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Mental disorders are among the worst and widespread health problems, they are associated with important repercussions on the psychosocial sphere and to high economic costs. Antipsychotic drugs used in treatments of these pathologies belong to different chemical classes, but associated to biochemical effects, pharmacological, and in part super imposable. A retrospective survey has been led on external patients, they were under antipsychotic drug treatments already in the archive and arrived to the attention of the Pharmacy of the F.lli Parlapiano Hospital, Ribera (AG), Italy in 2013. For each patient have been extrapolated: gender, date of birth, place of residence, ICD-9CM, pharmacological therapy, and prescribing centre. Collected data have been calculated through Microsoft Office Excel to notice: prevalent diagnosis; prescribed drugs; prevalence by age group; gender, and off label prescribing in patients suffering from dementia. This survey is composed of 535 patients: 463 suffering from mental disorders and 72 suffering from degenerative diseases of SNC (especially Alzheimer). The distribution of psychic and neurological disorders in the two genders is balanced and the average age is 61.55. 64.7% live in the province of Agrigento and are treated at CSM of Ribera. 434 patients suffer from non organic psychosis; 14 patients suffer from organic psychosis; 70 patients suffer from a moderate form of Alzheimer, 2 suffer from other forms of dementia, while for 25 patients no diagnosis has been noticed as the medical prescription had been done by prescription SSN. Prescribed drugs have shown the following percentages: olanzapine 33.04%; quetiapine 33.19%, risperidone 17.97%; aripiprazole 7.4%; clozapine 4.02%; asenapine 1.69%; paliperidone 1.27%, ziprasidone 0.42%. It is a common opinion in the international scientific literature that a wise use of antipsychotic drugs of second generation gives important

The term binge drinking is used in the northern countries of Europe, to point out the consumption of great intoxicating quantities of alcohol, until feel bad, for the pure and simple desire to get drunk. Conventionally, binge drinking is the consumption of at least six glasses of alcoholic drinks, different ones as well, in a single occasion and one after the other. A survey has been conducted through administration of questionnaires with the purpose to have an idea about the territorial diffusion of such practice among the students of Palermo and province. In the months of April and May 2014, this survey affected 30 classes of different schools in 10 cities and province, involving about 740 students. The number of the students was inferable from the questionnaires compiled before the formative action. The sample results representative enough among teenagers (14/18 y.o.), and the female part is predominant. 36% declared to spend Saturday night in pubs, while 18% in discotheques. 25% of consulted people replied to connect the time spent in pubs to alcohol. Other important factors are: 36% abuse of alcohol just in the week-end (factor confirming the alarming Binge practice); 30% declare to get in the car with a bit drunk driver (13% with a totally drunk driver). 65% declare to have an adequate knowledge of potential alcohol effects. The question about motivations convincing a teenager to take drugs gave the following result: 40% desire of transgression; 30% desire to conform with the group; 23% the research of an easy wellness. This data convince more and more to understand the importance of the prevention and information role. All this to avoid that trends and lifestyles sacrifice teenagers for the enormous economic interests staying behind the sale of alcohol, and prepare as society more and more salve of consumption and abuses even lethal such as alcohol.

Our data point to an implication of skin as tissue of DNA damage-induced by oxidative stress responsible for low molecular weight DNA and PARP activation in examined frogs and as potential best reference for the global decline assessment of amphibian populations.

The production of agricultural biomass and its exploitation for the production of energy and bio-chemicals can contribute to alleviate several problems, such as the dependence on import of non-renewable raw materials, the pollution provoked by the use of fossil feedstocks or the abandonment of land by farmers for lack of profitability Giant reed (Arundo donax L.), a rhizomatous perennial grass which can tolerate a large diversity of ecological conditions, represents a promising biomass crop for second generation biofuels and bio-chemicals in marginal lands where food and feed crops cannot be cultivated. This ligno-cellulosic species is particularly interesting since its biomass production and photosynthesis are higher than other C3 grasses and similar to C4 species. Thus, it is one of the most cost effective and environmental friendly energy crops. Despite its enormous potential, very little is know about the mechanisms it uses to cope with abiotic stresses, allowing cultivation in sub-optimal environments (damaged, e.g. saline or polluted, soils; non irrigated land; etc.). In order to develop a suitable system for screening several A. donax clones collected in the Campania region, also thanks to the kind collaboration of dr. M. Mori (UNINA-Dip. di Agraria), for their ability to grow in soils affected by salinity or drought conditions, we tested different NaCl and polyethylene glycol (PEG) concentrations and different time-courses under controlled conditions in hydroponic systems. Giant reed sprouts were grown in a randomized design with 6-14 replicates; salt stress was applied at three different levels, i.e. 50, 100 and 150 mM NaCl. Water stress was achieved through the addition of the osmolyte PEG 8000 at 5% to the nutrient solution. Biometric (shoot and root growth, leaf width etc.) and physiological (fluorescence emission and electronic transport) parameters were monitored to evaluate stress response. Overall, using either 50 or 100 mM NaCl or 5% PEG most of the analyzed clones showed no differences in shoot biomass between control and stressed samples after 10 days. On the contrary, shoot and root biomass decreased after 21 days in both 150 mM NaCl and 5% PEG treatments. For the above treatments leaf number and 4th leaf width were also monitored at 7-14-21 days and found to decrease in stressed compared with control plants at each of the monitored times. For most clones, growth of both stem and root were affected by NaCl and PEG concentrations compared with control samples both in 10 and 21 days time-course experiments. In order to contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms that make A. donax able to withstand severe water and salt stresses we measured some molecular parameters (expression of genes involved in drought and salt stress, antioxidant capacity, proline, etc.) that are known to contribute to drought and salt stress tolerance. This work was supported by the Project ENERBIOCHEM PON01_01966, funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR), PON R&C 2007-2013.

