Hydromethanolic Extracts from Adansonia digitata L. Edible Parts Positively Modulate Pathophysiological Mechanisms Related to the Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome includes a cluster of risk factors for many pathological conditions, including hyperglycemia, abdominal obesity, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension. Adansonia digitata L. (also known as baobab) is used in traditional African Medicine and recent studies showed that it improves the metabolism of carbohydrates and lipids. The aim of this study is to investigate the mechanisms of action associated with the beneficial effects of extracts from the edible parts of baobab (fruit pulp, leaves, raw and toasted seeds), evaluating their inhibitory activity against: alpha-amylase, alpha-glucosidase, angiotensin-converting enzyme, 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A reductase, and pancreatic lipase. Baobab fruit pulp and leaf extracts resulted to be the most active ones and were then tested on the differentiation process of SW-872 human liposarcoma cells to mature adipocytes. The addition of these latter extracts did not affect triglyceride accumulation, indicating a neutral impact on this parameter. The findings here reported help to explain the growing amount of evidence on the biological properties of baobab and provide suggestions about their use in food and nutraceutical fields

Cerebral Blood Flow in Healthy Subjects with Different Hypnotizability Scores

Hypnotizability is a cognitive trait associated with differences in the brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation of individuals with high hypnotizability (highs) and low hypnotizability scores (lows). The study investigated possible hypnotizability-related cerebrovascular differences. Among 24 healthy volunteers, the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale Form A identified 13 medium-to-lows (med-lows), 11 medium-to-highs (med-highs), and 1 medium hypnotizable. Hypnotizability did not influence the significant changes produced by the trail making task (TMT), mental arithmetic task (MAT), hyperventilation (HVT), and rebreathing (RBT) on heart rate (HR), arterial blood pressure (ABP), and partial pressure of end-tidal CO2 (PET CO2), but moderated the correlations between the changes occurring during tasks with respect to basal conditions (∆) in ABP and PET CO2 with middle cerebral artery flow velocity (MCAv). In HVT, med-lows exhibited a significant correlation between ∆MCAv and ∆PET CO2, and med-highs showed a significant correlation between ∆ABP and ∆MCAv. Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) and conductance (∆CVCi) were significantly correlated with ∆MCAv only in med-lows during HVT and RBT. For the first time, cerebrovascular reactivity related to hypnotizability was investigated, evidencing different correlations among hemodynamic variables in med-highs and med-lows

Recurrence quantification analysis describes the complex and deterministic behavior of heart rate variability in healthy subjects

This study highlights the application of recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) to derive information about nonlinear properties of heart rate variability (HRV). Parameters introduced by RQA, based on distance, recurrence and entropy of Recurrence Plots (RPs), show a natural application to cardiovascular signals, as descriptors of variable inherent complexity and determinism in different physiological conditions. RQA was applied to RR interval series collected in healthy subjects during relaxation, providing quantitative markers associated with the presence of complexity and determinism in HRV

Hypnotizability related differences in written language

Abstract The study analyzed the writing products of subjects with high (highs) and low (lows) hypnotizability. The participants were asked to write short texts in response to highly imaginative scenarios in standard conditions. The texts were processed through computerized and manual methods. The results showed that the highs' texts were more sophisticated due to a higher number of abstract nouns, more intense and imaginative due to a larger number of similes, metaphors, and onomatopoeias, and less detailed due to a higher nouns-to-adjectives ratio. The differences in the use of abstract nouns and highly imageable expressions are discussed in relation to the preeminent left-hemisphere activity of highs during wakefulness and to a possibly different involvement of the precuneus, which is involved in hypnotic phenomena

The San Pellegrino rock-hewn complex at Matera: a magnificent example of the rupestrian culture in southern Italy

The town of Matera is worldwide known for the remarkable development of the inhabited area, one of the best examples of the so–called rupestrian culture, consisting of settlements formed by houses and shelters carved in the rocks, especially along the faces of deep valleys (locally called gravine). Physical properties of the local rock allowed to use the natural caves and shelters, and to enlarge them, to create even very complex, multi–stories, settlements. Due to richness of such evidence, and the magnificent natural scenario in which the town is located, Matera was listed in the World Cultural Heritage Sites by Unesco in 1993. This contribution describes a complex of caves located at the southern outskirts of town, in locality Ofra, consisting of four different levels of natural and man–made cavities, along the right cliff of the gravina. Named San Pellegrino, the cave complex is situated in an area that shows at the surface several archaeological evidence, testifying a long occupation of the site. About in the same area, in many other caves remarkable prehistoric remnants have repeatedly been brought to light. The San Pellegrino complex follows the geological passage between the Cretaceous limestone bedrock, and the overlying Plio–Pleistocene calcarenites. Natural caves developed typically at the contact, mainly formed as rock shelters, or phreatic caves of limited length. They were later on modified by man, that also excavated further rooms at higher levels, thus creating the overall multi–story complex. Since its origin, San Pellegrino was dedicated to agriculture and breeding, mainly for sheep and goats. This is testified by the high walls realized at the lowest entrance of the system, to create a space where to control of the herds. Two underground spaces were, on the other hand, dedicated to beekeeping. At the surface, the highplain shows farmyards for cereal ventilation, holes to host poles to sustain the vineyards, and water cisterns to collect the rainfall. In the central part of the complex, the rupestrian church is placed, also with a function of burial–place. The overall complex is of high historical importance, but it is at present in a very degraded state, being affected by diffuse instability processes, testified by past falls, unstable blocks, and a pervasive system of cracks. The instability throughout the history of the site is also testified by changes in the distribution of the spaces, and by sustaining pillars in calcarenites in the most dangerous places, as well as by new passages, realized to overcome the obstacles created by the occurrence of rockfalls

Heart-rate control during pain and suggestions of analgesia without deliberate induction of hypnosis

Heart rate and heart-rate variability (HRV) were studied through a set of different methods in high (highs) and low hypnotizable subjects (lows) not receiving any deliberate hypnotic induction in basal conditions (simple relaxation) and during nociceptive-pressor stimulation with and without suggestions of analgesia. ANOVA did not reveal any difference between highs and lows for heart rate and for the HRV indexes extracted from the series of the interbeat intervals (RR) of the ECG in the frequency (spectral analysis) and time domain (standard deviation, Poincare plot) in both basal and stimulation conditions. Factors possibly accounting for the results and likely responsible for an underestimation of group differences are discussed