Hair Microelement Profile as a Prognostic Tool in Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract: Changes in the homeostasis of metals and microelements have been demonstrated in Parkinson’s disease, whose etiology includes both a genetic and environmental basis. We studied the difference of microelements in the hair of Parkinson’s disease subjects (n = 46) compared with healthy controls (n = 24). Hair was chosen as a representative matrix to measure microelements, since it is a vehicle of substance excretion from the human body and it allows for long-term evaluation of metal exposure. An inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis of hair collected from 24 Parkinson’s patients compared with their healthy relatives used as controls shows a significant decrease in Ca (U = 166, p = 0.012),), Mg (U = 187, p = 0.037), and Sr (U = 183, p = 0.030). Cd and Ca/Mg were decreased, and Cu was increased, in patients with respect to their healthy related controls at the limit of significance (p = 0.0501). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of these microelements in hair shows a clustering into two groups according to gender, disease severity according to the Hoehn–Yahr scale, and pharmacological therapy. This pilot study represents a starting point for future investigations where a larger group of subjects will be involved to define other microelements useful when screening for early biomarkers of Parkinson’s disease

The photo diaries method to catch the daily experience of Italian university students during COVID-19 lockdown

The aim of this research was to explore Italian students’ lockdown experience during the COVID-19 pandemic to understand their emotions and the coping strategies they played out during their daily lives at home through photo diaries. The research was carried out in six Italian universities involving 109 participants. The task required each student to take one photo per day for one week in T1 and one in T2, representing their mood during their daily life at home and to give it a title and a brief description. Overall, 1,526 photographs with texts were collected. The main subjects of the photographs were objects, the most frequent coping strategy was self-distraction, and most participants expressed emotions of joy and anticipation but also sadness and fear. Then, the associations between the characteristics of their photos and the emotions and coping strategies from their diary entries were analyzed. For example, emotional support and joy were positively associated with family, pets, and food, while fear and sadness were represented with objects. Implications of the results are discussed, including considerations about using photo diaries during collective disasters

Contextual influences on Italian university students during the COVID-19 lockdown: Emotional responses, coping strategies and resilience

Based on an ecological perspective on the COVID-19 lockdown experience, this study describes psychological responses among Italian university students. Our study considers three zones of the country that have differed in the intensity of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this research explores whether differences in pandemic conditions can account for their divergent psychological outcomes. The participants were 792 university students from seven different Italian universities. Students were asked to express their emotions and describe meaningful events during the lockdown in writing. Based on the grounded theory approach, this study conducted qualitative data analysis using ATLAS.ti 8.0. The core emerged categories are emotions, emotional moods and state of mind, coping strategies, and resilience. The results describing these emergent factors in relation to environmental variables highlight differences in the feeling of anxiety among individuals: anxiety was more self-focused in zones that were more affected by the lockdown, while such anxiety was more related to family and friends in less-affected zones. In addition to identifying the negative repercussions that this emergency has had, this study describes some positive outcomes, such as the elaboration of new personal perspectives that help foster individual growth and allow individuals to gain new awareness of themselves and others. The confinement due to the COVID-19 emergency measures has been a very unique experience for people, and further research is needed to understand the long-term effects of the different coping responses activated by participants during and after the lockdown

Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects

Prevalence of Salmonella strains in wild animals from a highly populated area of north-eastern Italy

Salmonella is a ubiquitous pathogen that can infect host species, like wild birds, rodents, and/or arthropods, which may transmit infection to domestic animals and human population

Hair Microelement Profile as a Prognostic Tool in Parkinson’s Disease

Changes in the homeostasis of metals and microelements have been demonstrated in Parkinson’s disease, whose etiology includes both a genetic and environmental basis. We studied the difference of microelements in the hair of Parkinson’s disease subjects (n = 46) compared with healthy controls (n = 24). Hair was chosen as a representative matrix to measure microelements, since it is a vehicle of substance excretion from the human body and it allows for long-term evaluation of metal exposure. An inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis of hair collected from 24 Parkinson’s patients compared with their healthy relatives used as controls shows a significant decrease in Ca (U = 166, p = 0.012),), Mg (U = 187, p = 0.037), and Sr (U = 183, p = 0.030). Cd and Ca/Mg were decreased, and Cu was increased, in patients with respect to their healthy related controls at the limit of significance (p = 0.0501). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of these microelements in hair shows a clustering into two groups according to gender, disease severity according to the Hoehn–Yahr scale, and pharmacological therapy. This pilot study represents a starting point for future investigations where a larger group of subjects will be involved to define other microelements useful when screening for early biomarkers of Parkinson’s disease

Metal detection in hair as biomarker to monitor the health status in rats

Objectives. Epidemiological indications suggest that the exposure to neurotoxin agents (i.e. pesticide, Cu, Fe, Mn, etc) during pregnancy and early childhood is involved in the neurodevelopmental disorders and subclinical brain dysfunction (1). During early age, when the neurodevelopmental process is the most rapid/intense, individuals may be more susceptible to pollutants, leading to potential effects on the brain even at very low doses. Our previous studies indicated that pup rats treated with the pyrethroid insecticide permethrin, during brain development (from 6th to 21th day of life) develop long term effects leading to a Parkinson-like disease (PD) (2). Methods. Permethrin was administered orally to Wistar rats for 15 days, from PND6 to PND21 and their hair were processed in adult age (150 days). Hair from neck of treated and control groups were analyzed with two different techniques: 1) ICP-MS instrumentation treating samples with closed vessel mineralization in acidic conditions and 2) polarized light microscopy combined with remote sensing and digital camera at high resolution. Results Data on hair of PD animal model show a significant decrease of Se, Hg and Sn, while Cu resulted increased with ICP-MS analysis, while only Hg resulted significantly reduced with the other method. However the polarized light microscopy shows a great potentiality because it permits to screen also aminoacids, vitamins and hormone (i.e. noradrenaline, dopamine and progesterone). Conclusions Considering that Se protects cells from oxidative damage, and the PD animal model presents high level of oxidative stress, the decrease of Se in hair of PD rats can be considered as an useful biomarker indicative for neurodegeneration process. Similarly, Cu results indicative of the disease, because high Cu level is associated with the oligomerization of alpha-synuclein and the copper-alpha-synuclein complex induces changes in copper’s redox properties, since it promotes H2O2 production, which leads to dopamine and GSH oxidation (3). Acknowledgements We thank the “Cassa di Risparmio di Fabriano and Cupramontana Foundation” for grant support. References: 1) Grandjean, P; Landrigan, PJ. Lancet. 2006, 368(9553),2167-2178. 2) Carloni et al., Brain Res. 2013, 7;1515:19-28. 3) Montes S. et al., Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity 2014, ID 147251, 15