Insight into the Metabolite Pattern of Psoriasis: Correlation among Homocysteine, Methionine, and Polyamines

Psoriasis is an incurable dermatological disorder, characterized by increased epidermal cell proliferation. Numerous studies have focused on the modulation of polyamine (PA) metabolism in psoriatic lesions, as well as the relationship between serum homocysteine (Hcy) levels and psoriasis severity. The correlation between Hcy and PA levels has not been investigated, although both of them depend on methionine (Met) loading. The aim of this study was to examine Met, Hcy, and polyamine levels in serum, saliva, lesions, and non-affected skin to investigate the eventual relationship between their levels in skin samples and to assess the correlation of each metabolite among the tested samples. This study was conducted on 24 patients with plaque-form psoriasis vulgaris. The original LC-MS/MS method was used for quantification of analytes. Hyperhomocysteinemia was observed and the serum levels of spermidine (Spd) and spermine (Spm) were also found to be elevated. A significant increase in Met (p < 0.05) and Spm (p < 0.001) concentrations in the psoriatic plaques were found, when compared to the non-affected skin. Significant correlations were established between all polyamines levels and between methionine and spermine in both types of cutaneous samples. This study illustrates the tight relationship between Met and Polyamine levels in epidermis of psoriatic patients. Our results could be helpful in psoriasis treatment, highlighting the importance of the balanced protein diet and intake of vitamins B12 and B9.

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Alarmins HMGB1, IL-33, S100A7, and S100A12 in Psoriasis Vulgaris

Mediators of Inflammation ◽

10.1155/2020/8465083 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2020 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Pavel Borsky ◽

Zdenek Fiala ◽

Ctirad Andrys ◽

Martin Beranek ◽

Kvetoslava Hamakova ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Disease Severity ◽

Significant Relationship ◽

Psoriasis Vulgaris ◽

Serum Levels ◽

Intracellular Proteins ◽

Elisa Technique ◽

Commercial Kits ◽

Destructive Processes ◽

Chronic Autoimmune Disease ◽

The Relationship

Background. Psoriasis vulgaris is a chronic autoimmune disease associated with systemic inflammation. Increased levels of numerous cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, and other molecules were found in the skin and in the circulation of psoriatic patients. Alarmins, also known as danger signals, are intracellular proteins, which are released to an extracellular space after infection or damage. They are the markers of cell destructive processes. Objective. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the suitability of selected alarmins (HMGB1, IL-33, S100A7, and S100A12) as potential biomarkers of severity of psoriasis and to explore possible relationships between these proteins for the purpose of better understanding their roles in the immunopathology of psoriasis. Methods. The serum levels of selected alarmins were measured in 63 psoriatic patients and 95 control individuals. The levels were assessed by the ELISA technique using commercial kits. The data were statistically processed with MedCalc version 19.0.5. Results. In psoriatic patients, we found significantly increased levels of HMGB1 (p<0.05), IL-33 (p<0.01), S100A7 (p<0.0001), and S100A12 (p<0.0001). In addition, we found a significant relationship between HMGB1 and S100A7 (Spearman’s rho=0.276, p<0.05) in the patients and significant relationship between HMGB1 and IL-33 in the controls (Spearman’s rho=0.416, p<0.05). We did not find any relationship between observed alarmins and the disease severity. Conclusions. The alarmins HMGB1, IL-33, S100A7, and S100A12 were significantly elevated in the serum of patients, which states the hypothesis that they play specific roles in the immunopathology of psoriasis. However, we have not yet found a relationship between observed alarmins and the disease severity. The discovery of the relationship between HMGB1 and S100A7 is a novelty that should be studied in the future to further clarify its role and importance.

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Skeletal elements of crinoid echinoderms: High-resolution structural and microanalytical results

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100074768 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 41 ◽

pp. 194-195

Author(s):

D. F. Blake ◽

L. F. Allard ◽

D. R. Peacor

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

Marine Invertebrates ◽

Sea Urchins ◽

Structural Features ◽

Sea Stars ◽

High Resolution Tem ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Relationship ◽

Insight Into

Echinodermata is a phylum of marine invertebrates which has been extant since Cambrian time (c.a. 500 m.y. before the present). Modern examples of echinoderms include sea urchins, sea stars, and sea lilies (crinoids). The endoskeletons of echinoderms are composed of plates or ossicles (Fig. 1) which are with few exceptions, porous, single crystals of high-magnesian calcite. Despite their single crystal nature, fracture surfaces do not exhibit the near-perfect {10.4} cleavage characteristic of inorganic calcite. This paradoxical mix of biogenic and inorganic features has prompted much recent work on echinoderm skeletal crystallography. Furthermore, fossil echinoderm hard parts comprise a volumetrically significant portion of some marine limestones sequences. The ultrastructural and microchemical characterization of modern skeletal material should lend insight into: 1). The nature of the biogenic processes involved, for example, the relationship of Mg heterogeneity to morphological and structural features in modern echinoderm material, and 2). The nature of the diagenetic changes undergone by their ancient, fossilized counterparts. In this study, high resolution TEM (HRTEM), high voltage TEM (HVTEM), and STEM microanalysis are used to characterize tha ultrastructural and microchemical composition of skeletal elements of the modern crinoid Neocrinus blakei.

