298 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,
Author response
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
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
Exploring the influence of age diversity on employees’ reactions to HR practices: Age as moderator between Development HR practices and employees Affective Commitment and Job Satisfaction
No full textThe increasing aging of Western Countries makes compelling for organizations to find out successfully approaches to sustain senior workers’ performance and engagement. Drawing on social exchange theory, prior research suggests that the adoption of HR practices in the areas of training and development helps to maximize employees’ positive work attitudes. However, while research has generally assumed that HR practices influence all employees in the same way, there are many evidences that employees’ motives and needs change with age, suggesting that older workers may react differently to the same HR practices as compared to younger colleagues. This study sheds light on this important and under-explored issue, analyzing weather the effect of Development HR practices on Job Satisfaction and Affective Commitment is moderated by age in a sample of 37 companies located in Italy, involving a total of 6,182 employees. While confirming a positive influence of development practices in increasing Job Satisfaction and Affective Commitment, our result show that this positive relationship weakens with age. Indeed, Development HR practices were associated with lower Job Satisfaction and Affective Commitment for the oldest employees. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed suggesting the need to deserve greater consideration to age diversity in tailoring HR practices and their effect on employees’ attitudes
Louis-Philippe Dalembert, «vagabond jusqu’au bout de la fatigue»
No full textThe Haitian novelist and poet Louis-Philippe Dalembert (Port-au-Prince, 1962) has developed in his works of fiction the concept of vagabondage as a literary projection of his biographical wandering through multiple spaces. The aim of this essay is to study the presence of vagabondage and its distinctive features in those novels written by Dalembert that reflect the writer’s perpetual motion: Le Crayon du bon Dieu n’a pas de gomme (1996), L’Autre face de la mer (1998), L’Île du bout des rêves (2003), Les dieux voyagent la nuit (2006). The main characters are constantly moving, they are cosmopolitan wanderers who belong to many places at the same time, just like Dalembert himself. By analyzing the representation of movement in these fictions, we will show that the notion of vagabondage is depicted by the author as a positive and meaningful opportunity for the vagabond who travels across countries, languages and cultures
Una ridiscussione dei concetti di home e identity nell’Asia globalizzata: il caso di These Foolish Things (2004) e How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013)
No full textThe evolution of postcolonial studies in the last thirty years and the development of a transnational approach in literary studies (Jay 2010) have led to a renewed interest towards the subaltern voices, especially in relation to the phenomena of migration and diaspora and their global effects. In this light, the idea of 'home' is characterized by a sort of porosity and by a new geographical and emotional conceptualization which inevitably influences the personal and collective identities of migrant communities.
The aim of the paper is to analyze these topics from a cultural and literary standpoint through the examination of the two different kinds of migrant flows and postcolonial scenarios depicted in These Foolish Things (2004) by the English author Deborah Moggach, and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013) by the Pakistan novelist Mohsin Hamid. In these novels, the chaotic Indian framework – the former margin of the British empire – is torn between its colonial past and the current effects of the permeability of its borders. It is, therefore, a perfect global context, wherein the experiences and the feelings of the modern Indian identities are reinterpreted by the two authors
Sulle tracce della fortuna dei Carmina di Ennodio tra Tardoantico e Medioevo
No full textKnowledge of the poems of Magnus Felix Ennodius in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages is a field of research that has not yet been explored. The essay provides some food for thought on the possible fortune of the Late Antique author starting from Columbanus up to Radulfus Tortarius, identifying in the greatest medieval poets (Aldhelm, Paul the Deacon, Sedulius Scotus) expressions, verbal sequences and original clauses of the poet of Ticinum. The last section is dedicated to the epigraphic field and above all to the Fortleben of notable iuncturae minted by Ennodius in some inscriptions of the 8th-9th century
Gambling challenges public agencies for dependencies treatment (Ser.D.): a case study
No full textThe Italian case is emblematic of the liberalization of gambling and the drive towards its commercialization, taking place in several countries. Despite an uncertain political-legal framework, public services for addiction treatment are adapting to face the challenge posed by gambling. Therefore, a qualitative study was conducted within a sample of public services for addiction (SerT) of an Italian region, involving professionals dedicated to gambling. The Author has attempted to identify the theoretical and practical approach adopted by organizations and professionals, through the comparison with the “chronic disease model” and “public health model
La famosa invasione degli orsi in Sicilia di Dino Buzzati: una fiaba-romanzo tra testo e immagini d'autore.
