DWI is a feasible MR technique for assessing renal damage. Further studies with scintigraphic correlation are needed to confirm these results and to establish reference values for this imaging technique.

No abstract

No study has evaluated the correlation between different expression of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoforms in nasal epithelial cells and nasal NO (nNO) level in primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD).Gene expression of endothelial (NOS3) and inducible NOS (NOS2) and their correlation with nNO level, ciliary function and morphology were studied in patients with PCD or secondary ciliary dyskinesia (SCD). NOS3 gene polymorphisms were studied in blood leukocytes.A total of 212 subjects were studied (48 with PCD, 161 with SCD and three normal subjects). nNO level correlated with mean ciliary beat frequency (p50.044; r50.174). The lower the nNO level the higher was the percentage of immotile cilia (p,0.001; r5 -0.375). A significant positive correlation between NOS2 gene expression and nNO levels was demonstrated in all children (p50.001; r50.428), and this correlation was confirmed in patients with PCD (p50.019; r50.484). NOS2 gene expression was lower in PCD than in SCD (p50.04). The NOS3 isoform correlated with missing central microtubules (p50.048; r50.447). nNO levels were higher in PCD subjects with the NOS3 thymidine 894 mutation, and this was associated with a higher ciliary beat frequency (p50.045).These results demonstrate a relationship between nNO level, NOS mRNA expression and ciliary beat frequency.

No abstract

The human body is inhabited by around 1013 microbes composing a multicomplex system, termed microbiota, which is strongly involved in the regulation and maintenance of homeostasis. Perturbations in microbiota composition can lead to dysbiosis, which has been associated with several human pathologies. The gold-standard method to explore microbial composition is next-generation sequencing, which involves the analysis of 16S rRNA, an indicator of the presence of specific microorganisms and the principal tool used in bacterial taxonomic classification. Indeed, the development of 16S RNA sequencing allows us to explore microbial composition in several environments and human body districts and fluids, since it has been detected in “germ-free” environments such as blood, plasma, and urine of diseased and healthy subjects. Recently, prokaryotes showed to generate extracellular vesicles, which are known to be responsible for shuttling different intracellular components such as proteins and nucleic acids (including 16S molecules) by protecting their cargo from degradation. These vesicles can be found in several human biofluids and can be exploited as tools for bacterial detection and identification. In this review, we examine the complex link between circulating 16S RNA molecules and bacteria-derived vesicles.