Search

Background: Exposure to environmental stressors like particulate matter (PM) and ultraviolet radiation (UV) induces cutaneous oxidative stress and inflammation and leads to skin barrier dysfunction and premature aging. Metals like iron or copper are abundant in PM and are known to contribute to reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Aims: Although it has been suggested that topical antioxidants may be able to help in preventing and/or reducing outdoor skin damage, limited clinical evidence under real‐life exposure conditions have been reported. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the ability of a topical serum containing 15% ascorbic acid, 0.5% ferulic acid, and 1% tocopherol (CF Mix) to prevent oxinflammatory skin damage and premature aging induced by PM + UV in a human clinical trial. Methods: A 4‐day single‐blinded, clinical study was conducted on the back of 15 females (18–40 years old). During the 4 consecutive days, the back test zones were treated daily with or without the CF Mix, followed by with/without 2 h of PM and 5 min of UV daily exposure. Results: Application of the CF Mix prevented PM + UV‐induced skin barrier perturbation (Involucrin and Loricrin), lipid peroxidation (4HNE), inflammatory markers (COX2, NLRP1, and AhR), and MMP9 activation. In addition, CF Mix was able to prevent Type I Collagen loss. Conclusion: This is the first human study confirming multipollutant cutaneous damage and suggesting the utility of a daily antioxidant topical application to prevent pollution induced skin damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The arts have the potential to increase public awareness about mental health and reduce stigma. However, arts‐based projects to raise awareness have been small‐scale. In this study, a mental health‐awareness audio tour of The National Gallery in London was co‐produced and narrated by young adults with relevant lived experience. The study investigated the acceptability of the tour to the public and evaluated its impact on public attitudes about mental health. Methods: Participants were Gallery visitors over four consecutive days. The tour led visitors on 10 stops through the Gallery. Each stop focused on artworks and Gallery spaces, challenged common myths about mental health, and invited visitors to consider their personal views. Participants completed measures of mood and attitudes about mental health pre‐ and post‐tour and provided narrative feedback. Results: Pre‐tour, participants (N = 213) reported high levels of happiness, compassion towards people with mental health conditions, comfort talking about mental health, and positive attitudes about mental health. Post‐tour, participants (N = 111) reported significant increases in happiness, comfort, and positive attitudes. In feedback, participants (N = 85) reported that strengths of the tour were the music, inclusion of lived experience, art and mental health links, and reported that the tour was informative, innovative, and improved mental health awareness. Conclusions: The tour increased positive attitudes, despite positive baseline attitudes, indicating the feasibility of arts‐based interventions in major venues to reduce stigma. Sampling limitations and participant retention suggest that arts‐based projects to raise awareness should target more diverse audiences and consider data collection strategies in large venues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This research evaluates the effects of storage conditions on the quality of the semi‐defatted chia (Salvia hispanica L.) flour (SDCF), a by‐product from chia seed oil by cold pressing extraction with high nutritional value. For this purpose, SDCF was packaged in different types of packaging materials such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), metalized biaxially oriented polypropylene films (BOPP), and triple kraft (K) and stored at 4 ± 1 and 20 ± 2°C for 240 days. Moisture content, fatty acids composition by GC, tocopherol content by HPLC, total phenolic content (TPC), and 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity assays by spectrophotometry were determined. Oxidative stability was monitored by peroxide values (PV), induction time (Rancimat), and free fatty acids content (FFA). Results: Moisture content was below 9% during storage, and the fatty acids profile was stable under different storage conditions. The TPC and DPPH radical scavenging activity, γ‐ and δ‐ tocopherol contents decreased significantly (p < 0.05) with storage time; PV were lower than 10 meq O2/Kg oil under the studied parameters and the oxidative stability showed the highest level at 4 ± 1°C. The FFA content was <2% at 4 ± 1°C, overpassing this level after 120 days at 20 ± 2°C. SDCF showed a low microbial activity, which could be due to tocopherols and phenolic compounds. Conclusions: Temperature and storage time had a significant influence on the quality of SDCF being BOPP packaging at 4 ± 1°C is the most effective method for their preservation