Malacological Remains from the 2011-2016 Excavations at Khashuri Natsargora and Aradetis Orgora (Shida Kartli Region, Georgia, Southern Caucasus)

L’articolo discute i resti malacologici rinvenuti a Khashuri Natsargora e Aradetis Orgora, due siti dell’Età del Bronzo/Ferro nel bacino del Kura nella provincia georgiana di Shida Kartli (Caucaso Meridionale). Il corpus consiste in più di 500 esemplari ed include specie sia di terra che d’acqua dolce (queste ultime soprattutto per Aradetis Orgora), mentre le specie marine rappresentano una porzione estremamente marginale del totale. Il record, ottenuto attraverso la raccolta diretta in corso di scavo, include solo le specie con la conchiglia più resistente e di maggiori dimensioni, più riconoscibili ad occhio nudo e quindi rappresenta solo una parte degli inventari malacologici pertinenti alle sequenze stratigrafiche investigate. Nonostante questi limiti obiettivi, si è ritenuto opportuno presentare i dati raccolti e i risultati della loro analisi, che hanno permesso di ottenere informazioni di tipo paleoecologico e paleoeconomico non prive di interesse. L’analisi dei resti disponibili mostra una chiara predominanza di specie connesse con ambienti aperti e xerici, in sostanziale accordo sia con l’ambiente locale attuale che con i pochi dati paleoambientali disponibili. La debole variazione diacronica della composizione degli inventari suggerisce una sostanziale stabilità ecologica per entrambi i biotopi. L’abbondanza di molluschi d’acqua dolce ad Aradetis Orgora può essere spiegata con la prossimità del sito ai fiumi Prone e Kura, biotopi dai quali essi potrebbero essere stati raccolti intenzionalmente a scopi alimentari, come potrebbero suggerire alcuni paralleli da altre società dell’Età del Bronzo.The paper discusses the malacological remains recovered at Khashuri Natsargora and Aradetis Orgora, two Bronze Age/Iron Age sites located in the Kura River basin of the Shida Kartli province of Georgia (Southern Caucasus). The corpus consists of over 500 items, which include both land and (especially for Aradetis Orgora) freshwater species, while marine species represent an extremely marginal portion of the total. In both cases a clear dominance of species connected with open and xeric environments can be observed, in substantial agreement both with the present local environment and with the little available palaeoenvironmental data. The record is characterised by a scarce variety of species and shows very weak diachronic variability, which suggests a substantial ecological stability for both biotopes. The abundance of freshwater molluscs at Aradetis Orgora can be explained by the proximinity of the site to the Prone and Kura rivers

Impaired glucose metabolism in subjects with the Williams-Beuren syndrome. A five-year follow-up cohort study

Objective. The Williams-Beuren syndrome (WS) is associated with impaired glucose metabolism (IGM) early in adulthood. However, the pathophysiology of IGM remains poorly defined, due to the lack longitudinal studies investigating the contribution of β-cell dysfunction and impaired insulin sensitivity. This study aimed at assessing incidence of IGM and the underlying mechanisms in WS adults. Methods. This observational, longitudinal (5-year), cohort study enrolled thirty-one consecutive WS subjects attending a tertiary referral center. An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed yearly and used to classify patients as normal or IGM, including impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and/or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and diabetes mellitus (DM), and to calculate surrogate measures of insulin secretion and/or sensitivity. Results. IGM patients were 18 (58.1%, three DM) at baseline and 19 (61.3%, five DM) at end-of-follow-up. However, 13 individuals changed category of glucose homeostasis in both directions during follow-up (8 progressors, 5 regressors) and 18 did not (8 non-progressors, 10 non-regressors). New cases of IGM and DM were 11.1 and 2.53 per 100 persons-year, respectively, and were treated non-pharmacologically. In the whole cohort and, to a higher extent, in progressors, indices of early-phase insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity decreased significantly from baseline to end-of-follow-up, with concurrent reduction of the oral disposition index and insulin secretion-sensitivity index-2 (ISSI-2), compensating insulin secretion for the level of insulin resistance. No baseline measure independently predicted progression, which correlated with change from baseline in ISSI-2. Compared with patients with normal glucose homeostasis, IGT subjects had impaired insulin sensitivity, whereas insulin secretion was reduced only in those with IFG+IGT or DM. Conclusions. IGM incidence is high in young adults with WS, suggesting the need of early screening and timed intervention. As in classical type 2 diabetes, impaired insulin sensitivity and β-cell dysfunction contribute, in this sequence, to progression to IGM and DM

A VSV-G Pseudotyped Last Generation Lentiviral Vector Mediates High Level and Persistent Gene Transfer in Models of Airway Epithelium In Vitro and In Vivo

