Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca- Università del Piemonte Orientale
Not a member yet
52951 research outputs found
Sort by
Evaluating Cryopreservation Methods in Biobanking: Impacts on Biomarker Integrity and Omics Data Reliability
Get PDFObjectives: Personalized medicine emphasizes prevention and early diagnosis by developing genetic screening and biomarker assessment tools. Biobanks, including University of Piemonte Orientale (UPO) Biobank, support this effort by providing high-quality biological samples collected, processed, and stored using optimized standardized protocols. To determine the optimal long-term storage conditions for biospecimens used in biomedical research, we evaluated plasma and serum samples cryopreserved using two storage methods, cryovials and straws, across various analytical methodologies with differing sensitivity and robustness. Design and Methods: Plasma and serum samples cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen in vials and straw at the UPO Biobank were subjected to multiple analyses including standard biochemical laboratory analysis, targeted lipidomics, untargeted proteomics, and targeted metabolites quantification through mass spectrometry-based analytical techniques. Results: Our data demonstrate the robustness and applicability of both storage methods for standard laboratory analyses in evaluating clinically relevant markers in plasma and serum. Lipidomic analysis revealed slight disparities in lipid abundance, though these differences were mostly confined to specific lipid species, particularly fatty acids. Conversely, proteomic and metabolomic analyses uncovered variations in abundance in a significant, albeit limited, fraction of analytes between vials and straw-derived samples. Conclusions: By highlighting similarities and differences in samples stored in these conditions, this study provides significant insights into optimizing biobanking practices and understanding the factors that influence the integrity of cryopreserved biospecimens and the reliability of the data derived from them. Both straws and vials are convenient and efficient cryopreservation methods, essentially equivalent for samples dedicated to robust and relatively low-sensitive standardized analyses. However, our findings emphasize the need for caution when interpreting omics data from samples subjected to different cryopreservation methods, as subtle variations can arise even with different types of containers
Effects of sulphate limitation on photosynthesis and cell composition on Phaeodactylum tricornutum.
No full textNext-Generation Therapies in Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL): The Evolving Landscape in Treatment of Relapse/Refractory After CAR-T Cells
No full text: Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare but heterogeneous subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) with a prognosis ranging from very favorable in indolent cases to a poor prognosis for more aggressive variants [...]
Becoming Aware of Endangered and Critical Elements: Spent Batteries as Metal Mines
No full textThe importance of spent battery collection and related treatments in terms of circular economy is the starting point for a laboratory education path focusing on alkaline batteries. While using a project-based learning approach, students at a high school or university are made more aware of critical raw materials, learn about the chemistry of batteries, and investigate the composition of the black mass from spent alkaline batteries. They also investigate the methods used to extract and analyze critical raw materials such as zinc and manganese
Problem solving and argumentation in probability context: analysis of some examples of necessary object-level narratives
No full textThe introduction to probabilistic thinking in primary and middle school is one of the goals delineated by the Italian National Curriculum Guidelines and is part of the curricula of other countries. The paper presents activities carried out in Italian classes from grades 3 to 8 in which the introduction to probabilistic thinking is structured through problem solving and argumentation activities. The
mathematical claims developed by the students were examined through a qualitative analysis, identifying the necessary object-level narratives and their substantiation. The analysis also considers the role of specific visual mediators in students’ justifications when solving probability problems
Bitter Taste Receptors 38 and 46 Regulate Intestinal Peristalsis
No full textBitter taste receptors (TAS2Rs) are expressed in extraoral tissues, exerting several functions and generating a whole-body chemosensory and protective system. TAS2Rs expression has been observed in the gastrointestinal tract, although their role is poorly understood. This study aims to investigate the role of TAS2R38 and 46 in human intestinal smooth muscle cells (HISMCs) after activation with the specific bitter ligands phenylthiocarbamide and absinthin, respectively. We found that TAS2R38 and 46 activation by phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) and absinthin, respectively, induces a rapid membrane depolarization and increase of cytosolic calcium levels due to internal storage in the IP3 pathway, resulting in an accelerated cell contraction. Overall, this study unravels, for the first time, the contractile impact of these TAS2R subtypes on intestinal smooth muscle cells, suggesting their involvement in gut peristalsis and recommending these receptors as possible targets for new therapies
Prevalence and clinical impact of clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and richter transformation
