We hypothesized that progesterone-mediated ventilatory stimulation during the midluteal phase of the menstrual cycle would increase exercise minute ventilation (VE; l/min) at sea level (SL) and with ...acute altitude (AA) exposure but would only increase arterial O2 saturation (SaO2, %) with AA exposure. We further hypothesized that an increased exercise SaO2 with AA exposure would enhance O2 transport and improve both peak O2 uptake (VO2 peak; ml x kg-1 x min-1) and submaximal exercise time to exhaustion (Exh; min) in the midluteal phase. Eight female lowlanders 33 +/- 3 (mean +/- SD) yr, 58 +/- 6 kg completed a VO2 peak and Exh test at 70% of their altitude-specific VO2 peak at SL and with AA exposure to 4,300 m in a hypobaric chamber (446 mmHg) in their early follicular and midluteal phases. Progesterone levels increased (P < 0.05) approximately 20-fold from the early follicular to midluteal phase at SL and AA. Peak VE (101 +/- 17) and submaximal VE (55 +/- 9) were not affected by cycle phase or altitude. Submaximal SaO2 did not differ between cycle phases at SL, but it was 3% higher during the midluteal phase with AA exposure. Neither VO2 peak nor Exh time was affected by cycle phase at SL or AA. We conclude that, despite significantly increased progesterone levels in the midluteal phase, exercise VE is not increased at SL or AA. Moreover, neither maximal nor submaximal exercise performance is affected by menstrual cycle phase at SL or AA.
Species identification in meat products represents an important subject in the field of modern food control according to the European Union, which has implemented a set of very strict procedures to ...label food. Thus, specific, sensitive and easy analytical methods for the species detection of food are necessary in order to verify the compliance with labelling requirements. A PCR-based assay for the detection of pork meat in horse fresh sausages was optimised and it was used to evaluate the presence of fraudulently added pork meat. The developed assay showed the presence of pork meat in 6/30 and the total absence of horse meat in 1/30 of the analyzed horse sausage samples.
The paper focuses on ceramic vessels unearthed from Copper Age necropolises located in the area of the modern city of Rome and commonly attributed to the Rinaldone culture. The peculiar vessels' ...shapes, mainly associated with the consumption of beverages, their accuracy of manufacture and the very low impact of these ceramic morphologies in the coeval household assemblages lead to the study of such an apparently selected production through a multidisciplinary research. Petrographic analysis, X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) integrated with the analysis of manufacturing traces and X‐ray investigation suggest the transmission of technological choices, which remained unchanged over almost two millennia.
The present work was carried out in order to verify the possible association between a new grapevine disease, characterized by leaf mottling and deformation, and the genetic variability and ...concentration of Grapevine Pinot gris virus (GPGV), a recently identified virus tentatively associated with the pathology. After vineyard surveys and the establishment of real‐time qPCR assays, characterization of GPGV isolates and evaluation of GPGV titre were assessed in more than 100 samples of grapevine Glera, collected from plants regardless of whether or not they showed the symptomatology. Results showed that there was an important association between the GPGV variants and manifestation of the symptoms, and that grapevines with symptoms harboured significantly higher GPGV titre than symptomless vines. Moreover, an interesting relationship among the phylogenetic clustering of the isolates originating from plants with symptoms and some epidemiological characteristics of the disease was found. The current study confirmed the role of GPGV in the emergent disease characterized by grapevine leaf mottling and deformation.
