A pilot study of the role of corn dextrin and milk peptides supplementation on faecal microbiota in healthy adults

The gastrointestinal microbiota has an important role in human health. Dietary interventions are of great interest to modulate the composition and metabolic functions of the gut microbial communities and to improve health, and prevent or treat diseases. Consumption of prebiotics is one dietary strategy for beneficial manipulation of the gut microbiota, because it allows increasing the fibre intake, especially in people with western dietary habits, who do not take the recommended daily amount of fiber. Interestingly, milk peptides can also positively affect the beneficial gut microorganisms. The present work is a pilot study aimed to investigate the effect of a prebiotic supplementation on composition and metabolic activity of microorganisms living in the human gut. In this trial, 12 healthy subjects received 10g/die of supplement Biotransit\uae, composed by corn derived dextrin and milk peptides, produced and marketed in Italy by Depofarma (Italy), for 4 weeks with a 2 weeks washout. Outcome measures were assessed at four time points (before the supplementation T0-1, T0-2, at the end of intervention, T30 and after washout, T45), including gut microbiota profiling by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and intestinal functional metabolism measuring faecal Short Chain Fatty Acid concentrations (SCFAs). The effects of the Biotransit supplementation on bifidobacteria were also assessed with culture dependent techniques. Gut microbiota analysis revealed that Biotransit\uae supplementation after 30 days did not exert effects on the overall gut microbiota structure. Although no significant differences on alpha diversity were obtained, we observed an increase of diversity after 30 days of treatment. Beta diversity analysis, calculated on Bray-Curtis distances revealed significant differences comparing T0 vs T45 and T30 vs T45. Interestingly, at T45, we found an enrichment of Porphyromonadaceae. Biotransit\uae induced quantitative changes in cultivable bifidobacteria with increased amount at T45, even if the total number of species has not been influenced. Biotransit\uae supplementation is also associated to an increase total SCFAs concentration in T30 and T45, in particular related to acetate, propionate and butyrate (p < 0.05). Future study will be aimed to follow the time course of the persistence of this effect after the end of treatment

Cortical brain abnormalities in 4474 individuals with schizophrenia and 5098 control subjects via the enhancing neuro Imaging genetics through meta analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium

BACKGROUND: The profile of cortical neuroanatomical abnormalities in schizophrenia is not fully understood, despite hundreds of published structural brain imaging studies. This study presents the first meta-analysis of cortical thickness and surface area abnormalities in schizophrenia conducted by the ENIGMA (Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta Analysis) Schizophrenia Working Group. METHODS: The study included data from 4474 individuals with schizophrenia (mean age, 32.3 years; range, 11-78 years; 66% male) and 5098 healthy volunteers (mean age, 32.8 years; range, 10-87 years; 53% male) assessed with standardized methods at 39 centers worldwide. RESULTS: Compared with healthy volunteers, individuals with schizophrenia have widespread thinner cortex (left/right hemisphere: Cohen's d = -0.530/-0.516) and smaller surface area (left/right hemisphere: Cohen's d = -0.251/-0.254), with the largest effect sizes for both in frontal and temporal lobe regions. Regional group differences in cortical thickness remained significant when statistically controlling for global cortical thickness, suggesting regional specificity. In contrast, effects for cortical surface area appear global. Case-control, negative, cortical thickness effect sizes were two to three times larger in individuals receiving antipsychotic medication relative to unmedicated individuals. Negative correlations between age and bilateral temporal pole thickness were stronger in individuals with schizophrenia than in healthy volunteers. Regional cortical thickness showed significant negative correlations with normalized medication dose, symptom severity, and duration of illness and positive correlations with age at onset. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that the ENIGMA meta-analysis approach can achieve robust findings in clinical neuroscience studies; also, medication effects should be taken into account in future genetic association studies of cortical thickness in schizophrenia

The structure and emission model of the relativistic jet in the quasar 3C279 inferred from radio to high-energy γ-ray observations in 2008-2010

We present time-resolved broadband observations of the quasar 3C279 obtained from multi-wavelength campaigns conducted during the first two years of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope mission. While investigating the previously reported γ-ray/optical flare accompanied by a change in optical polarization, we found that the optical emission appears to be delayed with respect to the γ-ray emission by about 10days. X-ray observations reveal a pair of "isolated" flares separated by 90 days, with only weak γ-ray/optical counterparts. The spectral structure measured by Spitzer reveals a synchrotron component peaking in the mid-infrared band with a sharp break at the far-infrared band during the γ-ray flare, while the peak appears in the millimeter (mm)/submillimeter (sub-mm) band in the low state. Selected spectral energy distributions are fitted with leptonic models including Comptonization of external radiation produced in a dusty torus or the broad-line region. Adopting the interpretation of the polarization swing involving propagation of the emitting region along a curved trajectory, we can explain the evolution of the broadband spectra during the γ-ray flaring event by a shift of its location from 1pc to 4pc from the central black hole. On the other hand, if the γ-ray flare is generated instead at sub-pc distance from the central black hole, the far-infrared break can be explained by synchrotron self-absorption. We also model the low spectral state, dominated by the mm/sub-mm peaking synchrotron component, and suggest that the corresponding inverse-Compton component explains the steady X-ray emission. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Riociguat treatment in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: Final safety data from the EXPERT registry

Objective: The soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator riociguat is approved for the treatment of adult patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and inoperable or persistent/recurrent chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) following Phase

Myths and Volcanoes

Examples of stories, myths and legends from active volcanic areas, in many cases recording past phenomena beyond usual possibili- ties of investigation, are here provided. The active volcanoes are seen as the gates of Hell (Hekla, Etna, Teide, Averno) or the holy res- idences of gods (Fuji, Kenia, Gunung Agung, Kilauea...), or the jail in the depths of the Earth of defeated Cyclops, Giants, Titans (Nysiros, Procida), or again (Campi Flegrei) the battlefield devastated during the struggle between giants and gods (i.e. between bar- barism and order, between man and destructive forces of nature). Some volcanoes ask for sacrifices, prayers and gifts to restrain their fury (Bromo, Nyamuragira, Nyiragongo, Coseguina, Vesuvius, Mauna Loa), but others are protagonists of popular love histories (Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, Mayon, Ruapehu, Tangariro and Taranaki, Tangkuban Perahu, Kilauea,...). Several stories coincide with the results that scientific research has required years to collect: the arrival of Pele at Hawaii while disputing with her sister, the last eruption of Lipari and Saint Calogero, the shape of the Vesuvius caldera and Spartacus, the year without summer in Alaska... A lecture on myths and volcanoes cannot exclude Atlantis and the various hypotheses, not evidently incredible, involving volcanic phe- nomena

Mito e Vulcani

versione italiana della lezione tenuta durante la 2006 GIV Summer School of Volcanology – Lipar