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In the last decades, multidiscipline investigation of the Apennine mountain belt of peninsular Italy has provided fundamental insights into the genesis and evolution of wedge-top basins. In this study, we focus on shallow-water to continental, Pliocene-Quaternary basins that formed on top of the southern Apennine allochthonous wedge after its emplacement onto a large foreland carbonate platform domain (Apulian Platform). The wedge-top basins analyzed in this study are mostly asymmetric, being bounded to the north by a normal fault showing evidence of synsedimentary activity. The basin successions are generally deformed by open folds and reverse faults resulting from shortening coeval with the sedimentation of the Lower Pliocene to lower--middle Pleistocene, upper part of the basin fill. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility data from the basin successions are consistent with a basin evolution characterized by an initial stage of tectonic subsidence controlled by roughly north-northwest--south-southeast-oriented extension, followed by southwest-northeast shortening active during subsequent basin filling. The latter shortening is marked by a dominant northwest-southeast mean trend of the magnetic lineation obtained from most sites in the study area and is interpreted as a result of upward propagation of deep-seated deformation (tectonic inversion) taking place within the buried Apulian Platform sitting in the footwall to the allochthonous wedge. Therefore, our results emphasize a complex interplay of different tectonic processes controlling wedge-top basin development. Au cours des dernieres decennies, une etude multidisciplinaire de la chaine de montagnes des Apennins dans la peninsule italienne a donne des apercus de la genese et de l'evolution des bassins sur le prisme d'accretion << wedge- top basins >>. Dans cette etude, nous ciblons les bassins d'eau peu profonde a continentaux, datant du Pliocene-Quaternaire, qui se sont formes sur le dessus du prisme allochtone du sud des Apennins, apres sa mise en place sur un vaste domaine de plateforme de carbonate d'avant-pays (la plate-forme apulienne). Les bassins sur le prisme d'accretion analyses dans la presente etude sont surtout asymetriques, puisqu'ils sont delimites au nord par une faille normale montrant des evidences d'activite syn-sedimentaire. Les successions de bassins sont generalement deformees par des plis ouverts et des failles inverses provenant d' un retrecissement contemporain de la sedimentation du Pliocene inferieur au Pleistocene inferieur moyen dans la partie superieure du remplissage du bassin. L'anisotropie des donnees de susceptibilite magnetique provenant des successions de bassin concorde avec une evolution du bassin caracterisee par un stade initial de subsidence tectonique controlee par une extension a orientation generale nord-nord-ouest-sud-sud-est, suivie d'un retrecissement sud-ouest-nord-est actif durant le remplissage subsequent du bassin. Ce dernier retrecissement montre une tendance moyenne dominante nord-ouest-sud-est de la lineation magnetique obtenue de la plupart des sites dans le secteur a l'etude et il est interprete comme le resultat d'une propagation vers le haut d'une deformation situee en profondeur (inversion tectonique) qui s'est produit dans la plate- forme apulienne enfouie se trouvant dans l'eponte inferieure du prisme allochtone. Nos resultats soulignent donc une interaction complexe entre les differents processus tectoniques qui controlent le developpement des bassins sur les prismes d'accretion. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction The Apennine belt of peninsular Italy represents a classic mountain chain--foredeep system for which the transition from passive margin to foreland basin sedimentation has been thoroughly documented (e.g., Ricci-Lucchi [...]

Abstract Background Epidemiological studies showed that physical exercise, specifically moderate lifelong training, is protective against cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Most experimental work has focused into the effects and molecular mechanisms underlying intense, rather than mild exercise, by exploring the acute effect of training. Our study aims at investigating the cardioprotective effect of mild chronic exercise training and the gene expression profile changes at 48 hrs after the exercise cessation. Rats were trained at mild intensity on a treadmill: 25 m/min, 10%incline, 1 h/day, 3 days/week, 10 weeks; about 60% of the maximum aerobic power. By Affymetrix technology, we investigated the gene expression profile induced by exercise training in the left ventricle (LV) of trained (n = 10) and control (n = 10) rats. Cardioprotection was investigated by ischemia/reperfusion experiments (n = 10 trained vs. n = 10 control rats). Results Mild exercise did not induce cardiac hypertrophy and was cardioprotective as demonstrated by the decreased infarct size (p = 0.02) after ischemia/reperfusion experiments in trained with respect to control rats. Ten genes and 2 gene sets (two pathways) resulted altered in LV of exercised animals with respect to controls. We validated by real-time PCR the increased expression of four genes: similar to C11orf17 protein (RGD1306959), caveolin 3, enolase 3, and hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha. Moreover, caveolin 3 protein levels were higher in exercised than control rats by immunohistochemistry and Western Blot analysis. Interestingly, the predicted gene similar to C11orf17 protein (RGD1306959) was significantly increased by exercise. This gene has a high homology with the human C11orf17 (alias: protein kinase-A interacting protein 1 or breast cancer associated gene 3). This is the first evidence that this gene is involved in the response to the exercise training. Conclusion Our data indicated that few, but significant, genes characterize the gene expression profile of the rat LV, when examined 48 hrs since the last training section and that mild exercise training determines cardioprotection without the induction of hypertrophy.

Background: Sudden cardiac death represents a major public health problem, but in the general population the identification of those subjects at very high risk remains poor. Simultaneous multiparametric ECG analysis can improve the identification of high-risk patients., Methods: Five-min ECG recordings at a 5 MHz sampling rate (extended length-XL-ECG, Mortara Instruments, Milwaukee, WI, USA) were acquired in 105 healthy subjects (age range 21 to 80 years), equally distributed for age decades and sex, and three additional recordings, 30 min apart, were repeated in 30 subjects on the second day. The following parameters were recorded and analyzed: the RR interval, QRS duration, QT interval corrected according to the Bazett and Fridericia formulae, QT dispersion, T wave complexity, activation-recovery interval dispersion, standard deviation of the RR intervals, filtered QRS duration, the square root of the mean voltage of the last 40 ms of the filtered QRS, and the length of time that the terminal vector magnitude complex remains < 40 microV., Results: QRS duration, activation-recovery interval dispersion, and filtered QRS differed in the two sexes. The standard deviation of the RR intervals, T wave complexity and QT dispersion were significantly correlated with age. The reproducibility was good for each parameter., Conclusions: The XL-ECG allows the simultaneous calculation of eight adequately reproducible different parameters the values of which are in agreement with those of the literature. Thus, XL-ECG is a reliable time- and cost-saving tool.