No full textThis article proposes a reflection on a tale that can be a bridge between “literature for children and teens” and “literature for adults”: The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily by Dino Buzzati. It offers a link between fable and fantasy novel and contains all of the elements of the fairy tale that Vladimir Propp planned in 1928: loss, departure, challenges to overcome, reward, and return. It is closely connected to its historical reality (the period after the Second World War), but at the same time it detaches itself from that period through the fantastic element. In short, the book is a mirror of Buzzati’s literary personality and the first literary work of a restless but sensitive author who always felt linked to painting and writing, to adults and children, to reality and evasion.Il presente contributo propone una riflessione su un racconto da sempre in grado di fare da ponte tra “letteratura per bambini e ragazzi” e “letteratura per adulti”: La famosa invasione degli orsi in Sicilia di Dino Buzzati è infatti un romanzo di confine, un anello di congiunzione tra fiaba e romanzo fantastico. Ha in sé tutti gli elementi della fiaba magistralmente gerarchizzati da Vladimir Propp nel 1928 (mancanza, partenza, prove, premio, ritorno), è strettamente connesso alla realtà storica del suo tempo (il secondo dopoguerra) e al tempo stesso se ne distacca con garbo tramite l’elemento fantastico. È, insomma, specchio della personalità letteraria di Dino Buzzati, la prima prova di un autore inquieto e insensibile, da sempre legato da un doppio filo a pittura e scrittura, adulti e bambini, contemporaneità ed evasione
Distillato di legno: una valida alternativa per potenziare le difese naturali di piante di basilico nei confronti di peronospora
No full textL’agricoltura è chiamata ad affrontare sfide complesse cercando di bilanciare food safety e food security. L’eccessivo uso di fitofarmaci di sintesi ha portato ingenti conseguenze negative, tra cui inquinamento ambientale e sviluppo di resistenza nei patogeni, spingendo il mondo scientifico verso la ricerca di soluzioni naturali. Ad esempio, si è mostrato efficace nella protezione delle colture il distillato di legno (DL), un sottoprodotto della pirolisi del legno dalle spiccate proprietà biostimolanti e antimicrobiche che. La presente tesi ha l’obiettivo di indagare l’efficacia di DL come trattamento spray preventivo o curativo nei confronti dell’oomicete Peronospora belbahrii (P), agente causale della peronospora del basilico, principale malattia di Ocimum basilicum cv. Riviera Ligure.
Le piante sono state allevate in vaso per 6 settimane in condizioni controllate. Sono stati selezionati 5 gruppi (composti da 20 individui) ciascuno trattato, rispettivamente, con acqua (controllo; DL-P-), DL [alla concentrazione di 0,2% (v:v); DL+P-], oppure inoculato attraverso nebulizzazione con P (DL-P+) singolarmente o in combinazione con DL (DL+P+ o P+DL+). Sono state condotte analisi ecofisiologiche settimanalmente (mediante un misuratore di scambi gassosi) e biochimiche (con un gas-cromatrografo associato alla spettrometria di massa) a cadenza oraria [0, 1, 3, 24 e 48 ore post-inoculo (opi)] e settimanale (0, 2, 30, 60 e 120 minuti post trattamento). I dati sono stati analizzati tramite ANOVA per verificare l’effetto dei fattori “tempo”, “trattamento” e della loro interazione.
L'indice di McKinney ha rivelato che nelle piante DL+P+ o P+DL+ l’applicazione di DL ha determinato una lieve riduzione dell’incidenza della malattia (22 e 33 vs. 39% in DL-P+) che a livello macroscopico si distingueva per clorosi internervali. I parametri ecofisiologici hanno mostrato una diminuzione del tasso di assimilazione di CO2 (DL+P- -30% rispetto a DL-P-) e una progressiva chiusura stomatica indicando la presenza di limitazioni stomatiche a carico del processo fotosintetico. Il solo trattamento con DL ha indotto un significativo aumento dei livelli di salicilato (+81% rispetto a DL-P-, 24 opi) e del rapporto jasmonato/etilene (+40% rispetto DL-P-, 48 opi) a dimostrazione del suo possibile impiego come induttore di meccanismi di difesa. In conclusione, alla dose utilizzata, DL non mostra effetti fitotossici sebbene la sua efficacia nei confronti di P risulti ridotta
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