Methyl alcohol was administered in drinking water supplied ad libitum at doses of 20,000, 5,000, 500, or 0 ppm to groups of male and female Sprague-Dawley rats 8 weeks old at the start of the experiment. Animals were kept under observation until spontaneous death. Ethyl alcohol was administered by ingestion in drinking water at a concentration of 10% or 0% supplied ad libitum to groups of male and female Sprague-Dawley rats; breeders and offspring were included in the experiment. Treatment started at 39 weeks of age (breeders), 7 days before mating, or from embryo life (offspring) and lasted until their spontaneous death. Under tested experimental conditions, methyl alcohol and ethyl alcohol were demonstrated to be carcinogenic for various organs and tissues. They must also be considered multipotential carcinogenic agents. In addition to causing other tumors, ethyl alcohol induced malignant tumors of the oral cavity, tongue, and lips. These sites have been shown to be target organs in man by epidemiologic studies.

No abstract

Mancozeb, an ethylene-bis-dithiocarbamate (EBDC), has been one of the most commonly used fungicides in commercial use for several decades. Nevertheless, up to now, no adequate published experimental studies on the carcinogenicity of Mancozeb have been published. Because of the importance of the compound and of the number of people potentially exposed (workers engaged in the production and use of the fungicide, people living in agricultural areas where the compound is sprayed, and people consuming polluted products), a long-term experimental study of Mancozeb was begun at the Cancer Research Center of the Ramazzini Foundation. Groups of 150 male and female Sprague-Dawley rats, 8 weeks old at the start of the treatment, were administered Mancozeb at the concentration of 1000, 500, 100, 10, and 0 ppm in feed supplied ad libitum for 104 weeks. At the end of the treatment, animals were kept under controlled conditions until spontaneous death. Mancozeb caused an increase in (1) total malignant tumors, (2) malignant mammary tumors, (3) Zymbal gland and ear duct carcinomas, (4) hepatocarcinomas, (5) malignant tumors of the pancreas, (6) malignant tumors of the thyroid gland, (7) osteosarcomas of the bones of the head, and (8) hemolymphoreticular neoplasias. On the basis of these data, Mancozeb must be considered a multipotent carcinogenic agent.

No abstract

UC is associated with an emotional dysfunction characterized by decreased sensitivity to emotions with a positive content. The previous intestinal inflammatory activity in UC patients might have contributed to determine the functional changes of the amygdala that we found. On the other hand, the dysfunction of the amygdala may influence the course of the disease.

Much research suggested that recognizing our own body-parts and attributing a body-part to our physical self-likely involve distinct processes. Accordingly, facilitation for self-body-parts was found when an implicit, but not an explicit, self-recognition was required. Here, we assess whether implicit and explicit bodily self-recognition is mediated by different cerebral networks and can be selectively impaired after brain lesion. To this aim, right- (RBD) and left- (LBD) brain damaged patients and age-matched controls were presented with rotated pictures of either self- or other-people hands. In the Implicit task participants were submitted to hand laterality judgments. In the Explicit task they had to judge whether the hand belonged, or not, to them. In the Implicit task, controls and LBD patients, but not RBD patients, showed an advantage for self-body stimuli. In the Explicit task a disadvantage emerged for self-compared to others' body stimuli in controls as well as in patients. Moreover, when we directly compared the performance of patients and controls, we found RBD, but not LBD, patients to be impaired in both the implicit and explicit recognition of self-body-part stimuli. Conversely, no differences were found for others' body-part stimuli. Crucially, 40% RBD patients showed a selective deficit for implicit processing of self-body-part stimuli, whereas 27% of them showed a selective deficit in the explicit recognition of their own body. Additionally, we provide anatomical evidence revealing the neural basis of this dissociation. Based on both behavioral and anatomical data, we suggest that different areas of the right hemisphere underpin implicit and explicit self-body knowledge.

No abstract

The aim of the current study was to investigate basic emotions and attachment in a sample of 86 stroke patients. We included a control group of 115 orthopedic patients (matched for age and cognitive status) without brain lesions to control for unspecific general illness effects of a traumatic recent event on basic emotions and attachment. In order to measure basic emotions and attachment style we applied the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (ANPS) and the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ). The stroke patients showed significantly different scores in the SEEKING, SADNESS, and ANGER subscales of the ANPS as well as in the Relationship as Secondary Attachment dimension of the ASQ when compared to the control group. These differences show a pattern influenced by lesion location mainly as concerns basic emotions. Anterior, medial, left, and subcortical patients provide scores significantly lower in ANPS-SEEKING than the control group; ANPS-SADNESS scores in anterior, right, medial, and subcortical patients were significantly higher than those of the control group. ANPS-ANGER scores in posterior, right, and lateral patients were significantly higher than those in the control group; finally, the ANPS-FEAR showed slightly lower scores in posterior patients than in the control group. Minor effects on brain lesions were also individuated in the attachment style. Anterior lesion patients showed a significantly higher average score in the ASQ-Need for Approval subscale than the control group. ASQ-Confidence subscale scores differed significantly in stroke patients with lesions in medial brain regions when compared to control subjects. Scores at ANPS and ASQ subscales appear significantly more correlated in stroke patients than in the control group. Such finding of abnormalities, especially concerning basic emotions in stroke brain-lesioned patients, indicates that the effect of brain lesions may enhance the interrelation between basic emotions and attachment with respect to the control group.