Music therapy in supportive cancer care

The purpose of this paper is to show some aspects of music therapy application in cancer care and to present the integration of music therapy program into a continuous supportive cancer care for inpatients. A cancer diagnosis is one of the most feared and serious life events that causes stress in individuals and families. Cancer disrupts social, physical and emotional well-being and results in a range of emotions, including anger, fear, sadness, guilt, embarrassment and shame. Music therapy is a part of a complementary medicine program in supportive cancer care which accompanies medical treatment. There are many benefits of music therapy for cancer patients—interactive music therapy techniques (instrumental improvisation, singing) as well as receptive music therapy techniques (listening to recorded or live music, music and imaginary) can be used to improve mood, decrease stress, pain, anxiety level and enhance relaxation. Music therapy is an effective form of supporting cancer care for patients during the treatment process. It may be also basic for planning effective programs of rehabilitation to promote wellness, improve physical and emotional well-being and the quality of life.     

A new way of solid-phase microextraction fibers preparation for selected antibiotic drug determination by HPLC-MS

The polypyrrole (PPy) and polythiophene (PTh) solid phase microextraction (SPME) coatings were obtained with the use of the electropolymerisation and linear sweep voltammetry. Such fibers were modified by an ozone treatment in a gaseous phase in the concentration of 2.1 ± 0.2 × 10(-5) mol dm(-3). Both kinds of fibers were applied in the microextraction of linezolid from standard solutions to compare the extraction efficiencies displayed by these sorption phases. In these investigations a better adsorption capacity was obtained for polypyrrole fibers and hence only these kinds of fibers were utilized in the measurements from human plasma. In all measurements the concentrations of the drugs were in the range from 1 to 20 μg ml(-1) (standard solutions) and 1 to 15 μg ml(-1) (human plasma). Before the measurements, an optimization of the desorption solution experiments was performed. The correlation coefficients (R) obtained in the standard solution and human plasma were in the range from 0.8399 to 0.9970. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) were in the range of 0.1-7.6%.     

Stem cells from adipose tissue

This is a review of the growing scientific interest in the developmental plasticity and therapeutic potential of stromal cells isolated from adipose tissue. Adipose-derived stem/stromal cells (ASCs) are multipotent somatic stem cells that are abundant in fat tissue. It has been shown that ASCs can differentiate into several lineages, including adipose cells, chondrocytes, osteoblasts, neuronal cells, endothelial cells, and cardiomyocytes. At the same time, adipose tissue can be harvested by a minimally invasive procedure, which makes it a promising source of adult stem cells. Therefore, it is believed that ASCs may become an alternative to the currently available adult stem cells (e.g. bone marrow stromal cells) for potential use in regenerative medicine. In this review, we present the basic information about the field of adipose-derived stem cells and their potential use in various applications.     

Morphological and functional alterations in adult boar epididymis: Effects of prenatal and postnatal administration of flutamide

Background  

The dynamic cross-talk between epididymal cells is hormonally regulated and, in part, through direct cell-to-cell interactions. To date, no information is available regarding possible impact of anti-androgens on the proteins involved in the gap junctional communication within the boar epididymis. Thus, a question arised whether prenatal or postnatal exposure to an anti-androgen flutamide alters the expression of gap junction protein - connexin43 (Cx43) and androgen receptor (AR) expression in the caput, corpus and cauda epididymis and leads to delayed effects on morphology and function of adult pig epididymis.     

Red cabbage anthocyanins may protect blood plasma proteins and lipids

The present in vitro study was designed to examine the antioxidative activity of red cabbage anthocyanins (ATH) in the protection of blood plasma proteins and lipids against damage induced by oxidative stress. Fresh leaves of red cabbage were extracted with a mixture of methanol/distilled water/0.01% HCl (MeOH/H₂O/HCl, 50/50/1, v/v/w). Total ATH concentration [μM] was determined with cyanidin 3-glucoside as a standard. Phenolic profiles in the crude red cabbage extract were determined using the HPLC method. Plasma samples were exposed to 100 μM peroxynitrite (ONOO⁻) or 2 mM hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in the presence/absence of ATH extract (5–15 μM); oxidative alterations were then assessed. Pre-incubation of plasma with ATH extract partly reduced oxidative stress in plasma proteins and lipids. Dose-dependent reduction of both ONOO⁻ and H₂O₂-mediated plasma protein carbonylation was observed. ATH extract partly inhibited the nitrative action of ONOO⁻, and significantly decreased plasma lipid peroxidation caused by ONOO⁻ or H₂O₂. Our results demonstrate that anthocyanins present in red cabbage have inhibitory effects on ONOO⁻ and H₂O₂-induced oxidative stress in blood plasma components. We suggest that red cabbage ATH, as dietary antioxidants, should be considered as potentially usable nutraceuticals in the prevention of oxidative stress-related diseases.     

