Normotensive offspring with non-dipper hypertensive parents have abnormal sleep pattern.

The objective of this study was to determine whether abnormal microstructure of sleep in non-dipper hypertensive patients was present in their offspring. Subjects included 11 normotensive offspring of non-dipper hypertensive parents (FH + ND), 6 of dipper hypertensive parents (FH + D) and 5 of normotensive parents (Controls). We measured blood pressure beat-to-beat by Finapres and all stages of sleep by polysomnographically recording simultaneously during spontaneous nocturnal sleep. We analysed blood pressure pattern for 4-min long random periods while the subjects were awake and during all stages of sleep; sleep efficiency (SE), sleep latency (SL), delta-sleep latency (delta-SL), REM sleep latency (REM-SL), Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4 and REM duration and percentage values, and microstructural aspects of sleep (arousal and microarousal temporization and features). FH + D and controls showed a fall in blood pressure greater than 10% in all stages of NREM sleep and in the FH + ND blood pressure fall in less than 10% of waking values in all NREM stages. REM sleep and heart rate were similar in the three groups during all stages of sleep. FH + ND showed the same number of arousals but more microarousals than FH + D and controls (p < 0.0001). Microarousals induced several stage shifts through lighter sleep. For this reason, FH + ND spent more time in stage 2 than FH + D and controls. In conclusion, offspring of non-dipper hypertension parents showed a greater number of microarousals than the other two groups

Nefropatia da mezzodi contrasto: il parere del Nefrologo

La nefropatia da contrasto (CIN) rappresenta oggi la terza causa di insufficienza renale acuta (AKI) in pazienti ospedalizzati, condizione da ricondurre a un incremento dei pazienti che si sottopongono a procedure radiologiche interventistiche richiedenti la somministrazione intravascolare di mezzi di contrasto iodati (ICM). Bisogna inoltre considerare un incremento di soggetti con fattori di rischio quali l'età avanzata, una preesistente patologia renale, scompenso cardiaco, infarto del miocardio, diabete mellito. Si considera CIN la presenza di un incremento assoluto (= 0.5mg/dL) e relativo (= 25%), rispetto ai valori basali, della creatinina sierica (sCreat) a 48–72 ore dall'esposizione dell'ICM. È noto però come in pazienti con variazioni acute del filtrato glomerulare (GFR), sCreat è un marker dotato di poca sensibilità e specificità diagnostica. Infatti, il 25–50% dell'incremento della creatinina, con alto valore predittivo di CIN, si verifica più frequentemente solo 24 ore dopo la somministrazione dell'ICM. Negli ultimi anni, sono stati condotti studi non solo al fine di identificare nuovi biomarcatori, ma anche per valutare eventuali strategie terapeutiche preventive. La somministrazione endovenosa di soluzione salina allo 0.9% è ampiamente accettata come terapia profilattica di CIN. Diversi sono inoltre gli studi condotti che prevedono la somministrazione di bicarbonato di sodio o di N-acetilcisteina (NAC). Purtroppo molti studi mancano di potenza statistica o sono basati su diverse definizioni di CIN. Ciò ha determinato la mancanza di linee guida universali accettate dai radiologi, nefrologi, cardiologi o da altre figure professionali coinvolte. Sono quindi necessari ulteriori studi al fine di validare i risultati sino ad ora ottenuti, specie utilizzando marcatori dotati di maggiore potere diagnostico e prognostico rispetto alla creatinina sierica, quali NGAL, Cistatina C e KIM-1

Neuroprotection by erythropoietin administration after experimental traumatic brain injury.

