Early diagnosis of neural changes causing cerebral impairment is critical for proposing preventive therapies for Parkinson’s disease (PD). Biomarkers currently available cannot be informative of PD onset since they are characterized by analysing post-mortem tissues from patients with severe degeneration of the substantia nigra. Skin fibroblasts (SF) are now recognized as a useful model of primary human cells, capable of reflecting the chronological and biological aging of the subjects. Here a lipidomic study of easily accessible primary SF is presented, based on hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization and mass spectrometry (HILIC/ESI-MS). Phospholipids (PL) from dermal fibroblasts of five PD patients with different parkin mutations and healthy control SF were characterized by single and tandem MS measurements using a hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap and a linear ion trap mass analysers. The proposed approach enabled the identification of more than 360 PL. Univariate statistical analyses highlight abnormality of PL metabolism in the PD group, suggesting down- or up-regulation of certain species according to the extent of disease progression. These findings, although preliminary, suggest that the phospholipidome of human SF represents a source of potential biomarkers for the early diagnosis of PD. The dysregulation of ethanolamine plasmalogens in the circulatory system, especially those containing polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), might be likely associated with neurodegeneration.

There has been ample debate on whether cell membranes can present macroscopic lipid domains as predicted by three-component phase diagrams obtained by fluorescence microscopy. Several groups have argued that membrane proteins and interactions with the cytoskeleton inhibit the formation of large domains. In contrast, some polarizable cells do show large regions with qualitative differences in lipid fluidity. It is important to ask more precisely, based on the current phase diagrams, under what conditions would large domains be expected to form in cells. In this work we study the thermotropic phase behavior of the platelet plasma membrane by FTIR, and compare it to a POPC/Sphingomyelin/Cholesterol model representing the outer leaflet composition. We find that this model closely reflects the platelet phase behavior. Previous work has shown that the platelet plasma membrane presents inhomogeneous distribution of DiI18:0 at 24°C, but not at 37°C, which suggests the formation of macroscopic lipid domains at low temperatures. We show by fluorescence microscopy, and by comparison with published phase diagrams, that the outer leaflet model system enters the macroscopic domain region only at the lower temperature. In addition, the low cholesterol content in platelets (~15 mol %), appears to be crucial for the formation of large domains during cooling.

Savino, L., Rio, L., & Gomez, F. (2015). The adapted physical activity as a valuable tool to overcome social prejudice to the disabled persons. J. Hum. Sport Exerc., 9(Proc1), pp.S418-S424. The Adapted Physical Activity, in modern times, is defined as the program with an educative target so it promotes the autonomous recovery of the person through direct experience of physicality (Cottini, 2008). The ICF (WHO, 2001) is a guide achieving this objective because it defines disability as the product of the relationship between the health of the person and the context in which he lives. The context creates disability because it doesn't have the appropriate tools to allow the free expression of the person for the different life contexts (Cottini, 2008). Finally the "conquest" consists in the implementation of Adapted Physical Activity. This activity is expressed in the manipulation of the physical context according to the various needs of the person to improve all their dimensions. The TMA test is the methodology used to evaluate the functionality of Adapted Physical Activity to empower the global person's self-esteem. This instrument has favored a primary monitoring to understand the initial condition of the four disabled, involved in the research work, and the whole class group. The results obtained in this first phase were classified as negative according to the American standardized sample. The test had determined how the global self-esteem of the disabled person was influenced by his conditions of marginalization determined by the prejudice that limited action. The A.P.A., during the hours of physical education, has facilitated the achievement of positive results compared to those of departure. These results represent a pratical demonstration of how prejudice is an abstract entity resulting from the lack of people knowledge. In any case the activity has placed all subjects on the same plane to achive a performance, a common target. The person's improvement is the starting point in the understanding of this work.

T and B lymphocyte functions were investigated in the course of a long-term trial of recombinant human erythropoietin in patients with progressing multiple myeloma. Peripheral mononuclear cell as well as T and B lymphocyte cultures were established at the 1st, 13th, and last week of the 24-week protocol from 16 treated and 15 untreated patients. Control cultures from healthy individuals were also obtained. A suppression of phytohemagglutinin-induced proliferation of T cells was noted in all 1st-week cultures, whereas a variable increase of 3H-thymidine uptake was noted at the end of the trial in the cultures from erythropoietin-treated patients. A significant increase was observed, however, in cultures from 5 erythropoietin-treated patients who also received alpha-interferon when their cells were grown in the presence of the hormone. In contrast, the pokeweed mitogen-driven in vitro synthesis of immunoglobulins was not significantly influenced by the duration of erythropoietin treatment, nor by addition of the hormone. IgG secretion by Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B cells in cultures from 9 erythropoietin-treated and 6 untreated patients was enhanced in the presence of both recombinant human erythropoietin and alpha-interferon. These data suggest that synergy between the two cytokines may variably modulate certain immune functions in vitro. This effect might account for the increase of serum IgM levels noted in some patients who received alpha-interferon.