Publications by authors named "Verga V"

Streptococcus thermophilus is a thermophilic lactic acid bacterium used as starter culture for the manufacture of fermented dairy products. For the production of Crescenza and other soft cheeses, Sacco has developed and provides dairies with three different defined blends of S. thermophilus strains.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The serine/threonine kinase GSK-3β was initially described as a key enzyme involved in glucose metabolism, but it is now known to regulate a wide range of biological processes, including proliferation and apoptosis. We previously reported a transformation-dependent cell death induced by glucose limitation in K-ras-transformed NIH3T3. To address the mechanism of this phenomenon, we analyzed GSK-3β regulation in these cells in conditions of high versus low glucose availability.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Insulin lispro was compared with regular human insulin with respect to glycaemic control in patients with diabetes mellitus on intensive insulin treatment. Sixty-two patients (55 type 1; 7 type 2) from eight study centres in the Czech Republic, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic participated in a 4-month, open-label, randomized, crossover study. Patients administered insulin lispro immediately before meals or regular human insulin 30 min before meals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The European regulations classify gasoline as "carcinogenic agent" because of its content of benzene (> 0.1%). Consequently the preventive and protective actions towards the petrol station attendants prescribe, before all, the elimination of the agent or the reduction of the exposure and the risk to the minimum.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: To compare insulin lispro with soluble human insulin in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus fasting during Ramadan, with respect to the rate of hypoglycaemic episodes and postprandial blood glucose values after the main meal after sunset.

Methods: The insulins were compared in an open-label, randomized, cross-over study of 70 outpatients. Hypoglycaemic episodes were recorded by the patients in a self-monitoring diary.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inter-alpha-inhibitor (I alpha I) and related molecules in human are comprised of three evolutionarily related, heavy (H) chains and one light (L) chain, also termed bikunin. The latter originates from a precursor molecule that is cleaved to yield the bikunin and another protein designated alpha-1-microglobulin (A1m). The four H and L chains are encoded by four distinct genes designated H1, H2, H3, and L.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Menkes syndrome is a rare X-linked recessive disorder characterized by an inability to metabolize copper. A female patient with both this disease and an X; autosome translocation with karyotype 46,X,t(X;2)(q13;q32.2) has previously been described.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Thirty anonymous DNA markers were investigated in Southern African Caucasoid, Negroid and San populations. Sixteen of these are new markers that were developed in our laboratory; the remainder are closely linked to the cystic fibrosis locus on chromosome 7. Average heterozygosity in the Caucasoid and Negroid populations was calculated at the loci identified by each of the anonymous probes, using two approaches, and was found to be .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Using reverse genetics, a candidate for the sex determining gene from the Y chromosome has recently been cloned. We have used a DNA probe from this gene to assess the presence of this crucial region of the Y chromosome in patients with sexual ambiguity or gonadal dysgenesis. The DNA from 3 cases of gonadal dysgenesis, one complicated by somatic anomalies and mental retardation, reacted normally with this putative sex determining gene.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In order to obtain a genomic clone of Zfy-1 from a Y chromosome of Mus musculus domesticus (YDOM) origin, we cloned size-fractionated SJL/J DNA in EMBL-4 and selected colonies which hybridized to pDP1007, a human zinc finger Y clone. The specificity of the clone in hybridizations to mouse and human DNA and partial sequencing confirmed that the clone (subcloned as pGZfy1D) was of Zfy-1 origin. Studies on the expression during testicular development of mRNAs hybridizing to the clone suggested that the gene is expressed post-meiotically.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We have used pulsed-field gel electrophoresis to study the short arm of the Y chromosome by using a pseudoautosomal probe (MIC2Y) and adjacent Y-specific sequences 27a and 47z (DSXY5) in XX males and XY females, in order to detect chromosomal breakpoints which may have given rise to these individuals. The preliminary published long-range restriction map was used as a basis for this study. Our data confirm the reported fragment sizes and resolve some discrepancies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The post-surgical radiotherapy of breast cancer and its problems are discussed and an account is given of recent trends in this field. The use of fast electrons is regarded as an optimal form of management for the chest wall, and the ipsilateral subscapular and internal mammary lymph gland chains.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF