352 research outputs found
Economic factors affecting obesity: an application in Italy
No full textThe World Health Organization has stated that obesity is spreading around the world like a “global epidemic”. In 2004 the percentage of obese people in the Italian population was 9%, but the trend s increasing in recent years. Focusing on this country, the purpose of the paper is to analyze the socio-economic variables affecting obesity by means of a survey conducted in a consumer sample. Our analysis is based on a survey conducted in Italy, and the sample was composed of 999 consumers. We used a binary logit model and the dependent variable is body mass index (BMI), expressed in a dichotomic way (seriously overweight and obese, value 1, and normal weight, value 0). The results show that the condition of the seriously overweight and obese increases with age, especially in people over 65 of age. Also gender is correlated with the pathology: being seriously overweight and obese is far more likely for men than for women. An inverse relation was shown between obesity and education, and between obesity and the level of food knowledge. The results highlight that disadvantaged social categories are more susceptible to the problem of overweight and obesity. A policy implication of the analysis, to limit the spread of obesity, could lie in programs aimed at improving health and food awareness and focused on these minority groups.economics of obesity, BMI and consumer, logit model, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,
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No full textDetecting pathogens and mounting immune responses upon infection is crucial for animal health. However, these responses come at a high metabolic price (McKean and Lazzaro, 2011, Kominsky et al., 2010), and avoiding pathogens before infection may be advantageous. The bacterial endotoxins lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are important immune system infection cues (Abbas et al., 2014), but it remains unknown whether animals possess sensory mechanisms to detect them prior to infection. Here we show that Drosophila melanogaster display strong aversive responses to LPS and that gustatory neurons expressing Gr66a bitter receptors mediate avoidance of LPS in feeding and egg laying assays. We found the expression of the chemosensory cation channel dTRPA1 in these cells to be necessary and sufficient for LPS avoidance. Furthermore, LPS stimulates Drosophila neurons in a TRPA1-dependent manner and activates exogenous dTRPA1 channels in human cells. Our findings demonstrate that flies detect bacterial endotoxins via a gustatory pathway through TRPA1 activation as conserved molecular mechanism.sponsorship: Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie Alessia Soldano Luis Franco Guangda Liu Natalia Mora Emre Yaksi Bassem A Hassanr Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0702.12 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0077.15 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0680.10 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0681.10 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0503.12 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0654.15 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0761.10N Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0596.12 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0565.07 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar KU Leuven GOA/14/011 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Luis Franco Alejandro Lopez-Requena Guangda Liu Natalia Mora Emre Yaksi Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar European Commission IUAP P7/13 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Luis Franco Alejandro Lopez-Requena Guangda Liu Natalia Mora Emre Yaksi Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekensr KU Leuven OT/12/091 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Luis Franco Alejandro Lopez-Requena Guangda Liu Natalia Mora Emre Yaksi Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar KU Leuven PF-TRPLe Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Luis Franco Alejandro Lopez-Requena Guangda Liu Natalia Mora Emre Yaksi Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talavera (Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0702.12, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0077.15, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0680.10, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0681.10, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0503.12, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0654.15, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0761.10N, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0596.12, KU Leuven|GOA/14/011, KU Leuven|OT/12/091, European Commission|IUAP P7/13, KU Leuven PF-TRPLe)status: Publishe
Neurotransmitter deficits in behavioural and psychological symptoms of Alzheimer's disease
No full textBehavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) occur in 50–90% of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients. Imbalance of different
neurotransmitters (acetylcholine, dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin), involvement of specific brain regions responsible for emotional
activities (parahippocampal gyrus, dorsal raphe and locus coeruleus) and cortical hypometabolism have been proposed as neurobiological substrate
of BPSD. Compared to with respect to the neurochemical component, the cholinergic dysfunction seems to play a major role in contributing to
BPSD occurrence. This view is also supported by the findings of recent trials with cholinesterase inhibitors, showing that these drugs are effective
in controlling and/or improving BPSD, independent on effects on cognitive dysfunction. On the site of psychotropic drugs, atypical or novel
antipsychotics represent the reference drugs for treating BPSD, whereas classic antipsychotic drugs for their profile and the potential side effects
should be avoided
Treatment of Alzheimer's disease: from pharmacology to a better understanding of disease pathophysiology
No full textAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of cognitive impairment in older patients and is expected to increase greatly in prevalence
in the next future. It is characterized by the development of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, which are associated with neuronal loss
affecting to a greater extent cholinergic neurons. A cascade of pathophysiological events is triggered in AD that ultimately involves common
cellular signalling pathways and leads to cellular and neural networks dysfunction, failure of neurotransmission, cell death and a common clinical
outcome. The process is asynchronous and viable neurons remain an important target for therapeutic intervention at each stage of disease evolution.
At present symptomatic drugs inhibiting the degradation of acetylcholine within synapses and more recently glutamate receptor antagonists
represent the mainstay of therapy. However, interventions able to halt or slow disease progression (i.e., disease-modifying agents) are necessary.
Although much progress has been made in this area, there are currently no clinically approved interventions for AD classed as disease modifying or
neuroprotective. This paper reviews the main symptomatic strategies available for treating AD and future strategies for improving our therapeutic
approach to AD
Treatment of Alzheimer's disease: from pharmacology to a better understanding of disease pathophysiology.
