Violence against women in Rome: An analysis of cases treated in the gynecology emergency department of the hospital Umberto I between 1999 and 2013.

BACKGROUND: The gynecological emergency department of the Policlinico Umberto I, Rome sees an average of about 30 cases of violence against females each year. It is stressed that these cases are not representative of all cases of violence against women in Rome and they cannot be used to estimate the prevalence or incidence of the phenomenon, but they may provide some insight on the victims and their aggressors, the use of drugs or alcohol, factors which may affect the decision to report the attack to the police and attacks on children. METHODS: The case records of all 458 females seen in the emergency department between 1999 and 2013 were retrieved, data were extracted and an Excel worksheet was prepared. Temporal variation in the numbers of cases, the types of aggression, the use of drugs or alcohol, reporting the attack to the police and violence against children were specifically investigated using frequency tabulations and appropriate statistical tests. RESULTS: There has been little change in the number of cases seen during the 15 year period; there is no significant seasonal effect or difference between the days of the week. Just over half of the attacks were reported to the police, but this was less likely among the older victims. About 87% of the cases involved vaginal and/or anal penetration. The use of drugs and/or alcohol was most common, 43%, among unmarried women aged 21-25. There were 32 cases of violence against children aged under 16. CONCLUSIONS: There has been little change in the number and characteristics of violent attacks on women seen at this large hospital in Rome over the years 1999-2013.These cases provide little information about the general epidemiology of violence against women, although they do imply that this great social and cultural problem continues unabated in Rome.

Ischemia reperfusion injury and histamine release in isolated and perfused guinea-pig heart: pharmacological interventions.

Experiments were carried out to provide further information on the biochemical and morphological changes occurring in the guinea-pig heart after multiple ligature and reopening of the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery. In isolated perfused guinea-pig heart the reopening of LAD coronary artery leads to a release of histamine related to a loss of metachromasia by cardiac mast cells. The process is associated with malonyldialdehyde (MDA) production, cellular overload of calcium and ventricular arrhythmias which can be modulated by pharmacological interventions.

Molecular cloning and deletion of the gene encoding aspergillopepsin A from Aspergillus awamori.

We have cloned genomic pepA sequences encoding the aspartic proteinase aspergillopepsin A (PEPA) from Aspergillus awamori using a synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotide probe. Nucleotide sequence data from the pepA gene revealed that it is composed of four exons of 320, 278, 249, and 338 bp. Three introns which interrupt the coding sequence are 51, 52, and 59 bp in length. Directly downstream from the putative start codon lies a sequence encoding 69 amino acids (aa) which are not present in mature PEPA. Based on similarities to other aspartic proteinases, this region may represent a 20-aa signal peptide followed by a 49-aa propeptide that is rich in basic aa residues. Northern blots of total cellular RNA extracted from A. awamori cells indicate that pepA is transcribed as a single 1.4-kb mRNA. Mutants of A. awamori lacking the pepA structural gene were derived by the following gene replacement strategy. First, we constructed a plasmid in which a 2.4-kb SalI fragment containing the entire pepA coding region was deleted from a 9-kb Eco RI genomic DNA clone and replaced by a synthetic DNA polylinker. Second, a selectable argB gene was inserted into the polylinker. Third, the EcoRI fragment which contained the argB marker flanked by pepA sequences was excised from the plasmid and used to transform an argB auxotroph of A. awamori. From 16-40% of the resulting prototrophic transformants were found to have a PEPA-deficient phenotype when screened with an immunoassay using antibodies specific for PEPA. Southern hybridization experiments confirmed that these mutants resulted from a gene replacement event at the pepA locus.

Ischemia-reperfusion injury and histamine release in isolated guinea-pig heart: the role of free radicals.

Free radicals produced by the occlusion and opening of the left anterior descending coronary artery and/or by perfusion of isolated guinea-pig heart with FeCl3/ADP (10 microM/100 microM) induce a differential release of histamine and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the perfusates with a preferential liberation of histamine in the reperfusion phase, associated with an increase of ventricular arrhythmias. The release of histamine has been correlated with malonyldialdehyde (MDA) production and tissue calcium content in left ventricular tissue. MDA increased during ischemia, while the calcium content increased when the tissue was reperfused. Under these conditions, N-t-butyl-alpha-phenylnitrone (BPN), a molecule capable of forming spin adducts with free radicals, and D-mannitol are active in preventing reperfusion-induced arrhythmias.

Rapid separation of phosphoamino acids including the phosphohistidines by isocratic high-performance liquid chromatography of the orthophthalaldehyde derivatives.

Amino acids were derivatized with orthophthalaldehyde and separated by high-performance liquid chromatography on a polymer-based reverse-phase column (Hamilton PRP-1) at pH 7.2 using isocratic elution with 14.3 mM sodium phosphate, 1.1% tetrahydrofuran, 6.6% acetonitrile. Phosphorylated amino acids were eluted with baseline resolution in the following order: 1-phosphohistidine, phosphoserine, 3-phosphohistidine, phosphotyrosine, phosphothreonine, and phosphoarginine. Each of the phosphoamino acids was separated from its parent amino acid but aspartate and glutamate eluted in the same region as the phosphoamino acids. The sensitivity is in the picomole range and the separation time, injection to injection, is 15 min. The linearity for phosphothreonine extends at least from 30 pmol to 30 nmol. Quantitation by radioactivity is good for each of the phosphoamino acids except in the case of [1-32P]phosphohistidine, which coelutes with inorganic phosphate.