I registri delle curie dei podestà suburbani di Genova nella seconda metà del Trecento

Il contributo intende essere un primo sondaggio sulle pratiche redazionali poste in essere dalle curie giudiziarie delle tre podesterie suburbane del sistema genovese medievale. L’analisi intende rilevare punti di contatto e divergenze nellatenuta dei registri trecenteschi sopravvissuti, al fine di evidenziare eventuali politiche gestionali condivise in materia di modelli documentari e di individuare itratti emergenti dei profili professionali impegnati.The paper aims to be a first survey on the editorial practices implemented by the judicial curiae of the three suburban Podestariae of the medieval Genoese system. The analysis intends to detect points of contact and divergences of the surviving fourteenth-century registers, in order to highlight any shared management policies regarding documentary models and to identify the emerging traits of the professional profiles involved

Segni e disegni dei notai: prime valutazioni sulla documentazione genovese (secoli XII-XIII)

The paper aims to be a first and very preliminary approach to the complex topic of the graphic ability expressed by the Genoese notaries, especially in relation to the presence of figurative elaborations, free drawings or influenced ones, within the documnetary production of the category, following up what emerged in other Italian territorial realities, including neighboring ones.Il contributo si delinea come un primo e preliminare approccio al complesso argomento della capacità grafica espressa dal notariato genovese, soprattutto in relazione all’accertamento della presenza di elaborazioni figurative, a tema più o meno libero, all’interno della produzione prodotta dalla categoria, sulla scia di quanto emerso in altre realtà territoriali italiane, anche limitrofe

La presenza delle donne nei cartolari notarili genovesi(secoli XII-XIII)

ITALIANO: L’obiettivo di questo contributo non si limita a una sottolineatura delle indiscutibili ricchezza e poliedricità di contenuto del grande giacimento costituito dai cartolari notarili dimatrice genovese (almeno 250 entro la fine del Duecento). L’autrice si interroga, oltre chesulla specifica genesi di ciascun cartolare, anche sulle perdite avvenute, con articolate domande rispetto a una selezione vuoi intenzionale, vuoi casuale, al nodo della clientela che si rivolgea un notaio, alla reazione professionale del notaio di fronte alla clientela femminile attiva in prima persona, alla frequenza con cui le donne figurano in varia veste nella documentazione; nel prendere a esempio documenti che testimoniano dei patrimoni femminili, pone alcune domande che ne suggeriscono una lettura non letterale e non ingenua. / ENGLISH: The aim of this essay is not just to underscore the undeniable richness and variedness of the information contained in the large deposit of notarial cartularies of Genoese origin (at least 250 registers till the end of the thirteenth century). The author questions not only the specific genesis of each cartulary, but also the losses, posing complex questions regarding the selection, whether intentional or random, the clientele that made recourse to a notary, the notary’s professional reaction to female clients who acted on their own behalf, the frequency with which women appear in various capacities in the documentation. By taking as an example documents concerning female property, the author suggests a less literal and naïve interpretation of notarial acts

"Tante cose se dicono che pareno incredebele". Lettera sulla scoperta dell’America

L’articolo presenta un resoconto sincrono, recentemente scoperto all’Archivio di Stato di Genova, relativo alla lettera inviata da Cristoforo Colombo ai Reali di Spagna per informarli della riuscita del viaggio. La fonte si profila dunque come la più antica e attendibile forma di testimonianza direttamente riconducibile a questa perduta comunicazione dell’Ammiraglio

Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Insulin Resistance: The Contribution of Dioxin-Like Substances

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are known to cause mitochondrial dysfunction and this in turn is linked to insulin resistance, a key biochemical abnormality underlying the metabolic syndrome. To establish the cause and effect relationship between exposure to POPs and the development of the metabolic syndrome, Koch's postulates were considered. Problems arising from this approach were discussed and possible solutions were suggested. In particular, the difficulty of establishing a cause and effect relationship due to the vagueness of the metabolic syndrome as a disease entity was discussed. Recently a bioassay, aryl-hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) trans-activation activity using a cell line expressing AhR-luciferase, showed that its activity is linearly related with the parameters of the metabolic syndrome in a population. This finding suggests the possible role of bioassays in the analysis of multiple pollutants of similar kinds in the pathogenesis of several closely related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. Understanding the effects of POPs on mitochondrial function will be very useful in understanding the integration of various factors involved in this process, such as genes, fetal malnutrition and environmental toxins and their protectors, as mitochondria act as a unit according to the metabolic scaling law

Chronic Consumption of Farmed Salmon Containing Persistent Organic Pollutants Causes Insulin Resistance and Obesity in Mice

