Autophagy is a core molecular pathway for the preservation of cellular and organismal homeostasis. Pharmacological and genetic interventions impairing autophagy responses promote or aggravate disease in a plethora of experimental models. Consistently, mutations in autophagy-related processes cause severe human pathologies. Here, we review and discuss preclinical data linking autophagy dysfunction ...

Liver Sinusoidal Endothelial Cells (LSEC) line the hepatic vasculature providing blood filtration via transmembrane nanopores called fenestrations. These structures are 50−300 nm in diameter, which is below the resolution limit of a conventional light microscopy. To date, there is no standardized method of fenestration image analysis. With this study, we provide and compare three different approaches: ...

Background: Malignant melanomas frequently metastasize to the brain, but metastases in the cerebellum are underrepresented compared with metastases in the cerebrum.<p> <p>Methods: We established animal models by injecting intracardially in athymic nude fox1^nu mice two human melanoma cell lines, originating from a cerebral metastasis (HM19) and a cerebellar metastasis (HM86).<p> <p>Results: ...

Humans have a long-standing coexistence with microorganisms. In particular, the microbial community that populates the human gastrointestinal tract has emerged as a critical player in governing human health and disease. DNA and RNA sequencing techniques that map taxonomical composition and genomic potential of the gut community have become invaluable for microbiome research. However, deriving a ...

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE 2) in the heart including its sex dependency in the hypertensive heart, has not been much studied compared to ACE. In the present study, we used the Dahl salt-sensitive rat exposed to fructose and salt to model a hypertensive phenotype in males, females, and ovariectomized females. Blood pressure was measured by the tale-cuff technique in the conscious state. ...

The most common, severe cases of fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia among whites are caused by antibodies against human platelet antigen 1a (HPA-1a). The aims of this systematic review and meta-analysis are to determine the association between maternal HLA-DRB3*01:01 and: (1) HPA-1a-alloimmunization and (2) neonatal outcome in children born of HPA-1a-immunized women. A systematic ...

Background Rectal endoscopic full- thickness dissection (EFTD) using a fexible colonoscope is an alternative to the wellestablished trans-anal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) and the trans-anal minimally invasive surgery (TAMIS) techniques for resecting dysplastic or malignant rectal lesions. This study evaluated EFTD safety by analyzing outcomes of the frst patients to undergo rectal EFTD at the ...

Aging attenuates cardiac tolerance to ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) associated with defects in protective cell signaling, however, the onset of this phenotype has not been completely investigated. This study aimed to compare changes in response to I/R and the effects of remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) in the hearts of younger adult (3 months) and mature adult (6 months) male Wistar rats, with ...

Genomic epidemiology is a tool for tracing transmission of pathogens based on whole-genome sequencing. We introduce the mGEMS pipeline for genomic epidemiology with plate sweeps representing mixed samples of a target pathogen, opening the possibility to sequence all colonies on selective plates with a single DNA extraction and sequencing step. The pipeline includes the novel mGEMS read binner for ...

Inhibition of bacterial virulence is believed to be a new treatment option for bacterial infections. In the present study, we tested dipicolylamine (DPA), tripicolylamine (TPA), tris pyridine ethylene diamine (TPED), pyridine and thiophene derivatives as putative inhibitors of the bacterial virulence factors thermolysin (TLN), pseudolysin (PLN) and aureolysin (ALN) and the human zinc metalloproteases, ...