Apoptosis in spermatozoa of infertile men, clinical correlations

The methods for evaluation of male infertility include not only routine investigations, standardized by the WHO, but also complementary techniques, developed over the last years, in order to improve the predictive value of seminal analysis for natural conception and assisted reproduction. With reference to these new methods, studies suggest that sperm with certain levels of DNA fragmentation serve as a strong predictor of reduced male fertility. We studied subjects who underwent seminal fluid evaluation, because of an infertility condition, at the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Sassari.The samples collected by masturbation were evaluated according to the World Health Organisation (1999).The samples was washed twice in PBS and cytocentrifuged for 10 min at 1800 rpm on polylysine-coated slides that were fixed in methanol at room temperature. The apoptosis was evaluated using the TUNEL (In Situ Cell Death Detection Kit, Fluorescein, Roche, Cat.No. 1 684 795). At fluorescent miscroscopy are counted at least 300 cells. Quantitative evaluation of apoptosis by the TUNEL method confirmed that apoptosis did not seem to be correlated with sperm concentration or morphology; however, we found a higher apoptotic rate in semen from patients affected by andrologic diseases, such as varicocele, than from those with alteration of semen characteristics. Apoptosis analysis might be used in infertile patients in order to understand the etiology of unexplained infertility and to improve therapeutic effectiveness

Multicomponent intervention provided by GPs to reduce cardiovascular risk factors: evaluation in an Italian large sample

AbstractBackgroundThe cardiovascular risk increases in a multiplicative way when patients present more risk factors simultaneously. Moreover, the General Practitioners (GPs) play a crucial role in risk factors prevention and reduction. This work aimed to evaluate a multicomponent intervention in the Primary Care Department in an Italian Local Health Unit.MethodsA pre-post study was conducted in Northern Italy (2018). Patients were eligible if: aged between 30 and 60 years, not chronic patients, not affected by hypertension or hypercholesterolaemia. The GPs assessed body mass index, hypertension, abdominal obesity, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) values, glycaemic values, smoking and exercise habit (T0). A counselling by GPs to at-risk patients and a multicomponent health education intervention were performed. Reassessment occurred after at least 3 months (T1). Main analyses were chi-squared tests for gender differences, McNemar or marginal homogeneity tests for changes in paired data (P < 0.05 as significant).ResultsParticipants were 5828 at T0 (54.0% females) and 4953 at T1 (53.4% females). At T0, 99.1% presented at least one risk factor. Significant changes in paired data were reported for each risk factor. The greatest improvement frequencies occurred in glycaemia values (51.0%) and hypertension (45.6%), the lowest in abdominal obesity (3.7%). Some differences were recorded between genders, e.g. females reported higher improvement frequencies in hypertension (P = 0.001) and abdominal obesity (P < 0.001), whereas males in physical activity (P = 0.011) and LDL values (P = 0.032).ConclusionThe results showed significant changes for each risk factor, both for men and women. GPs and multicomponent educational interventions could play a key role in reducing cardiovascular risk factors

Effects of Cadmium chloride on human fetal cells in vitro

The principal aim of this work was to demonstrate the feasibility of tests with substances known as teratogenic in vivo on cell types which are the real target of their teratogenic effects. To this purpose Cadmium chloride has been tested on human amniotic fluid cells using the Chromosome aberrations (CA) and Sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) tests

Morphological findings in malformed fetuses with normal karyotype

In our Department morphological findings on fetuses from therapeutic interruption of pregnancy or spontaneous abortion are performed since ten years in order to correlate the ultrasound and/or chromosomic diagnosis with a real presence of malformations. The fetopathologic examination generally agrees with the chromosomal diagnosis, while in several cases it is possible to find malformations also in presence of a normal karyotype (Gitz, 2011). In our experience over the past 5 years we have found that 17 fetuses with a normal karyotype showed different heterogeneous ultrasound malformations. Only in 2 cases the fetuses died in uterus (17th and 22nd weeks of gestation), the other cases, aged between 14th and 23rd weeks of gestation, went from voluntary abortions. In 7 cases the karyotype was defined by amniocentesis while in the remaining 10 was determined by fetal fibroblasts culture; in only 30% of the observed cases the couple had carried out a genetic evaluation. External malformations were present in 16 fetuses, often related to the face (such as micrognathia, low-set of ears, flattened nasal bridge, cleft lip) or limb (short, curved, stubby) of spine (spina bifida) or genitalia (hypospadias). Malformations of internal organs were present in 10 cases, often affecting the cardiovascular system (complex heart defects and abnormal origin of the greath vessels), and nervous system (meningocele, agenesia of the corpus callosum, ventricular dilatation and Arnold-Chiari malformation); less frequent were malformations of other systems (digestive, respiratory and urinary). There was a single case of situs viscerum inversus associated with complex cardiac malformations and atresia of the bucco-pharyngeal membrane. These results indicate that the fetal morphological study is useful not only to confirm but often to supplement and complete the ultrasound data. Moreover genetic evaluation, utilizing fetopatholgical study, may have an important role in defining the diagnostic and clinical procedure, especially in relapses with malformed fetus and normal karyotype