A large body of evidence indicates that the hormone erythropoietin (EPO) exerts beneficial effects in the central nervous system (CNS). To date, EPO's effect has been assessed in several experimental models of brain and spinal cord injury. This study was conducted to validate whether treatment with recombinant human EPO (rHuEPO) would limit the extent of injury following experimental TBI. Experimental TBI was induced in rats by a cryogenic injury model. rHuEPO or placebo was injected intraperitoneally immediately after the injury and then every 8&nbsp;h until 2 or 14&nbsp;days. Forty-eight hours after injury brain water content, an indicator of brain edema, was measured with the wet-dry method and blood-brain barrier (BBB) breakdown was evaluated by assay of Evans blue extravasation. Furthermore, extent of cerebral damage was assessed. Administration of rHuEPO markedly improved recovery from motor dysfunction compared with placebo group (P &lt; 0.05). Brain edema was significantly reduced in the cortex of the EPO-treated group relative to that in the placebo-treated group (80.6 \ub1 0.3% versus 91.8% \ub1 0.8% respectively, P &lt; 0.05). BBB breakdown was significantly lower in EPO-treated group than in the placebo-treated group (66.2 \ub1 18.7&nbsp;\u3bcg/g versus 181.3 \ub1 21&nbsp;\u3bcg/g, respectively, P &lt; 0.05). EPO treatment reduced injury volume significantly compared with placebo group (17.4 \ub1 5.4&nbsp;mm3 versus 37.1 \ub1 5.3&nbsp;mm3, P &lt; 0.05). EPO, administered in its recombinant form, affords significant neuroprotection in experimental TBI model and may hold promise for future clinical applications. \ua9 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

New ATCA, ALMA and VISIR observations of the candidate LBV SK-67266 (S61): the nebular mass from modelling 3D density distributions

We present new observations of the nebula around the Magellanic candidate Luminous Blue Variable S61. These comprise high-resolution data acquired with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), the Atacama Large Millimetre/Submillimetre Array (ALMA), and VISIR at the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The nebula was detected only in the radio, up to 17 GHz. The 17 GHz ATCA map, with 0.8 arcsec resolution, allowed a morphological comparison with the H$\alpha$ Hubble Space Telescope image. The radio nebula resembles a spherical shell, as in the optical. The spectral index map indicates that the radio emission is due to free-free transitions in the ionised, optically thin gas, but there are hints of inhomogeneities. We present our new public code RHOCUBE to model 3D density distributions, and determine via Bayesian inference the nebula's geometric parameters. We applied the code to model the electron density distribution in the S61 nebula. We found that different distributions fit the data, but all of them converge to the same ionised mass, ~0.1 $\rm M\odot$, which is an order of magnitude smaller than previous estimates. We show how the nebula models can be used to derive the mass-loss history with high-temporal resolution. The nebula was probably formed through stellar winds, rather than eruptions. From the ALMA and VISIR non-detections, plus the derived extinction map, we deduce that the infrared emission observed by space telescopes must arise from extended, diffuse dust within the ionised region.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures. Authors list corrected. In press in MNRAS. RHOCUBE code available online ( https://github.com/rnikutta/rhocube

The Luminous Blue Variable RMC127 as seen with ALMA and ATCA

We present ALMA and ATCA observations of the luminous blue variable \rmc. The radio maps show for the first time the core of the nebula and evidence that the nebula is strongly asymmetric with a Z-pattern shape. Hints of this morphology are also visible in the archival \emph{HST} $\rm H\alpha$ image, which overall resembles the radio emission. The emission mechanism in the outer nebula is optically thin free-free in the radio. At high frequencies, a component of point-source emission appears at the position of the star, up to the ALMA frequencies. The rising flux density distribution ($S_{\nu}\sim \nu^{0.78\pm0.05}$) of this object suggests thermal emission from the ionized stellar wind and indicates a departure from spherical symmetry with $n_{e}(r)\propto r^{-2}$. We examine different scenarios to explain this excess of thermal emission from the wind and show that this can arise from a bipolar outflow, supporting the suggestion by other authors that the stellar wind of \rmc is aspherical. We fit the data with two collimated ionized wind models and we find that the mass-loss rate can be a factor of two or more smaller than in the spherical case. We also fit the photometry obtained by IR space telescopes and deduce that the mid- to far-IR emission must arise from extended, cool ($\sim80\,\rm K$) dust within the outer ionized nebula. Finally we discuss two possible scenarios for the nebular morphology: the canonical single star expanding shell geometry, and a precessing jet model assuming presence of a companion star.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (minor revision included