No full textAlzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of cognitive impairment in older patients and is expected to increase greatly in prevalence in the next future. It is characterized by the development of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, which are associated with neuronal loss affecting to a greater extent cholinergic neurons. A cascade of pathophysiological events is triggered in AD that ultimately involves common cellular signalling pathways and leads to cellular and neural networks dysfunction, failure of neurotransmission, cell death and a common clinical outcome. The process is asynchronous and viable neurons remain an important target for therapeutic intervention at each stage of disease evolution. At present symptomatic drugs inhibiting the degradation of acetylcholine within synapses and more recently glutamate receptor antagonists represent the mainstay of therapy. However, interventions able to halt or slow disease progression (i.e., disease-modifying agents) are necessary. Although much progress has been made in this area, there are currently no clinically approved interventions for AD classed as disease modifying or neuroprotective. This paper reviews the main symptomatic strategies available for treating AD and future strategies for improving our therapeutic approach to AD
Plasma total homocysteine levels and the C677T mutation in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene : a study in an Italian population with dementia
No full textAlcune soluzioni per l’adeguamento liturgico e la ridistribuzione delle funzioni nella chiesa di Sant’Eligio a Napoli
No full textThe church of Sant’Eligio al Mercato, an example of Angevin architecture in Naples, as well as being the subject of several restoration projects at different historical moments, still represents a reference building for the interdisciplinary study of history, restoration as well as the history of restoration methodologies. Furthermore, as it is still inhabited by an active community, the church allows the possibility of experimenting with different approaches to the matter and working on the necessary liturgical adaptation to contemporary and current uses, trying to find the right balance between transformation, which is minimal, and conservation, not only of the matter but also and above all of the Angevin spatiality and its architectural features
Social Network to analyse the relationship between ‘victim-author’ and ‘motivation’ of violence against women in Italy.
No full textThe paper aims to analyse the phenomenon of Violence against women in the Italian context during 2020. It proposes to study the relationship between ‘victim-author’ and ‘motivation’ in femicides committed in domestic environment. By means of the properties of the Social Network Analysis on bimodal data, the study detected main actors and motivations that generated the homicides with female victims. At the same time, the structural relationships allowed to investigate the existence of motivations that better characterized the action of the various actors. The bipartite graph visualization and centrality scores calculated have demonstrated the effectiveness of the methodology for the pursued objectives
La valorizzazione dell’architettura medievale nella Valle del Medio Volturno
No full textThe castle of Rupecanina is located on the top of a hill, about 500 m above sea level,
in a dominant position within the Middle Volturno Valley, 50 km from Caserta. An
intense and tumultuous evolution, between the IX-XIV centuries, followed an early
abandonment of the site, during the 15th century. The «Village déserté» (Klapisch
Zuber, 1973) partially destroyed during the Second World War, has been, since the
1960s, the subject of several reconstruction and restoration interventions as well as
several archaeological excavation campaigns, numerous reflections and researches. In
spite of that, always closed to the public and abandoned to himself, the castle remains
forgotten to the most and it lies in conditions of advanced degradation.
The aim of this report is to reflect on the theme of conservation using knowledgeable
data in order to draw up a practical suggestion for the conservation of our heritage,
which, especially in the case of the Castle of Rupecanina, shows the urgent need of a
restoration project based on compatible and respectful use of an artefact that otherwise
remains doomed to ruin
Severity of acute intracerebral haemorrhage, elderly age and atrial fibrillation: Independent predictors of poor outcome at three months
No full textinvestigated clinical factors leading to poor outcome at three months in patients with intracerebral haemorrhage
(ICH) in order to better understand the role of clinical features in prognostic evaluation.
Subjects and methods: This was a prospective cohort study on patients having ICH admitted to two Italian
hospitals (the Stroke Units at “Ospedale Santa Maria della Misericordia“, Perugia and “Ospedale C. Poma“,
Mantua) between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2010.
Results: A total of 470 consecutive ICH patients (mean age 73.89±13.02 years) were included and of these,
241 (51.1%) were males. At three months, 293 (62.3%) patients had poor outcome including 133 (27.6%)
deaths. The resulting significant predictors of poor outcome from univariate analysis included: age, NIH
Stroke Scale Score (NIHSSS) at admission, hyperglycaemia and the presence of atrial fibrillation (AF).
These variables were confirmed in logistic regression analyses as being independent predictors of disability:
age (OR 1.04 95% CI, 1.02–1.07, p=0.0001), AF (OR 3.18 95% CI, 1.12–9.05 p=0.03) and NIHSSS (OR 1.38 95%
CI, 1.28–1.48, p=0.0001), while elderly age (OR 1.10 95% CI, 1.06–1.14, p≤0.0001) and high NIHSSS (OR 1.25
95% CI, 1.19–1.31, p≤0.0001) resulted being independent predictors of mortality.
Conclusions: This study found that severity of ICH, elderly age and AF were independent predictors of poor
outcome in ICH patients at three months. Thereby, this highlights the importance of understanding the
roles of clinical features in ICH prognostic evaluation.Background and purpose Prognostic risk factors of haemorrhagic stroke are not yet fully identified. This study investigated clinical factors leading to poor outcome at three months in patients with intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) in order to better understand the role of clinical features in prognostic evaluation. Subjects and methods This was a prospective cohort study on patients having ICH admitted to two Italian hospitals (the Stroke Units at "Ospedale Santa Maria della Misericordia", Perugia and "Ospedale C. Poma", Mantua) between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2010. Results A total of 470 consecutive ICH patients (mean age 73.89 ± 13.02 years) were included and of these, 241 (51.1%) were males. At three months, 293 (62.3%) patients had poor outcome including 133 (27.6%) deaths. The resulting significant predictors of poor outcome from univariate analysis included: age, NIH Stroke Scale Score (NIHSSS) at admission, hyperglycaemia and the presence of atrial fibrillation (AF). These v..
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