281 research outputs found
INTERNATIONAL AGENCY FOR RESEARCH ON CANCER MONOGRAPHS (IARC)
No full textAuthor reply pp. 86-7. In taliano
[Deprivation indices in small-area studies of environment and health in Italy].
No full textThe use of deprivation indices in small-area studies of environment and health is described, with particular reference to the Italian context. Deprivation indices can represent a proxy for individual deprivation and/or contextual deprivation. In Italy, deprivation indices have been constructed using Census variables. They are applied at census tract level in studies with a local basis; in national based studies, they can be used at municipality level. In SENTIERI Project (Mortality study of residents in Italian polluted sites) an ad hoc deprivation index at municipal level was used (DI SENTIERI). Its strength and weaknesses are discussed. In addition, suggestions about the use of socioeconomic indices in small area studies of environment
and health are given
p-adic Arithmetic and Parallel Symbolic Computation: an Implementation for Solving Linear Systems over the Rationals
No full textIn this work we describe the use of truncated p-adic expansion for handling rational numbers by parallel algorithms for symbolic computation. As a case study we propose a parallel implementation for solving linear systems over the rationals. The parallelization is based on a multiple homomorphic image technique and the result is recovered by a parallel version of the Chinese remainder algorithm. Using a MIMD machine, we compare the proposed implementation with the classical modular arithmetic, showing that truncated p-adic arithmetic is a feasible tool for solving systems of linear equations working directly over rational numbers. A safe algorithm for computing the p-adic division operation is proposed
Use of pharmacological treatments by a sample of Italian patients affected by alcohol use disorders
No full textTitle: USE OF PHARMACOLOGICAL TREATMENTS BY A SAMPLE OF ITALIAN PATIENTS AFFECTED BY ALCOHOL USE DISORDERS
Author name(s): R. Agabio; E.M. Diana; D. Grazzini; R. Pirastu; G.L. Gessa
Institution: Department of Biochemical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience, Preclinical and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cagliari, Italy
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Background: It has often been reported that the majority of patients affected by Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs) do not receive any pharmacological treatment. This study was aimed at investigating the use of the medications available in Italy (disulfiram, naltrexone, acamprosate, and γ-hydroxybutyric acid) by a sample of outpatients affected by AUDs.
Methods: Four trained psychologists interviewed outpatients affected by AUDs in an area of Sardinia, Italy, of approximately 550.000 adult inhabitants.
Results: A total sample of 208 outpatients affected by AUDs was interviewed (~1/3 of total outpatients affected by AUDs of that area). Their main features were: 166 males (79.5%); mean age=48.6±0.6 year; duration of AUDs=15.8±0.7 years; number of drinks per drinking days=19.4±1.3; number of criteria of DSM-IV-Tr=5.8±0.1. Before the admission into specific services, 13 patients (6.2%) had already received medication for AUDs; 7 patients (3.4%) had received disulfiram and 6 patients (2.9%) γ-hydroxybutyric acid. Over the same period, 22 patients (10.6%) had already attended self-help groups and 4 patients (1.9%) had received thiamine (Vitamine B1). After the admission into specific medical settings for the treatment of AUDs, 113 patients (54.3%) received medication for AUDs: 58 patients (27.9%) received disulfiram, 65 patients (31.2%) γ-hydroxybutyric acid, 2 patients (1.0%) naltrexone, and 6 patients (2.9%) acamprosate. In the same period, 54 patients (26.0%) frequented self-help associations, and 21 patients (10.1%) received thiamine.
Conclusions: The results of this study confirm that the number of patients who receive a treatment for AUDs continues to be surprisingly low. Despite the long duration and the high level of severity of the AUDs, the majority of patients affected by AUDs did not receive any treatment before their admission in specific medical settings for the treatment of AUDs (10% of patients frequented self-help groups, 6% received a medication for AUDs, and 2% thiamine). After the admission into specific medical settings, the number of patients who received a treatment increased: 26% frequented self-help associations, 54% received a specific medication, and 10% received thiamine. However, approximately half of the patients did not receive any pharmacological treatment even if they frequented medical settings for the treatment of AUDs. Additional work is needed to understand the reasons of such a scarce use of treatments.
Acknowledgements: This study was supported by a grant from Regione Autonoma della Sardegna
Unravelling the genetics of complex diseases through random forest: Application to genome wide association of Asthma in a genetic isolate of Ogliastra
No full textAn application of Random Forest and Hungarian Method to genome wide association of asthma in a genetic isolate of Ogliastra
No full text
Understanding the role of personality and alexithymia in food preferences and PROP taste perception
No full textTaste perception and food preferences are influenced by a variety of factors, including personality characteristics. The aims of this study were to examine the role of personality characteristics, such as alexithymia (a personality construct characterized by inability to identify, describe, and work with one's own feelings), in: 1) taste responses to the bitter genetic taste-marker PROP and 2) food liking. We studied 649 healthy subjects residing in six genetically-isolated villages of Northeast Italy. Data on PROP taste responsiveness, food liking, personality characteristics and TAS2R28 genotypes were collected.Results showed that PROP non-tasters had higher alexithymia scores than PROP tasters. Moreover, the presence of alexithymia in heterozygous individuals for the rs1726886 polymorphism of the TAS2R38 gene was associated with a reduction in the perceived intensity of PROP.Finally, higher alexithymia scores were associated with liking of alcohol, sweets and fats/meats whereas lower alexithymia scores were related to liking of vegetables, condiments and strong cheeses, Measures of temperament, character, anxiety and depression were also related to food liking.Our findings suggest that: 1) alexithymia, in addition to the TAS2R38 polymorphism, may play a role in responsiveness to the aversive and bitter taste of PROP; and 2) alexithymia, in combination with other personality traits, may provide important insights for better understanding food liking
A Population-Based Approach to Study the Impact of PROP Perception on Food Liking in Populations along the Silk Road
No full textTaste is one of the main factors determining food choices. Differences in PROP bitter taste perception have been implicated in individual differences in food preferences and selection. The present study examined associations between, PROP phenotypes, self-reported food liking and TAS2R38 polymorphisms, the major gene implicated in PROP bitterness, in six different populations of the Caucasus and Central Asia, located along the ancient Silk Road. Differences in the distribution of PROP phenotypes across populations were detected, with a higher frequency of super tasters in Tajikistan (31.3%) and Armenia (39.0%) and a higher frequency of non tasters in Georgia (50.9%). While no relationships were observed between PROP phenotypes and food liking using standard statistical tests, we used an approach based on comparison of distance matrices derived from these data. The first matrix compared the food liking ratings of each population to all others pairwise using the Kruskal-Wallis test (at p<0.00063), and the second one compared the distribution of PROP phenotypes across all populations in a similar manner calculating the chi-square statistic as a distance measure. A strong correlation between the two matrices was found (Mantel test: r = 0.67, p-value = 0.03), suggesting that the pattern of food liking across populations was closely related to the distribution of PROP phenotypes. This same relationship was not observed when TAS2R38 genotypes were substituted for PROP phenotypes in this analysis. Our data suggest that a population-based approach utilizing distance matrices is a useful technique for detecting PROP-related differences in food liking and can be applied to other taste phenotypes. © 2014 Robino et al
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