Frontiers in Bioscience (Scholar Edition)

Obesity and osteoporosis are global health problems characterized by high rates of prevalence and mortality due to complications. As people with visceral obesity age, the adipogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) increases, and adipocytes become the predominant stromal cells in the bone marrow microenvironment, which hinders the physiological regeneration and mineralization of bone tissue. Primary and secondary osteoporosis remain severe progressive diseases. Both osteoporosis and obesity are associated with microRNAs (miRNAs) that induce adipogenesis and osteoresorption...

Melissa officinalis L. is a plant of the Lamiaceae family known in numerous countries for its medicinal activities. This plant has been used since ancient times to treat different disorders, including gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neurological, psychological conditions. M. officinalis contains several phytochemicals such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, terpenoids, and many others at the basis of its pharmacological activities. Indeed, the plant can have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, antimicrobial, neuroprotective, nephroprotective, antinociceptive effects...

Prostate cancer is one of the most common and socially significant cancers among men. The aim of this study was to identify significant changes in the expression of exosomal miRNAs associated with an increase in the level of prostate specific antigen in castration-resistant prostate cancer during therapy and to evaluate them as potential prognostic markers for this category of disease. High-throughput miRNA sequencing was performed on 49 blood plasma samples taken from 11 Russian patients with castration-resistant cancer during therapy...

Chronic kidney disease is generally progressive and currently has no reliable treatment to reverse a decline in kidney function or to slow the progression of the disease. Diabetic nephropathy is one of the leading causes of end-stage kidney failure. Kidney damage in diabetic nephropathy is largely attributed to the increased oxidative stress, affecting its metabolic activity, metabolic pathways, and hemodynamic pathways. In diabetic patients, hyperglycemia causes an increase in the production of reactive oxygen species that further increase oxidative stress...

The major hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD) is the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN), which is responsible for the core motor symptoms of PD. Currently, there is no cure for PD, and its prevalence is increasing, prompting the search for novel neuroprotective treatments. Neuroinflammation is a core pathological process in PD, evident by increased inflammatory biomarkers in the SN and cerebrospinal fluid. Interestingly, epidemiological studies have reported a reduced risk of PD in users of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs compared to non-users, suggesting the neuroprotective potential of anti-inflammatory drugs...

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity for repurposing of drugs, including complex, natural drugs, to meet the global need for safe and effective antiviral medicines which do not promote multidrug resistance nor inflate medical costs. The author herein describes his own repurposing of herbal tinctures, previously prepared for oncology, into a possibly synergistic, anti-COVID 41 "herb" formula of extracts derived from 36 different plants and medicinal mushrooms. A method of multi-sample in vitro testing in green monkey kidney vero cells is proposed for testing the Hypothesis that even in such a large combination, antiviral potency may be preserved, along with therapeutic synergy, smoothness, and complexity...

The search for new antimicrobials is essential to address the worldwide issue of antibiotic resistance. The present work aimed at assessing the antimicrobial activity of Aesculus hippocastanum L. (horse chestnut) bark against bacteria involved in urinary tract infections (UTIs). Bioactive compounds were extracted from A. hippocastanum bark using water and ethanol as solvents. The extracts were tested against 10 clinical uropathogenic strains including five Gram-positive and five Gram-negative bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 were used as reference bacteria...

With several medicinal and aromatic species, the Asteraceae family is one of the largest angiosperm families. The genus Warionia is represented in this family by only one species, Warionia saharae . In Moroccan traditional medicine, this species is widely used to treat gastrointestinal problems. Essential oil of this plant (EoWs) was studied for possible myorelaxant and antispasmodic activities to rationalize some of the traditional uses. In this investigation, hydrodistillation was used to obtain the essential oil from the aerial part of the dry plant extract (EoWs), which was then analyzed using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS)...

The role of Achromobacter species in lung disease remains unclear. The aim of this study was to characterize Achromobacter isolated from persons with cystic fibrosis and from other clinical samples. Whole genome sequences from 101 Achromobacter isolates were determined (81 from patients with cystic fibrosis and 20 from other patients) and analysed. Taxonomic analysis showed nine species including two putative novel species. Thirty-five novel sequence types were present. The most active agent was co-trimoxazole followed by imipenem, but Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) were high...

The enzymes that belong to the aldehyde dehydrogenase family are expressed in a variety of cells; yet activity of their main members characterizes stem cells, both normal and malignant. Several members of this family perform critical functions in stem cells, in general, and a few have been shown to have key roles in malignant tumors and their recurrence. In particular, ALDH1A1, which localizes to the cytosol and the nucleus, is an enzyme critical in cancer stem cells. In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), ALDH1A1 protects leukemia-initiating cells from a number of antineoplastic agents, and proves vital for the establishment of human AML xenografts in mice...