Iron alters glutamate secretion by regulating cytosolic aconitase activity

Glutamate has many important physiological functions, including its role as a neurotransmitter in the retina and the central nervous system. We have made the novel observations that retinal pigment epithelial cells underlying and intimately interacting with the retina secrete glutamate and that this secretion is significantly affected by iron. In addition, iron increased secretion of glutamate in cultured lens and neuronal cells, indicating that this may be a common mechanism for the regulation of glutamate production in many cell types. The activity of the iron-dependent enzyme cytosolic aconitase (c-aconitase) is increased by iron. The conversion of citrate to isocitrate by c-aconitase is the first step in a three-step process leading to glutamate formation. In the present study, iron increased c-aconitase activity, and this increase was associated with an increase in glutamate secretion. Inhibition of c-aconitase by oxalomalate decreased glutamate secretion and completely inhibited the iron-induced increase in glutamate secretion. Derangements in both glutamate secretion and iron metabolism have been noted in neurological diseases and retinal degeneration. Our results are the first to provide a functional link between these two physiologically important substances by demonstrating a significant role for iron in the regulation of glutamate production and secretion in mammalian cells resulting from iron regulation of aconitase activity. Glutamatergic systems are found in many nonneuronal tissues. We provide the first evidence that, in addition to secreting glutamate, retinal pigment epithelial cells express the vesicular glutamate transporter VGLUT1 and that regulated vesicular release of glutamate from these cells can be inhibited by riluzole. retinal pigment epithelial cells; lens epithelial cells     

Highly stable mutants of human fibroblast growth factor-1 exhibit prolonged biological action

Fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF-1) shows strong angiogenic, osteogenic and tissue-injury repair properties that might be relevant to medical applications. Since FGF-1 is partially unfolded at physiological temperature we decided to increase significantly its conformational stability and test how such an improvement will affect its biological function. Using an homology approach and rational strategy we designed two new single FGF-1 mutations: Q40P and S47I that appeared to be the most strongly stabilizing substitutions among those reported so far, increasing the denaturation temperature by 7.8 deg. C and 9.0 deg. C, respectively. As our goal was to produce highly stable variants of the growth factor, we combined these two mutations with five previously described stabilizing substitutions. The multiple mutants showed denaturation temperatures up to 27 deg. C higher than the wild-type and exhibited full additivity of the mutational effects. All those mutants were biologically competent in several cell culture assays, maintaining typical FGF-1 activities, such as binding to specific cell surface receptors and activation of downstream signaling pathways. Thus, we demonstrate that the low denaturation temperature of wild-type FGF-1 is not related to its fundamental cellular functions, and that FGF-1 action is not affected by its stability. A more detailed analysis of the biological behavior of stable FGF-1 mutants revealed that, compared with the wild-type, their mitogenic properties, as probed by the DNA synthesis assay, were significantly increased in the absence of heparin, and that their half-lives were extensively prolonged. We found that the biological action of the mutants was dictated by their susceptibility to proteases, which strongly correlated with the stability. Mutants which were much more resistant to proteolytic degradation always displayed a significant improvement in the half-life and mitogenesis. Our results show that engineered stable growth factor variants exhibit enhanced and prolonged activity, which can be advantageous in terms of the potential therapeutic applications of FGF-1.     

Leafy cotyledon genes are essential for induction of somatic embryogenesis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis</Emphasis>

The capacity for somatic embryogenesis was studied in lec1, lec2 and fus3 mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. It was found that contrary to the response of wild-type cultures, which produced somatic embryos via an efficient, direct process (65–94% of responding explants), lec mutants were strongly impaired in their embryogenic response. Cultures of the mutants formed somatic embryos at a low frequency, ranging from 0.0 to 3.9%. Moreover, somatic embryos were formed from callus tissue through an indirect route in the lec mutants. Total repression of embryogenic potential was observed in double (lec1 lec2, lec1 fus3, lec2 fus3) and triple (fus3 lec1 lec2) mutants. Additionally, mutants were found to exhibit efficient shoot regenerability via organogenesis from root explants. These results provide evidence that, besides their key role in controlling many different aspects of Arabidopsis zygotic embryogenesis, LEC/FUS genes are also essential for in vitro somatic embryogenesis induction. Furthermore, temporal and spatial patterns of auxin distribution during somatic embryogenesis induction were analyzed using transgenic Arabidopsis plants expressing GUS driven by the DR5 promoter. Analysis of data indicated auxin accumulation was rapid in all tissues of the explants of both wild type and the lec2-1 mutant, cultured on somatic embryogenesis induction medium containing 2,4-D. This observation suggests that loss of embryogenic potential in the lec2 mutant in vitro is not related to the distribution of exogenously applied auxin and LEC genes likely function downstream in auxin-induced somatic embryogenesis.     

In vitro study of alginate–chitosan microcapsules: an alternative to liver cell transplants for the treatment of liver failure

The application of alginate–chitosan (AC) microcapsules to liver cell transplantation has not been previously investigated. In the current in vitro study, we have investigated the potential of AC microcapsules for the encapsulation of liver cells and show that the AC membrane supports the survival, proliferation and protein secretion by entrapped hepatocytes. The AC membrane provides cell immuno-isolation and has the potential for cell cryopreservation. The AC microcapsule has several advantages compared to more widely used alginate–poly-L-lysine (APA) microcapsules for the application of cell therapy.