Monomeric adiponectin modulates nitric oxide release and calcium movements in porcine aortic endothelial cells in normal/high glucose conditions.

AIMS: Perivascular adipose tissue can be involved in the process of cardiovascular pathology through the release of adipokines, namely adiponectins. Monomeric adiponectin has been shown to increase coronary blood flow in anesthetized pigs through increased nitric oxide (NO) release and the involvement of adiponectin receptor 1 (AdipoR1). The present study was therefore planned to examine the effects of monomeric adiponectin on NO release and Ca2+ transients in porcine aortic endothelial cells (PAEs) in normal/high glucose conditions and the related mechanisms. MAIN METHODS: PAEs were treated with monomeric adiponectin alone or in the presence of intracellular kinases blocker, AdipoR1 and Ca2+-ATPase pump inhibitors. The role of Na+/Ca2+ exchanger was examined in experiments performed in zero Na+ medium. NO release and intracellular Ca2+ were measured through specific probes. KEY FINDINGS: In PAE cultured in normal glucose conditions, monomeric adiponectin elevated NO production and [Ca2+]c. Similar effects were observed in high glucose conditions, although the response was lower and not transient. The Ca2+ mobilized by monomeric adiponectin originated from an intracellular pool thapsigargin- and ATP-sensitive and from the extracellular space. Moreover, the effects of monomeric adiponectin were prevented by kinase blockers and AdipoR1 inhibitor. Finally, in normal glucose condition, a role for Na+/Ca2+ exchanger and Ca2+-ATPase pump in restoring Ca2+ was found. SIGNIFICANCE: Our results add new information about the control of endothelial function elicited by monomeric adiponectin, which would be achieved by modulation of NO release and Ca2+ transients. A signalling related to Akt, ERK1/2 and p38MAPK downstream AdipoR1 would be involved

J/psi azimuthal anisotropy relative to the reaction plane in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon

The J/$\psi$ azimuthal distribution relative to the reaction plane has been measured by the NA50 experiment in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV/nucleon. Various physical mechanisms related to charmonium dissociation in the medium created in the heavy ion collision are expected to introduce an anisotropy in the azimuthal distribution of the observed J/$\psi$ mesons at SPS energies. Hence, the measurement of J/$\psi$ elliptic anisotropy, quantified by the Fourier coefficient v$_2$ of the J/$\psi$ azimuthal distribution relative to the reaction plane, is an important tool to constrain theoretical models aimed at explaining the anomalous J/$\psi$ suppression observed in Pb-Pb collisions. We present the measured J/$\psi$ yields in different bins of azimuthal angle relative to the reaction plane, as well as the resulting values of the Fourier coefficient v$_{2}$ as a function of the collision centrality and of the J/$\psi$ transverse momentum. The reaction plane has been estimated from the azimuthal distribution of the neutral transverse energy detected in an electromagnetic calorimeter. The analysis has been performed on a data sample of about 100 000 events, distributed in five centrality or p$_{\rm T}$ sub-samples. The extracted v$_{2}$ values are significantly larger than zero for non-central collisions and are seen to increase with p$_{\rm T}$.Comment: proceedings of HP08 conference corrected a typo in one equatio

A new measurement of J/psi suppression in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon

We present a new measurement of J/psi production in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV/nucleon, from the data sample collected in year 2000 by the NA50 Collaboration, under improved experimental conditions with respect to previous years. With the target system placed in vacuum, the setup was better adapted to study, in particular, the most peripheral nuclear collisions with unprecedented accuracy. The analysis of this data sample shows that the (J/psi)/Drell-Yan cross-sections ratio measured in the most peripheral Pb-Pb interactions is in good agreement with the nuclear absorption pattern extrapolated from the studies of proton-nucleus collisions. Furthermore, this new measurement confirms our previous observation that the (J/psi)/Drell-Yan cross-sections ratio departs from the normal nuclear absorption pattern for semi-central Pb-Pb collisions and that this ratio persistently decreases up to the most central collisions.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to Eur. Phys. J.

The dependence of the anomalous J/psi suppression on the number of participant nucleons

The observation of an anomalous J/psi suppression in Pb-Pb collisions by the NA50 Collaboration can be considered as the most striking indication for the deconfinement of quarks and gluons at SPS energies. In this Letter, we determine the J/psi suppression pattern as a function of the forward hadronic energy E-ZDC measured in a Zero Degree Calorimeter (ZDC). The direct connection between EZDC and the geometry of the collision allows us to calculate, within a Glauber approach, the precise relation between the number of participant nucleons N-part and E-ZDC. Then, we check if the experimental data can be better explained by a sudden or a smooth onset of the anomalous J/psi suppression as a function of the number of participants. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Centrality Behaviour of J/ψ\psi Production in Na50

The J/$\psi$ production in 158 A GeV Pb-Pb interactions is studied, in the dimuon decay channel, as a function of centrality, as measured with the electromagnetic or with the very forward calorimeters. After a first sharp variation at mid centrality, both patterns continue to fall down and exhibit a curvature change at high centrality values. This trend excludes any conventional hadronic model and is in agreement with a deconfined quark-gluon phase scenario. We report also preliminary results on the measured charged multiplicity, as given by a dedicated detector.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures (in eps) talk given at XXXI International Symposium on Multiparticle Dynamics, Sep. 1-7, 2001, Datong China URL http://ismd31.ccnu.edu.cn

