Environmental history is a rapidly developing field of study. In keeping with the ecological, energy and health issues that affect contemporary societies, it is important to understand the past by ...examining the interactions between human and natural factors. This interest is particularly evident in work on the Alps and mountains in general. Our contribution relates and adds to studies focused on the history of tourism in the Alps and assesses the capacity of environmental history to produce a renewed knowledge. Moreover, it investigates the specificity of the Alps and the mountains as a privileged field of study for environmental history. After outlining recent scientific output from around the world based on environmental history, we present the results obtained through a research experiment on the history of winter sports resorts in the French-Italian Alps. Understanding the relationships between the evolution of the projects and the natural and historical components of the sites where they are located and extending the spatial and temporal frameworks of the analyses and the use of multiple sources will clarify how tourism develops in high-altitude areas. Our work invites researchers to move beyond the image of infrastructure built “ex nihilo” or on so-called “virgin” sites and a narrative limited to the period of the “Trente Glorieuses” to reveal the dynamics of how a territory transforms over time.
The project of Contrada Bricconi started out as Giacomo Perletti’s dream. Born in 1986, he is a farmer and the symbol of the great passion that has driven the development project of a farm that has ...existed since 2010, which was when an agreement was signed between the newly founded company and the municipality of Oltressenda Alta. The agreement provided for the concession of some buildings owned by the municipality in Contrada Bricconi, an ancient stone farm settlement dating back to the 15th century and located at around 900 meters above sea level, on the border of the Parco delle Orobie Bergamasche in Val Zurio, a valley situated at the side of the Serio River basin. Since that day, the company has seen a surprising convergence of multiple people, institutions, and initiatives. Over the years, they have contributed to the realization of an ambitious project aimed at reintroducing an agricultural activity in the contrada, which had been in a state of semi-abandonment, redeveloping the existing buildings while preserving the landscape, offering the appropriate catering and hospitality for the mountain context, ensuring the economic sustainability of the new-born company. The history of Contrada Bricconi tries to teach that the landscape is itself the product of a rural society that has shaped the vegetation, topography, infrastructures, and settlements over the centuries. The return of agricultural activities in the mountains, albeit intervening on pre-existing ecological and social balances, is essential to ensure the preservation of the local heritage, which needs people’s presence and work to survive.
Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is considered a musculoskeletal disorder associated to other symptoms including chronic pain. Since the hypothesis of FMS etiogenesis is consistent with mitochondrial ...dysfunction and oxidative stress, we evaluated the pathophysiological correlation among these factors studying some proteins involved in the mitochondrial homeostasis. We focused our attention on the roles of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma coactivator-1alpha (PGC-1α), mitofusin2 (Mfn2), and coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) in reserpine-induced myalgic (RIM) rats that manifest fibromyalgia-like chronic pain symptoms. First, we underlined that RIM rats are a good model for studying the pathophysiology of FMS and moreover, we found that PGC-1α, Mfn2, and CoQ10 are involved in FMS. In fact, their expressions were reduced in gastrocnemius muscle determining an incorrect mitochondrial homeostasis. Today, none of the currently available drugs are fully effective against the symptoms of this disease and they, often, induce several adverse events; hence, many scientists have taken on the challenge of searching for non-pharmacological treatments. Another goal of this study was therefore the evaluation of the potential benefits of melatonin, an endogenous indoleamine having several functions including its potent capacity to induce antioxidant enzymes and to determine the protective or reparative mechanisms in the cells. We observed that melatonin supplementation significantly preserved all the studied parameters, counteracting oxidative stress in RIM rats and confirming that this indoleamine should be taken in consideration for improving health and/or counteract mitochondrial related diseases.
Among cardiovascular diseases, hypertension is one of the main risk factors predisposing to fatal complications. Oxidative stress and chronic inflammation have been identified as potentially ...responsible for the development of endothelial damage and vascular stiffness, two of the primum movens of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Based on these data, we conducted an open-label randomized study, first, to evaluate the endothelial damage and vascular stiffness in hypertense patients; second, to test the effect of supplementation with a physiological antioxidant (melatonin 1 mg/day for 1 year) in patients with essential hypertension vs. hypertensive controls. Twenty-three patients of either gender were enrolled and randomized 1:1 in two groups (control and supplemented group). The plasmatic total antioxidant capacity (as a marker of oxidative stress), blood pressure, arterial stiffness, and peripheral endothelial function were evaluated at the beginning of the study and after 1 year in both groups. Our results showed that arterial stiffness improved significantly (
= 0.022) in supplemented patients. The endothelial function increased too, even if not significantly (
= 0.688), after 1 year of melatonin administration. Moreover, the supplemented group showed a significative reduction in TAC levels (
= 0.041) correlated with the improvement of arterial stiffness. These data suggest that melatonin may play an important role in reducing the serum levels of TAC and, consequently, in improving arterial stiffness.
