Search results for "systems"
showing 10 items of 11952 documents
Thermosensory mapping of skin wetness sensitivity across the body of young males and females at rest and following maximal incremental running
2019
Key points: Humans lack skin receptors for wetness (i.e. hygroreceptors), yet we present a remarkable wetness sensitivity. Afferent inputs from skin cold-sensitive thermoreceptors are key for sensing wetness; yet, it is unknown whether males and females differ in their wetness sensitivity across their body and whether high intensity exercise modulates this sensitivity. We mapped sensitivity to cold, neutral and warm wetness across five body regions and show that females are more sensitive to skin wetness than males, and that this difference is greater for cold than warm wetness sensitivity. We also show that a single bout of maximal exercise reduced the sensitivity to skin wetness (i.e. hyg…
Temporal-spatial characteristics of phase-amplitude coupling in electrocorticogram for human temporal lobe epilepsy.
2017
Objective Neural activity of the epileptic human brain contains low- and high-frequency oscillations in different frequency bands, some of which have been used as reliable biomarkers of the epileptogenic brain areas. However, the relationship between the low- and high-frequency oscillations in different cortical areas during the period from pre-seizure to post-seizure has not been completely clarified. Methods We recorded electrocorticogram data from the temporal lobe and hippocampus of seven patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. The modulation index based on the Kullback-Leibler distance and the phase-amplitude coupling co-modulogram were adopted to quantify the coupling strength between t…
Polymorphisms in genes involved in T-cell co-stimulation are associated with blood pressure in women.
2019
In recent years, conclusive data have emerged on a relationship between immune system, especially the T-cell, and blood pressure (BP). The objective of the present study was to determine the association between BP and four polymorphisms in CD80, CD86, CD28 and CTLA4 genes that code for key proteins in the T-cell co-stimulation process, in a female cohort. To that end, an association study in a cohort of 934 women over 40 years old from two hospitals was done. Raw data showed a significant association between the SNP rs1129055 of CD86 gene and BP. Analyzing this association against inheritance patterns, higher SBP (p 0.000) and DBP (p = 0.005) values were observed in AA than in GG/GA genoty…
Longevity: Lesson from model organisms
2019
Research on longevity and healthy aging promises to increase our lifespan and decrease the burden of degenerative diseases with important social and economic effects. Many aging theories have been proposed, and important aging pathways have been discovered. Model organisms have had a crucial role in this process because of their short lifespan, cheap maintenance, and manipulation possibilities. Yeasts, worms, fruit flies, or mammalian models such as mice, monkeys, and recently, dogs, have helped shed light on aging processes. Genes and molecular mechanisms that were found to be critical in simple eukaryotic cells and species have been confirmed in humans mainly by the functional analysis of…
Peripapillary fluorescence lifetime reveals age-dependent changes using fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy in rats
2017
Abstract Many fundus diseases accompany fundus autofluorescence change. Fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscope (FLIO) is a latest technique in imaging fundus autofluorescence. With FLIO, the fundus fluorescence lifetime (FLT) is recorded topographically, assisting to diagnose and monitor multiple fundus diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the repeatability of FLT using FLIO on adult rats and to analyze the age-dependency of the peripapillary FLT of the fundus in a short spectral channel (498–560 nm) and a long spectral channel (560–720 nm). Sprague Dawley rats (n of eyes = 10) were used for repeatability experiments. Age-dependent changes were investigated in young (tw…
Depletion of CD56+CD3+ invariant natural killer T cells prevents allergen-induced inflammation in humanized mice
2021
Background CD56-expressing natural killer (NK) cells as well as invariant NK T (iNKT) cells have been shown to either promote or inhibit allergic immune responses. Objective The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of these cells in a recently developed humanized mouse model of allergen-induced IgE-dependent gut and lung inflammation. Methods Nonobese diabetic–severe combined immunodeficiency γ-chain knockout mice were injected intraperitoneally with human PBMCs or CD56-depleted (CD56neg) PBMCs from highly sensitized donors with birch or grass pollen allergy together with the respective allergen or with NaCl as a control. Three weeks later, the mice were challenged with th…
Paving the way of systems biology and precision medicine in allergic diseases: the Me DALL success story
2016
MeDALL (Mechanisms of the Development of ALLergy; EU FP7-CP-IP; Project No: 261357; 2010-2015) has proposed an innovative approach to develop early indicators for the prediction, diagnosis, prevention and targets for therapy. MeDALL has linked epidemiological, clinical and basic research using a stepwise, large-scale and integrative approach: MeDALL data of precisely phenotyped children followed in 14 birth cohorts spread across Europe were combined with systems biology (omics, IgE measurement using microarrays) and environmental data. Multimorbidity in the same child is more common than expected by chance alone, suggesting that these diseases share causal mechanisms irrespective of IgE sen…
Light-induced structural changes in a monomeric bacteriophytochrome
2016
International audience; Phytochromes sense red light in plants and various microorganism. Light absorption causes structural changes within the protein, which alter its biochemical activity. Bacterial phytochromes are dimeric proteins, but the functional relevance of this arrangement remains unclear. Here, we use time-resolved X-ray scattering to reveal the solution structural change of a monomeric variant of the photosensory core module of the phytochrome from Deinococcus radiodurans. The data reveal two motions, a bend and a twist of the PHY domain with respect to the chromophore-binding domains. Infrared spectroscopy shows the refolding of the PHY tongue. We conclude that a monomer of th…
Direct Sensing of Nutrients via a LAT1-like Transporter in Drosophila Insulin-Producing Cells
2016
Summary Dietary leucine has been suspected to play an important role in insulin release, a hormone that controls satiety and metabolism. The mechanism by which insulin-producing cells (IPCs) sense leucine and regulate insulin secretion is still poorly understood. In Drosophila, insulin-like peptides (DILP2 and DILP5) are produced by brain IPCs and are released in the hemolymph after leucine ingestion. Using Ca2+-imaging and ex vivo cultured larval brains, we demonstrate that IPCs can directly sense extracellular leucine levels via minidiscs (MND), a leucine transporter. MND knockdown in IPCs abolished leucine-dependent changes, including loss of DILP2 and DILP5 in IPC bodies, consistent wit…
Candida blood stream infections observed between 2011 and 2016 in a large Italian University Hospital: A time-based retrospective analysis on epidemi…
2019
Candida bloodstream infection (BSI) represents a growing infective problem frequently associated to biofilm production due to the utilization of intravascular devices. Candida species distribution (n = 612 strains), their biofilm production and hospital antifungal drug consumption were evaluated in different wards of a tertiary care academic hospital in Italy during the years 2011–2016. In the considered time window, an increasing number of Candida BSI (p = 0.005) and of biofilm producing strains were observed (p<0.0001). Although C. albicans was the species more frequently isolated in BSI with a major biofilm production, an increased involvement of non-albicans species was reported, partic…