Differential involvement of central 5-HT1B and 5-HT3 receptor subtypes in the antinociceptive effect of paracetamol

Objective: We investigated the effect of pre-treatment with ondansetron or CP 93129 (a 5-HT1B agonist) on the antinociceptive activity of paracetamol and the changes in central 5-HT3 receptors induced by paracetamol alone or co-administered with ondansetron. Materials and Subjects: Male Wistar rats (eight per group) were injected with ondansetron (2 and 4 mg/kg s. c.) or CP 93 129 (0.5, 1 and 2 mg/kg s. c.) 15 min before paracetamol (400 mg/kg, i.p.). Methods: Pain threshold was evaluated in the hot-plate or in the paw pressure test 30 min after the last treatment. 5-HT3 receptor binding capacity was measured in the frontal cortex, temporal-parietal cortex and midbrain by means of radioligand binding technique. Statistical analysis was done using ANOVA followed by Student-Newman-Keuls test and 2 X 2 factorial analysis when appropriate. Results: Pre-treatment with ondansetron, at doses of 2 and 4 mg/kg, did not affect the antinociceptive activity of paracetamol in the hot-plate test and in the paw pressure test. Paracetamol did not change the characteristics of 5-HT3 receptors in all the areas investigated. Ondansetron (4 mg/kg s. c) per se significantly increased the 5-HT3 receptor number in the areas used, the effect not being modified by co-administration with paracetamol. On the other hand, CP 93129 (2 mg/kg s. c.) significantly prevented the effect of paracetamol in both algesimetric tests used. Conclusions: Our data indicate that 5-HT1B but not 5-HT3 receptors are involved in the antinociceptive effect of paracetamol in our experimental conditions

Feasibility Study on the Production of Sustainable Mortars Packaged with Recycled AAC Aggregates

Building sustainability is one of the current global goals due to the variety and the quantity of the resources consumed in all the construction phases. Mortars – for masonry and plasters applications – are one of the most "produced" and high-impact composite building materials, since they are used both in traditional and modern constructions. Moreover, the production processes of binders and aggregates used to package mortars require the consumption of energy and resources and lead to the management of a huge amount of waste. In order to reduce the environmental weight of the mortars, the scientific world has been focusing, over the last years, on the substitution of natural aggregates with lightweight-recycled ones. Several studies have shown that this substitution improves some performances (thermal insulation and vapour permeability) and decreases other ones (compressive and flexural strength) as a result of the mortars density reduction. Moreover, the variability of recycled-aggregates materials (ceramic, plastic, concrete) and of the composition of mortars allows many different possibilities. However, little is known about the effective convenience of the market placement of these products. The aim of this study is to measure the environmental and economic sustainability of mortars made with natural hydraulic lime and a partial substitution of the natural sand with recycled aggregates from the production waste of Autoclaved Aerated Concrete bricks. These mortars were physically and mechanically characterized in a previous research phase and they were classified according to UNI EN 998-1 and 2. In particular, mortars with 25% by weight of AAC at most were suitable for masonry applications. The present study investigates the synergic possibility of packaging pre-mixes with recycled AAC aggregates in establishments where AAC is produced, moving from the unconventional perspective of the manufacturer. At first, LCA analyses are performed on these scenarios, in order to prove the strong decrease in the environmental impact of both production phases – AAC production, where waste is reduced, and mortar packaging, where the use of natural aggregates is limited – then the research moves to the analysis of the economic sustainability of the implementation of this production line. For this purpose, two cases are considered: an AAC manufacturer who does not produce pre-mixes, and an AAC manufacturer who produces pre-mixes, but does not own machineries to recycle Autoclaved Aerated Concrete bricks. Following a cost analysis related to the introduction of the production line of pre-mixes with recycled AAC in the two cases, hypotheses of market prices for this product are formulated in order to assess its economic sustainability, by performing a market analysis, and verifying the compatibility of the payback periods that derive from the related investments

Trends in epidemiology: the role of denominator fluctuation in population based estimates

Population estimates are of paramount importance for calculating occurrence and association measures although they can be affected by problems of accuracy and completeness. This study has performed a simulation of the impact of Italian population size variability on incidence rates

Evaluating the metabolic approach to treatment of diabetic coronary patients

Diabetic patients with coronary artery disease have an altered myocardial metabolism of glucose and free fatty acids (FFA) and accelerated and diffuse atherogenesis with involvement of peripheral coronary segments that causes chronic hypoperfusion and hibernation. Therefore, in coronary diabetic patients the ischaemic metabolic changes that occur as a consequence of the mismatch between blood supply and cardiac metabolic requirements are heightened by the diabetic metabolic alterations. Important metabolic alterations in diabetic patients are the decreased utilization of glucose and the increase in muscular and myocardial FFA uptake and oxidation. These metabolic changes are responsible for the increased susceptibility of the diabetic heart to myocardial ischaemia and to a greater decrease of myocardial performance for a given amount of ischaemia compared to non diabetic hearts. A therapeutic approach aimed at an improvement of cardiac metabolism through manipulations of the utilization of metabolic substrates should result in an improvement of myocardial ischaemia and of left ventricular function. The inhibition of FFA oxidation improves cardiac metabolism at rest, increases the cardiac resistance to ischaemia and therefore reduces the decline of left ventricular function due to chronic hypoperfusion and repetitive episodes of myocardial ischaemia in patients with and without diabetes. Modulation of myocardial FFA metabolism should be the key target for metabolic interventions in diabetic patients with coronary artery disease

