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Topic Review
Scleroderma
Vitamin D status has been linked to immune system and autoimmune disorders; in fact, low levels of vitamin D are common in many autoimmune disorders. The aims of our study were to assess the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and the possible correlation with clinical parameters in systemic sclerosis (SSc). We recruited 40 patients (38 female and two male) with scleroderma and 40 healthy controls matched for age and gender. Demographic and clinical parameters were recorded and the 25-hydroxivitamin D3 serum levels were measured. Serum 25-hydroxivitamin D3 levels were significantly lower in patients with systemic sclerosis than in the control group. The prevalence of 25-hydroxivitamin D3 insufficiency was 50% in the patients and 22.5% in the control group. A statistically significant association was observed between the insufficiency of 25-hydroxivitamin D3 and skin involvement (p = 0.02) and echocardiography systolic pulmonary artery pressure >35 mmHg (p = 0.02). Our data show that the systemic sclerosis group has significantly lower serum 25-hydroxivitamin D3 concentrations compared to the control group; skin involvement and pulmonary hypertension are associated with vitamin D3 insufficiency.
  • 1.5K
  • 01 Nov 2020
Topic Review
T Helper Cells in IBD
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic disorder manifested as Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) characterized by intestinal inflammation and involves a dysregulated immune response against commensal microbiota through the activation of CD4 T helper cells. T helper cell differentiation to effector or regulatory phenotypes is controlled by cytokine networks and transcriptional regulators. Distinct polarized T helper cells are able to alter their phenotypes to adapt to diverse and fluctuating physiological environments. T helper cells exhibit intrinsic instability and flexibility to express cytokines of other lineages or transdifferentiate from one T helper cell type to another in response to various perturbations from physiological cytokine milieu as a means of promoting local immunity in response to injury or ensure tissue homeostasis. Furthermore, functional plasticity and diversity of T helper cells are associated with pathogenicity and are critical for immune homeostasis and prevention of autoimmunity. In this review, we provide deeper insights into the combinatorial extrinsic and intrinsic signals that control plasticity and transdifferentiation of T helper cells and also highlight the potential of exploiting the genetic reprogramming plasticity of T helper cells in the treatment of IBD.
  • 1.5K
  • 28 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Obesity-Related Changes in HDL Metabolism
In obese individuals, atherogenic dyslipidemia is a very common and important factor in the increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Adiposity-associated dyslipidemia is characterized by low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels and an increase in triglyceride-rich lipoproteins. Several factors and mechanisms are involved in lowering HDL-C levels in the obese state and HDL quantity and quality is closely related to levels of adiponectin. Recent studies have shown that obesity profoundly alters HDL metabolism, resulting in altered HDL subclass distribution, composition, and function. 
  • 1.5K
  • 11 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Regulation of Paneth Cell Function
Paneth cells are specialized intestinal epithelial cells that are located at the base of small intestinal crypts and play a vital role in preserving the gut epithelium homeostasis. Paneth cells act as a safeguard from bacterial translocation across the epithelium and constitute the niche for intestinal stem cells in the small intestine by providing multiple niche signals.
  • 1.5K
  • 15 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Sarcoidosis
Sarcoidosis is a multisystem granulomatous disease with nonspecific clinical manifestations that commonly a ects the pulmonary system and other organs including the eyes, skin, liver, spleen, and lymph nodes. Sarcoidosis usually presents with persistent dry cough, eye and skin manifestations, weight loss, fatigue, night sweats, and erythema nodosum.
  • 1.5K
  • 28 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Protein Homeostasis Network in Yeast
The balance of proteins in cells, is proteostasis (protein homeostasis).  While protein balances can be moderated by cell division, in non-dividing cells, with age there is declining proteostasis and the accumulation of deleterious proteins can present as major problems, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, etc. Budding yeast also exhibit ageing and can offer convenient means to discover more about biological pathways involved in proteostasis.  Similarities of yeast and humans mean that yeast can provide valuable insights into multiple pathways of proteostasis, and can be used as a model for analysing drugs that may improve proteostasis and counter age-related decline in neuronal health.
  • 1.5K
  • 17 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Effects of Particulate Matter on Inflammation and Thrombosis
Ambient air pollution has become a common problem worldwide. Exposure to pollutant particles causes many health conditions, having a particular impact on pulmonary and cardiovascular disease. Increased understanding of the pathological processes related to these conditions may facilitate the prevention of the adverse impact of air pollution on our physical health. 
