16,728 research outputs found
Schools opening and Covid-19 diffusion: Evidence from geolocalized microdata
No full textAre schools triggering the diffusion of the Covid-19? This question is at the core of an extensive debate about the social and long-run costs of stopping the economic activity and human capital accumulation from reducing the contagion. In principle, many confounding factors, such as climate, health system treatment, and other forms of restrictions, may impede disentangling the link between schooling and Covid-19 cases when focusing on a country or regional-level data. This work sheds light on the potential impact of school opening on the upsurge of contagion by combining a weekly panel of geocoded Covid-19 cases in Sicilian census areas with a unique set of school data. The identification of the effect takes advantage of both a spatial and time-variation in school opening, stemming from the flexibility in opening dates determined by a Regional Decree, and by the occurrence of a national referendum, which pulled a set of poll-station schools towards opening earlier or later September 24th. The analysis finds that census areas where schools opened earlier observed a significant and positive increase in the growth rate of Covid-19 cases between 2.5–3.7%. This result is consistent across several specifications, including accounting for several determinants of school opening, such as the number of temporary teachers, Covid-19 cases in August, and pupils with special needs. Finally, the analysis finds lower effects in more densely populated areas, on younger population, and on smaller class size. The results imply that school reopening generated an increase of one third in cases
Effetti dell'inquinamento sulla salute dell'uomo e dell'ambiente
No full textLa salute e il benessere delle persone sono strettamente legati allo stato dell’ambiente. Un ambiente naturale di buona qualità, in termini soprattutto di aria e acqua pulite, gioca un ruolo di fondamentale importanza nella prevenzione di numerosi stati morbosi globalmente causa di milioni di morti ogni anno. Uno studio pubblicato dalla WHO (Preventing diseases through healthy environments) stima che, nel 2012, 12.6 milioni di morti in tutto il mondo, che rappresentano il 23% (95% CI: 13–34%) delle morti per tutte le cause, siano state attribuibili alla cattiva qualità dello stato dell’ambiente. Se si considerano sia le morti che le disabilità (DALY - Disability-Adjusted Life Years - indicatore della gravità di una patologia espresso in anni persi a causa di tale patologia in termini di morti premature o disabilità), la percentuale di carico globale di malattia attribuibile allo stato dell’ambiente è del 22% (95% CI: 13–32%). In particolare, nei bambini sotto i 5 anni, fino al 26% (95% CI: 16–38%) di tutte le morti potrebbe essere evitata se venissero eliminati i rischi ambientali
ATTIVITA' IN VITRO DI FLUCONAZOLO, VORICONAZOLO E CASPOFUNGINA NEI CONFRONTI DI LIEVITI DI ISOLAMENTO CLINICO
No full textLA VALUTAZIONE IN VITRO DELLA SENSIBILITÀ DI LIEVITI DI ISOLAMENTO CLINICO AI COMUNI AGENTI ANTIMICOTICI
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Gestione delle acque marine e Sanità Pubblica tra normative, criticità e prospettive.
No full textIl mare copre il nostro pianeta per circa il 71% della superficie terrestre e gioca un ruolo fondamentale nella vita dell’uomo.
Le acque marine sono connesse con la Sanità Pubblica a vari livelli, infatti sia lo stato di salute e benessere individuale che di popolazione risulta influenzato dalle condizioni del mare e delle sue risorse in maniera positiva o negativa.
Milioni di individui ogni anno in Italia, per attività balneare ricreativa, si concentrano per periodi relativamente ristretti in litorali più o meno estesi spesso ubicati in diretta continuità con le realtà urbane e metropolitane
di fatto determinando un potenziale ambito di contatto tra le attività antropiche e lo smaltimento dei reflui fognari cittadini. Nell’ambito della relazione saranno pertanto analizzati i principali aspetti igienicosanitari
della recente normativa sulle acque di balneazione, derivanti dall’applicazione del D.lgs 116/08 anche in relazione alla precedente normativa (DPR 470/82).
Inoltre la qualità delle acque marine costiere è stata oggetto della “Water Framework Directive” in applicazione della Direttiva 2000/60/CE improntata all’esigenza di fissare i principi di base di una politica sostenibile in materia di acque a livello UE, con l’obiettivo del raggiungimento del ‘buono stato ecologico’ entro il 2015.
Le risorse biologiche marine costituiscono una fonte essenziale di sostentamento. Ma il mare è anche “un evento terapeutico” e risorsa di enorme interesse nel campo della ricerca biomedica marina. È noto come alcuni organismi marini producano sostanze bioattive provviste di numerose proprietà farmacologiche
utili per il trattamento di patologie e come altre risorse biologiche marine abbiano capacità
antibiotiche e antitumorali.
