Il microbiota intestinale: nuovo strumento di terapia?

Il microbiota intestinale ha assunto in questi anni una grande importanza, poiché vari studi e vari esperimenti dichiarano la sua correlazione con il sistema immunitario e con il mantenimento dell’omeostasi intestinale, nonché con la regolazione dell’integrità dell’epitelio e della motilità intestinale (peristalsi). Nel momento in cui va a mancare o viene perturbato il giusto equilibrio intestinale, si possono creare squilibri che portano ad un’invasione dei tessuti da parte di alcune specie microbiche e come conseguenza di questa disbiosi si può avere l’istaurarsi di una nuova malattia, tenendo conto che il microbiota stesso cambia a seconda della porzione del tratto digerente presa in considerazione. Tra i componenti del microbiota umano troviamo probiotici, commensali, patogeni opportunisti; oltre a questi di assoluta importanza vi sono anche i prebiotici che non sono altro che alimenti non digeribili che stimolano la crescita dei batteri facenti parte della flora batterica. Questo microbiota intestinale è di notevole importanza in quanto risulta anche correlato a diverse malattie, sia intestinali che extra-intestinali. The intestinal microbiota has become in recent years a great importance because various studies and various experiments declare its correlation with the immune system and maintaining intestinal homeostasis, as well as the integrity of the epithelium and regulation of intestinal motility (peristalsis). When goes missing or gets disrupted the proper intestinal balance, is possible that this creates imbalances that lead to an invasion of tissues by certain microbial species and as a result of this dysbiosis can have a new disease, taking into account that the same microbiota changes depending on the portion of the digestive tract regarded. Among the components of the gut flora are probiotics, diners, opportunistic pathogens; in addition to these absolute importance, there are also prebiotics, that are non-digestible foods that stimulate the growth of the bacteria which are part of the bacterial flora. This intestinal microbiota is so important also because it is related to various diseases, both intestinal and extra-intestinal

The listener’s perspective: audience comments attached to a questionnaire on the perception of quality in consecutive interpreting assignments performed by trainees

Esta contribución se inscribe en un proyecto en el que estamos investigando la percepción de la calidad por parte de los usuarios de un servicio de interpretación consecutiva (IC) español-italiano desarrollado por estudiantes en prácticas. Desde el punto de vista teórico-metodológico, hemos adoptado la perspectiva etnográfica (Angelelli 2004; Valero-Garcés & Martin 2008) y utilizado una combinación de herramientas investigadoras que incluye un cuestionario para cuyo diseño nos hemos guiado por el desarrollado por Collados Aís (1998). Hasta la fecha contamos con 403 cuestionarios recogidos en 14 actos diferentes. En esta ocasión nos centramos en la sección del cuestionario llamada “Más comentarios” que pueden rellenar los oyentes al final. Nos interesa ver con qué frecuencia se agregan comentarios, de qué tipo son y si resultan coherentes con el resto del cuestionario. Además, veremos si los que atribuyen juicios y notas negativas en el cuestionario añaden detalles en la sección “Más comentarios”.This study is part of a project investigating user-perceived quality of consecutive interpreting assignments carried out as part of an on-the-job training scheme offered to our students. From a theoretical-methodological point of view we have adopted the ethnographic perspective (Angelelli 2004; Valero-Garcés & Martin 2008) and administered users and other participants a questionnaire replicated from Collados Aís’s research (1998). Thus far, we have collected responses from 403 informants in 14 different events. In this paper we focus on the “Additional Comments and Suggestions” section which the informants can fill in at the end of the questionnaire. We examine the types of commentaries added, their frequency and consistency with the rest of responses. We also explore whether the informants who provide negative assessments in the questionnaire add details in this section

IC 5181: An S0 Galaxy with Ionized Gas on Polar Orbits

The nearby S0 galaxy IC 5181 is studied to address the origin of the ionized gas component that orbits the galaxy on polar orbit. We perform detailed photometric and spectroscopic observations measuring the surface brightness distribution of the stars (I-band), ionized gas of IC 5181 (H-alpha narrow band), the ionized-gas and stellar kinematics along both the major and minor axis, and the corresponding line strengths of the Lick indices. We conclude that the galaxy hosts a geometrically and kinematically decoupled component of ionized gas. It is elongated along the galaxy minor axis and in orthogonal rotation with respect to the galaxy disk. The result is suggesting that the gas component is not related to the stars having an external origin. The gas was accreted by IC 5181 on polar orbits from the surrounding environment.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, To appear in ASP Conf. Ser., Multi-Spin Galaxies, E. Iodice and E. M. Corsini (eds.