Cardiac magnetic resonance has become a reliable imaging modality providing structural and functional data, and fundamental information about tissue composition. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging with late gadolinium enhancement, T1-mapping, T2-mapping, T2*-imaging, and extracellular volume, has proved to be a valuable tool in investigating the etiology of heart failure. Such analysis is helpful for the diagnostic evaluation of both ischemic and non-ischemic cardiomyopathies. As primary heart muscle diseases, the ability to characterize the myocardial substrate is essential...

Tuberculosis (TB) and Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) infection are two respiratory diseases that are of particular concern epidemiologically. Tuberculosis is one of the oldest diseases recorded in the history of mankind dating back thousands of years. It is estimated that approximately one quarter of the world's population is infected with latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (LTBI). This contrasts with COVID-19, which emerged in late 2019. Data continues to accumulate and become available on this pathogen, but the long-term side effect of fibrotic damage in COVID-19 patients evokes parallels between this novel coronavirus and its ancient bacterial affiliate...

We aimed to compare the predictive value of different inflammatory markers in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Four hundred ninety-five patients treated with nephrectomy for primary localized or locally advanced RCC between 2010 and 2018 were included in the retrospective analysis. The median follow-up for the entire cohort was 48 months. Based on the preoperative laboratory measurements, patients with higher neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), systemic inflammatory response index (SIRI), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), neutrophil/erythrocyte ratio (NER), derived neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (dNLR), and lower lymphocyte/monocyte ratio (LMR) and hemoglobin/platelet ratio (HPR) had worse cancer-specific survival (CSS)...

Recent studies provide evidence that similar to early-stage Parkinson's disease, depression is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the degeneration of monoamine axons. The major difference between the two disorders is that the symptoms of depression become evident without loss of monoamine neurons, while the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease appear after loss of the cell body. Given that the axonal degeneration of monoamine neurons underlies the pathophysiology of neurological (Parkinson's disease) and neuropsychiatric (depression) diseases, axonal impairment of monoamine neurons is thought to also occur in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and play a significant role in the pathophysiology of these mental illnesses...

The approach to the study of autophagy has been undergoing considerable change lately: from investigations of the protein components of autophagic machinery to its regulation at different molecular levels. Autophagy is being examinated not only as a separated degradative process per se in cells but as an executor mechanism of certain signaling pathways that converge on it, being activated under specific conditions. Additionally, autophagy is beginning to be observed as a key integral part of cellular reprogramming, the transition from one phenotypic state to another associated with rapid degradation of the previous proteostasis...

While the primary purpose of radiotherapy (RT) is the elimination of cancer cells by inducing DNA-damage, considerable evidence emerges that anti-neoplastic effects extend beyond mere tumor cell killing. These secondary effects are based on activation of dendritic cells (DCs) via induction of antitumoral immune reactions. However, there is an ongoing debate whether or not irradiation of the DCs themselves may negatively affect their maturation and functionality. Human monocytes were irradiated with different absorbed doses (1 × 15 Gy relative biological effectiveness (RBE), 5 × 2 Gy (RBE), 1 × 0...

Among central nervous system (CNS) infections (e.g., meningitis, brain abscess, ventriculitis, transverse myelitis), those caused by Staphylococcus aureus (SA) are particularly challenging both in management and treatment, with poor clinical outcomes and long hospital stay. It has been estimated that SA is responsible for around 1%-7% of meningitis (up to 19% in healthcare-associated meningitis). Recent neurosurgical procedures and immunocompromisation are major risk factors for SA CNS infections. Hand hygiene, surveillance nasal swabs and perioperative prophylaxis are crucial points for effective SA infections prevention...

COVID-19, provoked by SARS-CoV-2, constitutes a global health issue with high rates of mortality. The presence of diabetes mellitus is associated with severe coronavirus COVID-19 as it is related to increased death rates in patients admitted to the intensive care unit. Acute kidney injury is a frequent complication among patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and is met with high morbidity and mortality. Here, we present a case of a diabetic patient with acute kidney injury, metformin-associated lactic acidosis, and COVID-19...

Squamous cell lung cancer (SqCLC) is the second most common histotype of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and is characterized by severe prognosis and lack of specific target agents. Atezolizumab is the first anti Programmed Death Ligand-1 (PDL-1) inhibitor approved for NSCLC patients of both histology in case of disease progression after first or further lines of therapy. Numerous studies are investigating the potential role of atezolizumab in different therapeutic setting, including SqCLC subtype. We searched for published clinical trials in Pubmed database, using the terms "atezolizumab", "squamous cell lung cancer", "NSCLC" and "non-small cell lung cancer"...

This study reviews the use of magnetic and electromagnetic fields (EMF), pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease (AD), or Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The Introduction provides a review of EMF, PEMF, and TMS based on clinical observations. This is followed by a description of the basic principles of these treatments and a literature review on possible mechanisms describing the coupling of these treatments with biological responses...