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This article discusses a rare case of bilateral macrostomia, a form of facial malformation characterized by widening of the mouth, initially suspected as retrognathia during prenatal diagnosis. The use of three-dimensional ultrasound allowed for precise measurements and visualization of soft and bony tissues, leading to the identification of the anomaly. The female neonate was delivered with multiple facial anomalies, including bilateral mucous bands, a bilateral hard palate cleft, and a bifid uvula, ultimately diagnosed as a rare form of isolated macrostomia. The case highlights the importance of advanced imaging techniques in prenatal diagnosis and management of complex maxillofacial malformations. [Extracted from the article]

Differences emerged regarding the clinical context in which cCTG was used before labor and whether antepartum cCTG was used only in preterm gestations, only in term gestations or in both preterm and term gestations (Appendix S1). Regarding the cCTG parameters used for management, 75.5% of Italian practitioners used both STV and Dawes-Redman criteria, 23.6% used only STV and 0.9% used other criteria. Among the parameters derived from cCTG, reduced short-term variation (STV) is the best predictor of fetal hypoxemia, acidemia and stillbirth in pregnancies complicated byfetal growth restriction (FGR)[[3], [5]]. [Extracted from the article]

Cytosolic PLA 2 (cPLA 2 ) and Ca 2+ -independent PLA 2 (iPLA 2 ) play a significant role in insulin β-cells secretion. Bacterial infections may be responsible of the onset of diabetes. The mechanism by which Staphylococcus aureus infection of INS-1 cells alters glucose-induced insulin secretion has been examined. After acute infection, insulin secretion and PLA 2 activities significantly increased. Moreover, increased expressions of phospho-cPLA 2 , phospho-PKCα and phospho-ERK 1/2 were observed. Chronic infection causes a decrease in insulin release and a significant increase of iPLA 2 and COX-2 protein expression. Moreover, insulin secretion in infected cells could be restored using specific si RNAs against iPLA 2 isoform and specific COX-2 inhibitor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosholipase A2 (PLA2) activity in the seminal plasma and in sperm heads is closely related to sperm motility and male fertility. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the possible involvement of different isoforms of phospholipase in asthenozoospermia. To accomplish this, cPLA2, phospho-cPLA2, iPLA2, and sPLA2 were evaluated by immunofluorescence and immunoblot analyses in spermatozoa obtained from 22 normozoospermic men and 28 asthenozoospermic patients. We found significant differences in cPLA2 and its phosphorylated/activated form, iPLA2, and sPLA2 content and distribution in normal and asthenozoospermic patients. cPLA2 was localized in heads, midpieces, and tails of all spermatozoa as constitutive enzyme, less expressed in the tail of spermatozoa with low progressive motility. While active phospho-cPLA2 distribution was homogeneous throughout the cell body of control-donor spermatozoa, lower levels were detected in the tails of asthenozoospermic patients, as opposed to its strong presence in heads. Low immunofluorescence signal for iPLA2 was found in astenozoospermic patients, whereas sPLA2 was significantly lower in the heads of asthenozoospermic patients. Spermatozoa with low progressive motility showed differences both in terms of total specific activity and of intracellular distribution. cPLA2, iPLA2, and sPLA2 specific activities correlated positively and in a significantly manner with sperm progressive motility both in normozoospermic men and asthenozoospermic patients. In conclusion, PLA2s are expressed in different areas of human spermatozoa. Spermatozoa with low motility showed differences in total specific activity and enzyme distributions. We speculated that PLA2 expression and/or different distribution could be potential biomarkers of asthenozoospermia, one of the major causes of male factor infertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosholipase A2 (PLA2) activity in the seminal plasma and in sperm heads is closely related to sperm motility and male fertility. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the possible involvement of different isoforms of phospholipase in asthenozoospermia. To accomplish this, cPLA2, phospho-cPLA2, iPLA2, and sPLA2 were evaluated by immunofluorescence and immunoblot analyses in spermatozoa obtained from 22 normozoospermic men and 28 asthenozoospermic patients. We found significant differences in cPLA2 and its phosphorylated/activated form, iPLA2, and sPLA2 content and distribution in normal and asthenozoospermic patients. cPLA2 was localized in heads, midpieces, and tails of all spermatozoa as constitutive enzyme, less expressed in the tail of spermatozoa with low progressive motility. While active phospho-cPLA2 distribution was homogeneous throughout the cell body of control-donor spermatozoa, lower levels were detected in the tails of asthenozoospermic patients, as opposed to its strong presence in heads. Low immunofluorescence signal for iPLA2 was found in astenozoospermic patients, whereas sPLA2 was significantly lower in the heads of asthenozoospermic patients. Spermatozoa with low progressive motility showed differences both in terms of total specific activity and of intracellular distribution. cPLA2, iPLA2, and sPLA2 specific activities correlated positively and in a significantly manner with sperm progressive motility both in normozoospermic men and asthenozoospermic patients. In conclusion, PLA2s are expressed in different areas of human spermatozoa. Spermatozoa with low motility showed differences in total specific activity and enzyme distributions. We speculated that PLA2 expression and/or different distribution could be potential biomarkers of asthenozoospermia, one of the major causes of male factor infertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myeloid suppressor cells are a heterogeneous group of myeloid cells that are increased in patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) inducing T cell tolerance. In this study, we found that therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) decreased the percentage of granulocytic MDSC, but only patients treated with dasatinib showed a significant reduction in the monocytic subset (M-MDSC). Moreover, a positive correlation was observed between number of persistent M-MDSC and the value of major molecular response in dasatinib-treated patients. Serum and exosomes from patients with CML induced conversion of monocytes from healthy volunteers into immunosuppressive M-MDSC, suggesting a bidirectional crosstalk between CML cells and MDSC. Overall, we identified M-MDSC as prognostic factors in patients treated with dasatinib. It might be of interest to understand whether MDSC may be a candidate predictive markers of relapse risk following TKI discontinuation, suggesting their potential significance as practice of precision medicine., (© 2017 The Authors. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine.)

The scavenger effect of melanin and of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity on superoxide anion has been shown. In this work we show the relationship between melanin content and SOD activity in livers containing different quantities of melanin which were taken from various species of animals. The mitochondrial SOD activity disappears when the melanin content in the liver is very high; moreover it increases, in the liver of various species of animals examined, proportionally to the decrease of melanin content. No significant variation of the SOD activity localized in the soluble fraction has been detected when related to the melanin content. We think that in the pigmented liver the antioxidant activity of the melanin could mimic part of the function of SOD. The loss of Mn SOD activity could be mediated by a low intracellular level of superoxide anion due to the scavenger effect of melanin on superoxide anion; in fact, it is well known that the biosynthesis of Mn SOD is induced by intracellular levels of superoxide anion.