Background. Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may be harmful for health. A global trend in this area is the search for natural compounds that have a ...proven beneficial effect and no clinical complications. Phaseolus vulgaris (bean) is a vegetable highly consumed worldwide. One of its effects, the most reported, is weight reduction in overweight individuals. Objective. The objective of this study was to investigate the antiobesity activity of this legume in mature 3T3-L1 adipocytes and in rat white adipose tissue in an ex vivo model. Design. Mature adipocytes 3T3-L1 and rat adipose tissue were treated with bean extracts. We quantified lipolysis in mature 3T3-L1 adipocytes and in rat white adipose tissue in an ex vivo model. Results. In an ex vivo assay with adipose tissue, methanolic and aqueous green bean extracts increased glycerol release to the medium compared to control (p<0.05 and p<0.001 respectively). Treatment of 3T3-L1 adipocytes with green bean extracts (800 and 1000 µg/mL) increased glycerol release significantly (p<0.0001). Extracts at concentrations between 500 and 1000 µg/mL reduced intracellular triglyceride accumulation by 34.4% and 47.1% compared to control (p<0.0001). Discussion. Our results propose that bioactive compounds of green beans exert a direct mechanism on adipocytes through lipolysis. Conclusion. We have identified a novel capacity of bean extracts related to lipolytic activity both in vitro and ex vivo, resulting in a powerful lipolytic effect. Moreover, we also found that bean extracts has an antiadipogenic effect during the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. These results suggest that bean is a good candidate for the development of functional ingredients that can help reduce the high rates of death from cardiovascular diseases associated with obesity.
Searching for a neurobiological understanding of human intellectual capabilities has long occupied those very capabilities. Brain gyrification, or folding of the cortex, is as highly evolved and ...variable a characteristic in humans as is intelligence. Indeed, gyrification scales with brain size, and relationships between brain size and intelligence have been demonstrated in humans 1–3. However, gyrification shows a large degree of variability that is independent from brain size 4–6, suggesting that the former may independently contribute to cognitive abilities and thus supporting a direct investigation of this parameter in the context of intelligence. Moreover, uncovering the regional pattern of such an association could offer insights into evolutionary and neural mechanisms. We tested for this brain-behavior relationship in two separate, independently collected, large cohorts—440 healthy adults and 662 healthy children—using high-resolution structural neuroimaging and comprehensive neuropsychometric batteries. In both samples, general cognitive ability was significantly associated (pFDR < 0.01) with increasing gyrification in a network of neocortical regions, including large portions of the prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule, and temporoparietal junction, as well as the insula, cingulate cortex, and fusiform gyrus, a regional distribution that was nearly identical in both samples (Dice similarity coefficient = 0.80). This neuroanatomical pattern is consistent with an existing, well-known proposal, the Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory of intelligence 7, and is also consistent with research in comparative evolutionary biology showing rapid neocortical expansion of these regions in humans relative to other species. These data provide a framework for understanding the neurobiology of human cognitive abilities and suggest a potential neurocellular association.
•Associations between local brain gyrification and general intelligence (g) were found•Regional gyrification-g associations predominated in frontoparietal regions•The results were confirmed in two large, independent samples (children and adults)•The findings were consistent across age, sex, and method of calculating of g
Gregory et al. describe associations between regional brain gyrification and general cognitive ability in two large, independent cohorts analyzed using parallel methodologies. The neuroanatomical pattern found is congruent with leading proposals concerning the neural basis of cognitive ability and consistent with comparative biological research.
Some Onchocercidae nematodes such as
Pelecitus
are parasites of medical and veterinary importance. The adult stage of
Pelecitus
has been reported infecting birds, and the microfilaria has been ...associated to human blindness. However, in some of these cases, the nematode was incompletely identified at the species level due to the scarcity of morphological taxonomic keys and, also, to the lack of molecular diagnostic analysis. Here, we report a new
Pelecitus
species in a crested caracara (
Caracara cheriway
) producing a severe tenosynovitis and microfilarial dermatitis. It is also the first record of
Pelecitus
in an American bird of prey. Clinical and histopathological features are described, contributing towards our understanding of the pathogenesis of
Pelecitus
and the health and conservation of wild bird populations. Our study also provides new information on the molecular diagnosis of this parasite and highlights the potential role of wild birds as
Pelecitus
reservoirs, and health risk for humans and wildlife.
Urban nature is widely recognized to be vital for sustainable urban development due to its wide range of benefits to urban residents. One of these benefits is urban nature’s contribution to promoting ...pro-environmental behaviour. This behaviour can reduce individual consumption, thereby decreasing the overall ecological footprint of urban areas. However, there is limited empirical evidence for a link between urban nature and pro-environmental behaviour. To test this link, we apply the value-belief-norm theory by examining the relationship between learning in urban nature and environmental values among Singaporean residents (
n
= 1,500). Our findings showed that learning in urban nature affected biospheric values and personal norms of the public. In turn, these values and norms promoted the public’s support for certified timber products, organic products, and boycotts of non-sustainable products. Relational values also supported these impacts. These benefits indicate an urban ecosystem service transcending city boundaries as urban nature in one region can support reducing an ecological footprint in other regions. These study findings may contribute to finding a contribution of urban nature as a nature-based approach to encouraging sustainable consumption, and a role of relational values in promoting pro-environmental behaviour.
