The body beyond the body: expectation of a sensory event is enough to induce ownership over a fake hand

More than 100 papers have been published on the rubber hand illusion since its discovery 14 years ago. The illusion has been proposed as a demonstration that the body is distinguished from other objects by its participation in specific forms of intermodal perceptual correlation. Here, we radically challenge this view by claiming that perceptual correlation is not necessary to produce the experience of this body as mine. Each of 15 participants was seated with his/her right arm resting upon a table just below another smaller table. Thus, the real hand was hidden from the participant''s view and a life-sized rubber model of a right hand was placed on the small table in front of the participant. The participant observed the experimenter''s hand while approaching—without touching—the rubber hand. Phenomenology of the illusion was measured by means of skin conductance response and questionnaire. Both measures indicated that participants experienced the illusion that the experimenter''s hand was about to touch their hidden hand rather than the rubber hand, as if the latter replaced their own hand. This did not occur when the rubber hand was rotated by 180° or replaced by a piece of wood. This illusion indicates that our brain does not build a sense of self in a merely reactive way, via perceptual correlations; rather it generates predictions on what may or may not belong to itself.     

The Dark Recovery Rate in the Photocycle of the Bacterial Photoreceptor YtvA Is Affected by the Cellular Environment and by Hydration

We report thermal recovery kinetics of the lit state into the parental dark state, measured for the blue light-sensing photoreceptor YtvA inside overexpressing E. coli and B. subtilis bacterial cells, performed for the wild type and several mutated proteins. Recovery was followed as a recovery of the fluorescence, as this property is only found for the parental but not for the photochemically generated lit state. When cells were deposited onto a microscope glass plate, the observed thermal recovery rate in the photocycle was found ca. ten times faster in comparison to purified YtvA in solution. When the E. coli or B. subtilis colonies were soaked in an isotonic buffer, the dark relaxation became again much slower and was very similar to that observed for YtvA in solution. The observed effects show that rate constants can be tuned by the cellular environment through factors such as hydration.     

Role of lactoferrin and its receptors on biliary epithelium

Human lactoferrin is an iron-binding glycoprotein present at high concentrations in breast milk and colostrum. It is produced by many exocrine glands and widely distributed in a variety of body fluids. This protein has antimicrobial, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, and anticancer properties. Two important hLf receptors have been identified: LDL receptor related protein (LRP1), a low specificity receptor, and intelectin-1 (ITLN1), a high specificity receptor. No data are present on the role of hLf on the biliary epithelium. Our aims have been to evaluate the expression of Lf and its receptors in human and murine cholangiocytes and its effect on proliferation. Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence (IF) were conducted on human healthy and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) liver samples as well as on liver samples obtained from normal and bile duct ligated (BDL) mice to evaluate the expression of Lf, LRP1 and ITLN1. Cell proliferation in vitro studies were performed on human cholangiocyte cell lines via 3-(4,5-dimetiltiazol-2-il)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium assay as well as IF to evaluate proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression. Our results show that mouse and human cholangiocytes express Lf, LRP1 and ITLN1, at higher extent in cholangiocytes from BDL and PBC samples. Furthermore, the in vitro addition of bovine Lf (bLf) has a proliferative effect on human cholangiocyte cell line. The results support a proliferative role of hLf on the biliary epithelium; this pro-proliferative effect of hLf and bLf on cholangiocytes could be particularly relevant in human cholangiopathies such as PBC, characterized by cholangiocyte death and ductopenia.     