An Educational and Physical Program to Reduce Headache, Neck/Shoulder Pain in a Working Community: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Noninvasive physical management is often prescribed for headache and neck pain. Systematic reviews, however, indicate that the evidence of its efficacy is limited. Our aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of a workplace educational and physical program in reducing headache and neck/shoulder pain. Methodology/Principal Findings: Cluster-randomized controlled trial. All municipal workers of the City of Turin, Italy, were invited to participate. Those who agreed were randomly assigned, according to their departments, to the intervention group (IG) or to the control group and were given diaries for the daily recording of pain episodes for 1 month (baseline). Subsequently, only the IG (119 departments, 923 workers) began the physical and educational program, whereas the control group (117 departments, 990 workers) did not receive any intervention. All participants were again given diaries for the daily recording of pain episodes after 6 months of intervention. The primary outcome was the change in the frequency of headache (expressed as the proportion of subjects with a 6550% reduction of frequency; responder rate); among the secondary outcomes there were the absolute reduction of the number of days per month with headache and neck/shoulder pain. Differences between the two groups were evaluated using mixed-effect regression models. The IG showed a higher responder rate [risk ratio, 95% confidence interval (CI)] for headache (1.58; 1.28 to 1.92) and for neck/shoulder pain (1.53; 1.27 to 1.82), and a larger reduction of the days per month (95% CI) with headache (-1.72; -2.40 to -1.04) and with neck/shoulder pain (-2.51; -3.56 to -1.47). Conclusions: The program effectively reduced headache and neck/shoulder pain in a large working community and appears to be easily transferable to primary-care settings. Further trials are needed to investigate the program effectiveness in a clinical setting, for highly selected patients suffering from specific headache types. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00551980. \ua9 2012 Mongini et al

NA50 final results on charmonia suppression

NA50The last results from the NA50 experiment on charmonia production in Pb-Pb interactions at 158 GeV/c per nucleon are presented. A strong J/$\psi$ suppression is observed, which increases with the centrality of the collisions. The J/$\psi$ production is seen to be anomalously suppressed starting at mid-centralities, when compared to a reference taken from proton-induced collisions. The most recent developments on the determination of this normal absorption curve are explained. It is also shown that for sulphur-induced reactions there is full agreement with the extrapolated normal p-A behaviour. The suppression of $\psi'$ production in heavy ion collisions (Pb-Pb and S-U) is also presented. It is seen to increase with the centrality of the collisions, and to be significantly stronger than the one measured in proton-induced reactions

Charmonia and Drell-Yan production in proton-nucleus collisions at the CERN SPS

Charmonium production in p-A collisions is a unique tool for the study of the interaction of bound ccbar in nuclear matter. It can provide details on the basic features of the resonance formation mechanism and, in particular, on its non-perturbative aspects. In this Letter, we present an experimental study of Charmonia and Drell-Yan production in proton-nucleus collisions at 450GeV/c. The results are analyzed in the framework of the Glauber model and lead to the values of the nuclear absorption cross-section sigma^abs_pA for j/psi and psi'. Then, we compare the J/psi absorption in proton-nucleus and sulphur-uranium interactions, using NA38 data. We obtain that, for the J/psi, omega^abs_pA and omega^abs_SU are compatible, showing that no sizeable additional suppression mechanism in present S-U collisions, and confirming that the anomalous J/psi suppression only sets in for Pb-Pb interactions

Scaling of charged particle multiplicity in Pb-Pb collisions at SPS energies

The charged particle multiplicity distribution $dN_{ch}/d\eta$ has been measured by the NA50 experiment in Pb--Pb collisions at the CERN SPS. Measurements were done at incident energies of 40 and 158 GeV per nucleon over a broad impact parameter range. The multiplicity distributions are studied as a function of centrality using the number of participating nucleons ($N_{part}$), or the number of binary nucleon--nucleon collisions ($N_{coll}$). Their values at midrapidity exhibit a power law scaling behaviour given by $N_{part}^{1.00}$ and $N_{coll}^{0.75}$ at 158 GeV. Compatible results are found for the scaling behaviour at 40 GeV. The width of the $dN_{ch}/d\eta$ distributions is larger at 158 than at 40 GeV/nucleon and decreases slightly with centrality at both energies. Our results are compared to similar studies performed by other experiments both at the CERN SPS and at RHIC.

Social cognition in people with schizophrenia: A cluster-analytic approach

Background The study aimed to subtype patients with schizophrenia on the basis of social cognition (SC), and to identify cut-offs that best discriminate among subtypes in 809 out-patients recruited in the context of the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses. Method A two-step cluster analysis of The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), the Facial Emotion Identification Test and Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test scores was performed. Classification and regression tree analysis was used to identify the cut-offs of variables that best discriminated among clusters. Results We identified three clusters, characterized by unimpaired (42%), impaired (50.4%) and very impaired (7.5%) SC. Three theory-of-mind domains were more important for the cluster definition as compared with emotion perception and emotional intelligence. Patients more able to understand simple sarcasm (14 for TASIT-SS) were very likely to belong to the unimpaired SC cluster. Compared with patients in the impaired SC cluster, those in the very impaired SC cluster performed significantly worse in lie scenes (TASIT-LI <10), but not in simple sarcasm. Moreover, functioning, neurocognition, disorganization and SC had a linear relationship across the three clusters, while positive symptoms were significantly lower in patients with unimpaired SC as compared with patients with impaired and very impaired SC. On the other hand, negative symptoms were highest in patients with impaired levels of SC. Conclusions If replicated, the identification of such subtypes in clinical practice may help in tailoring rehabilitation efforts to the person's strengths to gain more benefit to the person