Search results for "stance"
showing 10 items of 7708 documents
Development of artemisinin resistance in malaria therapy
2019
Malaria affects 200 million people worldwide. Today, the most successful treatments are artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACT). Resistance has already been described for the elder anti-malarials chloroquine, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and mefloquine. Unfortunately, over the last few years there has also been an emerging resistance to the successfully used drug artemisinin, especially in African and Asian countries. A systematic PubMed literature research was conducted for studies published between January 2002 and December 2018. Despite ACTs continue to be first line treatment, the number of studies is rising reporting on artemisinin resistance mutations. Most publications reported on…
Glycometabolic Alterations in Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency: Does Replacement Therapy Play a Role?
2018
Secondary adrenal insufficiency (SAI) is a potentially life-threatening endocrine disorder due to an impairment of corticotropin (ACTH) secretion from any process affecting the hypothalamus or pituitary gland. ACTH deficit can be isolated or associated with other pituitary failures (hypopituitarism). An increased mortality due to cardiovascular, metabolic, and infectious diseases has been described in both primary and secondary adrenal insufficiency. However, few studies have provided compelling evidences on the underlying mechanism in SAI, because of the heterogeneity of the condition. Recently, some studies suggested that inappropriate glucocorticoid (GCs) replacement therapy, as for dose…
Decreases in Circulating Concentrations of Long-Chain Acylcarnitines and Free Fatty Acids During the Glucose Tolerance Test Represent Tissue-Specific…
2019
Background: Insulin plays a pivotal role in the regulation of both carbohydrate and lipid intermediate turnover and metabolism. In the transition from a fasted to fed state, insulin action inhibits lipolysis in adipocytes, and acylcarnitine synthesis in the muscles and heart. The aim of this study was to measure free fatty acid (FFA) and acylcarnitine levels during the glucose tolerance test as indicators of tissue-specific insulin resistance. Results: Insulin release in response to glucose administration decreased both FFA and long-chain acylcarnitine levels in plasma in healthy control animals by 30% (120 min). The glucose tolerance test and [3H]-deoxy-D-glucose uptake in tissues revealed…
Protective effect of quercetin on high-fat diet-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in mice is mediated by modulating intestinal microbiota imb…
2016
Gut microbiota is involved in obesity, metabolic syndrome and the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). It has been recently suggested that the flavonoid quercetin may have the ability to modulate the intestinal microbiota composition, suggesting a prebiotic capacity which highlights a great therapeutic potential in NAFLD. The present study aims to investigate benefits of experimental treatment with quercetin on gut microbial balance and related gut-liver axis activation in a nutritional animal model of NAFLD associated to obesity. C57BL/6J mice were challenged with high fat diet (HFD) supplemented or not with quercetin for 16 weeks. HFD induced obesity, metabolic syndrom…
Effects of a ketogenic diet in overweight women with polycystic ovary syndrome.
2019
Abstract Background Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder in women during reproductive age. It is characterised clinically by oligo-ovulation or anovulation, hyper-androgenism, and the presence of polycystic ovaries. It is associated with an increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. The onset of PCOS has been associated to several hereditary and environmental factors, but insulin resistance plays a key pathogenetic role. We sought to investigate the effects of a ketogenic diet (KD) on women of childbearing age with a diagnosis of PCOS. Methods Fourteen overweight women with diagnosis of PCOS underwent to a ketoge…
Interaction of calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) and substance P (SP) in human skin.
2016
Calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) and substance P (SP) are neuropeptides that are simultaneously released from nociceptive C-fibers. CGRP is a potent vasodilator, inducing a long-lasting increase in superficial skin blood flow, whereas SP induces only a brief vasodilation but a significant plasma extravasation. CGRP and SP may play important roles in the pathophysiology of various pain states but little is known about their interaction. Different concentrations of SP (ranging from 10-5M to 10-9M) were applied to the volar forearm of 24 healthy subjects via dermal microdialysis. SP was applied either alone or in combination with CGRP10-9M and CGRP 10-6M. As expected, SP induced a transi…
Obesity as a Risk Factor for Alzheimer’s Disease: Implication of Leptin and Glutamate
2019
Obesity is known to induce leptin and insulin resistance. Leptin is a peptide hormone synthesized in adipose tissue that mainly regulates food intake. It has been shown that insulin stimulates the production of leptin when adipocytes are exposed to glucose to encourage satiety; while leptin, via a negative feedback, decreases the insulin release and enhances tissue sensitivity to it, leading to glucose uptake for energy utilization or storage. Therefore, resistance to insulin is closely related to leptin resistance. Obesity in middle age has also been related to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In recent years, the relation between impaired leptin signaling pathway and the onset of AD has been stu…
Trend of Drug Abuse in 2011– 2014 in Italy
2017
Doping, although was born as a medication and not with the purpose of enhancing performance, is a widespread practice in all sports, between amateur and gym-goers. The Italian sports federations were in second place worldwide for positive doping-test, after Russia. This review focuses on the analysis of data collected by Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) in the 2012–2014 period, showing that the most commonly used substances were anabolic androgenic agents, glucocorticoids, diuretics and stimulants. Prevention in doping could be a key to limit the damage caused by this harmful practice both, for the physical health and the athlete’s moral integrity and anti-doping campai…
MicroRNAs in Muscle: Characterizing the Powerlifter Phenotype
2017
Powerlifters are the epitome of muscular adaptation and are able to generate extreme forces. The molecular mechanisms underpinning the significant capacity for force generation and hypertrophy are not fully elucidated. MicroRNAs (miRs) are short non-coding RNA sequences that control gene expression via promotion of transcript breakdown and/or translational inhibition. Differences in basal miR expression may partially account for phenotypic differences in muscle mass and function between powerlifters and untrained age-matched controls. Muscle biopsies were obtained from m. vastus lateralis of 15 national level powerlifters (25.1 ± 5.8 years) and 13 untrained controls (24.1 ± 2.0 years). The …
Validation of the Sepsis MetaScore for Diagnosis of Neonatal Sepsis
2016
What’s known on this subject Neonates are at increased risk for developing sepsis, but this population often exhibits ambiguous clinical signs that complicate the diagnosis of infection. No biomarker has yet shown enough diagnostic accuracy to rule out sepsis at the time of clinical suspicion. What this study adds We show that a gene-expression-based signature is an accurate objective measure of the risk of sepsis in a neonate or preterm infant, and it substantially improves diagnostic accuracy over that of commonly used laboratory-based testing. Implementation might decrease inappropriate antibiotic use. Background Neonatal sepsis can have devastating consequences, but accurate diagnosis i…