Giuseppe Barbiero

Effect of 4-hydroxynonenal on cell cycle progression and expression of differentiation-associated antigens in HL-60 cells

4-Hydroxynonenal (HNE) is a highly reactive aldehyde produced by lipid peroxidation of cellular membranes that inhibits growth and induces differentiation in HL-60 cells. Its mechanisms of action were investigated by analyzing the cell cycle distribution and the appearance of differentiated phenotypes in HL-60 cells. Data obtained by exposing cells to DMSO for 7.5 h (same time as for HNE treatment) or for the whole length of the experiments (5 d) were used for comparison. HNE induced a marked increase in the proportion of G0/G1 cells after 1 and 2 d. The brief DMSO treatment did not affect the distribution, whereas continuous exposure led to a progressive accumulation of cells in G0/G1 (maximal at day 5). The proportion of phagocytic cells gradually increased in HNE-treated and DMSO long-exposed cultures from day 2 and peaked at day 5 (35 and 63%, respectively), whereas the effect of the brief DMSO treatment was negligible. The expression of CD11b and CD67 increased in cells treated with HNE or continuously exposed to DMSO, whereas CD36 was expressed at low levels on both treatments. These results indicate that the pathway of the granulocytic differentiation induced by HNE in HL-60 cells differs from that of DMSO: with HNE, growth inhibition precedes the onset of differentiation, whereas in DMSO-treated cells the two processes are chronologically associated.

Rapid and extensive lethal action of clofibrate on hepatoma cells in vitro

Clofibrate, for a long time in use as a hypolipidemic drug, is a well known peroxisomal proliferator (PP) and hepatocarcinogen in rodents. We show here that in vitro 1 mM clofibrate induces a rapid and massive death of rat AH-130 hepatoma cells. Cell death was prominent already after 4 h of treatment, with a characteristic ‘apoptotic’ pattern by conventional microscopy. This was further supported by the pronounced chromatin condensation detectable on 4′,6-diamine-2′-phenylindole dihydrochloride (DAPI) staining, the clearcut internucleosomal DNA fragmentation on agarose-gel electrophoresis (ladder patten), and the accumulation of markedly hypochromic cells observed in flow cytometric DNA histograms. Consistently with the apoptotic features of the process, some parameters commonly used to detect cell death, such as plasma membrane permeabilization to trypan blue or propidium iodide, lack of mitochondrial retention of rhodamine 123, or extracellular release of lactate dehydrogenase, were all virtually negative. However, these same parameters became markedly positive after 24 h of treatment, which was suggestive for the occurrence of ‘secondary’ necrosis among AH-130 cells. By a combination of flow cytometric parameters, after 4 h on 1 mM clofibrate only 41% of the AH-130 cells could still be categorized as viable (i.e., non-apoptotic and non-necrotic), while 46% of cells appeared apoptotic and 13% necrotic. At 24 h, 67% of cells were necrotic, 20% apoptotic and only 13% non-apoptotic and non-necrotic. Apoptosis was also extensive in AH-130 cells treated with another PP such as nafenopin at 1 mM concentration and in human hepatoma HepG2 cells treated with clofibrate. By contrast, clofibrate did not cause apoptosis on primary rat hepatocyte cultures. These observations indicate that: (i) apart from their well-known cell growth-promoting action, PPs such as clofibrate or nafenopin may exert a substantial cytotoxic action on targets such as the AH-130 or HepG2 hepatoma cells; (ii) this cell death evolves from an initial ‘apoptotic’ to an eventual ‘necrotic’ pattern; (iii) detection of cell death requires the adoption of a full panel of tests, adequate to cover the whole evolving death pattern, while such tests may even be substantially misleading whenever applied individually; (iv) the cytotoxicity of clofibrate and similar agents on normal and, particularly, tumoural cells may deserve careful reevaluation.

