epigenetics the revenge of lamarck

"On the Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin changed the biology theories and the biblical creationism was replaced by a new vision of the world. From this new perspective, also the theories by Lamarck were considered incorrect, because the adaptations achieved by animals during their life could not be transmitted hereditarily. Moreover, after fifty years, the data collected by Gregor Mendel induced biologists to introduce the concept of gene and hereditary characteristics, underestimating the role of the environmen

NESS06SM, un nuovo approccio alla terapia dell'obesità

In the last decade CB1 receptor (CB1R) antagonists were among the most promising drug targets in controlling weight and energy balance. It has been reported that the hyperactivity and up-regulation of CB1R in both the peripheral (liver, visceral fat and muscle) and the central (hypothalamus, prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens) nervous systems (CNS) are associated to metabolic disorders. The discovery of the role of this cannabinoid sub-receptor in hyperphagia and weight gain led many groups in the last two decades to focus their attention to the synthesis of compounds able to selectively block CB1R. The CB1R inverse agonist SR141716A (rimonabant), the first candidate based on this strategy, was launched on European market, although it was withdrawn by European Medicines Agency (EMA) for its adverse effects, particularly for psychiatric side effects such as induction of anxiety and depression. In particular, SR141716A side effects have been principally related to its both CB1 inverse agonism and blood brain barrier (BBB) permeability with its consequence on CNS functionality. Therefore the development of anti-obesity drugs targeting CB1R has been globally revised. However, novel strategies have been recently adopted to assure CB1R-mediated anti-obesity activity by overcoming SR141716A side effects: the development of CB1R neutral antagonists or of CB1R blockers acting selectively at peripheral level. In fact it has been ascertained that metabolic syndrome benefits can be assured not only by centrally active compounds but also by a selective modulation of peripheral CB1R. Here we have characterized the pharmacology of a new CB1R neutral antagonist compound: 8-chloro-1-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-N-piperidin-1-yl-4,5-dihydrobenzo-1H-6-oxa-cyclohepta(1,2-c)pyrazole-3-carboxamide, namely NESS06SM. We found that NESS06SM is characterized by good affinity for CB1R, absence of cellular toxicity, and poor blood brain barrier permeability. Moreover, NESS06SM chronic treatment determined both anti-obesity effect and cardiovascular risk factor improvement in C57BL/6N Diet Induced Obesity (DIO) mice fed with fat diet. In fact, the mRNA gene expression in CNS and peripheral tissues by real time PCR showed a significant increase of orexigenic peptides and a decrease of anorexigenic peptides elicited by NESS06SM treatment, compared to control mice fed with the same diet. In contrast to rimonabant treatment, the chronic administration of NESS06SM did not change mRNA expression of both monoaminergic transporters and neurotrophins highly related with anxiety and mood disorders. The obtained profiles suggested a possible reduction of harmful effects after treatment with novel CB1R antagonist compared to those reported for rimonabant. Our results suggested that NESS06SM reduces body weight and it can restore the disrupted expression profile of genes linked to the hunger-satiety circuit without altering monoaminergic transmission, probably avoiding rimonabant side effects. Therefore the novel CB1R neutral antagonist could represent a useful candidate agent for the treatment of obesity and its metabolic complications

Physiological and qualitative response of Cucurbita pepo L. to Salicylic Acid under controlled water stress conditions

Limited water stress is one of the most important environmental stresses that affect the growth, quantity and quality of agronomic crops. This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of foliar applied salicylic acid (SA) on physiological responses, antioxidant enzymes and qualitative traits of Cucurbita pepo L. Plants exposed to water-stressed conditions in two years of field studies. Irrigation regimes at three soil matric potential levels (−0.3, −1.2 and −1.8 MPa) and SA at four levels (0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mg/L) were considered as main plot and sub-plots, respectively. The soil matric potential values (MPa) was measured just before irrigation. Results showed that under water stressed conditions alone, the amounts of malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and ion leakage were higher compared with control treatment. However, spraying of SA under both water stress and non-stress conditions reduced the values of the above parameters. Water stress increased CAT, APX and GR enzymes activity. However foliar application of SA led to the decrease of CAT, APX and GR under all soil matric potential levels. The amount of carbohydrates and fatty acids increased with the intensity of water stress and SA modulated this response. By increasing SA concentration both in optimum and stress conditions, saturated fatty acids content decreased. According to our data, the SA application is an effective approach to improve pumpkin growth under water stress conditions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Online Classification of Transient EMG Patterns for the Control of the Wrist and Hand in a Transradial Prosthesis

