Explore the vast range of titles available.

This study investigated the effect of 4-d acute thermal treatments at 18 °C, 26 °C (control) and 34 °C on the nervous system of adult zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) using a multidisciplinary approach based on behavioural tests and brain proteomic analysis. The behavioural variations induced by thermal treatment were investigated using five different tests, the novel tank diving, light and dark preference, social preference, mirror biting, and Y-Maze tests, which are standard paradigms specifically tailored for zebrafish to assess their anxiety-like behaviour, boldness, social preference, aggressiveness, and explorative behaviour, respectively. Proteomic data revealed that several proteins involved in energy metabolism, messenger RNA translation, protein synthesis, folding and degradation, cytoskeleton organisation and synaptic vesiculation are regulated differently at extreme temperatures. The results showed that anxiety-like behaviours increase in zebrafish at 18 °C compared to those at 26 °C or 34 °C, whereas anxiety-related protein signalling pathways are downregulated. Moreover, treatments at both 18 °C and 34 °C affect the exploratory behaviour that appears not to be modulated by past experiences, suggesting the impairment of fish cognitive abilities. This study is the continuation of our previous work on the effect of 21-d chronic treatment at the same constant temperature level and will enable the comparison of acute and chronic treatment effects on the nervous system function in adult zebrafish.

The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of a temperature increase on the behaviour of adult zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) maintained for 21 days at 34 °C (treatment) and 26 °C (control). The temperatures chosen are within the vital range of zebrafish and correspond to temperatures that this species encounters in the natural environment. Previous results showed that the same treatment affects the brain proteome and the behaviour of adult zebrafish by producing alterations in the proteins involved in neurotransmitter release and synaptic function and impairing fish exploratory behaviour. In this study, we have investigated the performance of treated and control zebrafish during environmental exploration by using four behavioural tests (novel tank diving, light and dark preference, social preference and mirror biting) that are paradigms for assessing the state of anxiety, boldness, social preference and aggressive behaviour, respectively. The results showed that heat treatment reduces anxiety and increases the boldness of zebrafish, which spent more time in potentially dangerous areas of the tank such as the top and the uncovered bright area and at a distance from the social group, thus decreasing protection for the zebrafish. These data suggest that the increase in ambient temperature may compromise zebrafish survival rate in the natural environment.

Transportin 3 (TNPO3) is a nuclear carrier for serine/arginine-rich proteins which are essential for mRNA splicing and metabolism. Mutations in the TNPO3 gene result in a protein with an extended C-terminal domain, leading to the onset of LGMDD2, a rare form of limb girdle muscular dystrophy. To investigate the role of TNPO3 in skeletal muscle and the pathogenic mechanism underlying LGMDD2, we develped both in vitro and in vivo models of the disease. The in vitro model was established using the C2C12 cell line, transfected with plasmids encoding either the wild-type (WT) or mutated (MUT) human TNPO3 (hTNPO3). For the in vivo model, we microinjected zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) embryos with mRNAs encoding WT or MUT hTNPO3. We analyzed the expression patterns of myogenesis-related genes, muscle-specific genes, myomiRNA and genes strictly related to the disease. These analyses were complemented by protein expression studies, morphological assessments in both models, and behavioral assays to validate the LGMDD2 zebrafish model. Our results demonstrate a key role for TNPO3 in regulating myogenesis in both models and reveal that the TNPO3 mutation disrupts normal myogenic commitment, supporting its contribution to LGMDD2 pathogenesis. Overall, this study represents a significant advance in understanding the role of TNPO3 in skeletal muscle biology and the molecular basis of LGMDD2.

BACKGROUND 131I is usually employed for the therapy of hyperfunctioning thyroid diseases. This β-emitting radioisotope acts releasing its radiations in small tissue volumes, but it is mandatory to consider, also for the small doses, the carcinogenic risk, well documented with the high 131I dosages used to cure differentiated thyroid cancers. METHODS We describe a case of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma appeared 4 years after therapy with 131I for Graves’ disease. The patient was treated both surgically and with thyonamides for Graves’ disease 20 years before; thereafter she underwent simple nephrectomy owing to Grawitz disease. After some years of well being, she was treated with 131I for a relapse of Graves’ disease. Four years later, she was treated with interleukin-2 and TNF-α, owing to distant metastases (pancreas, liver and lung) of Grawitz cancer. Some months later, because of a rapid enlargement of the thyroid gland, she was thyroidectomized and anaplastic thyroid cancer was histologically documented. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS It is very difficult to investigate the possible transformation of a benign thyroid lesion to a malignant one, and data from the literature are conflicting. Fractioned doses of 131I are known to induce less cancers than high doses: they allow DNA to repair. Nevertheless, in patients with altered or non valid genetic repair’s mechanisms (i.e. patients with p53 mutations) and, for this reason, prone to develop cancers, even low doses of 131I can induce carcinogenetic effects. In a patient with a history of cancer, who subsequently develops hyperthyroidism, even low doses of 131I can induce anaplastic thyroid cancer; in these subjects, therefore, other treatments than 131I could be preferred for the therapy of Graves’ disease. In our peculiar case, moreover, some studies have noteworthy demonstrated that certain cytokines (IL-1, TGF-β1 e TNF-α) can, rather than inhibit, induce anaplastic thyroid cancer cells to grow.

