BUZZNET LOVE

 

Discover Italy, map of Italy

For each Italian region discover alternative attractions, typical tastes and flavours,
characteristic handicrafts and traditional events.

Directly region hotels link:
Lombardy hotel | Trentino Alto Adige hotel | Liguria hotel | Emilia Romagna hotel | Veneto hotel | Friuli Venezia Giulia hotel | Tuscany hotel | Umbria hotel | Marche hotel | Abruzzo hotel | Lazio hotel | Puglia hotel | Campania hotel | Basilicata hotel | Calabria hotel | Siciy hotel | Sardinia hotel

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com

A protein called Jumonjd3 has been identified by scientists at the IFOM-IEO Campus, Milan, Italy, as the molecular key required for starting up the differentiation process and for issuing neuronal "identity cards" to embryonic stem cells.

The research, conducted by a team of scientists led by Giuseppe Testa, Director of the Stem Cell Epigenetics Programme at the Department of Experimental Oncology at IEO, focuses on a particular group of 'bivalent' genes that, during embryonic stem cell differentiation, are either activated or repressed, bestowing stem cells with a neuronal identity

Epigenetic modifications and cellular identity

The cells that make up our body all share the same set of approximately 30,000 genes, inherited from the single cell (i.e., the fertilized egg) that started everything off. However, during functional differentiation, when cells assume their identity (e.g., they become a neuronal, blood or liver cell) in order to carry out a specific role in the body, only a particular set of genes within the cell are activated, while the others are silenced. This selective control of gene expression occurs at the epigenetic level (from the Greek epi- "in addition to-" genes), through chemical modifications that control gene expression by activating or repressing specific genes without altering the underlying DNA sequence. An important epigenetic mechanism controlling the functional differentiation of embryonic stem cells is histone methylation.

Histones are a family of proteins that play a critical role in ordering DNA filaments within chromatin. Histones form the protein core of nucleosomes, repeating units in chromatin, around which DNA is wrapped and compacted. Like all proteins, histones are made up of amino acids arranged in a linear chain: one end of this chain, known as the amino-terminal tail, protrudes from the nucleosome core and is, therefore, freely available to undergo epigenetic modifications. Specific protein complexes control the methylation of this tail during cellular differentiation, leading to chromatin remodeling and the activation/repression of specific target genes.

In particular, the methylation of two amino acids in histone H3, lysine 4 and lysine 27, has opposing effects on gene expression in stem cells: if lysine 4 is methylated the gene is expressed, if lysine 27 is methylated the gene is silenced.

A breakdown in the methylation machinery can significantly affect the identity of cells and may cause malformations in embryos or, in adults, a number of pathological conditions, in particular, cancers. It is not surprising, therefore, that in the so-called big killers (cancer of the colon, lung, breast and prostate), abnormal epigenetic modifications (i.e., epimutations) have been detected, such as the erroneous repression of genes by methylation of histone H3 on lysine 27.

For decades, histone methylation was considered as an molecular key required for starting up the differentiation process and for issuing neuronal "identity cards" to embryonic stem cells; however, recently it has been observed that molecular key required for starting up the differentiation process and for issuing neuronal "identity cards" to embryonic stem cells (i.e., the removal of methyl groups) of specific genes can occur under certain conditions during cellular differentiation. This process is, at present, poorly understood, but the scientific community is working on different fronts to identify proteins involved in demethylation. An important contribution to our understanding of demethylation has recently been made by researchers at the molecular key required for starting up the differentiation process and for issuing neuronal "identity cards" to embryonic stem cells in Milan: a centre of excellence founded from molecular key required for starting up the differentiation process and for issuing neuronal "identity cards" to embryonic stem cells (FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology) and molecular key required for starting up the differentiation process and for issuing neuronal "identity cards" to embryonic stem cells (European Institute of Oncology) and amongst the most prestigious centres, at the international level, working on epigenetic research.

Jumonjd3 and the dynamic identity of neuronal cells

Research conducted by Giuseppe Testa, Director of the Stem Cell Epigenetics Programme at the Department of Experimental Oncology at IEO, in collaboration with Gioacchino Natoli, Director of the Transcriptional Control in Inflammation and Cancer Laboratory at the same Institute, identified Jumonjd3 as an enzyme that controls neuronal differentiation of stem cells by removing silencing signals from genes that are essential for neurogenesis.

In embryonic stem cells, a group of genes, defined as 'bivalent´, are characterized by their association with Histone H3, methylated on two residues, lysine 4 and lysine 27. Paradoxically, methylation of these two residues has opposing effects on gene expression. During the differentiation of the neuronal lineage, these genes lose their bivalent character by demethylation of one of the two lysine residues. This leads to either the complete activation or complete silencing of particular genes that grant stem cells a new neuronal identity.

The enzyme responsible for the demethylation of lysine 27 during neuronal differentiation has been identified by Giuseppe Testa and colleagues as Jumonjd3 (Jumonji in Japanese means cross-shaped). "Our characterization of the role of Jumonjd3 in neuronal differentiation supports the notion that epigenetic modifications, which regulate cell fate and identity, represent a dynamic and plastic mechanism for controlling gene expression." explained Testa "It is plausible that Jumonjd3 will one day represent an important target in the exploitation of cellular programming and reprogramming for therapeutic purposes".

This research is a significant step forward in our understanding of the intricate mechanisms that regulate stem cell functions. In the long term, Jumonjd3 could constitute a promising target in the reprogramming of differentiated cells and in the development of antineoplastic therapies that counteract the abnormal differentiation processes at the route of tumourigenesis.

