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Search Results: 1 - 10 of 42 matches for " Rosetta Pedotti "
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Mast Cells in the Pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis and Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis
Massimo Costanza,Mario P. Colombo,Rosetta Pedotti
International Journal of Molecular Sciences , 2012, DOI: 10.3390/ijms131115107
Abstract: Mast cells (MCs) are best known as key immune players in immunoglobulin E (IgE)-dependent allergic reactions. In recent years, several lines of evidence have suggested that MCs might play an important role in several pathological conditions, including autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model for MS. Since their first description in MS plaques in the late 1800s, much effort has been put into elucidating the contribution of MCs to the development of central nervous system (CNS) autoimmunity. Mouse models of MC-deficiency have provided a valuable experimental tool for dissecting MC involvement in MS and EAE. However, to date there is still major controversy concerning the function of MCs in these diseases. Indeed, although MCs have been classically proposed as having a detrimental and pro-inflammatory role, recent literature has questioned and resized the contribution of MCs to the pathology of MS and EAE. In this review, we will present the main evidence obtained in MS and EAE on this topic, and discuss the critical and controversial aspects of such evidence.
Severe anaphylactic reactions to glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) self peptides in NOD mice that spontaneously develop autoimmune type 1 diabetes mellitus
Rosetta Pedotti, Maija Sanna, Mindy Tsai, Jason DeVoss, Lawrence Steinman, Hugh McDevitt, Stephen J Galli
BMC Immunology , 2003, DOI: 10.1186/1471-2172-4-2
Abstract: Here we show that NOD mice, that spontaneously develop T1DM, can develop fatal anaphylactic reactions upon challenge with preparations of immunodominant GAD65 self peptides after immunization with these peptides to modify the development of T1DM.These findings document severe anaphylaxis to self peptide preparations used in an attempt to devise immunotherapy for a spontaneous autoimmune disease. Taken together with the findings in EAE, these results suggest that peptide therapies designed to induce a TH1 to TH2 shift carry a risk for the development of anaphylactic reactivity to the therapeutic peptides.Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease characterized by lymphocytic infiltration of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans with subsequent destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells [1]. Non-obese diabetic (NOD) female mice, a murine model for T1DM, spontaneously develop diabetes by 30 weeks-of-age, with infiltrating cells appearing around the pancreatic islets as early as at 3–4 weeks-of-age [2].T1DM susceptibility in the NOD mouse is linked to I-Ag7, the murine MHC class II gene that encodes a histidine at position 56 and a serine at position 57 in the β chain, in place of the more frequent proline 56β and aspartic acid 57β [3]. The development of diabetes is prevented in NOD.PD mice (which are NOD mice with I-Ag7) that carry a β chain transgene with site-specific mutations that restore proline and aspartic acid at positions 56β and 57β, respectively [4]. Furthermore, because of the two amino acid changes in the additional (transgenic) MHC class II allele β chain in NOD.PD mice, NOD.PD mice recognize three additional peptide epitopes in the glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65) autoantigen [5].Among beta-cell autoantigens, GAD65 is an important initial target of the immune response that results in beta-cell destruction and diabetes, in both humans and NOD mice [6-9]. While both humoral and cellular responses to GAD65 occur as ear
Development of Central Nervous System Autoimmunity Is Impaired in the Absence of Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein
Marita Bosticardo, Silvia Musio, Elena Fontana, Stefano Angiari, Elena Draghici, Gabriela Constantin, Pietro L. Poliani, Rosetta Pedotti, Anna Villa
PLOS ONE , 2014, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0086942
Abstract: Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome protein (WASP) is a key regulator of the actin cytoskeleton in hematopoietic cells. Defective expression of WASP leads to multiple abnormalities in different hematopoietic cells. Despite severe impairment of T cell function, WAS patients exhibit a high prevalence of autoimmune disorders. We attempted to induce EAE, an animal model of organ-specific autoimmunity affecting the CNS that mimics human MS, in Was？/？ mice. We describe here that Was？/？ mice are markedly resistant against EAE, showing lower incidence and milder score, reduced CNS inflammation and demyelination as compared to WT mice. Microglia was only poorly activated in Was？/？ mice. Antigen-induced T-cell proliferation, Th-1 and -17 cytokine production and integrin-dependent adhesion were increased in Was？/？ mice. However, adoptive transfer of MOG-activated T cells from Was？/？ mice in WT mice failed to induce EAE. Was？/？ mice were resistant against EAE also when induced by adoptive transfer of MOG-activated T cells from WT mice. Was+/？ heterozygous mice developed an intermediate clinical phenotype between WT and Was？/？ mice, and they displayed a mixed population of WASP-positive and -negative T cells in the periphery but not in their CNS parenchyma, where the large majority of inflammatory cells expressed WASP. In conclusion, in absence of WASP, T-cell responses against a CNS autoantigen are increased, but the ability of autoreactive T cells to induce CNS autoimmunity is impaired, most probably because of an inefficient T-cell transmigration into the CNS and defective CNS resident microglial function.
