Effetti sulle funzioni autonomiche e sugli stati di veglia e di sonno della manipolazione centrale farmacologica del sistema ipocretinergico nel ratto

Obiettivo della tesi è stato quello di studiare il ruolo svolto dall’ipotalamo laterale (LH) nella regolazione dei processi di integrazione dell’attività autonomica e termoregolatoria con quella degli stati di veglia e sonno. A questo scopo, l’attività dell’LH è stata inibita per 6 ore (Esperimento A) mediante microiniezioni locali dell’agonista GABAA muscimolo nel ratto libero di muoversi, nel quale sono stati monitorati in continuo l’elelttroencefalogramma, l’elettromiogramma nucale, la pressione arteriosa (PA) e la temperatura ipotalamica (Thy) e cutanea. Gli animali sono stati studiati a temperatura ambientale (Ta) di 24°C e 10°C. I risultati hanno mostrato che l’inibizione acuta dell’LH riduce l’attività di veglia e sopprime la comparsa del sonno REM. Ciò avviene attraverso l’induzione di uno stato di sonno NREM caratterizzato da ipersincronizzazione corticale, con scomparsa degli stati transizionali al sonno REM. Quando l’animale è esposto a bassa Ta, tali alterazioni si associano a un ampio calo della Thy, che viene compensato da meccanismi vicarianti solo dopo un paio d’ore dall’iniezione. Sulla base di tali risultati, si è proceduto ad un ulteriore studio (Esperimento B) volto ad indagare il ruolo del neuropeptide ipocretina (prodotto in modo esclusivo a livello dell’LH) nei processi termoregolatori, mediante microiniezioni del medesimo nel bulbo rostrale ventromediale (RVMM), stazione cruciale della rete nervosa preposta all’attivazione dei processi termogenetici. La somministrazione di ipocretina è stata in grado di attivare la termogenesi e di potenziare la comparsa della veglia, con concomitante lieve incremento della PA e della frequenza cardiaca, quando effettuata alle Ta di 24°C o di 10°C, ma non alla Ta di 32°C. In conclusione, i risultati indicano che l’LH svolge un ruolo cruciale nella promozione degli stati di veglia e di sonno REM e, per tramite dell’ipocretina, interviene in modo coplesso a livello del RVMM nella regolazione dei processi di coordinamento dell'attività di veglia con quella termoregolatoria.

Ubuntu phone - un sistema operativo convergente per desktop e cellulari

Ubuntu Touch è un nuovo sistema operativo per Desktop e Cellulari che nasce dalla necessità di unire sistemi eterogenei sotto un'unica piattaforma. L'infrastruttura di Touch, che garantisce convergenza fra dispositivi diversi, è basata sull'innovativo server grafico Mir e sull'interfaccia grafica Unity. L'Application Model è notevolmente migliorato, le applicazioni sono confinate attraverso AppArmor, e scambiano fra loro contenuti tramite il servizio Content-Hub. I tool di sviluppo supportati sono le tecnologie web (HTML5 e JavaScript) e C++ su Framework Qt (possibilità di utilizzare QML). Gli aggiornamenti di sistema, del core, sono sia parziali, attraverso archivi "delta" che introducono solo i cambiamenti necessari, sia full, sovrascrivono l'intero dispositivo. Lo sviluppo in Ubuntu SDK è veloce e agile. Notevole la gestione degli emulatori, ma pecca di alcune feature tutt'ora mancanti. Gli Scope sono application content indipendent, vera innovazione in Ubuntu. Per sperimentare questa tecnologia si sviluppa uno scope per la ricerca di libri nella Biblioteca Gian Paolo Dore della Facoltà di Ingegneria di Bologna.

Canadian Cardiovascular Society 2009 Consensus Conference on the management of adults with congenital heart disease: executive summary

With advances in pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery, the population of adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) has increased. In the current era, there are more adults with CHD than children. This population has many unique issues and needs. They have distinctive forms of heart failure, and their cardiac disease can be associated with pulmonary hypertension, thromboemboli, complex arrhythmias and sudden death.Medical aspects that need to be considered relate to the long-term and multisystemic effects of single-ventricle physiology, cyanosis, systemic right ventricles, complex intracardiac baffles and failing subpulmonary right ventricles. Since the 2001 Canadian Cardiovascular Society Consensus Conference report on the management of adults with CHD, there have been significant advances in the understanding of the late outcomes, genetics, medical therapy and interventional approaches in the field of adult CHD. Therefore, new clinical guidelines have been written by Canadian adult CHD physicians in collaboration with an international panel of experts in the field. The present executive summary is a brief overview of the new guidelines and includes the recommendations for interventions. The complete document consists of four manuscripts that are published online in the present issue of The Canadian Journal of Cardiology, including sections on genetics, clinical outcomes, recommended diagnostic workup, surgical and interventional options, treatment of arrhythmias, assessment of pregnancy and contraception risks, and follow-up requirements. The complete document and references can also be found at www.ccs.ca or www.cachnet.org.

