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Women's socioeconomic position in ontogeny is associated with improved immune function and lower stress, but not with height
2020
AbstractImmune function, height and resource accumulation comprise important life history traits in humans. Resource availability models arising from life history theory suggest that socioeconomic conditions influence immune function, growth and health status. In this study, we tested whether there are associations between family income during ontogeny, adult height, cortisol level and immune response in women. A hepatitis B vaccine was administered to 66 young Latvian women from different socioeconomic backgrounds, and blood samples were then collected to measure the level of antibodies that the women produced in response to the vaccination. Cortisol levels were measured from plasma sample…
Co-existence of virulence factors and antibiotic resistance in new Klebsiella pneumoniae clones emerging in south of Italy
2018
Abstract Background Endemic presence of Klebsiella pneumoniae resistant to carbapenem in Italy has been due principally to the clonal expansion of CC258 isolates; however, recent studies suggest an ongoing epidemiological change in this geographical area. Methods 50 K. pneumoniae strains, 25 carbapenem-resistant (CR-Kp) and 25 susceptible (CS-Kp), collected from march 2014 to march 2016 at the Laboratory of Bacteriology of the Paolo Giaccone Polyclinic University hospital of Palermo, Italy, were characterized for antibiotic susceptibility and fully sequenced by next generation sequencing (NGS) for the in silico analysis of resistome, virulome, multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) and core sin…
Are the Motives for Food Choices Different in Orthorexia Nervosa and Healthy Orthorexia?
2019
Recent research points to the bidimensional nature of orthorexia, with one dimension related to interest in healthy eating (healthy orthorexia) and another dimension related to a pathological preoccupation with eating healthily (orthorexia nervosa). Research was needed to provide further support for this differentiation. We examined the food-choice motives related to both aspects of orthorexia. Participants were 460 students from a Spanish university who completed the Teruel Orthorexia Scale and the Food Choice Questionnaire. By means of structural equation modeling, we analyzed the relationship between orthorexia, food-choice motives, gender, body mass index, and age. The motives predictin…
The two-stage process in visual working memory consolidation
2019
AbstractTwo hypotheses have been proposed to explain the formation manner for visual working memory (VWM) representations during the consolidation process: an all-or-none process hypothesis and a coarse-to-fine process hypothesis. However, neither the all-or-none process hypothesis nor the coarse-to-fine process hypothesis can stipulate clearly how VWM representations are formed during the consolidation process. In the current study, we propose a two-stage process hypothesis to reconcile these hypotheses. The two-stage process hypothesis suggests that the consolidation of coarse information is an all-or-none process in the early consolidation stage, while the consolidation of detailed infor…
Human hippocampal neurogenesis drops sharply in children to undetectable levels in adults.
2018
New neurons continue to be generated in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus of the adult mammalian hippocampus(1-5). This process has been linked to learning and memory, stress and exercise, and is thought to be altered in neurological disease(6-10). In humans, some studies have suggested that hundreds of new neurons are added to the adult dentate gyrus every day(11), whereas other studies find many fewer putative new neurons(12-14). Despite these discrepancies, it is generally believed that the adult human hippocampus continues to generate new neurons. Here we show that a defined population of progenitor cells does not coalesce in the subgranular zone during human fetal or postnatal …
The Role of Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMP-2 and MMP-9) in Ageing and Longevity: Focus on Sicilian Long-Living Individuals (LLIs)
2020
Extracellular matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a group of proteins that activate substrates by enzymatic cleavage and, on the basis of their activities, have been demonstrated to play a role in ageing. Thus, in order to gain insight into the pathophysiology of ageing and to identify new markers of longevity, we analysed the activity levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in association with some relevant haematochemical parameters in a Sicilian population, including long-living individuals (LLIs, ≥95 years old). A cohort of 154 healthy subjects (72 men and 82 women) of different ages (age range 20-112) was recruited. The cohort was divided into five subgroups: the first group with subjects less than…
Chronic, but not acute, fatigue predicts self-reported attentional driving errors in mothers attending infant children
2019
AbstractMothers attending infant children usually experience high levels of fatigue, and fatigue has been shown to be related to car crashes through attentional errors, among other causes. The current study investigates the effects of fatigue on the attentional errors while driving of women attending infant children. A sample of 112 women—67 attending infant children and 45 not attending—filled out self-report questionnaires assessing acute fatigue, chronic fatigue, and attention-related driving errors. A mediational analysis showed that women attending infant children had higher levels of fatigue, and that chronic fatigue, but not acute fatigue, was related to attentional errors while driv…
Detection of circulating miRNAs: comparative analysis of extracellular vesicle-incorporated miRNAs and cell-free miRNAs in whole plasma of prostate c…
2017
Abstract Background Circulating cell-free miRNAs have emerged as promising minimally-invasive biomarkers for early detection, prognosis and monitoring of cancer. They can exist in the bloodstream incorporated into extracellular vesicles (EVs) and ribonucleoprotein complexes. However, it is still debated if EVs contain biologically meaningful amounts of miRNAs and may provide a better source of miRNA biomarkers than whole plasma. The aim of this study was to systematically compare the diagnostic potential of prostate cancer-associated miRNAs in whole plasma and in plasma EVs. Methods RNA was isolated from whole plasma and plasma EV samples from a well characterised cohort of 50 patient with …
Adjuvant chemotherapy and relative survival of patients with stage II colon cancer - A EURECCA international comparison between the Netherlands, Denm…
2016
BACKGROUND: The aim of the present EURECCA international comparison is to compare adjuvant chemotherapy and relative survival of patients with stage II colon cancer between European countries.METHODS: Population-based national cohort data (2004-2009) from the Netherlands (NL), Denmark (DK), Sweden (SE), England (ENG), Ireland (IE), and Belgium (BE) were obtained, as well as single-centre data from Lithuania. All surgically treated patients with stage II colon cancer were included. The proportion of patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy was calculated and compared between countries. Besides, relative survival was calculated and compared between countries.RESULTS: Overall, 59,154 patients …
Genome-wide association meta-analysis highlights light-induced signaling as a driver for refractive error
2018
Skin affections after sulfur mustard (SM) exposure include erythema, blister formation and severe inflammation. An antidote or specific therapy does not exist. Anti-inflammatory compounds as well as substances counteracting SM-induced cell death are under investigation. In this study, we investigated the benzylisoquinoline alkaloide berberine (BER), a metabolite in plants like berberis vulgaris, which is used as herbal pharmaceutical in Asian countries, against SM toxicity using a well-established in vitro approach. Keratinocyte (HaCaT) mono-cultures (MoC) or HaCaT/THP-1 co-cultures (CoC) were challenged with 100, 200 or 300 mM SM for 1 h. Post-exposure, both MoC and CoC were treated with 1…