Melanin-based color variation in response to changing climates in snakes.

Melanism, the process of heavier melanin deposition, can interact with climate variation at both micro and macro scales, ultimately influencing color evolution in organisms. While the ecological processes regulating melanin production in relation to climate have been extensively studied, intraspecific variations of melanism are seldom considered. Such scientific gap hampers our understanding of how species adapt to rapidly changing climates. For example, dark coloration may lead to higher heat absorption and be advantageous in cool climates, but also in hot environments as a UV or antimicrobial protection mechanism. To disentangle such opposing predictions, here we examined the effect of climate on shaping melanism variation in 150 barred grass snakes (Natrix helvetica) and 383 green whip snakes (Hierophis viridiflavus) across Italy. By utilizing melanistic morphs (charcoal and picturata in N. helvetica, charcoal and abundistic in H. viridiflavus) and compiling observations from 2002 to 2021, we predicted that charcoal morphs in H. viridiflavus would optimize heat absorption in cold environments, while offering protection from excessive UV radiation in N. helvetica within warm habitats; whereas picturata and abundistic morphs would thrive in humid environments, which naturally have a denser vegetation and wetter substrates producing darker ambient light, thus providing concealment advantages. While picturata and abundistic morphs did not align with our initial humidity expectations, the charcoal morph in N. helvetica is associated with UV environments, suggesting protection mechanisms against damaging solar radiation. H. viridiflavus is associated with high precipitations, which might offer antimicrobial protection. Overall, our results provide insights into the correlations between melanin-based color morphs and climate variables in snake populations. While suggestive of potential adaptive responses, future research should delve deeper into the underlying mechanisms regulating this relationship.

Role of congenital rubella reference laboratory: 21-months-surveillance in Liguria, Italy.

INTRODUCTION: Rubella is generally a mild rush fever disease when acquired in childhood, but when infection occurs during the first months of pregnancy, high risk of trans-placental transmission to the foetus and of congenital anomalies exists. In November 2003, a National Plan for measles and congenital rubella elimination was approved in Italy. The aim was to reduce and maintain Congenital Rubella Syndrome incidence lower than 1 case per 100,000 live births/year by 2007. Since June 2006, Liguria Administrative Region recognized U.O. Hygiene, "San Martino" University Hospital, Genoa, as regional reference laboratory for diagnosis of rubella infection during pregnancy and post-partum. METHODS: Twenty-one-month virological-surveillance results between April 2007 and December 2008 were reported in terms of demographic data, risk factors, access reasons, clinical picture, vaccination, previous rubella disease, laboratory results of pregnant women and newborns. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Since the beginning of surveillance, 65 pregnant women with suspected virus infection and 18 newborns with suspected congenital rubella were followed up. The results of laboratory surveillance highlighted (i) the importance of an early screening, (ii) the suboptimal specificity of chemiluminescent assays, that often yield false positive IgM results and (iii) the fundamental role of second-level laboratory to confirm the serological diagnosis and to detect the virus by molecular techniques.

Mottness at finite doping and charge-instabilities in cuprates.

The influence of the Mott physics on the doping-temperature phase diagram of copper oxides represents a major issue that is subject of intense theoretical and experimental effort. Here, we investigate the ultrafast electron dynamics in prototypical single-layer Bi-based cuprates at the energy scale of the O-2p→Cu-3d charge-transfer (CT) process. We demonstrate a clear evolution of the CT excitations from incoherent and localized, as in a Mott insulator, to coherent and delocalized, as in a conventional metal. This reorganization of the high-energy degrees of freedom occurs at the critical doping pcr ≈0.16 irrespective of the temperature, and it can be well described by dynamical mean field theory calculations. We argue that the onset of the low-temperature charge instabilities is the low-energy manifestation of the underlying Mottness that characterizes the p < pcr region of the phase diagram. This discovery sets a new framework for theories of charge order and low-temperature phases in underdoped copper oxides.

Performance testing of two new one-step real time PCR assays for detection of human influenza and avian influenza viruses isolated in humans and respiratory syncytial virus.