The aim of this work was to evaluate the efficiency and duration of gene expression mediated by a VSV-G pseudotyped last generation lentiviral (LV) vector. We studied LV efficiency in ex-vivo models of respiratory epithelial cells, obtained from bronchial biopsies and nasal polyps, by GFP epifluorescence and cytofluorimetry. In vivo efficiency and persistence of gene expression was investigated by GFP immunohistochemistry and luciferase activity in lung cryosections and homogenates, respectively, upon intranasal and intratracheal administration protocols in C57Bl/6 mice. Both primary bronchial and nasal epithelial cells were transduced up to 70–80% 72 hr after the LV infection. In vivo nasal luciferase expression was increased by lysophosphatidylcholine pre-treatment of the nose. Conversely, the bronchial epithelium was transduced in the absence of any pre-conditioning treatment and luciferase expression lasted for at least 6 months without any decline. We conclude that a last generation LV vector is a promising gene transfer agent in the target organ of genetic and acquired lung diseases, as in the case of cystic fibrosis

Nonischemic left ventricular scar and cardiac sudden death in the young

Nonischemic Left Ventricular Scar (NLVS) is a pattern of myocardial injury characterized by midventricular and/or subepicardial gadolinium hyper enhancement at cardiac magnetic resonance, in absence of significant coronary artery disease. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of NLVS in juvenile sudden cardiac death and to ascertain its aetiology at autopsy. We examined 281 consecutive cases of sudden death of subjects aged 1 to 35 years of age. NLVS was defined as a thin, grey rim of subepicardial and/or midmyocardial scar in the left ventricular free wall and/or the septum, in absence of significant stenosis of coronary arteries. NLVS was the most frequent finding (25%) in sudden deaths occurring during sports. Myocardial scar was localized most frequently within the left ventricular posterior wall, and affected the subepicardial myocardium, often extending to the midventricular layer. On histology it consisted of fibrous or fibro-adipose tissue. Right ventricular involvement was always present. Patchy lymphocytic infiltrates were frequent. Genetic and molecular analyses clarified the aetiology of NLVS in a subset of cases. ECG recordings were available in over half of subjects. The most frequent abnormality was the presence of low QRS voltages (< 0,5 mV) in limb leads. In serial ECG tracings, the decrease in QRS voltages appeared, in some way progressive. NLVS is the most frequent morphologic substrate of juvenile cardiac sudden death in sports. It can be suspected based on ECG findings. Autopsy study and clinical screening of family members are required to differentiate between Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy/Dysplasia and chronic acquired myocarditis

Effects of short-term aerobic exercise in a mouse model of Niemann-Pick type C Disease on synaptic and muscle plasticity

Background. Physical exercise can reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases andslow the onset of neurodegenerative diseases. Since it has not been assessed which kindof training protocol might positively modulate both synaptic and muscular plasticity inneurodegenerative diseases, we studied in a mouse model of Niemann Pick type C disease,a model of minimal Alzheimer’s Disease, the effect of a short term protocol.Methods. We evaluated the effect of a short term, aerobic uniform exercise training onsynaptic and muscle plasticity in three different mice groups: WT controls, NPC1+/-and NPC1-/- animals. The results were compared with those obtained in the sedentaryrespective groups. We analyzed the effects on synaptic plasticity by in vitro extracellularrecordings in hippocampal mouse slices; moreover hippocampal and muscle tissuemorphological structure have been investigated by transmission electron microscopy, tohighlight any structural and functional changes due to training.Results. The results indicate a rescue of long-term potentiation in homozygous but notin heterozygous mice slices and an induction of neuronal plasticity, observed by morphologicalanalysis, both in homozygous and in heterozygous trained mice.Conclusions. Hence this protocol is adequate to improve long term potent

Influence of hyaluronic acid on bacterial and fungal species, including clinically relevant opportunistic pathogens.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) has several clinical applications (aesthetic surgery, dermatology, orthopaedics and ophtalmology). Following recent evidence, suggesting antimicrobial and antiviral properties for HA, we investigated its effects on 15 ATCC strains, representative ofclinically relevant bacterial and fungal species. The in vitro system employed allowed to assess optical density of broth cultures as a measure of microbial load in a time-dependent manner. The results showed that different microbial species and, sometimes, different strains belonging to the same species, are differently affected by HA. In particular, staphylococci, enterococci, Streptococcus mutans, twoEscherichia coli strains, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida glabrata and C. parapsilosis displayed a HA dosedependent growth inhibition; no HA effects were detected in E. coli ATCC 13768 and C. albicans; S. sanguinis was favoured by the highest HA dose. Therefore, the influence of HA on bacteria and fungi warrants further studies aimedat better establishing its relevance in clinical applications

Predicting outcomes of Italian VAT decisions

This study aims at predicting the outcomes of legal cases based on the textual content of judicial decisions. We present a new corpus of Italian documents, consisting of 226 annotated decisions on Value Added Tax by Regional Tax law commissions. We address the task of predicting whether a request is upheld or rejected in the final decision. We employ traditional classifiers and NLP methods to assess which parts of the decision are more informative for the task