Metabolic profile of dystrophic mdx mouse muscles analyzed with in vitro magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a recessive X-linked form of muscular dystrophy characterized by progressive and irreversible degeneration of the muscles. The mdx mouse is the classical animal model for DMD, showing similar molecular and protein defects. The mdx mouse, however, does not show significant muscle weakness, and the diaphragm muscle is significantly more degenerated than skeletal muscles. In this work, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was used to study the metabolic profile of quadriceps and diaphragm muscles from mdx and control mice. Using principal components analysis (PCA), the animals were separated into groups according to age and lineages. The classification was compared to histopathological analysis. Among the 24 metabolites identified from the nuclear MR spectra, only 19 were used by the PCA program for classification purposes. These can be important key biomarkers associated with the progression of degeneration in mdx muscles and with natural aging in control mice. Glutamate, glutamine, succinate, isoleucine, acetate, alanine and glycerol were increased in mdx samples as compared to control mice, in contrast to carnosine, taurine, glycine, methionine and creatine that were decreased. These results suggest that MRS associated with pattern recognition analysis can be a reliable tool to assess the degree of pathological and metabolic alterations in the dystrophic tissue, thereby affording the possibility of evaluation of beneficial effects of putative therapies. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Regional differences in clinical care among patients with type 1 diabetes in Brazil: Brazilian Type 1 Diabetes Study Group

Background To determine the characteristics of clinical care offered to type 1 diabetic patients across the four distinct regions of Brazil, with geographic and contrasting socioeconomic differences. Glycemic control, prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, screening for chronic complications and the frequency that the recommended treatment goals were met using the American Diabetes Association guidelines were evaluated. Methods This was a cross-sectional, multicenter study conducted from December 2008 to December 2010 in 28 secondary and tertiary care public clinics in 20 Brazilian cities in north/northeast, mid-west, southeast and south regions. The data were obtained from 3,591 patients (56.0% females and 57.1% Caucasians) aged 21.2 ± 11.7 years with a disease duration of 9.6 ± 8.1 years (<1 to 50 years). Results Overall, 18.4% patients had HbA1c levels <7.0%, and 47.5% patients had HbA1c levels ≥ 9%. HbA1c levels were associated with lower economic status, female gender, age and the daily frequency of self-blood glucose monitoring (SBGM) but not with insulin regimen and geographic region. Hypertension was more frequent in the mid-west (32%) and north/northeast (25%) than in the southeast (19%) and south (17%) regions (p<0.001). More patients from the southeast region achieved LDL cholesterol goals and were treated with statins (p<0.001). Fewer patients from the north/northeast and mid-west regions were screened for retinopathy and nephropathy, compared with patients from the south and southeast. Patients from the south/southeast regions had more intensive insulin regimens than patients from the north/northeast and mid-west regions (p<0.001). The most common insulin therapy combination was intermediate-acting with regular human insulin, mainly in the north/northeast region (p<0.001). The combination of insulin glargine with lispro and glulisine was more frequently used in the mid-west region (p<0.001). Patients from the north/northeast region were younger, non-Caucasian, from lower economic status, used less continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion, performed less SBGM and were less overweight/obese (p<0.001). Conclusions A majority of patients, mainly in the north/northeast and mid-west regions, did not meet metabolic control goals and were not screened for diabetes-related chronic complications. These results should guide governmental health policy decisions, specific to each geographic region, to improve diabetes care and decrease the negative impact diabetes has on the public health system.

Effect of different live prey, Grapsus grapsus Linnaeus 1758 and Plagusia depressa Fabricius, 1775 zoeas,over histology and biochemical composition of common octopus, octopus vulgaris Cuvier, 1797 paralarvae

[EN] Since paralarval rearing is still the main bottleneck for the development of octopus culture, the aim of the present study was to obtain some information on the feeding strategy and nutritional requirements during paralarval stage. For that purpose just hatched out octopus paralarvae were fed with live preys in three different combinations, trying to match their natural food: Enriched Artemia metanauplii, Grapsus grapsus zoeas supplemented with enriched Artemia, and Plagusia depressa zoeas supplemented with enriched Artemia. Paralarval treatments were carried out during 28 days in triplicates; fibre glass 120 l tanks in flow through system were used. Growth, in terms of dry body weight, mantle length and width, was determined each seven days. A histological study of the paralarval development was carried out. Biochemical composition of preys and paralarvae were determined. Growth was significantly better in paralarvae fed with zoeas and Artemia than in those fed only with Artemia, from day 8 after hatching. Besides a clear effect on the digestive gland histology morphology was observed.