Se questa è già una realtà, la ricerca su alcuni organismi marini prospetta per il futuro una nuova gamma di insperate possibilità per la salute dell’uomo
SUSTAINABLE HARVESTING OF TERMINALIA ARJUNA (ARJUNA) AND LITSEA GLUTINOSA (MAIDA) BARK IN CENTRAL INDIA
No full textTerminalia arjuna (Arjuna) is a well-known medicinal plant whose bark is extensively used in ayurvedic medicine, particularly as cardiac tonic. Demand for Arjuna bark, both in India and abroad has been growing rapidly for over a decade. Litsea chinensis (Maida) is a medium sized tree. Its bark is used to treat joint pain, fracture, sprain, arthritis, back pain, indigestion, cough and dryness of skin. Presently the bark of Arjuna and Maida is being extracted through unscientific and destructive harvesting practices. This is the first study on development of sustainable harvesting practices of Arjuna and Maida bark. The study revealed that the regeneration of bark in young trees was faster in comparison to old trees. In Arjuna, the bark was regenerated in two years whereas in Maida it took only one year. The study also showed that the stage of bark recovery (regrowth) varied from tree to tree, age of tree, harvesting technique (e.g. blaze making) and factors like temperature, relative humidity and time of stripping influenced wound healing in Arjuna and Maida. In Arjuna, the quality of trunk bark was superior in comparison to bark of other plant parts (stem, twigs) whereas no significant difference was found in Maida. Thickness of Arjuna bark at breast height varied from 8.12 to 20.96 cm and was found to be irrespective of the age/girth of tree. The medium aged trees gave better quality of bark. The best time to harvest bark was found between December and March. The study recommends that for sustainable harvest, only ¼ or 1/3 of the mature bark of total girth of the tree should be stripped by removing only outer and middle bark leaving the inner bark for regeneration from opposite quarters of the trunk. Thus sustainable bark harvesting can be done after every two years (In Arjuna) and one year (In Maida) by removing opposing quarters of trunk bark rather than girdling the trees
Posaconazole Activity against Candida glabrata after Exposure to Caspofungin or Amfotericin B.
No full textWe evaluated the effects of sequential therapy with caspofungin (CAS) or amphotericin B (AMB) followed by posaconazole (POS) against Candida glabrata. The susceptibilities to POS of yeast cells pre-exposed to CAS or AMB were identical to those of untreated cells as shown by standard Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute broth dilution, cell viability, and disk diffusion methods. We then investigated the activity of sequential regimens in an experimental model of disseminated candidiasis. CAS given at 1 mg/kg/day for 2 days followed by POS at either 15 or 30 mg/kg/day significantly reduced the counts compared to the controls, but this treatment was not superior to the use of CAS alone. Also, sequential regimens with AMB given at 1 mg/kg/day for 2 days followed by POS (AMB/POS) were effective at reducing the fungal burden against the controls. In addition, AMB/POS with both doses of the triazole were significantly more effective than AMB alone. Overall, our data showed that there is no therapeutic advantage in using CAS followed by POS, whereas an induction therapy with AMB followed by a maintenance regimen with POS might be a suitable strategy in managing C. glabrata infections
Comparison between disk diffusion and microdilution methods for determining susceptibility of clinical fungal isolates to caspofungin
No full textWe compared the caspofungin (CAS) susceptibility testing results generated by the disk diffusion (DD) assay with the results of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) broth microdilution (BD) reference method for 106 yeast isolates. The isolates represented 11 different fungal species, including Candida albicans (n = 50), C. parapsilosis (n = 10), C. glabrata (n = 10), C. tropicalis (n = 10), C. guillermondii (n = 6), C. rugosa (n = 5), C. krusei (n = 5), C. kefyr (n = 2), C. pelliculosa (n = 2), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (n = 3), and Geotrichum candidum (n = 3). The DD assay was performed in supplemented Mueller-Hinton agar with CAS, which was tested at concentrations of 2, 10, and 25 μg per disk. MICs and inhibition zone diameters were evaluated at 24 and 48 h. In general, the results obtained by the DD assay correlated well with those obtained by the BD method. In particular, a significant correlation between methods was observed when CAS was used at concentration of 2 μg/disk at a reading time of either 24 or 48 h
Sorveglianza delle colonizzazioni e delle infezioni fungine acquisite in ambiente nosocomiale in pazienti sottoposti ad interventi chirurgici in urgenza ed in elezione presso l’AOUP “Paolo Giaccone” di Palermo.
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