scholarly journals 16th Meeting of the Interuniversity Institute of Myology (IIM) - Assisi (Italy), October 17-20, 2019: Foreword, Program and Abstracts

Author(s):  
Davide Gabellini ◽  
Antonio Musarò

The 16th Meeting of the Interuniversity Institute of Myology (IIM), October 17-20, 2019, Assisi, Italy brought together scientists, pharma and patient organization representatives discussing new results on muscle research. Internationally renowned Keynote speakers presented advances on muscle development, homeostasis, metabolism, and disease. Speakers selected among submitted abstracts presented their new, unpublished data in seven scientific sessions. The remaining abstracts were showcased in two poster sessions. Young trainees where directly involved in the selection of keynote speakers, the organizing scientific sessions and roundtables discussions tailored to the interests of their peers. A broad Italian, European and North-American audience participated to the different initiatives. The meeting allowed muscle biology researchers to discuss ideas and scientific collaborations aimed at better understanding the mechanisms underlaying muscle diseases in order to develop better therapeutic strategies. The active participation of young trainees was facilitated by the friendly and inclusive atmosphere, which fostered lively discussions identifying emerging areas of myology research and stimulated scientific cross-fertilization. The meeting was a success and the IIM community will continue to bring forward significant contributions to the understanding of muscle development and function, the pathogenesis of muscular diseases and the development of novel therapeutic approaches. Here, we report abstracts of the meeting illustrating novel results of basic, translational, and clinical research, which confirms that the Myology field is strong and healthy.

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide Gabellini ◽  
Antonio Musarò

The 16th Meeting of the Interuniversity Institute of Myology (IIM), October 17-20, 2019, Assisi, Italy brought together scientists, pharma and patient organization representatives discussing new results on muscle research. Internationally renowned Keynote speakers presented advances on muscle development, homeostasis, metabolism, and disease. Speakers selected among submitted abstracts presented their new, unpublished data in seven scientific sessions. The remaining abstracts were showcased in two poster sessions. Young trainees where directly involved in the selection of keynote speakers, the organizing scientific sessions and roundtables discussions tailored to the interests of their peers. A broad Italian, European and North-American audience participated to the different initiatives. The meeting allowed muscle biology researchers to discuss ideas and scientific collaborations aimed at better understanding the mechanisms underlaying muscle diseases in order to develop better therapeutic strategies. The active participation of young trainees was facilitated by the friendly and inclusive atmosphere, which fostered lively discussions identifying emerging areas of myology research and stimulated scientific cross-fertilization. The meeting was a success and the IIM community will continue to bring forward significant contributions to the understanding of muscle development and function, the pathogenesis of muscular diseases and the development of novel therapeutic approaches. Here, we report abstracts of the meeting illustrating novel results of basic, translational, and clinical research, which confirms that the Myology field is strong and healthy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Gabellini ◽  
Antonio Musaro

The 14th Meeting of the Interuniversity Institute of Myology (IIM), October 12-15, 2017 - Assisi, Italy gathered together researchers from Italy, European and North-American countries to discuss recent results on muscle research. The program showcased keynote lectures from world-renowned international speakers presenting advances in muscle physiology, bioengineering, metabolism and therapeutics. Based on selection from submitted abstracts, participants presented their novel, unpublished results in seven oral communication and two poster sessions. Particular emphasis was devoted to young trainees. For example, trainees where directly involved in organizing a scientific session and three round tables tailored to the interests of their peers. The meeting attracted a broad audience from Italy, various European countries and from North America. It offered a unique opportunity to all researchers involved in the field of muscle biology to exchange ideas and foster scientific collaborations to better understand the causative mechanisms of muscular diseases and to improve the design of more efficient therapeutic strategies. The friendly and inclusive atmosphere promoted the active participation of junior scientists to exciting discussions, which allowed to identify emerging areas of myology research and encouraged scientific cross-fertilization to facilitate exchanges between different laboratories in different countries. The meeting was a success and this community will continue to deliver major contributions to our understanding of muscle development and function, the pathogenesis of muscle diseases and the development of novel therapeutic approaches. Here, we report abstracts of the meeting discussing recent results of basic, translational and early clinical studies confirming that the field of Myology is strong and articulated, maturing toward clinical development for the treatment of muscle diseases.