Urban populations benefit greatly from the ecosystem services provided by urban green and blue spaces. While the equity of provision of and access to urban green and blue spaces has been widely ...explored, research on equity of ecosystem service provision is relatively scant. Using household level data, our study aims to assess the supply equity of five regulatory ecosystem services in Singapore. We employed linear mixed-effects models and Hot Spot Analysis to analyze their distributional equity across individual households of various demographic characteristics (horizontal inequality), and calculated Gini coefficient for the distribution of PM
10
removal service among households categorised into demographic subgroups (vertical inequality). Our results show little evidence of inequitable ecosystem service provision among Singapore's diverse socio-demographic groups. This can be attributed to the early integration of environmental management strategies and meticulous socio-economic desegregation efforts into urban development plans, which maximised provision and maintenance of urban green spaces to all residents.
The pathogenesis of malignant melanoma involves the interplay of tumor cells with normal host elements, but the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here, we show that milk fat globule ...EGF-8 (MFG-E8), a secreted protein expressed at high levels in the vertical growth phase of melanoma, promotes disease progression through coordinated alpha(v)beta(3) integrin signaling in the tumor microenvironment. In a murine model of melanoma, MFG-E8 enhanced tumorigenicity and metastatic capacity through Akt-dependent and Twist-dependent pathways. MFG-E8 augmented melanoma cell resistance to apoptosis, triggered an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and stimulated invasion and immune suppression. In human melanoma cells, MFG-E8 knockdown attenuated Akt and Twist signaling and thereby compromised tumor cell survival, EMT, and invasive ability. MFG-E8-deficient human melanoma cells also showed increased sensitivity to small molecule inhibitors of insulin-like growth factor I receptor and c-Met. Together, these findings delineate pleiotropic roles for MFG-E8 in the tumor microenvironment and raise the possibility that systemic MFG-E8 blockade might prove therapeutic for melanoma patients.
Summary
Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable neoplasm caused by proliferation of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow (BM). MM is characterized frequently by a complete or partial deletion of ...chromosome 13q14, seen in more than 50% of patients at diagnosis. Within this deleted region the tripartite motif containing 13 (TRIM13, also termed RFP2) gene product has been proposed to be a tumour suppressor gene (TSG). Here, we show that low expression levels of TRIM13 in MM are associated with chromosome 13q deletion and poor clinical outcome. We present a functional analysis of TRIM13 using a loss‐of‐function approach, and demonstrate that TRIM13 downregulation decreases tumour cell survival as well as cell cycle progression and proliferation of MM cells. In addition, we provide evidence for the involvement of TRIM13 downregulation in inhibiting the NF kappa B pathway and the activity of the 20S proteasome. Although this data does not support a role of TRIM13 as a TSG, it substantiates important roles of TRIM13 in MM tumour survival and proliferation, underscoring its potential role as a novel target for therapeutic intervention.
Constitutive B-cell lymphoma 6 (Bcl-6) expression was undetectable in multiple myeloma (MM) cell lines, except U266 cells. However, it was up-regulated by coculture with bone marrow (BM) stromal ...cell-culture supernatant (SCCS). Bcl-6 expression in patient MM cells in the BM was positive. Anti–interleukin-6 (IL-6)–neutralizing antibody significantly blocked SCCS-induced Bcl-6 in MM cells. Indeed, IL-6 strongly triggered Bcl-6 expression in MM cells, whereas Janus kinase inhibitor and STAT3 siRNA down-regulated Bcl-6. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) also triggered Bcl-6, but independently of STAT3, whereas IκB kinaseβ inhibitor down-regulated TNF-α–induced Bcl-6, indicating that the canonical nuclear factor-κB pathway mediates TNF-α–induced Bcl-6 expression. Importantly, down-regulation of Bcl-6 by shRNA significantly inhibited MM cell growth in the presence of SCCS. Our results therefore suggest that Bcl-6 expression in MM cells is modulated, at least in part, via Janus kinase/STAT3 and canonical nuclear factor-κB pathways and that targeting Bcl-6, either directly or via these cascades, inhibits MM cell growth in the BM milieu.
Colon cancer is a deadly disease affecting millions of people worldwide. Current treatment challenges include management of disease burden as well as improvements in detection and targeting of tumor ...cells. To identify disease state-specific surface antigen signatures, we combined fluorescent cell barcoding with high-throughput flow cytometric profiling of primary and metastatic colon cancer lines (SW480, SW620, and HCT116). Our multiplexed technique offers improvements over conventional methods by permitting the simultaneous and rapid screening of cancer cells with reduced effort and cost. The method uses a protein-level analysis with commercially available antibodies on live cells with intact epitopes to detect potential tumor-specific targets that can be further investigated for their clinical utility. Multiplexed antibody arrays can easily be applied to other tumor types or pathologies for discovery-based approaches to target identification.
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