Ricerc@Sapienza

L'emoglobina e la mioglobin sono state considerate i modelli paradigmatici della funzione delle proteine, al punto da essere stati definiti "gli atomi di idrogeno della biologia" [Frauenfelder et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2003; 100, 8615-8617]. Data questa posizione privilegiata e l'enorme mole di informazione disponibile su queste proteine, il globulo rosso potrebbe apparire come il modello e "l'atomo di idrogeno" della biologia dei sistemi cellulari.

In this paper, a new model describing the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-acquired immuno deficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic spread is proposed. The improvement with respect to the known models has been driven by recent results obtained from historical data collection and the suggestions given by the World Health Organization: the characteristics of the virus diffusion, mainly by body fluids, imply the trivial fact that wise behaviors of healthy subjects and fast timely recognition of a new positive diagnosis should reduce the spread quite fast.

Background: ALU element instability could contribute to gene function variance in aging, and may partly explain variation in human lifespan. Objective: To assess the role of ALU element instability in human aging and the potential efficacy of ALU element content as a marker of biological aging and survival. Design: Preliminary cohort study.

In physiological environments (e.g. the blood), nanoparticles (NPs) are surrounded by a layer of biomolecules referred to as a 'protein corona' (PC). The most tightly NP-bound proteins form the so-called hard corona (HC), the key bio-entity that determines the NP's biological identity and physiological response. To date, NP-HC has been almost exclusively characterized in vitro, while NP-protein interactions under realistic in vivo conditions remain largely unexplored.