L'APPLLICAZIONE DEL PROTOCOLLO DI KYOTO IN ITALIA NEL QUADRO DELLA CONSERVAZIONE DELLA BIODIVERSITA'

Caneva, Giulia Gibertini, Giancarlo Marchetti, Marc

Bio- and Biomimetic Receptors for Electrochemical Sensing of Heavy Metal Ions

Heavy metals ions (HMI), if not properly handled, used and disposed, are a hazard for the ecosystem and pose serious risks for human health. They are counted among the most common environmental pollutants, mainly originating from anthropogenic sources, such as agricultural, industrial and/or domestic effluents, atmospheric emissions, etc. To face this issue, it is necessary not only to determine the origin, distribution and the concentration of HMI but also to rapidly (possibly in real-time) monitor their concentration levels in situ. Therefore, portable, low-cost and high performing analytical tools are urgently needed. Even though in the last decades many analytical tools and methodologies have been designed to this aim, there are still several open challenges. Compared with the traditional analytical techniques, such as atomic absorption/emission spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and/or high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrochemical or UV–VIS detectors, bio- and biomimetic electrochemical sensors provide high sensitivity, selectivity and rapid responses within portable and user-friendly devices. In this review, the advances in HMI sensing in the last five years (2016–2020) are addressed. Key examples of bio and biomimetic electrochemical, impedimetric and electrochemiluminescence-based sensors for Hg2+, Cu2+, Pb2+, Cd2+, Cr6+, Zn2+ and Tl+ are described and discussed

Climate change and desertification vulnerability in Southern Italy

The Rio de Janeiro Conference (1992) brought the state of health of the environment and global warming to the focus of attention. As a contribution to ongoing studies in this regard, this paper investigates whether, over protracted periods during the 20(th) century, climate change occurred in two regions of southern Italy - Puglia and Sicilia. A twofold approach was adopted: firstly, climate long time series describing the thermo-pluviometric regimes of the two regions were examined for trends, using as a basis data on monthly rainfall (mm) and minimum/maximum temperature (degrees C). For Puglia, both the rainfall and temperature data used were those recorded at 21 stations during the period 1921-2001, whereas for Sicilia data recorded at 18 stations was used, however the rainfall data was for the period 1956-2000, while temperature data was for the period 1924-2003. Secondly, a comparison was made between the RIVAS-MARTINEZ ombrothermic indices for the two periods 1955-1985 and 1986-2000. Both regression-analysis results and RIVAS-MARTINEZ indices indicate an increase in aridity and thus a growing vulnerability to desertification. However, any climate change under way can be greatly influenced by local orographic systems, meaning that different trends may be found even at stations located relatively close to each other. There is no uniform pattern to the trends in climate change emerging from the statistical analyses undertaken here. Therefore local government planning needs to take account of factors at a global scale (at the level of the Mediterranean basin as a whole), as well as factors at a regional and local scale, which are more closely linked to specific geomorphological characteristics

The Role of Multimodal Imaging in Pathological Response Prediction of Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer Patients Treated by Chemoradiation Therapy Followed by Radical Surgery

Purpose: This study aimed to develop predictive models for pathological residual disease after neoadjuvant chemoradiation (CRT) in locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) by integrating parameters derived from transvaginal ultrasound, MRI and PET/CT imaging at different time points and time intervals. Methods: Patients with histologically proven LACC, stage IB2–IVA, were prospectively enrolled. For each patient, the three examinations were performed before, 2 and 5 weeks after treatment (“baseline”, “early” and “final”, respectively). Multivariable logistic regression models to predict complete vs. partial pathological response (pR) were developed and a cost analysis was performed. Results: Between October 2010 and June 2014, 88 patients were included. Complete or partial pR was found in 45.5% and 54.5% of patients, respectively. The two most clinically useful models in pR prediction were (1) using percentage variation of SUVmax retrieved at PET/CT “baseline” and “final” examination, and (2) including high DWI signal intensity (SI) plus, ADC, and SUVmax collected at “final” evaluation (area under the curve (95% Confidence Interval): 0.80 (0.71–0.90) and 0.81 (0.72–0.90), respectively). Conclusion: The percentage variation in SUVmax in the time interval before and after completing neoadjuvant CRT, as well as DWI SI plus ADC and SUVmax obtained after completing neoadjuvant CRT, could be used to predict residual cervical cancer in LACC patients. From a cost point of view, the use of MRI and PET/CT is preferable