Biología de la reproducción del cangrejo blanco Plagusia depressa (Fabricius, 1775) y cangrejo moro Grapsus grapsus (Linneus, 1758) en el litoral de Gran Canaria

[ES] La familia Grapsidae comprende el conjunto de cangrejos ecológicamente más diverso, dado que existen especies marinas, de agua salobre, dulceacuícolas, anfibias e incluso terrestres (Ruppert y Barnes, 1996). El presente trabajo se ha centrado en el estudio poblacional y reproductivo de dos especies de dicha familia: Grapsus grapsus y Plagusia depressa. Para ello se evaluaron las épocas de puesta, la proporción entre sexos y la fecundidad. Por último, se estudió el desarrollo embrionario para ambas especies. El objetivo de este trabajo fue la obtención de la información necesaria para realizar el cultivo en cautividad de las mismas. Bien para la utilización de las zoeas como presas vivas de otros cultivos, o bien para su producción, ya que estas dos especies de grápsidos poseen un gran potencial económico, dada su importancia marisquera, especialmente en el caso de Plagusia depressa, donde sus poblaciones naturales sufren graves retrocesos.

Infección del nemertino parásito, Carcinonemertes sp., sobre hembras ovadas de cangrejo blanco Plagusia depressa (Fabricius, 1775): Ciclo biológico y efecto sobre la puesta.

[ES] En el presente trabajo se describen los distintos estadíos del nemertino parásito, Carcinonemertes sp., hallado entre los huevos del braquiuro Plagusia depressa (Fabricius, 1775). Este organismo suele encontrarse en la puesta de distintas especies de cangrejos braquiuros, ejerciendo una depredación sobre la misma. Se comprobó que la presencia del parásito entre los huevos del cangrejo estaba relacionada con la época del año, ya que entre junio-septiembre no se detectó su presencia, mientras que a partir del mes de noviembre, todas las hembras ovadas de P. depressa estudiadas sufrían la acción parásita de Carcinonemertes sp. sobre sus huevos. El ciclo vital de Carcinonemertes sp. comienza en un estado de huevo, los cuales aparecen agrupados en forma de cordones entre los huevos del cangrejo; de estos huevos eclosionan larvas planctónicas ciliadas, que evolucionan a gusanos juveniles, los cuales se desarrollan en el interior de tubos mucosos secretados por ellos mismos, hasta alcanzar el estado adulto. Tras una reproducción de tipo sexual las hembras ponen los huevos cerrándose el ciclo.

Molecular phylogeography of the Woodland Ringlet (Erebia medusa [Denis and Schiffermüller] 1775) in Europe

Phylogeography is a recent field of biological research that links phylogenetics to biogeography through deciphering the imprint that evolutionary history has left on the genetic structure of extant populations. During the cold phases of the successive ice ages, which drastically shaped species’ distributions since the Pliocene, populations of numerous species were isolated in refugia where many of them evolved into different genetic lineages. My dissertation deals with the phylogeography of the Woodland Ringlet (Erebia medusa [Denis and Schiffermüller] 1775) in Central and Eastern Europe. This Palaearctic butterfly species is currently distributed from central France and south eastern Belgium over large parts of Central Europe and southern Siberia to the Pacific. It is absent from those parts of Europe with mediterranean, oceanic and boreal climates. It was supposed to be a Siberian faunal element with a rather homogeneous population structure in Central Europe due to its postglacial expansion out of a single eastern refugium. An already existing evolutionary scenario for the Woodland Ringlet in Central and Eastern Europe is based on nuclear data (allozymes). To know if this is corroborated by organelle evolutionary history, I sequenced two mitochondrial markers (part of the cytochrome oxydase subunit one and the control region) for populations sampled over the same area. Phylogeography largely relies on the construction of networks of uniparentally inherited haplotypes that are compared to geographic haplotype distribution thanks to recent developed methods such as nested clade phylogeographic analysis (NCPA). Several ring-shaped ambiguities (loops) emerged from both haplotype networks in E. medusa. They can be attributed to recombination and homoplasy. Such loops usually avert the straightforward extraction of the phylogeographic signal contained in a gene tree. I developed several new approaches to extract phylogeographic information in the presence of loops, considering either homoplasy or recombination. This allowed me to deduce a consistent evolutionary history for the species from the mitochondrial data and also adds plausibility for the occurrence of recombination in E. medusa mitochondria. Despite the fact that the control region is assumed to have a lack of resolving power in other species, I found a considerable genetic variation of this marker in E. medusa which makes it a useful tool for phylogeographic studies. In combination with the allozyme data, the mitochondrial genome supports the following phylogeographic scenario for E. medusa in Europe: (i) a first vicariance, due to the onset of the Würm glaciation, led to the formation of several major lineages, and is mirrored in the NCPA by restricted gene flow, (ii) later on further vicariances led to the formation of two sub-lineages in the Western lineage and two sub-lineages in the Eastern lineage during the Last Glacial Maximum or Older Dryas; additionally the NCPA supports a restriction of gene flow with isolation by distance, (iii) finally, vicariance resulted in two secondary sub-lineages in the area of Germany and, maybe, to two other secondary sub-lineages in the Czech Republic. The last postglacial warming was accompanied by strong range expansions in most of the genetic lineages. The scenario expected for a presumably Siberian faunal element such as E. medusa is a continuous loss of genetic diversity during postglacial westward expansion. Hence, the pattern found in this thesis contradicts a typical Siberian origin of E. medusa. In contrast, it corroboratess the importance of multiple extra-Mediterranean refugia for European fauna as it was recently assumed for other continental species.

