Cardiovascular, degenerative, hepato-digestive, metabolic and neoplastic diseases are major causes of death; all of them are beckoned years before by fatty liver that can quantify by non-invasive ultrasound methods. Such a measure is sensitive and reproducible and qualifies as mirror of general health to monitor the efficacy of preventive care in pre-symptomatic subjects. One major determinant of alimentary and general health is the gut microbiota that regulates hepatic gene expression, lipid metabolism and contributes to hepatic inflammation and obesity. The microbiota can be dynamically modified by probiotic/ prebiotic supplementation, however a direct gut microbiota profiling by stool metagenomics is limited by sampling error. The study of blood and/or saliva metabolites (metabolomics) and circulating antimicrobial antibodies provide an indirect microbiota profiling. Studies need to be performed to test whether variation of metabolomics and antimicrobial antibody levels correlate with the in vivo bacteria dynamics. The non-invasive measure of fatty liver in combination with of the gut microbiota characterization by metagenomics, metabolomics and anti-microbial enzyme immune assays will provide an innovative technological approach to stratify individuals with fatty liver for both prevention, outcome prediction and personalized treatment and to identify new aetiologies, diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets
We present a setup devoted to the study of adsorption and desorption processes of alkali atoms after deposition on a 300 nm thick porous alumina substrate in an Ultra High Vacuum chamber. Rubidium atoms, delivered by a dispenser source, enter the 20-30 nm diameter pores, diffuse in and stick to their walls. A 1 W power laser is used in order to induce detachment and take the atoms back in the vapor phase in a very tight confinement region. The desorbed atoms coming out the sample can be monitored via both a resonant optical detection and an electronic amplifier after ionization. The desorbing laser is also able to promote the formation of Rubidium nanoparticles, as the high Rb vapor density in the pores favors aggregation around nucleation point defects. In this way, the apparatus allows for the study of the fundamental processes related to atom – surface interactions in presence of light as well as of several promising application to nanomaterials.
The begin of modern neonatology takes place in the 1940s, when physicians first started to have interest in the newborn so that the primary responsibility for the neonate passed from the obstetricians to the neonatologists. In the 19th century the term premature grouped together the concept of “preterm and weak infants”, meant as babies suffering from poor energy and vitality. The idea that premature infants could be treated was introduced in the second half of the 19th century, when crucial fields signed the basis for neonatal care over the last century, such as thermoregulation, Apgar score, respiratory support, prenatal corticosteroids, metabolic screening and jaundice. From then on, advances in neonatology have resulted in the reduction of infant mortality worldwide. To date, scientific evidences have shown that the environmental conditions experienced in early life can profoundly influence human biology and long-term health. Chemical contaminants in water and diet, tobacco smoke, air pollution, gestational diabetes, hypertension and pre-eclampsia are all conditions that lead to the lowest common denominator oxidative stress. Fetuses and newborns -especially preterm- are particularly susceptible to oxidative stress mediated damage. Recently, the “omics” sciences represent the major area of growing interest and research in neonatology. The analysis of the metabolic profile detectable in a human biological fluid allows to instantly identifying changes in the composition of endogenous and exogenous metabolites caused by the interaction between specific physiopathological states, gene expression, and environment. From metabolomics studies comes the need of individualized and tailored medicine.
