One year after on Tyrrhenian coasts: The ban of cotton buds does not reduce their dominance in beach litter composition

In January 2019, Italy banned the sale of plastic cotton buds, which is one of the most abundant litter items entering the sea and then washing ashore. However, since the ban came into force, no studies have been carried out to assess whether the measure has actually led to the reduction of plastic cotton buds accumulating on Italian coasts. Here we aim at evaluating the effectiveness of the ban in reducing the amount of cotton buds reaching sandy beaches of the Tyrrhenian coast. Specifically, we monitored the accumulation of beach litter for one year since the ban came into force. By surveying eight coastal sites from winter 2019 to winter 2020, we collected a total of 52,824 items mostly constituted by plastic debris (97.6%). We found that cotton buds were the most abundant item (42.3% of total litter), followed by plastic (28.5%) and polystyrene (5.43%) fragments. Our preliminary assessment suggests that the ban has so far not led to a sensible reduction in the amount of cotton buds entering the marine ecosystem. This was to be expected since implementation strategies are still lacking (i.e. no economic sanctions can be imposed in case of non-compliance) and bans are differently implemented among countries facing the Mediterranean Sea, calling for law enforcement and implementation at the national and international levels

Neuroprotezione e meccanismi molecolari delle interazioni tra microglia e neuroni: studio cellulare, funzionale e comportamentale.

Le interazioni reciproche tra neuroni e microglia, i macrofagi residenti del sistema nervoso, sono ancora poco conosciute. La visione tradizionale che le cellule microgliali siano principalmente coinvolte nell\u2019eliminazione dei neuroni danneggiati e\u2019 ormai universalmente riconosciuta come inadeguata per la comprensione delle complesse interazioni tra questi due tipi di cellule. E\u2019 invece ormai chiaro che un continuo dialogo incrociato, mediato da varie molecole di segnalazione, ha luogo tra neuroni e microglia e che tale dialogo viene differentemente regolato a seconda delle condizioni fisiologiche o patologiche. Lo scopo principale del presente progetto di ricerca e\u2019 di trovare nuove evidenze sperimentali che la microglia svolga un ruolo neuroprotettivo in condizioni neuropatologiche. Questo concetto, altamente innovativo rispetto alle idee pi\uf9 tradizionali sull\u2019argomento, emerge da recenti osservazioni, alcune delle quali prodotte da uno dei laboratori partecipanti a questo progetto, che dimostrano come l\u2019acquisizione di un fenotipo neuroprotettivo da parte delle cellule microgliali sia la conseguenza di uno scambio reciproco di molecule segnale tra neuroni e microglia. Pertanto effettueremo esperimenti in modelli cellulari ed animali di una patologia umana caratterizzata, tra gli altri fattori, dall\u2019 alterazione delle relazioni fisiologiche tra neuroni e microglia, il morbo di Parkinson

Water T-maze, an improved method to assess spatial working memory in rats: Pharmacological validation.

The present study was performed to validate a spatial working memory task using pharmacological manipulations. The water escape T-maze combines the advantages of the Morris water maze and the T-maze while minimizing the disadvantages. Scopolamine (1mg/kg), a drug that affects cognitive function in spatial working memory tasks, significantly decreased the rats' performance in the present delayed alternation task. Glutamate neurotransmission plays an important role in the maintenance of working memory; rats treated with dizocilpine (MK-801; 0.125-0.25mg/kg), a N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, were impaired in this task. In agreement with evidence showing a functional interaction between ionotropic and metabotropic glutamatergic receptors, 2-methyl-6-(phenylethynyl)-pyridine (MPEP), a mGlu(5) receptor antagonist, at a dose (1mg/kg) which by itself had no significant effects, enhanced MK-801-induced impairments of spatial working memory. These evidences suggest that the water escape T-maze might be a valid method to assess spatial working memory, sensitive to pharmacological manipulations