Diatoms prefer strangers: non-indigenous crayfish host completely different epizoic algal diatom communities from sympatric native species

Despite their wide distribution and ecological importance, almost no information is available about the role of freshwater crayfish as basibiont for epizoic algae. Moreover, studies on epizoic freshwater diatoms have been largely neglected. In this study, we examined the occurrence of diatoms on two sympatric species, the native white-clawed crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes and the non-indigenous signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus, coexisting in the same stream in NW Italy. We detected that signal crayfish showed a far more productive epizoic algal community than white-clawed crayfish. Microscopical analysis confirmed that non-indigenous crayfish hosted rich and diversified diatom communities while virtually no diatom was found on the native. After analyzing different hypotheses, we suggested that this significant difference can be the result of diverse crayfish behavioral habits. Because of the lack of studies investigating epibiontic diatoms on freshwater crayfish, we performed a detailed characterization on the epizoic flora, including comparisons with natural epilithic communities. The exponential diffusion of non-indigenous freshwater crayfish is a subject of greatest interest. Increasing our knowledge on their role as basibionts is definitely necessary to better understand their ecological role, also considering their influence on primary producer community and their role as vectors of algal species of concern, such as Didymosphenia geminata.     

Intermittent Fasting Confers Protection in CNS Autoimmunity by Altering the Gut Microbiota

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Glyoxalase 1 sustains the metastatic phenotype of prostate cancer cells via EMT control

Metastasis is the primary cause of death in prostate cancer (PCa) patients. Effective therapeutic intervention in metastatic PCa is undermined by our poor understanding of its molecular aetiology. Defining the mechanisms underlying PCa metastasis may lead to insights into how to decrease morbidity and mortality in this disease. Glyoxalase 1 (Glo1) is the detoxification enzyme of methylglyoxal (MG), a potent precursor of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Hydroimidazolone (MG‐H1) and argpyrimidine (AP) are AGEs originating from MG‐mediated post‐translational modification of proteins at arginine residues. AP is involved in the control of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), a crucial determinant of cancer metastasis and invasion, whose regulation mechanisms in malignant cells are still emerging. Here, we uncover a novel mechanism linking Glo1 to the maintenance of the metastatic phenotype of PCa cells by controlling EMT by engaging the tumour suppressor miR‐101, MG‐H1‐AP and TGF‐β1/Smad signalling. Moreover, circulating levels of Glo1, miR‐101, MG‐H1‐AP and TGF‐β1 in patients with metastatic compared with non‐metastatic PCa support our in vitro results, demonstrating their clinical relevance. We suggest that Glo1, together with miR‐101, might be potential therapeutic targets for metastatic PCa, possibly by metformin administration.     

Efficient optimization of pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines derivatives as c-Src kinase inhibitors in neuroblastoma treatment

The proto-oncogene c-Src is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase which is involved in the regulation of many cellular processes, such as differentiation, adhesion and survival. c-Src hyperactivation has been detected in many tumors, including neuroblastoma (NB), one of the major causes of death from neoplasia in infancy. We already reported a large family of pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines active as c-Src inhibitors. Interestingly, some of these derivatives resulted also active on SH-SY5Y NB cell line. Herein, starting from our previous Free Energy Perturbation/Monte Carlo calculations, we report an optimization study which led to the identification of a new series of derivatives endowed with nanomolar K_i values against c-Src, interesting antiproliferative activity on SH-SY5Y cells and a suitable ADME profile.     

Folk Phytotherapy in Paediatric Health Care in Central and Southern Italy: a Review

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) consists of systems and practices used to prevent or treat illness, and/or promote health and wellbeing, generally with herbal remedies. In recent decades, ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological surveys have received increased attention among populations in central and southern Italy traditionally highly conservative regarding knowledge of folk medicine. This review highlights the use of wild and cultivated plants in paediatric health care. From a search of articles published between 1978 and 2017 we found a total of 34 containing reports of medicinal plants specifically used for treating children’s diseases, listing 83 taxa belonging to 37 families in 116 recorded cases of medicinal plant use. Tuscany has the highest number of plant use reports and the highest number of species used in a single region, followed by Campania and Sicily. Allium sativum is the most widely reported species, cited in eight regions. We identified eight ailment categories. Plants used as anthelmintics and for gastro-intestinal and skin diseases are widely used.