Short- and long-term reproductive effects of prenatal and lactational growth restriction caused by maternal diabetes in male rats

Background: A suboptimal intrauterine environment may have a detrimental effect on gonadal development and thereby increases the risk for reproductive disorders and infertility in adult life. Here, we used uncontrolled maternal diabetes as a model to provoke pre- and perinatal growth restriction and evaluate the sexual development of rat male offspring.Methods: Maternal diabetes was induced in the dams through administration of a single i.v. dose of 40 mg/kg streptozotocin, 7 days before mating. Female rats presenting glycemic levels above 200 mg/dL after the induction were selected for the experiment. The male offspring was analyzed at different phases of sexual development, i.e., peripuberty, postpuberty and adulthood.Results: Body weight and blood glucose levels of pups, on the third postnatal day, were lower in the offspring of diabetic dams compared to controls. Maternal diabetes also provoked delayed testicular descent and preputial separation. In the offspring of diabetic dams the weight of reproductive organs at 40, 60 and 90 days-old was lower, as well as sperm reserves and sperm transit time through the epididymis. However the plasma testosterone levels were not different among experimental groups.Conclusions: It is difficult to isolate the effects directly from diabetes and those from IUGR. Although the exposure to hyperglycemic environment during prenatal life and lactation delayed the onset of puberty in male rats, the IUGR, in the studied model, did not influenced the structural organization of the male gonads of the offspring at any point during sexual development. However the decrease in sperm reserves in epididymal cauda and the acceleration in sperm transit time in this portion of epididymis may lead to an impairment of sperm quality and fertility potential in these animals. Additional studies are needed in attempt to investigate the fertility of animals with intrauterine growth restriction by maternal diabetes and possible multigenerational effects

Mathieu twining characters for K3

The analogue of the McKay-Thompson series for the proposed Mathieu group action on the elliptic genus of K3 is analysed. The corresponding NS-sector twining characters have good modular properties and satisfy remarkable replication identities. These observations provide strong support for the conjecture that the elliptic genus of K3 carries indeed an action of the Mathieu group M24.Comment: 19 page

Evaluation design of a reactivation care program to prevent functional loss in hospitalised elderly: A cohort study including a randomised controlled trial

Background: Elderly persons admitted to the hospital are at risk for hospital related functional loss. This evaluation aims to compare the effects of different levels of (integrated) health intervention care programs on preventing hospital related functional loss among elderly patients by comparing a new intervention program to two usual care progra

Cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes mortality burden of cardiometabolic risk factors from 1980 to 2010: a comparative risk assessment

Background High blood pressure, blood glucose, serum cholesterol, and BMI are risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and some of these factors also increase the risk of chronic kidney disease and diabetes. We estimated mortality from cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes that was attributable to these four cardiometabolic risk factors for all countries and regions from 1980 to 2010. Methods We used data for exposure to risk factors by country, age group, and sex from pooled analyses of populationbased health surveys. We obtained relative risks for the eff ects of risk factors on cause-specifi c mortality from metaanalyses of large prospective studies. We calculated the population attributable fractions for- each risk factor alone, and for the combination of all risk factors, accounting for multicausality and for mediation of the eff ects of BMI by the other three risks. We calculated attributable deaths by multiplying the cause-specifi c population attributable fractions by the number of disease-specifi c deaths. We obtained cause-specifi c mortality from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2010 Study. We propagated the uncertainties of all the inputs to the fi nal estimates. Findings In 2010, high blood pressure was the leading risk factor for deaths due to cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes in every region, causing more than 40% of worldwide deaths from these diseases; high BMI and glucose were each responsible for about 15% of deaths, and high cholesterol for more than 10%. After accounting for multicausality, 63% (10\ub78 million deaths, 95% CI 10\ub71\u201311\ub75) of deaths from these diseases in 2010 were attributable to the combined eff ect of these four metabolic risk factors, compared with 67% (7\ub71 million deaths, 6\ub76\u20137\ub76) in 1980. The mortality burden of high BMI and glucose nearly doubled from 1980 to 2010. At the country level, age-standardised death rates from these diseases attributable to the combined eff ects of these four risk factors surpassed 925 deaths per 100 000 for men in Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia, but were less than 130 deaths per 100 000 for women and less than 200 for men in some high-income countries including Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, and Spain. Interpretation The salient features of the cardiometabolic disease and risk factor epidemic at the beginning of the 21st century are high blood pressure and an increasing eff ect of obesity and diabetes. The mortality burden of cardiometabolic risk factors has shifted from high-income to low-income and middle-income countries. Lowering cardiometabolic risks through dietary, behavioural, and pharmacological interventions should be a part of the globalresponse to non-communicable diseases

Perchè le Italiane e gli Italiani non protestano contro il sessismo? Il caso del Premier e le donne

Nella società Italiana l’immagine della donna risulta essere fortemente stereotipata ed oggettivata soprattutto sulla base della visione fornita dai media, la quale fa riferimento ad una forte cultura sessista (“Women and media in Europe”, CENSIS, 2006). Questa concezione del genere femminile, promossa e sostenuta dai programmi televisivi, riviste e pubblicità, è spesso condivisa all’interno della nostra società. Tale fenomeno si manifesta nella vita di tutti i giorni attraverso atteggiamenti o affermazioni verbali, quali commenti legati allo stereotipo di genere, commenti offensivi, commenti a carattere sessuale, o commenti scherzosi (Swim, Heyers, Choen & Ferguson, 2001). Se spesso tali episodi passano inosservati, nell’ultimo anno (2009) il caso relativo ad un esponente della politica italiana ha suscitato un acceso dibattito da parte dei media nazionali ed internazionali rispetto a questo tema. Il caso mediatico riguarda il Presidente Silvio Berlusconi e il suo modo di rapportarsi pubblicamente alle donne. In diverse situazioni il Premier ha espresso la propria opinione verso le donne in generale, ad esempio quando parlando della lotta all’immigrazione clandestina affermò “faremo un’eccezione per chi porta belle ragazze” (Roma, 12 Febbraio 2010), o verso specifiche donne, come nell’occasione in cui si rivolse all’onorevole Rosy Bindi affermando “che lei è sempre più bella che intelligente” (“Porta a Porta”, 7 Ottobre 2009) . In tutte queste occasioni le affermazioni del Premier sono state percepite in modo diverso e, di conseguenza, alcuni ne accusarono il carattere offensivo e sessista, altri sostennero fossero semplici battute scherzose o apprezzamenti. Rispetto al caso preso in considerazione, in Italia ci sono state alcune forme di reazione pubblica, come lettere inviate direttamente al Presidente o un appello alle First Ladies a non partecipare al G8 in forma di protesta, ma la maggioranza della popolazione che dissentiva si limitava ad essere contrariata senza intervenire. Da tale fenomeno nasce l’idea di questa ricerca volta a comprendere quali sono i fattori che determinano la non reazione. Perché le persone, sia uomini che donne, che si sentono offese non si espongono pubblicamente