1,354,593 research outputs found
recensione a: Claudine Giacchetti, Maupassant. Espaces du roman
No full textrecensione a: Claudine GIACCHETTI, Maupassant. Espaces du roman, Genève, Droz ("Histoire des idées et critique littéraire", vol. 320), 1993, 241pp., in «Studi Francesi», 114, sett.-dic. 1994, p. 586 (Rassegna bibl.
Evaluation of the toxicity of indomethacin in a 4-week study, by oral route, in the marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)
No full textFormaldehyde (FA) has been commercially produced since the early 1900s. Its widespread use in a variety of applications is known to result in appreciable exposure of workers and of a section of the general population. Formaldehyde is a normal metabolite in mammalian systems. It occurs in air as a product of the natural photooxidation of automobile exhaust, combustion processes, incinerators; formaldehyde has been found in municipal and industrial effluents and is present in food either naturally (fruits and vegetables, in the order of parts per million), or as a result of its use as a food additive. The use of FA and its derivative, hexamethylenetetramine (HMT), which gradually decomposes to FA under acidic conditions as antimicrobial agents in food, raises questions about their potential chronic oral toxicity. Furthermore, since FA is a very reactive compound and reacts with different macromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids, the safety evaluation of FA as a cheese additive must take into account the toxicity of the reaction products between FA and milk components. Biochemical aspects, acute and short-term toxicity studies including mutagenicity, multigeneration, and reproduction studies, long-term carcinogenicity studies after oral administration of FA and HMT are reviewed in this paper. The results of these studies indicate that repeated oral exposure of a relatively large amount of FA that could overwhelm the normal metabolic capacity of animals to convert FA into formiate, CO2, and water produces histopathological gastric changes. This paper correlates the hazard caused by the exposure to low levels of FA, as far as its carcinogenic potential by oral route is concerned per se or regarding its use as a food additive. Based on the evidence that FA is formed naturally in food and is a normal mammalian metabolite and that a threshold for carcinogenicity exists both after exposure by inhalation and oral administration, it may be deduced that FA is not carcinogenic at low levels of exposure
Changes in adenosine 5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase as a mechanism of visceral obesity in Cushing's syndrome
No full textOBJECTIVE: Features of the metabolic syndrome such as central obesity with insulin resistance and dyslipidemia are typical signs of Cushing's syndrome and common side effects of prolonged glucocorticoid treatment. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a key regulatory enzyme of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism as well as appetite, is involved in the development of the deleterious metabolic effects of excess glucocorticoids, but no data are available in humans. In the current study, we demonstrate the effect of high glucocorticoid levels on AMPK activity of human adipose tissue samples from patients with Cushing's syndrome. METHODS: AMPK activity and mRNA expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism were assessed in visceral adipose tissue removed at abdominal surgery of 11 patients with Cushing's syndrome, nine sex-, age-, and weight-matched patients with adrenal incidentalomas, and in visceral adipose tissue from four patients with non-endocrine-related abdominal surgery. RESULTS: The patients with Cushing's syndrome exhibited a 70% lower AMPK activity in visceral adipose tissue as compared with both incidentalomas and control patients (P = 0.007 and P > 0.001, respectively). Downstream targets of AMPK fatty acid synthase and phosphoenol-pyruvate carboxykinase were up-regulated in patients with Cushing's syndrome. AMPK activity was inversely correlated with 0900 h serum cortisol and with urinary free cortisol. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that glucocorticoids inhibit AMPK activity in adipose tissue, suggesting a novel mechanism to explain the deposition of visceral adipose tissue and the consequent central obesity observed in patients with iatrogenic or endogenous Cushing's syndrome
Reinforced Drapery Meshes: A Design Method Accounting for Retaining Ropes Contribution
No full textReinforced drapery meshes, both secured and pinned, constitute a compelling solution
for rockfall risk mitigation on rock slopes facing structures and infrastructures. They consist of
steel wire mesh panels combined with a systematic anchoring pattern. In secured drapery systems,
the anchors are connected to each other and to the net through ropes. The system prevents both
global instability of the surficial part of the slope thanks to the anchors and local instability by
confining small detached fragments in delimited mesh sections. The mesh is generally designed with
mechanical resistance derived from the puncturing force–displacement behavior observed during a
standardized laboratory test. Despite the fact that a codified design method has not yet been defined,
the mesh is generally verified without considering the presence of the ropes. In the present work, an
enhanced design method is introduced that accounts for retaining ropes, with the aim of achieving a
confining effect similar to the constraints adopted in laboratory tests. In addition, the rope pattern
enables the consideration of portions of mesh smaller than pinned drapery systems. In the proposed
method, rope elongation is limited such that failure of the mesh near the anchor plate is prevented.
The proposed design assessment reveals that the presence of ropes provides possible cost reductions
in the choice of the mesh type
Sense and Sentiment : Antonio Giacchetti
No full text"Drawing influence from the history of non-representational photography, and recent practices by the artist in this field of production, this series serves as an active rejection of sensibility and sentimentality. Using steel, a material foundational to the social and economic structure of the artist's hometown Hamilton, Giacchetti creates images that are fundamentally reductive in both form and meaning; offering up the representational history of photography in exchange for a photograph that essentially refers to and depicts nothing but itself. After sensitizing plates using a silver-gelatin emulsion, the plates are then exposed to ambient light in Giacchetti’s hometown. Although definitive in intention and execution, this work embraces objectivity in its purest form, reducing an image of the artist’s history to a flat black plane." -- Publisher's website
Visceral adipose tissue: Emerging role of gluco- and mineralocorticoid hormones in the setting of cardiometabolic alterations
No full textAbstract
Several clinical and experimental lines of evidence have highlighted the detrimental effects of visceral adipose tissue excess on cardiometabolic parameters. Besides, recent findings have shown the effects of gluco-and mineralocorticoid hormones on adipose tissue and have also underscored the interplay existing between such adrenal steroids and their respective receptors in the modulation of adipose tissue biology. While the fundamental role played by glucocorticoids on adipocyte differentiation and storage was already well known, the relevance of the mineralocorticoids in the physiology of the adipose organ is of recent acquisition. The local and systemic renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) acting on adipose tissue seems to contribute to the development of the cardiometabolic phenotype so that its modulation can have deep impact on human health. A better understanding of the pathophysiology of the adipose organ is of crucial importance in order to identify possible therapeutic approaches that can avoid the development of such cardiovascular and metabolic sequelae
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