Academic failure: individual, organizational, and social factors

The high percentage of university dropouts in Europe underlines the relevance of understanding which factors lead students to leave university and to be dissatisfied with this experience. Previous studies have focused on only some predictors of academic failure. The present study tested a structural equation model with latent variables to determine the impact of psychological, organizational, and relational variables on the intention to drop out of university and dissatisfaction with the university experience. An online survey was completed by 431 university students (M = 23.06, SD = 5.5, 362 females) recruited from different courses at several Italian universities. Results showed that the intention to drop out of university was negatively related to self-efficacy, institutional commitment, and academic integration, and positively related to an external locus of control. Dissatisfaction with the university experience was negatively associated with self-efficacy, institutional commitment, and academic integration. Implications for preventive programs and interventions are presented

A catalogue of nuclear stellar velocity dispersions of nearby galaxies from \u2009H\u3b1 STIS spectra to constrain supermassive black hole masses

We present new measurements for the nuclear stellar velocity dispersion \u3c3* within sub-arcsecond apertures for 28 nearby galaxies. Our data consist of Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) long-slit spectra obtained with the G750M grating centred on the H\u3b1 spectral range. We fit the spectra using a library of single stellar population models and Gaussian emission lines, while constraining in most cases the stellar-population content from an initial fit to G430L STIS spectra. We illustrate how these \u3c3* measurements can be useful for constraining the mass M\u2022 of supermassive black holes (SBHs) by concentrating on the cases of the lenticular galaxies NGC 4435 and NGC 4459. These are characterized by similar ground-based half-light radii stellar velocity dispersion \u3c3e values but remarkably different M\u2022 as obtained from modelling their central ionized-gas kinematics, where NGC 4435 appears to host a significantly undermassive SBH compared to what is expected from the M\u2022 - \u3c3e relation. For both galaxies, we build Jeans axisymmetric dynamical models to match the ground-based stellar kinematics obtained with Spectrographic Areal Unit for Research on Optical Nebulae integral-field spectrograph, including an SBH with M\u2022 value as predicted by the M\u2022 - \u3c3e relation and using high-resolution HST images taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys to construct the stellar-mass model. By mimicking the HST observing conditions we use such reference models to make a prediction for the nuclear \u3c3* value. Whereas this was found to agree with our nuclear \u3c3* measurement for NGC 4459, for NGC 4435 the observed \u3c3* is remarkably smaller than the predicted one, which further suggests that this galaxy could host an undermassive SBH

The properties and the formation mechanism of the stellar counter-rotating components in NGC 4191

We disentangle two counter-rotating stellar components in NGC 4191 and characterize their physical properties (kinematics, morphology, age, metallicity, and abundance ratio). We performed a spectroscopic decomposition on integral field data to separate the contribution of two stellar components to the observed galaxy spectrum across the field of view. We also performed a photometric decomposition, modelling the galaxy with a S\'ersic bulge and two exponential disks of different scale length, with the aim of associating these structural components with the kinematic components. We measured the equivalent width of the absorption line indices on the best fit that represent the kinematic components and compared our measurements to the predictions of stellar population models. We have evidence that the line-of-sight velocity distributions (LOSVDs) are consistent with the presence of two distinct kinematic components. The combined information of the intensity of the LOSVDs and photometry allows us to associate the S\'ersic bulge and the outer disk with the main kinematic component, and the inner disk with the secondary kinematic component. The two kinematic stellar components counter-rotate with respect to each other. The main component is the most luminous and massive, and it rotates slower than the secondary component, which rotates along the same direction as the ionized gas. We also found that the two kinematic components have the same solar metallicity and sub-solar abundance ratio, without the presence of significant radial gradients. On the other hand, their ages show strong negative gradients and the possible indication that the secondary component is the youngest. We interpret our results in light of recent cosmological simulations and suggest gas accretion along two filaments as the formation mechanism of the stellar counter-rotating components in NGC 4191 (Abridged).Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

La palabra a los oyentes: los comentarios del público en un cuestionario sobre la percepción de la calidad de la interpretación consecutiva de estudiantes en prácticas

