1,156 research outputs found
Varenicline decreases nicotine but not alcohol self-administration in genetically selected Marchigian Sardinian alcohol-preferring (msP) rats
No full textBackground: Alcohol and nicotine are largely co-abused. Here, we investigated whether concurrent exposure to both addictive drugs influences each other's consumption and whether varenicline attenuates alcohol consumption in the presence of nicotine. Methods: Marchigian Sardinian alcohol-preferring (msP) rats trained to simultaneously self-administer oral alcohol (10% v/v) and intravenous nicotine (30. μg/kg/inf) were used. Additional groups of rats were trained to self-administer either alcohol or nicotine. Further, msP rats were also trained to self-administer nicotine followed by 22-h/day access to alcohol and water in a two bottle free choice paradigm or water alone. The effects of varenicline (0.0, 0.3, 1.0, 3.0. mg/kg, p.o.) on alcohol and nicotine consumption were tested. Results: In a self-administration paradigm, msP rats showed a significantly high level of alcohol and nicotine intake when the drugs were administered alone. However, when access to both drugs occurred concomitantly, the number of nicotine infusions self-administered was significantly decreased. Nicotine self-administration was markedly reduced by varenicline regardless of whether it was self-administered alone or concurrently with alcohol. In a two bottle choice test, varenicline significantly decreased nicotine self-administration but had no influence on alcohol consumption. Conclusion: Varenicline is highly efficacious in decreasing nicotine self-administration either alone or in combination with alcohol. However, varenicline failed to influence both operant responding for alcohol and home-cage alcohol drinking in msP animals. Taken together, our findings suggest that the effects of varenicline could be specific to nicotine under conditions where excessive alcohol drinking is facilitated by genetic factors as in msP rats
Pioglitazone attenuates the opioid withdrawal and vulnerability to relapse to heroin seeking in rodents
No full textRationale: Relapse to opioids is often driven by the avoidance of the aversive states of opioid withdrawal. We recently demonstrated that activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) by pioglitazone reduces the motivation for heroin and attenuates its rewarding properties. However, the role of PPARγ in withdrawal and other forms of relapse to heroin is unknown. Objectives: To further address this issue, we investigated the role of PPARγ on the development and expression of morphine withdrawal in mice and the effect of pioglitazone on several forms of heroin relapse in rats. Methods: We induced physical dependence to morphine in mice by injecting morphine twice daily for 6 days. Withdrawal syndrome was precipitated on day 6 with an injection of naloxone. In addition, different groups of rats were trained to self-administer heroin and, after the extinction, the relapse was elicited by cues, priming, or stress. The effect of different doses of pioglitazone was tested on these different paradigms. Results: Data show that chronic and acute administration of pioglitazone attenuates morphine withdrawal symptoms, and these effects are mediated by activation of PPARγ receptors. Activation of PPARγ by pioglitazone also abolishes yohimbine-induced reinstatement of heroin seeking and reduces heroin-induced reinstatement, while it does not affect cue-induced relapse. Conclusions: These findings provide new insights on the role of PPARγ on opioid dependence and suggest that pioglitazone may be useful for the treatment of opioid withdrawal in opioid-addicted individuals
Giulia Veronica Varisco
No full textThe headword explains the biography and the contribution of the author Giulia Varisco to the children's literatur
Analgesic tolerance to morphine is regulated by PPARγ
No full textOpioid drugs are potent analgesics. However, their chronic use leads to the rapid development of tolerance to their analgesic effects and subsequent increase of significant side effects, including drug dependence and addiction. Here, we investigated the role of PPARγ in the development of analgesic tolerance to morphine in mice
Biomarkers Mapping in a Neuropathic Pain Mice Model with Sciatic Nerve Chronic Constriction Injury (CCI).
No full textIntroduction
Neuropathic pain (NP) is an continuous pain caused by injury to the somatosensory system, is persistent and is refractory to analgesics. Common causes of NP include post herpetic neuralgia, diabetic neuropathy, cutting or compression of nerve. In this work a surgical mice model with a sciatic nerve chronic constriction injury (CCI) was used as a NP model. This CCI model involves both inflammatory and neuropathic components (1). The aim of this work was to identify significantly altered proteins in the blood of CCI operated mice in order to find possible predictive biomarkers of NP.
Methodology
To perform the CCI, the right sciatic nerve of the mice was exposed at the level of the mid-thigh. In CCI operated mice, three ligatures were loosely tied around the nerve, whereas in sham-operated controls, the sciatic nerve was exposed but not ligated. One week after surgery, the blood from the two groups was collected and the protein expression patterns was analyzed by a two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to sequence protein signals.
Results
Results showed seven differentially expressed protein spots: five isoforms of haptoglobin, expressed only in the CCI operated mice group, transthyretin and apolipoprotein A-IV expressed mainly in the control group (sham-operated mice). Haptoglobin is an acute phase protein strongly associated with inflammation and is overexpressed during neuron damage. The five isoforms of haptoglobin observed in CCI operated mice serum are likely due to post-translational modifications.
