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Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been widely adopted in research on coronary atherosclerosis and adopted clinically to optimize percutaneous coronary intervention. In this Review, Jang and colleagues summarize this rapidly progressing field, with the aim of standardizing the use of OCT in coronary atherosclerosis.Since optical coherence tomography (OCT) was first performed in humans two decades ago, this imaging modality has been widely adopted in research on coronary atherosclerosis and adopted clinically for the optimization of percutaneous coronary intervention. In the past 10 years, substantial advances have been made in the understanding of in vivo vascular biology using OCT. Identification by OCT of culprit plaque pathology could potentially lead to a major shift in the management of patients with acute coronary syndromes. Detection by OCT of healed coronary plaque has been important in our understanding of the mechanisms involved in plaque destabilization and healing with the rapid progression of atherosclerosis. Accurate detection by OCT of sequelae from percutaneous coronary interventions that might be missed by angiography could improve clinical outcomes. In addition, OCT has become an essential diagnostic modality for myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries. Insight into neoatherosclerosis from OCT could improve our understanding of the mechanisms of very late stent thrombosis. The appropriate use of OCT depends on accurate interpretation and understanding of the clinical significance of OCT findings. In this Review, we summarize the state of the art in cardiac OCT and facilitate the uniform use of this modality in coronary atherosclerosis. Contributions have been made by clinicians and investigators worldwide with extensive experience in OCT, with the aim that this document will serve as a standard reference for future research and clinical application.

Since optical coherence tomography (OCT) was first performed in humans two decades ago, this imaging modality has been widely adopted in research on coronary atherosclerosis and adopted clinically for the optimization of percutaneous coronary intervention. In the past 10 years, substantial advances have been made in the understanding of in vivo vascular biology using OCT. Identification by OCT of culprit plaque pathology could potentially lead to a major shift in the management of patients with acute coronary syndromes. Detection by OCT of healed coronary plaque has been important in our understanding of the mechanisms involved in plaque destabilization and healing with the rapid progression of atherosclerosis. Accurate detection by OCT of sequelae from percutaneous coronary interventions that might be missed by angiography could improve clinical outcomes. In addition, OCT has become an essential diagnostic modality for myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries. Insight into neoatherosclerosis from OCT could improve our understanding of the mechanisms of very late stent thrombosis. The appropriate use of OCT depends on accurate interpretation and understanding of the clinical significance of OCT findings. In this Review, we summarize the state of the art in cardiac OCT and facilitate the uniform use of this modality in coronary atherosclerosis. Contributions have been made by clinicians and investigators worldwide with extensive experience in OCT, with the aim that this document will serve as a standard reference for future research and clinical application. © 2022, Springer Nature Limited.

This study assesses the safety and efficacy of thin-strut stents in non-left main (non-LM) bifurcation coronary lesions.Thinner struts of recent drug-eluting stent (DES) devices are associated with improved outcomes, but data about their performance in challenging scenarios are scant.RAIN was a retrospective multicenter registry enrolling patients with coronary bifurcation lesions or left main (LM) disease treated with thin-strut DESs. Target-lesion revascularization (TLR) was the primary endpoint, while major adverse clinical event (MACE) rate, a composite of all-cause death, myocardial infarction (MI), target-vessel revascularization (TVR), TLR, and stent thrombosis (ST), and its single components were the secondary endpoints. Multivariable analysis was performed to identify predictors of TLR. Outcome incidences according to stenting strategy (provisional vs 2-stent technique), use of final kissing balloon (FKB), and intravascular ultrasound/optical coherence tomography optimization were further investigated in prespecified subanalyses.A total of 1803 patients (59% acute coronary syndrome, 41% stable coronary artery disease) with non-LM bifurcations were enrolled. After a median follow-up of 12 months, TLR incidence was 2.5% (2.2% for provisional stenting and 3.5% for 2-stent technique). MACE rate was 9.4% (all-cause death, 4.1%; MI, 3.2%; TVR, 3.7%; definite ST, 1.1%). After multivariable adjustment, postdilation (hazard ratio [HR], 0.32; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.15-0.71; P.01) and provisional stenting (HR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.55-0.89; P=.03) were associated with lower TLR rates. FKB was associated with a lower incidence of TLR in the 2-stent subgroup (P=.03). Intracoronary imaging had no significant impact on the primary endpoint.Thin-strut DES options represent an effective choice in bifurcation lesions. Postdilation and provisional stenting are associated with a reduced risk of TLR. FKB should be recommended in 2-stent techniques.