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On Metaphysics and the Political: A Polemics of Reading Baudelaire in the 1930s

Nottingham French Studies ◽

10.3366/nfs.2019.0252 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 58 (2) ◽

pp. 249-259

Author(s):

Joseph Acquisto

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Political Crisis ◽

The Political ◽

Modern Poetry ◽

Progressive Politics ◽

The World ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Relationship ◽

Insight Into

This essay examines a polemic between two Baudelaire critics of the 1930s, Jean Cassou and Benjamin Fondane, which centered on the relationship of poetry to progressive politics and metaphysics. I argue that a return to Baudelaire's poetry can yield insight into what seems like an impasse in Cassou and Fondane. Baudelaire provides the possibility of realigning metaphysics and politics so that poetry has the potential to become the space in which we can begin to think the two of them together, as opposed to seeing them in unresolvable tension. Or rather, the tension that Baudelaire animates between the two allows us a new way of thinking about the role of esthetics in moments of political crisis. We can in some ways see Baudelaire as responding, avant la lettre, to two of his early twentieth-century readers who correctly perceived his work as the space that breathes a new urgency into the questions of how modern poetry relates to the world from which it springs and in which it intervenes.

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The Annual Reports of the Prison Commissioners for Scotland and Religion, 1903–1931

Scottish Church History ◽

10.3366/sch.2019.0005 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 48 (1) ◽

pp. 83-101

Author(s):

Cameron McKay

Keyword(s):

Annual Report ◽

Annual Reports ◽

Individual Choice ◽

Drinking Habits ◽

Parental Neglect ◽

Late Nineteenth ◽

Causes Of Crime ◽

Criminological Theories ◽

The Relationship ◽

Insight Into

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century penologists began to explore the possibility that environment and upbringing, as opposed to individual choice, were the causes criminality. The Prison Commissioners for Scotland, the devolved body who administered prisons north of the border, were not immune to this wider trend. Smith has argued that from the 1890s onwards the Commissioners began to accept that criminality was caused by social problems, namely alcoholism, but also parental neglect, poor education and poverty. In their efforts to test these new criminological theories, the Commissioners began to make more careful enquiries into the backgrounds of their charges. From 1896 to 1931 the Commissioners interviewed a sample of prisoners each year and included the findings in their annual report. Although the main focus of these interviews was on the upbringing and drinking habits of prisoners; by the 1900s the Commissioners seem to have added irreligion to the growing list of etiological causes of crime, and from 1903 onwards prisoners were asked to give details on their religious habits. Although it is debateable how much the Prison Commissioners revealed about the relationship between religion and crime, they did however provide a useful insight into the religiosity of the average prisoner.

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The Relationship between Seeker and Spiritual Guide as portrayed in contemporary Western Sufi Autobiographies

Comparative Islamic Studies ◽

10.1558/cis.v5i2.297 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 297-332

Author(s):

Kate Zebiri

Keyword(s):

Life Writing ◽

New Age ◽

The Self ◽

Individual Autonomy ◽

Religious Authority ◽

The Face ◽

The Relationship ◽

Insight Into ◽

Continuity And Discontinuity

This article aims to explore the Shaykh-mur?d (disciple) or teacher-pupil relationship as portrayed in Western Sufi life writing in recent decades, observing elements of continuity and discontinuity with classical Sufism. Additionally, it traces the influence on the texts of certain developments in religiosity in contemporary Western societies, especially New Age understandings of religious authority. Studying these works will provide an insight into the diversity of expressions of contemporary Sufism, while shedding light on a phenomenon which seems to fly in the face of contemporary social and religious trends which deemphasize external authority and promote the authority of the self or individual autonomy.

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Empathy as moderator of gender differences in Chinese insurance agents' business ethical sensitivity

Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal ◽

10.2224/sbp.6155 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 45 (6) ◽

pp. 1029-1042 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Na Zhang ◽

Jian Zhang ◽

Jing Wang

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Business Ethics ◽

Research Field ◽

Ethical Sensitivity ◽

Men And Women ◽

Insurance Agents ◽

Factors Associated ◽

Ethics Research ◽

The Relationship ◽

Insight Into

To expand the business ethics research field, and to increase society's understanding of Chinese insurance agents' business ethics, we investigated how gender differences are related to agents' business ethical sensitivity and whether or not these relationships are moderated by empathy. Through a regression analysis of the factors associated with the business ethical sensitivity of 417 Chinese insurance agents, we found that gender played an important role in affecting business ethical sensitivity, and empathy significantly affected business ethical sensitivity. Furthermore, empathy had a moderating effect on the relationship between gender and business ethical sensitivity. Both men and women with strong empathy scored high on business ethical sensitivity; however, men with strong empathy had higher levels of business ethical sensitivity than did women with little empathy. The findings add to the literature by providing insight into the mechanisms responsible for the benefits of empathy in increasing business ethical sensitivity.