Background: Dietary interventions are critical in the prevention of metabolic diseases. Yet, the effects of fatty fish consumption on type 2 diabetes remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a diet containing farmed salmon prevents or contributes to insulin resistance in mice. Methodology/Principal Findings: Adult male C57BL/6J mice were fed control diet (C), a very high-fat diet without or with farmed Atlantic salmon fillet (VHF and VHF/S, respectively), and Western diet without or with farmed Atlantic salmon fillet (WD and WD/S, respectively). Other mice were fed VHF containing farmed salmon fillet with reduced concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (VHF/S-POPs). We assessed body weight gain, fat mass, insulin sensitivity, glucose tolerance, ex vivo muscle glucose uptake, performed histology and immunohistochemistry analysis, and investigated gene and protein expression. In comparison with animals fed VHF and WD, consumption of both VHF/S and WD/S exaggerated insulin resistance, visceral obesity, and glucose intolerance. In addition, the ability of insulin to stimulate Akt phosphorylation and muscle glucose uptake was impaired in mice fed farmed salmon. Relative to VHF/S-fed mice, animals fed VHF/S-POPs had less body burdens of POPs, accumulated less visceral fat, and had reduced mRNA levels of TNFa as well as macrophage infiltration in adipose tissue. VHF/S-POPs-fed mice further exhibited better insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance than mice fed VHF/S. Conclusions/Significance: Our data indicate that intake of farmed salmon fillet contributes to several metabolic disorders linked to type 2 diabetes and obesity, and suggest a role of POPs in these deleterious effects. Overall, these findings may participate to improve nutritional strategies for the prevention and therapy of insulin resistance

Persistent Organic Pollutant Exposure Leads to Insulin Resistance Syndrome

International audienceBackground: the incidence of the insulin resistance syndrome has increased at an alarming rate worldwide, creating a serious challenge to public health care in the 21st century. Recently, epide-miological studies have associated the prevalence of type 2 diabetes with elevated body burdens of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). However, experimental evidence demonstrating a causal link between POPs and the development of insulin resistance is lacking. Objective: We investigated whether exposure to POPs contributes to insulin resistance and meta-bolic disorders. Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed for 28 days to lipophilic POPs through the con-sumption of a high-fat diet containing either refined or crude fish oil obtained from farmed Atlantic salmon. In addition, differentiated adipocytes were exposed to several POP mixtures that mimicked the relative abundance of organic pollutants present in crude salmon oil. We measured body weight, whole-body insulin sensitivity, POP accumulation, lipid and glucose homeostasis, and gene expres-sion and we performed micro array analysis. Results: Adult male rats exposed to crude, but not refined, salmon oil developed insulin resis-tance, abdominal obesity, and hepatosteatosis. The contribution of POPs to insulin resistance was confirmed in cultured adipocytes where POPs, especially organochlorine pesticides, led to robust inhibition of insulin action. Moreover, POPs induced down-regulation of insulin-induced gene-1 (Insig-1) and Lpin1, two master regulators of lipid homeostasis. Conclusion: Our findings provide evidence that exposure to POPs commonly present in food chains leads to insulin resistance and associated metabolic disorder

A computational approach to chemical etiologies of diabetes.

Computational meta-analysis can link environmental chemicals to genes and proteins involved in human diseases, thereby elucidating possible etiologies and pathogeneses of non-communicable diseases. We used an integrated computational systems biology approach to examine possible pathogenetic linkages in type 2 diabetes (T2D) through genome-wide associations, disease similarities, and published empirical evidence. Ten environmental chemicals were found to be potentially linked to T2D, the highest scores were observed for arsenic, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, hexachlorobenzene, and perfluorooctanoic acid. For these substances we integrated disease and pathway annotations on top of protein interactions to reveal possible pathogenetic pathways that deserve empirical testing. The approach is general and can address other public health concerns in addition to identifying diabetogenic chemicals, and offers thus promising guidance for future research in regard to the etiology and pathogenesis of complex diseases

Low Dose Organochlorine Pesticides and Polychlorinated Biphenyls Predict Obesity, Dyslipidemia, and Insulin Resistance among People Free of Diabetes

There is emerging evidence that background exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are important in the development of conditions predisposing to diabetes as well as of type 2 diabetes itself. We recently reported that low dose POPs predicted incident type 2 diabetes in a nested case-control study. The current study examined if low dose POPs predicted future adiposity, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance among controls without diabetes in that study.The 90 controls were diabetes-free during 20 years follow-up. They were a stratified random sample, enriched with overweight and obese persons. POPs measured in 1987-88 (year 2) sera included 8 organochlorine (OC) pesticides, 22 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and 1 polybrominated biphenyl (PBB). Body mass index (BMI), triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and homeostasis model assessment value for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were study outcomes at 2005-06 (year 20). The evolution of study outcomes during 18 years by categories of serum concentrations of POPs at year 2 was evaluated by adjusting for the baseline values of outcomes plus potential confounders. Parallel to prediction of type 2 diabetes, many statistically significant associations of POPs with dysmetabolic conditions appeared at low dose, forming inverted U-shaped dose-response relations. Among OC pesticides, p,p'-DDE most consistently predicted higher BMI, triglycerides, and HOMA-IR and lower HDL-cholesterol at year 20 after adjusting for baseline values. Oxychlordane, trans-nonachlor, and hexachlorobenzene also significantly predicted higher triglycerides. Persistent PCBs with ≥7 chlorides predicted higher BMI, triglycerides, and HOMA-IR and lower HDL-cholesterol at year 20 with similar dose-response curves.Simultaneous exposure to various POPs in the general population may contribute to development of obesity, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance, common precursors of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Although obesity is a primary cause of these metabolic abnormalities, POPs exposure may contribute to excess adiposity and other features of dysmetabolism