Adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells are promising as a regenerative therapy tool for defective tissues in mesenchymal lineage, including fat, bone, cartilage, and blood vessels. In potential ...future clinical applications, adipose-derived stem cell cryopreservation is an essential fundamental technology. The aim of this study is to define an adequate protocol for the cryopreservation of adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells, by comparing various protocols so as to determine the effects of cryopreservation on viability and chondrogenic differentiation potential of adipose-derived stem cells upon freeze-thawing of AT-MSCs colonies cryopreserved with standard and modified protocols, using flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. The study concludes that adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells could be long-term cryopreserved without any loss of their proliferative or differentiation potential.
Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading opportunistic infection in children with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but is uncommon in low prevalence regions. We aim to describe the changing epidemiology ...and clinical presentation of TB-HIV co-infection in a cohort of HIV-infected children in Spain.
Children diagnosed with TB between 1995 and 2016 in the paediatric HIV cohort were identified. The incidence and clinical presentation were compared in three periods: 1995-1999 (P1, before initiation of combined antiretroviral therapy, cART), 2000-2009 (P2, increase in immigration), and 2010-2016 (P3, decrease in immigration).
We included 29 TB cases among 1183 children aged <18 years (2.4%, 243/100 000 person-years). The proportion was stable in P1 and P2 (1.3%), but decreased in P3 (0.8%). The median age at TB diagnosis was 6.4 years (IQR 4-10.6); most children in P3 were aged >10 years (20% vs. 23.1% vs. 83.3%,
= 0.01). TB was diagnosed at HIV presentation in 11/29 children (37.9%). Foreign-born children accounted for respectively 0%, 8% and 67% of the total number of children in each period (
≤ 0.0001). One third had extrapulmonary TB; four children died (13.8%).
In our cohort, the incidence of TB-HIV co-infection decreased with decline in immigration. In regions with adequate cART coverage and low TB transmission, paediatric TB-HIV coinfection is uncommon, but associated with significant morbidity. Strategies for TB surveillance, diagnosis and treatment in this vulnerable population should be reinforced.
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•The Ant-tree clustering algorithm is adapted for colour quantization.•The algorithm performs the two basic operations of colour quantization.•A threshold determines if a pixel is ...associated to the most similar cluster.•Palette size can be limited, but a smaller size can be obtained for an image.•Computational results improve some well-known quantization methods.
Ant-tree is a clustering algorithm inspired by biological ants. This paper defines a variant of such algorithm to perform colour quantization. Some of the features of the basic Ant-tree have been adapted to obtain a quicker algorithm and to perform the main steps of colour quantization on a big input set. The centroid of every cluster defines a colour of the palette and once the complete colour palette is established, the algorithm represents each pixel of the original image by the colour associated to its cluster.
Computational results show that the error obtained for the quantized images is smaller than the error generated by some other well-known quantization methods.
Forest loss can affect ecosystem processes such as litter decomposition. In semi-arid areas, where forest loss is increasing, soil fauna can play a particularly important role on litter ...decomposition. However, few studies have addressed the effect of soil fauna on litter decomposition in fragmented semi-arid forests, and none within the dry season in which most litter is shed. In this study, we employed litterbags filled with a common substrate to assess forest size and invertebrate detritivore effects on decomposition. Our results showed an average 14% litter mass loss along 3–9 months of incubation in the dry season, with variations being independent of forest size. Although exclusion resulted in slightly lower abundance of invertebrate detritivores, litter decomposition was similar in exclusion and non-exclusion treatments. We found no significant relationships between fragment size and invertebrate abundance or richness, which in turn did not influence decomposition. Temperature or moisture limitations, and even photodegradation, could have masked differences in decomposition rates related to forest size during the dry season in semi-arid Chaco Serrano. Additionally, harsh environmental conditions during the incubation period could constrain the impact of invertebrate detritivores on the decomposition process. The absence of clear links between forest fragmentation, decomposition and soil fauna during the dry season, when conditions might be particularly limiting for this process, and when invertebrates could be expected to play a particularly important role, opens up new questions and highlights the complexity of this fundamental ecosystem process.
•We assessed the effects of forest size and soil fauna on litter decomposition.•Decomposition and invertebrate assemblages were independent of forest size.•Invertebrate detritivores did not influence litter mass loss during the dry season.•Climatic conditions and other untested factors could mask decomposition patterns.
Estrogens regulate a wide set of neuronal functions such as gene expression, survival and differentiation in a manner not very different from that exerted by neurotrophins or by growth factors. The ...best-studied hormonal action is the transcriptional activation mediated by estrogen receptors. However, the direct effects of estrogen on growth factor signaling have not been well clarified.