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AI Narratives

10.1093/oso/9780198846666.001.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

New Technologies ◽

Ancient Greece ◽

Historical Overview ◽

Intelligent Machines ◽

Narrative History ◽

History Of ◽

Imaginative Thinking ◽

The Relationship ◽

Insight Into

This book is the first to examine the history of imaginative thinking about intelligent machines. As real artificial intelligence (AI) begins to touch on all aspects of our lives, this long narrative history shapes how the technology is developed, deployed, and regulated. It is therefore a crucial social and ethical issue. Part I of this book provides a historical overview from ancient Greece to the start of modernity. These chapters explore the revealing prehistory of key concerns of contemporary AI discourse, from the nature of mind and creativity to issues of power and rights, from the tension between fascination and ambivalence to investigations into artificial voices and technophobia. Part II focuses on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in which a greater density of narratives emerged alongside rapid developments in AI technology. These chapters reveal not only how AI narratives have consistently been entangled with the emergence of real robotics and AI, but also how they offer a rich source of insight into how we might live with these revolutionary machines. Through their close textual engagements, these chapters explore the relationship between imaginative narratives and contemporary debates about AI’s social, ethical, and philosophical consequences, including questions of dehumanization, automation, anthropomorphization, cybernetics, cyberpunk, immortality, slavery, and governance. The contributions, from leading humanities and social science scholars, show that narratives about AI offer a crucial epistemic site for exploring contemporary debates about these powerful new technologies.

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Die klingende Ferne; Walter Braunfels’ Opera Die Vögel after Aristophanes’ Birds

Classical Receptions Journal ◽

10.1093/crj/clz011 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 355-371

Author(s):

Michael Ewans

Keyword(s):

Central Theme ◽

Spiritual Values ◽

Greek Comedy ◽

Human Understanding ◽

The Relationship ◽

Insight Into

Abstract This article explores the opera Die Vögel (1920) by Walter Braunfels (1882–1954), and its reception of Aristophanes' Birds. The Introduction is substantial, as the work is little known. It is followed by an Overview of each of the two Acts, which discusses in Act I the relationship to Aristophanes (Braunfels discarded the second half of the original Greek comedy and struck out on a completely new path). Then the article analyses the development during Act II of insight into die klingende Ferne (‘the music of far away') by Hopeful, who is the principal human character in Braunfels' adaptation. It is shown that Hopeful's quest for spiritual values almost beyond human understanding is the central theme of the opera; the superiority of the life of birds, which Aristophanes treats humorously in the two parabaseis, is taken seriously in Braunfels' mystical second Act.

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Noni fruit’s water spot appearance on the second day of harvest: a trade-off between resistance and energy

Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture ◽

10.1186/s40538-020-00207-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Tian Wu ◽

Danyan Hu ◽

Qingfen Wang

Keyword(s):

Statistical Analysis ◽

Molecular Level ◽

Morinda Citrifolia ◽

Transcriptome Data ◽

Trade Off ◽

Kegg Pathways ◽

Available Energy ◽

Climacteric Fruit ◽

The Relationship ◽

Insight Into

Abstract Background Noni (Morinda citrifolia Linn.) is a tropical tree that bears climacteric fruit. Previous observations and research have shown that the second day (2 d) after harvest is the most important demarcation point when the fruit has the same appearance as the freshly picked fruit (0 d); however, they are beginning to become water spot appearance. We performed a conjoint analysis of metabolome and transcriptome data for noni fruit of 0 d and 2 d to reveal what happened to the fruit at the molecular level. Genes and metabolites were annotated to KEGG pathways and the co-annotated KEGG pathways were used as a statistical analysis. Results We found 25 pathways that were significantly altered at both metabolic and transcriptional levels, including a total of 285 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 11 differential metabolites through an integrative analysis of transcriptomics and metabolomics. The energy metabolism and pathways originating from phenylalanine were disturbed the most. The upregulated resistance metabolites and genes implied the increase of resistance and energy consumption in the postharvest noni fruit. Most genes involved in glycolysis were downregulated, further limiting the available energy. This lack of energy led noni fruit to water spot appearance, a prelude to softening. The metabolites and genes related to the resistance and energy interacted and restricted each other to keep noni fruit seemingly hard within two days after harvest, but actually the softening was already unstoppable. Conclusions This study provides a new insight into the relationship between the metabolites and genes of noni fruit, as well as a foundation for further clarification of the post-ripening mechanism in noni fruit.

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