- Recent studies on extracellular RNA raised awareness that extracellular vesicles (EVs) isolated from cultured cells may co-purify RNAs derived from media supplements such as fetal bovine serum (FBS) confounding EV-associated RNA.
- Defined culture media supplemented with a range of nutrient components provide an alternative to FBS addition and allow EV-collection under full medium conditions avoiding starvation and cell stress during the collection period. However, Bio Med Frontiers the potential contribution of serum-free media supplements to EV-RNA contamination has remained elusive and has never been assessed.
- Here, we report that RNA isolated from EVs harvested from cells under serum-replacement conditions includes miRNA contaminants carried into the sample by defined media components.
- Subjecting unconditioned, EV-free medium to differential centrifugation followed by reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) on RNA isolated from the pellet resulted in detection of miRNAs that had been classified as EV-enriched by RNA-seq or RT-qPCR of an isolated EV-fraction. Ribonuclease (RNase-A) and detergent treatment removed most but not all of the contaminating miRNAs.
- Further analysis of the defined media constituents identified Catalase as a main source of miRNAs co-isolating together with EVs. Hence, miRNA contaminants can be carried into EV-samples even under serum-free harvesting conditions using culture media that are expected to be chemically defined.
- Formulation of miRNA-free media supplements may provide a solution to collect EVs clean from confounding miRNAs, which however still remains a challenging task.
Differential analysis of EVs collected under full medium and supplement-deprived conditions appears to provide a strategy to discriminate confounding and EV-associated RNA. In conclusion, we recommend careful re-evaluation and validation of EV small RNA-seq and RT-qPCR datasets by determining potential medium background.
Analyzing Social Media Data to Understand Consumer Information Needs on Dietary Supplements.
Despite the high consumption of dietary supplements (DS), few reliable, relevant, and comprehensive online resources could satisfy information seekers. This research study aims to understand consumer information needs on DS using topic modeling, and to evaluate accuracy in correctly identifying topics from social media.
We retrieved 16,095 unique questions posted on Yahoo! Answers relating to 438 unique DS ingredients mentioned in sub-section, “Alternative medicine” under the section, “Health” .
We implemented an unsupervised topic modeling method, Correlation Explanation (CorEx) to unveil the various topics in which consumers are most interested. We manually reviewed the keywords of all the 200 topics generated by CorEx and assigned them to 38 health-related categories, corresponding to 12 higher-level groups. We found high accuracy (90-100%) in identifying questions that correctly align with the selected topics. Our Provider The results could guide us to generate a more comprehensive and structured DS resource based on consumers’ information needs.
Herbal supplements in the print media: communicating benefits and risks.
- The rise in use of food supplements based on botanical ingredients (herbal supplements) is depicted as part of a trend empowering consumers to manage their day-to-day health needs, which presupposes access to clear and accurate information to make effective choices.
- Evidence regarding herbal supplement efficacy is extremely variable so recent regulations eliminating unsubstantiated claims about potential effects leave producers able to provide very little information about their products.
- Medical practitioners are rarely educated about herbal supplements and most users learn about them via word-of-mouth, allowing dangerous misconceptions to thrive, chief among them the assumption that natural products are inherently safe. Print media is prolific among the information channels still able to freely discuss herbal supplements.
- This study thematically analyses how 76 newspaper/magazine articles from the UK, Romania and Italy portray the potential risks and benefits of herbal supplements.
- Most articles referenced both risks and benefits and were factually accurate but often lacked context and impartiality. More telling was how the risks and benefits were framed in service of a chosen narrative, the paucity of authoritative information allowing journalists leeway to recontextualise herbal supplements in ways that serviced the goals and values of their specific publications and readership.
- Providing sufficient information to empower consumers should not be the responsibility of print media, instead an accessible source of objective information is required.
The effects of oral supplements with Sambucus nigra, Zinc, Tyndallized Lactobacillus acidophilus (HA122), Arabinogalactans, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin C in otitis media with effusion in children: a randomized controlled trial.
To evaluate the ability of oral supplements with immune-stimulating molecules (Sambucus nigra, Zinc, Tyndallized Lactobacillus acidophilus (HA122), Arabinogalactans, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin C) to reduce the inflammation of the upper airway tract and improve the outcome of otitis media with effusion (OME) in children.Randomized controlled trial.
