202 research outputs found
BlaB-15, a new BlaB metallo-β-lactamase variant found in an Elizabethkingia miricola clinical isolate
No full textA multidrug-resistant strain of Elizabethkingia miricola was isolated from the urine of a 2-year-old boy hospitalized for severe clinical conditions. The strain produces 2 metallo-β-lactamases belonging to subclasses B1 and B3: a new BlaB variant (BlaB-15) and a GOB-7–like enzyme
Alcune considerazioni su genere, diritto, linguaggio
No full textBroad or inclusive language has reached the attention of media and public debate during the last decades. In Italy, the publication by Alma Sabatini “Raccomandazioni per un uso non sessista della lingua italiana” was an important starting point. The paper focuses on the lin-guistic innovation as a moment of the society/language interaction, within the theoretical framework of the law and language parallel. The opposition between descriptivism and pre-scriptivism in linguistics will be challenged, by interpreting the linguistic norm and the le-gal norm as driver for social transformation
Agnata, Osteichthyes
No full textDefinizione dello Status delle specie di Agnati e Osteitti in territorio italian
Las cuentas del virrey: los gastos de la corte virreinal de Nápoles a finales del siglo XVII
No full textL'autore analizza i costi del mantenimento della corte vicereale a Napoli durante l'età spagnola e nel più generale contesto della finanza pubblica del regnoThe author analyzes the costs of maintaining the viceregal court in Naples during the Spanish age and in the broader context of public finance of the kingdo
Skeletal Muscle Pathophysiology: The Emerging Role of Spermine Oxidase and Spermidine
No full textSkeletal muscle comprises approximately 40% of the total body mass. Preserving muscle health and function is essential for the entire body in order to counteract chronic diseases such as type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Prolonged physical inactivity, particularly among the elderly, causes muscle atrophy, a pathological state with adverse outcomes such as poor quality of life, physical disability, and high mortality. In murine skeletal muscle C2C12 cells, increased expression of the spermine oxidase (SMOX) enzyme has been found during cell differentiation. Notably, SMOX overexpression increases muscle fiber size, while SMOX reduction was enough to induce muscle atrophy in multiple murine models. Of note, the SMOX reaction product spermidine appears to be involved in skeletal muscle atrophy/hypertrophy. It is effective in reactivating autophagy, ameliorating the myopathic defects of collagen VI-null mice. Moreover, spermidine treatment, if combined with exercise, can affect D-gal-induced aging-related skeletal muscle atrophy. This review hypothesizes a role for SMOX during skeletal muscle differentiation and outlines its role and that of spermidine in muscle atrophy. The identification of new molecular pathways involved in the maintenance of skeletal muscle health could be beneficial in developing novel therapeutic lead compounds to treat muscle atrophy
Post-thaw Addition of Caffeine and/or Pentoxifylline Affect Differently Motility Characteristics of Horse and Donkey Cryopreserved Spermatozoa
No full textIn conclusion, proportion of motile cells and motility patterns of frozen-thawed stallion spermatozoa are influenced by the presence of caffeine and pentoxifylline, while such an effect was not present for donkey cryopreserved semen
Periodontitis and Depressive Disorders: The Effects of Antidepressant Drugs on the Periodontium in Clinical and Preclinical Models: A Narrative Review
No full textBackground/Objectives: Several psychological conditions, including stress and depression, can adversely affect oral health; in fact, antidepressants, commonly used to treat depressive disorders, may have conflicting effects on the periodontal status of individuals. The aim of this review was to determine the effects of antidepressants on the periodontium. Methods: A literature search was conducted using electronic databases, Pubmed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, focusing on the use of antidepressants and their effects on periodontal health in animals or humans. Results: Seventeen articles have been included with the use of amitriptyline (two studies), desipramine (one study), imipramine (two studies), desvenlafaxine (one study), fluoxetine (six studies), venlafaxine (three studies) and tianeptine (two studies). One study evaluated several categories of antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI), tricyclic, atypical and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO). Most trials showed improvements in periodontal health, especially with fluoxetine, but also with imipramine, desipramine, desvenlafaxine and tianeptine; on the contrary, worsening of clinical periodontal indices and increased loss of alveolar bone were reported with venlafaxine. Conclusions: This review suggests that in the presence of comorbidity between periodontitis and depression, pharmacological treatment with SNRIs, SSRIs and mixed antidepressants is associated with improvement in periodontal parameters, except for venlafaxine. Healthcare professionals (especially oral and mental health professionals) should investigate proper adherence to medication therapy in patients with a history of periodontitis and depression. Further clinical trials are needed to confirm these results