INTRODUCTION AND METHODS: Two real time one-step RT-PCR assays were developed for simultaneous detection and typing of influenza A and B viruses and detection of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). As regard influenza, primers were designed to amplify specific sequences of gene M of A/H1N1, A/H3N2, A/H5N1, A/H7N7 and A/H9N2 viruses and of gene NP of type B viruses belonging both Yamagata and Victoria lineage. Specificity, analytical and clinical sensitivity, dynamic range, linearity of the new assays were evaluated. RESULTS: Dynamic ranges for Influenza A and B, and RSV were at least five logs and linearity was conserved. In order to evaluate the specificity, 80 nasopharyngeal swabs resulting Influenza and RSV negative by multiplex nested PCR and cell culture, were tested and 79 resulted negative. The detection limits for influenza A and B, calculated by 95% probit, was 0.008 and 0.09 PFU, respectively, resulting more sensible than nested PCR. A total of 75 specimens (10 A/H1N1, 3 A/H1N2, 8 A/H3N2 Johannesburg/94-like, 10 A/H3N2 Panama/2007/99-like, 10 A/H3N2 Fuijian/411/02-like, 2 A/H5N1, 2 A/H7N7 and 2 A/H9N2, 15 B/Yamagata-like and 13 B/Victoria-like) collected between 1994 and 2004 or received by WHO Influenza Centre, London, were chosen as representative of the circulating strains and tested. All samples resulted positive although one B/Victoria sample was not clear typed. Thirty swabs nested RT-PCR positive for RSV collected during the four seasons, were also analysed by realtime PCR, resulting positive. To evaluate the performance of the new assay on fresh material, 250 specimens, collected during the 2004/05 seasons, were tested by nested-PCR, cell culture and real-time PCR. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The new assays provide accurate and sensitive diagnosis of influenza and RSV infection and they represent a sensitive tool for virological surveillance and management of patient with ILI.

Tomographic assessment of cerebral perfusion using a single-photon emitter (krypton-81m) and a rotating gamma camera.

Continuous carotid infusion of short-lived krypton-81m (t1/2 13 sec) yields an assessment of regional cerebral perfusion. This assessment can be obtained in three dimensions if activity is recorded with a rotating gamma camera and a computer to reconstruct krypton-81m distribution in tomographic sections. These showed several advantages over conventional views: (a) visualization of blood-flow distribution within brain structures (gray and white matter, basal ganglia); (b) more accurate location and evaluation of areas of relatively reduced or increased perfusion; (c) better definition of patterns of collateral circulation; (d) greater sensitivity and specificity in detecting and defining blood-flow changes during physiological activation studies. A limitation of the krypton-81m technique is its invasiveness. However, this study shows that the combination of new advances in radiochemistry with single-photon emission computed tomography may result in accessible methods for assessing, noninvasively and in three dimensions, the behavior of cerebral function in man.

[Importance of looking for specific IgM in serological investigations for syphilis]. / Importanza delle richerche delle IgM specifiche nelle indagini sierologiche per la lue.

Syphilis is still a quite common infection often lacking clinical symptoms and sometimes ignored. Serological tests have peculiar importance in order to settle the diagnosis and therapy. Traditional tests as VDRL and TPHA cannot clearly define the clinical pattern because these tests remain positive for a long period of time. Moreover they can prove the recovery of the patients only if they continue to give low titres. The immunofluorescence test FTA ABS, that raised interest at its outset, has low sensitivity against IgM specific antibodies and defines serological state of patients only in 50% of the cases. The reading of this test remains subjective. The authors intend to verify the importance to detect the IgM specific antibodies to assume medical and legal decisions in unknown subjects, without clinical knowledge. 20,000 sera of normal subjects and of risk group have been assayed. Specific IgM are absent in 60 clinically recovered subjects with VDRL and TPHA still positive, specific IgM are present in 15 cases of Syphilis under treatment and also in 15 subjects with unknown Syphilis. The results show that: 1) IgM specific antibodies for Syphilis are not detectable in patients under a long term antibiotic treatment while the traditional serological tests (VDRL, TPHA) are positive; 2) they are present in patients under treatment with still active infection; 3) they are also present in patients with ignored infection, never treated. In conclusion the Authors consider important to include in the panel of Syphilis testing new assays for the detection of specific IgM antibodies. This is particularly important in subjects under treatment and also in unknown subjects.

Photo-enhanced antinodal conductivity in the pseudogap state of high-Tc cuprates.

A major challenge in understanding the cuprate superconductors is to clarify the nature of the fundamental electronic correlations that lead to the pseudogap phenomenon. Here we use ultrashort light pulses to prepare a non-thermal distribution of excitations and capture novel properties that are hidden at equilibrium. Using a broadband (0.5-2 eV) probe, we are able to track the dynamics of the dielectric function and unveil an anomalous decrease in the scattering rate of the charge carriers in a pseudogap-like region of the temperature (T) and hole-doping (p) phase diagram. In this region, delimited by a well-defined T*neq(p) line, the photoexcitation process triggers the evolution of antinodal excitations from gapped (localized) to delocalized quasiparticles characterized by a longer lifetime. The novel concept of photo-enhanced antinodal conductivity is naturally explained within the single-band Hubbard model, in which the short-range Coulomb repulsion leads to a k-space differentiation between nodal quasiparticles and antinodal excitations.

Disentangling the electronic and phononic glue in a high-Tc superconductor.

