Vascular changes can be a risk factor for recurrent and new events of stroke. However, few information is known regarding the variables related to aortic pulse wave morphology in stroke individuals.
...To analyze aortic pulse wave morphology (arterial stiffness indices, hemodynamics and vascular variables) and to compare the paretic and non-paretic sides in individuals after chronic stroke.
In this cross-sectional study stroke individuals had arterial stiffness indices, hemodynamics and vascular variables assessed with brachial artery oscillometry.
-test (CI95%) was used in order to compare the variables between the paretic and non-paretic sides.
Twenty individuals were included, 65% men (60.3
16.7 years). The following variables: (mean difference CI95%): coefficient of reflection (-2.33 -4.60 to -0.07), peak of ejection wave, P1 (5.32 2.75 to 7.90 and peak of ejection wave, P2 (6.17 2.55 to 9.78), central diastolic blood pressure (mean difference IC95%): (-3.75 -6.09 to -1.40), central systolic blood pressure (-6.17 -9.74 to -2.59), mean arterial pressure (-4.46 -7.08 to -1.84), peripheral diastolic blood pressure (-3.48 -5.94 to -1.02) and peripheral systolic blood pressure (-5.53 -9.54 to -1.52) were higher in paretic than non-paretic side. Hemodynamics parameters were similar in both sides.
In this study we demonstrated, for the first time, that many parameters from aortic pulse wave were higher in paretic compared with non-paretic side in individuals after chronic stroke, suggesting that peripheral vascular changes affect heart-vascular coupling in these individuals.
Aims/hypothesis
We determined the contribution to insulin resistance of the PH domain leucine-rich repeat protein phosphatase (PHLPP), which dephosphorylates Akt at Ser473, inhibiting its activity. ...We measured the abundance of PHLPP in fat and skeletal muscle from obese participants. To study the effect of PHLPP on insulin signalling,
PHLPP
(also known as
PHLPP1
) was overexpressed in HepG2 and L6 cells.
Methods
Subcutaneous fat samples were obtained from 82 morbidly obese and ten non-obese participants. Skeletal muscle samples were obtained from 12 obese and eight non-obese participants. Quantification of PHLPP-1 in human tissues was performed by immunoblotting. The functional consequences of recombinant
PHLPP1
overexpression in hepatoma HepG2 cells and L6 myoblasts were investigated.
Results
Of the 82 obese participants, 31 had normal fasting glucose, 33 impaired fasting glucose and 18 type 2 diabetes. PHLPP-1 abundance was twofold higher in the three obese groups than in non-obese participants (
p
= 0.004). No differences were observed between obese participants with normal fasting glucose, impaired fasting glucose or type 2 diabetes. PHLPP-1 abundance was correlated with basal Akt Ser473 phosphorylation (
r
= −0.48;
p
= 0.001), BMI (
r
= 0.44;
p
< 0.0001), insulin (
r
= 0.35;
p
< 0.0001) and HOMA (
r
= 0.38;
p
< 0.0001). PHLPP-1 abundance was twofold higher in the skeletal muscle of 12 obese participants than in that of eight non-obese participants (
p
< 0.0001). Insulin treatment of HepG2 cells resulted in a dose- and time-dependent upregulation of PHLPP-1. Overexpression of
PHLPP1
in HepG2 cells and L6 myoblasts resulted in impaired insulin signalling involving Akt/glycogen synthase kinase 3, glycogen synthesis and glucose transport.
Conclusions/interpretation
Increased abundance of PHLPP-1, production of which is regulated by insulin, may represent a new molecular defect in insulin-resistant states such as obesity.
In this paper we propose a full upper limb exoskeleton for motor rehabilitation of reaching, grasping and releasing in post-stroke patients. The presented system takes into account the hand ...pre-shaping for object affordability and it is driven by patient's intentional control through a self-paced asynchronous Motor Imagery based Brain Computer Interface (MI-BCI). The developed antropomorphic eight DoFs exoskeleton (two DoFs for the hand, two for the wrist and four for the arm) allows full support of the manipulation activity at the level of single upper limb joint. In this study, we show the feasibility of the proposed system through experimental rehabilitation sessions conducted with three chronic post-stroke patients. Results show the potential of the proposed system for being introduced in a rehabilitation protocol.
The acute toxicity of bacterial surfactants LBBMA111A, LBBMA155, LBBMA168, LBBMA191 and LBBMA201 and the synthetic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) on the bioluminescent bacterium Vibrio ...fischeri was evaluated by measuring the reduction of light emission (EC20) by this microorganism when exposed to different surfactant concentrations. Moreover, the toxic effects of different concentrations of biological and synthetic surfactants on the growth of pure cultures of isolates Acinetobacter baumannii LBBMA04, Acinetobacter junni LBBMA36, Pseudomonas sp. LBBMA101B and Acinetobacter baumanni LBBMAES11 were evaluated in mineral medium supplemented with glucose. The EC20 values obtained confirmed that the biosurfactants have a significantly lower toxicity to V. fischeri than the SDS. After 30min of exposure, bacterial luminescence was almost completely inhibited by SDS at a concentration of 4710mg L−1. Growth reduction of pure bacterial cultures caused by the addition of biosurfactants to the growth medium was lower than that caused by SDS.