Prolactin (PRL) is one of the most versatile hormones of the pituitary gland in terms of biological actions. In particular, PRL is essential for mammary gland development, lactogenesis and milk protein gene expression. It has also considered as a potential quantitative trait locus affecting milk performance traits in dairy cattle. Aims of this study were to detect PRL gene polymorphisms and to investigate their effect in Mediterranean river buffalo milk yield. For this purpose, DNA was isolated from the blood collected from 757 unrelated lactating Mediterranean river buffaloes belonging to 14 farms located in Salerno, Caserta and Potenza provinces (Italy). Using primers designed on bubaline genome sequence we amplified and sequenced the entire PRL gene of 5 buffaloes randomly chosen. Seven-thousand one-hundred and fifty-one records for milk yield, measured monthly by the official recording system of the Italian Association of Buffalo Breeders on 1081 lactations of 544 buffaloes, were used. Association between PRL polymorphism and milk yield was investigated with a mixed linear model. The entire panel of Mediterranean river buffalo DNA samples were genotyped in outsourcing (KBiosciences, Herts, UK) for the exonic SNP. The buffalo PRL gene extends over 8.6 kb including 0.858 kb of exonic regions and 7.741 kb of intronic regions plus 361 bp of the 5′UTR. The main feature of the buffalo PRL gene is simple architecture. It contains 5 exons ranging in size from 82 (exon 1) to 306 bp (exon 5) and 4 introns from 629 bp (intron 4) to 2715 bp (intron 1). The sequence comparison of buffalo PRL gene showed 34 intronic polymorphisms (11 transversions, 22 transitions and 1 single deletions/insertions) and a transition C→T at the 108th nucleotide of the exon 5. The frequency of the PRL T108C SNP in the investigated population was 0.88 (genotype distribution: 589 T/T, 156 T/C, 12 C/C). The least-squares means for milk yield indicated a difference of 0.18 kg/day between the genotypes TT (n. subjects 432) and TC (105) or CC (7), whereas both TC and CC showed an average milk production of 8.32 kg/day. However, these differences were not significant. Therefore, this SNP appears to be selectively neutral in relation to milk yield.

Objective: Aim of present study was the set up of a fast and reliable protocol using species-specific markers for the quali-quantitative analysis of DNA and the detection of ruminant biological components in dairy products. For this purpose, the promoter of the gene coding for the -lactoalbumin (LALBA) was chosen as possible candidate for the presence of Short Interpersed Elements (SINEs). Methods DNA was isolated from somatic cells of 120 individual milk samples of cattle (30), Mediterranean river buffalo (30), goat (30) and sheep (30) and the gene promoter region (about 600/700 bp) of α-lactalbumin (LALBA) (from about 600 bp upstream of exon 1) has been sequenced. For the development of a single PCR protocol that allows the simultaneous identification of DNA from the four species of ruminants, the following internal primers pair were used: 5’-CACTGATCTTAAAGCTCAGGTT-3’ (forward) and 5’-TCAGAGTAGGCCACAGAAG-3’ (reverse). Results Sequencing results of LALBA gene promoter region confirmed the presence of SINEs as monomorphic “within” and variable in size “among” the selected species. Amplicon lengths were 582 bp in cattle, 592 bp in buffalo, 655 in goat and 729 bp in sheep. PCR specificity was demonstrated by the detection of trace amounts of species-specific DNA from mixed sources (0.25 ng/l). Conclusion We developed a rapid PCR protocol for the quali-quantitative analysis of DNA and the traceability of dairy products using a species-specific marker with only one pair of primers. Our results validate the proposed technique as a suitable tool for a simple and inexpensive (economic) detection of animal origin components in foodstuffs.