  • 1.5K
  • 04 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Hepcidin-Ferroportin Interaction Controls Systemic Iron-Homeostasis
Despite its abundance in the environment, iron is poorly bioavailable and subject to strict conservation and internal recycling by most organisms. In vertebrates, the stability of iron concentration in plasma and extracellular fluid, and the total body iron content are maintained by the interaction of the iron-regulatory peptide hormone hepcidin with its receptor and cellular iron exporter ferroportin (SLC40a1). Ferroportin exports iron from duodenal enterocytes that absorb dietary iron, from iron-recycling macrophages in the spleen and the liver, and from iron-storing hepatocytes. Hepcidin blocks iron export through ferroportin, causing hypoferremia. During iron deficiency or after hemorrhage, hepcidin decreases to allow iron delivery to plasma through ferroportin, thus promoting compensatory erythropoiesis. As a host defense mediator, hepcidin increases in response to infection and inflammation, blocking iron delivery through ferroportin to blood plasma, thus limiting iron availability to invading microbes. Genetic diseases that decrease hepcidin synthesis or disrupt hepcidin binding to ferroportin cause the iron overload disorder hereditary hemochromatosis.
  • 1.5K
  • 22 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Enteroviruses
Enteroviruses (EV) are a group of positive-sense RNA viruses that belong to Picornaviridae. Most of the infections caused by EV are asymptomatic. However, EV can cause serious infections such as neurological and cardiac infections. Different chronic diseases have been linked to EVs, as causative agents, such as dilated cardiomyopathy and type 1 diabetes. 
  • 1.5K
  • 06 May 2023
Topic Review
Delayed Contralateral Nephrectomy
Background: Successful treatment of acute kidney injury (AKI)-induced chronic kidney disease (CKD) is unresolved. We aimed to characterize the time-course of changes after contralateral nephrectomy (Nx) in a model of unilateral ischemic AKI-induced CKD with good translational utility. (2) Methods: Severe (30 min) left renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) or sham operation (S) was performed in male Naval Medical Research Institute (NMRI) mice followed by Nx or S one week later. Expression of proinflammatory, oxidative stress, injury and fibrotic markers was evaluated by RT-qPCR. (3) Results: Upon Nx, the injured kidney hardly functioned for three days, but it gradually regained function until day 14 to 21, as demonstrated by the plasma urea. Functional recovery led to a drastic reduction in inflammatory infiltration by macrophages and by decreases in macrophage chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) mRNA and most injury markers. However, without Nx, a marked upregulation of proinflammatory (TNF-α, IL-6, MCP-1 and complement-3 (C3)); oxidative stress (nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2, NRF2) and fibrosis (collagen-1a1 (Col1a1) and fibronectin-1 (FN1)) genes perpetuated, and the injured kidney became completely fibrotic. Contralateral Nx delayed the development of renal failure up to 20 weeks. (4) Conclusion: Our results suggest that macrophage activation is involved in postischemic renal fibrosis, and it is drastically suppressed by contralateral nephrectomy ameliorating progression.
  • 1.5K
  • 02 Nov 2020
Topic Review
SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein and PAH
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is causing the current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and COVID-19 vaccines focus on its spike protein. However, in addition to facilitating the membrane fusion and viral entry, the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein promotes cell growth signaling in human lung vascular cells, and patients who have died of COVID-19 have thickened pulmonary vascular walls, linking the spike protein to a fatal disease, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). 
  • 1.5K
  • 22 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Pharmacological Chaperones for Mucopolysaccharidoses
It has been proposed that t pharmacological chaperones (PCs), can restore the folding, trafficking, and biological activity of mutated enzymes. PCs have the advantages of wide tissue distribution, potential oral administration, lower production cost, and fewer issues of immunogenicity than enzyme replacement therapy. In this paper, we will review the advances in the identification and characterization of PCs for the MPS.
  • 1.5K
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Pleomorphic Hyalinizing Angiectatic Tumor
Pleomorphic hyalinizing angiectatic tumor (PHAT) is a very rare entity of soft tissue considered a “neoplasm of uncertain behaviour of connective or other soft tissue” by the World Health Organization (2020).