Conclusions
This preliminary study provided data for potential biomarkers of neuropathic pain that can result useful for future neuropathic pain drug development
Biomarkers mapping of neuropathic pain in a nerve chronic constriction injury mice model
No full textNeuropathic pain is caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system and has a considerable impact on the quality of life. Neuropathic pain has a dynamic and complex aetiology and gives heterogeneous symptoms across patients; therefore, it represents an important clinical challenge. Current pharmacological treatment includes tricyclic antidepressant serotonin-noradrenaline uptake inhibitors such as duloxetine, pregabalin, and gabapentin. However, these drugs do not show efficacy in all patients suffering from neuropathic pain. In this work we used a nerve chronic constriction injury mice model based on the ligation of sciatic nerve to analyse, by two-dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry, blood proteins significantly altered by neuropathic pain one-week after surgery. A sham-ligated group of mice acting as control and a group of ligated mice treated with gabapentin were also analysed. The results indicated that four haptoglobin isoforms were significantly more expressed, while transthyretin and alpha-2-macroglobulin expression decreased in the serum of the murine neuropathic pain model with respect to the control mice. Interestingly, the treatment with the gabapentin reversed these conditions. The outcomes of this study can provide a further understanding of the pathophysiological meaning of the biomarkers involved in neuropathic pain
Ytterbium Disilicate/Monosilicate Multilayer Environmental Barrier Coatings: Influence of Atmospheric Plasma Spray Parameters on Composition and Microstructure
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Ytterbium Disilicate/Monosilicate Multilayer Environmental Barrier Coatings: Influence of Atmospheric Plasma Spray Parameters on Composition and Microstructure
by Giulia Di Iorio,Laura Paglia *ORCID,Giulia PedrizzettiORCID,Virgilio GenovaORCID,Francesco MarraORCID,Cecilia BartuliORCID andGiovanni PulciORCID
INSTM Reference Laboratory for Materials and Surface Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Coatings 2023, 13(9), 1602; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings13091602
Original submission received: 10 August 2023 / Revised: 31 August 2023 / Accepted: 11 September 2023 / Published: 13 September 2023
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Abstract
SiC/SiC ceramic matrix composites (SiCf/SiC CMCs) are regarded as the new materials for the hot-section components of aircraft gas turbine engines, since they have one-third of the density of metallic superalloys, a higher temperature capability, good mechanical strength, and excellent thermal shock resistance. However, high-temperature water-vapor-rich combustion gases can induce severe surface recession phenomena in SiC/SiC leading to component failure. For this reason, it is necessary to design protective coatings, i.e., environmental barrier coatings (EBCs), able to protect the SiC/SiC surface in combustion environments. In the present work, ytterbium monosilicate (Yb2SiO5), stable when exposed to water vapor at high temperatures, and ytterbium disilicate (Yb2Si2O7), characterized by a thermal expansion coefficient closer to that of the substrate, were selected for a multilayer EBC system. EBCs were processed using the atmospheric plasma spray (APS) technique. A set of deposition parameters were tested, varying the power of the torch, and the composition and microstructure of the deposited coatings were studied in terms of porosity, crack density, and post-deposition phase retention by performing SEM, EDS, and XRD analysis. The results allow for the definition of the influence of deposition parameters on the final properties of multilayer EBC coatings
Correction to: Safety and Psychological Outcomes of Tandem t:Slim X2 Insulin Pump with Control-IQ Technology in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults with Type 1 Diabetes: A Systematic Review
No full textThe second author name was incorrectly published as Giula Maria Smylie. The correct name is Giulia Marie Smylie. The original article has been corrected
Scrivere senza anestesia. La chiarezza di Giulia Niccolai
No full textIl saggio colloca storicamente la narratrice e poetessa Giulia Niccolai nel canone del Novecento letterario italiano discutendone poetica e cifre stilistiche. L'ampia analisi proposta tocca tutte le opere dell'autrice evidenziandone i legami intertestuali, anche tra poesia e narrativa, e i progressivi sviluppi in un arco cronologico esteso, tra anni Sessanta e primi anni Duemila. Lo studio coglie anche l'importanza dei riferimenti alle arti visive, in particolare alla fotografia, che Giulia Niccolai ha praticato in prima persona negli anni della Neoavanguardia, e alla pittura americana.The essay places the narrator and poet Giulia Niccolai in the canonical twentieth century Italian literary discussing her poetics and stylistic figures. The wide analysis proposed touches all the works of the author highlighting the intertextual links, also between poetry and narrative, and the progressive developments in an extended chronological period, between the Sixties and early Twenties. The study also captures the importance of references to the visual arts, especially photography, which Giulia Niccolai has practiced in the years of the Neo-avant-garde, and to American painting
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L'afrofuturismo tra Stati Uniti e Italia. Dalla memoria storica ai viaggi intergalattici per re-immaginare futuri postumani
No full textIn this article the author explores the cultural movement called Afrofuturism, tracing its origins, features, simbology, and its historical and political meanings. Starting from the (supposed) discoursive gap between African and African American people on one side and technology and science fiction on the other, this paradigm addresses themes related to the intersection of African Diaspora and African cultures with technology and science fiction, with the aim to recover the history of slavery and racism through the projections into alternative space-time contexts. In particular, the author explores the feminist afrofuturism perspective in order to examine the specific oppression and cultural production of African and African American women. In doing so, the author analyzes the development of afrofuturism in Italy, focusing on the work of the singer and beatmaker Karima 2G
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