Alessia Faggian

University of Trento | UNITN · CIBIO - Centre for Integrative Biology

Objective To compare the effects of the complex triamcinolone acetonide-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (TA-CD) on in vitro inflamed primary human articular chondrocytes in the presence or absence of the mixture hyaluronic acid-Chitlac, a lactose-modified chitosan (HA-CTL). Design Changes in cell viability and pro-inflammatory cytokines gene expressi...

One of the open questions regarding the origin of life is the problem how macromolecules could be created. One possible answer is the existence of autocatalytic sets in which some macromolecules mutually catalyze each other’s formation. This mechanism is theoretically described in the Kauffman model. We introduce and simulate an extension of the Ka...

We perform computer simulations of an agglomeration process for monodisperse and polydisperse systems of spherical particles in a cylindrical container, using a simplified stochastic-hydrodynamic model. We consider a ternary system with three particle types A , B , and C , in which only connections of the type $$A-B$$ A - B can be forged, while any...

Conventional measurements of fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels investigated in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) cannot capture the effects of DNA variability on ‘around the clock’ glucoregulatory processes. Here we show that GWAS meta-analysis of glucose measurements under nonstandardized conditions (random glucose (RG)) in 476,32...

We simulate the movement and agglomeration of oil droplets in water under constraints, using a simplified stochastic-hydrodynamic model. We analyze both local and global properties of the networks formed by the agglomerations of droplets for various system sizes. We focus on the differences of these properties for monodisperse and polydisperse syst...

Experimentally, periodically released droplets in systems of widening pipes show clustering. This is surprising, as purely hydrodynamic interactions are repulsive so that agglomeration should be prevented. In the main part of this paper, we investigate the clustering of droplets under the influence of phenomenological hydrostatic forces and some hy...

Within the scope of the European Horizon 2020 project ACDC – Artificial Cells with Distributed Cores to Decipher Protein Function, we aim at the development of a chemical compiler governing the three-dimensional arrangement of droplets, which are filled with various chemicals. Neighboring droplets form bilayers with pores which allow chemicals to m...

We aim at planning and creating specific agglomerations of droplets to study synergic communication using these as programmable units. In this paper, we give an overview of preliminary obstacles for the various research issues, namely of how to create droplets, how to set up droplet agglomerations using DNA technology, how to prepare them for confo...

The development of data science, the increase of computational power, the availability of the internet infrastructure for data exchange and the urgency for an understanding of complex systems require a responsible and ethical use of computational models in science, communication and decision-making. Starting with a discussion of the width of differ...

We explain how to optimize the image analysis of mixed clusters of red and green droplets in solvents with various degrees of sharpness, brightness, contrast and density. The circular Hough Transform is highly efficient for separated circles with reasonable background contrast, but not for large amounts of partially overlapping shapes, some of them...

Homeostatic control of blood glucose requires different physiological responses in the fasting and post-prandial states. We reasoned that glucose measurements under non-standardised conditions (random glucose, RG) may capture diverse glucoregulatory processes more effectively than previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of fasting glycaemia...

Glycation is one of the most important post-translational modifications in cells and tissues and gives rise to highly reactive species called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). AGEs exert their pathological effects through different ways and previous reports suggest that they may also affect adipose tissue function and insulin sensitivity. All...

β-caryophyllene (BCP), a plant-derived sesquiterpene, has been reported to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of BCP in combination with ascorbic acid (AA) and d-glucosamine (GlcN) against macrophage-mediated inflammation on in vitro primary human chondrocytes. Changes in cell viabil...

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21276-3

Differences between sexes contribute to variation in the levels of fasting glucose and insulin. Epidemiological studies established a higher prevalence of impaired fasting glucose in men and impaired glucose tolerance in women, however, the genetic component underlying this phenomenon is not established. We assess sex-dimorphic (73,089/50,404 women...

Gastric cancer is the fourth most common worldwide cause of cancer-related death. Early gastric cancer has no associated symptoms, for this reason, patients come to the attention of the clinicians only in advanced stages. This paper aims to give a global view on the biomarkers for gastric cancer and the therapy in use. We discuss VEGF family, HER f...