Search results for "Wester"
showing 10 items of 1157 documents
Inducible galectins are expressed in the inflamed pharynx of the ascidian Ciona intestinalis
2011
Although ascidians belong to a key group in chordate phylogenesis, amino acid sequences of Ciona intestinalis galectin-CRDs (CiLgals-a and -b) have been retained too divergent from vertebrate galectins. In the present paper, to contribute in disclosing Bi-CRD galectin evolution a novel attempt was carried out on CiLgals-a and -b CRDs phylogenetic analysis, and their involvement in ascidian inflammatory responses was shown. CiLgals resulted aligned with Bi-CRD galectins from vertebrates (Xenopus tropicalis, Gallus gallus, Mus musculus, Homo sapiens), cephalochordates (Branchiostoma floridae), echinoderms (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) and a mono-CRD galectin from the ascidian Clavelina pict…
LPS-induced microglial secretion of TNFα increases activity-dependent neuronal apoptosis in the neonatal cerebral cortex.
2012
During the pre- and neonatal period, the cerebral cortex reveals distinct patterns of spontaneous synchronized activity, which is critically involved in the formation of early networks and in the regulation of neuronal survival and programmed cell death (apoptosis). During this period, the cortex is also highly vulnerable to inflammation and in humans prenatal infection may have a profound impact on neurodevelopment causing long-term neurological deficits. Using in vitro and in vivo multi-electrode array recordings and quantification of caspase-3 (casp-3)-dependent apoptosis, we demonstrate that lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation causes rapid alterations in the pattern of spontaneous b…
Bcl-2 is a negative regulator of interleukin-1β secretion in murine macrophages in pharmacological-induced apoptosis
2010
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Cucurbitacin R, a natural anti-inflammatory product, has been shown to exhibit activity against both adjuvant-induced arthritis and delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions induced by various agents. Previous studies have demonstrated that the effects of cucurbitacin R stem from its inhibition of both cytokine production and lymphocyte proliferation. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHES Effects of cucurbitacin R were investigated on lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Cell cycle evolution was analysed by flow cytometry, detection of apoptosis by DNA ladder, Bcl-2, p21, p53, Bax, cleaved caspase-1 (p10), caspase-9, and caspase-3, cleaved caspase (p17) and interleukin-1β d…
The prophenoloxidase system is activated during the tunic inflammatory reaction of Ciona intestinalis
2008
Phenoloxidase (PO) activity was examined in the tunic tissue of Ciona intestinalis following lipopolysaccharide (LPS) intratunic injection. Tunic homogenate supernatant (THS), assayed with the Dopa-MBTH reaction, displayed Ca(2+)-independent PO activity that was raised by LPS and further enhanced by proteases. Specific inhibitors (tropolone, phenylthiourea, diethylthiocarbamate) supported the specificity of the reaction. Assay with soybean trypsin inhibitor showed that, in the tunic, PO activation with trypsin was not significantly inhibited suggesting that proteases diverse from serine proteases were involved. In vivo experiments were carried out by injecting isosmotic medium or LPS, and T…
Redox Proteomics of the Inflammatory Secretome Identifies a Common Set of Redoxins and Other Glutathionylated Proteins Released in Inflammation, Infl…
2015
Protein cysteines can form transient disulfides with glutathione (GSH), resulting in the production of glutathionylated proteins, and this process is regarded as a mechanism by which the redox state of the cell can regulate protein function. Most studies on redox regulation of immunity have focused on intracellular proteins. In this study we have used redox proteomics to identify those proteins released in glutathionylated form by macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) after pre-loading the cells with biotinylated GSH. Of the several proteins identified in the redox secretome, we have selected a number for validation. Proteomic analysis indicated that LPS stimulated the releas…
Protection by nitric oxide against liver inflammatory injury in animals carrying a nitric oxide synthase-2 transgene
2001
22 pages, 7 figures, 1 table.
The Ancient Commentators of Plato and Aristotle
2009
In late antiquity the works of Plato and Aristotle were subject to intense study, which eventually led to the development of a new literary form, the philosophical commentary. Until recently these commentaries were understood chiefly as sources of information for the masters, Plato and Aristotle, they commented upon. However, in recent years, it has become increasingly acknowledged that the commentators themselves - Aspasius, Alexander, Themistius, Porphyry, Proclus, Philoponus, Simplicius and others - even though they worked in the Platonist-Aristotelian framework, contributed to this tradition in original, innovative and significant ways such that their commentaries are philosophically im…
The Triumphs? Golden Age : a comparison between three European translations of Ilicino?s Commentary.
2020
During the last part of the fifteenth and the first decades of the sixteenth centuries, the dissemination of Petrarch’s Trionfi – the so-called ‘second wave’ of Petrarchism – was characterized by the extraordinary editorial success, in Italy as well as in the rest of Western Europe, of Bernardo Ilicino’s Commento on the Trionfi. By promoting an erudite, encyclopedic, and moralizing reading of Petrarch’s poem, Ilicino’s commentary effectively became a lens through which generations of European readers approached the text. Nonetheless, the dissemination of the commentary proved not to be immune from the influence of sixteenth-century lyrical Petrarchism, which started developing almost at the…
On the Origin of Metaphors
2015
In this article I study the genesis of metaphors from an evolutionary perspective. Analyzing 414 cartoons published after the death of the cartoonists of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, I propose a metaphoric founder effect with the metaphors “PENCIL IS A WEAPON,” “PENCIL IS A CARTOONIST,” and “PENCIL IS FREEDOM,” and a subsequent metaphor drift that creates many related metaphors. Additionally, the success of these metaphors turns the pencil meme into a very efficient and fast-spreading item representing not only the work of cartoonists, but also the fundamental values of Western culture, such as freedom of expression.
Talis hominibus fuit oratio qualis vita. Nietzsche y la narración de sí
2015
Ecce Homo certainly is an unconventional autobiography. Both its structure and its contents are in fact quite different from that traditionally adopted. First, in Ecce Homo life and literary production basically coincide; second, in that book Nietzsche deals with an “I” which is not the traditional “subject” of Western philosophy. In this paper I shall argue that in Ecce Homo Nietzsche tries to develop a new kind of subjectivity. In particular, Nietzsche rejects the idea of an unchanging, absolute, substance subject, and sees it as a mobile construction, something that can be described only insofar as it “becomes what it is”, that is, as it consciously reacts to its unavoidable destiny.