Giuseppe Testa and his research group have performed in vitro and in vivo experiments on cells from model organisms using innovative experimental methods based on chromatin immunoprecipitation (a technique that "immortalizes" the interactions between specific proteins and regions of the genome in a particular instance in the cell's life).

This research, supported by AIRC (Italian Association for Cancer Research), the Umberto Veronesi Foundation, the European Commission and Manetti & Roberts, was published in the open access, online journal, PloS ONE, part of the innovative Public Library of Science (PloS) platform.

About The IFOM-IEO Campus

The IFOM-IEO Campus is a new biomedical research centre, created by the joint efforts of the FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology Foundation (IFOM) and the Department of Experimental Oncology of the European Institute of Oncology (IEO), which have expanded and integrated their research activities on a common campus.

The IFOM-IEO Campus is located in Milan, the heart of the commercial/industrial north of Italy, where it benefits from numerous interactions with other scientific and medical organizations in the area (see participants below). The Campus is also home to the Ph.D programs of the European School of Molecular Medicine (SEMM), which it is running in collaboration with the University of Milan, the University of Naples "Federico II" and the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genoa.

The IFOM-IEO Campus

If all the bloggers in the world were to join hands…

Click on the image

The blog-killer draft law is no one’s offspring. Perhaps it could be a whore’s offspring. Of an unknown father and an uncertain mother. Born in a test tube and by parthenogenesis. Apart from that of Antonio Di Pietro, no parliamentary voice has been heard in favour of the Internet. And yet it should have a certain relevance to them. Millions of Italians live it, use it, discuss it and get information from it.
The draft law was presented by Franco 'Ricardo' Levi. Levi is PD. The Secretary of the PD is Veltroni. Either he knows nothing about it, as I’m told happens often, or he is in agreement.
The true journalists work via the internet. You know some of them. They are called Ricca, Martinelli, Byoblu. Apologies to those I am not mentioning, but there are thousands of them. The internet expresses a different Country. If the lobotomized ones of the TV stations and the trio CorriereRepubblicaLaStampa were to get there information via the internet, the psycho-dwarf would be a permanent guest of Putin’s in Siberia and Topo Gigio Veltroni an usher in a cinema.
The blog-killer law is not to be taken lightly. Even in China, they haven’t even dared to go so far. If it gets passed, the internet will disappear. I have read a lot of comments advising bloggers to move the blogs abroad or to register them with an address ending in .com, .net or something else, not subject to the Italian laws as “.it” is. Why should we do that? Let them do it with their shXt websites. It’s been years that we are the hares and they the dogs. That we are playing in defence. Every day a new rubbish idea. It’s time for a change. I feel like a sabre-toothed werewolf. It’s a great feeling. Chasing after the one running away. Hundreds of bloggers are showing their faces, their first and second names, their http address with the “FREE BLOGGER” initiative. It is they who are change. You will not stop that.
” If all the bloggers in the world were to join hands…”

Send in your photos with the words: FREE BLOGGER":
Send an email to freeblogger@beppegrillo.it with:
- subject: your name
- text: the address of your blog
- attached: a photo of you with a sign saying “FREE BLOGGER”.
The photos will appear in the top bar of the blog.
- Article in "Punto Informatico"
- Analysis by Daniele Minotti

The Country has been struck by a bad case of digital divide. Two different groupings have formed. One gets its information on the Net, while other gets its disinformation via the newspapers and the television.
In certain Countries the Internet is controlled, just as the other media are and, therefore, all of the country’s citizens get the same information. In other Countries, there is freedom of information and freedom on the Internet, so those Countries’ citizens get their information from both these sources. Only in ONE Country, namely Italy, the only such case worldwide, the newspapers and the television are controlled, but the Internet not, yet!
Millions of people are living in two different worlds, separated in their own homes. Within one single family, Grandpa may believe everything Vespa says, while his grandson may tell him to f-off. This is a very unhealthy situation. The more time goes on, the more this lack of communication between the two faces of Italy grows, accompanied by reciprocal intolerance. However, the Internet has two major weapons in its armoury. The youth who browse the Internet (the oldies will die long before they do), and the anorexia of advertising on the old fashioned media. Without the advertising income they will eventually close down. And that is precisely what will begin to happen. Advertising revenues for advertising space in the newspapers and the television channels are falling and are set to crash within a year. Some of the advertising will switch to the Internet, advertising space that is not controlled by a bunch of liars. They are well aware of this and they are getting extremely nervous.
Confalonieri quoted me to certain financial journalists, with regard to the Mediaset share offer. I assure him, it is not yet time to buy. I only buy shares once their value drops. We will talk again when the shares in Mediaset, a company that basically lives off advertising revenues, drop to below one Euro. In the meantime, let’s appeal to the browsers (as opposed to the navigators=sailors): Please help Confalonieri. Don’t post any Mediaset clips on Youtube. It’s illegal. Fidel says so. We are all for complying with the law and cancelling every Mediaset programme that has ever been illegally posted on the Web. Let’s not pollute the media, Buddy.
Three publishing houses control all the information in print: RCS (Corriere della Sera), controlled by ABI and Confindustria, Mondadori, the psychdwarf’s group and De Benedetti’s l'Espresso, Champion of Topo Gigio and Swiss asylum seeker.
The Shares – losses since the beginning of this year:
- RCS - 54,84
- Gruppo l'Espresso - 60,97
- Mondadori - 51,78
We’re heading down the right road guys. Where politics was unable to succeed, the economy will.

I PRESIDENTI USA