Search results for "techniques"
showing 10 items of 4426 documents
Hereditary gastrointestinal cancers: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.
2019
Knowledge of genetic susceptibility to gastrointestinal cancers is constantly evolving with identification of new genes. Similarly, a better understanding of the genotype/phenotype relationship in patients with Lynch syndrome (LS) or familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is leading to more individualised surveillance recommendations. In addition, molecular profiling of patients with cancer has been shown to guide targeted therapies, such as immunotherapy. Specialists involved in the care of patients with gastrointestinal cancer should be familiar with the main hereditary cancer syndromes and refer patients to specialised cancer genetic units for adequate genetic counselling and to address sp…
Current and Future Trends in the Laboratory Diagnosis of Sexually Transmitted Infections
2021
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) continue to exert a considerable public health and social burden globally, particularly for developing countries. Due to the high prevalence of asymptomatic infections and the limitations of symptom-based (syndromic) diagnosis, confirmation of infection using laboratory tools is essential to choose the most appropriate course of treatment and to screen at-risk groups. Numerous laboratory tests and platforms have been developed for gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, trichomoniasis, genital mycoplasmas, herpesviruses, and human papillomavirus. Point-of-care testing is now a possibility, and microfluidic and high-throughput omics technologies promise to revo…
A human hepatocellular in vitro model to investigate steatosis
2006
The present study was designed to define an experimental model of hepatocellular steatosis with a fat overaccumulation profile in which the metabolic and cytotoxic/apoptotic effects could be separated. This was accomplished by defining the experimental conditions of lipid exposure that lead to significant intracellular fat accumulation in the absence of overt cytotoxicity, therefore allowing to differentiate between cytotoxic and apoptotic effects. Palmitic (C16:0) and oleic (Cl 8: 1) acids are the most abundant fatty acids (FFAs) in liver triglycerides in both normal subjects and patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Therefore, human hepatocytes and HepG2 cells were incub…
Immunochemical characterization of anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies in primary biliary cirrhosis
1988
Although the presence of anti-mitochondrial antibodies is the main characteristic of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), other autoantibodies have been described in this disease. This study employs immunoblot methods to test whether the sera of PBC patients also contain antibodies directed against nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChR). We show that the majority of patients' sera indeed react with AChR just as sera of myasthenic patients do. In contrast, however, these anti-AChR antibodies do not lead to significant clinical symptoms of myasthenia. In all cases studied, PBC sera recognized a protein with the molecular weight of the alpha-chain of acetylcholine receptor (40 kDa). In addition,…
Coffee and tea breaks for liver health
2017
Let food be your medicine (Hippocrates, 400 B. C.) The quality of diet, calorie intake and physical activity/sedentari-ness are pivotal drivers in the interplay between health and non-communicable diseases, and the battle against the risks associ-ated with Western-type behaviour is the top priority of medical societies and health institutions. Unfortunately, any attempt at adopting a healthy lifestyle is counteracted by unhealthy environmental pressure, which favours the diseases of affluence, including liver diseases. The typical Mediterranean diet, characterized by the consumption of complex carbohydrates, fibre-and antioxidant-rich vegetables, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, is considered…
Hypoosmolar conditions reduce extracellular volume fraction and enhance epileptiform activity in the CA3 region of the immature rat hippocampus
2006
The osmolarity of the extracellular space (ECS) compartment is an important factor determining the excitability of neuronal tissue. In the adult hippocampus an important role of osmolarity and ECS diffusion parameters on the susceptibility to epileptic events is well established, but the influence of hypo- and hyperosmolar conditions on the immature hippocampus remains elusive. To investigate the influence of osmolarity on epileptiform activity, extracellular field potentials were recorded in the CA3 region of hippocampal slices of immature (postnatal days 4-7) Wistar rats. The ECS diffusion parameters were determined by the real-time tetramethylammonium (TMA+) iontophoretic method with ion…
Beneficial Effect of Melatonin on Blastocyst In Vitro Production from Heat-Stressed Bovine Oocytes
2013
Melatonin may play an important role in protecting gametes and embryos from the potential harmful effects of oxidative stress. In this study, we first examined two different heat stress (HS) treatments for in vitro oocyte maturation (Experiment 1: 38.5 vs 41.0°C, during the first 20 h; Experiment 2: 38.5 vs 41.5°C, during the entire period) on bovine oocyte maturation and embryo development. Second, we tested different melatonin concentrations added to the maturation and culture medium (Experiment 3: 0, 10(-12) , 10(-9) , 10(-4) m; Experiment 4: 0, 10(-3) m), both with and without HS (38.5 or 41.5°C, respectively). In Experiment 1, the HS treatment resulted in a lower maturation rate and …
Vitrification of zona-free rabbit expanded or hatching blastocysts: a possible model for human blastocysts.
2003
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of one two-step (A) and two one-step (B1 and B2) vitrification procedures on denuded expanded or hatching rabbit blastocysts held in standard sealed plastic straws as a possible model for human blastocysts. The effect of blastocyst size was also studied on the basis of three size categories (I: diameter <200 μm; II: diameter 200-299 μm; III: diameter ≥300 μm). METHODS: Rabbit expanded or hatching blastocysts were vitrified at day 4 or 5. Before vitrification, the zona pellucida was removed using acidic phosphate buffered saline. For the two-step procedure, prior to vitrification, blastocysts were pre-equilibrated in a solut…
Influence of polyunsaturated fatty acids on Cortisol transport through MDCK and MDCK-MDR1 cells as blood-brain barrier in vitro model.
2011
Abstract Transport across the blood–brain barrier is a relevant factor in the pharmacological action of many drugs and endogenous substances whose action site is located in brain. An overactive P-gp has been suggested to be of relevance for the resistance of the HPA system to be suppressed by glucocorticoids, which is one of the best described biological abnormalities in certain types of depression. PUFA acids have shown clinical efficacy in depressed patients and the hypothesis is that these compounds are able to reduce HPA axis activity as this effect has been shown in animal models of depression. The objective of the present work was (1) to characterize Cortisol transport through MDCK an…
Inhibition of ovarian steroidogenesis by cyclic-GMP in a fly
2003
1479-6805 0022-0795; Previous investigations in the female blowfly Phormia regina have shown that 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX), a broad spectrum inhibitor of phosphodiesterases (PDEs), fails to mimic the steroidogenic effects of cAMP on ovaries, although it efficiently increases the concentrations of this second messenger. In this study, experiments carried out to clear up this contradiction demonstrated that IBMX, besides its effect on cAMP, also increased cGMP concentrations in blowfly ovary and that these two cyclic nucleotides controlled ovarian steroidogenesis antagonistically. In particular, a selective inhibitor of cGMP-specific PDEs, unlike IBMX, had a very strong negative eff…