from deteriorative processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The SARS‐CoV‐2 outbreak early in 2020 overwhelmed the Italian national health system, and hospitals were considered places at high risk of spreading the infection. We explored specific antibody seroprevalence of all employees at a single hospital in the epicentre of the outbreak, to identify areas of risk in nosocomial setting and to evaluate the usefulness of antibody testing. Aims: Aim of this study was to explore SARS‐CoV‐2 seroprevalence in a single hospital workers cohort. Methods: All hospital workers were invited to fill in a questionnaire and undergo a blood test for SARS‐CoV‐2 IgG, using two commercial tests (DiaSorin and Abbott). Seropositivity was determined overall and according to demographic and occupations characteristics, for both tests singly and combined. Results: The study enrolled 1562 hospital workers (95% of the eligible population). Overall, 153 (9.8%) participants were positive for SARS‐CoV‐2 IgG on DiaSorin test, and 150 (9.6%) were positive on Abbott test; both tests were positive in 123 (7.9%) cases and at least one was positive in 180 (11.5%) cases. Factors associated with SARS‐CoV‐2 seropositivity included: being a smoker, working in emergency or medicine departments, being a healthcare practitioner, self‐reporting a relative with COVID‐19 or symptoms suggestive of COVID‐19, and having undergone a nasopharyngeal swab test. The tests were accurate in discriminating infected cases, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.867 using manufacturer‐suggested cut‐offs and 0.929 using optimised cut‐offs. For discriminating symptomatic subjects, this value was 0.915 using optimised cut‐offs. Conclusions: Seroprevalence for SARS‐CoV‐2 in this population of hospital workers was overall about 10%, with an excess prevalence in roles and departments associated with contacts with COVID‐19 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The role of dynamic changes in lactate concentrations on prognosis in acute heart failure has been poorly investigated. The aim of this study was to explore the predictive value of 24 h time‐weighted lactate (LACTW) in patients with acute heart failure. Methods and results: Ninety‐six consecutive acute heart failure patients presenting to the Emergency Department of San Paolo Hospital, Naples, Italy, were prospectively enrolled. Arterial blood lactate was measured at admission and during the following 24 h at random time intervals. LACTW was obtained by the sum of the average lactate values among consecutive time points multiplied by the intervals between consecutive time points and dividing the sum by the total time (24 h). The outcome was a composite of need of admission to the intensive care unit, hospitalization duration >7 days, or intra‐hospital death. Admission lactate, maximum measured lactate, and LACTW were collected. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis was applied to determine the hazard ratio (HR) of developing the outcome. Forty‐three patients experienced the pre‐specified outcome. In sex‐adjusted and age‐adjusted multivariable analysis, LACTW predicted the outcome occurrence (HR: 1.51, 95% confidence interval: 1.24, 1.84, P < 0.001). Risk stratification analysis based on LACTW tertiles demonstrated a gradual increase in risk of developing the outcome (HR: 17.32, 95% confidence interval: 2.30, 130.23, P = 0.006) for the highest LACTW tertile. Conclusions: In acute heart failure patients, 24 h LACTW had a significant independent predictive value for adverse intra‐hospital outcome. LACTW could be a useful index at identifying high‐risk patients who may require a more aggressive treatment during hospitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emulsifiers and stabilizers play an important role in emulsion stability. Optical characterization and droplet size distribution of oil-in-water emulsions formulated with different types and concentrations of modified sunflower lecithin [phosphatidylcholine (PC) enriched lecithin and deoiled sunflower lecithin], with or without chia mucilage (0.75 % wt/wt), have been evaluated as a function of storage time at 4 ± 1 °C. Emulsions with PC-enriched lecithin (without chia mucilage) exhibited the highest stability at the different concentrations because of the high PC/phosphatidylethanolamine ratio in comparison to Control lecithin. The addition of 0.75 % wt/wt mucilage contributed to obtain stable emulsions for all type and concentrations of emulsifiers studied, mainly with PC-enriched lecithin due to the reduction of the mobility of oil particles by the formation of a tridimensional network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mixture of different proportions of sunflower with chia oil provides a simple method to prepare edible oils with a wide range of desired fatty acid compositions. Sunflower-chia (90:10 and 80:20 wt/wt) oil blends with the addition of rosemary (ROS), ascorbyl palmitate (AP) and their blends (AP:ROS) were