Acylated Ghrelin Inhibits Spontaneous Luteinizing Hormone Pulsatility and Responsiveness to Naloxone But Not That to Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone in Young Men: Evidence for a Central Inhibitory Action of Ghrelin on the Gonadal Axis

Context: Recent evidence suggests that ghrelin exerts a negative modulation on the gonadal axis. Ghrelin was reported to suppress LH secretion in both animal and human models. Moreover, acylated ghrelin (AG) also decreases the LH responsiveness to GnRH in vitro. Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of AG infusion on spontaneous and stimulated gonadotropin secretion. Design, Participants, and Intervention: In seven young healthy male volunteers (age mean ± sem 26.4 ± 2.6 yr), we evaluated LH and FSH levels every 15 min during: 1) iv isotonic saline infusion; 2) iv saline followed by AG; LH and FSH response to GnRH (100 μg iv as a bolus), 3) alone and 4) during AG infusion; LH and FSH response to naloxone (0.1 mg/kg iv as a slow bolus), 5) alone and 6) during AG infusion. Results: Significant LH but not FSH pulses were recorded in all subjects under saline infusion. AG infusion inhibited LH levels [area under the curve(240–480): 415.8 ± 69.7 mIU/ml·min during AG vs. 744.6 ± 120.0 mIU/ml·min during saline, P < 0.02] and abolished LH pulsatility. No change in FSH secretion was recorded. The LH and FSH responses to GnRH during saline were not affected by AG administration. However, AG inhibited the LH response to naloxone [area under the curve (120–210): 229.9 ± 39.3 mIU/ml·min during AG vs. 401.1 ± 44.6 mIU/ml·min during saline, P < 0.01]. FSH levels were not modified by naloxone alone or in combination with AG. Conclusions: AG inhibits both spontaneous LH pulsatility and the LH response to naloxone. Because AG does not affect the LH response to GnRH, these findings indicate that the ghrelin system mediates central inhibition of the gonadal axis

Packet Fan-Out Extension for the pcap Library

The large availability of multi-gigabit network cards for commodity PCs requires network applications to potentially cope with high volumes of traffic. However, computation intensive operations may not catch up with high traffic rates and need to be run in parallel over multiple processing cores. As of today, the vast majority of network applications - e.g., monitoring and IDS systems - are still based on the pcap library interface which, unfortunately, does not provide the native multi-core support, even though the current underlying capture technologies do. This paper introduces a novel version of the pcap library for the Linux operating system that enables transparent application level parallelism. The new library supports fan-out operations for both multi-threaded and multi-process applications, by means of extended API as well as by a declarative grammar for configuration files, suitable for legacy applications. In addition, the library can transparently run on top of the standard Linux socket as well as on other accelerated active engines. Performance evaluation has been carried out on a multi-core architecture in pure capture tests and in more realistic use cases involving monitoring applications such as Tstat and Bro, with standard Linux socket as well as PFRING and PFQ accelerated engines

The attitudes of Italian consumers towards jellyfish as novel food

Abstract The globalization of food markets and the recent upgrade of the European regulation on novel foods open up new possibilities for the introduction of edible jellyfish in the diet of Europeans. In spite of no tradition of eating jellyfish in Italy and, more generally, in Western countries, several Mediterranean jellyfish species have biological and nutritional features with a large potential as innovative, sustainable novel food and source of bioactive compounds. To evaluate the Italians' attitude of considering jellyfish as food source, a survey has been carried out on a group of 1445 individuals. A questionnaire was designed to assess the jellyfish consumption attitude (JCA) of respondents and explore the effect of their individual traits (socio-demography, personality, behavior habits, neophobia, disgust sensitivity) on JCA. Gender, age, and travelling habits differently affected JCA. Possible culinary uses and food pairing of jellyfish were also significantly influenced by JCA. Individuals with the highest propensity to accept jellyfish as food are young people, familiar with the sea environment, with high education level or students, and frequent travelers. Food neophobia and sensitivity to disgust are confirmed as personality traits able to strongly impair the acceptability of a novel food. Finally, this work provides insights into the acceptance and rejection variables that should be taken into account when an unfamiliar new food product, such as jellyfish, is planned to be introduced in a new dietary culture and new markets

