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Fabio Mussi, Italian University and Research Minister, visits ESRIN

Visiting ESA's Centre for Earth Observation in Frascati yesterday, the Italian University and Research Minister, Mr Fabio Mussi, confirmed the importance that the Italian government gives to ESA and stressed his intention to continue to contribute in an adequate manner to the Agency's activities.

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Keywords: fabio, mussi, italian, university, research, minister, visits, esrin, visit

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1. European astronauts 'on stage' in Rome on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Rome Treaties
   03-16-2007 · European Space Agency (ESA)
   ESA PR 14-2007. On 26 March, as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Rome Treaties, an event with ESA's astronauts will take place at the University of Rome Sapienza, with the participation of Italian Research Minister Fabio Mussi.
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2. Many doctors don't use patients' names on first visit
   06-11-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Doctors do not address patients by name in half of first-time visits, even though nearly all patients want this personal greeting, according to new research from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. There has been little evidence to guide doctors about how they should greet patients or what patients actually expect. The study focused on finding out what patients think is an appropriate greeting. It also analyzed a sample of interactions between doctors and patients during first-time visits.
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3. Science Minister to visit University's vehicle research centre
   04-12-2007 · University of Bath
   The Minister for Science and Innovation, Malcolm Wicks, will visit the University of Bath on Monday 16 April to see its innovative work to make vehicles greener and more efficient
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4. Scientists report new take on sexual signaling
   05-08-2007 · EurekAlert!
   In dangerous environments, females looking for a mate run great risks. Scientists from Seoul National University, in Korea, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama present a new take on sexual signaling in the May issue of the Public Library of Science. The researchers report that females prefer a male sexual signal that helps them avoid their predators as they sequentially visit and assess potential mates.
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5. Bath pain researchers to develop therapy that can be delivered in the home
   11-06-2007 · University of Bath
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6. Mystery of 5,000 year old Glacier Mummy solved
   06-06-2007 · EurekAlert!
   An Italian-Swiss research team, including Dr. Frank Rühli of the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Zurich in Switzerland proved the cause of death of the Iceman ("Ötzi," 3300 BC) by modern X-ray-based technology.
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7. Advance in understanding of blood pressure gene could lead to new treatments
   02-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Research by scientists at UCL (University College London) has clearly demonstrated for the first time the structure and function of a gene crucial to the regulation of blood pressure. The discovery could be important in the search for new treatments for illnesses such as heart disease, the UK's biggest killer. In a paper published online today in Nature Medicine, the team, led by Professor Patrick Vallance and Dr James Leiper, UCL Department of Medicine, reveal the role of the human gene dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH), showing that loss of DDAH activity disrupts nitric oxide (NO) production. NO is critical in the regulation of blood pressure, nervous system functions and the immune system. The role of DDAH is to break down modified amino acids (Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and monomethyl arginine (L-NMMA)) that are produced by the body and have been shown to inhibit NO synthase. These molecules accumulate in various disease states including diabetes, renal failure and pulmonary and systemic hypertension, and their concentration in plasma (the fluid component of blood) is strongly predicative of cardiovascular disease and death. In a healthy human body, the majority of ADMA is eliminated through active metabolism by DDAH. Scientists have hypothesised that if DDAH function is impaired, NO production is reduced, and that this could be an important feature of increased cardiovascular risk. To examine this pathway in more detail, the researchers deleted the DDAH gene in mice. These mice went on to develop hypertension, or high blood pressure. They also designed specific inhibitors (small molecules) which bind to the active site of human DDAH. These small molecule inhibitors also induced hypertension in mice, confirming the importance of DDAH in the regulation of blood pressure. Dr Leiper, UCL Medicine, said: “These genetic and chemical approaches to disrupt DDAH showed remarkably consistent results, and provide compelling evidence that loss of DDAH function increases the concentration of ADMA and thereby disrupts vascular NO signalling. “There has been considerable scientific interest in this pathway and the role of ADMA as a novel risk factor, but so far there's been little evidence to support the idea that it's a cause of disease, rather than just a marker. Genes and their pathways are crucial to our understanding of cardiovascular disease and a better understanding of DDAH-1 could lead to important new treatments. “It could help us to establish if genetic variation predisposes certain people to these diseases, or whether environmental factors exert some of their effects through modulation of DDAH activity. “Our research also shows that this pathway could be harnessed therapeutically to limit production of NO in certain situations where too much nitric oxide is a bad thing; for example, hypotension and septic shock. These are some of the biggest problems in intensive care medicine and there is a huge unmet need for drug treatments.” The study, which was carried out at UCL's Rayne Institute, was funded by grants from the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "The unexpected finding in the 1980s that a simple gas, nitric oxide (NO), is made by cells in the blood vessel wall and is a powerful control of blood vessel relaxation led to the award of the Nobel Prize in 1998 to its discoverers. "More recently, there has been increasing evidence that impairment of NO production is likely to be an important factor in the development of heart and circulatory disease, but the mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. "This study suggests for the first time that the loss of the activity of the enzyme DDAH-1 leads to reduced NO production and may cause heart and circulatory disease. These findings are likely to be important in the search for new ways to optimise the health of our blood vessels." ### Notes for Editors 1. For more information, please contact Ruth Metcalfe in the UCL Media Relations Office on tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9739, mobile: +44 (0)7990 675 947, out of hours: +44 (0)7917 271 364, e-mail: r.metcalfe@ucl.ac.uk2. 'Disruption of methylarginine metabolism impairs vascular homeostasis' is published in the February issue of the journal Nature Medicine. Advance online publication is embargoed to 18.00 GMT (13.00 US Eastern) Sunday 4 February 2007. Journalists can obtain copies of the paper by contacting the UCL Media Relations Office.3. The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. About UCL Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. In the government's most recent Research Assessment Exercise, 59 UCL departments achieved top ratings of 5* and 5, indicating research quality of international excellence. UCL is the fourth-ranked UK university in the 2006 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Mahatma Gandhi (Laws 1889, Indian political and spiritual leader); Jonathan Dimbleby (Philosophy 1969, writer and television presenter); Junichiro Koizumi (Economics 1969, Prime Minister of Japan); Lord Woolf (Laws 1954, Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales); Alexander Graham Bell (Phonetics 1860s, inventor of the telephone), and members of the band Coldplay.
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8. Conservative leader visits University of Bath research centre
   03-23-2007 · University of Bath
   David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, met researchers from the Department of Education at the University of Bath today to find out how education can help address environmental and sustainability issues.
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9. Science Minister sees University's "very impressive" work on cutting vehicle carbon emissions
   04-16-2007 · University of Bath
   The Minister for Science and Innovation, Malcolm Wicks, called the University of Bath's work to make vehicles greener and more efficient “very impressive� during his visit today (Monday 16 April).
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10. Mothers trade child quantity for quality
    01-22-2008 · EurekAlert!
    Researchers at the University of Sheffield have shown that mothers are choosing to have fewer children in order to give their children the best start in life, but by doing so are going against millenia of human evolution. The research sheds new light on the decline of modern day fertility.
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