formulated to evaluate the oxidative stability during storage at two temperature levels normally used, cool (4 ± 1 °C) and room temperature (20 ± 2 °C) for a period of 360 days. Peroxide values (PV) of the oil blends with antioxidants stored at 4 ± 1 °C showed levels ≤10.0 mequiv O/kg oil; the lowest levels of PV were found for blends with AP:ROS. Values higher than 10.0 mequiv O/kg were observed between 120-240 days for oil blends stored at 20 ± 2 °C. Similar trends were observed with p-anisidine and Totox values. The oxidative stability determined by the Rancimat method and differential scanning calorimetry showed a greater susceptibility of the oils to oxidative deterioration with increasing unsaturated fatty acids content. The addition of antioxidants increased the induction time and decreased the Arrhenius rate constant, indicating an improvement in the oxidative stability for all the oil blends. Temperature had a strong influence on the stability of these blends during storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fractions enriched in specific phospholipids are desirable for different industrial purposes because of their characteristic physicochemical and functional properties. We studied the fractionation process of sunflower lecithin using different absolute-ethanol/water ratios and pHs and then evaluated the emulsifying properties of phosphatidyl-choline-(PC-) enriched fractions in oil/water 30:70 v/v emulsions. We observed a high recovery of PC and a low content of phosphatidyl inositol (PI) in all the PC-enriched fractions thus obtained along with the highest yields of this phospholipid after extraction with an absolute-ethanol/water mixture of 96:4 v/v. The use of different pH values for the different solvent extraction media did not markedly modify the yield of the enriched fractions. The extraction coefficients for PC and phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE) evidenced an increase in both these phospholipids in the PC-enriched fractions upon extraction with the higher concentration of absolute ethanol. Emulsions containing the PC-enriched fractions obtained with the absolute-ethanol/water mixture of 96:4 v/v exhibited the highest stability at pH 7.5 because of the high PC/PE ratio compared to that of the PC-enriched fractions extracted with the absolute-ethanol/water mixture of 90:10 v/v. A high emulsifier concentration resulted in a low mean D [4,3] diameter of the particles and a high stability. Practical applications: Sunflower lecithin is a promising alternative to soybean lecithin because it is considered the product of a non-genetically modified organism (non-GMO). Experimentation on lecithin modification under industrial conditions with adequate techniques of analysis may be useful for evaluating the potential applications of these sunflower by-products to the production of new emulsifiers. Thus, an analysis of the influence of different fractionation parameters, such as the pH of the solvent extraction, on the composition and emulsifying properties of the resulting PC-enriched fractions may provide useful information for the food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unusual TFA catalyzed cleavage reaction is reported for peptide containing pipecolic acid residues. Although the use of TFA under standard cleavage conditions is sufficiently mild to prevent degradation of the desired products, the amide bond between consecutive pipecolic acid residues is unexpectedly hydrolyzed by standard TFA treatment. The hydrolysis is proposed to proceed via an oxazolinium ion intermediate. This mechanism is supported by H/D exchange as observed by ESI-MS and NMR experiments. Copyright © 2008 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Histidine is a naturally occurring amino acid with antioxidant properties, which is present in low amounts in tissues throughout the body. We recently synthesized and characterized histidine analogues related to the natural dipeptide carnosine, which selectively scavenge the toxic lipid peroxidation product 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE). We now report that the histidine analogue histidyl hydrazide is effective in reducing brain damage and improving functional outcome in a mouse model of focal ischemic stroke when administered intravenously at a dose of 20 mg/kg, either 30 min before or 60 min and 3 h after the onset of middle cerebral artery occlusion. The histidine analogue also protected cultured rat primary neurons against death induced by HNE, chemical hypoxia, glucose deprivation, and combined oxygen and glucose deprivation. The histidine analogue prevented neuronal apoptosis as indicated by decreased production of cleaved caspase-3 protein. These findings suggest a therapeutic potential for HNE-scavenging histidine analogues in the treatment of stroke and related neurodegenerative conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eukaryotic signal transduction involves the assembly of transient protein-protein complexes mediated