53 research outputs found
Padre Paolo Dall'Oglio. Uomo di dialogo ostaggio in Siria
No full textQuesto libro vuole ricordare padre Paolo Dall’Oglio, il gesuita rapito in Siria il 29 luglio 2013, di cui non si hanno più notizie. Fortemente impegnato nel dialogo, padre Paolo frequentava regolarmente l’Università di Pisa. Questo testo ha, tra i principali scopi, quello di esprimere solidarietà a Dall'Oglio riflettendo sulla sua testimonianza di credente in Gesù, innamorato dell'Islam, della Siria, della democrazia e della pace.
L'approfondimento sulla situazione siriana e sul dialogo con l'Islam vuole essere anche un modo per affermare che nessun conflitto è intrattabile e che la pace è sempre possibile.
Contributi di Simone Baldetti, Pierluigi Consorti, Immacolata Dall’Oglio, Francesca Del Corso, Roberto Filippini, Mohammad Khalil, Chiara Lapi, Marco Lovo, Marcello Mollica, Yuri Sandrin
Pooled human serum: A new culture supplement for bioreactor-based cell therapies. Preliminary results
No full textBackground aims: Bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are an appealing source for several cell-based therapies. Many bioreactors, such as the Quantum Cell Expansion System, have been developed to generate a large number of MSCs under Good Manufacturing Practice conditions by using human platelet lysate (HPL). Previously, we isolated a novel cell population in human bone marrow, mesodermal progenitor cells (MPCs), which we identified as precursors of MSCs. MPCs may represent an important cell source for regenerative medicine applications. Because HPL gives rise to a homogeneus MSC population, limiting the harvesting of other cell types, we investigated the efficacy of pooled human AB serum (ABS) to provide clinically relevant numbers of both MSCs and MPCs for regenerative medicine applications by using the Quantum System. Methods: Bone marrow aspirates were obtained from healthy adults undergoing routine total hip replacement surgery. The aspirates were used to generate primary cultures in the bioreactor. HPL and ABS were tested as supplements to culture medium. Morphological observations, cytofluorimetric analysis and lactate and glucose level assessments were performed. Results: ABS gave rise to both heterogeneous MSC and MPC populations. About 95% of cells cultured in HPL showed a fibroblast-like morphology and typical mesenchymal surface markers, but MPCs were scarcely represented. Discussion: The use of ABS appeared to sustain large-scale MSC production, as well as promote the recovery of a subset of MPCs, resulting in a suitable alternative to HPL in the cell generation based on the Quantum System
Spheroids from equine amnion mesenchymal stem cells: an in vitro study
No full textBackground: Equine amnion mesenchymal stem cells (EAMSCs) from amnion isolated after the foal birth represented an alternative source of easy collection of mesenchymal cells used in equine regenerative medicine.
Methods: These cells grown as 2D culture in α-MEM medium supplemented with EGF were differentiated in adipogenic, chondrogenic and osteogenic cells. Half a million cells as pellet were left in 15ml tubes with the same differentiation media for 20 days. After the pellets were collected, embedded in paraffin for morphological study.
Results: 2D culture showed EAMSCs with an embryonic phenotype (C-kit+, CD105+, Oct-4+) and a differentiation potential in adipogenic, chondrogenic and osteogenic multipotent cells. By a reproducible method of 3D culture, at day 20 the Authors evidenced a formation of small aggregated spheroids gradually gathering. In cross sections the surface of spheroid evidenced flattened cells embedded in a red matrix by Alizarin staining and occasionally a core of calcium precipitation. A network of apoptotic or necrotic cells in a not mineralized matrix was present into the center of nodules. The 3D spheroids appeared larger (mean diameter of 605±53 μm for gathering spheroids and 1486±79 μm for spheroids already gathered) than those from standard monolayer cultures (mean diameter of 200 ± 73 μm).