[In this work we will show chance, necessity and, sometimes, opportunity of an abhorred informational alteration and how fake/true are artificial, conventional categories. Information arises with life, and with information arises a gap between reality (or another information that is assumed as original and true) and information that represents, repeats or replaces it. This is a gap and it creates a difference, a duality, a not virtual distance, it opens a space for potential (or unavoidable?) unfaithfulness, incongruities, falsehood. Lie can be meant as alteration, as distortion, as denial, or as creation “ex nihilo” if referred to what (world reality or other information) is assumed as original and authentic. The information (or latter information) is valued comparing it to the primary factor, aiming to find its compliance. Somehow or other, the conformity between these two poles is never full and unconditional. Due to this, life arises with the not eliminable lie “germ” inside. This has advantageous implications. “Untruthful” information has had a decisive importance in evolutionary balance and trending forever. Between life and lie, there is an indissoluble mutuality loop. Our thesis aims to: • Expand the meaning of lie and to draw its continuity (that is different from homology or identity) between biologic sphere and anthropic/cultural one • An appreciation of lie, starting from an investigation that examines its nature, its genetic processes and its function, both in the biological world and in the anthropic one • Show its inseparableness from truth, that is to say the continuity (not homogeneity) between it and the lie, both in the biological world and in the anthropic one • If the lie is meant in the widest sense, it presents some characterizing features. The lie is • Random, that is to say it arises by chance, due to neither predictable nor controllable causes • Necessary, because sometime it occurs in an inescapable way, due to the fact that it is intrinsic of the process of representation and/or of replication Appropriate, because sometimes it is the result of an aimed process and offers benefits if it is implemented. The excursus will be scientifically documented and it will be furnished with various iconography (pictures, video-clips…). It will lead us to adopt a wider, critical and not conventional overlook in considering topics as mimicry (meant in all its types: molecular, cryptic, batesian, müllerian, emsleyan, etc.), genetic mutations and evolution, sensorial (not only visual) illusions and hallucinations, the Theory of Games, the referentiality in semantics and in semiotics, gnoseologic, logic, heuristic, etic, aesthetic aspects of truthfulness. This work has no pretension to be a treatise, but it tries to shed light on what brings together so different aspects, in critical, epistemological and methodological ways. We will indicate historical (of very different periods) and authorial references of presented argumentations, thanks to drawing from several fields of knowledge and to comparing them: philosophy, figurative arts, life sciences, semiotics, literature, cinematography… All these argumentations will allow us to conclude that lie cannot be the enemy to be loathed. It must not be disapproved in a prejudicial way, but it deserves listening, attention and… esteem!... This should dispel or re-define the sense, the meaning and the function of (presumed) truth. It, both revealed and demonstrated, is often assumed as dogmatically absolute and (guiltily) it is interpreted as myth or it is mystified].
Extreme changes of the gut microbiota affect brain function and behaviour, as measured in animal models. A question arises as to the potential clinical relevance of these findings, especially when one considers the influence of dietary habits on the gut flora diversity. The issue attracts public awareness and media attention, causing perhaps diffusion of more interpretations than solid data. A growing body of knowledge, however, supports a role for different gut bacteria, or dietary antigens, in affecting the immune system function, causing potential changes in clinically relevant susceptibility to noxious stimuli.
We present the results of an edge detection algorithm applied on Electromagnetic Induction Imaging provided by an Atomic radio-frequency Magnetometer operating in an unshielded environment and at room temperature. Atomic Magnetometers have been already used for Imaging Techniques in the last few years, but the image reconstruction and the object pattern recognition lacks nowadays in terms of quality: the effect of scattering of e.m. signals at low-frequency provides blurred images, and does not allow for a clean ray – optics response, as in the case of X rays. Our algorithm, based on solved Gaussian Noise Recognition, demonstrates excellent spatial resolution achieved despite low Signal-to-Noise-Ratio.
Phytotherapy is the science that deals with the treatment and prevention of diseases through medicinal plants and herbal products. The use of herbs as medicine is the oldest form of healthcare known to humanity and has been used in all cultures throughout history. It is known that even today over 80% of the world population depends on herbal medicines. The quality of herbal medicines is believed to be directly related to its active principles, but herbal medicines can be variable in their composition. Therefore, it is necessary to use an extract that is well defined in its chemical composition and in the quantity of specific active principles; and actually, to obtain constant efficacy and safety, standardized medicinal plant extracts are being used. Clinically confirmed efficacy and best tolerability and safety of standardized or quantified medicinal plant extracts are the key for a successful phytotherapic approach.