Corporate and State Social Responsibility: A Long-Term Perspective  [PDF]
Rosetta Lombardo, Giovanni D’Orio
Modern Economy (ME) , 2012, DOI: 10.4236/me.2012.31013
Abstract: Companies have caught the changes in consumer perceptions and have developed corporate social responsibility (CSR) as long run survival strategy. The CSR signals that companies are overcoming the logic of the short term. The question is whether an evolution towards something similar that we call State social responsibility (SSR) is possible. State social responsibility is exerted when the State, in absence (or in case of ineffectiveness) of a formal supranational law, protects the rights of current and future generations of its citizens and citizens of other states and/or raises the current generations’ awareness regarding the opportunities reduction generated in space and time by meta-externalities. States would signal the tendency to overcome their short-sighted logic if the meta-externalities became a crucial question in their agenda.
An Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison) reincarnates in Manchild in the Promised Land (Claude Brown) and becomes Shadows of Your Black Memory (Donato Ndongo)
Rosetta Codling
Altre Modernità , 2011,
Abstract: Ralph Ellison’s allegorical journey in Invisible Man (1994) launched a new era in African-American culture and Black literacy for the entire world in 1952. In 1965, Ellison’s tragic, Diasporic hero appears to have experienced a reincarnation in the epic of Manchild in the Promised Land (1999) by Claude Brown. Currently, lingering in the caverns of Shadows of Your Black Memory (2007), past and present, Donato Ndongo’s tragic, Diasporic hero (of Equatorial Guinean heritage) prompts us to relive the course of colonialism and neocolonialism ‘of the mind’ in this…. the new millennium. This paper addresses the trilogy of resistance writing in Ellison’s Invisible Man, Brown’s Manchild in the Promised Land, and Ndongo’s Shadows of Your Black Memory. The experiences of the writers, political issues illustrated, and the impact upon the Black literary landscape (universal) will be explored.
Apontamentos sobre a qualidade da urbaniza o: a regi o sul do país
Rosetta Mammarella
Revista Paranaense de Desenvolvimento , 2001,
Abstract: The text presents some reflections and results of a work about the South Region of Brazil under the project “Characterization and Trends of the Urban Net in Brazil” (supported by a contract with IPEA, IBGE, NESUR/IE/UNICAMP and IPARDES). It discusses the contradictory effects of the economic and demographic growth upon the urban environment in big and medium sized cities. The benefits cities may offer to their population are directly correlated with the capacity to access elements necessary to improve the quality of life: income, services, urban equipments, health and education. Under this perspective, the text analyses three main indicators that describe the urbanization quality - income, education and housing– in three Brazilian Southern States. These indicators show the existence of an urbanization pattern that on average promotes a poor quality of urban life. O texto apresenta algumas reflex es e resultados do estudo sobre a Regi o Sul do país no contexto do projeto Caracteriza o e Tendências da Rede Urbana do Brasil (convênio IPEA, IBGE, NESUR/IE/UNICAMP, IPARDES). Aborda os efeitos contraditórios do crescimento econ mico e demográfico sobre o meio urbano, em especial nas grandes e médias cidades. Os benefícios que as cidades podem oferecer à sua popula o est o em correla o direta com as possibilidades de acesso aos meios capazes de proporcionar qualidade de vida à sua popula o: renda, servi os e equipamentos urbanos, saúde, educa o. Nessa perspectiva, o texto analisa três indicadores centrais que denotam qualidade de urbaniza o nos três estados da Regi o Sul – renda, educa o e moradia – apontando para a existência de um padr o de urbaniza o que, em média, se define por uma baixa qualidade de vida urbana.