Ted Schwinden, Reflections on Montana’s Years of Transformational Change

Ted Schwinden, Montana’s 19th Governor (1981-89), was deeply involved in the major transformational changes in Montana and its government between 1959 and 1989. From when he first went to the Legislature in 1959, though his tenure as State Lands Commissioner for both Governor Forrest Anderson and Governor Tom Judge, his four years as Lieutenant Governor with Governor Judge, and his own eight-year tenure as Governor, Ted Schwinden was present at the creation of much major change in Montana during that transformational period. This 136 minute video reflection was filmed on August 26, 2013 in Helena, MT, at the home of Dore Schwinden, Ted’s son, and is an interview/discussion with Evan Barrett of Highlands College/Montana Tech. Barrett was himself a lesser participant and observer of much of that period of change. He has spent the last forty-four years at the top level of Montana government, politics, economic development and education. The film is the first of a number of Montana Historical Films planned by Barrett and was done as a part of Barrett’s class at Highlands College in Fall Semester 2013: “20th Century Montana – People, Policies & Perspectives.”

Evidence Focused Social Care: on Target or Off-Side?

As contentions continue to engulf the evidence-based practice (EBP) debate within social care, consensus seems to be gravitating towards the softer term of ‘evidence-aware’ practice, although there is as yet no definitive concept on the horizon. Set against a back-drop of competing ideologies, heavily influenced by the natural sciences, what is at stake is the essence of social work: there is a real danger that social work practice be reduced to mere base elements, which seek to eliminate all notions of uncertainly, so essential and endemic to our social world

Recommendations for the Management of Hepatitis C Virus Infection Among People Who Inject Drugs

In the developed world, the majority of new and existing hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections occur among people who inject drugs (PWID). The burden of HCV-related liver disease in this group is increasing, but treatment uptake among PWID remains low. Among PWID, there are a number of barriers to care that should be considered and systematically addressed, but these barriers should not exclude PWID from HCV treatment. Furthermore, it has been clearly demonstrated that HCV treatment is safe and effective across a broad range of multidisciplinary healthcare settings. Given the burden of HCV-related disease among PWID, strategies to enhance HCV assessment and treatment in this group are urgently needed. These recommendations demonstrate that treatment among PWID is feasible and provides a framework for HCV assessment, management, and treatment. Further research is needed to evaluate strategies to enhance assessment, adherence, and SVR among PWID, particularly as new treatments for HCV infection become available.

Friedrich Stoltze : die Veröffentlichungen, der Nachlaß, die Bibliothek ; ein Gesamtverzeichnis

Alfred Estermann. [Unter Mitarbeit von:] Andrea Wölbing ; Dore Struckmeier-Schubert

Parental substance abuse as a risk factor for physical child abuse and neglect: A systematic review of the literature

Case control and retrospective studies have identified parental substance abuse as a risk factor for physical child abuse and neglect (Dore, Doris, & Wright, 1995, May; S. R. Dube et al., 2001; Guterman & Lee, 2005, May; Walsh, MacMillan, & Jamieson, 2003). The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a systematic review of prospective studies from 1975 through 2005 that include parental substance abuse as a risk factor for physical child abuse or neglect. Characteristics of each study such as the research question, sample information, data collection methods and results, including the parent assessed and definitions of substance abuse and physical child abuse and neglect, are discussed. Five studies were identified that met the search criteria. Four of five studies found that parental substance abuse was a significant variable in predicting physical child abuse and neglect.^

Minería metalífera en Santa Cruz : Empleo y matriz productiva

El presente estudio se propone realizar una caracterización de la minería metalífera en la Provincia de Santa Cruz. Esta actividad comenzó a desarrollarse en esa provincia desde mediados de los años 90 y, hasta la fecha, creció en forma sostenida como consecuencia del cruce de una serie de circunstancias favorables: a) las modificaciones en la legislación, que favorecieron la inversión minera al equiparar en oportunidades a la República Argentina con Chile y el Perú, países con un elevado desarrollo minero gracias a la importante inversión externa directa; b) el potencial minero de la provincia; c) la crisis en el sector lanero -especialmente en la meseta central de la provincia- que llevó a un despoblamiento de los campos de actual explotación minera, lo que redujo la potencial conflictividad entre la minería y la ganadería y facilitó a la nueva actividad la adquisición de propiedades a bajos precios, presentándola, además, como un sector generador de empleo; d) la lejanía de los yacimientos mineros de los centros poblados de la provincia, que favoreció un consenso social superior al verificado en otras regiones del país. En la actualidad, en un contexto de aumento generalizado de los precios internacionales de las commodities, se observa un constante incremento de la actividad minera en la Provincia de Santa Cruz. Ello ha conducido a la incorporación de nuevas tecnologías de producción para la recuperación mineral y a dar impulso a nuevas explotaciones

