Persisting viruses and autoimmunity

Viral infections can be responsible for the onset and sustaining of autoimmune processes. We discuss how chronic inflammation associated with viral persistence is the prerequisite for initiation of a multi-step process leading to autoimmunity. Firstly, chronic inflammation may favor the priming of autoreactive T cells that have escaped thymic selection and are specific for self-mimicking viral peptides in the periphery. In addition, viral persistence and inflammation can act synergistically to induce and sustain autoimmunity either unveiling cryptic self-epitopes, or favoring determinant spreading, or activating dendritic cells, or promoting constant priming of new autoreactive T cells, or contributing to the efficient generation of effector cells, or, finally, restimulating memory T lymphocytes

Sfodera F. - LA SEGMENTAZIONE DELLA DOMANDA - Yield management – Uno strumento innovativo per la gestione dei ricavi nelle imprese turistiche - par. Strumenti di marketing e segmentazione del mercato

L'articolo fornisce un contributo scientifico rilevante all'applicazione dello yield management in Italia e nel settore alberghiero in particolare. Il contributo di Sfodera fa luce sulle implicazioni di marketing e comunicazione per la gestione delle politiche di yield. Esso si focalizza tanto sulle conoscenze della domanda (segmentazione) necessarie a definire le classi di prezzo quanto sulle implicazioni in termini di commercializzazione e comunicazione dei prezzi e delle condizioni di vendita

Induction of apoptosis by 1,4-benzothiazine analogs in mouse thymocytes

1,4-Benzothiazine (1,4-B) derivatives exert numerous effects in vivo and in vitro, including neurotoxicity and antitumor cytotoxicity. To analyze the mechanisms responsible for 1,4-B-induced cytotoxicity, we performed experiments to evaluate the possible apoptotic effect. For that purpose, we used mouse thymocytes, a cell population well sensitive to induction of apoptosis that has been used to assay apoptosis in many experimental systems. Results indicate that a number of 1,4-B analogs are able to induce both thymocyte apoptosis in vitro and thymus cell loss in vivo. Moreover, analysis of the structure-activity relationship indicate that the sulfur (S) oxidation state, the presence of the carbonyl group, and the nature and position of the side chain modulate the apoptotic efficacy. Moreover, results of in vitro experiments show that the 1,4-B-induced apoptosis associates with different biochemical events including phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C activation, acidic sphingomyelinase activation and ceramide generation, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsim) and cytochrome c release, and caspase-8, -9, and -3 activation. These results indicate that 1,4-B analogs induce apoptosis through a complex of biochemical events