Author(s):  
Francesca Grassi ◽  
Sestina Falcone

In 2021, as the situation due to COVID-19 pandemic was still uncertain, the 18 th annual meeting of the Interuniversity Institute of Myology (IIM), took place on a virtual platform, following the same organization already tested for the previous edition. Participants from Italy, European countries, Canada and USA included clinicians, scientists, pharmaceutical companies and representatives of patient organizations. Four keynote speakers presented new insights into the modulation of muscle stem cell self-renewal in the treatment of neuromuscular disease, the role of nuclear positioning in muscle function, regeneration and tumorigenesis in the heart and advances on therapies of muscular dystrophies. Young PhD students and trainees presented oral communications distributed in five scientific sessions and posters in two poster sessions. On October 21, 2021, selected young scientists participated in the “High Training Course on Advanced Myology”, organized with the University of Perugia, Italy. This course consisted of lectures on muscle regeneration and therapeutic perspectives by internationally recognized speakers, followed by roundtable discussions on “Omics technologies in myology” and “New therapeutic approaches”, plus the meeting itself. Young trainees, winners of past IIM conferences, forming the Young IIM Committee, selected one of Keynote speakers and were involved in the organization of scientific sessions and roundtable discussions. The friendly welcoming of the meeting, which has strongly characterized this event and is of great help in facilitating scientific exchanges and stimulating novel collaborations, was the hallmark of the conference this year again, even on virtual platform. Breakthrough studies showing interdisciplinary works are fostering new avenues in the field of myology. This year again, scientists and students attended the meeting at the huger number, challenging the difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All participants shared the wish to continue and implement IIM meeting with new insights on muscle biology, perspectives in the understanding of the muscle-related diseases and in novel therapeutic approaches. We report here abstracts of the meeting describing basic, translational, and clinical research contributing to the large field of myology.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gurinder Bir Singh ◽  
Douglas B Cowan ◽  
Da-Zhi Wang

Skeletal muscles are the largest tissues in our body and the physiological function of muscle is essential to every aspect of life. The regulation of development, homeostasis, and metabolism is critical for the proper functioning of skeletal muscle. Consequently, understanding the processes involved in the regulation of myogenesis is of great interest. Non-coding RNAs especially microRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators of gene expression and function. MiRNAs are small (~22 nucleotides long) noncoding RNAs known to negatively regulate target gene expression post-transcriptionally and are abundantly expressed in skeletal muscle. Gain- and loss-of function studies have revealed important roles of this class of small molecules in muscle biology and disease. In this review, we summarize the latest research that explores the role of miRNAs in skeletal muscle development, gene expression, and function as well as in muscle disorders like sarcopenia and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Continuing with the theme of the current review series, we also briefly discuss the role of miRNAs in cancer cachexia.


Antioxidants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 486
Author(s):  
Valerio Ciccone ◽  
Shirley Genah ◽  
Lucia Morbidelli

The vascular endothelium consists of a single layer of squamous endothelial cells (ECs) lining the inner surface of blood vessels. Nowadays, it is no longer considered as a simple barrier between the blood and vessel wall, but a central hub to control blood flow homeostasis and fulfill tissue metabolic demands by furnishing oxygen and nutrients. The endothelium regulates the proper functioning of vessels and microcirculation, in terms of tone control, blood fluidity, and fine tuning of inflammatory and redox reactions within the vessel wall and in surrounding tissues. This multiplicity of effects is due to the ability of ECs to produce, process, and release key modulators. Among these, gasotransmitters such as nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) are very active molecules constitutively produced by endotheliocytes for the maintenance and control of vascular physiological functions, while their impairment is responsible for endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular disorders such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, and impaired wound healing and vascularization due to diabetes, infections, and ischemia. Upregulation of H2S producing enzymes and administration of H2S donors can be considered as innovative therapeutic approaches to improve EC biology and function, to revert endothelial dysfunction or to prevent cardiovascular disease progression. This review will focus on the beneficial autocrine/paracrine properties of H2S on ECs and the state of the art on H2S potentiating drugs and tools.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 823
Author(s):  
Jian Tan ◽  
Duan Ni ◽  
Rosilene V. Ribeiro ◽  
Gabriela V. Pinget ◽  
Laurence Macia

Cell survival, proliferation and function are energy-demanding processes, fuelled by different metabolic pathways. Immune cells like any other cells will adapt their energy production to their function with specific metabolic pathways characteristic of resting, inflammatory or anti-inflammatory cells. This concept of immunometabolism is revolutionising the field of immunology, opening the gates for novel therapeutic approaches aimed at altering immune responses through immune metabolic manipulations. The first part of this review will give an extensive overview on the metabolic pathways used by immune cells. Diet is a major source of energy, providing substrates to fuel these different metabolic pathways. Protein, lipid and carbohydrate composition as well as food additives can thus shape the immune response particularly in the gut, the first immune point of contact with food antigens and gastrointestinal tract pathogens. How diet composition might affect gut immunometabolism and its impact on diseases will also be discussed. Finally, the food ingested by the host is also a source of energy for the micro-organisms inhabiting the gut lumen particularly in the colon. The by-products released through the processing of specific nutrients by gut bacteria also influence immune cell activity and differentiation. How bacterial metabolites influence gut immunometabolism will be covered in the third part of this review. This notion of immunometabolism and immune function is recent and a deeper understanding of how lifestyle might influence gut immunometabolism is key to prevent or treat diseases.


