Search results

Polyamines are cationic molecules synthesized via a highly regulated pathway, obtained from the diet or produced by the gut microbiota. They are involved in general molecular and cellular phenomena that play a role also in vascular disease. Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is a congenital malformation associated to a greater risk of thoracic ascending aorta (TAA) aneurysm, whose pathogenesis is not yet

Measurement of the burning velocity of unstretched laminar hydrogen/air premixed flames suffers from large uncertainties owing to the highly diffusive nature of hydrogen that can give rise to flame instability. This paper reports on a numerical study of the structures and stability of laminar premixed CH4/O2/CO2 flames and H2/O2/N2 flames anchored to a heat-flux burner using a high-order numerical

OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiology of illness at the Rio 2016 Summer Paralympic Games.METHODS: A total of 3657 athletes from 78 countries, representing 83.5% of all athletes at the Games, were monitored on the web-based injury and illness surveillance system (WEB-IISS) over 51 198 athlete days during the Rio 2016 Summer Paralympic Games. Illness data were obtained daily from teams with their

In recent years, three-dimensional mesoscopic imaging has gained significant importance in life sciences for fundamental studies at the whole-organ level. In this manuscript, we present an optical projection tomography (OPT) method designed for imaging of the intact mouse brain. The system features an isotropic resolution of ~50 µm and an acquisition time of four to eight minutes, using a 3-day op

In two miniature artificial language learning experiments, we compare the processing of narrow and broad negation, corresponding to prefixal negation (unhappy) and free-standing negation (not happy) respectively, with that of non-negation (happy). Three artificial prefixes were invented to express the three meanings above. The meaning scope expressed by the negation types was manipulated in the ex

BACKGROUND: The plant microbiome represents one of the key determinants of plant health and productivity by providing a plethora of functional capacities such as access to low-abundance nutrients, suppression of phytopathogens, and resistance to biotic and/or abiotic stressors. However, a robust understanding of the structural composition of the bacterial microbiome present in different plant micr

Leonard Talmy’s influential binary motion event typology has encountered four main challenges: (a) additional language types; (b) extensive “type-internal” variation; (c) the role of other relevant form classes than verbs and “satellites;” and (d) alternative definitions of key semantic concepts like Motion, Path and Manner. After reviewing these issues, we show that the theory of Holistic Spatial

In 2015, the World health organisation (WHO) released a press statement together with the International Agency for Research in Cancer (IARC) classifying processed meat as carcinogenic. Since then, research in this area has been focused on finding the underlying mechanism(s) responsible for the link between processed meat and the increased prevalence of colorectal cancer. One of the main hypotheses

Background Nocturia is one of the most prevalent and bothersome lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men, leading to increased morbidity and mortality and a considerable economic burden on healthcare systems. Understanding its natural history, effect of pharmacotherapy, and predictors of failure of pharmacotherapy would allow optimised patient management. Objective To evaluate the prevalence an

MOTIVATION: Transcription factors (TFs) are key regulators of gene expression, and can activate or repress multiple target genes, forming regulatory units, or regulons. Understanding downstream effects of these regulators includes evaluating how TFs cooperate or compete within regulatory networks. Here we present RTNduals, an R/Bioconductor package that implements a general method for analyzing pa

Genetically determined myoclonus disorders are a result of a large number of genes. They have wide clinical variation and no systematic nomenclature. With next-generation sequencing, genetic diagnostics require stringent criteria to associate genes and phenotype. To improve (future) classification and recognition of genetically determined movement disorders, the Movement Disorder Society Task Forc

Filamentous fungi play a key role as decomposers in Earth’s nutrient cycles. In soils, substrates are heterogeneously distributed in microenvironments. Hence, individual hyphae of a mycelium may experience very different environmental conditions simultaneously. In the current work, we investigated how fungi cope with local environmental variations at single-cell level. We developed a method based

Hurler syndrome (HS) is a lysosomal storage disease characterized by multisystem morbidity and death in early childhood. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) results in long-term survival, although with significant residual disease burden. How this residual disease affects the health-related quality of life is unknown. Therefore, we conducted a multicenter cohort study on functional and

In this review we explore the similarities between spinocerebellar ataxias and dystonias, and suggest potentially shared molecular pathways using a gene co-expression network approach. The spinocerebellar ataxias are a group of neurodegenerative disorders characterized by coordination problems caused mainly by atrophy of the cerebellum. The dystonias are another group of neurological movement diso

Background: Rare and ultra-rare diseases (URDs) are often chronic and life-threatening conditions that have a profound impact on sufferers and their families, but many are notoriously difficult to detect. Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) serves to illustrate the challenges, benefits and pitfalls associated with screening for ultra-rare inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs). A comprehensive, non-sys

Background: The clinical demarcation of the syndrome progressive myoclonus ataxia is unclear, leading to a lack of recognition and difficult differentiation from other neurological syndromes. Objectives: The objective of this study was to apply a refined definition of progressive myoclonus ataxia and describe the clinical characteristics in patients with progressive myoclonus ataxia and with isola

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and its determinants in a systemic sclerosis (SSc) multinational inception cohort. We performed a meta-analysis of data from individual countries, and compared the meta-analysis to individual country results by pooling data from each of the countries.METHODS: SSc patients within 2 years of disease onset were recruited from 5 countries

Sex chromosomes have evolved from the same autosomes multiple times across vertebrates, suggesting that selection for recombination suppression has acted repeatedly and independently on certain genetic backgrounds. Here, we perform comparative genomics of a bird clade (larks and their sister lineage; Alaudidae and Panuridae) where multiple autosome-sex chromosome fusions appear to have formed expa