Unveiling the nature of the bosonic excitations that mediate the formation of Cooper pairs is a key issue for understanding unconventional superconductivity. A fundamental step toward this goal would be to identify the relative weight of the electronic and phononic contributions to the overall frequency (Ω)-dependent bosonic function, Π(Ω). We performed optical spectroscopy on Bi(2)Sr(2)Ca(0.92)Y(0.08)Cu(2)O(8+δ) crystals with simultaneous time and frequency resolution; this technique allowed us to disentangle the electronic and phononic contributions by their different temporal evolution. The spectral distribution of the electronic excitations and the strength of their interaction with fermionic quasiparticles fully account for the high critical temperature of the superconducting phase transition.

Influenza and respiratory syncytial virus in infants and children: relationship with attendance at a paediatric emergency unit and characteristics of the circulating strains.

A study was carried out on 2,696 Italian children, aged 0-14 years. The goals were: (1) to define the age-related impact of acute respiratory infections (ARI), measured as the risk of attendance at the Paediatric Emergency Room, (2) to better define the importance and proportion of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections and (3) to acquire deeper knowledge of the influenza strains circulating in infants and children. A standardised emergency unit attendance risk (EUAR) was calculated, by age group for ARI. Specific EUARs were also calculated for the two pathogens. Pharyngeal swabs were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for influenza and RSVs. Isolation in Madine-Darby canine kidney cells (MDCK) and Hep cells, haemagglutination inhibition (HI) testing and HA1 gene sequence analysis were performed for influenza viruses. Most of the patients enrolled were aged 0-5 years, 1,139 (84.6%) and 1,061 (78.5%) in the two seasons, respectively. The most represented age class was that of 1 year olds (331 cases in 2001-2002 and 301 in 2002-2003). The highest EUAR for ARI was in patients aged 0-3 years (16.8 and 12.9 during the two seasons). The same was observed on calculating this risk by specific pathogens: 17.4 and 5.5 for influenza and 13.0 and 12.7 for RSV. Virological analysis was performed on 2,696 samples, 595 of which proved positive (22%). The highest number of isolates (326) came from patients aged 1-3 years. RSVs were more often identified than influenza viruses in infants aged up to 1 year (32 vs. 20 isolates). Of 265 strains isolated in 2001-2002, 103 were RSVs (87 type A, 16 B) and 162 were influenza (90 type A, 72 B). HI showed that influenza B viruses were related to two lineages, B/Victoria/2/87 (32%) and B/Yamagata/16/88 (68%). Of 330 strains isolated in 2002-2003, 102 were RSVs (91 type A, 11 B) and 228 were influenza viruses (220 type A, 8 B). A/H3N2 strains belonged to two clusters, A/Panama/2007/99-like and A/Fujian/411/02-like, a new variant. This paper discusses the possible role of the identified flu strains in determining EUARs among the population by age class.

[Radioimmunologic determination of alpha fetoprotein in diagnosis of primary tumors of the liver]. / Il dosaggio radioimmunologico dell'alfa-fetoproteina per la diagnosi dei tumori primitivi del fegato

The plasma level of alpha1-fetoprotein in 35 hepatic patients with a "cold" area showed by liver scanning has been detected by means of the radioimmunoassay technique. High levels (more than 320 ng/ml) of AFP were found in 4 cases of primary carcinoma of the liver; low concentration of AFP was found in 1 case of hepatoma. In 4 cases of liver metastasis the plasma levels of AFP were very low; the highest concentration (10 ng/ml) was found in a patient with a cancer of the colon. Low levels of AFP were found in all the cases (26) of hepatic cirrhosis, whereas high level of AFP was detected in 1 case of chronic hepatitis. The detection of alpha1-fetoprotein by the radioimmunoassay technique may be of value in the differential diagnosis between hepatoma and cirrhosis.

The role of radiopharmaceuticals MIBG and (V) DMSA in the diagnosis of medullary thyroid carcinoma.

The diagnostic value of 123/131I meta-iodo-benzylguanidine (MIBG) and 99mTc (V) dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) was investigated in 12 patients with proven medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). Scintigraphic imaging with DMSA was negative in nine of 12 patients. Scintigraphy with MIBG was positive in only one case. In proven primary or recurrent disease, DMSA sensitivity was 50% and MIBG sensitivity was 25%. Such sensitivities become much lower in subjects with high calcitonin (CT) levels who have had negative surgical explorations: DMSA 17% and MIBG 0%. DMSA detected tumor in 25% of the patients and MIBG in only 8%. The positivity of these scintigraphies appears to be unrelated to carcinoembryonic antigen and CT plasma levels. Such data suggest that scintigraphies with MIBG and DMSA are only modestly useful in the diagnosis of MTC.

An approach for the estimation of drug prescribing using the defined daily dose methodology and drug dispensation data. Theoretical considerations and practical applications.

