Masonschroeder1680

Microglial cells, the immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS), play a crucial role for the proper brain development and function and in CNS homeostasis. While in physiological conditions, microglia continuously check the state of brain parenchyma, in pathological conditions, microglia can show different activated phenotypes In the early phases, microglia acquire the M2 phenotype, increasing phagocytosis and releasing neurotrophic and neuroprotective factors. read more In advanced phases, they acquire the M1 phenotype, becoming neurotoxic and contributing to neurodegeneration. Underlying this phenotypic change, there is a switch in the expression of specific microglial genes, in turn modulated by epigenetic changes, such as DNA methylation, histones post-translational modifications and activity of miRNAs. New roles are attributed to microglial cells, including specific communication with neurons, both through direct cell-cell contact and by release of many different molecules, either directly or indirectly, through extracellular vesicles. In this review, recent findings on the bidirectional interaction between neurons and microglia, in both physiological and pathological conditions, are highlighted, with a focus on the complex field of microglia immunomodulation through epigenetic mechanisms and/or released factors. In addition, advanced technologies used to study these mechanisms, such as microfluidic, 3D culture and in vivo imaging, are presented.Plasma cell gingivitis (PCG) is an infrequent inflammatory disease of the gingiva of unknown etiology, characterized by a dense polyclonal proliferation of plasma cells in the connective tissue. The aim of this study was to present a case series of patients affected by PCG, analyzing demographic, clinical, histopathological, and therapeutic data. A group of 36 females and 9 males with a mean age of 60.3 years was evaluated. Clinically, 25 cases were bullous, a clinical phenotype never reported to date, 4 erythematous, 4 keratotic, 4 verruciform, and 3 ulcerative. On histological examination, pure polyclonal plasma cell infiltrate was detected in 20 specimens, while in 25 specimens it was associated with a mixed infiltrate. The first-line therapy consisted of oral hygiene and topical corticosteroids in all patients. In 25 patients, doxycycline and sulfasalazine were added; in 10 of these patients, the disease persisted, and it was necessary to resort to systemic steroids. This study presented the clinico-pathological profile and outcomes of a case series of PCG. This could be an aid for clinicians to be aware of the heterogeneous clinical phenotype and of the possible pure bullous phenotype of PCG. Further studies are needed to improve the knowledge about this disorder.Although the external knee adduction moment (KAM) during gait was shown to be a quantitative parameter of medial knee osteoarthritis (OA), it requires expensive equipment and a dedicated large space to measure. Therefore, it becomes a major reason to limit KAM measurement in a clinical environment. The purpose of this study was to estimate KAM using a single inertial measurement unit (IMU) during gait in patients with knee OA. A total of 22 medial knee OA patients (44 knee joints) performed conventional gait analysis using three-dimensional (3D) motion capture system. At the same time, we attached commercial IMUs to six body segments (sternum, pelvis, both thighs, and both shanks), and IMU signals during gait were recorded synchronized with the motion capture system. The peak-to-peak difference of acceleration in the lateral/medial axis immediately after heel contact was defined as the thrust acceleration (TA). We hypothesized that TA would represent the lateral thrust of the knee during the stance phase and correlate with the first peak of KAM. The relationship between the peak KAM and TA of pelvis (R = 0.52, p less then 0.001), shanks (R = 0.57, p less then 0.001) and thighs (R = 0.49, p = 0.001) showed a significant correlation. The root mean square error (RMSE) of linear regression models of pelvis, shanks, and thighs to estimate KAM were 0.082, 0.079, and 0.084 Nm/(kg·m), respectively. Our newly established parameter TA showed a moderate correlation with conventional KAM. The current study confirmed our hypothesis that a single IMU would predict conventional KAM during gait. Since KAM is known as an indicator for prognosis and severity of knee OA, this new parameter has the potential to become an accessible predictor for medial knee OA instead of KAM.From 22 March until 18 May 2020, a complete lockdown in Italy was ordered as a countermeasure against the COVID-19 pandemic. Social isolation measures affect some populations more than others, and people with drug and/or alcohol disorders (SUDs) are more likely to be adversely affected. This study presents, for the first time, laboratory data on the use of alcohol and drugs in a high-risk population during Italy's first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirty subjects with SUDs were monitored for the use of illicit drugs and alcohol every 3 months before, during and after the lockdown, by hair analysis. The number of samples positive for heroin, cocaine, MDMA and cannabis fell considerably during the lockdown and then resumed to pre-lockdown levels when the period of confinement was over. Interestingly, the consumption of benzodiazepines and alcohol followed the opposite trend; both the number of benzodiazepine-positive samples and the level of alcohol consumption increased and remained high, even at the end of the lockdown. The confinement measures produced significant changes in drug/alcohol use patterns, with a shift toward the use of substances that were more easily accessible, used as self-medication for negative feelings, and used to alleviate the effects of abstinence from drugs that were no longer readily available.Among the countries of the Mediterranean Basin, Tunisia is located at the crossroad for the immigration of several civilizations over the last two millennia, becoming a strategic place for gene flow, and a secondary center of diversity for olive species. Olive is one of the principal crop species in Tunisia and now it strongly characterizes the rural landscape of the country. In recent years, collecting missions on farm and in situ were carried out by various institutes, with special emphasis given to ex situ collections serving as a reference for the identification of olive germplasm. Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) represent the easiest and cheapest markers for olive genetic fingerprinting and have been the tool of choice for studying the genetic diversity of this crop in Tunisia, to resolve cases of homonymy and synonymy among the commercialized varieties, to identify rare cultivars, to improve knowledge about the genetic variability of this crop, to identify a hot spot of olive biodiversity in the Tunisian oasis of Degache, and to enrich the national reference collection of olive varieties.