Olanzapine counteracts stress-induced anxiety-like behavior in rats

Atypical antipsychotics, such as olanzapine, have been reported to display anxiolytic properties as shown in several preclinical and clinical studies. Furthermore, several experimental evidences have shown that olanzapine reduces fear and anxiety in activated anxiety like-behavior test such as Geller-test, ultrasonic vocalization test and stress-induced EtOH consumption. Here, we hypothesized that the anxiolytic action of olanzapine might be due to via an indirect activation of the gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA)-ergic system through 3 alfa-hydroxy-5 alfa-pregnan-20-0ne [allopregnanolone (ALLO)], a potent neuroactive steroid that positively modulates the GABAA/benzodiazepine receptors complex. To address this question, we used a preclinical animal test to screen for novel anxiolytic compounds \u2013 the elevated plus maze (EPM) - in basal condition and after 45 min-restrain stress after acute or repeated (21 days) administration of olanzapine (0.5 mg/Kg i.p.). In this condition, we therefore study the effect of the 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor finasteride (FIN) (50 mg/kg) after co-administration with olanzapine. FIN is an inhibitor of steroidogenic enzymes which acts by inhibiting type II 5-alpha reductase, the enzyme that converts into 5-alpha reduced metabolites like the GABAA positive neuroactive steroid ALLO. Results showed an anxiolytic effect of the acute, but not of the chronic, treatment with olanzapine only in stressed rats. This anxiolytic effect was counteracted by the coadministration with FIN. These evidences suggest that the anxiolytic effects of olanzapine might be due to possible action of olanzapine on steroid function via activation of GABA system

Educazione sanitaria allo sport. Proposta di intervento nell’età evolutiva.

Viene proposto un Programma di educazione sanitaria allo sport nella età evolutiva. Obiettivo finale è la divulgazione di norme sanitarie (di allenamento, alimentari, comportamentali) da seguire affinchè la pratica di attività sportiva risulti un fattore di promozione della salute. Il Programma richiede la collaborazione fra operatori sanitari e operatori sportivi, basati su momenti di formazione dei giovani, sulla attuazione degli interventi e la verifica degli stessi

An ionotropic but not a metabotropic glutamate agonist potentiates the pharmacological effects of olanzapine in the rat

This study aimed to evaluate the possible potentiating action of ionotropic or metabotropic (metabotropic glutamate receptor type 5) glutamate agonists on pharmacological effects induced in rats by the atypical antipsychotic olanzapine. The administration of doses of olanzapine, which did not affect spontaneous motility, inhibited behaviors induced by the selective stimulation of 5HT(2A) and D-2 receptors. In particular, 0.03 or 0.06 mg/kg of olanzapine was sufficient to reduce, respectively, head shakes induced by the 5HT(2A) agonist 1-2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl-2-aminopropane (1 mg/kg) or hypermotility elicited by the D-2 stimulant quinpirole (0.15 mg/kg). Behavioral responses to a D-1/D-2 agonist (apomorphine-induced stereotypies) were inhibited by doses of olanzapine that also influenced spontaneous behavior. The concomitant administration of D-cycloserine, an agonist at the glycine site on the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor complex, given at a dose (3 mg/kg) that did not affect behavior, increased the inhibitory effect of olanzapine on the responses produced by 5HT(2A), D-2 and D-1/D-2 receptor stimulation. The concomitant administration of 2-chloro-5-hydroxyphenylglycine, an agonist of metabotropic glutamate receptor type 5, increased the inhibitory effect of olanzapine on the behaviors induced by the stimulation of D-2, but not 5HT(2A) or D-1/D-2 receptors. As the effect on the serotonergic system seems important for the unusual pharmacological profile of atypical antipsychotics, the present results suggest that N-methyl-D-aspartate, but not metabotropic glutamate receptor type 5 agonists could be seen as promising therapeutic agents for increasing the pharmacological effects of olanzapine

Excitotoxic lesion of the perirhinal cortex impairs spatial working memory in a delayed-alternation task.

The perirhinal cortex (PRh) is strategically located between the neocortex and memory-related structures such as the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampal formation. The pattern of strong reciprocal connections between these areas, together with experimental evidence that PRh damage induces specific memory deficits, has placed this cortical region at the center of a growing interest for its role in learning and memory mechanisms. The aim of the present study is to clarify the involvement of PRh in learning and retention in a novel experimental model of spatial working memory, the water T-maze. The data show that pre-acquisition neurotoxic PRh lesions caused task-learning deficits. This impairment was observed during the acquisition phase as well as the retrieval phase. On the other hand, a post-acquisition PRh neurotoxic lesion failed to impair the acquisition and the retrieval of the water T-maze task performed 32 day after lesion. These results suggest a possible key role of PRh in the acquisition but not in the retention of a working memory task. Furthermore, these results show that the water T-maze may be a suitable learning paradigm to study different components of learning and memory