Decoding human motor intentions by processing electrophysiological signals is a crucial, yet unsolved, challenge for the development of effective upper limb prostheses. Pattern recognition of continuous myoelectric (EMG) signals represents the state-of-art for multi-DoF prosthesis control. However, this approach relies on the unreliable assumption that repeatable muscular contractions produce repeatable patterns of steady-state EMGs. Here, we propose an approach for decoding wrist and hand movements by processing the signals associated with the onset of contraction (transient EMG). Specifically, we extend the concept of a transient EMG controller for the control of both wrist and hand, and tested it online. We assessed it with one transradial amputee and 15 non-amputees via the Target Achievement Control test. Non-amputees successfully completed 95% of the trials with a median completion time of 17 seconds, showing a significant learning trend (p < 0.001). The transradial amputee completed about the 80% of the trials with a median completion time of 26 seconds. Although the performance proved comparable with earlier studies, the long completion times suggest that the current controller is not yet clinically viable. However, taken collectively, our outcomes reinforce earlier hypothesis that the transient EMG could represent a viable alternative to steady-state pattern recognition approaches

A McPherson lightweight suspension arm

The paper deals with the design and manufacturing of a McPherson suspension arm made from short glass fiber reinforced polyamide (PA66). The design of the arm and the design of the molds have been made jointly. According to Industry 4.0 paradigms, a full digitalization of both the product and process has been performed. Since the mechanical behavior of the suspension arm strongly depends on constraints which are difficult to be modelled, a simpler structure with well-defined mechanical constraints has been developed. By means of such simple structure, the model for the behavior of the material has been validated. Since the suspension arm is a hybrid structure, the associated simple structure is hybrid as well, featuring a metal sheet with over-molded polymer. The issues referring to material flow, material to material contact, weld lines, fatigue strength, high and low temperature behavior, creep, dynamic strength have been investigated on the simple structure. The detailed understanding gained with the simple structure has been transferred on the actual suspension arm. The McPherson arm has been produced and withstood the technical specifications

Changes in secondary metabolite production in response to salt stress in Alcea rosea L.

© 2024 The Authors. Published by MDPI. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae10020139The effect of three levels of salinity on physio-biochemical traits in 10 Alcea rosea (hollyhock) varieties were evaluated. It was observed that salt stress increased both the total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) in some varieties and decreased them in others. The greatest increases in both TPC and TFC were recorded in the Saman variety (104% and 62%, respectively) when cultivated under severe salt stress, indicating that this is the most salt-tolerant variety amongst those tested. The most abundant phenolic compound recorded was ellagic acid, and the phenolic compounds that showed the greatest increases in concentration due to salt stress were p-coumaric acid (87% in the Isfahan variety) and chlorogenic acid (142% in the Mahallat variety). Salt stress was also shown to decrease the production of diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) in all varieties. The highest concentration of DPPH (133%) was recorded in the Shiraz 1 variety, grown under conditions of severe salt stress. Salt stress also increased the mucilage content present in the petals, leaves, and seeds of some of the selected varieties. These data suggest that the selection of salt-tolerant varieties of hollyhock for direct cultivation or for use in future breeding programs is feasible.This research received no external funding, and the APC was funded by University of Brescia

Cortical Structure Alterations and Social Behavior Impairment in p50-Deficient Mice

Alterations in genes that regulate neurodevelopment can lead to cortical malformations, resulting in malfunction during postnatal life. The NF-κB pathway has a key role during neurodevelopment by regulating the maintenance of the neural progenitor cell pool and inhibiting neuronal differentiation. In this study, we evaluated whether mice lacking the NF-κB p50 subunit (KO) present alterations in cortical structure and associated behavioral impairment. We found that, compared with wild type (WT), KO mice at postnatal day 2 present an increase in radial glial cells, an increase in Reelin protein expression levels, in addition to an increase of specific layer thickness. Moreover, adult KO mice display abnormal columnar organization in the somatosensory cortex, a specific decrease in somatostatin- and parvalbumin-expressing interneurons, altered neurite orientation, and a decrease in Synapsin I protein levels. Concerning behavior, KO mice, in addition to an increase in locomotor and exploratory activity, display impairment in social behaviors, with a reduction in social interaction. Finally, we found that risperidone treatment decreased hyperactivity of KO mice, but had no effect on defective social interaction. Altogether, these data add complexity to a growing body of data, suggesting a link between dysregulation of the NF-κB pathway and neurodevelopmental disorders pathogenesis

