Il tentativo fallito di equiparare agricoltura biologica e biodinamica: un caso per riflettere sull’opportunità di introdurre la consulenza scientifica in Parlamento

The aim of this paper is to analyse the information imbalance between institutions and practical reality through the study of a concrete case. The law intended to equate the method of biodynamic farming with that of organic farming allows for a cross-cutting investigation. The issue involves themes that are now essential to the constitutional debate: the relationship between politics and science, legislative discretion and the problem of constraints arising from notions borrowed from technology and science. Furthermore, the analysis of the instrument of the informal hearing in the parliamentary enquiry leads the research to question the appropriateness of introducing scientific advice in Parliament. An operation perhaps required to balance the forementioned information asymmetry

The emotional movie database (EMDB): a self-report and psychophysiological study

Film clips are an important tool for evoking emotional responses in the laboratory. When compared with other emotionally potent visual stimuli (e.g., pictures), film clips seem to be more effective in eliciting emotions for longer periods of time at both the subjective and physiological levels. The main objective of the present study was to develop a new database of affective film clips without auditory content, based on a dimensional approach to emotional stimuli (valence, arousal and dominance). The study had three different phases: (1) the pre-selection and editing of 52 film clips (2) the self-report rating of these film clips by a sample of 113 participants and (3) psychophysiological assessment [skin conductance level (SCL) and the heart rate (HR)] on 32 volunteers. Film clips from different categories were selected to elicit emotional states from different quadrants of affective space. The results also showed that sustained exposure to the affective film clips resulted in a pattern of a SCL increase and HR deceleration in high arousal conditions (i.e., horror and erotic conditions). The resulting emotional movie database can reliably be used in research requiring the presentation of non-auditory film clips with different ratings of valence, arousal and dominance.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology with individual grants (SFRH/BD/41484/2007 and SFRH/BD/64355/2009

Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) Reprograms Circulating Extracellular Vesicles from ACS Patients Impairing Their Cardio-Protective Properties

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are promising therapeutic tools in the treatment of cardiovascular disorders. We have recently shown that EVs from patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) undergoing sham pre-conditioning, before percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were cardio-protective, while EVs from patients experiencing remote ischemic pre-conditioning (RIPC) failed to induce protection against ischemia/reperfusion Injury (IRI). No data on EVs from ACS patients recovered after PCI are currently available. Therefore, we herein investigated the cardio-protective properties of EVs, collected after PCI from the same patients. EVs recovered from 30 patients randomly assigned (1:1) to RIPC (EV-RIPC) or sham procedures (EV-naive) (NCT02195726) were characterized by TEM, FACS and Western blot analysis and evaluated for their mRNA content. The impact of EVs on hypoxia/reoxygenation damage and IRI, as well as the cardio-protective signaling pathways, were investigated in vitro (HMEC-1 + H9c2 co-culture) and ex vivo (isolated rat heart). Both EV-naive and EV-RIPC failed to drive cardio-protection both in vitro and ex vivo. Consistently, EV treatment failed to activate the canonical cardio-protective pathways. Specifically, PCI reduced the EV-naive Dusp6 mRNA content, found to be crucial for their cardio-protective action, and upregulated some stress- and cell-cycle-related genes in EV-RIPC. We provide the first evidence that in ACS patients, PCI reprograms the EV cargo, impairing EV-naive cardio-protective properties without improving EV-RIPC functional capability

Applying the pathways to nature connectedness at a societal scale: a leverage points perspective

© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The climate emergency and crisis of biodiversity loss show that the human–nature relationship is failing. This paper introduces the psychological construct of nature connectedness as a measurable target for improving the human–nature relationship, and therefore helping tackle the warming climate and loss of wildlife. The ‘pathways to nature connectedness’ (sensory contact, emotion, meaning, beauty and compassion) provide an important and flexible framework to help improve the human–nature relationship. Research evidence and practical examples are given from organisations using the pathways (e.g. National Trust, Wildlife Trusts, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust). This illustrates how the pathways provide a new methodological approach for improving human–nature relationships. A systems perspective is taken to consider wider application of the pathways framework. The societal relevance of the pathways approach is proposed, and the application of nature connectedness is considered across a range of leverage points relevant across multiple societal scales (from individuals to societies). Recommendations are given for specific pathways informed interventions to improve the human–nature relationship. These interventions focus on cultural programmes and urban design to increase sensory, meaningful and emotional engagement with nature. The interventions based on the pathways framework engage with leverage points around system goals, design, feedback and parameters across policy areas such as education, health, housing, arts, health and transport. Showing to read This shows that the pathways to nature connectedness have a large scale of societal relevance and the potential to provide solutions across a range of leverage points to foster closer human–nature relationships across society

Ischemia Reperfusion Injury: Mechanisms of Damage/Protection and Novel Strategies for Cardiac Recovery/Regeneration

Ischemic diseases in an aging population pose a heavy social encumbrance. Moreover, current therapeutic approaches, which aimed to prevent or minimize ischemia-induced damage, are associated with relevant costs for healthcare systems. Early reperfusion by primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) has undoubtedly improved patient’s outcomes; however, the prevention of long-term complications is still an unmet need. To face these hurdles and improve patient’s outcomes, novel pharmacological and interventional approaches, alone or in combination, reducing myocardium oxygen consumption or supplying blood flow via collateral vessels have been proposed. A number of clinical trials are ongoing to validate their efficacy on patient’s outcomes. Alternative options, including stem cell-based therapies, have been evaluated to improve cardiac regeneration and prevent scar formation. However, due to the lack of long-term engraftment, more recently, great attention has been devoted to their paracrine mediators, including exosomes (Exo) and microvesicles (MV). Indeed, Exo and MV are both currently considered to be one of the most promising therapeutic strategies in regenerative medicine. As a matter of fact, MV and Exo that are released from stem cells of different origin have been evaluated for their healing properties in ischemia reperfusion (I/R) settings. Therefore, this review will first summarize mechanisms of cardiac damage and protection after I/R damage to track the paths through which more appropriate interventional and/or molecular-based targeted therapies should be addressed. Moreover, it will provide insights on novel non-invasive/invasive interventional strategies and on Exo-based therapies as a challenge for improving patient’s long-term complications. Finally, approaches for improving Exo healing properties, and topics still unsolved to move towards Exo clinical application will be discussed