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that comparison of defined daily dose (DDD) and drug user data may help to estimate drug exposure in a defined population and provide information about drug prescribing patterns. METHODS AND RESULTS: First, comparison of DDD figures with the number of apparent drug users (ADU, i.e., individuals for whom at least one prescription of the drug had been dispensed during a given time period) is demonstrated to correspond to the product of the prescribed daily dose (PDD) and the proportion of days in which the drug had been taken (days of treatment/days in a time period, D). The resulting equation (DDD/day)/ ADU in a time period = PDD x D is then applied to the analysis of different sets of drug dispensation data. Examples show that this approach may be helpful to monitor drug prescribing patterns over time. Moreover, in definite situations, it may provide reliable estimates of either PDD or D. CONCLUSIONS: Comparison of DDD and drug user data is suggested to be a cost-effective strategy to monitor drug prescribing patterns from an epidemiological perspective, which may be useful to researchers involved in drug utilisation studies as well as to health authorities for monitoring and regulatory purposes.

[Sequential scintigraphic evaluation in renal transplantation (author's transl)]. / Valutazione della scintigrafia sequenziale nel trapianto di rene: considerazioni in 57 pazienti.

In a series of 57 renal transplantation of a sequential scintigraphy was carried out within the tenth day from surgical operation. According to the various scintigraphic findings and on the basis of the possible acute renal failure, the patients were subdivided into 7 groups and the data were correlated with clinical and hystological findings.

Activation of the coagulation system in connective tissue diseases. A study of [125I] fibrinogen clearance.

Fifty-one patients with different connective tissue diseases in either active or clinically inactive phase were studied to detect the incidence of chronic or subclinical consumption coagulopathy in these forms. Every patient received intravenously 20 mu Ci of [125I] fibrinogen and the clearance of the labeled fibrinogen was evaluated and expressed by the T/2 method. The data confirm the activation of the coagulation system in connective tissue diseases. In patients with S.L.E., enhanced fibrinogen consumption was significantly correlated with disease activity, DNA-binding activity test, serum complement level and an aspecific inflammatory index (serum mucoprotein level). These preliminary data suggest the usefulness of complementary treatment in connective tissue diseases to counteract this specific pathogenetic mechanism.

Attitudes to adverse drug reaction reporting by medical practitioners in a Northern Italian district.

Attitudes to adverse drug reaction (ADR) spontaneous reporting were investigated among all the National Health Service (NHS) doctors operating in the territory of the Area Health Authority n.1 of Varese (Italy), to assess their awareness of the reporting system and to identify reasons for under reporting. Three hundred and fifty doctors were sent questionnaires and 207 (59.1%) were returned completed. More than 77% of the responders stated to have noticed ADRs, which were mainly reported to the pharmaceutical manufacturers and, in a minority of cases, to the NHS. Fifty per cent did not report ADRs to anyone. Important factors for deciding to report were unusualness and severity of the reaction, and involvement of a new drug. The main reason for not reporting was the clinical negligibility of the reaction. There was little knowledge about the types of reactions to be preferentially reported and the purposes of ADR reporting systems. Nevertheless, nearly everyone asked for feed-back information about reported ADRs. NHS doctors in this district have little information concerning ADR reporting systems. Some effective measures to improve the situation could be: inclusion of pharmacovigilance into pre- and post-graduated continuing education programs, provision of guidelines for ADR spontaneous reporting and of feed-back information to reporters, implementation of regional pharmacovigilance units.

[A correlative study of the evolution of myocardial infarction using 131Cs scintigraphy and ecocardiography (author's transl)]. / Studio correlativo dell'evoluzione dell'infarto miocardico mediante la scintigrafia con 131Cs e l'ecocardiografia

21 patients with acute myocardial infarction (A.M.I.) were studied by echocardiography (Echo) and 131CS myocardial scintigraphy (M.S.). Some months after discharge from Hospital (mean value = 10 months), the echocardiograms and myocardial scintigrams were taken again. M.S. resulted modified in 13 patients (62%); in 7 of these there was a reduction of the "cold" area due to M.I.; in 6 an extension with scintigraphic pattern of left ventricular aneurysm was shown. Echo showed in the first group of 7, with normal ventricular cavity (L.V.C.), dimension and good movement of the walls affected by A.M.I. In the second group of 6, L.V.C. dilatation (mean value = 5,6 cm) and reduction of L.V. walls movements gave noticeable results. In the patients (8 = 38%) with unchanged M.S., Echo showed an L.V.C. dimensions increase and L.V. wall movement reduction. The most important results of the present study is the sensitivity of the M.S. and Echo to picking up left ventricular aneurysm by means of non-invasive techniques. The Authors emphasize the availability of Echo and M.S. in the follow up of M.I.