Pain is a very important problem of our existence, and the attempt to understand it is one the oldest challenges in the history of medicine. In this review, we summarize what has been known about ...pain, its pathophysiology, and neuronal transmission. We focus on orofacial pain and its classification and features, knowing that is sometimes purely subjective and not well defined. We consider the physiology of orofacial pain, evaluating the findings on the main neurotransmitters; in particular, we describe the roles of glutamate as approximately 30–80% of total peripheric neurons associated with the trigeminal ganglia are glutamatergic. Moreover, we describe the important role of oxidative stress and its association with inflammation in the etiogenesis and modulation of pain in orofacial regions. We also explore the warning and protective function of orofacial pain and the possible action of antioxidant molecules, such as melatonin, and the potential influence of nutrition and diet on its pathophysiology. Hopefully, this will provide a solid background for future studies that would allow better treatment of noxious stimuli and for opening new avenues in the management of pain.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) identifies a neurodevelopmental disease defined by social impairments and repetitive or stereotyped behaviors. The etiology of ASD remains unclear; it primarily affects ...the brain, but a link between gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, inflammatory mucosal pathology and this disorder has been suggested. In particular, a central role seems to be played by an imbalance in pro-and anti-inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress, and apoptosis. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is a protein of innate immunity responsible for the regulation and maintenance of intestinal homeostasis. Through histochemical and immunohistochemical evaluations we analyzed the intestinal morphology and the immunopositivity of TLR4 and of other pro-inflammatory and apoptotic proteins in BTBR T+Itpr3tf/J mice. Morphological data showed that the mucosal tunica presented longer intestinal villi. The length of the villi and the epithelial surface determine the exchanges of the intestinal mucosa with luminal contents, modifying the microbiota composition. The biochemical and immunohistochemical results indicated a close relationship among the increase of TLR4 and the activation of NF-kB subunits (p65 and p50) and pro-inflammatory and apoptotic proteins, such as cyclooxygenase-2, interleukin-1β, inducible nitric oxide synthase, tumor nuclear factor—alpha, caspase-3, caspase-8. These preliminary results require more in-depth study but they suggest the TLR4 signaling pathway as a possible target for therapeutic approaches to reduce GI disorders in ASD.
The intestinal epithelium plays a key role in managing the relationship with the environment, the internal and external inputs, and their changes. One percent of the gut epithelium is represented by ...the enteroendocrine cells. Among the enteroendocrine cells, a group of specific cells characterized by the presence of yellow granules, the enterochromaffin cells, has been identified. These granules contain many secretion products. Studies showed that these cells are involved in gastrointestinal inflammatory conditions and hyperalgesia; their number increases in these conditions both in affected and not-affected zones of the gut. Moreover, they are involved in the preservation and modulation of the intestinal function and motility, and they sense metabolic-nutritional alterations. Sometimes, they are confused or mixed with other enteroendocrine cells, and it is difficult to define their activity. However, it is known that they change their functions during diseases; they increased in number, but their involvement is related mainly to some secretion products (serotonin, melatonin, substance P). The mechanisms linked to these alterations are not well investigated. Herein, we provide an up-to-date highlight of the main findings about these cells, from their discovery to today. We emphasized their origin, morphology, and their link with diet to better evaluate their role for preventing or treating metabolic disorders considering that these diseases are currently a public health burden.
For years the thymus gland (TG) and the pineal gland (PG) have been subject of increasingly in-depth studies, but only recently a link that can associate the activities of the two organs has been ...identified. Considering, on the one hand, the well-known immune activity of thymus and, on the other, the increasingly emerging immunological roles of circadian oscillators and the rhythmically secreted main pineal product, melatonin, many studies aimed to analyse the possible existence of an interaction between these two systems. Moreover, data confirmed that the immune system is functionally associated with the nervous and endocrine systems determining an integrated dynamic network. In addition, recent researches showed a similar, characteristic involution process both in TG and PG. Since the second half of the 20th century, evidence led to the definition of an effectively interacting thymus-pineal axis (TG-PG axis), but much has to be done. In this sense, the aim of this review is to summarize what is actually known about this topic, focusing on the impact of the TG-PG axis on human life and ageing. We would like to give more emphasis to the implications of this dynamical interaction in a possible therapeutic strategy for human health. Moreover, we focused on all the products of TG and PG in order to collect what is known about the role of peptides other than melatonin. The results available today are often unclear and not linear. These peptides have not been well studied and defined over the years. In this review we hope to awake the interest of the scientific community in them and in their future pharmacological applications.
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