Improving the nutritional quality in the General Hospital Pula

: Nutrition means any intake of food, as well as all metabolic processes that occur in the body from the time of eating it through its use in the energy, building blocks, control and protection purposes. Healthy nutrition is an important part of not only prevention, but also treatment of the disease. Through two years of the project Improving the nutritional quality in the General Hospital Pula we raise the awareness about nutrition through individual and group patient education, the implementation of the international project NutritionDay, creating out educative materials about dietotherapy and informatization of the hospital kitchen. High-quality hospital food and patient education about nutrition usually does not give quick results, but we need to think about long-term results such as shorter duration of treatment, better success of treatment and a better quality of life for patients

Serum Soluble Vascular-Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 (VCAM-1) in Patients with Acute and Chronic Liver Diseases

Our ai m was to ascertai n the degree of variation of serum soluble vascular cell adhesion moleculeI (VCAM-1) concentrations according to the nature and the severity of an underl ying liver disease . One-hundred forty sera collected from 123 patients (83 male, 40 female) with acute hepatitis (n=14). mi Id chronic Ii ver disease (n=52) or cirrhosis (n=57) of different etiologies as well as from 17 healthy blood donors (8 male, 9 female) were studied. Soluble VCAM-I concentration was measured immunoenzymatically. One-way analysis of variance revealed a significant variability of the mean values of soluble VCAM-1 among groups (F=80.02, p <0.000 I). All groups of patients had higher soluble VCAM-I than controls; moreover, patients with acute hepatitis and patients with cirrhosis had higher soluble VCAM-1 levels than patients with mild chronic liver disease (Bonferroni's test. p <0.(1). These results did not change after stratification of patients according to the etiology (viral or toxic) of liver disease (two-way analysis of variance: grouping factor diagnosis, F=60.39, p <0.000 I; grouping factor etiology. F= 1.73, p NS). Cholinesterase, total bilirubin, circulating thrombocytes and blood urea nitrogen were the independent predictors of the concentration of soluble VCAM-1. In conclusion, patients with liver disease have high serum soluble VCAM-1, which seems to reflect more the severity of impairment of liver function rather than the etiologic nature of the disease

Material recognition with a 252Cf source

Material recognition is studied by measuring simultaneously the transmission of neutron and gamma rays produced by a time-tagged 252Cf source. Light elements (C,N,O) are identified by using the measured transmission versus neutron time of flight. The yield of the transmitted gamma ray as a function of energy provides high precision identification of the atomic number of the sample up to Z=83 . A tomography system, currently under construction, is described

Hormone-independent mouse mammary adenocarcinomas with different metastatic potential exhibit different metabolic signatures

The metabolic characteristics of metastatic and non-metastatic breast carcinomas remain poorly studied. In this work, untargeted Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) metabolomics was used to compare two medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA)-induced mammary carcinomas lines with different metastatic abilities. Different metabolic signatures distinguished the non-metastatic (59-2-HI) and the metastatic (C7-2-HI) lines, with glucose, amino acid metabolism, nucleotide metabolism and lipid metabolism as the major affected pathways. Non-metastatic tumours appeared to be characterised by: (a) reduced glycolysis and tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) activities, possibly resulting in slower NADH biosynthesis and reduced mitochondrial transport chain activity and ATP synthesis; (b) glutamate accumulation possibly related to reduced glutathione activity and reduced mTORC1 activity; and (c) a clear shift to lower phosphoscholine/glycerophosphocholine ratios and sphingomyelin levels. Within each tumour line, metabolic profiles also differed significantly between tumours (i.e., mice). Metastatic tumours exhibited marked inter-tumour changes in polar compounds, some suggesting different glycolytic capacities. Such tumours also showed larger intra-tumour variations in metabolites involved in nucleotide and cholesterol/fatty acid metabolism, in tandem with less changes in TCA and phospholipid metabolism, compared to non-metastatic tumours. This study shows the valuable contribution of untargeted NMR metabolomics to characterise tumour metabolism, thus opening enticing opportunities to find metabolic markers related to metastatic ability in endocrine breast cancer.Fil: Bispo, Daniela. Universidade de Aveiro; PortugalFil: Fabris, Victoria Teresa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Lamb, Caroline Ana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Lanari, Claudia Lee Malvina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Helguero, Luisa Alejandra. Universidade de Aveiro; PortugalFil: Gil, Ana M.. Universidade de Aveiro; Portuga

Detailed proteomic analysis on DM: insight into its hypoallergenicity.