[During the 15th and 16th century, significant innovations developed in medical studies as a result of an analytical revision of classical medicine as reworked by Galenus. Many anatomists began performing dissections on human corpses, thus verifying and correcting the theories of Galenus, who had only performed animal dissection. Remarkable results were achieved by Andries van Wesele (Andreae Vesalii); thanks to his excellent classical education and his knowledge of Greek and Latin, he became interested in anatomy and carried out a large number of dissections on corpses which enabled him to acquire a thorough knowledge of human anatomy. Furthermore, Andreae Vesalii actively sought the collaboration of artists such as Jan Stephan van Calcar to illustrate his works. The De Humani Corporis Fabrica is probably the best result of such collaborations. Although we do not know how many tabulae were actually created by Calcar (only seven have been proven to be his), his work has been a great influence on the book. Not only do the tabulae provide an extremely detailed anatomic description of the human body, they are also aesthetically impeccable. The illustrations of the musculoskeletal system and the thorax are particularly impressive: while the first group of tabulae is more innovative and original, the illustrations of the thorax are still inspired by classical standards of beauty. The importance given to aesthetics also stands out in the illustrations of skeletal segments and entrails and in typographic details such as the paragraph letters at the beginning of each section. To print his book, Vesalii chose Johannes Herbster (known as Oporinus), whose medical knowledge and innovative vision were key factors to a high-quality edition. The scientific accuracy, the aesthetic value and the competence of its printer have all contributed to make the De Humani Corporis Fabrica an absolute masterpiece].
[A psychoanalyst, Andrea Marzi, and a literary critic, Francesco Ricci, each from his specific perspective, take the reader by the hand leading him to experience this classical novel of 20th Century literature. The novel describes, with great cultural awareness, a tragedy of modern humanity; the anxiety, the turmoil, and the suffering, of those immersed in mental illness in our society. The book draws a deep, intense picture, mostly of women living in a psychiatric hospital. This hospital is partly a place of phantasy and partly a mixture of the many such hospitals well known to Tobino, who has been the director of a psychiatric hospital for many years. The authors try to connect their knowledge and experience to initiate a two-way conversation about this novel. Each voice in this conversation has its own autonomy, but they are never the less interwoven, with the hope of providing the reader with a denser and more intense impression than could be obtained from only a single vantage point].
Here were reported Memories of Professor Aristeo Renzoni, University of Siena. Among the first Professors of Ecology in Italy and internationally recognized scientist. In almost 60 years of research he published over 250 scientific papers. The main ecological and environmental topics of his research were the histology of reproductive structures of bivalves, the histology of the pineal gland in birds, the accumulation of mercury in large pelagic predators of Mediterranean Sea, the contamination of organochlorine compounds in bird eggs, the lead shot pollution from hunters activities in wetlands.
Since millennia, in areas of low rainfall, surface irrigation has been utilized. In 1959 the Israelian inventor Simcha Blass developed a patented very efficient plastic nozzle for dripping the irrigation water from plastic pipes over the crops cultivated soils. In occasion of a FAO project in Libya, this system was utilized for establishing a table grape plantation. In order to support each grape plant, instead of wood poles, plastic pipes of 5 cm diameter, 2.5 mt high were used, dipped into the soil some 50-60 cm, close to each plant. Out of 15 rows, 150 mt long, provided with the normal drip irrigation pipes, in 2 rows a technical modification of “drip irrigation” was used, in which the horizontal water pipe posed on the soil, with holes for dripping the water, was substituted with a normal plastic pipe, without holes, hanged on the plastic vertical poles. In this pipe, close to each grape plant, was made a small hole, in which was inserted a small plastic pipe (like the ones used for blood transfusions). The other side of these mini pipes were inserted into the big vertical plastic pipes used as a support to each plant vegetation, in order to convey the irrigation water deep into the soil. This system has been called “Vertical Subirrigation Technology”. In the summer of the third year of grape cultivation, the electric pump failed and, after a month, only the 2 rows with the modified system did not show any damage. This system was adopted in other FAO projects in the Near East, also for fertile-irrigation.
The study of the brain mechanisms involved in narrative production and comprehension has made significant progress in the last decade. The paper reviews some of the available evidence, focusing on functional imaging studies aimed to assess brain activity in normal subjects, while they listen to narratives or watching movies. The complex brain networks engaged by these complex tasks extend beyond the classical language areas, by involving the right hemisphere and hippocampal structures. These results provide initial insights into the mechanisms involved in narrative cohesion, situation model construction and distinction/integration of narrative elements.
