Neuroinflammatory processes, A1 astrocyte activation and protein aggregation in the retina of Alzheimer’s disease patients, possible biomarkers for early diagnosis

Alzheimer's disease (AD), a primary cause of dementia in the aging population, is characterized by extracellular amyloid-beta peptides aggregation, intracellular deposits of hyperphosphorylated tau, neurodegeneration and glial activation in the brain. It is commonly thought that the lack of early diagnostic criteria is among the main causes of pharmacological therapy and clinical trials failure; therefore, the actual challenge is to define new biomarkers and non-invasive technologies to measure neuropathological changes in vivo at pre-symptomatic stages. Recent evidences obtained from human samples and mouse models indicate the possibility to detect protein aggregates and other pathological features in the retina, paving the road for non-invasive rapid detection of AD biomarkers. Here, we report the presence of amyloid beta plaques, tau tangles, neurodegeneration and detrimental astrocyte and microglia activation according to a disease associated microglia phenotype (DAM). Thus, we propose the human retina as a useful site for the detection of cellular and molecular changes associated with Alzheimer's disease

IMAGE PROCESSING IN POLLUTION VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT OF SICILY AQUIFERS

It is generally acknowledged that vulnerability mapping represents an essential tool for territory management. Intrinsic vulnerability can be generally described as \u201cthe susceptibility of the aquifer systems, in their different components and in different geometric and hydrodynamics situations, to swallow and diffuse, also mitigating the effects, a fluid or water-transported pollutant, in such a way to produce impact on the groundwater quality, in space and time\u201d. Assessment procedures of vulnerability consider a number of parameters, the estimation of which is usually difficult and very often insufficient to correctly represent aquifer\u2019s features. As aquifers are closely influenced by numerous factors, their behavior is difficult to be predicted. For example, the most common methods to evaluate vulnerability, like SINTACS, assign scores and weights to a number of parameters, mainly depending on granulometric and textural properties, the estimation of which is frequently arduous and sometimes inadequate to perform reliable and accurate models of water systems. This paper shows the first results of a study about the expected correlation among selected maps of SINTACS system. They belong to the original set of seven parameters, utilized to perform a vulnerability cartography for a generic zone. Several SINTACS applications have been realized on sites of Italian Peninsula characterized by meaningful social-economic importance. Advanced modifications to the available standard are producing new protocols more appropriate for the surveyed areas. The aim was to validate the hypothesis to obtain similar information as respect to the original method by using just a selection of the seven maps. In order to assess this potential correlation resulting in superfluous information, a full statistical analysis has been performed on data from some urbanized areas of Sicily - namely Carini, Acquedolci and S. Agata di Militello - and results are reported in the present work. More specifically, Pearson's linear correlation coefficient matrixes have been computed and analyzed for each different couple of variables, maps being shifted both horizontally and vertically. In order to determine boundary values of those parameters indicating a similarity grade between a couple of identical maps, the correlation coefficient trend has been also investigated among the mentioned couple of maps, again shifted both horizontally and vertically. It results that in the analyzed data the investigated correlation actually exists. This strongly suggests to develop adjustments to the available standards, trying to create new protocols more adherent to the particular sites under investigation. In this particular case, for example, a considerable refinement of the SINTACS approach could be achieved using just five parameters instead of seven. In fact, it results that the map giving the vulnerability indexes - obtained after such parameters reduction - is statistically equivalent to that resulting through the original SINTACS approach. Software utilized in the shown procedure has been implemented in Matlab\uae environment. The numerical approaches have methodically permitted to realize a severe selection and reduction of parameters and to outline - in certain Sicily areas - the real importance of selected SINTACS factors, clearly influencing the transport processes of contaminants towards the aquifer. As a matter of fact, the investigated aquifers can be defined as complex ecological systems, their depiction seeming likely to be closely conditioned by a number of geometrical and hydrogeological parameters, which rarely portray the real hydrogeological behavior of the underground systems. Authors show how the statistical elaboration, applied to vulnerability settings, can contribute to an implementation of the hydrogeological passive scenery offered by complex aquifers as the considered ones

Dimensioni di personalit\ue0 in soggetti obesi BED e NON-BED.