This article is the English version of “La palabra a los oyentes: Los comentarios del público en un cuestionario sobre la percepción de la calidad de la interpretación consecutiva de estudiantes en prácticas” by Elena Errico & Mara Morelli. It was not published on the print version of MonTI for reasons of space. The online version of MonTI does not suffer from these limitations, and this is our way of promoting plurilingualism.This study is part of a project investigating user-perceived quality of consecutive interpreting assignments carried out as part of an on-the-job training scheme offered to our students. From a theoretical-methodological point of view we have adopted the ethnographic perspective (Angelelli 2004; Valero-Garcés & Martin 2008) and administered users and other participants a questionnaire replicated from Collados Aís’s research (1998). Thus far, we have collected responses from 403 informants in 14 different events. In this paper we focus on the “Additional Comments and Suggestions” section which the informants can fill in at the end of the questionnaire. We examine the types of commentaries added, their frequency and consistency with the rest of responses. We also explore whether the informants who provide negative assessments in the questionnaire add details in this section.Esta contribución se inscribe en un proyecto en el que estamos investigando la percepción de la calidad por parte de los usuarios de un servicio de interpretación consecutiva (IC) español-italiano desarrollado por estudiantes en prácticas. Desde el punto de vista teórico-metodológico, hemos adoptado la perspectiva etnográfica (Angelelli 2004; Valero-Garcés & Martin 2008) y utilizado una combinación de herramientas investigadoras que incluye un cuestionario para cuyo diseño nos hemos guiado por el desarrollado por Collados Aís (1998). Hasta la fecha contamos con 403 cuestionarios recogidos en 14 actos diferentes. En esta ocasión nos centramos en la sección del cuestionario llamada “Más comentarios” que pueden rellenar los oyentes al final. Nos interesa ver con qué frecuencia se agregan comentarios, de qué tipo son y si resultan coherentes con el resto del cuestionario. Además, veremos si los que atribuyen juicios y notas negativas en el cuestionario añaden detalles en la sección “Más comentarios”

Kinematic and stellar population properties of the counter-rotating components in the S0 galaxy NGC 1366

Context. Many disk galaxies host two extended stellar components that rotate in opposite directions. The analysis of the stellar populations of the counter-rotating components provides constraints on the environmental and internal processes that drive their formation. Aims. The S0 NGC 1366 in the Fornax cluster is known to host a stellar component that is kinematically decoupled from the main body of the galaxy. Here we successfully separated the two counter-rotating stellar components to independently measure the kinematics and properties of their stellar populations. Methods. We performed a spectroscopic decomposition of the spectrum obtained along the galaxy major axis and separated the relative contribution of the two counter-rotating stellar components and of the ionized-gas component. We measured the line-strength indices of the two counter-rotating stellar components and modeled each of them with single stellar population models that account for the \u3b1/Fe overabundance. Results. We found that the counter-rotating stellar component is younger, has nearly the same metallicity, and is less \u3b1/Fe enhanced than the corotating component. Unlike most of the counter-rotating galaxies, the ionized gas detected in NGC 1366 is neither associated with the counter-rotating stellar component nor with the main galaxy body. On the contrary, it has a disordered distribution and a disturbed kinematics with multiple velocity components observed along the minor axis of the galaxy. Conclusions. The different properties of the counter-rotating stellar components and the kinematic peculiarities of the ionized gas suggest that NGC 1366 is at an intermediate stage of the acquisition process, building the counter-rotating components with some gas clouds still falling onto the galaxy. \ua9 ESO 2017

The small heat shock protein B8 (HSPB8) modulates proliferation and migration of breast cancer cells

open12noBreast cancer (BC) is one of the major causes of cancer death in women and is closely related to hormonal dysregulation. Estrogen receptor (ER)-positive BCs are generally treated with anti hormone therapy using antiestrogens or aromatase inhibitors. However, BC cells may become resistant to endocrine therapy, a process facilitated by autophagy, which may either promote or suppress tumor expansion. The autophagy facilitator HSPB8 has been found overexpressed in some BC. Here we found that HSPB8 is highly expressed and differentially modulated by natural or synthetic selective ER modulators (SERMs), in the triple-positive hormone-sensitive BC (MCF-7) cells, but not in triple-negative MDA-MB-231 BC cells. Specific SERMs induced MCF-7 cells proliferation in a HSPB8 dependent manner whereas, did not modify MDA-MB-231 cell growth. ER expression was unaffected in HSPB8-depleted MCF-7 cells. HSPB8 over-expression did not alter the distribution of MCF-7 cells in the various phases of the cell cycle. Conversely and intriguingly, HSPB8 downregulation resulted in an increased number of cells resting in the G0/G1 phase, thus possibly reducing the ability of the cells to pass through the restriction point. In addition, HSPB8 downregulation reduced the migratory ability of MCF-7 cells. None of these modifications were observed, when another small HSP (HSPB1), also expressed in MCF-7 cells, was downregulated. In conclusion, our data suggest that HSPB8 is involved in the mechanisms that regulate cell cycle and cell migration in MCF-7 cells.openPiccolella, Margherita; Crippa, Valeria; Cristofani, Riccardo; Rusmini, Paola; Galbiati, Mariarita; Elena Cicardi, Maria; Meroni, Marco; Ferri, Nicola; Morelli, Federica F; Carra, Serena; Messi, Elio; Poletti, AngeloPiccolella, Margherita; Crippa, Valeria; Cristofani, Riccardo; Rusmini, Paola; Galbiati, Mariarita; Elena Cicardi, Maria; Meroni, Marco; Ferri, Nicola; Morelli, Federica F; Carra, Serena; Messi, Elio; Poletti, Angel