This study set out to evaluate the effectiveness of a sailing and learning-to-sail rehabilitation protocol in a sample of patients diagnosed with severe mental disorders. The study was a randomized, crossover, waiting-list controlled trial, following recruitment in the Departments of Mental Health of South Sardinia. Participants were outpatients diagnosed with severe mental disorders, recruited through announcements to the directors of the Departments of Mental Health of South Sardinia. Out of the 40 patients enrolled in the study, those exposed to rehabilitation with sailing during a series of guided and supervised sea expeditions near the beach of Cagliari (Sardinia), where the aim to explore the marine environment while sailing was emphasized, showed a statistically significant improvement of their clinical status (measured by BPRS) and, as well, of their general functioning (measured by HoNOS Scale) against the control group. The improvement was maintained at follow-up for some months only: after 12 months, the patients returned to their baseline values on the measures of psychopathology and showed a worsening trend of their quality of life. Sailing can represent a substitute of important experiences that the patients with severe mental disorders miss because of their illness.

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a sailing rehabilitation program on the quality of life (QoL) in a sample of patients with severe mental disorders. The study adopted a randomized, crossover, waiting-list controlled design. The participants enrolled in the study were outpatients diagnosed with severe chronic mental disorders. The participants (N=40) exposed to rehabilitation with sailing took part in a series of supervised cruises near the gulf of Cagliari, South Sardinia, and showed a statistically significant improvement of their quality of life compared to the control group. This improvement was comparable to the improvement in psychopathologic status and social functioning as shown in a previous report of the same research project. The improvement was maintained at follow-up only during the trial and for a few months later: after 12 months, patients returned to their baseline values and their quality of life showed a worsening trend. This is the first study to show that rehabilitation with sailing may improve the quality of life of people with severe chronic mental disorders. In all likelihood, a program grounded on learning how to manage a sailing vessel - during which patients perform cruises that emphasize the exploration of the marine environment by sailing - might be interesting enough and capture the attention of the patients so as to favour greater effectiveness of standard rehabilitation protocols, but this should be specifically tested.

The molecular and histological structure of the fat bodies covering externally the posterolateral region of the jaw of the striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) was investigated by means of morphological and nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. The analyses of samples belonging to adult and juvenile individuals were performed with the aim of seeking the presence of age-related differences. In our study, the level of isovalerate (iso5:0) in the extramandibular fat of the juvenile individuals is comparable with those of the adult counterparts; conversely, longer isobranched fatty acids were detected in lower quantities in the juveniles together with a higher degree of unsaturation. The morphologic analyses revealed that, in both adults and juveniles, this fatty tissue is similar to univacuolar adipose tissue. However, in the juveniles, a muscular component was present, whereas only in adult subjects, enlarged and irregularly shaped cavities may be seen within the adipose tissue. These cavities, structurally organized as veins, may regulate blood flow in response to changing water temperature and stabilize thermal gradient within the jaw lipids. These data suggest that the molecular components and the histological organization can indicate a maturation of the organ with age that probably may reflect different sound reception properties. Anat Rec, 290:913-919, 2007. 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Key words: extramandibular fat; striped dolphin; NMR; morphology; lipids Several marine mammals have evolved an echolocating system called biosonar. In particular, odontocetes echolocate by producing clicking sounds and receiving and interpreting the resulting echo. By means of this system, toothed whales and dolphins can identify objects and animals out of their sighting range, thus obtaining information on their size, number, shape, texture, and speed (Kuc, 1996;Hoffmann et al., 1998;Au, 2002).The organs devoted to the production and propagation of the sound are the ''monkey lips''/dorsal bursa (MLDB complex) and the melon, respectively. The echoed sounds are received and conducted through the lower jaw to the middle ear, inner ear, and then to hearing centers in the brain by means of the auditory nerve. The brain receives the sound waves in the form of nerve impulses, which relay the messages of sound and enable the dolphin to Abbreviations used: iso5:0 ¼ isovaleric acid; NMR ¼ Nuclear Magnetic Resonance; TAG ¼ triacylglycerols; WE ¼ wax esters; mol% ¼ molar; MUFA ¼ mono unsaturated fatty acids; PUFA ¼ poly unsaturated fatty acids; 2-MBA ¼ 2-Methylbutyric acid; IBA ¼ Isobutyric acid.

Structural analysis of the hemoglobin (Hb) system of Delphinus delphis revealed a high globin multiplicity: HPLC-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analysis evidenced three major beta (beta1 16,022 Da, beta2 16,036 Da, beta3 16,036 Da, labeled according to their progressive elution times) and two major alpha globins (alpha1 15,345 Da, alpha2 15,329 Da). ESI-tandem mass and nucleotide sequence analyses showed that beta2 globin differs from beta1 for the substitution Val126 --> Leu, while beta3 globin differs from beta2 for the isobaric substitution Lys65 --> Gln. The alpha2 globin differs from the alpha1 for the substitution Ser15 --> Ala. Anion-exchange chromatography allowed the separation of two Hb fractions and HPLC-ESI-MS analysis revealed that the fraction with higher pI (HbI) contained beta1, beta2 and both the alpha globins, and the fraction with lower pI (HbII) contained beta3 and both the alpha globins. Both D. delphis Hb fractions displayed a lower intrinsic oxygen affinity, a decreased effect of 2,3-BPG and a reduced cooperativity with respect to human HbA(0), with HbII showing the more pronounced differences. With respect to HbA(0), either the substitution Probeta5 --> Gly or the Probeta5 --> Ala is present in all the cetacean beta globins sequenced so far, and it has been hypothesized that position 5 of beta globins may have a role in the interaction with 2,3-BPG. Regarding the particularly lowered cooperativity of HbII, it is interesting to observe that the variant human HbA, characterized by the substitution Lysbeta65 --> Gln (HbJ-Cairo) has a decreased cooperativity with respect to HbA(0).