SCORPIO-II: Spectral indices of weak Galactic radio sources

In the next few years the classification of radio sources observed by the large surveys will be a challenging problem, and spectral index is a powerful tool for addressing it. Here we present an algorithm to estimate the spectral index of sources from multiwavelength radio images. We have applied our algorithm to SCORPIO (Umana et al. 2015), a Galactic Plane survey centred around 2.1 GHz carried out with ATCA, and found we can measure reliable spectral indices only for sources stronger than 40 times the rms noise. Above a threshold of 1 mJy, the source density in SCORPIO is 20 percent greater than in a typical extra-galactic field, like ATLAS (Norris et al. 2006), because of the presence of Galactic sources. Among this excess population, 16 sources per square degree have a spectral index of about zero, suggesting optically thin thermal emission such as Hii regions and planetary nebulae, while 12 per square degree present a rising spectrum, suggesting optically thick thermal emission such as stars and UCHii regions.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, accepted by MNRA

Global communications strategy on rangelands and draft action Plan for 2022-2024

The strategic goal of this strategy and the communication supported therein, is to draw attention to the importance of rangelands (and rangeland communities) and their protection and restoration. This will be done through a coordinated effort by ILRI working with international and national partners as part of ILRI’s global livestock for advocacy development (GLAD) work), engaging mainly outside the livestock sector to improve investments and decisions. This strategy will be implemented by the Sustainable Livestock Systems4 programme, with support form ILRI’s Communications and Knowledge Management Team

The radio lighthouse CU Virginis: the spindown of a single main sequence star

The fast rotating star CU Virginis is a magnetic chemically peculiar star with an oblique dipolar magnetic field. The continuum radio emission has been interpreted as gyrosyncrotron emission arising from a thin magnetospheric layer. Previous radio observations at 1.4 GHz showed that a 100% circular polarized and highly directive emission component overlaps to the continuum emission two times per rotation, when the magnetic axis lies in the plane of the sky. This sort of radio lighthouse has been proposed to be due to cyclotron maser emission generated above the magnetic pole and propagating perpendicularly to the magnetic axis. Observations carried out with the Australia Telescope Compact Array at 1.4 and 2.5 GHz one year after this discovery show that this radio emission is still present, meaning that the phenomenon responsible for this process is steady on a timescale of years. The emitted radiation spans at least 1 GHz, being observed from 1.4 to 2.5 GHz. On the light of recent results on the physics of the magnetosphere of this star, the possibility of plasma radiation is ruled out. The characteristics of this radio lighthouse provides us a good marker of the rotation period, since the peaks are visible at particular rotational phases. After one year, they show a delay of about 15 minutes. This is interpreted as a new abrupt spinning down of the star. Among several possibilities, a quick emptying of the equatorial magnetic belt after reaching the maximum density can account for the magnitude of the breaking. The study of the coherent emission in stars like CU Vir, as well as in pre main sequence stars, can give important insight into the angular momentum evolution in young stars. This is a promising field of investigation that high sensitivity radio interferometers such as SKA can exploit.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS, 8 pages, 7 figures, updated versio

L'eritropoietina e la cardiopatia ischemica: un nuovo attore tra apoptosi e angiogenesi cardiovascolare

L'eritropoietina, per molti anni intesa unicamente come principale regolatore della massa eritrocitaria circolante, ha svelato nel corso degli anni sempre nuove pagine di fisiologia, che l'hanno mostrata come elemento centrale di un complesso sistema che mantiene l'equilibrio tra ossigenazione periferica, stabilità vascolare e stress ossidativo. Al crescere delle conoscenze sulla fisiologia autocrina e paracrina dell'EPO, sono cresciute le aspettative verso l'utilizzo clinico-pratico di tali conoscenze. La presente review propone una rapida carrellata sulle diverse potenziali applicazioni dell'EPO nel management clinico della cardiopatia ischemica, con particolare riguardo alle strategie testate per ottenere gli effetti pleiotropici dell'EPO senza indurre indesiderati incrementi dell'ematocrito