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Objective The current guidelines suggest alcohol septal ablation (ASA) is less effective in hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) patients with severe left ventricular hypertrophy, despite acknowledging that systematic data are lacking. Therefore, we analysed patients in the Euro-ASA registry to test this statement. Methods We compared the short-term and long-term outcomes of patients with basal interventricular septum (IVS) thickness <30 mm Hg to those with ≥30 mm Hg treated using ASA in nine European centres. Results A total of 1519 patients (57±14 years, 49% women) with symptomatic HOCM were treated, including 67 (4.4%) patients with IVS thickness ≥30 mm. The occurrence of short-term major adverse events were similar in both groups. The mean follow-up was 5.4±4.3 years and 5.1±4.1 years, and the all-cause mortality rate was 2.57 and 2.94 deaths per 100 person-years of follow-up in the IVS <30 mm group and the IVS ≥30 mm group (p=0.047), respectively. There were no differences in dyspnoea (New York Heart Association class III/IV 12% vs 16%), residual left ventricular outflow tract gradient (16±20 vs 16±16 mm Hg) and repeated septal reduction procedures (12% vs 18%) in the IVS <30 mm group and IVS ≥30 mm group, respectively (p=NS for all). Conclusions The short-term results and the long-term relief of dyspnoea, residual left ventricular outflow obstruction and occurrence of repeated septal reduction procedures in patients with basal IVS ≥30 mm is similar to those with IVS <30mm. However, long-term all-cause and cardiac mortality rates are worse in the ≥30 mm group.

This paper addresses the current knowledge on climate change impacts on mass movement activity in mountain environments by illustrating characteristic cases of debris flows, rock slope failures and landslides from the French, Italian, and Swiss Alps. It is expected that events are likely to occur less frequently during summer, whereas the anticipated increase of rainfall in spring and fall could likely alter debris-flow activity during the shoulder seasons (March, April, November, and December). The magnitude of debris flows could become larger due to larger amounts of sediment delivered to the channels and as a result of the predicted increase in heavy precipitation events. At the same time, however, debris-flow volumes in high-mountain areas will depend chiefly on the stability and/or movement rates of permafrost bodies, and destabilized rock glaciers could lead to debris flows without historic precedents in the future. The frequency of rock slope failures is likely to increase, as excessively warm air temperatures, glacier shrinkage, as well as permafrost warming and thawing will affect and reduce rock slope stability in the direction that adversely affects rock slope stability. Changes in landslide activity in the French and Western Italian Alps will likely depend on differences in elevation. Above 1500 m asl, the projected decrease in snow season duration in future winters and springs will likely affect the frequency, number and seasonality of landslide reactivations. In Piemonte, for instance, 21st century landslides have been demonstrated to occur more frequently in early spring and to be triggered by moderate rainfalls, but also to occur in smaller numbers. On the contrary, and in line with recent observations, events in autumn, characterized by a large spatial density of landslide occurrences might become more scarce in the Piemonte region.

Forest trees dominate many Alpine landscapes that are currently exposed to changing climate. Norway spruce is one of the most important conifer species of the Italian Alps, and natural populations are found across steep environmental gradients with large differences in temperature and moisture availability. This study seeks to determine and quantify patterns of genetic diversity in natural populations toward understanding adaptive responses to changing climate. Across the Italian species range, 24 natural stands were sampled with a major focus on the Eastern Italian Alps. Sampled trees were genotyped for 384 selected single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 285 genes. A wide array of potential candidate genes was tested for correlation with climatic parameters. To minimize false-positive association between genotype and climate, population structure was investigated. Pairwise F ST estimates between sampled populations ranged between 0.000 and 0.075, with the highest values involving the two disjoint populations, Valdieri, on the western Italian Alps, and Campolino, the most southern population on the Apennines. Despite considerable genetic admixture among populations, both Bayesian and multivariate approach identified four genetic clusters. Selection scans revealed five F ST outliers, and the environmental association analysis detected ten SNPs associated to one or more climatic variables. Overall, 13 potentially adaptive loci were identified, three of which have been reported in a previous study on the same species conducted on a broader geographical scale. In our study, precipitation, more than temperature, was often associated with genotype; therefore, it appears as the most important environmental variable associated with the high sensitivity of Norway spruce to soil water supply. These findings provide relevant information for understanding and quantifying climate change effects on this species and its ability to genetically adapt.

The transcription factor cAMP responsive element-binding protein 1 (CREB1) has a complex influence on behavioural responses to drugs of abuse which varies depending on the brain region in which it is expressed. In response to drug exposure, CREB1 is phosphorylated in the striatum, a structure that is critically involved in reward-related learning.The present study assessed the role of striatal CREB1 and its coactivator CREB-binding protein (CBP) in behavioural responses to psychostimulants.Using the 'cre/lox' recombination system, we generated mice with a postnatal deletion of CREB1 or CBP directed to medium spiny neurons of the striatum. qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry were used to confirm the deletion, and mice were assessed with respect to their locomotor response to acute cocaine (20 mg/kg), cocaine sensitization (10 mg/kg), amphetamine-induced stereotypies (10 mg/kg) and ethanol-induced hypnosis (3.5 g/kg).Here we show that CREB1 mutant mice have increased sensitivity to psychostimulants, an effect that does not generalise to ethanol-induced hypnosis. Furthermore, in the absence of CREB1, there is rapid postnatal upregulation of the related transcription factor CREM, indicating possible redundancy amongst this family of transcription factors. Finally striatal deletion of CBP, a coactivator for the CREB1/CREM signalling pathway, results in an even more increased sensitivity to psychostimulants.These data suggest that striatal CREB1 regulates sensitivity to psychostimulants and that CREM acting via CBP is able to partially compensate in the absence of CREB1 signalling.

The Alpine Forest Genomics Network was formed in 2011 and held its first annual meeting on June 24–26, 2012, in the Natural Park Adamello Brenta in Trentino Region, Italy. The meeting was attended by 30 researchers from the alpine region of Europe and had two primary goals: (1) for researchers to introduce each other to current and planned research activities in forest landscape genomics and (2) to develop a strategic vision for the network. A steering committee was elected and will develop a white paper over the next year. The next annual meeting will be held in Austria in June 2013.

Abstract The stopping power of large (H2)n-clusters in silicon is analyzed as a function of the cluster size and the cluster velocity. A dielectric formalism is used to describe the electronic interaction between the projectile and the target. The intramolecular and intermolecular interference effects in the cluster energy loss are evaluated as a function of the cluster velocity. For high velocities and large clusters the intermolecular collective effects dominate in the cluster stopping power. For each cluster velocity we find a resonant cluster size for which the intermolecular stopping power clearly shows a maximum and it saturates to a constant value for larger clusters. The radius of this resonant cluster and the maximum stopping power are proportional to the cluster velocity.

We report on the magnetic properties of NdFeB powders produced by gas atomization, which is a powder manufacturing technology scarcely used in the past to produce such alloys. Using this technique, we have produced several ternary NdFeB alloys with Nd contents between 26.9 wt.% and 28.5 wt.%. The as-atomized powders were split into different size fractions by sieving. Subsequently, we measured the magnetic properties as a function of temperature, between 10 and 400 K, and particle size. The magnetic behavior depends strongly on the microstructure of the material, which in turn is determined by the particle size. It is reported a slope anomaly in the curve of magnetization as a function of temperature at around 150 K due to a spin-reorientation transition. Since gas-atomized powders are isotropic, this magnetic transition produces an increment of the magnetization below this temperature.