175 research outputs found
<i>Mycobacterium avium</i> subspecies <i>paratuberculosis</i> bacteremia in type 1 diabetes mellitus: an infectious trigger?
Mycobacterium avium
subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) is the
established cause of paratuberculosis in
ruminants (i.e., Johne disease). The bacterium
is shed in the milk of infected cows
and survives pasteurization. Recently, an
association between MAP and Crohn disease
has been suggested, wherein MAP has
been found to persist in a cell wall–deficient
form, escaping clearance by the host
immune system
Sperimentazione di un nuovo training per cani co-terapeuti e per supporto disabili secondo un approccio neuropsicologico
The aim of this work was to evaluate the neuro-psychological method based on the
Cognitive Behavioural Method modified, in the training of assistance and co-therapist
dogs working in Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI). This approach is based on the
relationship between dog and handler and dog’s training is oriented to increase its
experiences, its adaptability and its cognitive skills whereas classic dog handling
forecasts creation and management of automatisms, with the dog kept always under
control. Twenty-tree dogs of different breeds were involved in this study. The
esteemed time to train a dog for AAI is resulted to be 1 year but the complete
behavioural development is reached around the 2 years. The dogs learned almost 50
words, they were able to answer simple and complex requests, to generalize starting
from a noun-object association and/or from a given action. During both everyday’s
life and AAI, they showed a spontaneous collaborative attitude. A relevant result was
that the dogs participated to 1 to 15 AAI session a week, lasting 30 minutes each,
never showing any behavioural sign related to stress. An important feature of the
training was the relationship between dog and handler, built through correct
communication and attention to the cognitive characteristics of the dogs, as the
constitution of the dog-handler couple is one of the prerequisites to participate to
AAI. This method permits to train dogs respecting their ethological and behavioural
characteristics
Flood damage risk assessment optimizing a flood mitigation system
Flood risk management plan for potentially damaged areas is a main requirement from the European Directive 2007/60. Therefore, assessment and evaluation of the potential flood damages in quantitative terms need to be defined in mapped flood risk areas. Quantitative evaluation should be in agreement with the required cost-benefit analysis as a rational decision-making tool optimizing the flood mitigation system. In the first part of the paper, analyses are reported, based on recent flood events that had taken place in the Europe, in order to obtain depth-damage functions to apply in the Sardinia region (Italy). Flood damage functions are not still available for every European country and the paper analysed previous studies to define depth-damage functions for this region. The paper focuses then on the validation of the proposed depth-damage functions. The available flood data and reported damages of the massive storm happened in South-Est Sardinia the 22nd of October 2008 are analysed. Data analysis allows to compute the total economic losses for different land uses conditions and to compare with the evaluated ones. In the last part of the paper, expected damages evaluated using depth-damages functions are used for the Coghinas river lowlands valley. The regional Water District Authority defining the flood risk management plan considers this river basin as a pilot area. Applying hydraulic models to floodplain river flow allows evaluation of the expected flood damages using the depth-damage functions. Moreover, the procedure allows developing the cost-benefit analysis in order to justify different design scenarios and gives a rational decision-making tool optimizing the flood mitigation syste
Social Withdrawal and Mental Health: An Interdisciplinary Approach
Social isolation may be considered as a risk factor for health. It may contribute to the development of a mental health disease. In this chapter, social withdrawal is defined as voluntary isolation prolonged in time that involves the cessation of any form of social relationship and contact with people and the outside. Clinical psychology, psycho-educational interventions, and social neuroscience research tries to understand what happens when social isolation is experienced. Therefore an interdisciplinary perspective can help to better understand this phenomenon. The deepening of these aspects can help to create new forms of theoretical perspective and of a clinical and psycho-educational intervention to better arrange for this new type of maladaptive condition
Genetic diversity of Sardinian goat population based on microsatellites
During the last century, the selection for production traits of the main livestock
species has led to a reduction in number of local populations with consequent loss of genetic variability. In
Sardinia, the genetic improvement strategy has been based on selection for the local pure breed in sheep,
whereas in the other species (cattle, swine and goat), an often unplanned crossbreeding with improved breeds
has been applied. In this context, several studies on genetic diversity of these populations have been started
with the final aim of recovering the autochthonous genetic types. The global approach involves different steps:
- characterization of the farming system and typical products; - morphological and productive evaluation of the
animals; - genetic characterization of the populations through molecular DNA analyses (microsatellites, AFLP,
mitochondrial DNA, etc.); - creation of nucleus flocks in public farms and germoplasm banks; - organization of
herd-books involving farmers interested in the safeguard of local breeds and valorisation of traditional products.