Civility and Trust in Social Media

Abstract Social media have been credited with the potential of reinvigorating trust by offering new opportunities for social and political participation. This view has been recently challenged by the rising phenomenon of online incivility, which has made the environment of social networking sites hostile to many users. We conduct a novel experiment in a Facebook setting to study how the effect of social media on trust varies depending on the civility or incivility of online interaction. We find that participants exposed to civil Facebook interaction are significantly more trusting. In contrast, when the use of Facebook is accompanied by the experience of online incivility, no significant changes occur in users' behavior. These results are robust to alternative configurations of the treatments

EEG-based cognitive control behaviour assessment: an ecological study with professional air traffic controllers

Several models defining different types of cognitive human behaviour are available. For this work, we have selected the Skill, Rule and Knowledge (SRK) model proposed by Rasmussen in 1983. This model is currently broadly used in safety critical domains, such as the aviation. Nowadays, there are no tools able to assess at which level of cognitive control the operator is dealing with the considered task, that is if he/she is performing the task as an automated routine (skill level), as procedures-based activity (rule level), or as a problem-solving process (knowledge level). Several studies tried to model the SRK behaviours from a Human Factor perspective. Despite such studies, there are no evidences in which such behaviours have been evaluated from a neurophysiological point of view, for example, by considering brain activity variations across the different SRK levels. Therefore, the proposed study aimed to investigate the use of neurophysiological signals to assess the cognitive control behaviours accordingly to the SRK taxonomy. The results of the study, performed on 37 professional Air Traffic Controllers, demonstrated that specific brain features could characterize and discriminate the different SRK levels, therefore enabling an objective assessment of the degree of cognitive control behaviours in realistic setting

Revelações de curtas metragens: aproximação com o documento orientador brasileiro de assistência integral à saúde do adolescente

The present study aims to present guidelines and social diagnoses reported by adolescents and discuss their interface with the National Guidelines for Comprehensive Health Care for Adolescents and Young People in Health Promotion, Protection and Recovery. This is a documentary, theoretical and reflective study, carried out from the analysis of 39 short films available on the website of a project entitled “É Nóis na Fita” and later related to the guiding document for health care for adolescents in Brazil. Brazil. During the analysis, four thematic categories emerged: “Family relationships and influences on adolescence”; “Minorities and Inequities”; “Social relations, identities and projects”; and “Factors that make youth vulnerable”. Thus, it was concluded that there is consonance between the guidelines and the structuring axes of the guiding document, except for issues related to family relationships, with indications of expanding its consideration. Soon, the shorts were powerful for youthful voice and revelations.El presente estudio tiene como objetivo presentar directrices y diagnósticos sociales relatados por adolescentes y discutir su interfaz con las Directrices Nacionales para la Atención Integral a la Salud de Adolescentes y Jóvenes en Promoción, Protección y Recuperación de la Salud. Se trata de un estudio documental, teórico y reflexivo, realizado a partir del análisis de 39 cortometrajes disponibles en el sitio web de un proyecto titulado “É Nóis na Fita” y posteriormente relacionado con el documento guía para la atención a la salud de los adolescentes en Brasil. Durante el análisis surgieron cuatro categorías temáticas: “Relaciones familiares e influencias en la adolescencia”; “Minorías e Inequidades”; “Relaciones sociales, identidades y proyectos”; y “Factores que hacen a los jóvenes vulnerables”. Así, se concluyó que hay consonancia entre los lineamientos y los ejes estructurantes del documento rector, excepto en lo relacionado a las relaciones familiares, con indicaciones de ampliar su consideración. Pronto, los cortos fueron poderosos para la voz juvenil y las revelaciones.O presente estudo tem como objetivo apresentar pautas e diagnósticos sociais relatados por adolescentes e discutir sua interface com as Diretrizes Nacionais de Atenção Integral à Saúde de Adolescentes e Jovens na Promoção, Proteção e Recuperação da Saúde. Trata-se de um estudo documental, teórico e de natureza reflexiva, realizado a partir da análise de 39 curtas metragens disponíveis no site de um projeto intitulado “É Nóis na Fita” e posteriormente relacionados com o documento orientador de atenção à saúde de adolescentes no Brasil. Durante a análise emergiram quatro categorias temáticas: “Relações familiares e influências ao adolescer”; “Minorias e iniquidades”; “Relações sociais, identidades e projetos”; e “Fatores que vulnerabilizam a juventude”. Dessa forma, concluiu-se que há consonância entre as pautas e os eixos estruturantes do documento orientador, exceto nas questões relativas às relações familiares, com indicativas de ampliação de sua consideração. Logo, os curtas foram potentes para voz e revelações juvenis