The present data show that estradiol, in vivo, induces a transient activation of GSK3 in the adult female rat hippocampus, followed by a more sustained inhibition, as inferred from phosphorylation levels of Tau. Similar data was obtained from cultured hippocampal neurons when treated with the hormone. The transient activation was confirmed by direct measure of GSK3 kinase activity.
In addition, our results show a novel complex of estrogen receptor α, GSK3, and β-catenin. The presence of the hormone removes β-catenin from this complex. There is a second complex, also affected by estradiol, in which Tau is associated with GSK3, β-catenin, and elements of the PI3 kinase complex. Considering the role of GSK3 in neurodegeneration, our data suggest that part of the neuroprotective effects of estrogen may be due to the control of GSK3.
This paper describes one of the first case studies using micro-diffraction laboratory-made systems to analyse painting cross-sections. Pigments, such as lead white, vermilion, red ochre, red lac, ...lapis lazuli, smalt, lead tin yellow type I, massicot, ivory black, lamp black and malachite, were detected in cross-sections prepared from six Bartolomé Esteban Murillo paintings by micro-Raman and micro-XRD combined with complementary techniques (optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, and FT-IR). The use of micro-XRD was necessary due to the poor results obtained with conventional XRD. In some cases, pigment identification was only possible by combining results from the different analytical techniques utilised in this study.
Impact microindentation is a novel method for measuring the resistance of cortical bone to indentation in patients. Clinical use of a handheld impact microindentation technique is expanding, ...highlighting the need to standardize the measurement technique. Here, we describe a detailed standard operation procedure to improve the consistency and comparability of the measurements across centers.
Abstract Introduction The decidual reaction and the formation of new vessels in the uterus are two crucial processes during embryo implantation. Previously, we observed that lysophosphatidic acid ...(LPA) increases cyclooxygenase-2 derived – prostaglandin E2 production during implantation in the rat uterus and that it augments the expression of decidualization (IGFBP-1) and vascularization (IL-10) markers. Both cyclooxygenase and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) are known enzymes involved in these processes. Thus, we became interested in studying which factors contribute to LPA receptor-specific role during the decidual and the vascular reaction at implantation. Methods We adopted a pharmacological approach in vitro incubating the uterus from rats on day 5 of gestation (day of implantation) with LPA, DGPP (a highly selective antagonist of LPA3, an LPA receptor) and cyclooxygenase and NOS selective and non-selective inhibitors. We determined NOS activity, prostaglandin E2 production and IGFBP-1 and IL-10 expression to evaluate decidualization and vascularization. Results We observed that LPA augmented the activity of the inducible NOS isoform through LPA1/LPA3. Inducible NOS activity participated in the induction of cyclooxygenase-2/prostaglandin E2 increase stimulated by LPA. Also, cyclooxygenase-2 derived prostaglandins mediated LPA-stimulatory action on NOS activity. Both cyclooxygenase-2 and inducible NOS mediated LPA effect on IGFBP-1 and IL-10 expression. Conclusions These results suggest the participation of LPA/LPA3 in the production of crucial molecules involved in vascularization and decidualization, two main processes that prepare the uterine milieu for embryo invasion during implantation.
Oral mucositis is one of the most common side effects in cancer patients receiving systemic antineoplastics. However, the underlying biological mechanisms leading to this condition are still unclear. ...For this reason, it has been hypothesised that systemic antineoplastics may cause an imbalance on the oral microbiota that subsequently triggers oral mucosa damage.
A systematic review was performed following the PRISMA protocol and the PICO question established was: patients diagnosed with cancer, who are candidates for receiving systemic antineoplastics (P=Patients), that undergo oral microbiome determinations (I=Intervention), before and after systemic antineoplastics administration (C=Comparison), to analyse changes in the oral microbiome composition (O=Outcome). The bibliographic search was carried out in PubMed and other scientific repositories.
Out of 166 obtained articles, only 5 met eligibility criteria. Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) was the most frequent type of cancer (40 %) among the participants. Only one of the studies included a control group of healthy subjects. Heterogeneity in the protocols and approaches of the included studies hindered a detailed comparison of the outcomes. However, it was stated that a decrease in bacteria α diversity is often associated with oral mucositis. On the other hand, fungal diversity was not associated with oral mucositis although α diversity was lower at baseline on patients developing oral candidiasis.
There is insufficient scientific evidence of oral microbiological changes in patients undergoing systemic antineoplastics. Further investigations ought to be carried out to identify microorganisms that might play a key role in the pathogenesis of oral mucosa damage in patients undergoing systemic antineoplastics.
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