Physiological, biochemical, and agronomic trait responses of nigella sativa genotypes to water stress

© 2022 The Authors. Published by MDPI. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/8/3/193Water stress may affect the growth, physiology, morphology, biochemistry, and productivity of Nigella sativa (black cumin), a medicinal and aromatic plant. Measuring these parameters under various irrigation regimes could provide useful information for successful genotype selection and breeding. Therefore, these agronomically significant features were evaluated in ten black cumin genotypes (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, India, Arak, Isfahan, Semirom, Shahreza, Shahrekord, and Mashhad) under three irrigation regimes (40% (I1), 60% (I2), and 80% (I3) of permissible moisture discharge) during the 2017 to 2018 growing seasons. Water stress was shown to increase the levels of carotenoids (Cars), proline, total soluble carbohydrates (TSC), malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activities but reduced the relative water content (RWC) and chlorophyll content. The highest increases in Cars, TSC, proline, CAT, and APX were noted in the Arak, Isfahan, Semirom, Shahreza, Shahrekord, and Mashhad genotypes under the I3 water regime, respectively. At the same time, the lowest decrease was observed in chlorophyll, H2O2, and relative water content (RWC) in Semirom. According to the stress susceptibility index, the most resistant genotypes were Shahrekord under I2 and Semirom under I3. These data demonstrate that the irrigation regimes affected the physiological, biochemical, and morphological features of black cumin both qualitatively and quantitatively, although the impact varied depending upon the genotype, irrigation regime, and traits. As such, the results presented represent valuable information with which to inform future selection and breeding programs for drought-tolerant black cumin. This is of particular significance considering global climate change

Chaos and Statistical Mechanics in the Hamiltonian Mean Field Model

We study the dynamical and statistical behavior of the Hamiltonian Mean Field (HMF) model in order to investigate the relation between microscopic chaos and phase transitions. HMF is a simple toy model of $N$ fully-coupled rotators which shows a second order phase transition. The canonical thermodynamical solution is briefly recalled and its predictions are tested numerically at finite $N$. The Vlasov stationary solution is shown to give the same consistency equation of the canonical solution and its predictions for rotator angle and momenta distribution functions agree very well with numerical simulations. A link is established between the behavior of the maximal Lyapunov exponent and that of thermodynamical fluctuations, expressed by kinetic energy fluctuations or specific heat. The extensivity of chaos in the $N \to \infty$ limit is tested through the scaling properties of Lyapunov spectra and of the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy. Chaotic dynamics provides the mixing property in phase space necessary for obtaining equilibration; however, the relaxation time to equilibrium grows with $N$, at least near the critical point. Our results constitute an interesting bridge between Hamiltonian chaos in many degrees of freedom systems and equilibrium thermodynamics.Comment: 19 pages, 10 postscript figures included, Latex, Elsevier macros included. Invited talk at the conference ``Classical Chaos and its quantum manifestations'' in honour of Boris Chirikov, Sputnik conference of STATPHYS 20 - Toulouse, France - July 16-18, 1998. Revised version (added refs, changed part of the text and some figures) accepted for publication in Physica

Anisotropic effects and master curves for rubbers with sp2 carbon allotropes towards light weight materials

This work presents the preparation of lightweight rubber materials with nanosized sp2 carbon allotropes and discusses the anisotropic nonlinear mechanical behavior of composites based on these nanofillers. Composites were prepared with either poly(styrene-co-butadiene) or poly(1,4-cis-isoprene) as the polymer matrix and either carbon black (CB) or carbon nanotubes (CNT) or hybrid CB/CNT as the filler systems. The initial modulus of the composite (G’min) was determined through dynamic mechanical shear tests and was correlated with the specific interfacial area (i.a.), calculated through the product of filler surface area, density and volume fraction. Common correlation was established, the equation of the common interpolating curve was derived and was used to design composites with the same modulus and lower density, substituting part of CB with lower amount of the carbon allotrope with larger surface area, CNT. Anisotropic nonlinear mechanical behavior was found for nanocomposites based on CNT and poly(1,4-cis-isoprene), prepared by melt blending, calendering and compression molding. An orthotropic and transversally isotropic response was observed: dynamic-mechanical moduli were very similar inside the sheet plane and very different from those in the orthogonal direction. Hence, energy dissipation is not isotropic in CNT filled rubber composites. Such mechanical behavior was correlated with the material structure: alternate areas containing large or low CNT amount and preferential orientation of CNT were observed. In spite of this anisotropic behavior, the validity of the above mentioned mastercurve was confirmed