Work status and family planning: insights from the Italian puzzle
No full textThis paper uses a dataset built by the author on the basis of raw data taken from different national surveys to carry out an investigation into the socio-economic determinants of couples’ childbearing decisions in Italy. Since having children is in most cases a “couple matter”, the analysis accounts for the characteristics of both the aspiring parents. Our results contradict theoretical predictions according to which the increase in the opportunity cost of motherhood connected to higher female labour participation is responsible for the fall in fertility. On the contrary, the instability of the women’s work status (i.e. their being occasional, precarious, and low-paid workers) reveals to be a significant and strong dissuasive deterrent discouraging the decision to have children. Couples with unemployed women are less likely to plan childbearing as well. Other relevant explanatory variables are age, current family size, and the strength of family ties.Fertility; Family planning; Childbearing; Labour market; Female participation; Labour precariousness; Social capital; Italy
Superhydrophobic and photoactive films on polymer surfaces
No full textTransparent and flexible polymeric films might represent cheap and versatile materials for applications such as low cost solar cell covers. However, their use is limited by their low mechanical hardness and UV-light sensitivity. The use of oxide coatings has been proposed to enhance the mechanical properties and UV-resistance of polymers[1]. Oxide films might also impart self-cleaning or anti-stain properties to polymer surfaces. This might represent an innovative solution to a common issue for the service life of solar cells, i.e. the loss of incident light through scattering or absorption by accumulated dust. As a matter of fact, each g/m2 of dirt on cell covers reduces their efficiency up to 33%[2]. As installed solar panels are difficult to access, self-cleaning cell covers might be a viable solution. To achieve this goal, the main challenge to overcome is the development of low temperature syntheses for the deposition of active and adhesive oxide films over polymers. In this study, adhesive, antireflective, self-cleaning or anti-stain oxide films are deposited over transparent polymers by a two-step approach. First, the polymer surface is engineered to improve the oxide adhesion by providing a homogeneous distribution of suitable functional groups. Second, a low temperature synthesis is developed to obtain transparent, photoactive or superhydrophobic TiO2/SiO2-based films starting from a colloidal oxide suspension grown under microwaves irradiation. The obtained materials are characterized for their optical (UV-vis spectroscopy), mechanical (hardness and adhesion tests), and photocatalytic properties (stain removal). Further, durability tests under environmental conditions and accelerated aging under UV-light are performed
HCV core antigen and HCV-RNA in HIV/HCV co-infected patients with different HCV genotypes.
No full textAbstract. Background: A good correlation between HCV core antigen (HCVAg) and different HCV-RNA assays has been
described, but little data are available in HCV/HIV co-infection. We aimed to evaluate HCVAg in comparison with
HCV-RNA and to determine their kinetics during antiviral treatment in selected HCV/HIV co-infected patients.
Methods: 355 samples from 286 HCV/HIV co-infected subjects for whom HCV-RNA (Abbott RealTime) was
requested were analysed also for HCVAg (Abbott ARCHITECT) in order to evaluate the correlation between the two
parameters both in patients treated or untreated for chronic hepatitis C and according to different HCV genotypes.
The differences between percentages were evaluated by chi square or Fisher’s exact test, while mean and median
values were compared by Student’s t test or the Mann–Whitney test, respectively. All differences were considered
significant for a p value <0.05.
Results: HCVAg was detectable on 288/315 sera (91.4%) positive for HCV-RNA and in 5 out of40 (12.5%) sera with
undetectable HCV-RNA for a total concordance of 90.1%. The correlation was fair both in untreated (r = 0.742) and
in treated (r = 0.881) patients and stronger for genotypes 1 and 4 than for genotype 3. Both HCV-RNA and HCVAg
levels were significantly higher (p = 0.028 and p = 0.0098, respectively) in patients infected by genotype 1 than by
genotype 3. The mean ratio of Log values between HCV-RNA (IU/mL) and HCVAg (fmol/liter) was 2.27 ± 1.09 in
untreated and 2.20 ± 0.82 in treated patients (p = n.s.),consistent with a sensitivity of HCVAg corresponding to about
1,000 IU/mL of HCV-RNA, and ranged from 2.21 to 2.32 among HCV genotypes with no significant differences; five
samples (1.4%; 2 genotype 1a or 1c, 3 genotype 3a) showed highly divergent values. The analysis of 18 monitoring
profiles from patients treated with PEG-IFN and Ribavirin showed similar trends, except in one case in which relapse
could be predicted by HCVAg and not by HCV-RNA.
Conclusion: These results suggest that HCVAg represents an adequate tool for determining an ongoing HCV
infection also in HIV co-infected patients, with lower costs and faster turnaround time than HCV-RNA
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