1,721,091 research outputs found
Women between normality and dependence: a study of problematic consumption and dependence in women aged 30–50 years
No full textIntroduction: In the field of dependence, there have been few studies on populations of “normal” women.
Aims: To quantify the prevalence of problematic consumption of legal and illegal psychoactive substances, pathological gambling and compulsive buying in a sample of 433 Italian women aged between 30 and 50 years.
Methods: Selection per quota in various shopping malls in Tuscany and Emilia Romagna.
Results: About 13.9% have risk-level alcohol consumption, 9.2% have a medium–high level of tobacco addiction, 7.2% tested positive for compulsive shopping, 1.6% have cannabis dependence and 0.5% are pathological gamblers. Multivariate analysis reveals a relationship between high-risk alcohol consumption and cannabis dependence, and between tobacco addiction and compulsive shopping.
Conclusions: The research reveals various consumption profiles and “minor dependences” which appear to be functional to the ways in which this specific target-group faces ordinary everyday life
REGIONALISMO E GUERRA FREDDA. L'"APPROPRIATE INVOLVEMENT" AMERICANO NEL SUD-EST ASIATICO E LE ORIGINI DEL L'ASEAN, 1958-1967
No full textQuesta ricerca si propone di individuare ed esaminare il contributo del Governo americano al processo di integrazione economica, politica e culturale tra gli Stati non-comunisti della regione dell'Asia sud-orientale, prendendo le mosse dalla creazione della primigenia forma di cooperazione regionale nel febbraio 1959 – il Southeast Asia Friendship and Economic Treaty (SEAFET) – fino ad arrivare alla fondazione dell'Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), l'8 agosto 1967. L'impegno in prima linea degli Stati Uniti sarà analizzato sotto due aspetti in particolare: storico e diplomatico. Partendo proprio dalla documentazione consultata negli archivi americani di College Park e in quelli britannici di Kew Gardens, l'analisi percorre i principali avvenimenti della Guerra Fredda nel Sud-est asiatico che contraddistinsero l'ultima parte degli anni Cinquanta e tutti gli anni Sessanta: il periodo immediatamente successivo alla lunga e, per certi versi sanguinosa, fase della decolonizzazione; la crisi vietnamita e il Secondo conflitto indocinese (1954-1973); lo scisma sino-sovietico all'interno del campo comunista (1960); la Konfrontasi indo-malese (1962-1966); il disimpegno britannico dai territori “a est di Suez” (annunciato nel 1966 dal Governo Wilson). Nel contesto di questi eventi che cambiarono in un decennio la fisionomia politica ed economica del Sud-est asiatico, Washington favorì la formazione di una organizzazione regionale in funzione anti-comunista e, in particolare, anti-cinese che coinvolse gli Stati dell'Asia sud-orientale intenti a fronteggiare all'interno dei propri confini movimenti di ispirazione marxista che facevano riferimento – con diverse sfaccettature – chi a Mosca e chi a Pechino. Le nazioni chiamate in causa da questa ricerca sono cinque: Thailandia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia e Filippine, i Paesi fondatori dell'ASEAN. Il Sud-est asiatico rappresentò per gli Stati Uniti il bastione del “Free World” nel continente asiatico, dove peraltro fioccavano gli investimenti delle compagnie americane dell'industria estrattiva. Era pertanto motivo ulteriore per Washington evitare che l'influenza comunista soggiogasse i Paesi della regione che stavano gradualmente percorrendo la via della democrazia e dello sviluppo. Anche sulla scorta di quanto mostrato in Europa, gli americani si affidarono alla carta del regionalismo: in primo luogo, per facilitare il riavvicinamento tra i Paesi del cosiddetto “lower arc” le cui relazioni erano tese per varie questioni territoriali e politiche. In secondo luogo, per favorire il processo di nascita di un “nuovo spirito asiatico” – guidato principalmente dalla Thailandia – finalizzato a trovare soluzioni locali a problemi locali nel pieno spirito di cooperazione.This study examines the U.S. contribution to the creation of ASEAN, by analysing the origins – since the foundation of the Southeast Asia Friendship and Economic Treaty (SEAFET) in February 1959 – and the ultimate evolution of Southeast Asian regionalism on 8 August 1967.
Throughout the 1960s the United States was interested in the promotion of an ʻindependent nations zoneʼ in Southeast Asia as a means of accelerating the economic co-operation and social progress. The Department of State believed regionalism embodied a necessary element of ʻcontainment doctrineʼ, that should have pursued two main objectives: first, to preserve and strengthen the will of the peoples of the area to resist Communist threat; second, to assist these governments in copying with the major problems of development.
