1,721,076 research outputs found
The Link Among Neurological Diseases: Extracellular Vesicles as a Possible Brain Injury Footprint
No full textExtracellular vesicles (EVs), referred as membranous vesicles released into body fluids from all cell types, represent a novel model to explain some aspects of the inter-cellular cross talk. It has been demonstrated that the EVs modify the phenotype of target cells, acting through a large spectrum of mechanisms. In the central nervous system, the EVs are responsible of the wide range of physiological processes required for normal brain function and neuronal support, such as immune signaling, cellular proliferation, differentiation, and senescence. Growing evidences link the EV functions to the pathogenic machinery of the neurological diseases, contributing to the disease progression and spreading. Extracellular vesicles are involved in the brain injury by multimodal ways; they propagate inflammation across the blood brain barrier (BBB), mediate neuroprotection and modulate regenerative processes. For these reasons, extracellular vesicles represent a promising biomarker in neurological disorders as well as an interesting starting point for the development of novel therapeutic strategies. Herein, we review the role of the EVs in the pathogenesis of neurological disease, discussing their potential clinical applications
OMIP-011: Characterization of circulating endothelial cells (CECs) in peripheral blood
No full textThis panel was optimized for the evaluation of circulating endothelial cells
(CECs) in peripheral blood. The combination of three different
endothelial cell markers enables a reasonable analysis of CECs. The panel, so far
tested on fresh human peripheral and cord blood, can be used to enumerate
CECs in a dual platform method
GESTATIONAL DIABETES MELLITUS INTERFERESWITH THE BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OFWHARTON'S JELLY MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS.
No full textRecent research indicates that the origin of obesity and related
metabolic disorders is not only caused by genetic and risk
factors in adult life (unbalanced diet, insufficient physical
activity) but also may be influenced by the perinatal environment.
In addition, studies in animal models suggest that the
mesenchymal stem cell commitment into pre-adipocytes can
already occur during fetal development and perinatal life.
Since the number of pre-adipocytes and mature adipocytes is
lower in normal subjects than in obese subjects, changes in the
prenatal maturational process may play a role in the pathogenesis
of obesity and metabolic-associated diseases.
Gestational diabetes mellitus is related to an increased risk of
obesity, early onset of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes
in the offspring. For this reason it would be useful to investigate
how the perinatal environment may affect fetal mesenchymal
stem cells, especially in deregulated gestational diabetes,
where the fetal environment is modified in terms of hormone
levels and nutrition. Therefore, we have compared
Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSC) obtained
from umbilical cord of both healthy and diabetic mothers, in
order to better understand the mechanisms involved in metabolic
diseases in offspring of diabetic mothers. Results indicate
that WJ-MSC from diabetic mothers display, in contrast to
cells from healthy mothers, a higher ability to differentiate
towards the adipogenic lineage. This suggests that the diabetic
uterine environment may be responsible for a “pre-commitment”
that could give rise in the post natal life to an alteration
of adipocyte production upon an incorrect diet style, which in
turn would produce obesity
Simultaneous characterization of phospho-proteins and cell cycle in activated T cell subsets.
No full textMulti-colour flow cytometry is the only technological platform that can analyse the highly complex cellular composition of the immune system in parallel and at a single cell resolution. Analysis of the T cell compartment, in particular, requires the simultaneous measurement of multiple markers in order to account for lineage, phenotype and function. Flow cytometry also enables the analysis of intracellular signalling events. By combining the expression of surface markers, intracellular cytokines, phosphorylated versus unphosphorylated kinases, cell proliferation and DNA profile, mechanistic and kinetic information of subset-specific signalling may be obtained: this has not previously been achieved. Here we present a protocol which permits all of these aspects to be explored simultaneously. By comparing basic procedures previously described we were able to optimise different variables, including the choice of antibody/fluorochrome pairs, permeabilisation, fixation and labelling time, to obtain the best DNA staining of different cell types. We applied this method to study subset-specific signalling related to cytokine production and DNA synthesis in T cells responding to specific antigens
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Erythroid cell differentiation is characterized by nuclear matrix localization and phosphorylation of protein kinases C (PKC) alpha, delta, and zeta.
No full textProtein kinases C (PKC) xi expression and phosphoryation at nuclear level during dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-induced differentiation in Friend erythroleukemia cells have been previously reported, suggesting a possible role of this PKC isoform in the DMSO-related signaling. In order to shed more light on this tantalizing topic, we investigated PKC intracellular and sub-cellular localization and activity during DMSO-induced erythroid differentiation. Results indicated that at least PKC a, C, and 8 are strongly and temporally involved in the DMSO-induced differentiation signals since their expression and phosphorylation, though at different extents were observed during treatments. Intriguingly, while PKC a and associate to the nuclear matrix during the differentiation event; PKC 8 appears to be residentially associated to the nuclear matrix. Furthermore an evident downregulation of the beta-globin gene transcription (differentiation hallmark) was detected upon a progressive inhibition of these PKC isoforms by means of specific inhibitors, indicating, therefore, that PKC a,, and 8 phosphorylation play a crucial role in the control of erythroid differentiation
Parallel regulation of PKC-alpha and PKC-delta characterizes the occurrence of erythroid differentiation from human primary hematopoietic progenitors.
No full textObjective: Erythroid differentiation is a process characterized by modulation of different proteins including phosphoinositide-related enzymes such as protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms. Because in different cell lines PKC-α and PKC-δ have been reported to be involved in the mechanisms controlling proliferation and differentiation, the aim of this study was to examine the relative involvement of these PKC isoforms in the development of CD235a+ erythroid cells from human healthy hematopoietic progenitors. Materials and methods: Erythroid differentiation from human primary hematopoietic progenitor cells was achieved by adopting the human erythroblasts mass amplification culture. Expression and activity of PKC isoforms and their relationship with proliferation and differentiation were investigated by morphologic analysis, reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting, multiparametric flow cytometry, and transfection experiments. Results: PKC-α was found expressed and phosphorylated in cells undergoing both proliferation and differentiation, although PKC-δ, largely expressed and activated during proliferation, was evidently downregulated during differentiation. Overexpression of PKC-δ-CAT scarcely influenced the development of glycophorin-A (CD235a)+ erythroid cells from hematopoietic progenitors, although overexpression of PKC-α-CAT strongly induced the development of CD235a+ erythroid cells. On the other hand, in PKC-α-CAT-transfected cells, pharmacologic inhibition of PKC-δ further increased the number of CD235a+ cells, although inhibition of PKC-α resulted in an evident impairment of the development of CD235a+ erythroid cells. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the suppression or at least a strong downregulation of PKC-δ, concomitant to PKC-α expression and activity, might be a cofactor to be further investigated and might be involved in the events regulating erythropoietin-induced erythroid differentiation from human primary hematopoietic progenitor cells
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