Globalization has negative effects on the health of the individuals and the populations through mechanisms that lead to increased inequalities between and within countries, economic instability and lack of improvements in supply of sanitary services that reflects on the variations of life expectancy at birth. The problem is the globalization doesn’t act evenly, it supports those countries and groups of population that already have plenty of resources, and it strucks poorer countries. Globalization favors the rich (people and countries) also thanks to the power they have in establishing rules and in particular business and market rules. Among the fundamental right of people adequate nutrition is a prerequisite to carry out a satisfactory work, social life, reproductive and development factor. An “effective access to a power supply in quantity and quality sufficient for a productive life and health for all individuals” be defined in accordance with the United Nations Food Security is not a right evenly spread throughout the world; in fact, 80% of the world population does not have the possibility to eat in adequate quantity and have access to safe water sources. In economically disadvantaged countries, population growth, urbanization and internal growth massively increase the demand for food of animal origin. This change in the supply of billions of people has the potential to produce a substantial change in the lives of many poor people living in rural areas. The diet of the whole world is moving towards homogeneity, the diet of Africa and parts of Asia has expanded its menu, adding the globalized foods to the traditional ones. But this is not a good news, because today millions of people more than in the past, try calorie-rich foods, animal protein, sugar, fat. This leads to disastrous consequences, from the point of view of health, as evidenced by the increasing of the so-called welfare diseases linked to excess in highly processed foods and the food and fast food multinationals facilitate and enhance this trend.
Images are not innocent. Even though they arise from us, and often are made by us, they face and challenge us as if they lived a life of their own. Once they have appeared or have been produced, they acquire separate existence and indisputable reality of independent beings, which populate and shape our outer and inner world. As sensitive or imagined bodies they enter in resonance with our own sentient and imagining body. Human body is indeed the “locus of images” incessantly moving and acting on the ever-changing scene of our memory and imagination (i.e. of our own ‘fluctuating’ Self): thereby images are responsible for what we are as well as for what we wish (or dream) to be. Images are not innocent because they are neither inert nor lifeless. We are never safe in the presence of images: they can be alluring or frightening, reassuring or threatening, familiar or disquieting, lifesaving or harmful; they can impede or elicit action. Such irreducible ontological problematic, yet unmistakably empathic, nature of our relationship with images, is, in this essay, surveyed in the light of the reflections of Aby Warburg and Italo Calvino. Warburg’s theory of Pathosformeln and Calvino’s account of the role of visual images in his own verbal narratives, then provide the theoretical horizon for interpreting the narration by images sculpted by the medieval architect Biduinus on the façade of the XII century church of Saint Casciano of Cascina, near Pisa, and thereby unfolding the symbolical, iconological and metaphysical implications of its powerfully empathic imagery.
The Drug development process has undergone a great change over the years. The way, from haphazard discovery of new natural products with a potent biological activity to a rational design of small molecule effective against a selected target, has been long and sprinkled with difficulties. The oldest drug development models are widely perceived as opaque and inefficient, with the cost of research and development continuing to rise even if the production of new drugs remains constant. The present paper, will give an overview of the principles, approaches, processes, and status of drug discovery today with an eye towards the past and the future.
Food intolerances are often considered responsible for abdominal symptoms, like bloating, pain and alterations of bowel movements after the assumption of certain foods. Restrictive diets are very popular and they are based on food intolerance not scientifically validated diagnostic tests. Inappropriate use of these tests increases the possibility of false positive, with useless dietetic restrictions, risk of malnutrition and reduced life quality. Exclusion diets must be monitored and managed by specialists to avoid nutritional risks. They increase the phenomenon of “diet industry” and they represent a direct cost for the patients and an indirect cost for the public health, because the therapy is inadequate for the needs. The industry created a big range of products for people with food intolerances for example to lactose, gluten, however they have a bigger content of fat and calories in comparison with the classic products in order to improve their taste. Processed products contain substances like emulsifiers, stabilizers and acidity correctors so they have a worse quality. It is important to not exclude foods from our diet unless a food intolerance is diagnosed by validated tests, in addiction to this, considering that the diet remains the only life-style therapy for many intolerances, it is crucial to prefer not processed products and naturally gluten or lactose free products.