One-hundred ninety-eight children (CI 95%: 12-96 months) were divided into four groups.
Group 1 (48 subjects) received 10 ml of oral supplements (OS) with immune-stimulating molecules for three months (20 days consecutively, then 10 days of suspension – the therapeutic scheme was repeated three times); Group 2 (54 children) underwent treatment with 10 ml of OS for 90 consecutive days; Group 3 (48 subjects) received 15 ml of OS for 45 consecutive days; a control group (48 children) underwent the standard treatment for rhinitis and OME.
Outcome measures included otoscopy, tympanometry, fibroendoscopy, and the pure tone audiometry (PTA) at T0 (before treatment), T1 (45 days after treatment), and T2 (90 days after treatment).
All children treated with OS showed a reduction of Upper Airway Infection (UAI) episodes and OME compared to the control group independent of the administration method and posology.
The three groups treated with OS showed statistically significant differences between T0 and T2 for otoscopy, tympanometry, fibroendoscopy, and PTA.
In Group 2, the otoscopy and the tympanometry scores improved at T1. Group 2 and 3 had better PTA results than Group 1.OS with immune-stimulating molecules should be considered as a supporting therapy in children affected by recurrent episodes of UAI associated with OME due to their capacity to improve the immune response and reduce the inflammatory phenomena. OS can improve the fibroendoscopic findings by restoring middle ear ventilation, in addition to their ability to reduce inflammation in the middle ear.
Insulin-Transferrin-Selenium as a Novel Serum-free Media Supplement for the Culture of Human Amnion Mesenchymal Stem Cells
This study aimed to evaluate the use of Insulin-Transferrin-Selenium (ITS) medium in place of fetal bovine serum (FBS) to culture human amnion mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCs). Cell morphology, ultrastructure, proliferation, migration and MSC related markers were assessed accordingly.
The hAMSCs were induced to osteocyte, chondrocyte, adipocyte and keratinocyte by culturing in appropriate induction medium. hAMSCs mRNA expression was detected for the matrix metalloproteinases 2 (MMP2), keratinocyte growth factor (KGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), Platelet-derived Growth Factor (PDGF), and transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β) by real-time quantitative RT-PCR.
Metarhizium Anisopliae Products |
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BIO-006 | Creative BioMart | 1kg | 80 EUR |
Paecilomyces Lilacinus Products |
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BIO-007 | Creative BioMart | 1kg | 32 EUR |
MOUSE SERUM Serum Products |
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GWB-Q00006 | GenWay Biotech | 100 ml | Ask for price |
RABBIT COMPLEMENT Serum Products |
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GWB-Q00015 | GenWay Biotech | 2 ml | Ask for price |
RAGE, CT (Receptor for Advanced Glycosylation End Products) (Biotin) |
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MBS6453392-01mL | MyBiosource | 0.1mL | 895 EUR |
RAGE, CT (Receptor for Advanced Glycosylation End Products) (Biotin) |
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MBS6453392-5x01mL | MyBiosource | 5x0.1mL | 3875 EUR |
RAGE, NT (Receptor for Advanced Glycosylation End Products) (Biotin) |
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MBS6453403-01mL | MyBiosource | 0.1mL | 895 EUR |
RAGE, NT (Receptor for Advanced Glycosylation End Products) (Biotin) |
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MBS6453403-5x01mL | MyBiosource | 5x0.1mL | 3875 EUR |
Advanced Glycation End Products (Clone 9), DNA Aptamer, Biotinylated |
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AD-157-B | Alpha Diagnostics | Custom | Ask for price |
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GWB-Q00003 | GenWay Biotech | 100 ml | Ask for price |
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Our results showed that hAMSCs cultured in ITS medium exhibited similar proliferation rates, demonstrated a statistically significant increased migration and expressed similar levels of MSC markers(CD73+, CD90+, CD105+, CD45-, CD34-) compared with those cultured in FBS.
Osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes and keratinocytes were differentiated. Results of transmission electron microscope (TEM) revealed that hAMSCs cultured in ITS medium underwent active metabolism.
The mRNA expression of MMP2, VEGF, KGF, TGF-β, IGF-I and PDGF upregulated in ITS medium. In conclusion, ITS medium has the potential to be used for the expansion of hAMSCs before clinical application.