Basic fibroblast growth factor mediates carotid plaque instability through metalloproteinase-2 and –9 expression

OBJECTIVE(S): We hypothesized that basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) may exert a role in carotid plaque instability by regulating the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP). METHODS: Plaques obtained from 40 consecutive patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy were preoperatively classified as soft or hard. Serum bFGF was pre- and postoperatively measured. The release of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in the blood serum, and the activity, production and expression in the carotid specimens was analyzed. Specific anti-bFGF inhibition tests were performed in vitro on human umbilical artery smooth muscle cells (HUASMC) to evaluate the role of bFGF in the activity, production and expression of MMP-2 and -9. RESULTS: Twenty-one (53%) patients had a soft carotid plaque and 19 (48%) a hard plaque. Preoperative bFGF serum levels were higher in patients with soft plaques [soft=34 (28-39) pg/mL and hard=20 (17-22) pg/mL-p<0.001] and postoperatively returned to normal values (when compared to 10 healthy volunteers). The serum levels of MMP-2 in patients' with soft plaques were higher than those in patients' with hard plaques [soft=1222 (1190-1252) ng/mL and hard=748 (656-793)ng/mL-p<0.0001]. MMP-9 serum values were 26 (22-29) ng/mL for soft plaques and 18 (15-21) ng/mL for hard plaques (p<0.0001). We found increased activity, production and expression of MMP-2 and -9 in soft plaques compared to hard plaques (p<0.001). In vitro inhibition tests on HUASMC showed the direct influence of bFGF on the activity, production and expression of MMP-2 and -9 (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: bFGF seems to exert a key role in carotid plaque instability regulating the activity, production and expression of MMP thus altering the physiologic homeostasis of the carotid plaque

Tra comunità e società: La Casa del popolo e l’associazionismo nella Ponticelli del Novecento

[Italiano]:L’associazionismo è un fenomeno che ha caratterizzato la storia di Ponticelli dagli ultimi anni dell’Ottocento a oggi. Dalla fine della seconda guerra mondiale, per circa tre decenni, il Partito Comunista Italiano e in genere la Sinistra ebbero un ruolo egemonico nella vita civile di questo quartiere di Napoli di antiche tradizioni contadine e operaie. In tale clima, nel 1974, sorse la Casa del popolo, che divenne luogo-simbolo dei comunisti napoletani e centro di iniziative culturali d’interesse nazionale. Qui si organizzarono convegni, mostre d’arte, laboratori teatrali e didattici diretti da «docenti impegnati», «registi d’avanguardia» e «operatori estetici», cioè da intellettuali solidali con un progetto organico di riforma della vita civile delle periferie geografiche e sociali. La crisi dei partiti della Sinistra ha comportato una progressiva rarefazione delle attività della Casa del Popolo, ma non la fine di quell’impulso che la vide nascere e prosperare, come dimostra il caso dell’Associazione Arci Movie, nata nel 1990 e tuttora impegnata nella diffusione della cultura cinematografica dentro e fuori Ponticelli. In questo libro si rintracciano fatti e persone di questa recente stagione culturale e politica divenuta improvvisamente remota nella memoria collettiva, nell’intenzione di arginarne la disgregazione, che si palesa non casualmente anche nello smarrimento delle sue tracce documentarie./[English]:Associationism is a phenomenon has characterized the history of Ponticelli from the last years of 19th century until today. Since the end of the Second World War, for about three decades, the Italian Communist Party and, generally, the Left had a hegemonic role in the civil life of this Naples district of ancient farming and working-class traditions. In this context, in 1974, the House of People was born, which became the symbolic place of Neapolitan communists and the center of cultural initiatives with national resonance. Conferences, art exhibitions, theatrical and educational workshops were organized and directed by: «committed teachers», «avant-garde directors» and «aesthetic operators», that is, by intellectuals with an organic civil life reform project of the geographical and social suburbs. The crisis of Left Parties has led to a progressive rarefaction of the House of People’s activities, but not to the end of its spirit, as shown by the Arci Movie Association. The association, born in 1990, is still engaged in the diffusion of film culture inside and outside Ponticelli. In this book it is possible to trace facts and people of this recent cultural and political season, which has suddenly faded in the collective memory, with the goal to contain its disintegration also manifested in the loss of documentary track

Growth factors and experimental arterial grafts

Background: The production of growth factors from several experimental arterial conduits was determined. Methods: We implanted 105 experimental arterial grafts that were 1 cm long in the abdominal aorta of Lewis rats (average weight, 250 g). Five different types of grafts were analyzed: arterial isografts, vein grafts, arterial allografts, and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) grafts with normal or decreased compliance. Animals were killed humanely 4 weeks after surgery and the production of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), transforming growth factor-b, tumor necrosis factor-a, and interleukin-1 was analyzed. Results: Myointimal hyperplasia (MH) was evident in vein grafts, arterial allografts, and PTFE grafts, but not in arterial isografts. Growth factor production was increased for grafts prone to develop MH like vein, PTFE grafts, and arterial allografts. PDGF and bFGF were increased significantly for PTFE and vein grafts, but not for arterial allografts. The importance of bFGF and PGDF was confirmed by the capability of antibody to PDGF and to bFGF to reduce the mitogenic activity of smooth muscle cells, in vivo and in vitro, for PTFE and vein grafts, but not for arterial allografts, in which a predominant role was played by interleukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor-a. Conclusions: Agents able to neutralize this increased production of growth factors, either directly or by competition with their receptors, can prevent MH formation. (J Vasc Surg 2016;64:1444-9.) Clinical Relevance: Arterial grafts release growth factors, which can lead to myointimal hyperplasia formation and atherosclerosis progression in the arterial tree. Both phenomena can cause graft occlusion. Inhibition of growth factor release by arterial grafts can improve their clinical effectiveness