BACKGROUND Brugada syndrome, a disease burdened by elevated risk of sudden unexpected cardiac death, often affects young aged subjects that have structurally healthy heart. The diagnostic itinerary is complex: amnesis, ECG, pharmacological test and electrophysiological study. Its phenotypes are three. METHOD We have identified 13 cases (10 men and 3 women), 12 estimated at the Cardiological Outpatients' Department and 1 at the First-aid Station. RESULTS 2 cases belonged to phenotype 1, 4 cases to phenotype 2 and 7 cases to phenotype 3. CONCLUSIONS Our work of specialists in interl medicine, toward this syndrome, is: an accurate amnesis, a correct interpretation of ECG, fast sending of high risk cases to advanced level cardiological competences, a selection of cases to submit to pharmacological test, to address middle risk patients to cardiological competences, offering our cooperation in the follow-up.

We recently reported that rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines express and secrete interleukin 15 (IL-15), a tightly regulated cytokine with IL-2-like activity. To test whether the p53-impaired function that is frequently found in this tumour type could play a role in the IL-15 production, wild-type p53 gene was transduced in the human rhabdomyosarcoma cell line RD (which harbours a mutated p53 gene), and its effect on proliferation and expression of IL-15 was studied. Arrest of proliferation was induced by wild-type p53; increased proportions of G1-arrested cells and of apoptotic cells were observed. A marked down-modulation of IL-15 expression, at both the mRNA and protein level, was found in p53-transduced cells. Because a direct effect of IL-15 on normal muscle cells has been reported, the presence of IL-15 membrane receptors was studied by cytofluorometric analysis. Rhabdomyosarcoma cells showed IL-15 membrane receptors, which are down-modulated by wild-type p53 transfected gene. In conclusion, wild-type p53 transduction in human rhabdomyosarcoma cells induces the down-modulation of both IL-15 production and IL-15 receptor expression.

A spontaneously metastatic murine mammary adenocarcinoma, TSA, has been transduced with the gene for interferon alpha1 (IFN-alpha). Transfectants were used for the immunotherapy of mice bearing lung colonies induced by the intravenous inoculation of non-transduced parental cells. A significant reduction in the number of tumor colonies was obtained when repeated subcutaneous administrations of mitomycin C-blocked transfectant cells were given, commencing 3 days after an intravenous challenge with TSA cells. Intraperitoneal vaccination induced a stronger anti-tumor response than subcutaneous vaccination, and the proportion of tumor-free mice reached 50%. The potency of IFN-alpha transfectants was similar to that of IFN-gamma transfectants previously obtained from TSA. Admixture of IFN-alpha and IFN-gamma transfectant cells in the same vaccine did not increase the curative effect over that of single vaccines. In nude mice vaccination with IFN-alpha or IFN-gamma transfectants did not lead to a reduction in the number of lung colonies, indicating that an intact T cell response was required for the therapeutic effect observed in immunocompetent mice.

The recent discovery of a Portuguese shipwreck in Malindi, Kenya, which could be a galleon from Vasco da Gama’s last voyage, triggered this study of the Portuguese ships of this period. This paper is a short summary of what is known about the ships of the Portuguese expansion into the Indian and Pacific Oceans, between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. Few Portuguese ships have been found, excavated, and published, and this paper is intended as a critical review of the information available, a summary of what is known about them, and the questions that remain when we try to interpret and reconstruct their remains.

We here investigated the dynamic cell-to-cell interactions between tumor and mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) by the novel VITVO Ⓡ 3D bioreactor that was customized to develop in vivo -like metastatic nodules of Ewing’s sarcoma (ES). MSCs are known to contribute to tumor microenvironment as cancer associated fibroblast (CAF) precursors and, for this reason, they have also been used as anti-cancer tools. Using dynamic conditions, the process of tissue colonization and formation of metastatic niches was recreated through tumor cell migration aiming to mimic ES development in patients. ES is an aggressive tumor representing the second most common malignant bone cancer in children and young adults. An urgent and unmet need exists for the development of novel treatment strategies to improve the outcomes of metastatic ES. The tumor-tropic ability of MSCs offers an alternative approach, in which these cells can be used as vehicles for the delivery of antitumor molecules, such as the proapoptotic TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL). However, the therapeutic targeting of metastases remains challenging and the interaction occurring between tumor cells and MSCs has not yet been deeply investigated. Setting up in vitro and in vivo models to study this interaction is a prerequisite for novel approaches where MSCs affinity for tumor is optimized to ultimately increase their therapeutic efficacy. Here, VITVO Ⓡ integrating a customized scaffold with an increased inter-fiber distance (VITVO50) was used to develop a dynamic model where MSCs and tumor nodules were evaluated under flow conditions. Colonization and interaction between cell populations were explored by droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). VITVO50 findings were then applied in vivo . An ES metastatic model was established in NSG mice and biodistribution of TRAIL-expressing MSCs in mice organs affected by metastases was investigated using a 4-plex ddPCR assay. VITVO Ⓡ proved to be an easy handling and versatile bioreactor to develop in vivo -like tumor nodules and investigate dynamic cell-to-cell interactions with MSCs. The proposed fluidic system promises to facilitate the understanding of tumor-stroma interaction for the development of novel tumor targeting strategies, simplifying the analysis of in vivo data, and ultimately accelerating the progress towards the early clinical phase.

The NA48/2 experiment at CERN reports the first observation of the $K^± → π^0π^0μ^±$ν decay based on a sample of 2437 candidates with 15% background contamination collected in 2003–2004. The decay branching ratio in the kinematic region of the squared dilepton mass above 0.03 GeV2/c4 is measured to be (0.65 ± 0.03) × 10–6. The extrapolation to the full kinematic space, using a specific model, is found to be (3.45 ± 0.16) × 10–6, in agreement with chiral perturbation theory predictions.