucans for 30 days. Blood was collected at fasting and…

Sociovirology: Conflict, Cooperation, and Communication among Viruses

2017

Viruses are involved in various interactions both within and between infected cells. Social evolution theory offers a conceptual framework for how virus-virus interactions, ranging from conflict to cooperation, have evolved. A critical examination of these interactions could expand our understanding of viruses and be exploited for epidemiological and medical interventions.

2020

Bacterial strains of the Lactobacillaceae family are widely used as probiotics for their multifaceted potential beneficial properties. However, no official recommendations for their clinical use exist since, in many cases, oral administrations of these bacteria displayed limited beneficial effects in human. Additional research is thus needed to improve the efficiency of existing strains with strong potential. In this context, we assess in vitro the effects of nine polyphenols to stimulate biofilm formation by lactobacilli, a feature enhancing their functionalities. Among these polyphenols, we identify trans-Resveratrol (referred to hereafter as Resveratrol) as a potent inducer of biofilm fo…

PSPU-Net for Automatic Short Axis Cine MRI Segmentation of Left and Right Ventricles

2020

[EN] Characterization of the heart anatomy and function is mostly done with magnetic resonance image cine series. To achieve a correct characterization, the volume of the right and left ventricle need to be segmented, which is a timeconsuming task. We propose a new convolutional neural network architecture that combines U-net with PSP modules (PSPU-net) for the segmentation of left and right ventricle cavities and left ventricle myocardium in the diastolic frame of short-axis cine MRI images and compare its results against a classic 3D U-net architecture. We used a dataset containing 399 cases in total. The results showed higher quality results in both segmentation and final volume estimati…