Postoperative pain in root canal treatment with ultrasonic versus conventional irrigation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Clinical Oral Investigations - The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis (SRM) was to answer the question whether the use of ultrasonic irrigation (UI) results in less postoperative...     

Cabozantinib as a second-line treatment option in hepatocellular carcinoma

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most frequent tumors affecting the gastrointestinal tract and a universal cause of morbidity and mortality. Cabozantinib is a strong multi-inhibitor of receptor tyrosine kinases approved for renal cell carcinoma that could be useful also for the treatment of HCC.     

Searching for Preclinical Models of Acute Decompensated Heart Failure: a Concise Narrative Overview and a Novel Swine Model

Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy - Available animal models of acute heart failure (AHF) and their limitations are discussed herein. A novel and preclinically relevant porcine model of decompensated...     

RPSAP52 lncRNA Inhibits p21Waf1/CIP Expression by Interacting With the RNA Binding Protein HuR

Long noncoding RNAs have been recently demonstrated to have an important role in fundamental biological processes, and their deregulated expression has been found in several human neoplasias. Our group has recently reported a drastic overexpression of the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) RPSAP52 (ribosomal protein SA pseudogene 52) in pituitary adenomas. We have shown that this lncRNA increased cell proliferation by upregulating the expression of the chromatinic proteins HMGA1 and HMGA2, functioning as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) through competitively binding to microRNA-15a (miR-15a), miR-15b, and miR-16. The aim of this work was to identify further mechanisms by which RPSAP52 overexpression could contribute to the development of pituitary adenomas. We investigated the involvement of RPSAP52 in the modulation of the expression of cell cycle-related genes, such as p21Waf1/CIP, whose deregulation plays a critical role in pituitary cell transformation. We report that RPSAP52, interacting with the RNA binding protein HuR (human antigen R), favors the delocalization of miR-15a, miR-15b, and miR-16 on the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21Waf1/CIP1 that, accordingly, results in downregulation in pituitary adenomas. A RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (RIPseq) analysis performed on cells overexpressing RPSAP52 identified 40 messenger RNAs (mRNAs) enriched in Argonaute 2 (AGO2) immunoprecipitated samples. Among them, we focused on GAS8 (growth arrest-specific protein 8) gene. Consistently, GAS8 expression was downregulated in all the analyzed pituitary adenomas with respect to normal pituitary and in RPSAP52-overepressing cells, supporting the role of RPSAP52 in addressing genes involved in growth inhibition and cell cycle arrest to miRNA-induced degradation. This study unveils another RPSAP52-mediated molecular mechanism in pituitary tumorigenesis.     

Sleep slow oscillations favour local cortical plasticity underlying the consolidation of reinforced procedural learning in human sleep

We investigated changes of slow‐wave activity and sleep slow oscillations in the night following procedural learning boosted by reinforcement learning, and how these changes correlate with behavioural output. In the Task session, participants had to reach a visual target adapting cursor's movements to compensate an angular deviation introduced experimentally, while in the Control session no deviation was applied. The task was repeated at 13:00 hours, 17:00 hours and 23:00 hours before sleep, and at 08:00 hours after sleep. The deviation angle was set at 15° (13:00 hours and 17:00 hours) and increased to 45° (reinforcement) at 23:00 hours and 08:00 hours. Both for Task and Control nights, high‐density electroencephalogram sleep recordings were carried out (23:30?19:30 hours). The Task night as compared with the Control night showed increases of: (a) slow‐wave activity (absolute power) over the whole scalp; (b) slow‐wave activity (relative power) in left centro‐parietal areas; (c) sleep slow oscillations rate in sensorimotor and premotor areas; (d) amplitude of pre‐down and up states in premotor regions, left sensorimotor and right parietal regions; (e) sigma crowning the up state in right parietal regions. After Task night, we found an improvement of task performance showing correlations with sleep slow oscillations rate in right premotor, sensorimotor and parietal regions. These findings suggest a key role of sleep slow oscillations in procedural memories consolidation. The diverse components of sleep slow oscillations selectively reflect the network activations related to the reinforced learning of a procedural visuomotor task. Indeed, areas specifically involved in the task stand out as those with a significant association between sleep slow oscillations rate and overnight improvement in task performance.     

Prostaglandin D2 synthase modulates macrophage activity and accumulation in injured peripheral nerves

We have previously reported that prostaglandin D2 Synthase (L-PGDS) participates in peripheral nervous system (PNS) myelination during development. We now describe the role of L-PGDS in the resolution of PNS injury, similarly to other members of the prostaglandin synthase family, which are important for Wallerian degeneration (WD) and axonal regeneration. Our analyses show that L-PGDS expression is modulated after injury in both sciatic nerves and dorsal root ganglia neurons, indicating that it might play a role in the WD process. Accordingly, our data reveals that L-PGDS regulates macrophages phagocytic activity through a non-cell autonomous mechanism, allowing myelin debris clearance and favoring axonal regeneration and remyelination. In addition, L-PGDS also appear to control macrophages accumulation in injured nerves, possibly by regulating the blood–nerve barrier permeability and SOX2 expression levels in Schwann cells. Collectively, our results suggest that L-PGDS has multiple functions during nerve regeneration and remyelination. Based on the results of this study, we posit that L-PGDS acts as an anti-inflammatory agent in the late phases of WD, and cooperates in the resolution of the inflammatory response. Thus, pharmacological activation of the L-PGDS pathway might prove beneficial in resolving peripheral nerve injury.