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Marionia gemmii Almón, Pérez & Caballer, 2018 has been described as a new species from six localities in Ría de Arousa, Galicia (North-Western Spain) and in the Golfe de Cádiz (Southern Spain), both within Atlantic waters. Old and new findings of this species from the North-Western Mediterranean radically expand its distribution and an in-depth study of the images available on the web dates its first documented record in this area back to 2009.

Lipid droplets (LDs), cytosolic fat storage organelles, are emerging as major regulators of lipid metabolism, trafficking, and signaling in various cells and tissues. LDs are altered in cardiovascular and neuronal disorders, inflammation, obesity, and cancer. Flavonoids comprise different classes of molecules, characterized by a well-known antioxidant activity and a beneficial effect in several diseases. However, the cellular mechanism by which different classes of flavonoids improve health is poorly understood, in particular as far as LDs biogenesis is concerned. Here we used Drosophila melanogaster as a model system to investigate the effects of a selected group of flavonoids on larval tissues by examining LDs biogenesis. In our study, fruit flies were grown in xanthohumol-, isoquercetin-, and genistein-enriched food and larval tissues were analyzed using a LD marker. Total mRNA expression of two main enzymes (minotaur and midway) responsible for triacylglycerides synthesis was evaluated after treatments. Among the flavonoids analyzed, xanthohumol and isoquercetin resulted to be potent regulators of LDs biogenesis in a tissue-specific manner, inducing fat storage decrease in fat bodies and accumulation of LDs in nerves. Since LDs have been suggested to play a protective role against intracellular stress in nonadipocyte cells, our data support the hypothesis that some phytochemicals could act as strong modulators of LDs biogenesis in vivo. The knowledge of how different flavonoids act on lipid metabolism in different tissues can help to manage the use of phytochemicals with the aim of selectively ameliorating specific neuronal and metabolic diseases' manifestations. © The Author(s) 2019

Finalità e modalità di realizzazione del premio INU sulla letteratura scientifica in urbanistica. Analisi dell'andamento delle operazioni e proposte per migliorare la qualità della selezione.

The opioid-like neuropeptide nociceptin/orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) and its receptor (NOP) are expressed in the substantia nigra (SN), a brain area containing dopamine neurons that degenerate in Parkinson's disease. Endogenous N/OFQ facilitates nigral glutamate release and inhibits nigrostriatal dopamine transmission and motor behavior. Here, we present evidence suggesting that endogenous N/OFQ may contribute to Parkinson's disease. Pharmacological blockade of the SN N/OFQ-NOP receptor system attenuated parkinsonian-like akinesia/hypokinesia in 6-hydroxydopamine hemilesioned or haloperidol-treated rats, whereas deletion of the NOP receptor gene conferred mice partial protection from haloperidol-induced motor depression. The antiparkinsonian action of NOP receptor antagonists was associated with reduction of glutamate release in the SN. In 6-hydroxydopamine hemilesioned rats, enhancement of N/OFQ expression and release was detected in the lesioned compared with the unlesioned SN, indicating that parkinsonism may be associated with overactivation of the N/OFQ-NOP receptor system in the SN. Finally, deletion of the N/OFQ gene conferred mice partial protection against 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine-induced loss of SN dopamine neurons. Based on these data, we propose that NOP receptor antagonists may represent a novel approach for combined (symptomatic and neuroprotective) therapy of Parkinson's disease.

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The effect of amiodarone on oral and intravenous pharmacokinetics of digoxin was studied in healthy volunteers. A single 0.5-mg dose of digoxin was administered orally to three subjects both before and after 2 weeks of oral amiodarone (200 mg daily), while three subjects received a 0.5-mg intravenous dose of the glycoside under the same experimental conditions. Two other subjects were given both oral and intravenous doses of digoxin at different times, in the absence and in the presence of amiodarone. After oral digoxin treatment, amiodarone increased peak serum concentration, total area under the serum concentration-time curve (AUC), and 5-day urinary recovery of the glycoside, without changes in peak time and absorption rate constant. During the intravenous study, no significant change occurred in AUC and urinary recovery after amiodarone administration. Absolute bioavailability, for the two subjects who received both oral and intravenous digoxin, increased by 36 and 43%, respectively, after amiodarone treatment. Bioavailability derived from the mean values of oral and intravenous AUCs was 33% greater with amiodarone treatment. Apparent volume of distribution and systemic, extrarenal, and renal clearances of oral digoxin were not modified by amiodarone, when corrected for the bioavailability factor. Amiodarone had no effect on these pharmacokinetic parameters during the intravenous study with the glycoside. Our data indicate that increased oral bioavailability is the most relevant change in digoxin pharmacokinetics during the interaction with amiodarone and this can account for the increase in the glycoside concentrations.

A new species of irregular echinoid, Ovulaster protodecimae, is described from the Danian Scaglia Rossa Formation outcropping in the Venetian Prealps (Southern Alps, northeastern Italy). The new species, belonging to the order Spatangoida, is very distinctive because of its inflated, almost triangular test, the high-positioned periproct and the plate arrangement on the oral face. This is the first report of the genus Ovulaster in the Danian of Italy and the first description of an echinoid from the Early Palaeocene of Italy. One test has an epifauna of the sessile verrucid barnacle Verruca sp. cf. V. prisca Bosquet, 1854, attached on all except the oral surface., Rivista italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia, Vol 111, No 3