Lo scambio di invertebrati tra un relitto di bosco planiziale ed agroecosistemi contigui. L\'artropodofauna del bosco di Lison

ItNella pianura a settentrione della provincia di Venezia viene praticata un’agricoltura di tipo intensivo. I boschi cedui, una volta caratterizzanti il paesaggio, sono ora presenti solo in esigui relitti. Durante due anni di ricerca abbiamo studiato la struttura delle comunità di invertebrati presenti nel bosco di Lison e su vegetazione spontanea e coltivata (mais, vite, soia e frumento) degli agroecosistemi contigui. Un consistente contingente di specie presenti nel bosco può essere ritrovata nella vegetazione spontanea dei coltivi. Non si sono riscontrate chiare relazioni tra architettura della vegetazione e abbondanza e diversità degli invertebrati sui differenti tipi di vegetazione indagata. La flora spontanea lungo le scoline e la cotica erbosa del vigneto sostengono, se comparate con i coltivi, una consistente diversità faunistica. Le caratteristiche microclimatoche, vegetazionali e zoologiche del bosco di Lison indicano che l’area forestale costituisce un habitat favorevole alla ricolonizzazione degli agroecosistemi da parte di alcuni invertebrati, comprese alcune specie predatrici utili.EnThe lowland plain north to Venice, in Italy is extensively cultivated. The deciduous woodlands once dominant in the landscape are now present as scanty relicts. In two years research we have studied the community structure of invertebrates present in the Lison woodland and on spontaneous vegetation and crops (corn, vineyards, soybean, wheat) in the contiguous agroecosystems. A consistent amount of species present in the woodland can be found in the spontaneous vegetation on crops. No clear relationship was found between vegetational architecture and invertebrate diversity and abundance on the different mosaic vegetation types. Spontaneous vegetation along ditches and the meadow under vineyards supports, if compared with crops,a consistent animal diversity. Microclimatic, vegetational and animal characteristics of the Lison woodlands indicate to be the woodlands a realistic habitat for recolonization of agrosystems with invertebrates comprising some usefull predators

Thiopurine metabolites variations during co-treatment with aminosalicylates for inflammatory bowel disease: effect of N-acetyl transferase polymorphisms

AIM: To evaluate variation of the concentration of thiopurine metabolites after 5-aminosalicylate (5-ASA) interruption and the role of genetic polymorphisms of N-acetyl transferase (NAT) 1 and 2. METHODS: Concentrations of thioguanine nucleotides (TGN) and methymercaptopurine nucleotides (MMPN), metabolites of thiopurines, were measured by high performance liquid chromatography in 12 young patients (3 females and 9 males, median age 16 years) with inflammatory bowel disease (6 Crohn's disease and 6 ulcerative colitis) treated with thiopurines (7 mercaptopurine and 5 azathioprine) and 5-ASA. Blood samples were collected one month before and one month after the interruption of 5-ASA. DNA was extracted and genotyping of NAT1, NAT2, inosine triphosphate pyrophosphatase (ITPA) and thiopurine methyl transferase (TPMT) genes was performed using PCR assays. RESULTS: Median TGN concentration before 5-ASA interruption was 270 pmol/8 x 108 erythrocytes (range: 145-750); after the interruption of the aminosalicylate, a 35% reduction in TGN mean concentrations (absolute mean reduction 109 pmol/8 7 108 erythrocytes) was observed (median 221 pmol/8 7 108 erythrocytes, range: 96-427, P value linear mixed effects model 0.0011). Demographic and clinical covariates were not related to thiopurine metabolites concentrations. All patients were wild-type for the most relevant ITPA and TPMT variants. For NAT1 genotyping, 7 subjects presented an allele combination corresponding to fast enzymatic activity and 5 to slow activity. NAT1 genotypes corresponding to fast enzymatic activity were associated with reduced TGN concentration (P value linear mixed effects model 0.033), putatively because of increased 5-ASA inactivation and consequent reduced inhibition of thiopurine metabolism. The effect of NAT1 status on TGN seems to be persistent even after one month since the interruption of the aminosalicylate. No effect of NAT1 genotypes was shown on MMPN concentrations. NAT2 genotyping revealed that 6 patients presented a genotype corresponding to fast enzymatic activity and 6 to slow activity; NAT2 genotypes were not related to thiopurine metabolites concentration in this study. CONCLUSION: NAT1 genotype affects TGN levels in patients treated with thiopurines and aminosalicylates and could therefore influence the toxicity and efficacy of these drugs; however the number of patients evaluated is limited and this has to be considered a pilot study

Azathioprine Biotransformation in Young Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Contribution of Glutathione-S Transferase M1 and A1 Variants

