AORTIC RESPONSE TO RELAXING AGENTS IN WATANABE HERITABLE HYPERLIPIDEMIC (WHHL) RABBITS OF DIFFERENT AGE

Serum and aortic tissue cholesterol levels in parallel with aortic relaxation to endothelium-dependent and independent drugs were determined in Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic (WHHL) rabbits in comparison with New Zealand (N.Z.) normocholesterolemic rabbits, aged 4-14 months. Serum cholesterol was elevated (626 +/- 99 mg/100 ml) in 4-6-month-old WHHL rabbits and significantly lower in 12-14-month-old animals (344 +/- 51 mg/100 ml). Cholesterol infiltration in thoracic aorta was high in young WHHL compared with N.Z. rabbits (0.88 +/- 0.3 mg/100 mg fresh tissue vs. 0.08 +/- 0.003 mg/100 mg, respectively) and it did not vary with age. In N.Z. rabbits, serum and aortic cholesterol levels were low from 4 to 14 months of age. The aortic relaxation to acetylcholine (0.03-3 microM) on EC50 noradrenaline precontracted rings was similar in 4-6-month-old WHHL and N.Z. rabbits of the same age. In WHHL rabbits, the relaxation to acetylcholine was significantly reduced in 7-11- (-35% at maximum) and in 12-14-month-old rabbits (-40% at maximum). In N.Z. rabbits the response to acetylcholine was not modified in the 3 age groups. The relaxation to ATP (30 microM to 3 mM) was reduced by age both in N.Z. and in WHHL rabbits, but in 12-14-month-old WHHL rabbits the maximal relaxing response was significantly more elevated than in age-matched N.Z. rabbits (50.1 +/- 2.5% vs. 35.1 +/- 3.2%, respectively). The aortic relaxation to NaNO2 (10 microM to 3 mM) was reduced by age both in N.Z. and in WHHL rabbits

Modalit\ue0 di occupazione e sfruttamento del territorio nel corso del V millennio a.C. nella Lombardia occidentale e nel Canton Ticino

Modalit\ue0 di occupazione e sfruttamento del territorio nel corso del V millennio a.C. nella Lombardia occidentale e nel Canton Ticin

Polymorphism of angiotensin-converting enzyme gene in sarcoidosis.

Sarcoidosis is the disease in which increased levels of serum Angiotensin-converting enzyme (sACE) are most often detected. It has recently been shown that the deletion (D) or the insertion (I) of a 250bp-DNA fragment in the ACE gene accounts for three main ACE genotypes (i.e., II, ID, and DD) and for 47\% of total phenotypic variance in sACE level. The aim of our work was to investigate whether or not patients with sarcoidosis have an increased incidence of those ACE genotypes coding for highest sACE levels and to investigate whether or not sACE level in sarcoidosis is related to ACE genotypes. We studied 61 unrelated patients with sarcoidosis (test group) and 80 unrelated healthy control subjects (control group). The ACE I and D alleles were detected with polymerase chain reaction on genomic DNA. In the control group we found an ACE genotype distribution that agreed with the Hardy-Weinberg proportion. The ACE genotype distribution was not significantly different in the test group. There was no correlation between ACE genotype and roentgenologic stage of sarcoidosis. Plotting the sACE level in the control group against ACE genotype, we found a trend of increasing mean sACE value according to the order II < ID < DD. The same trend for ACE genotype was found in the test group, in which it also paralleled the trend of sACE values plotted against roentgenologic stage, according to the order Stage I < Stage II < Stage III. We conclude that in sarcoidosis the ACE genotype distribution is not altered. The trends for increasing sACE values in sarcoidosis according to both ACE genotype and roentgenologic stage would suggest that both mechanisms play a role in determining sACE level

Angiotensin converting enzyme gene deletion allele is independently and strongly associated with coronary atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of the three angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) genotypes, DD, ID, and II, with the occurrence or absence of coronary atherosclerosis and with myocardial infarction and hypertension. DESIGN: Cohort analysis study. SETTING: North-Italy reference centre. SUBJECTS: 388 white Italian patients (281 males; mean age 60.7 (SD 12.5) years) with proven coronary atherosclerosis (n = 255) or with angiographically normal coronary arteries (n = 133). A further group of 290 healthy blood donors was tested for allele frequency comparison. INTERVENTIONS: ACE/ID polymorphism was analysed with polymerase chain reaction on DNA from white blood cells. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Coronary atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, hypertension. RESULTS: The D and I allele frequencies were respectively 0.63 and 0.37 in the overall healthy blood donor group and 0.66 and 0.34 in the overall study group. In the latter, univariate analysis showed (1) that coronary atherosclerosis (255 patients) was associated with the deletion allele, with an odds ratio (OR) of 5.78 for DD/II, P < 0.001, and 2.39 for ID/II, P = 0.006; and (2) that myocardial infarction (154 patients) was associated with the DD genotype (OR DD/II = 2.56, P = 0.007), but not with the ID genotype (OR DD/II = 1.96, P = 0.056). Finally, hypertension proved to be unrelated with the ACE genotype. The distribution between the three genotypes of known risk factors for coronary artery disease was similar. Logistic regression modelling, performed to test the association of the selected risk factors simultaneously with coronary atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction, showed that the deletion allele (whether DD or ID) was the strongest risk factor for atherosclerosis, and that the D allele was significantly associated with the risk of infarction (although to a lesser extent than with coronary atherosclerosis). CONCLUSION: ACE deletion polymorphism is strongly and independently associated with coronary atherosclerosis and, to a lesser extent, with myocardial infarction. As such, the results are analogous to what has already been reported in French white, Japanese, and Welsh coronary patients

DATAGRALP – A new database for reconstructing the spatial-temporal evolution of the glacial resource in the Italian Alps over the last 100 years in the framework of the NextData Project

An updated picture of the glacial resource in the Italian Alps is being realized through the acquisition of the most up to date available information on glaciers taking into account the existing international standards. In particular, the project aims to: i) make available to the scientific community and disseminate to all stakeholders multi-temporal data on the Italian glacial resource, by developing and populating a knowledge management system of validated glaciological data; ii) quantify glacial parameters, for specific time periods, needed by quantitative models aimed to simulate the response of glacial bodies to changing climatic scenarios; iii) reconstruct the recent (last 100 years) spatial-temporal evolution of the Italian glaciers, as terrestrial indicators of climate fluctuations, in consideration of the extreme sensitiveness of glacial bodies to climatic parameters. A dedicated system is under construction for the management of these data, in line with the requirements of NextData Portal, and in agreement with the GeoNetwork architecture – like that of the SHARE Project. The project also aims to update and make easily available to the scientific community and to the stakeholders multitemporal data on the Italian glacial resource, through an integrated information management system made for this purpose. The system will represent a validated and reliable information base for quantitative modeling of glaciers response to climatic forcing. It will be a valuable tool for further research projects on glacial/periglacial environments. Promotion of a free, distributed use of information on Italian glaciers, to be implemented within the NextData project, but also updatable in the future, will represent a breakthrough in the availability of glaciological data from the Italian Alps and will also satisfy the rising demand of open source availability of environmental data in the mountain regions