Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease caused by an immunological response against the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) at the neuromuscular junction. Anti-AChR antibodies induce degradation of the receptor, activation of complement cascade and destruction of the post-synaptic membrane, resulting in a functional reduction of AChR availability. The pathophysiological role of autoantibodies (auto-Abs) and T helper lymphocytes has been studied in the experimental autoimmune MG (EAMG) models. EAMG models have been employed to investigate the factors involved in the development of MG and to suggest new therapies aimed to preventing or modulating the ongoing disease. EAMG can be induced in susceptible mouse and rat strains, which develop clinical symptoms such as muscular weakness and fatigability, mimicking the human disease. Two major types of EAMG can be induced, passive and active EAMG. Passive transfer MG models, involving the injection of auto-Abs, are helpful for studying the role of complement molecules and their regulatory proteins, which can prevent neuromuscular junction degradation. Active models, induced by immunization, are employed for the analysis of antigen-specific immune responses and their modulation in order to improve disease progression. In this review, we will concentrate on the main pathogenic mechanisms of MG, focusing on recent findings on EAMG experimental models.

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Pixantrone was shown to reduce the severity of clinical manifestation in experimental myasthenia gravis. In the present work we further studied its therapeutic effect. Our results demonstrate that a single administration suppressed AChR-specific immune-responses in primed rats. However, clinical symptoms could be improved only by repeated drug administrations (q7dx6 protocol-8.12 mg/kg); this treatment allowed stable serum drug levels for at least 7 days, as assessed by a functional T-cell bioassay. Pixantrone exerted strong in vitro inhibitory effect only on proliferating T-cells without impairing dendritic cell differentiation and B-cell viability. Our data further demonstrate that Pixantrone is a promising immunosuppressant drug that should be investigated in myasthenia gravis.

Nel confrontare la Convenzione dell'Unesco e la Convenzione Europea del Paesaggio č possibile evidenziare una differenza sostanziale nell'interpretazione del paesaggio. Il primo documento privilegia una visione del paesaggio come momento eccezionale rispetto ad uno sfondo neutrale; mentre il secondo pensa al paesaggio come tutto ciň che ci circonda. La prima definizione si avvale di una pratica consolidata di ‘operazioni compositive' e di ‘modelli comunicativi', mentre la seconda definizione necessiti di un approfondimento operativo, desumibile in giŕ alcune esperienze artistiche prima e architettoniche poi. La questione centrale č dunque capire quali nuove modalitŕ questo ampliamento di visuale sul termine paesaggio comporti nelle pratiche architettoniche, di restituzione e di trasformazione, specialmente in quei territori che inevitabilmente sono in evoluzione.

- In 1930 Gio Ponti designed a cable car system to cross the Dolomites, which also involved the construction of hotels of three different types at the stations. One of these was built in 1936 at the bottom of the Val Martello valley at an altitude of 2,160 metres in front of Mount Cevedale. It was a facility designed to take customers belonging to different social classes with a careful hierarchy of communal and private services which gave rise to much criticism and debate at the time. The body of the building was partly linear and partly curved in shape, rising to three storeys with the main rooms located in the convex curve of the front. One distinctive feature of the interiors was the use of colour (Ponti developed his study of this in that period), which identified spatial fields and suggested visual lines and directions. In the years after the war the hotel was purchased by a Venetian shipowner Benati, who added two floors and partially enlarged it. It operated for a few years and has been closed down since 1955. Today it is in a serious state of disrepair, although the structure is still standing.