1,720,993 research outputs found
Ketogenic Diet in Steatotic Liver Disease: A Metabolic Approach to Hepatic Health
Full text linkMetabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a major cause of chronic liver dysfunction worldwide, characterized by hepatic steatosis that may progress to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and cirrhosis. Owing to its strong association with metabolic disorders, current management focuses on weight reduction via lifestyle modifications. Recently, the very-low-calorie ketogenic diet (VLCKD) has emerged as a promising intervention due to its potential for rapid weight loss and reduction in liver fat. This review aims to evaluate the clinical evidence regarding the impact of ketogenic diets on hepatic steatosis. We conducted an extensive MEDLINE literature search in databases including PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science up to December 2024. Studies assessing the effects of ketogenic or low-carbohydrate high-fat diets on liver fat, evaluated by imaging, histology, or biochemical markers, were included. The analysis indicates that ketogenic diets significantly reduce hepatic fat content and improve metabolic parameters, including insulin sensitivity and liver enzyme levels. Evidence further suggests that substituting saturated fats with unsaturated fats or replacing carbohydrates with proteins may enhance these benefits. However, considerable variability exists among studies and long-term data remain limited. Although short-term outcomes are encouraging, potential adverse effects such as dyslipidaemia, gastrointestinal disturbances, and transient ‘keto flu’ symptoms require careful clinical monitoring. Future research should focus on elucidating underlying mechanisms, optimizing dietary composition, and assessing long-term safety to establish ketogenic diets as a robust strategy for managing MASLD
UNRAVELING THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF A SMALLEXTRACELLULAR VESICLE LYOPHILIZED ENRICHEDIN IMMUNE AND INFLAMMATORY REGULATOR FACTORS AS IMMUNORESPONSE MODULATOR INPATIENTS SUFFERING FROM AUTOIMMUNE THYROID DISEASES
No full textIn Autoimmune Thyroid Diseases (AITDs), a loss of toler-ance to thyroid antigens and lymphocyte infiltration into the thyroid gland occurs. An imbalance in T helper type (Th)-17 and regulatory T lymphocytes (Tregs) contributes to perpetuate the inflammatory state leading to thyroid dysfunction and disruption. Although the replacement of hormone production represents the main aim in therapeu-tic treatment, a deeper understanding of the mechanism regulating the immune response improving inflammation could represent an important outcome in AITDs. In our previous study, we described an in vitro coculture model elucidating the ability of Th-1 cytokines licensed fibrob-last-like Limbal mesenchymal Stem Cells (f-LSCs) to reg-ulate T-cell activity in patients suffering from AITDs by an altered cytokine profile via downregulation of human het-erogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A2/B1 (hnRNP A2/B1) isoforms, which were found overexpressed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) collected from patient suffering from AITDs1-2. Unfortunately, the clinical application of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is hampered by legal and ethical issues. Noteworthy, MSC immunomodulator capability depends also by soluble products, which could be conveyed by Small Extra Vesicles (sEVs), nanoscale cell-derived struc-ture of 200 nm less in size. Data here reported demon-strate for the first time that a reconstituted lyophilized of sEVs (sEVLyo) derived TH-1 cytokines licensed f-LSCs retains the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulation capabilities in activated PBMCs from AITD patients, simi-lar to f-LSCs. As the lack of comparative studies assessing the efficacy of different EV isolation techniques hinders clinical use of sEVs, we firstly compared two different sEV isolation methods tangential flow filtration (TFF) and pre-cipitation. Once obtained, sEVs were lyophilized and char-acterized for size distribution, protein content, and purity by detection of CD63, CD9, CD81, specific sEVs surface markers. To explore the sEV anti-inflammatory and immune modulation properties, activated PBMCs from AITD patients were exposed to different concentrations of sEVLyo and several functional biological assays were per-formed. We demonstrate that sEVs improve the autoreac-tive response in PBMC from AITD patients, inhibiting CD8+Tcell proliferation, CD69+ and CD25+ expansion with-in CD4+Tcells. Among several anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive markers modulated, i.e. IDO, PDL-1, MCP-1 and IL-4, hnRNP A2/B1 were found downregulated in activated PBMC under sEVLyo exposure. Finally, we pro-pose that TH-1 licensing enriched sEV in specific benefi-cial factors, including PD-L1, COX-2, TXN-1. Indeed, we confidently promote the lyophilization as a valid storage method to satisfyingly preserve functional sEVs, encour-age their emerging role as an alternative approach to stem cell therapy highlighting the possibility to modulate their protein content, once again suggesting hnRNP A2/B1 as potential target in AITDs
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
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Effect of platelet-rich plasma in treating musculoskeletal disorders in athletes
Full text linkPlatelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a product of significant interest in the field of regenerative medicine due to its healing, immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties. Although its role remains debated, PRP has undeniably shown considerable
potential in aiding the healing of various injuries and pathologies across multiple fields, from dermatology (e.g., hair loss,
skin scars) to reproductive medicine and inflammatory diseases (e.g., osteoarthritis). The aim of this review is to summarise
and describe the role of PRP in treating common musculoskeletal injuries and pathologies in athletes. This population is
at higher risk for such conditions due to the physical activities they perform. However, the application of PRP in this context
has not been sufficiently explored in the literature. After providing a brief overview of precision and regenerative medicine –
distinct yet interconnected fields – we will examine the key characteristics of PRP and its role in treating various musculoskeletal injuries in athletes. This review highlights the current applications of PRP, its potential for future use and its limitations
Human exfoliated deciduous teeth and oral mucosa: promising applications in tissue regeneration
Full text linkIn the last three decades, the constantly increasing need for therapies,
efficiently preventing and/or treating human diseases, has raised the interest
in Regenerative Medicine (RM). RM is based on employing mesenchymal stem
cells (MSCs), that showed to have great proliferation, self-renewal and multilineage
differentiation potential, in vitro as well as in vivo. The opportunity
of an accessible, painless and low-cost reservoir of MSCs constitutes the first
important step of a successful regenerative therapy to include in the current
clinical practice. Oral cavity has recently demonstrated to contain different
MSCs niches: dental pulp from permanent and deciduous teeth, periodontal
ligament, dental follicle, apical papilla and mucosa. MSCs from dental pulp
of deciduous teeth, naturally lost in pediatric age, and the oral mucosa have
shown to be easily harvested and to have a promising regenerative potential.
Thus, the aim of the paper is to review the potentialities of human exfoliated
deciduous teeth stem cells (SHEDs) and oral mucosa stem cells (OMSCs) in RM,
with the purpose of their use as accessible source of MSCs for the future of
pediatric patient
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