Unveiling biophilia in children using active silence training: an experimental approach

Biophilia - the innate tendency of human beings to focus on and to affiliate with natural life emotionally - occurs spontaneously in school children. In this study we hypothesized that the development of biophilia is facilitated by an active silence training (AST). In AST silent observation is used as a means to achieve self-knowledge, while games are used as a way of evoking fascination, i.e. to help directed attention to rest and to be restored. Therefore an experimental protocol was set up with aim of assessing how effective the AST would be in restoring the attention of 120 children of a primary school in Aosta (Italy). The results show that the experimental groups performance on the attention test improved as a result of the AST, without affecting either systolic or diastolic blood pressure. Hence, AST seems to be

How does Psychological Restoration Work in Children? An Exploratory Study

This study investigates three issues concerned with psychological restoration in children, specifically whether children perceive the difference between the restorative value of a natural and a built environment; whether the perception of restorativeness affects children’s attentional performance; how children feel to be connected with Nature. To this aim, 48 children age 9-11 years participated in a within-subjects study; children filled in the Perceived Restorativeness Scale-children (environmental preference included) and the Connectedness to Nature Scalechildren, and performed the Continuous Performance Test in three different conditions: 1-in the classroom after the practice of Mindful Silence; 2-in the school playground after the school break; 3-in an alpine wood after a walk. In addition to the self-report assessments and the measurement of attentional performance, the children’s physiological condition was assessed by measuring some basic physiological parameters. From results it emerges that though children’s connection to Nature doesn’t vary among conditions, they can discriminate among environments with different degree of restorativeness (assessments were made on setting characteristics and activities), and the perception of restorativeness keeps pace with the performance at the attention test and the preference evaluation. Results are in agreement with Kaplan’s Attention Restoration Theory (1995) and the fascination/meditation hypothesis (Kaplan, 2001).

Language and science: products and processes of signification in the educational dialogue

As of 2007, for the first time in the history of humanity, more people live in cities than in rural areas [1]. At the same time, new means of communication permit access to an unprecedented quantity and variety of words and images, modifying in ways not yet understood representations and interpretations of reality. What are the implications of this profound transformation of perspectives for the ways in which children and young people perceive and express themselves, think and build a view of the world? And to what extent and how do science teachers take account of this global change in their thinking and practice? The relational nature of knowledge Our direct experience with a real, natural world, in which the complexity of the person (the body which acts, the input perceived, the thoughts progressively elaborated) enters into relationship with the complexity of the context (a meadow, a path alongside a stream, the seashore) has undergone a process of rapid change over the last fifty years. The pattern which connects, the dance of interacting parts [3], a meshwork of interwoven parts [17], has given way to objects that are artefacts, persistent in form (walls, roads, trains), with well-defined contours. The variety of characteristics, novelties, surprises and actions that accompanies the relationships between different forms of life has in part been substituted by a static world, from which it is easy to feel separate. Also ways of travelling have changed. Often it is no longer our bodies that move, describing a trajectory in space, coming to know a territory with eyes, muscles and proprioceptors, but rather means of transport that move us from one node to another within a network, while we remain passive [17]. While a web of threads and traces (the complexity of nature) is being fragmented into nodes and connectors in our physical experience, an analogous fragmentation is taking place at the cognitive level. In fact, one of the most powerful conceptual tools of modern science ‐ the ability to circumscribe times, spaces, problems, and render discrete processes and phenomena in order to analyse and measure them ‐ has revealed critical aspects too. The prevailing analytical approach, based on a disciplinary view and an increasing specialization of scientific research, offers a fragmented view of natural systems, that is not sufficiently balanced by an integrative vision: according to some Authors [11] there is a need to assume a holistic approach (looking at wholes rather than merely at their component parts), and an interdisciplinary research style. Looking at the whole from a scientific viewpoint implies investigating