The gastrointestinal tract of the adult human represents the habitat of the ecological community of commensal, symbiotic and pathogenic microorganisms, defined as the gut microbiota, which has more ...than 100 trillion microorganisms representing one of the most complex ecosystems. Colonization of the gastrointestinal tract by microorganisms begins at the time of birth. Contrary to what was previously hypothesized, a large number of fundamental functions for the host are attributed to the gut microbiota to date. Therefore, the gut microbiota does not represent a passive set of microbes hosted inside the human organism but plays a crucial role in the balance of the organism itself. An alteration of the microbiota is a phenomenon known as dysbiosis. The latter can be implicated in the development of complex liver diseases like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The aim of this review was to describe the most interesting data linking the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with the gut microbiota and, therefore, to underline the importance of the microbiota itself, as a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Liver steatosis in patients with chronic infection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is important from multiple standpoints: faster disease progression, more frequent hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis ...development or worse therapy response. Liver biopsy as diagnostic method, is in recent years more and more challenged due to its well-known flaws. Hepatic steatosis index (HSI) and triglyceride-glucose (TyG) Index, are surrogate scores developed in the first place for noninvasive assessment of steatosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, their use in the context of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) virus infection is still unclear. Aim of our study was to assess the accuracy of both HSI and TyG index in patients with CHC.
The cohort included 814 patients with CHC infection in whom liver biopsy was performed. After implementing strict criteria for sample adequacy and necessary data, 424 patients were finally enrolled in our study. Histological findings were used as a reference point, and surrogate scores HSI and TyG index were expressed through receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves in order to assess their ability in determining patients without (<5%) or with steatosis (>5%), but also to address their ability in assessing between different degrees of steatosis.
The average age of study population was 37.09 years and the majority of patients were men (67%). Liver steatosis was detected in approximately half of the liver biopsy samples (50.4%). About 5% of them had severe steatosis. The area under the ROC curve values for HSI and TyG index when detecting liver steatosis were 0.76 and 0.629, respectively. Similar values were obtained comparing between absence of steatosis and mild steatosis (5-30%).
Non-invasive surrogate scores HSI and TyG index in CHC patients, have good performance to detect the presence of steatosis. In this context, these tools are cheap, widely available and could be valuable asset in liver steatosis assessment outside liver biopsy.
Exposure to noise produces cognitive and emotional disorders, and recent studies have shown that auditory stimulation or deprivation affects hippocampal function. Previously, we showed that exposure ...to high-intensity sound (110 dB, 1 min) strongly inhibits Schaffer-CA1 long-term potentiation (LTP). Here we investigated possible mechanisms involved in this effect. We found that exposure to 110 dB sound activates c-fos expression in hippocampal CA1 and CA3 neurons. Although sound stimulation did not affect glutamatergic or GABAergic neurotransmission in CA1, it did depress the level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is involved in promoting hippocampal synaptic plasticity. Moreover, perfusion of slices with BDNF rescued LTP in animals exposed to sound stimulation, whereas BDNF did not affect LTP in sham-stimulated rats. Furthermore, LM22A4, a TrkB receptor agonist, also rescued LTP from sound-stimulated animals. Our results indicate that depression of hippocampal BDNF mediates the inhibition of LTP produced by high-intensity sound stimulation.
Celiac Disease (CD) is an autoimmune disease involving the small bowel, generated by the ingestion of gluten-containing foods in genetically predisposed subjects. Currently, the unique therapy for CD ...is the absolute adherence to gluten-free diet, but this treatment has been related to the onset of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). In this systematic review, we provide an update from the most recent studies on the risk of developing NAFLD patients adhering to GFD.
According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Statement (PRISMA) criteria, we performed a systematic literature search on PubMed and Google Scholar from 2012 to 2021.
In the present systematic review, eight studies investigated how GFD in CD patients may be a risk factor for the onset of NAFLD from a minimum of six months to the maximum follow-up period represented by a median of 10 years.
Present systematic review evaluates how GFD plays a key role in NAFLD for consumption of products rich in saturated fats and carbohydrates that promotes accumulation of lipids and lead to hepatic steatosis and inflammation.
Psoriasis is a chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disease characterized by erythematous plaques that can extend along the entire skin surface. In the latest years, it has been shown that serum ...calprotectin correlated strongly with several inflammatory biomarkers. Since high levels of calprotectin have been found in psoriatic lesions, it is of paramount importance to investigate the role of serum calprotectin as a possible novel diagnostic marker of psoriasis. Aim of our prospective pilot study was to assess the level of serum calprotectin in psoriatic patients.
Between January 2018 and July 2019, 45 subjects were enrolled at the Dermatology Unit of Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, Italy. Thirty-two of them were psoriatic patients and 13 healthy controls. Psoriasis severity was assessed by the Psoriasis Area Severity Index.
A statistically significant difference between the two groups (P=0.01) was found in terms of body mass index, higher among patients than in controls. By performing the Student's t-test for unpaired data, serum calprotectin resulted significantly higher (P=0.033) among psoriatic patients than in controls. Furthermore, performing the receiver operator characteristic curve analysis, serum calprotectin showed a significant area under the curve, implying its possible role in finding psoriatic patients. Our study aimed to evaluate the serum levels of calprotectin in a group of psoriatic patients and in a control group. The results showed that serum calprotectin levels were significantly higher in the patient group than in the control group. This result confirms the observations present in the literature.
In this pilot study psoriatic patients had a significant high level of serum calprotectin than healthy subjects, and this biomarker had high accuracy in identifying patients. Further studies, with larger sample size will need to confirm our data.
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