No full textThe prevalence and the clinical impact of myeloid clonal hematopoiesis (CH) in CLL patients evaluated specifically on the myeloid compartment has not been yet evaluated. A CAPP-Seq next generation sequencing (NGS) panel of 28 genes frequently mutated in CH has been specifically designed and applied to sequence the gDNA extracted from the granulocytes of 488 newly diagnosed CLL patients. The median age of the cohort was 69.3 years, 8.9% harbored TP53 disruption and 34.3% unmutated IGHV. The median follow-up was 12.3 years. The most frequently mutated genes, as also reported in patients without CLL, were DNMT3A in 89 (26.4%) patients, followed by TET2 in 52 (15.2%) and ASXL1 in 10 (3.1%). As expected, the presence of at least one CH mutation significantly correlated with older age (p<0.001). By analyzing CH mutations in sorted CD19/CD5+ CLL cells, CD3+ T cells and CD14+ monocytes from 6 patients, CH mutations were predominantly present in the CD14+ myeloid compartment and not in the CLL cells. After a median follow-up of 12.4 years, the presence of any CH mutations associated with shorter overall survival (OS) (HR 1.36, 95% CI 1.04-1.77, p=0.023) but not with shorter time to first treatment (TTFT) in Binet A CLL (N=397) (HR 0.79, 95% CI 0.54-1.17, p=0.250). By analyzing the clinical impact of different gene mutations, TET2 mutated patients showed the strongest association with OS with a median OS of 7.9 years compared to 12.7 years for TET2 wild type patients (p=0.005). TET2 mutations (HR 1.53, 95% CI 1.09-2.16, p=0.01) maintained an independent association with shorter OS in multivariate analysis when adjusted for age, IGHV mutational status and TP53 disruption. Also, by analyzing the impact CH on Richter transformation, ASXL1 mutated patients showed an independent association with shorter time to Richter transformation when adjusted for TP53 and NOTCH1 abnormalities (HR 6.80, 95% CI 1.54-30.14, p=0.01). The analysis of longitudinal samples before and after different types of therapy showed that chemoimmunotherapy but not Bruton tyrosine kinase 4 inhibitors (BTKi) or BCL2i lead to CH clonal expansion. The impact of CH in terms of therapy toxicities was also assessed. In 30 patients treated with fixed duration venetoclax-based therapy, the presence of non-DNMT3A CH mutations (i.e. at least one CH mutation other than DNMT3A) associated with higher risk of grade >3 neutropenia during venetoclax treatment (p=0.001). In 73 patients receiving continuous treatment with BTKi, SF3B1 CH mutations associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation when adjusted for age and for other cardiovascular comorbidities (HR 9.75, 95% CI 2.16-44.01, p=0.003). These results suggest that CH harbors clinical relevance in CLL patients and might be considered also as a biomarker to prevent and manage therapy-related toxicities during targeted agents
Growth and secondary metabolite modulation by soil beneficial microorganisms in Artemisia annua plants
No full textThe family Asteraceae includes many genera among which Artemisia is one of the most widespread in the world. Artemisia annua, a herbaceous annual plant commonly named “annual absinthe”, produces a high number of secondary metabolites among which VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) and artemisinin, a sesquiterpene lactone with antimalarial action. Since the inoculation with soil beneficial microorganisms, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB), is one of the strategies used to improve plant growth and metabolism, in this work different AMF and PGPB inocula were tested, alone or in combination, on two clones of A. annua (CL7 and CL26) grown in controlled conditions. Plants were irrigated three times a week with a Long Ashton nutrient solution at 32μM of P and harvested after two months of culture. Then, the mycorrhizal colonization (M%) in the plant root system, the shoot and root fresh and dry weight, the leaf chlorophyll and carotenoid concentrations and the quantitative (HPLC) analysis of artemisinin were evaluated. In addition, the composition of the leaf volatile profile of CL26 plants was analyzed by GC-MS. Data were statistically analyzed by two-way ANOVA using “fungus” (F) and “bacterium” (B) as factors. A one-way ANOVA followed by Fisher test with significance cut-off at p<0.05 was used to assess differences among the treatments. Results showed that the various bacterial and/or fungal inocula had different impact on growth and metabolism of the two different clones. Some bacterial strains were found to increase the ability of AMF to colonize the plant roots, even if the M% remained rather low. In general, no significant differences for the artemisinin content were recorded between the different treatments of each clone, however the same bacterial strain (Pf7) led to a decrease content of artemisinin in CL7 clone, while it increased its production in CL26. Regarding the volatile profile, 120 molecules (some of which detected for the first time in this plant species) were identified. The volatilome composition varied according to the different inocula since some molecules were exclusive of a certain treatment and others showed variations in their proportions. Therefore, plants of each treatment had their own specific particular odor due to the interaction between plant and soil beneficial microorganisms
The Potential Effectiveness of an Online Gender-Based Violence Prevention Program for European Students—The Role of Gender Essentialism, Ambivalent Sexism, and Perceived Responsiveness of the University
No full text: This study evaluates the potential effectiveness of an online course concerning gender-based violence prevention, which combines the bystander intervention approach and the myths-based approach. The sample consists of 67 students who participated in three measurements-before the course, immediately after the course, and 3 months later. Gender-based violence myth acceptance decreased, and bystander efficacy increased after the course. The effects were the strongest among people with high ambivalent sexism and gender essentialism. The results suggest that the course was effective; however, a replication on a bigger and more diverse sample is needed
Exploring preconditioning strategies for the Riesz operator in fractional models
No full textIn this talk, we introduce and analyze new preconditioning strategies for the Riesz operator depending on a parameter which is widely used in fractional models such as anomalous diffusion. For values of such parameter close to 2, various effective preconditioners with linear computational cost are available. However, as this parameter approaches 1, achieving linear complexity becomes more challenging. Previous work has tackled this by approximating the Riesz operator as a fractional power of a discretized Laplacian using the Gauss-Jacobi formula. In a more recent studies, this rational preconditioning approach has been extended by incorporating additional quadrature rules with exponential convergence. In more detail, the Gauss-Laguerre and sinc quadratures have been investigated, showing that after an optimal choice of parameters, both methods enable the construction of preconditioners based on a sum of shifted Laplacian inverses, ensuring high computational efficiency and numerical optimality. Numerical results reveal that the sinc-based preconditioner is more versatile than the Gauss-Laguerre preconditioner, and both outperform the Gauss-Jacobi preconditioner