Drought stress in plants is among the environmental stresses causing major yield losses. Tomato has the highest acreage devoted of any vegetable crop in the world, therefore the necessity to improve the tolerance to lower water inputs is crucial and it could deliver a substantial contribution to saving of water. Several local genotypes are available within the rich Italian tomato germplasm, whose potential as source of superior adaptive alleles has not been fully exploited so far, due to the complexity of the molecular processes involved. The goal of our research was the characterization of physiological, biochemical and molecular processes occurring in tomato genotypes with different levels of tolerance to limiting water supplies, in order to dissect the complexity of the molecular events occurring in response to drought. 40-d-old potted plants of the genotype M82 and the introgression line IL.9.2.5 were grown in controlled conditions in a greenhouse and subjected to drought by withholding water for 16 days (D1), then allowed to recover by re-watering for 7 days (RW) and finally subjected to a second cycle of stress imposed for 8 days (D2). Several physiological, biochemical and molecular parameters were monitored during the experiment to gain a deeper understanding of the response of tomato to water limitations. Stomatal conductance (gs) and CO2 assimilation (A) steeply decreased in all genotypes during the two cycles of drought stress and recovered to control levels when stressed plants were rewatered. The complete recovery of the photosynthetic rate upon re-watering indicated that A was constrained by stomatal closure rather than by a permanent impairment of the photosynthetic machinery. While plant gas exchanges did not highlight a different behaviour between the tested genotypes, striking differences were noticed in leaf ABA and proline content, with M82 accumulating high levels of both metabolites during D1. Despite the induction of the nced1 (9-cisepoxycaratenoid dioxygenase) gene, plants of IL9.2.5 did not accumulate ABA during both cycles of drought stress. The physiological and metabolic adjustments were related to changes in expression of genes known as key components of the response to water deficit. At the molecular level, a dramatic upregulation of a set of genes was observed in D1. After re-watering, the expression of all target genes dropped to levels comparable to those of control plants. A second cycle of drought stress (D2), however, elicited a great up-regulation of lea (late embryogenesis abundant protein), phosph (starch phosporilase) and nced1, while the expression of aco (1-aminocyclopropane-1- carboxylic acid oxidase) and erd15 (early responsive to dehydration) was not induced, indicating that related metabolic pathways were not up-regulated. Transcriptomic changes elicited by drought and rehydration conditions were further being explored by a deep sequencing approach. Altogether, the results presented indicate that differences exist in the response of different genotypes of tomato to drought stress conditions and that genomic tools could be used to further exploit tomato genetic variability for developing drought-tolerant cultivars.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The present standard for staging intervertebral disk degeneration is a discrete scale, consisting usually of 5 stages. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the use of T2 measurements as a continuous measure of intervertebral disk degeneration. METHODS: We obtained images in 5 volunteers with a 3D fast spin-echo sequence modified for the purpose of calculating T2 relaxation times from multiple echoes in the echo train. Disks were classified on the basis of conventional criteria into one of the 5 stages of disk degeneration. Average T2 values were calculated for stage II, III, and V disks, which were identified in the volunteers. Differences between the disk levels were analyzed with analysis of variance and differences between stages tested with a Student t test with significance set at the 0.01 level. RESULTS: In the 5 volunteers, 20 stage II, 4 stage III, and a single stage V disk were found. Contour plots showed the highest T2 values in the nucleus pulposus near the vertebral endplates and lower T2 values in the intranuclear cleft region and peripheral annulus fibrosus. Average T2 values were significantly lower in the type III and V disks than in the normal disks. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that intervertebral disks can be characterized and classified accurately by means of T2 values. More studies are warranted to determine the range of T2 values for normal disks.