Affective Ecology for Sustainability

Affective Ecology is the branch of ecology that deals with our connecting with Nature. Its epistemological statute is interdisciplinary and founded upon two scientific hypotheses: the biophilia hypothesis and the theory of multiple intelligences. Biophilia can be defined as a set of innate learning rules that have evolved in the human species to enable individuals to benefit from a wholesome relationship with Nature; while naturalist intelligence is the ability to recognise living organisms and natural objects, to take care of them and to interact with them in subtle ways. Biophilia and naturalist intelligence can be considered as the two poles of an educational journey about the environment. Biophilia represents the mental energy that nourishes our relationship with Nature; whilst naturalist intelligence is the full realisation of our inborn biophilic potential to connect to the natural world, to pay it attention, to care and to empathise with it. Starting from this theoretical framework, we have evolved a programme of experimental research that has enabled us to make a number of observations regarding the fascination that Nature exercises upon our psyche. Fascination may indeed account for the affective bond that establishes between human beings and Nature in some circumstances and that may also provide a powerful emotive lever favouring of an ethic of sustainability.

Svelare la biofilia nei bambini attraverso l’active silence training: un approccio sperimentale

Biophilia - the innate tendency of human beings to focus on and to affiliate with natural life emotionally occurs spontaneously in school children. In this study we hypothesized that the development of biophilia is fa168 cilitated by an active silence training (AST). In AST silent observation is used as a means to achieve self-knowledge, while games are used as away of evoking fascination, i.e. to help directed attention to rest and to be restored. Therefore an experimental protocol was set up with aim to assess how effective the AST would be in restoring the attention of 120 children of a primary school in Aosta (Italy). The results show that the experimental group’s performance on the attention test improved as a result of the AST, without affecting neither systolic nor diastolic blood pressure. Hence, AST seems to be a good way to restore children’s attentional capacity.

An Individual’s Connection to Nature Can Affect Perceived Restorativeness of Natural Environments. Some Observations about Biophilia

This study investigates the relationship between the level to which a person feels connected to Nature and that person’s ability to perceive the restorative value of a natural environment. We assume that perceived restorativeness may depend on an individual’s connection to Nature and this relationship may also vary with the biophilic quality of the environment, i.e., the functional and aesthetic value of the natural environment which presumably gave an evolutionary advantage to our species. To this end, the level of connection to Nature and the perceived restorativeness of the environment were assessed in individuals visiting three parks characterized by their high level of “naturalness” and high or low biophilic quality. The results show that the perceived level of restorativeness is associated with the sense of connection to Nature, as well as the biophilic quality of the environment: individuals with different degrees of connection to Nature seek settings with different degrees of restorativeness and biophilic quality. This means that perceived restorativeness can also depend on an individual’s “inclination” towards Nature.

Visions for Sustainability

This paper argues that there is a crucial link between language and sustainability and explores in particular how the evolution of certain characteristics and functions of human language are related to it. The emphasis is on how the principal technologies of language speech and writing are related to our ways of being and doing, reflecting on and acting in the world and the consequences of this relationship in terms of the sustainability of our existence. The emergence of writing and its correlation with nominal language are seen as particularly significant developments in how we represent reality and thereby risk following unsustainable

The impact of genetically modified salmon: from risk assessment to quality evaluation

In this paper we address the complex and controversial issue of the possible commercialization of a genetically engineered (GE) salmon for human consumption: the AquAdvantage Salmon®, by one of the leading US aquaculture corporations, AquaBounty Technologies Inc (ABT). This analysis follows and deepens our reflections on the notion of impact assessment, in the framework of biotechnology for food production. In the first part, we consider the epistemic and normative implications involved in the regulatory process of the transgenic salmon, starting with a review of the scientific research on genetic engineering applied to the taxonomic family Salmonidae. We explore the inextricable relationship between facts and values, and their mutual dependence on the high stakes implied in the controversy. In the second part, we challenge the identification of impact assessment with future developments, the risks and promises of the GE salmon. We propose a shift to from prediction to diagnosis, and we provide a brief account of the driving forces that bring the transgenic fish into the world, along the path-dependent trajectory of technoscientific innovation. We conclude by proposing to open a collective space for reflection about the criteria for evaluating the quality of GE salmon in our present.