Graduates’ Job Quality after a Higher Education Reform: Evidence Regarding Second Level Graduates from a University in Southern Italy
Rosetta Lombardo,Giovanni Passarelli
Research in Applied Economics , 2011, DOI: 10.5296/rae.v3i2.1074
Abstract: Generally graduates have more opportunity of finding a job than undergraduates. However a degree does not always lead to the expected labour market outcomes in terms of job quality. Italian graduates are not an exception in this regard. A University Reform (DM 509/99), implemented in the academic year 2001/2002, introduced a switch from a one-level university education system with just one type of degree to a two-level structure: the first lasting three years and the second another two additional years. 2010 is the first year for which data on labour market outcomes are available for second level graduates at three years after graduation. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the empirical literature by providing evidence of the job quality of graduates from a university located in Southern Italy, an area with structural problems in the labour market. The sample includes all summer session 2007 graduates from the University of Calabria. The quality of jobs at three years after graduation is studied in terms of type of contract, educational match and wage. More specifically, the paper aims to identify determinants of the contract type, educational match and wage. Our findings suggest that field of study is the main determinant of job quality. In particular, graduates in Engineering and in Pharmacy, are more likely to find a stable, well matched, and better paid job, with respect to graduates in other fields.
LDL-lowering Independent Effects of Early Pre-treatment with High-dose Statins in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Interventions
Annunziata Nusca,Rosetta Melf
European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine , 2011,
Abstract: Statins exert beneficial effects on the endothelium, inflammation and the coagulation cascade that are independent of cholesterol lowering. The main mechanism underlying these effects is inhibi- tion of isoprenoid synthesis, modulating the inflammatory cascade and the endothelial activation reliable of atherosclerosis.Different studies demonstrated that statins improve endothelial function in patients with stable atherosclerotic plaque and that this effect is dose-dependent. Statins may modulate endothelial expression of adhesion molecules, as demonstrated in the ARMYDA-CAMS, and may enhance mobilisation of endothelial progenitor cells.Elevated C-reactive protein levels, an inflammatory marker that also plays a direct pathogenetic role in the atherosclerotic process, have been correlated with worse outcome in patients with cardio- vascular disease. Multiple studies demonstrated that statin attenuates the rise of inflammatory markers and improves clinical outcome in patients with stable angina, unstable angina and non-Q wave acute myocardial infarction.During percutaneous coronary intervention randomised trials showed a benefical effect of statin pre-treatment in reducing peri-procedural myocardial damage probably by plaque stabilisation and inhibition of microembolisation phenomena during stent implantation. The ARMYDA study and the NAPLES II trial demonstrated this beneficial effect in patients undergoing coronary revascularisation for stable angina. Also in patients with ACS, receiving invasive strategy, the role of statins in preventing peri-procedural damage was demonstrated in the ARMYDA-ACS study by the administration of an acute high loading-dose with atorvastatin. In patients already on chronic statin therapy at the time of the procedure, an acute drug reload before stenting would have cardio- protective effects, like demonstrated in the ARMYDA RECAPTURE study.
The Role of Short-Chain Conjugated Poly-(R)-3-Hydroxybutyrate (cPHB) in Protein Folding
Rosetta N. Reusch
International Journal of Molecular Sciences , 2013, DOI: 10.3390/ijms140610727
Abstract: Poly-( R)-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), a linear polymer of R-3-hydroxybutyrate ( R-3HB), is a fundamental constituent of biological cells. Certain prokaryotes accumulate PHB of very high molecular weight (10,000 to >1,000,000 residues), which is segregated within granular deposits in the cytoplasm; however, all prokaryotes and all eukaryotes synthesize PHB of medium-chain length (~100–200 residues) which resides within lipid bilayers or lipid vesicles, and PHB of short-chain length (<12 residues) which is conjugated to proteins (cPHB), primarily proteins in membranes and organelles. The physical properties of cPHB indicate it plays important roles in the targeting and folding of cPHB-proteins. Here we review the occurrence, physical properties and molecular characteristics of cPHB, and discuss its influence on the folding and structure of outer membrane protein A (OmpA) of Escherichia coli.
Field of Study and Transition into a Stable Job: The Case of a University in Southern Italy
Rosetta Lombardo,Giuliana De Luca,Giovanni Passarelli
International Journal of Economics and Finance , 2012, DOI: 10.5539/ijef.v4n2p69
Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the relationship between a graduate’s field of study and probability of finding a stable job in a labor market which is flexible as regards atypical jobs but highly protective regarding stable jobs. We apply a discrete-time hazard model, taking into account unobservable heterogeneity, to analyze the transition to a stable job of students who graduated from the University of Calabria in 2004, at one, three and five years distance. Main findings indicate that, after controlling for a wide range of characteristics, Engineering graduates have a higher probability of finding a stable job than graduates in Economics and Business followed by those with a degree in Sciences, Political Science, and Humanities. These results confirm that, even in a deprived area, investing in occupational specific human capital can be seen as an “insurance” against the risk of unemployment or an unstable job.
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