  • 1.5K
  • 22 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Brain Calcifications
Brain calcifications (BC) are intracranial calcium deposits localized in the brain parenchyma and its microvasculature. Their prevalence ranges from 1% in young individuals up to 38% in elderly subjects. Calcified areas are easily identified by clinicians as hyperdense alterations on brain CT. A certain degree of intracranial calcifications, particularly of the basal ganglia, pineal gland, choroid plexus, and habenula, can be considered a normal phenomenon associated with aging. Indeed, BC are often incidental findings on neuroimaging of asymptomatic individuals; however, they can also be associated with many genetic and acquired disorders. BC can be primary, as observed in several early- and late-onset genetic syndromes, or can be secondary to systemic alterations of phosphate–calcium metabolism (genetic and also acquired forms), intrauterine (e.g., TORCH) and post-natal infections (e.g., neurocysticercosis), hypoxic-ischemic injuries, toxic exposures (e.g., lead), brain tumors (e.g., oligodendrogliomas), and autoimmune disorders (e.g., systemic lupus erythematosus).
  • 1.5K
  • 10 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Role of Neutrophils in Thrombosis
Neutrophils, the major innate immune cells, eliminate pathogens by phagocytosis or by releasing antimicrobial proteolytic enzymes present in their granules.
  • 1.5K
  • 19 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Gangliosides in Vascular
Vascular diseases, such as myocardial infarction and cerebral infarction, are most commonly caused by atherosclerosis, one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Several types of cells, such as vascular (endothelial cell), vascular-associated (smooth muscle cell and fibroblast) and inflammatory cells, are involved in plaque formation, plaque rupture and thrombus formation, which result in atherosclerosis. Gangliosides, a group of glycosphingolipids, are expressed on the surface of vascular, vascular-associated and inflammatory cells, where they play functional roles. Here we introduce gangliosides expressed on those cells and their relevance to vascular diseases.
  • 1.5K
  • 23 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Ischemic Stroke
"The term stroke is defined as ”…a neurological deficit attributed to an acute focal injury of the central nervous system (CNS) by a vascular cause, including cerebral infarction, intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH)…”, thus comprising an intraluminal obstructive/ischemic and/or wall tear and a lesion mechanism.
  • 1.5K
  • 29 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease
Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a complex monogenic kidney disease which progressively leads to kidney failure. A brief description of the main characteristics and known causes of ADPKD pathology, as well as the current pharmacological treatment is presented. Numerous research tools have been developed over the last decades to study this pathology and have allowed significant progress in understanding ADPKD specific disease mechanisms, even though the precise pathophysiological mechanisms of this pathology still remain elusive. As no perfect model of ADPKD currently exists, a broad overview of available and emerging in vitro and in vivo research models used to study this disease is given. Finally, a multimodal approach, combining different and carefully selected in vitro and in vivo research tools is suggested, in order to produce reliable results relevant to the human disease.
  • 1.5K
  • 06 Jul 2020
Topic Review
Ibrexafungerp (formerly SCY-078 or MK-3118)
Ibrexafungerp (formerly SCY-078 or MK-3118) is a first-in-class triterpenoid antifungal or “fungerp” that inhibits biosynthesis of β-(1,3)-D-glucan in the fungal cell wall, a mechanism of action similar to that of echinocandins. Distinguishing characteristics of ibrexafungerp include oral bioavailability, a favourable safety profile, few drug-drug interactions, good tissue penetration, increased activity at low pH and activity against multi-drug resistant isolates including C. auris and C. glabrata. In vitro data has demonstrated broad and potent activity against Candida and Aspergillus species. Importantly, ibrexafungerp also has potent activity against azole-resistant isolates, including biofilm-forming Candida spp., and echinocandin-resistant isolates. It also has activity against the asci form of Pneumocystis spp., and other pathogenic fungi including some non-Candida yeasts and non-Aspergillus moulds. In vivo data have shown IBX to be effective for treatment of candidiasis and aspergillosis. Ibrexafungerp is effective for the treatment of acute vulvovaginal candidiasis in completed phase 3 clinical trials.
  • 1.5K
  • 19 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Coronary Vasculitis
The term coronary “artery vasculitis” is used for a diverse group of diseases with a wide spectrum of manifestations and severity. Clinical manifestations may include pericarditis or myocarditis due to involvement of the coronary microvasculature, stenosis, aneurysm, or spontaneous dissection of large coronaries, or vascular thrombosis. As compared to common atherosclerosis, patients with coronary artery vasculitis are younger and often have a more rapid disease progression. Several clinical entities have been associated with coronary artery vasculitis, including Kawasaki’s disease, Takayasu’s arteritis, polyarteritis nodosa, ANCA-associated vasculitis, giant-cell arteritis, and more recently a Kawasaki-like syndrome associated with SARS-COV-2 infection.
  • 1.5K
  • 11 Jun 2021
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