Since historians have tended to concentrate on military issue, this proposal draws attention to U.S. plans taking into account two main aspects: diplomatic and economic. Washington had no territorial ambitions and, to some extent, the desire to secure the markets and raw materials of Southeast Asia for U.S. industry could offer an adequate explanation for the American commitment to the region.
Regionalism in Southeast Asia during the Cold War is still an understudied field, partly due to the uneven attention given to the Second Indochina conflict. This research project is based on a vast array of textual records gathering from U.S., U.K., and Australian National Archives, as well as memoirs of the then Southeast Asian leaders. This study seeks to provide the U.S. point of view to understand the process of regional co-operation, hoping to bring a broader contribution to the field of both diplomatic history and ASEAN studies.
This study concludes that United States has long worked actively to encourage regional cohesion among the nations of Southeast Asia and, albeit territorial disputes, Southeast Asian states were committed to establish a truly co-operative association that provided Asian solutions to Asian problems
Emergency Department Presentation and Mortality Rate Due to Overdose: A Retrospective Cohort Study on Non-Fatal Overdoses.
No full textBACKGROUND: The aims of this retrospective cohort study are to describe the presentation characteristics for nonfatal overdose-related complaints at the
emergency departments (EDs) of the metropolitan area of Bologna (northern Italy), to estimate the subsequent risk of mortality by overdose, and to identify the
profiles of the subjects most at risk. METHODS: Records of patients admitted to 10 EDs for overdose between January 2004 and December 2012 were retrospectively evaluated. The International Classification of Diseases was used to ascertain the cause of death. RESULTS: A total of 294 episodes of overdose involving 218 individuals were identified. The total time at risk was 1048 person-years (PY). The mortality rate for all causes was 35.48 per 1000 PY for males and 20.61 per 1000 PY for females. The mortality rate for overdose was 16.6 per 1000 PY for males and 13.74 per 1000 PY for females. In the multivariate regression analysis, the time from first ED overdose access (less than 1 year risk ratio [RR]: 7.07, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.32-9.39) was significantly associated with death by overdose. Males, subjects aged >30 years at presentation, patients who refused ED treatment, and those having previously contacted mental health services showed an increased mortality risk due to overdose. CONCLUSIONS: Experiencing a nonfatal overdose within the past 12 months increases the risk of mortality compared with an overdose more than 12 months earlier. Nonfatal overdose patients presenting to an ED form a specific target for prevention projects
First report of Phaeoacremonium amygdalinum associated with almond dieback and wood disease in Italy
No full textIn the last 10 years, almond (Prunus dulcis [Mill.] Webb) cultivation areas in the region of Apulia (southern Italy) have increased. A recent survey in young almond orchards recorded characteristic disease symptoms including rapid collapse of branches, chlorosis of leaves (with sudden wilting and death) in June and July, and bud and shoot dieback in December to March. Internal wood symptoms on stems consisted of brown vascular streaking that led to death of young apical shoots within a few weeks. Wood samples were collected and taken to the laboratory, where they underwent disinfection according to the method of Fisher et al. (1992). Fungal isolation techniques were applied, with small pieces of wood tissue (0.5 to 1.0 cm) placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA; Oxoid Ltd.) supplemented with 300 mg/liter of streptomycin sulfate and incubated at 23 ± 2°C in the dark. After 10 days, based on morphological features carried out by microscopic studies, 85% (n = 55) of the resulting fungal colonies (n = 65) were preliminarily attributed to known fungal pathogens of wood, of which 12.4% (n = 8) belonged to the Phaeoacremonium genus. These last were purified by transferring single germinating conidia onto fresh PDA plates. In particular, the conidiophores were mostly short, usually unbranched, erect to flexuous, up to five-septate, brown to pale brown, verruculose on the lower part, (12 to) 15.7 to 41 (to 55) (average 29) μm long and 1.6 to 3.2 (average 2.1) μm wide (n = 30). Conidia hyaline, oblong ellipsoidal-obovoid or subcylindrical (3 to) 4 to 5 μm long and 1.5 to 3 (average = 4.4 × 2.1) μm wide (n = 30). All Phaeoacremonium isolates were successfully subjected to genomic DNA extraction, according to the method of Carlucci et al. (2013). Partial actin and β-tubulin genes were amplified with the ACT-513F/ACT-783R (Carbone and Kohn 1999) and T1 (O’Donnell and Cigelnik 1997) and Bt2b (Glass and Donaldson 1995) primers, respectively. Consensus sequences were compared with reference strains (ex-type) in the GenBank database, using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST). In particular, all isolates showed 99 to 100% similarity with reference strains of Phaeoacremonium amygdalinum (JN191301; JN191305). Actin and β-tubulin sequences of P. amygdalinum strain Pm10 were deposited in GenBank (MW716265; MW714562). In spring 2020, artificial inoculations with two isolates of P. amygdalinum (Pm10; Pm15) were carried out on 10 healthy 2-year-old almond seedlings (cv. ‘Filippo Cea’). Agar plugs (diameter, 0.3 to 0.5 cm) taken from 10-day-old cultures grown on PDA at 23 ± 2°C were inserted into small wounds under the bark of the stems (length, 0.4 to 1.0 cm) made with a sterile scalpel. After inoculation, the wounds were wrapped with wet sterile cotton wool and sealed with Parafilm. Ten almond seedlings were used as controls, being inoculated with sterile agar plugs. The experiment was replicated three times. The inoculated young almond plants were grown in pots in a greenhouse without temperature control. After 150 days, the inoculated plants showed decline symptoms and internal longitudinal brown wood streaking (average length, 2.7 to 6.4 cm). P. amygdalinum was reisolated from symptomatic wood of 95% of the experimental almond seedlings, thus fulfilling Koch’s postulates. No symptoms were observed on almond seedlings used as controls. P. amygdalinum was first described as a fungal pathogen of almond in Spain (Gramaje et al. 2012). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of P. amygdalinum associated with almond dieback disease in Italy
Self o mass branding? La relazione tra personalizzazione e marca
No full textL’articolo analizza la relazione tra personalizzazione e marca, distinguendo la Combination-based Customization (CbC), che è la combinazione di moduli di prodotto forniti dall’impresa, e la Integration-based Customization (IbC), che è la personalizzazione del prodotto basata su segni e simboli forniti dal cliente, e proponendo che le reazioni del cliente ai due modelli di personalizzazione dipendono dalla presenza/assenza del brand logo sul prodotto. I risultati dimostrano che la presenza di un mass brand logo genera atteggiamento e disposizioni del cliente più alti per la CbC rispetto alla IbC. In assenza di un mass brand logo, si verifica il pattern opposto.
Il vantaggio della CbC rispetto alla IbC per i prodotti di marca, tuttavia, scompare quando c’è un’elevata congruenza tra il sè del consumatore e la marca e quando si considerano marche creative
Phaeoacremonium italicum sp. nov., associated with esca of grapevine in southern Italy
No full textTo date, at least 42 Phaeoacremonium species are known throughout the world. These fungal pathogens are responsible for several syndromes that occur in wood of different hosts, 27 of which have been associated with decline and dieback diseases or esca of grapevine, and have been abundantly isolated from necrotic wood of grapevines showing Petri and esca disease in vineyards worldwide. During a survey carried out in five vineyards of the grapevine cultivar ‘Italia’, several symptomatic samples were collected. A collection of 28 Phaeoacremonium isolates was analyzed. The phylogenetic relationships of the isolates were determined through the study of the β-tubulin and actin gene sequences. Combining morphological, culture and molecular data, three known Phaeoacremonium spp. were found, namely Pm. aleophilum, Pm. parasiticum and Pm. scolyti. One new species is described. Phaeoacremonium italicum can be identified by the common occurrence of bundles of up to 13, conidiophores with up to seven septa, occasionally branched, percurrent rejuvenation, and predominantly phialides of type II. This novel species is thus isolated for the first time, from grapevine in Apulia (southern Italy)
Charcoal canker of pear, plum, and quince trees caused by Biscogniauxia rosacearum sp. Nov. in southern Italy
No full textThe genus Biscogniauxia is paraphyletic to Xylariaceae, and includes at least 52 species to date that are mainly pathogens of dicotyledonous angiosperm trees. Most of these are forest trees, such as Acacia, Acer, Alnus, Eucalyptus, Fraxinus, Populus, Quercus and other species of minor importance. Biscogniauxia species have been reported as endophytes or secondary invaders that attack only stressed plants. During a survey in Rosaceae orchards in southern Italy, several charcoal cankers were observed and stroma samples were collected. A collection of 31 Biscogniauxia isolates were analyzed. Their phylogenetic relationships were determined through study of internal transcribed spacer, β-tubulin and actin gene sequences. Combining morphological, culture and molecular data, a new species of Biscogniauxia is described here as B. rosacearum. This new species is isolated for the first time from Rosaceae hosts in Apulia. The pathogenicity tests show that it causes symptoms on stems when artificially inoculated, and produces stromata on the bark surface