GEOLOGY AND WINE PRODUCTION: A PRELIMINARY CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEFINITION OF THE IRPINIA AREA TERROIR (AVELLINO PROVINCE)

Il comprensorio irpino, una delle aree di più antico insediamento, coltivazione, studio e diffusione della vite, è un territorio di estremo interesse per la vitivinicoltura nazionale caratterizzato, come è, da una produzione di pregio, tra le più importanti nel mondo, che s’identifica in tre DOCG: Taurasi, Greco di Tufo e Fiano di Avellino. Di quell’area, larga parte della quale ricade entro il Parco Regionale dei Monti Picentini, vengono descritte le caratteristiche litologiche, morfologiche ed idrogeologiche. Viene, poi, formulata la proposta di inserire gli areali di quelle DOCG entro gli itinerari disegnati a collegare, illustrandoli e rendendoli fruibili a tutti, Patrimonio Geologico e Patrimonio Biotico di quell’Area Naturale Protetta.The Irpinia district, one of the oldest areas of settlement, cultivation, study and diffusion of the grapevine, is a territory of great interest for the national wine growing. This area is characterized of high quality production, among the most important in the world, corresponding to three DOCG (Controlled and Guaranteed Designation of Origin): “Taurasi”, “Greco di Tufo” and “Fiano di Avellino”. The lithological, morphological and hydrogeological features of this area, a large part of which is included within the Parco Regionale dei Monti Picentini, are described. The proposal to include the DOCG areas within designed routes to connect the Geological and Biotic Heritage of the Natural Protected Area of the Monti Picentini is then formulated

Factors affecting the diet of Peregrine Falcon in Italy

The diet of top predators can provide useful information on phenology and abundance of their prey. The cosmopolitan and specialist Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) is an ideal model to assess whether food changes have occurred in the long-term. In this contribution, we reviewed all available literature on Peregrine Falcon diet in Italy which contained 11 detailed datasets useful for our review, and also included analysis of pellets, collected at three breeding sites of Sicily during 2014 and 2015. These data allowed us to shed light on the Peregrine Falcon’s diet over the last forty years (1978-2015). We calculated the numerical and biomass percentage of the resident and not-resident prey proportions, as well as the trophic diversity of diet in each site using the Simpson diversity index. To describe the Peregrine Falcon food niche and investigate whether year, habitat and latitude effects existed in its diet, we used a 2nd-degree factorial ANOVA. Over 1,550 preys, 110 bird species accounted for 98.58% of frequency and 99.79% of biomass. Modelling showed a year effect, with the quota and biomass of resident prey species increasing across the forty years of the study period, in a way complementary to the decrease of the quota and biomass of not-resident prey species. Conversely, habitat and latitude predicted significantly trophic diversity that was larger in rural than urban habitats, and at northern than southern latitudes. The strong numerical and biomass decrease of not-resident preys in the trophic niche of Peregrine Falcon in Italy could be related to the negative population trends of both migratory and summer-breeder farmland species. Actually the bulk of prey of the Peregrine Falcon in Italy is formed by a restricted group of resident Corvidae and Columbidae, which have remarkably increased in the last years. This could trigger more dependence on resident prey in the long term, making the Peregrine Falcons more vulnerable to control programs or eradication of specific prey populations or exposing them locally to high risk of infections (chlamydiosis, avian trichomiasis) transferred by feral species

Nociceptin/orphanin FQ prevents the antinociceptive action of paracetamol on the rat hot plate test

Nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) is involved in many behavioural patterns; in particular. it exerts a modulating effect on nociception. Like other proposed antiopiates, nociceptin/orphanin FQ has been shown to have analgesic, hyperalgesic as well as antianalgesic properties. Among the various effects proposed on nociceptive sensitivity at supraspinal level, the antagonistic activity toward morphine analgesia seems to be of interest. Therefore, we decided to investigate whether nociceptin/orphanin FQ and [Arg(14), Lys(15)] nociceptin/orphanin FQ (R-K, a nociceptin analogue) can have the same effect on the analgesia produced by nonopioid analgesics. in this study. we examined the antianalgesic effect of nociceptin/orphanin FQ and its analogue R-K on paracetamol-induced analgesia and evaluated by means of the hot plate test in rats. Nociceptin/orphanin FQ was intracerebroventricularly administered, anti. after 5 min, a dose of 400 mg/kg paracetamol was injected intraperitoneally, 30 min before the hot plate test. Nociceptin/orphanin FQ and R-K showed a dose-dependent antagonism on the antinociceptive effect of paracetamol, and the activity of both drugs was significantly reduced by the antagonist [Nphe(1)] Arg(14), Lys(15)-N/OFQ-NH2 (UFP-101). These data indicate that nociceptin/orphanin FQ and R-K have an antianalgesic effect on the analgesia produced by a nonopioid analgesic drug, like paracetamol, that seems to develop within the brain