by modular interaction domains. Specific Pro-rich sequences with the consensus core motif PxxP adopt the PPII helix conformation upon binding to SH3 domains. For short Pro-rich peptides, little or no ordered secondary structure is usually observed before binding interactions. The association of a Pro-rich peptide with the SH3 domain involves unfavorable binding entropy due to the loss of rotational freedom on forming the PPII helix. With the aim of stabilizing the PPII helix conformation in the Pro-rich HPK1 decapeptide PPPLPPKPKF (P2), a series of P2 analogues was prepared, in which specific Pro positions were alternatively occupied by 4( S)- or 4( R)-4-fluoro- L-proline. The interactions of these peptides with the SH3 domain of the HPK1-binding partner HS1 were quantitatively analyzed by the NILIA-CD approach. A CD thermal analysis of the P2 analogues was performed to assess their propensity to adopt the PPII helix conformation. Contrary to our expectations, the Kd values of the analogues were lower than that of the parent peptide P2. These results clearly show that the induction of a stable PPII helix conformation in short Pro-rich peptides is not sufficient to increase their affinity toward the SH3 domain and that the effect of 4-fluoroproline strongly depends on the position of this residue in the sequence and the chirality of the substituent in the pyrrolidine ring. Copyright © 2006 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cathepsin B is a cysteine protease that in tumor tissues is localized in both acidic lysosomes and extracellular spaces. It can catalyze the cleavage of peptide bonds by two mechanisms: endoproteolytic attack with a pH optimum around 7.4, and attack from the C-terminus with a pH optimum at 4.5-5.5. In this work, seven fluorescent, internally quenched, decapeptides have been synthesized using the prototypical cathepsin B selective substrate Z-Phe-Arg-AMC as a lead, and used to identify the structural factors determining the susceptibility of peptides to hydrolysis at acidic and neutral pH values. Each peptide differs from the others in one amino acid (residue 6) and contains a highly fluorescent Nma group linked to the α-amino function of the N-terminal Orn residue and a Dnp group linked to the side chain of the Lys8 residue acting as a quencher. Proteolytic cleavage was monitored by measuring the increase of fluorescence at 440 nm upon excitation at 340 nm, and the cleavage sites were determined by HPLC followed by ESI-MS analysis. Peptides containing Ala or Phe at position 6 are good substrates for the enzyme at both pH 5.0 and 7.4. By contrast, those containing Glu, Asp, Lys or Val are not cleaved at all by cathepsin B at pH 7.4, and are poorly hydrolyzed at pH 5.0. These findings provide new information for the rational design of cathepsin B-activated peptide-containing anticancer drugs. Copyright © 2006 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tat cell-penetrating peptide (GRKKRRQRRRPPQG) is able to translocate and carry molecules across cell membranes. Using CD spectroscopy the conformation of this synthetic peptide was studied in aqueous and membrane-mimicking, micellar SDS solutions at different temperatures. The CD spectrum of the Tat cell-penetrating peptide in SDS micellar solution was virtually unchanged from that in aqueous solution, and at low temperature it was close to that of a poly(proline) II helix. Copyright © 2004 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure and mass spectrometric behaviour of molecular species of two benzo[ ij]quinolizin-5-ones and one pyrrol [3,2,1- ij] quinolin-4-one were studied in detail with the aid of mass-analysed ion kinetic energy spectrometry and ion trapping experiments. Whereas in the usual electron impact spectra obtained with a double-focusing instrument clear differences are present among the three isomeric com ponds, the unimolecular fragmentation processes of the related M+· indicate the occurrence of isomerization processes to give a common structure. Significantly, under ion trap conditions nearly identical electron impact spectra are obtained; such unexpected behaviour was explained by either the presence of the buffer gas or the occurrence of different ionizing phenomena, leading to lower energy deposition in the molecular species. Under fast atom bombardment conditions, an acid-catalysed isomerization process occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the findings of a study which examined the effects of stearoylethanolamide (SEA) on liver messenger RNA expression of stearoyl-coenzyme A desaturase 1 and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α. Anorexic effect of N-acylethanolamines in mice; Effectiveness of SEA oral administration in reducing mice feeding behavior; Molecular mechanisms underlying anorexic activity.

An abstract of the article "Foot type biomechanics in diabetic and not diabetic subjects," by Zimi Sawacha, Annamaria Guiotto, Gabriella Guarneri, Angelo aogaro, and Claudio Cobelli is presented.