DIETARY METHODS USING LACTOBACILLUS PARACASEI SUBSP. PARACASEI F19 AS NAPE-PLD GENE CARRIER FOR PRODUCING ON DEMAND PEA OR OEA AND RELATIVE BIOLOGICAL DIETARY COMPOSITIONS THEREOF

Method enabling to modulate and customize the production of active lipids involved in exerting an antagonistic action to local inflammation and in modulating the mast cell reactivity, comprising the administering to an host the probiotic Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. Paracasei F19, genetically modified with a nucleotide vector comprising a nucleic acid encoding the human N-acyl-phosphatidylethanolamine phospholipase D (NAPE-PLD), in association with lipid substrates and precursors, to influence the enzymatic reactions of said probiotic agent in the host. The method is useful in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disorder and in the treatment of metabolic syndrome and for controlling of obesity

Wine tourism as a non-core business strategy for small wineries

In recent years, wineries have been implementing increasingly more wine tourism activities as complementary or supplementary services to enhance their wine products. This paper adopts an inductive research paradigm based on grounded investigation; more specifically, this paper begins with a case study and expands to involve further similar evidence. The findings of this study show that, for wineries, wine tourism represents a fundamental opportunity for communication (institutional and commercial), distribution (as a form of direct channel), and growth (to include tasting, catering, hospitality, and so on). Most importantly, for both scholars and managers, the results of the research highlight that wine tourism can become the main source of the business value, especially in the case of small wineries (an example of which is examined in the case study under analysis). In these situations, however, wine production still characterizes the business because, otherwise, there can be no wine tourism, but wine production is not realistically critical to the business in terms of survival, competitiveness, and development

Breaking projective chaos synchronization secure communication using filtering and generalized synchronization

This paper describes the security weaknesses of a recently proposed secure communication method based on chaotic masking using projective synchronization of two chaotic systems. We show that the system is insecure and how to break it in two different ways, by high-pass filtering and by generalized synchronization.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, latex forma

The challenge of perioperative pain management in opioid-tolerant patients

The increasing number of opioid users among chronic pain patients, and opioid abusers among the general population, makes perioperative pain management challenging for health care professionals. Anesthesiologists, surgeons, and nurses should be familiar with some pharmacological phenomena which are typical of opioid users and abusers, such as tolerance, physical dependence, hyperalgesia, and addiction. Inadequate pain management is very common in these patients, due to common prejudices and fears. The target of preoperative evaluation is to identify comorbidities and risk factors and recognize signs and symptoms of opioid abuse and opioid withdrawal. Clinicians are encouraged to plan perioperative pain medications and to refer these patients to psychiatrists and addiction specialists for their evaluation. The aim of this review was to give practical suggestions for perioperative management of surgical opioid-tolerant patients, together with schemes of opioid conversion for chronic pain patients assuming oral or transdermal opioids, and patients under maintenance programs with methadone, buprenorphine, or naltrexone

The hypoxia sensitive metal transcription factor MTF-1 activates NCX1 brain promoter and participates in remote postconditioning neuroprotection in stroke

Remote limb ischemic postconditioning (RLIP) is an experimental strategy in which short femoral artery ischemia reduces brain damage induced by a previous harmful ischemic insult. Ionic homeostasis maintenance in the CNS seems to play a relevant role in mediating RLIP neuroprotection and among the effectors, the sodium-calcium exchanger 1 (NCX1) may give an important contribution, being expressed in all CNS cells involved in brain ischemic pathophysiology. The aim of this work was to investigate whether the metal responsive transcription factor 1 (MTF-1), an important hypoxia sensitive transcription factor, may (i) interact and regulate NCX1, and (ii) play a role in the neuroprotective effect mediated by RLIP through NCX1 activation. Here we demonstrated that in brain ischemia induced by transient middle cerebral occlusion (tMCAO), MTF-1 is triggered by a subsequent temporary femoral artery occlusion (FAO) and represents a mediator of endogenous neuroprotection. More importantly, we showed that MTF-1 translocates to the nucleus where it binds the metal responsive element (MRE) located at −23/−17 bp of Ncx1 brain promoter thus activating its transcription and inducing an upregulation of NCX1 that has been demonstrated to be neuroprotective. Furthermore, RLIP restored MTF-1 and NCX1 protein levels in the ischemic rat brain cortex and the silencing of MTF-1 prevented the increase of NCX1 observed in RLIP protected rats, thus demonstrating a direct regulation of NCX1 by MTF-1 in the ischemic cortex of rat exposed to tMCAO followed by FAO. Moreover, silencing of MTF-1 significantly reduced the neuroprotective effect elicited by RLIP as demonstrated by the enlargement of brain infarct volume observed in rats subjected to RLIP and treated with MTF-1 silencing. Overall, MTF-dependent activation of NCX1 and their upregulation elicited by RLIP, besides unraveling a new molecular pathway of neuroprotection during brain ischemia, might represent an additional mechanism to intervene in stroke pathophysiology

On the fatigue improvement of railways superstructure components due to cold expansion – Part I: Experimental analysis

The fatigue strength improvement of materials and structures has always been the subject of studies, as a consequence of the rapid development of technologies and strictive safety requirements. In the railway field the fatigue resistance problem is thoroughly studied due to high transportation safety standard. Fatigue cracking is a major issue, in particular at rail-end-bolt holes. Cold Expansion is a common technique to induce beneficial residual compressive stresses around the holes, with the aim to improve the fatigue life of the rail. This paper is the first of a two part-series dealing with the study of the residual stress-strain field induced by the cold expansion process around rail-end-bolt holes. In Part I of this series, a contribution to better understanding the whole strain field distribution arising around rail-end-bolt holes during and after cold expansion is presented. Strains were experimentally measured using both electrical strain gauges and 2D-Digital Image Correlation. Contrary to common literature, strain-time history during the entire cold expansion process was investigated, in order to capture the highly non-linear elasto-plastic response of the material; the results of this study has been used in Part II of this series for the validation of the finite element model described there. The cold expansion process was applied to three rail holes, having equal nominal diameter. At first, the experimental results concerning each expanded hole are analysed. Then, all the results are compared, in order to evaluate the repeatability: - of the measurements; - of the Cold Expansion process; - of the adopted experimental technique, and, above all, to extrapolate the distribution of the hoop and radial residual strains as a function of the distance from the hole edge. At the end, results obtained by strain gauges and 2D-Digital Image Correlation are compared: a good agreement is found on the central flat surface of the rail web, which guarantees the availability of a robust and valuable highly non-linear reference result that has been used for the validation of the finite element model presented in Part II of this series

Farmer-Driven Research for Developing Models of Successful Low Input Dairy Farms of Small to Medium Size in the American Midwest

The dairy industry in the upper Midwest continues to evolve with a drastic reduction in the number of dairy farms with less than 100 cows that utilise tie-stall housing. Many of the farms that do remain are at a critical point where facilities require renovation or replacement that is not economic. Rural communities have fewer residents engaged in agriculture to participate in the local economy and the rural landscape includes many farm sites that are abandoned. Low input dairies are an alternative system developed by farmers as a grass-roots movement. Low input farms may include grazing, outdoor housing throughout the year, crossbreeding, group housing of calves, etc. Barns formerly used to stable cows may be renovated to provide a milking centre. Low input dairy farmers are eager to participate in on-farm research when they determine the direction of research. We will describe one trial designed to answer questions determined by farmers and outline our research approach to designing effective reduced input dairy farms. The objective is to identify the essential components of management and organisation for low input dairy farms in the American Midwest