Successful therapy in cow milk (CM) protein allergy rests upon completely eliminating CM proteins from the child's diet: it is thus necessary to provide a replacement food. Donkey milk (DM) has recently aroused scientific and clinical interest, above all among paediatric allergologists. A deeper knowledge of proteins in DM is necessary to evaluate the immunological and physiological properties of this natural substitute for cow's milk. The paper offers a detailed comparative analysis among the protein fractions of DM, CM and human milk, following an extensive proteomic study of the casein and whey proteins of DM performed by narrow pH range 2-DE. The detailed protein composition and structural features reported in this study provide insight into the molecular reasons for the hypoallergenicity of DM. Whole DM might constitute a valid substitute of CM in feeding children with CM protein allergy and it might also constitute the basis for formulas suitable for allergic subjects in the first year of life

DEMOCRATIZAÇÃO DO ACESSO À ORTODONTIA INFANTIL

No Brasil, não há atendimento na saúde pública direcionado à prevenção das más oclusões, ou seja, na especialidade de Ortopedia e Ortodontia Preventiva. O objeto deste texto é apresentar um ato de regulação legal que determina o atendimento e exame clínico das más oclusões nas escolas públicas brasileiras para, posteriormente, as crianças serem atendidas na rede pública de saúde. A partir desta ideia foi desenvolvido um Projeto de Lei que estabelece que as crianças de 6 a 12 anos terão direito a cuidados ortodônticos preventivos na rede pública, protocolado pela Deputada Federal Celina Leão na Câmara dos Deputados, em Brasília, no dia 18 de abril de 2019

‘Disegno dal vero e dell’immaginario’: le verità di un ossimoro visivo | ‘Drawing from Life and Imagination’: the Truths of a Visual Oxymoron

ITA - Pare che in alcuni Corsi di Laurea in Architettura le “magnifiche sorti e progressive” della tecnologia digitale sempre più avanzata abbiano generato la quasi totale scomparsa del disegno manuale e tradizionale. Il dominio dell’immagine digitale, che si impone come nuova forma di comunicazione visiva, regala l’illusione che si possa prescindere dalle forme di rappresentazione tradizionali, tanto da pensare di poterle escludere dal percorso formativo dell’architetto. Restando fermi nella convinzione che sia, invece, indispensabile per un architetto avere una solida cultura del Disegno, da quello tradizionale alle modalità più innovative, un contributo prezioso viene fornito dal Workshop di Disegno dal Vero e dell’Immaginario, inserito nei Corsi di Laurea Magistrale in Architettura, presso il Politecnico di Torino. Il nome scelto per questo corso racchiude in sé un evidente ossimoro, nell’ottica di conciliare due aspetti apparentemente contraddittori, ma in realtà complementari. In un’epoca in cui la comune visione tridimensionale dell’opera d’arte può essere integrata o sostituita da una realtà virtuale, alcuni termini come ‘fantastico’, ‘immaginario’ o ‘visionario’, assumono una diversa funzione. Così, paradossalmente (in architettura e non solo), la rappresentazione della realtà ‘virtuale’ viene impiegata per meglio rappresentare il ‘vero’ e la realtà. Il presente contributo affronterà in prevalenza il secondo approccio proposto nel corso e cioè quello dell’immaginario. ENG - It seems that in some Degree Courses in Architecture the “magnifiche sorti e progressive” of increasingly advanced digital technology have generated the almost total disappearance of manual and traditional drawing. The dominion of the digital image, which imposes itself as a new form of visual communication, gives the illusion that one can disregard traditional forms of representation, so much so that one thinks one can exclude them from the architect’s educational path. Staying firm in the belief that it is, instead, indispensable for an architect to have a solid culture of Drawing, from the traditional one to the most innovative modalities, the Drawing from Life and Imagination Workshop, included in the Master’s Degree Courses in Architecture, at the Polytechnic of Turin, provides a valuable contribution in this sense. The name chosen for this course contains an obvious oxymoron, in order to reconcile two apparently contradictory but actually complementary aspects. In an age when the common three-dimensional vision of the work of art can be integrated or replaced by virtual reality, some terms such as ‘fantastic’, ‘imaginary’ or ‘visionary’ take on a different function. In this way, paradoxically (in architecture and not only), the representation of ‘virtual’ reality is used to better represent the ‘real’ and reality. The present contribution will deal mainly with the second approach proposed in the course, namely that of the imaginary

Persistent Dystrophin Protein Restoration 90 Days after a Course of Intraperitoneally Administered Naked 2′OMePS AON and ZM2 NP-AON Complexes in mdx Mice

In Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the exon-skipping approach has obtained proof of concept in animal models, myogenic cell cultures, and following local and systemic administration in Duchenne patients. Indeed, we have previously demonstrated that low doses (7.5 mg/Kg/week) of 2 -O-methyl-phosphorothioate antisense oligoribonucleotides (AONs) adsorbed onto ZM2 nanoparticles provoke widespread dystrophin restoration 7 days after intraperitoneal treatment in mdx mice. In this study, we went on to test whether this dystrophin restoration was still measurable 90 days from the end of the same treatment. Interestingly, we found that both western blot and immunohistochemical analysis (up to 7% positive fibres) were still able to detect dystrophin protein in the skeletal muscles of ZM2-AON-treated mice at this time, and the level of exon-23 skipping could still be assessed by RT real-time PCR (up to 10% of skipping percentage). In contrast, the protein was undetectable by western blot analysis in the skeletal muscles of mdx mice treated with an identical dose of naked AON, and the percentage of dystrophin-positive fibres and exon-23 skipping were reminiscent of those of untreated mdx mice. Our data therefore demonstrate the long-term residual efficacy of this systemic low-dose treatment and confirm the protective effect nanoparticles exert on AON molecules