179 research outputs found
Lo scarto dalla norma: corpo e corporeità nella letteratura contemporanea
No full textIl terzo numero di «NuBE» offre una panoramica trasversale su universi linguistici e culturali differenti per mostrare come la letteratura, grazie al suo potenziale euristico e visionario, possa guidare la riflessione intorno alla trasformazione della relazione tra l’individuo contemporaneo e il proprio corpo. Esplorare la fenomenologia del corpo nella letteratura contemporanea significa riflettere su ambiti dell’esperienza tanto disparati quanto contigui e complementari. Senza pretesa di esaustività, la presente raccolta di saggi si concentra sul corpo nel suo legame con la costruzione dell’identità, rispetto alla memoria individuale o collettiva; sulle metamorfosi del corpo, ivi compreso anche il suo essere ibrido, o alterato; su una rinnovata concezione della malattia e della cura; sui limiti percettivi e sovente discriminatori del corpo dell’Altro; sulle disabilità e le alterazioni della sensorialità
B-HT 920 STIMULATES FEEDING AND ANTAGONIZES ANOREXIA INDUCED BY ACTH AND IMMOBILIZATION
No full textThe influence of immobilisation and i.c.v. injection of ACTH on feeding in rats was examined using a new experimental model. An X-maze with alternate open and covered arms, each baited with standard laboratory chow was used, where individual rats were placed and observed for 5 min. Two essential aspects of the behaviour towards food were considered, namely, lasting and feeding. A number of parameters were applied to demonstrate the anorectic activity of ACTH and immobilisation, in accordance with data obtained using classical procedures for feeding analysis. ACTH at the dose used did not modify rat exploratory activity and grooming in the X-maze without food pellets. In the same X-maze feeding test, B-HT 920, a selective agonist of dopamine D2 receptors and alpha-2-adrenoceptors, shown earlier to have anxiolytic- and antidepressive-like properties in rats, enhanced appetite and exerted anxiolytic activity when injected ia.p. Pretreatment with B-HT 920 counteracted the restraint- and ACTH-induced effects. The results are discussed in the light of the relation between control of feeding and affective disorders. B-HT 920 activity seems to be of particular interest in view of its antagonism towards the anorexia elicited by two different agents reputed to have in common a key role in the stress-related disturbances of food intake
SUPPRESSIVE EFFECT OF THE DOPAMINE D2-RECEPTOR AGONIST B-HT 920 ON RAT GROOMING
No full textThe effect of the D2 agonist B-HT 920 was examined on three behavioural models of induced grooming in the rat. B-HT 920 potently inhibited the grooming elicited by a novel environment, whereas it stimulated the stretching-yawning syndrome. Pretreatment with the selective dopamine D2 receptor antagonist, sulpiride, reversed the phenomenon. When B-HT 920 was administered to rats before water immersion, it similarly antagonized total grooming; wet-dog shakes, detected in these same animals, were potently inhibited. Finally, B-HT 920 displayed inhibitory activity towards adrenocorticotropin hormone-induced excessive rooming. On the basis of these effects, the role of D2 receptor subtypes in the modulation of grooming is discussed
BEHAVIORAL EVIDENCE THAT DIFFERENT NEUROCHEMICAL MECHANISMS UNDERLY STRETCHING-YAWNING AND PENILE ERECTION INDUCED IN MALE-RATS BY SND-919, A NEW SELECTIVE D-2 DOPAMINE-RECEPTOR AGONIST
No full textThe behavioural effects induced in male Wistar rats by SND 919, a new drug reputed to have selective agonistic activity at D-2 dopamine (DA) receptors, were studied. The following aspects of behaviour were considered: motor activity, stretching-yawning (SY), penile erection (PE) and stereotyped behaviour (SB). Intraperitoneal injection (IP) of the drug (0.01-20 mg/kg) induced an SY syndrome in the form of a bell-shaped dose-response curve, the effect being maximal at the dose of 0.1 mg/kg and disappearing completely at 10 mg/kg. SND 919 also potently elicited PE; this latter effect, however, was not coincident with SY induction, being maximal at 1 mg/kg and persisting at 10 and 20 mg/kg. SND 919-induced SY was potently antagonized by pretreatment not only with the D-2 antagonist, L-sulpiride (20 mg/kg), but also with the alpha(2) antagonist, yohimbine (1, 3 mg/kg), and the more selective alpha(2) antagonist, idazoxan (1, 2 and 5 mg/kg). While sulpiride also decreased SND 919-induced PE, idazoxan at all doses and yohimbine at 1 mg/kg did not affect this behaviour. Inhibition of motor activity was induced by the D-2 agonist at low doses (0.05, 0.1 mg/kg), while at high doses (1, 10 and 20 mg/kg), it was actually replaced by a form of SB characterized by downward sniffing and licking. When, for comparison, the D-2 agonist, RU 24213 (0.1-20 mg/kg IF), was tested for PE, SY, motor activity and SB, it displayed a behavioural pattern very similar to that obtained with SND 919. Idazoxan (2 mg/kg), administered before RU 24213 (10 mg/kg), significantly antagonized the drug-induced SY, but not PE. The discussion centres on the specific neurochemical mechanisms presumably underlying the various forms of SND 919-induced behaviour and, in particular, PE and SY, which seem to differ, at least with respect to alpha(2) involvement
Relational Goods, Sociability, and Happiness