L'adulterio come strumento sociale: confronto tra Anna Karenina e Lady Chatterley

Lo scopo di questo lavoro è confrontare due opere, Anna Karenina di Lev Tolstoj e L’amante di Lady Chatterley di David Herbert Lawrence e dimostrare che essi non hanno in comune solo il tema dell’adulterio, ma anche e soprattutto l’averlo inteso come strumento di ribellione sociale. In Tolstoj troviamo l’adulterio censurato nel corso della narrazione, poiché esso viene condannato sia dalla società che dall’autore stesso, che aveva come intento dare una lezione morale. Lawrence invece esalta e descrive l’adulterio, poiché nel suo caso diventa lo strumento di scoperta dell’amore vero e di ritorno al primitivismo a dispetto della civiltà industrializzata. Quindi, pur appartenendo a due epoche diverse e a due società con differenti visioni circa matrimonio e famiglia, le due eroine sono similari per il coraggio che dimostrano nell’andare contro le rispettive società.

Multicentre study for a robust protocol in single-voxel spectroscopy: quantification of MRS signals by time-domain fitting algorithms

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) is an advanced clinical and research application which guarantees a specific biochemical and metabolic characterization of tissues by the detection and quantification of key metabolites for diagnosis and disease staging. The "Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica (AIFM)" has promoted the activity of the "Interconfronto di spettroscopia in RM" working group. The purpose of the study is to compare and analyze results obtained by perfoming MRS on scanners of different manufacturing in order to compile a robust protocol for spectroscopic examinations in clinical routines. This thesis takes part into this project by using the GE Signa HDxt 1.5 T at the Pavillion no. 11 of the S.Orsola-Malpighi hospital in Bologna. The spectral analyses have been performed with the jMRUI package, which includes a wide range of preprocessing and quantification algorithms for signal analysis in the time domain. After the quality assurance on the scanner with standard and innovative methods, both spectra with and without suppression of the water peak have been acquired on the GE test phantom. The comparison of the ratios of the metabolite amplitudes over Creatine computed by the workstation software, which works on the frequencies, and jMRUI shows good agreement, suggesting that quantifications in both domains may lead to consistent results. The characterization of an in-house phantom provided by the working group has achieved its goal of assessing the solution content and the metabolite concentrations with good accuracy. The goodness of the experimental procedure and data analysis has been demonstrated by the correct estimation of the T2 of water, the observed biexponential relaxation curve of Creatine and the correct TE value at which the modulation by J coupling causes the Lactate doublet to be inverted in the spectrum. The work of this thesis has demonstrated that it is possible to perform measurements and establish protocols for data analysis, based on the physical principles of NMR, which are able to provide robust values for the spectral parameters of clinical use.

Anna, sette anni al fronte. Analisi e proposta di sottotitolaggio del film documentario Anna, sem' let na linii fronta

The aim of the present work was to make more accessible a documentary film that focuses on the life and work of the Russian journalist killed in Moscow in 2006: Anna Politkovskaja. The film, entitled “Anna, seven years at the frontline” is a collage of several video-interviews with Politkovskaja’s friends and colleagues, in which they talk about who she was, what was her job about and how she tried to make the public aware about the Chechen wars. Working on this translation gave me a unique opportunity to deepen one of the most controversial issues in the recent history of Russia and to create a useful final product for those who have a particular interest in this topic but do not have the necessary linguistic competence to understand this documentary film.