Urotensin II (U-II) is a vasoactive peptide that interacts with a specific receptor named UTR. Recently, our group has demonstrated increased UTR expression in both human colon adenocarcinoma cell ...lines and adenomatous polyps, as well as in colon carcinoma samples if compared to healthy colon samples of the same patients. We also showed that an UTR agonist induced an increase in colon adenocarcinoma cell growth in vitro, whereas the UTR block with a specific antagonist caused an inhibition of their growth and an inhibition of about 50% of both motility and cell invasion. Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) associated with an increased baseline risk for colon cancer compared with the general population, and this risk is mostly attributed to chronic inflammation and immune dysregulation. This risk increases along with the duration of the disease, as demonstrated by many studies. There are no UTR expression data related to UC, and we therefore evaluated UTR expression in ill colon biopsies and in healthy colon ones of patients with UC and colon biopsies of healthy patients.
We enrolled, prior to informed consent, 11 patients (5 males and 6 females, age range 29-75 years, median age 52 years) with first UC diagnosis compared to 11 healthy controls (6 males and 5 females, age range 30-78 years, median age 55 years). We have therefore sampled inflammatory and healthy tissue in UC patients. We have also taken colic tissue samples in healthy subjects. Evaluation of receptor expression was performed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Western Blot analysis. The ANOVA Test (P<0.05) was used for statistical analysis.
We found: 1) increased expression of UTR in 11/11 UC patients with ill mucosa biopsies compared to healthy controls in RT-PCR and in Western Blot analysis; 2) increased UTR expression in 11/11 UC patients with ill colon biopsies compared to the results obtained from healthy colon biopsies of the same patients both in RT-PCR and in Western Blot analysis; 3) increased UTR expression in 9/11 UC patients healthy colon biopsy specimens compared to healthy controls.
UTR could be considered as an inflammatory UC disease marker because its expression is greater in the mucosa of ill colon than in the healthy colon of the same patients and compared to healthy controls.
We present an avatar system designed to facilitate the embodiment of humanoid robots by human operators, validated through iCub3, a humanoid developed at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT). ...More precisely, the contribution of the paper is twofold: first, we present the humanoid iCub3 as a robotic avatar which integrates the latest significant improvements after about fifteen years of development of the iCub series; second, we present a versatile avatar system enabling humans to embody humanoid robots encompassing aspects such as locomotion, manipulation, voice, and face expressions with comprehensive sensory feedback including visual, auditory, haptic, weight, and touch modalities. We validate the system by implementing several avatar architecture instances, each tailored to specific requirements. First, we evaluated the optimized architecture for verbal, non-verbal, and physical interactions with a remote recipient. This testing involved the operator in Genoa and the avatar in the Biennale di Venezia, Venice - about 290 Km away - thus allowing the operator to visit remotely the Italian art exhibition. Second, we evaluated the optimised architecture for recipient physical collaboration and public engagement on-stage, live, at the We Make Future show, a prominent world digital innovation festival. In this instance, the operator was situated in Genoa while the avatar operates in Rimini - about 300 Km away - interacting with a recipient who entrusted the avatar a payload to carry on stage before an audience of approximately 2000 spectators. Third, we present the architecture implemented by the iCub Team for the ANA Avatar XPrize competition.
The aim of the present study was to investigate tyrosine hydroxylase, catechol-O-methyl transferase and Wolfram syndrome 1 genes in mood disorders using a family-based association approach.
The ...sample included 134 nuclear mood disorder families, with subjects affected by bipolar disorder (n=103) or major depressive disorder (n=58). All subjects were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction techniques.
No significant transmission disequilibrium was found in the overall sample for any polymorphism. Analysis considering bipolar subjects only, or psychopathology traits as affection status did not influence the observed results.
The study could not support the involvement of tyrosine hydroxylase, catechol-O-methyl transferase and Wolfram syndrome 1 polymorphisms in mood disorders.
