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TBW can be performed even without help of a cardiopulmonary machine (CPM). Low temperature and Ht levels are compatible with cardiac, and cerebral electric activity. Such conditions may be reached only by perfusing cold liquids and utilizing the cardiac and respiratory activity of the animals, with no use of machines.

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The present study aimed to investigate the acquisition of visuospatial and graphomotor capacities during the pre-school and early schooling years in order to follow the normal development of drawing-related abilities and spatial cognition. Eighty children aged 3-5 years, divided in four subgroups each different for a 6-month period, and 80 children aged 8-9 years were administered a neuropsychological battery for visuospatial and visuoconstructional analysis. The battery explored five cognitive domains: visual scanning, visuospatial perceptual and representational abilities, visuomotor control and graphomotor skills. Results showed that the total scores significantly improved in each group of children with respect to the previous one, but the pattern of skill acquisition was not homogeneous. We observed a gradient from explorative and visuomotor to perceptive, representational and graphomotor abilities. Explorative and visuomotor abilities were almost mature at a time when visuoperceptual capacities began to develop. On the contrary, at that time we found very low performances at representational and constructional tasks. Our findings could suggest that constructional abilities need both perceptual and representational competences to develop properly.

Peptic-tryptic-cotazym and peptic-tryptic digests wore obtained, simulating in vivo protein digestion, from pure “bread” wheat gliadins and from rye, barley, and oats prolamine and tested on small intestine cultures from fetal rats. When tested at a concentration of 0.1 mg of peptides/ml of culture medium the peptic-tryptic-cotazym and peptic-tryptic digests of gliadin and prolamines were very active in slowing in vitro development of fetal rat intestine and in increasing the occurrence and severity of degenerative changes. The ability of some sugars to interfere with inhibition of fetal intestinal morphogenesis induced by these peptides was also tested. Mannan at a concentration of 0.1 mM was effective in allowing intestinal morphogenesis to take place in the presence of prolamine peptic-tryptic-cotazym and prolamine peptic-tryptic digests of the four toxic cereals. Some oligomers of N-acetylglucosamine were also effective in blocking the inhibitory effect of “bread” wheat gliadin peptides. These data are compatible with the hypothesis that some sugars may exert a protective effect on the toxic activity of cereal prolamin peptides on the human celiac intestine.

We tried to counteract the appearance of galactosemic cataracts in weaned rats by high doses of vitamin E. Rats were fed a diet containing 33% galactose. Cataract development was monitored by biomicroscopy and by several biochemical parameters: K+/Na+ ratio, aldose reductase activity, level of protein and non-protein sulfhydryl (SH) groups. Vitamin E was given parenterally at a dose of 100 mg/kg/day. The K+/Na+ ratio drops after 15 days of galactosemia, while the level of the aldose reductase rises after only 5 days of treatment. The non-protein SH groups lens contents fall from the 5th day of treatment onwards, while protein SH groups are not affected. In short-term experiments vitamin E does not prevent biochemical changes caused by galactosemia. The oxidative insult does not seem to be primarily involved in galactose cataract.

Three different techniques of total body washout (T.B.W.) have been used in experiments dealing with rats. The first technique was employing inferior vena cava as input and abdominal aorta as output; the second one performed just the opposite way; finally the third used abdominal aorta at the start of the experiment, whereas inferior vena cava was selected at the end. The last one proved to be the most efficient technique in comparison to the other ones.