Paolo Panceri: uno scienziato milanese nella Napoli postunitaria

[Italiano]: Paolo Panceri (Milano 1836 - Napoli 1877) fu uno dei più apprezzati naturalisti del suo tempo. Soprattutto le sue ricerche sulla luminescenza degli animali marini lo resero famoso in tutto il mondo. Quando nel 1860 vinse il concorso per la cattedra di Anatomia comparata, appena istituita in Italia, preferì l’Università di Napoli a quelle di Pavia e Bologna. A Napoli, sua «seconda patria», fondò il Museo di Anatomia comparata e aiutò, benché non darwinista, il seguace di Darwin Anton Dohrn a ottenere dal Comune i terreni della Villa reale, sui quali sarebbe sorto l’edificio della Stazione zoologica, inaugurata nel 1875. Quando morì prematuramente, il suo amico e collega Emilio Cornalia lo ricordò con queste parole: «Alto nella persona, dagli occhi e dai capelli bruni, dalla parola dolce e insinuante, dal contegno riserbato e modesto, dal sorriso sulle labbra, era uno di quei simpatici uomini che si fanno subito comprendere ed amare, e che tanto di rado si incontrano nella folla umana». Questo volume ripercorre la vita di Panceri: la formazione giovanile a Milano, gli studi e le prime ricerche a Pavia, i rapporti con Napoli, le amicizie dentro e fuori il mondo accademico, le tribolate vicende sentimentali, i due viaggi compiuti in Egitto negli anni 1872-1874./[English]: Paolo Panceri (Milan 1836 - Naples 1877) was one of the most appreciated naturalists of his time. Above all, his research on the luminescence of marine animals made him famous throughout the world. When in 1860 he won the competition for the chair of Comparative Anatomy, newly established in Italy, he preferred the University of Naples to those of Pavia and Bologna. In Naples, his "second homeland", he founded the Museum of Comparative Anatomy and helped, although not a Darwinist, Darwin's follower Anton Dohrn to obtain from the Municipality the land of the Royal Villa, on which the building of the Zoological Station would be built and finally inaugurated in 1875. When he died prematurely, his friend and colleague Emilio Cornalia remembered him with these words: «Tall in person, with brown eyes and hair, with a sweet and insinuating speech, with a reserved and modest demeanor, with a smile on his lips, he was one of those nice men who make themselves immediately understood and loved, and who so rarely meet in the human crowd." This volume retraces Panceri's life: his youthful education in Milan, his studies and early research in Pavia, his relationships with Naples, his friendships inside and outside the academic world, his troubled sentimental affairs, the two trips he made to Egypt over the years 1872-1874

Editorial Style of Scientific Works: Disagreement and Contrast in the Correspondence Govi-Boncompagni

The second half of the nineteenth century in Italy bore witness to a number of scientific projects of great cultural importance that were unique on the European landscape. The correspondence between Govi and Boncompagni testifies to a scientific partnership throughout the twenty years’ life of the «Bullettino di Bibliografia e di Storia delle Scienze Matematiche e Fisiche» (1868-1889). Both these scientists, as scholars of historical studies, bibliophiles and collectors, contributed to the spread of scientific literature and history. Nevertheless they did not agree about the editorial style of the scientific works

Thromboelastometry used for evaluation of blood coagulability in dogs with kidney diseases

Kidney diseases as protein-losing nephropathies are predisposing conditions for thrombosis/thromboembolism in dogs due to increased blood coagulability. The aim of this study was to use thromboelastometry for investigation of changes in haemostasis in dogs affected by renal proteinuria alone or concomitant with azotemia. The study was done at 55 client-owned, healthy (n = 34), proteinuric (n = 14), and proteinuric/azotemic (n = 7) dogs. Blood coagulation was assessed by means of standard coagulation profile and thromboelastometry (in-TEM, ex-TEM, and fib-TEM). In proteinuric dogs only the maximum clot firmness and maximum clot elasticity significantly increased (P P < 0.05) of the variables clotting time, clot formation time, α angle, maximum clot firmness and maximum clot elasticity. After correction for group affiliation, the linear regression analysis showed a non significant association between changes in proteinuria and thromboelastometric profiles. In conclusion, thromboelastometric changes indicating hypercoagulabilty were more consistently found in the dogs with proteinuria/azotemia, than in those with proteinuria alone, suggesting that the former dogs can be considered at higher thrombotic risk. This is the first study where thromboelastometry has been applied to the investigation of haemostatic changes in dogs with kidney diseases