ABSTRACT
Cognitive disability linked to neurodegenerative diseases and in particular to Alzheimer's disease, remains an increasing cause for concern through a dramatic prevalence increment and associated socio-economic burdens. Initially Alzheimer's disease develops asymptomatically with primary clinical signs, such as memory impairment, decline of spatial and perceptual abilities, occurring at a later stage. This delay implies the possibility of promoting early interventions during the pre-symptomatic stage of the disease. Different strategies have been applied in order to prevent/delay onset of Alzheimer's disease or at least to improve quality of life and health conditions of Alzheimer's disease patients and their caregivers, especially in the absence of current viable therapies. Multidomain interventions, aimed at affecting several risk factors simultaneously, offer a versatility that may attain improved outcomes in comparison with single-domain prevention trials. These multidomain interventions involve diet, physical exercise, cognitive training and social activities, while music therapy, improving self-consciousness and reducing neurofibrils, may contribute to deceleration/delay onset of Alzheimer's disease progression. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provides broad applications to improve quality of life and well-being of Alzheimer's disease patients and caregivers, suffering from psychological distress, as well as reducing additional public health costs.
Subject(s)
Alzheimer Disease/psychology , Cognition , Caregivers , Diet , Exercise , Humans , Quality of Life , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
AIMS: The signalling system of phosphoinositides (PIs) is involved in a number of cell and tissue functions including membrane trafficking, ion channel activity, cell cycle, apoptosis, differentiation and cell and tissue polarity. Recently, a role in cell migration was hypothesised for PI and related molecules including the phosphoinositide-specific phospholipases C (PI-PLCs), main players in PI signalling. The expression of PI-PLCs is tissue-specific and evidence suggests that it varies under different conditions such as tumour progression or cell activation. In order to obtain a complete picture, the expression of all PI-PLC isoforms was analysed in human endothelial cells (EC). METHODS: Using molecular biology methods (RT-PCR), the expression of PI-PLC isoforms was analysed in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), a widely used experimental model for human EC. RESULTS: All the PI-PLC isoforms except PI-PLC ß1, PI-PLC ε and PI-PLC ζ were expressed in HUVEC. CONCLUSIONS: The growing interest in the complex cascade of events occurring in angiogenesis will provide useful insights for therapeutic strategies. The expression of PI-PLC isoforms in HUVEC is a useful tool for further studies directed to understanding their role in angiogenesis. However, although HUVEC represent a widely used experimental model for human macrovascular EC, limitations remain in that they cannot fully represent the metabolic properties and interactions of the EC distributed in the entire organism.