Sexualities ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 136346072096130
Author(s):  
Rhiannon Bury ◽  
Lee Easton

Social media and content-sharing platforms provide new opportunities for the circulation of not only professional and amateur porn productions but also “pornographic self-representation”. This study examines the interactions that occur when male pornographic self-representation is shared in an inclusive space that welcomes both straight and gay men to post dick pics and gaze/comment on them. Focusing on the Reddit forum, Massive Cock, we conducted a discourse analysis of a selection of posts, comments and account profiles collected over a seven-month period. Based on our findings, we contend that Massive is a homosocial space where homoerotic dick gazing reaffirms and disrupts the heterosexual–homosexual binary. Our findings point to an uneven dynamic in which the majority of the posters perform a straight identity, whereas the majority of commenters perform a gay identity. Their comments serve to disrupt hegemonic masculinity and, in turn, create a space that welcomes mostly straight and bi-curious performances of masculinity. Such performances are possible due to recent cultural shift away from homo-hysteria and towards a more inclusive heteromasculinity. Collectively these performances produce an inclusive “fraternity of the cock”, but it is one which maintains a heterocentric focus and function.


2010 ◽  
Vol 88 (8) ◽  
pp. 802-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika I. Boesen ◽  
Jennifer S. Pollock ◽  
David M. Pollock

Endothelin (ET) receptor antagonists are antihypertensive and renoprotective in angiotensin II (AngII)-induced hypertension if administered when AngII infusion commences, but their effects on established hypertension are poorly understood. We therefore tested the effects of intervening with an ETA (ABT-627) or ETB (A-192621) receptor antagonist after establishing hypertension with AngII (65 ng/min s.c.) plus 8% NaCl diet (AngII–HS) in rats. Prior to administration of ABT-627, AngII–HS and AngII–HS plus ABT-627 groups displayed robust hypertension (mean arterial pressure (MAP), 170 ± 5 and 165 ± 5 mm Hg versus 110 ± 3 mm Hg in normal salt control rats at day 7, P < 0.05). Administering ABT-627 from day 8 of AngII–HS treatment prevented further rises in MAP (168 ± 5 and 191 ± 3 mm Hg at day 13 in AngII–HS plus ABT-627 and AngII–HS, P < 0.001), without blunting the significant increases in urinary protein (19-fold), albumin (25-fold), or MCP-1 excretion (6- to 8-fold) or the reduction in creatinine clearance. Administering A-192621 from day 8 mildly exacerbated AngII–HS induced hypertension (P < 0.05 for AngII–HS versus AngII–HS plus A-192621 on days 11 and 12 only) and reduced plasma nitrite/nitrate concentration (P < 0.05), without affecting proteinuria, albuminuria, or creatinine clearance. These results confirm the importance of ETA receptor signaling in maintaining AngII–HS hypertension and suggest that including ETB receptor blockade in therapeutic approaches to treating hypertension would be ineffective or even counterproductive.


2021 ◽  
Vol 134 (16) ◽  

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Fanny Jaudon and Martina Albini are co-first authors on ‘ A developmental stage- and Kidins220-dependent switch in astrocyte responsiveness to brain-derived neurotrophic factor’, published in JCS. Fanny is a postdoc at the University of Trieste in the lab of Lorenzo A. Cingolani at Center for Synaptic Neuroscience and Technology, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy, investigating the molecular mechanisms controlling development and function of neuronal circuits and implementing genome-editing approaches for the treatment of neurological disorders. Martina is a PhD student at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in the lab of Fabio Benfenati and Fabrizia Cesca investigating neurotrophin biology and its involvement in neurological diseases.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 267
Author(s):  
I Gede Teguh Mahardika ◽  
I Wayan Supriana

Culinary is one of the favorite businesses today. The number of considerations to choose a restaurant or place to visit becomes one of the factors that is difficult to determine the restaurant or place to eat. To get the desired place to eat advice, one needs a recommendation system. Decisions made by the recommendation system can be used as a reference to determine the choice of restaurants. One method that can be used to build a recommendation system is Case Based Reasoning. The Case Based Reasoning (CBR) method mimics human ability to solve a problem or cases. The retrieval process is the most important stage, because at this stage the search for a solution for a new case is carried out. The study used the K-Nearest Neighbor method to find closeness between new cases and case bases. With the selection of features used as domains in the system, the results of recommendations presented can be more suggestive and accurate. The system successfully provides complex recommendations based on the type and type of food entered by the user. Based on blackbox testing, the system has features that can be used and function properly according to the purpose of creating the system.


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