Influence of substrate orientation on tadpoles' feeding efficiency.

In nature, tadpoles encounter food on substrates oriented at different angles (e.g. vertically along stems, horizontally on the bottom of the pond).

Paradoxes in dynamic stability of mechanical systems: investigating the causes and detecting the nonlinear behaviors.

A critical review of three paradoxical phenomena, occurring in the dynamic stability of finite-dimensional autonomous mechanical systems, is carried out. In particular, the well-known destabilization paradoxes of Ziegler, due to damping, and Nicolai, due to follower torque, and the less well known failure of the so-called 'principle of similarity', as a control strategy in piezo-electro-mechanical systems, are discussed. Some examples concerning the uncontrolled and controlled Ziegler column and the Nicolai beam are discussed, both in linear and nonlinear regimes.

A study of three polymorphic sites of the ADA gene in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Background: Adenosine deaminase is a polymorphic enzyme that has an important role in immune functions and in the regulation of intracellular and extracellular concentrations of adenosine and adenosine receptor activity.

Aim: To search for possible association of type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1) with three loci haplotypes (ADA1, ADA2, ADA6) of the adenosine deaminase gene.

Patients: One hundred and eighty-nine consecutive children with DM1 from Sassari, Sardinia, and a control sample of 239 children from the same area were studied.

Type 1 diabetes: evidence of interaction between ACP1 and ADA1 gene polymorphisms.

Background: ACP1 (acid phosphatase locus 1, a cytosolic low-molecular-weight phosphotyrosin phosphatase) and ADA1 (adenosine deaminase locus 1) are two polymorphic systems involved in immune reactions. Observed interactions at the biochemical and clinical levels between the two systems prompted this investigation of a possible interaction concerning susceptibility to type 1 diabetes.

Material/methods: Two hundred eighty-seven children admitted consecutively to the hospital for type 1 diabetes and 727 healthy newborn infants were studied.

ACP1 genetic polymorphism and coronary artery disease: an association study.

Objectives: Assuming an immune component in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, we have investigated a possible association between coronary artery disease (CAD) and the acid phosphatase locus 1 (ACP1) genetic polymorphism, which has previously been found to be associated with immune disorders.

Methods: 226 subjects admitted to the hospital for CAD, 358 consecutive newborn infants, 279 adult subjects with type 2 diabetes without CAD and 137 adults without diabetes and without CAD from the Caucasian population of Rome were studied. The ACP1 genotype was determined by DNA analysis.