A far as the goat population is concerned, Sardinia is the Italian region with the largest goat stock,
(209.000 heads, about 23% of the total national stock). Farms are located in mountains, low hills and even
plans (Macciotta et al., 2002) resulting in a quite large variability (Brandano and Piras, 1978) in terms of feeding
and management techniques; but extensive and semi extensive systems in marginal areas prevail (Carta
et al., 2001; Usai et al., 2004). The current population has been constituted by crossbreeding the autochthonous
animals with other improved Mediterranean breeds,mainly Maltese goat. The aim of this paper is to study the
genetic variability of this population through the analysis of 17 microsatellite markers
Interaction between <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i>, <i>Mycobacterium bovis</i>, <i>Mycobacterium avium</i> subspecies <i>paratuberculosis</i> with the enteric glia and microglial cells
Background
We investigated the interaction of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis, M. bovis and M. tuberculosis and different glial cells (enteric glial and microglial cells) in order to evaluate the infecting ability of these microorganisms and the effects produced on these cells, such as the evaluation of cytokines expression.
Results
Our experiments demonstrated the adhesion of M. paratuberculosis to the enteroglial cells and the induction of IL-1A and IL-6 expression; M. tuberculosis and M. bovis showed a good adhesive capability to the enteric cell line with the expression of the following cytokines: IL-1A and IL-1B, TNF-α, G-CSF and GM-CSF; M. bovis induced the expression of IL-6 too.
The experiment performed with the microglial cells confirmed the results obtained with the enteroglial cells after the infection with M. tuberculosis and M. bovis, whereas M. paratuberculosis stimulated the production of IL-1A and IL-1B.
Conclusion
Enteroglial and microglial cells, could be the target of pathogenic mycobacteria and, even if present in different locations (Enteric Nervous System and Central Nervous System), show to have similar mechanism of immunomodulation
Prime valutazioni degli effetti della protezione sull’ittiofauna di fondo roccioso nella costa occidentale dell’Isola dell’Asinara = Preliminary evaluation of the effects of protection on rocky fish assemblages in the Western coast of Asinara Island
Coastal fish fauna from a recently established Mediterranean MPA and from an adjacent nonprotected
zone near its boundary were compared to evaluate the effects of protection. A remarkable “reserve effect” was detected for the whole assemblage in terms of both species richness and abundance. Moreover, a moderate spillover effect outside the MPA was observed for several target species
"In vitro" activities of antimycobacterial agents against Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis linked to Crohn's Disease and Paratuberculosis
Estimation of (co)variance components of nematode parasites resistance and somatic cell count in dairy sheep
Nematode parasites and mastitis are the major animal health constraints in sheep. The
aim of this study was estimating the genetic (co)variances of nematode parasites resistance and somatic
cell count in dairy sheep. From 2000 to 2008, Somatic Cell Score (SCS) and Faecal Egg Count (FEC) records
were available on an experimental population consisting of 949 backcross ewes and 806 their daughters.
Data were processed independently for each subpopulation in order to adjust for specific environmental effects
and to obtain lactation records for both traits to be used in the genetic analysis.
Variance components
estimation was performed by using the REML method applied to a bi-trait repeatability animal model.
Heritabilities of lactation SCS (LSCS) and FEC were 0.19 and 0.16. Genetic correlation was 0.21, whereas
phenotypic correlation was 0.01. The estimated heritabilities confirm that both traits could be selected by
the classical quantitative approach.
The genetic correlation estimate between LSCS and FEC suggests
that selection for one of the two traits would not have any detrimental effect on the other one
"In vitro" activities of antimycobacterial agents against <i>Mycobacterium avium</i> subsp. <i>paratuberculosis</i> linked to Crohn's disease and paratuberculosis
Crohn's disease, a human disease similar to paratuberculosis in animals is the most painful and devastating disease that may involve infection with M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP), different genetic polymorphisms and an immune dysregulation syndrome. Treatment of Crohn's disease is most commonly based on 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) compounds, corticosteroids, and immunosuppressive agents. Recently, biological therapies using monoclonal antibodies against inflammatory cytokines have shown some positive results. However, all these therapies treat the symptoms not the cause of the disease
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