The effects of native advertising on consumer responses. Some experimental evidences on the interaction between content type and brand awareness
Get PDFNative advertising is rapidly establishing itself in the field of online marketing communication strategies. This paper aims at analyzing consumer responses to native ads varying upon the concreteness versus abstractness of content under specific brand awareness conditions. The conceptual model proposes that brand awareness moderates the relationships between the type of content (concrete vs. abstract) and consumers evaluations of and dispositions towards native ad, product/service and brand. The results of an experimental study provide empirical support to the idea that consumer responses to concrete vs. abstract native content change for well-known and less known brands and suggest implications for theory and practice
First Report of Phaeoacremonium oleae and P. viticola Associated with Olive Trunk Diseases in Italy
No full textOver 300 trunk, branch, and stem samples with vascular discoloration, necrotic wood, and shoot death were collected from olive (Olea europaea) orchards in Lecce, Brindisi, Bari, and Foggia provinces (Apulia region, Italy) from October to May from 2013 to 2019. Small chips of symptomatic wood samples were surface sterilized (5% NaOCl, 3 min; 70% ethanol, 30 s), rinsed (sterile distilled water, ×3), and placed onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates amended with 500 ppm of streptomycin sulfate. After 14 days at 25°C in the dark, hyphal tips of growing fungi, including different taxa, for instance Phaeoacremonium and Botryosphaeriaceae spp., were transferred to new PDA plates and incubated until sporulation. Monoclonal colonies resembling Phaeoacremonium-like genus (Mostert et al. 2006) were selected for further study, and genomic DNA of 59 representative isolates was extracted (Carlucci et al. 2013). Partial actin and β-tubulin genes were amplified with primers ACT-512F/ACT-783R (Carbone and Kohn 1999), and T1 (O’Donnell and Cigelnik 1997) and Bt2b (Glass and Donaldson 1995), respectively. The sequenced amplicons were compared by BLAST algorithms with reference strains of Phaeoacremonium spp. retrieved from GenBank. Forty-four isolates showed 99 to 100% similarity with reference strains P. italicum, P. minimum, P. parasiticum, P. scolyti, and P. sicilianum (Carlucci et al. 2015), nine with P. oleae, and six with P. viticola. Actin and β-tubulin sequences of P. oleae (Pm14) and P. viticola (Pm34) were submitted to GenBank (MW714561, MW714563; MZ318697, MZ318696). Microscopy of P. oleae isolates showed the following: conidiophores branched and unbranched, (18.7 to) 21.9 to 57.1 (to 67.8) × (2.9 to) 3.3 to 4.7 (to 5.2) (mean, 38.9 × 4.1) μm (n = 30); conidia oblong-ellipsoidal to obovoid or subcylindrical, 3.4 to 5.5 μm long, and 1.5 to 2.4 (mean, 4.6 × 2.2) μm wide (n = 30). Microscopy of P. viticola isolates showed the following: conidiophores subcylindrical, branched at base (6.7 to) 8.9 to 27.2 (to 29.3) × (2.0 to) 2.6 to 3.3 (to 3.7) (mean, 21.4 × 3.2) μm (n = 30); conidia oblong-ellipsoidal to obovoid or subcylindrical, 3.3 to 6.8 μm long, and 1.1 to 2.2 (mean, 4.2 × 1.6) μm wide (n = 30). In spring 2020, artificial inoculations were carried out with P. oleae (Pm14, Pm46) and P. viticola (Pm34, Pm43) strains on 10 healthy, 2-year-old olive seedlings of cultivar ‘Coratina’. Agar plugs (diameter, 0.3 to 0.5 cm) from 10-day-old cultures grown on water agar at 23 ± 2°C were inserted under the bark of small wounds in the stems (length, 0.4 to 1.0 cm) made with a sterile scalpel. After inoculation, the wounds were wrapped with wet sterile cotton wool and sealed with Parafilm. Ten control olive seedlings were inoculated with sterile agar plugs. The experiment was replicated three times. All inoculated young olive plants were grown in pots in a greenhouse without temperature control. After 120 days, inoculated plants showed decline symptoms, and when cut longitudinally, brown streaks were observed in the wood. For P. oleae these streaks measured 3.0 to 5.5 cm long (standard deviation [SD], 0.9 cm), and for P. viticola they were 1.8 to 3.5 cm (SD, 0.62 cm). Both fungal species were reisolated from the symptomatic wood from 85 and 80%, respectively, of these inoculated olive seedlings, fulfilling Koch’s postulates. No symptoms were observed from olive seedlings used as control. P. oleae was first described as a fungal pathogen of wild olive (O. europaea subsp. cuspidata) in South Africa by Spies et al. (2018) and P. viticola as a fungal pathogen of grapevine in France by Dupont et al. (2000). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of P. oleae associated with olive trunk disease in Italy and the first report of P. viticola associated with olive trunk disease worldwide
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