No full textThis paper empirically investigates the impact of relational goods on individual life satisfaction. By relational goods we indicate the affective/expressive, non instrumental, side of interpersonal relationships. The homo oeconomicus view of human nature is questioned by the recent upsurge of empirical studies on the determinants of self declared happiness, that show that an increasing income does not always lead to more subjective well being ( Easterlin's famous (1974) 'paradox of happiness'). The theoretical literature on relational goods has isolated various mechanisms which may induce an under-consumption and under- production of relational goods. The hypothesis we test is that people with a more intense relational life are less affected by this 'relational poverty trap' and are therefore happier. Our findings does not disprove our hypothesis: relational goods turn out to have significant and positive effects on self declared life satisfaction, when other determinants isolated in the literature as important are taken into account and when the inverse causality nexus i.e. from more happiness to a more intense relational life is also taken into account. Finally, we show that gender, age and education matter and in particular that the effects of sociability on happiness are stronger for women, older and less educated individuals. These findings can be useful in designing and evaluating public policies with a direct or indirect effect on the quality and quantity of relational goods. Copyright 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
GROOMING AND STRETCHING-YAWNING - 2 BEHAVIORAL POINTERS OF D2 DOPAMINE RECEPTOR AGONISTIC EFFECT
No full textA typical stretching-yaning (SY) syndromehas been described to be produce by D2 agonists and D1/D2 agonists when administered at doses incapable of eliciting a marked degree of stereotyped behaviour. Grooming has been reported to be antagonized by some D2 antagonists but stimulated by D1 agonist. Our results show that grooming and SY syndrome, contemporaneous detected, are sensitive behavioural pointers of the D2 selective affinity of the compounds
B-HT 920-INDUCED EFFECTS ON RAT FEEDING BEHAVIOUR
No full textWistar rats, deprived of food for 15 h, were injected with B-HT 920 and 20 min later presented with their normal diet in their individual home cages. The parameters considered were latency to feeding and food intake which was determined 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 6 and 24 h later. B-HT 920 significantly reduced latency to feeding at 0.1, 0.5 and 1 mg/kg; food intake was increased by doses of 0.05 and 0.1 mg/kg 3 and 6 h after treatment and decreased by a dose of 1 mg/kg at 3 h. The amount of food eaten over a 24 h period by the various groups did not differ. At this time rats received a second injection of the drug at the same dosages, and preweighed food was presented again 20 min later. We confirmed that latency to feeding is lowered by B-HT 920 at 0.1, 0.5 and 1 mg/kg, doses which also induced feeding in sated rats within the first half-hour and even after 1 h in the case of the highest dose. Since penile erection and stretching and yawning, signs typically induced by all DA D2 agonists, were observed after B-HT 920 at 0.05, 0.1 and 0.5 mg/kg, discussion centres on the possible mechanisms involved in the B-HT 920-induced effects
EFFECTS OF THE DOPAMINE D(2)-AGONISTS LISURIDE AND CQ 32-084 ON RAT-FEEDING BEHAVIOR
No full textThe influence on rat-feeding behaviour of lisuride and CQ 32-084, agonists at dopamine D2 receptors, was examined using two procedures. In a first series of experiments, the apparatus was an X-maze baited with food pellets where individual fasted rats were observed for 5 min. A number of parameters were recorded: latency to tasting and feeding, interval between tasting and feeding, total feeding time, and total grooming time. Lisuride (0.05 and 0.1 mg/kg) and CQ 32-084 (0.05 and 0.5 mg/kg) behaved as stimulants of eating; lisuride (0.4 mg/kg) inhibited the phenomenon. Both drugs always antagonized grooming. Subsequently, when food intake was determined in the home cages of fasted animals lisuride reduced feeding at all doses during the first hour after treatment, while CQ 32-084 had no effect. The data show that the two compounds display different activity on ingestive behaviour according to the dose and experimental model used. Discussion centres on the possible dependence of feeding enhancement in the X-maze on the anxiolytic activity exerted by low D2 autoreceptorial doses
BEHAVIOURAL PROFILE IN CHICKEN OF CQ 32-084 AND CQP 201-403, TWO DOPAMINE AGONISTS
No full textCQ 32-084 and CQP 201-403, two ergot derivatives that previous behavioural studies in rats had suggested to be differently active on dopamine (DA) receptors, were IP injected into male chickens. Both compounds strongly modified the animals' behaviour. CQ 32-084 led to sedation, increased yawning, and decreased preening, while CQP 201-403 exerted a biphasic activity: At a low dose, it elicited sedation and yawning; at high doses, however, it induced a state of excitation manifested by diminished sedation and yawning, enhanced preening, and pecking. The sedation, increased yawning, and decreased preening induced by the two DA agonists were reversed by the D2-selective antagonist, sulpiride. The present studies indicate that, from a behavioural point of view, chickens respond similarly to rats to the DA agonists CQ 32-084 and CQP 201-403, which differ in their selectivity of action on the various DA receptor subtypes
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