Search results for "bioinformatics"
showing 10 items of 1632 documents
Partial Sleep Restriction Activates Immune Response-Related Gene Expression Pathways: Experimental and Epidemiological Studies in Humans
2013
Epidemiological studies have shown that short or insufficient sleep is associated with increased risk for metabolic diseases and mortality. To elucidate mechanisms behind this connection, we aimed to identify genes and pathways affected by experimentally induced, partial sleep restriction and to verify their connection to insufficient sleep at population level. The experimental design simulated sleep restriction during a working week: sleep of healthy men (N = 9) was restricted to 4 h/night for five nights. The control subjects (N = 4) spent 8 h/night in bed. Leukocyte RNA expression was analyzed at baseline, after sleep restriction, and after recovery using whole genome microarrays complem…
Efficiency of transgenesis using sperm-mediated gene transfer: generation of hDAF transgenic pigs.
2000
SINCE the beginning of this century, replacement of failing human organs with their animal counterparts has been an interesting topic of debate for writers and scientists. In the 1960s, prolonged survival after kidney transplantation from chimpanzee to human was obtained in the United States and Europe. Nevertheless, both the progressive improvement in surgical technique and in immunosuppressant therapy and the availability of cadaveric organs and living donation have reduced the interest in xenotransplantation. Because of the increasing requests for organs and the lack of donors to meet that need, xenotransplantation has become a reliable option again for temporary organ replacement (eg, o…
Hsp60 expression, new locations, functions and perspectives for cancer diagnosis and therapy.
2008
Hsp60 in eukaryotes is considered typically a mitochondrial chaperone (also called Cpn60) but in the last few years it has become clear that it also occurs in the cytosol, the cell surface, the extracellular space, and in the peripheral blood. Studies with prokaryotic models have shown that Hsp60 plays a role in assisting nascent polypeptides to reach a native conformation, and that it interacts with Hsp10 (which also resides in the mitochondria and is also named Cpn10). In addition to its role in polypeptide folding in association with Hsp10, other functions and interacting molecules have been identified for Hsp60 in the last several years. Some of these newly identified functions are asso…
Association Between Chromosome 9p21 Variants and the Ankle-Brachial Index Identified by a Meta-Analysis of 21 Genome-Wide Association Studies
2012
Background— Genetic determinants of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) remain largely unknown. To identify genetic variants associated with the ankle-brachial index (ABI), a noninvasive measure of PAD, we conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association study data from 21 population-based cohorts. Methods and Results— Continuous ABI and PAD (ABI ≤0.9) phenotypes adjusted for age and sex were examined. Each study conducted genotyping and imputed data to the ≈2.5 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in HapMap. Linear and logistic regression models were used to test each SNP for association with ABI and PAD using additive genetic models. Study-specific data were combined using fi…
Prognostic Value of Complement Properdin in Cancer
2021
© 2021 Mangogna, Varghese, Agostinis, Alrokayan, Khan, Stover, Belmonte, Martorana, Ricci, Bulla and Kishore. The complement system is readily triggered by the presence of damage-associated molecular patterns on the surface of tumour cells. The complement alternative pathway provides rapid amplification of the molecular stress signal, leading to complement cascade actvation to deal with pathogens or malignant cells. Properdin is the only known positive regulator of the alternative pathway. In addition, properdin promotes the phagocytic uptake of apoptotic T cells by macrophages and dendritic cells without activating the complement system, thus, establishing its ability to recognize “altered…
Implications for Estrogens in Parkinson's Disease: An Epidemiological Approach
2007
Abstract: Evidence from experimental and epidemiological studies suggests a role of sex hormones in the pathogenic process leading to neurodegenerative diseases, (i.e., Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease). The effects of sexual steroid hormones are complex and vary with the events of women's fertile life. Estrogens are supposed to influence dopamine synthesis, metabolism, and transport; however, there is no consensus regarding the direction, locus, and mechanism of the effect of estrogens on the dopaminergic system. A neuroprotective effect of estrogens has been demonstrated in 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-animal models of Parkinson's disease (PD). Epidemiological st…
Erythrocyte deformability, plasma lipid peroxidation and plasma protein oxidation in a group of OSAS subjects
2016
Considering that obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is usually associated with endothelial dysfunction, atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disorders, our aim was to examine the erythrocyte deformability and the oxidative status in a group of OSAS subjects. We consecutively enrolled 48 subjects with OSAS defined after a 1-night cardiorespiratory sleep study, subsequently subdivided according to the apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) value in two subgroups: Low (L = 21 subjects with AHI30) and High (H = 27 subjects with AHI30). We evaluated the erythrocyte deformability, expressed as elongation index (EI) and the parameters of the oxidative status, such as lipid peroxidation (expressed as thioba…
Potential involvement of serotonin receptor genes with age of onset and gender in schizophrenia: a preliminary study in a Spanish sample.
2009
Visceral obesity and metabolic syndrome: two faces of the same medal?
2009
In this review, we have analyzed the role of visceral obesity in the occurrence of metabolic syndrome (MetS). MetS is a common metabolic disorder that has been related recently to the increasing prevalence of obesity. The disorder is defined in various ways, but in the near future a new definition(s) should be applicable worldwide. The pathophysiology has been largely attributed, in the past years, to insulin resistance, although several epidemiological and pathophysiological data now indicate visceral obesity as a main factor in the occurrence of all the components of MetS. In view of this, relationships among visceral obesity, free fatty acids, dyslipidemia and insulin resistance have bee…