Consideration about the possibility to integrate vague uncertainty notions into numerical simulation modeling tools may be a very interesting research field. In this way, it will be possible to ...exploit more efficient and robust modeling evaluation tools in the study of high productivity and flexibility production systems. In literature, few works investigated on the possibility to cope with the lack of numerical models able to deal with ill-defined uncertainty. In particular, if it is possible to describe uncertainty by statistical distribution, the methods of classical discrete event simulation theory are able to model the considered system thoroughly and may be regarded as an exhaustive tool. Otherwise, if uncertainty cannot be described by statistical distribution, no robust methods tools are available to model and analyze discrete complex dynamic systems. In this work, the integration of Fuzzy Sets in discrete event simulation theory is analyzed. Firstly, uncertainty is considered from different point of views and all the necessary issues to introduce fuzziness in discrete event simulation models are illustrated. Then, a possibility-based approach is considered and fuzzy set theory concepts have been introduced in such a context. The soundness of simulation mechanisms has been formally established by considering the new questions arising from the description of system variables as fuzzy sets. Finally, the application of the proposed methodology to a simplified test case is showed and the obtained results are presented.
Loss of lean body mass is frequently reported in patients with end-stage renal disease (ES-RD). Inadequate nutrient intake, superimposed illnesses, endocrine disorders, uremia and acidosis are some ...of the potential causes of muscle depletion. Previous reports on experimental models show that lean body mass depletion results from enhancement of muscle tissue protein catabolism, mainly associated with activation of ATP-ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis. Little is known, however, about the affects on this proteolytic system in ESRD patients on maintenance hemodialysis (HD). The present study was designed to investigate the expression of ubiquitin mRNAs in skeletal muscle of patients with ESRD on maintenance HD.
Biopsies from the rectus abdominis muscle were obtained from eight ESRD patients and from six control subjects undergoing surgery for benign disease. Ubiquitin mRNA levels were measured by Northern blotting analysis.
Patients with ESRD had mild metabolic acidosis, as a result of chronic intermittent HD. There were no significant differences between HD patients and controls with regard to the 1.2kb polyubiquitin mRNA species (332.9+/-139 vs 324.2+/-60; ns), but the levels of the 2.4 kb mRNA species were significantly lower in HD patients than in controls (1687+/-542 vs 2529.9+/-325, p=0.01). No correlation was observed between ubiquitin mRNA levels and nutritional parameters and degree of acidosis.
The present study found that the ubiquitin mRNA levels were not increased in the muscle of stable, mildly acidotic hemodialysis patients.
We describe the goals and architecture of a new framework that aims at facilitating the deployment of adaptation services running on intermediate edge servers. The main goal is to guarantee ...robustness and quick prototyping of functions that should integrate mobile/fixed-network services. Moreover, we intend to design a distributed architecture with the purpose of guaranteeing efficient delivery.
Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) have been recently involved in the modulation of several biological activities including cancer. Many human tumors show deregulated expression of miRNAs targeting oncogenes and/or ...tumor suppressors, thus identifying miRNAs as new molecular targets for cancer therapy.
Nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB is strongly activated in human anaplastic thyroid carcinomas (ATCs). Because the regulation of miRNA expression is under control of RNA polymerase II-dependent transcription factors, we stably inactivated NF-kappaB in the ATC-derived FRO cell line and analyzed its miRNA profile in comparison with the parental counterpart by using a miRNA chip microarray.
The analysis revealed that a number of miRNAs were differentially expressed in the two cell lines. Among others, the miR-146a showed a strong down-regulation that was confirmed by quantitative real time RT-PCR. The expression of miR-146a was almost undetectable in mouse embryonic fibroblasts isolated from the RelA knockout mice and was restored after reexpression of RelA, thus indicating that miR-146a transcription was controlled by NF-kappaB. The inhibition of miR-146a expression in FRO cells decreased their oncogenic potential and increased the susceptibility to chemotherapeutic drug-induced apoptosis. No difference was found in the growth rate between untransfected and miR-146a-null FRO cells. Importantly, the miR-146a resulted in overexpression of human ATC specimens compared with the normal thyroid tissue.
Our results show that NF-kappaB contributes to anaplastic thyroid cancer up-regulating the expression of miR-146a.
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