Lipoprotein lipase is a key enzyme for the lipid metabolism playing a fundamental role in the composition of fat in adipose tissue as well as in milk. LPL gene was poorly investigated in dairy ruminants, and it has been never studied in river buffalo. Aims of this work were to explore the genetic diversity of LPL (from exon 1 to 4) in this species; to characterize the gene promoter; and to achieve an association study with milk traits. Genomic DNA of 14 individual samples of Mediterranean Italian breed was amplified and sequenced. Thirteen consensus sequences for transcription factors were found. C/EBPα and Oct-1 are the main regulatory motifs together with LP-α, although a deeper investigation is necessary to elucidate the role of the latter element, which in buffalo (and ruminants in general) is lacking the downstream cis-acting motifs (LP-β) compared to human. A total of 11 SNPs have been detected. The SNP g.107A>G was the only polymorphism found at exon level, therefore a genotyping was achieved by PCR-RFLP in a population of 523 Mediterranean buffaloes. The allele frequency was 0.63 and 0.37 respectively for the G and A allele. This SNP was significantly associated with n3-PUFA (P

Outcome of bovine tuberculosis (bTB), an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis, is influenced by host genetic background. For this reason, polymorphism discovery association studies are a powerful tool for selective breeding helping disease control. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a regulatory cytokine produced by different cells and fine-tune immune response to bTB. Thus, in this research, we evaluated the role of the single nucleotide polymorphism g.4002C>T in IL-10 gene for susceptibility to bTB in Mediterranean water buffalo. We characterized 184 animals grouped in cases and controls and demonstrated that homozygous subjects TT are about 3 times more susceptible to bTB compared to CC homozygous. Indeed this polymorphism is responsible of amino acid substitution p. (Thr 175 Met) in the primary protein sequence which affects protein secondary structure. This polymorphism might represent a valid tool for marker assisted selection against bovine tuberculosis in water buffalo.

Iodine (I) is a micronutrient essential for the proper thyroid functionality in mammals. I requirement is dependent by the life stage and milk constitutes the main source of I intake for infant. For this reason, in dairy ruminants, the calibration of I is fundamental to keep the performance high. However, the effects of I supplementation on gene expression in dairy cow are not well documented. Thus, to improve knowledge in this field, we have assessed the effect of I supplementation dairy cattle using RNAsequencing. In detail, we have randomly divided 22 dairy cows into two groups: the first group (CTR, 11 animals) received a customised diet with physiological level of I2 (20 mg/day/animal of I2) while the second one (I, 11 animals) received the same diet with a I2 supplementation (20 + 65 mg/day/animal of I2) for 8 weeks (56 days). At the end of supplementation, the whole blood from both groups is been collected and the transcriptome analysis is been performed. Filtering our data using a FDR

Transglutaminases (TG, E.C. 2.3.2.13) are related and ubiquitous enzymes that catalyze the cross linking of a glutaminyl residue of a protein/peptide substrate to a lysyl residue of a protein/peptide co-substrate. These enzymes are also capable of catalyzing other post-translational reactions important for cell life. The distribution and the physiological roles of human TGs have been widely studied in numerous cell types and tissues and recently their roles in several diseases have begun to be identified. It has been hypothesized that transglutaminase activity is directly involved in the pathogenetic mechanisms responsible for several human diseases. In particular, tissue TG (tTG, TG2), a member of the TG enzyme family, has been recently shown to be involved in the molecular mechanisms responsible for a very widespread human pathology, Celiac Disease (CD), one of the most common food intolerances described in the western population. The main food agent that provokes the strong and diffuse clinical symptoms has been known for several years to be gliadin, a protein present in a very large number of human foods derived from vegetables. Recently, some biochemical and immunological aspects of this very common disease have been clarified, and “tissue” transglutaminase, a multifunctional and ubiquitous enzyme, has been identified as one of the major factors. The aim of this review is to summarize the most recent findings concerning the relationships between the biochemical properties of the transglutaminase activity and the basic molecular mechanisms responsible for some human diseases, with particular reference to neuropsychiatric disorders. Possible molecular links between CD and neuropsychiatric disorders, and the use of transglutaminase inhibitors are also discussed.