The contribution of candidate genetic variants involved in azathioprine biotransformation on azathioprine efficacy and pharmacokinetics in 111 young patients with inflammatory bowel disease was evaluated. Azathioprine doses, metabolites thioguanine-nucleotides (TGN) and methylmercaptopurine-nucleotides (MMPN) and clinical effects were assessed after at least 3 months of therapy. Clinical efficacy was defined as disease activity score below 10. Candidate genetic variants (TPMT rs1142345, rs1800460, rs1800462, GSTA1 rs3957357, GSTM1, and GSTT1 deletion) were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays and pyrosequencing. Statistical analysis was performed using linear mixed effects models for the association between the candidate variants and the pharmacological variables (azathioprine doses and metabolites). Azathioprine metabolites were measured in 257 samples (median 2 per patient, inter-quartile range IQR 1-3). Clinical efficacy at the first evaluation available resulted better in ulcerative colitis than in Crohn's disease patients (88.0% versus 52.5% responders, p = 0.0003, linear mixed effect model, LME). TGN concentration and the ratio TGN/dose at the first evaluation were significantly higher in responder. TPMT rs1142345 variant (4.8% of patients) was associated with increased TGN (LME p = 0.0042), TGN/dose ratio (LME p < 0.0001), decreased azathioprine dose (LME p = 0.0087), and MMPN (LME p = 0.0011). GSTM1 deletion (58.1% of patients) was associated with a 18.5% decrease in TGN/dose ratio and 30% decrease in clinical efficacy. GSTA1 variant (12.8% of patients) showed a trend (p = 0.049, LME) for an association with decreased clinical efficacy; however, no significant effect on azathioprine pharmacokinetics could be detected. In conclusion, GSTs variants are associated with azathioprine efficacy and pharmacokinetics

Italian workers in retirement: Reasons for post-retirement activities are influenced from own former job

Aging population is a social phenomenon in Europe characterized by a decrease in fertility and mortality rates, and a higher life expectancy among native Europeans. In Italy, in particular, a growing number of older people are encouraged to delay their retirement due to a range of economic, social and policy changes, and various other reasons to engage in post-retirement work. For this research we considered the following factors: insufficient financial resources, additional income, interesting work, the desire to remain active, valued contribution to society, flexibility, social contact and personal development. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between the intention to remain in work, and work satisfaction in the past career of older workers. We used quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (interview, focus group) methods, to collect and analyze data. Different statistic elaborations were applied to discover the relationships among different variables (i.e. descriptive, inferential, P.value test and Regression Analysis). The findings show how older people in retirement want to be appreciated. Their motivation and satisfaction depends on their past carrier and these variables push them to stay at work for a longer time

Prevalence and management of familial hypercholesterolemia in patients with coronary artery disease: The heredity survey

Background and aims Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a genetic disorder characterized by high levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) predisposing to premature cardiovascular disease. Its prevalence varies and has been estimated around 1 in 200\u2013500. The Heredity survey evaluated the prevalence of potential FH and the therapeutic approaches among patients with established coronary artery disease (CAD) or peripheral artery disease (PAD) in which it is less well documented. Methods Data were collected in patients admitted to programs of rehabilitation and secondary prevention in Italy. Potential FH was estimated using Dutch Lipid Clinic Network (DLCN) criteria. Potential FH was defined as having a total score 65 6. Results Among the 1438 consecutive patients evaluated, the prevalence of potential FH was 3.7%. The prevalence was inversely related to age, with a putative prevalence of 1:10 in those with 8) had the highest percentages of patients after an ACS (75% vs 52.5% in the whole study population). At discharge, most patients were on high intensity statin therapy, but despite this, potential FH group still had a higher percentage of patients with LDL-C levels not at target and having a distance from the target higher than 50%. Conclusions Among patients with established coronary heart disease, the prevalence of potential FH is higher than in the general population; the results suggest that a correct identification of potential FH, especially in younger patients, may help to better manage their high cardiovascular risk

Gleam: the GLAST Large Area Telescope Simulation Framework

This paper presents the simulation of the GLAST high energy gamma-ray telescope. The simulation package, written in C++, is based on the Geant4 toolkit, and it is integrated into a general framework used to process events. A detailed simulation of the electronic signals inside Silicon detectors has been provided and it is used for the particle tracking, which is handled by a dedicated software. A unique repository for the geometrical description of the detector has been realized using the XML language and a C++ library to access this information has been designed and implemented.Comment: 10 pages, Late

Rapid identification and screening of proteins from whole cell lysates of human erythroleukemia cells in the liquid phase, using non-porous reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography separations of proteins followed by multi-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry analysis and sequence database searching

Non-porous reversed phase (NPRP) high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has been used as a rapid method to separate proteins from whole cell lysates of human erythroleukemia (HEL) cells. Using phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) as a lysis buffer to extract proteins from HEL cells, more than 100 proteins of molecular weight up to 30 kDa were separated by the NPRP HPLC method, using a programmed acetonitrile:H 2 O gradient. The separated proteins were collected as liquid fractions as they eluted, and were further separated on the NPRP column with a different gradient to separate coeluting peaks. The isolated protein fractions were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) to determine the molecular weight of the protein. The proteins were cleaved by chemical or enzymatic digestion to produce peptide maps, which were analyzed by pulsed delayed extraction MALDI-MS. The peptide maps were matched against a database search to determine the protein identity. In some cases, several enzymes were used in order to find exactly one match against the database. This methodology is demonstrated for several proteins isolated from HEL cells and identified via database matching.Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/35075/1/423_ftp.pd