Introduzione Pochi studi hanno esaminato la presenza di differenti dimensioni di personalit\ue0 in soggetti obesi BED e non-BED (Peterson et al., 2010) e i risultati appaiono ancora poco chiari. Lo studio si propone di: a) confrontare le dimensioni di personalit\ue0 in soggetti obesi BED e non-BED; b) approfondire l\u2019associazione tra stili di personalit\ue0 e comportamenti binge in relazione ad altre variabili sintomatiche. Metodo 143 soggetti adulti obesi non-BED e 60 soggetti obesi BED che hanno richiesto un trattamento presso un sevizio pubblico sui disturbi alimentari, hanno compilato i seguenti strumenti di assessment: MCMI-III (Millon, 1997), BES (Gormally et al, 1982), OQ-45 (Lambert et al., 2004), EDI-2 (Garner, 1984), RSES (Rosenberg, 1965) e IIP-32 (Horowitz et al., 2000). Risultati In entrambi i gruppi non si riscontrano punteggi clinicamente elevati nelle scale di personalit\ue0. Soggetti obesi BED ottengono punteggi significativamente pi\uf9 elevati rispetto al disturbo di personalit\ue0 borderline (p<.05) e su diverse scale sintomatiche. Verranno presentate analisi correlazionali tra le dimensioni di personalit\ue0 e alcune variabili sintomatologiche (e.g. autostima, inadeguatezza, consapevolezza enterocettiva) condotte separatamente nei due gruppi. Conclusioni Lo studio conferma la presenza di differenze significative tra soggetti obesi BED e non-BED

La valutazione dei drop-out terapeutici: verso un'integrazione dei dati quantitativi e qualitativi nell'analisi del cambiamento in psicoterapia

Il presente studio ha l'obiettivo di valutare se l'utilizzo di un paradigma mixed methods (Dattilio et al., 2010) possa favorire la comprensione degli aspetti che possono essere associati ad un esito positivo o negativo (drop-out) di un trattamento. Sono stati selezionati 4 casi di psicoterapia psicodinamica individuale da un database di ricerca relativo a pazienti seguiti presso un servizio pubblico specialistico per il trattamento dei disturbi alimentare (DCA). Due casi hanno interrotto il trattamento entro 6 mesi dall'inizio, mentre altri due continuano il percorso terapeutico. Ai pazienti sono stati somministrati i seguenti strumenti: una batteria testologica al baseline, finalizzata a rilevare sintomi alimentari, distress psicologico e stili di personalit\ue0; la Working Alliace Inventory (WAI)- Tracey, Kokotovic, 1989) e la Session Impact Scale (SIS-Elliott, Wexler, 1994) dopo la III, IV e V seduta per monitorare l'andamento della terapia. La Client Change Interview (Elliott, 2001) \ue8 stata poi somministrata a pazienti e terapeuti dopo 6 mesi dall'inizio della terapia. I risultati preliminari evidenziano l'importanza di integrare la valutazione qualitativa del terapeuta ai dati self-report di processo ed out-come del paziente, per implementare la conoscenza dei fattori che possono essere associati all'interruzione della terapia da parte dei pazienti e valutare come obiettivi terapeutici comuni possano avere un effetto sulla buona riuscita del trattamento

Squamous cell tumors recruit \u3b3\u3b4 T cells producing either IL17 or IFN\u3b3 depending on the tumor stage

The identification of reciprocal interactions between tumorinfiltrating immune cells and the microenviromentmay help us understand mechanisms of tumor growth inhibition or progression. We have assessed the frequencies of tumor-infiltrating and circulating \u3b3\u3b4 T cells and regulatory T cells (Treg) from 47 patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), to determine if they correlated with progression or survival. V\u3b41 T cells infiltrated SSC tissue to a greater extent than normal skin, but SCC patients and healthy subjects had similar amounts circulating. However, V\u3b42 T cells were present at higher frequencies in circulation than in the tissue of either cancer patients or healthy donors. Tregs were decreased in the peripheral blood of SCC patients, but were significantly increased in the tumor compartment of these patients. Tumor-infiltrating \u3b3\u3b4 T cells preferentially showed an effector memory phenotype and made either IL17 or IFN\u3b3 depending on the tumor stage, whereas circulating \u3b3\u3b4 T cells of SCC patients preferentially made IFN\u3b3. Different cell types in the tumor microenvironment produced chemokines that could recruit circulating \u3b3\u3b4 T cells to the tumor site and other cytokines that could reprogram \u3b3\u3b4 T cells to produce IL17. These findings suggest the possibility that \u3b3\u3b4 T cells in SCC are recruited from the periphery and their features are then affected by the tumor microenvironment. Elevated frequencies of infiltrating V\u3b42 T cells and Tregs differently correlated with early and advanced tumor stages, respectively. Our results provide insights into the functions of tumor-infiltrating \u3b3\u3b4 T cells and define potential tools for tumor immunotherapy