Conclusions: EAMSCs cultured in 3D method preserve their in vitro multipotent differentiation than adherent 2D culture method. These EAMSCs included in extracellular matrix not mineralized at day 20 seem to be a good source of MSCs for tissue repair and regeneration in equine medicine
Comparison of drb1 and dqb1 allele frequencies and pre-transplant anti-hla antibodies in patients waiting for pancreas vs. kidney transplant. Abstracts of the 20th Biennial European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) Congress
No full textHerschel-ATLAS : deep HST/WFC3 imaging of strongly lensed submillimetre galaxies
No full textThis work is supported by STFC (grants PP/D002400/1 and ST/G002533/1)We report on deep near-infrared observations obtained with the Wide Field Camera-3 (WFC3) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) of the first five confirmed gravitational lensing events discovered by the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS). We succeed in disentangling the background galaxy from the lens to gain separate photometry of the two components. The HST data allow us to significantly improve on previous constraints of the mass in stars of the lensed galaxy and to perform accurate lens modelling of these systems, as described in the accompanying paper by Dye et al. We fit the spectral energy distributions of the background sources from near-IR to millimetre wavelengths and use the magnification factors estimated by Dye et al. to derive the intrinsic properties of the lensed galaxies. We find these galaxies to have star-formations rates (SFR) ∼ 400–2000 M⊙ yr−1, with ∼(6–25) × 1010 M⊙ of their baryonic mass already turned into stars. At these rates of star formation, all remaining molecular gas will be exhausted in less than ∼100 Myr, reaching a final mass in stars of a few 1011 M⊙. These galaxies are thus proto-ellipticals caught during their major episode of star formation, and observed at the peak epoch (z ∼ 1.5–3) of the cosmic star formation history of the Universe.Peer reviewe
accreditamento biobanca di ricerca: focus su analisi dei rischi e contributo nello sviluppo di un progetto di ricerca
No full textLa biobanca è una struttura istituita con l'obiettivo di raccogliere, processare e conservare campioni biologici e dei dati associati per il loro ulteriore utilizzo nella ricerca scientifica e clinica.
La mancanza di standard comuni per la conduzione della fase preanalitica è stata la causa della bassa accuratezza e della scarsa riproducibilità dei risultati della ricerca.
L’accreditamento secondo la norma ISO 20387,che prevede l'implementazione degli standard di qualità è un processo scrupoloso che richiede il coinvolgimento di operatori e di risorse. Tuttavia, il riconoscimento della conformità supera i costi di sviluppo, implementazione e mantenimento dei sistemi di gestione, poiché aumenta significativamente la fiducia dei ricercatori nel lavoro delle biobanche, garantisce un’elevata qualità dei campioni biologici e dei dati associati e crea opportunità di cooperazione, sia a livello livello nazionale ed internazionale, basandosi sull’applicazione di standard comuni di qualità nel lavoro.
Seguendo il punto norma 8.5, la biobanca deve sviluppare, attuare e documentare piani d’azione per affrontare i rischi e le opportunità, per far fronte all’interruzione delle operazioni, in particolare la manipolazione del materiale biologico interessato e dei dati associati; per salvaguardare il materiale biologico e i dati associati in caso di catastrofe.
La UO Biobanca Multispecialistica all’interno della Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Pisana è la prima struttura pubblica a ottenere l’accreditamento UNI ISO 20387 e il coinvolgimento della struttura nel progetto NEWDEM ha permesso di valutare il ruolo fisiopatologico dei processi neuroimmuni in pazienti affetti da Demenza.
Human Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stromal cells engineered to secrete Epstein-Barr virus interleukin-10 show enhanced immunosuppressive properties
No full textMesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) modulate the immune response and represent a potential treatment for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. We hypothesized that this feature could be potentiated by co-administering anti-inflammatory cytokines. In this article, we asked whether engineering of Wharton Jelly-derived human MSCs (WJ-hMSCs) to express an anti-inflammatory cytokine increases cell immunomodulatory properties without altering their native features
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