Minería metalífera en Santa Cruz : Empleo y matriz productiva

El presente estudio se propone realizar una caracterización de la minería metalífera en la Provincia de Santa Cruz. Esta actividad comenzó a desarrollarse en esa provincia desde mediados de los años 90 y, hasta la fecha, creció en forma sostenida como consecuencia del cruce de una serie de circunstancias favorables: a) las modificaciones en la legislación, que favorecieron la inversión minera al equiparar en oportunidades a la República Argentina con Chile y el Perú, países con un elevado desarrollo minero gracias a la importante inversión externa directa; b) el potencial minero de la provincia; c) la crisis en el sector lanero -especialmente en la meseta central de la provincia- que llevó a un despoblamiento de los campos de actual explotación minera, lo que redujo la potencial conflictividad entre la minería y la ganadería y facilitó a la nueva actividad la adquisición de propiedades a bajos precios, presentándola, además, como un sector generador de empleo; d) la lejanía de los yacimientos mineros de los centros poblados de la provincia, que favoreció un consenso social superior al verificado en otras regiones del país. En la actualidad, en un contexto de aumento generalizado de los precios internacionales de las commodities, se observa un constante incremento de la actividad minera en la Provincia de Santa Cruz. Ello ha conducido a la incorporación de nuevas tecnologías de producción para la recuperación mineral y a dar impulso a nuevas explotaciones

Minería metalífera en Santa Cruz : Empleo y matriz productiva

El presente estudio se propone realizar una caracterización de la minería metalífera en la Provincia de Santa Cruz. Esta actividad comenzó a desarrollarse en esa provincia desde mediados de los años 90 y, hasta la fecha, creció en forma sostenida como consecuencia del cruce de una serie de circunstancias favorables: a) las modificaciones en la legislación, que favorecieron la inversión minera al equiparar en oportunidades a la República Argentina con Chile y el Perú, países con un elevado desarrollo minero gracias a la importante inversión externa directa; b) el potencial minero de la provincia; c) la crisis en el sector lanero -especialmente en la meseta central de la provincia- que llevó a un despoblamiento de los campos de actual explotación minera, lo que redujo la potencial conflictividad entre la minería y la ganadería y facilitó a la nueva actividad la adquisición de propiedades a bajos precios, presentándola, además, como un sector generador de empleo; d) la lejanía de los yacimientos mineros de los centros poblados de la provincia, que favoreció un consenso social superior al verificado en otras regiones del país. En la actualidad, en un contexto de aumento generalizado de los precios internacionales de las commodities, se observa un constante incremento de la actividad minera en la Provincia de Santa Cruz. Ello ha conducido a la incorporación de nuevas tecnologías de producción para la recuperación mineral y a dar impulso a nuevas explotaciones

Diatom abundances in sediment core CESAR_83-006

The modern Arctic Ocean is regarded as a barometer of global change and amplifier of global warming (Graversen et al., 2008, doi:10.1038/nature06502) and therefore records of past Arctic change are critical for palaeoclimate reconstruction. Little is known of the state of the Arctic Ocean in the greenhouse period of the Late Cretaceous epoch (65-99 million years ago), yet records from such times may yield important clues to Arctic Ocean behaviour in near-future warmer climates. Here we present a seasonally resolved Cretaceous sedimentary record from the Alpha ridge of the Arctic Ocean. This palaeo-sediment trap provides new insight into the workings of the Cretaceous marine biological carbon pump. Seasonal primary production was dominated by diatom algae but was not related to upwelling as was previously hypothesized (Kitchell and Clark, 1982, doi:10.1016/0031-0182(82)90087-6). Rather, production occurred within a stratified water column, involving specially adapted species in blooms resembling those of the modern North Pacific subtropical gyre (Dore et al., 2008, doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2007.10.002), or those indicated for the Mediterranean sapropels (Kemp et al., 1999, doi:10.1038/18001). With increased CO2 levels and warming currently driving increased stratification in the global ocean (Sarmiento et al., 1998, doi:10.1038/30455), this style of production that is adapted to stratification may become more widespread. Our evidence for seasonal diatom production and flux testify to an ice-free summer, but thin accumulations of terrigenous sediment within the diatom ooze are consistent with the presence of intermittent sea ice in the winter, supporting a wide body of evidence for low temperatures in the Late Cretaceous Arctic Ocean (Falcon-Lang et al., 2004, doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.05.016; Amiot et al., 2004, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2004.07.015; Otto-Bliesner et al., 2002, doi:10.1029/2001JD000821), rather than recent suggestions of a 15 °C mean annual temperature at this time (Jenkyns et al., 2004, doi:10.1038/nature03143).