New wine in new bottles: Visualizing the progression over time of the epidemics of tobacco smoking and obesity through the use of modified population pyramids

Tobacco smoking and obesity greatly contribute to premature death and disease in developed countries. In order to measure the extent to which these risk factors affect a population, as well as to describe the progression of these epidemics over time, routine surveillance of the prevalence of obesity and smoking is carried out by international organizations, national departments of health, and statistical offices. To this end, summary measures—like age-standardized rates, and tabular and graphical representations, such as maps—are used. In this study, we argue that population pyramids, a widely used demographic tool, may be easily adapted to provide relevant visual information for public health purposes. By means of two juxtaposed histograms, one for each gender, population pyramids show either the proportion or the actual number of subjects in each age and gender subgroup. We suggest that stratifying each bar of the two histograms according to ordinal categories of the health condition or risk factor examined may provide useful details on the relationship between this condition or factor and key demographic variables like age and gender. In addition, the actual number of exposed subjects can be immediately read from the graph. We therefore built a statistical routine with Stata to create modified population-pyramid plots separately for overweight/obese and current/former smoker. Data were derived from five National Health Interview Surveys carried out in Italy between 1983 and 2005. For each survey, data on age, gender, smoking status, height, and weight were extracted for subjects aged 20–99. Age and gender-specific prevalence rates of overweight/obese, and of current/former/never smoker were computed and applied to population estimates performed by the Italian national statistical institute (ISTAT). The resulting estimated numbers of underweight/normal weight/overweight/obese individuals and of former/current/never smokers were used to create the modified population pyramids. In conclusion, modified population pyramids may contribute to assessing the impact of risk factors on a population in absolute terms, to evaluating how these risk factors are distributed by age and gender, and to assessing how the age and gender distribution of these risk factors changes over time.

Morteros hidráulicos para enlucidos: caracterización mecánica y física de remedios tradicionales y productos industriales

La necesidad de atribuir propiedades impermeabilizantes a algunas superficies de construcciones acabadas con enlucidos, es decir, la necesidad de emplear materiales de revestimiento con resistencia mecánica mejor que las de los morteros de cal aérea, ha producido relaciones tecnicas quedadas casi invariadas en el tiempo desde la civilización romana hasta la importación de los aglutinantes hidráulicos, ampliamente empleados en la la obra de construcción desde el inicio del siglo pasado. La cultura técnica actual sugiere emplear en las obras de restauración de arquitecturas monumentales, materiales con prestaciones compatibles con lo que existe, y entonces con características mecánicas, químicas y físicas parecidas a las verificables en la construcción histórica: junto a volver a proponer materiales y tecnica deducidas por las tradiciones locales, se considera que la defensa del patrimonio histórico pueda realizarse tambièn con la utilización de tecnicas modernas, a condición de que la eficacia de éstas sea verificada científicamente y comprobada por experiencia. El presente estudio constituye una primera relación de las indagaciones que se están desarrolando actualmente en el DPCE de la Universidad de Palermo, en una tesis de doctorado. De acuerdo con las normas de procedimento a nivel nacional e internacional los experimentos de laboratorio aportan una serie de datos que se refieren a la caracterización mecánica y física de morteros para enlucidos, tanto preconfeccionados en establecimientos industriales como obtenidos mezclando los componenets básicos (aglutinante, agregadosreactivos y no-y agua). En los límites de las efectivas posibilidades tecnica, nos hemos orientado hacia las “recetas” de tipo traicional, muy difundidas por los tratados italianos y europeos, pero parcialmente reconocibles a través de análisis de laboratorio. La selección de los componentes básicos que se emplean en la ejecución de las pruebas , se ha dirigido hacia las materias primas (como las arenas locales, el “cocciopesto”, o la puzolana del Lazio) y productos de derivaciòn industrial (como el “grassello”, la cal hidráulica en polvo) comercializados en el ámbito palermitano o, mas genéricamente , de la Sicilia occidental; la estrechez del ámbito comercial es consiguiente a la observación de las exigencias económicas de la obra de restauración que, por naturaleza, tiene que ponerse en relación con las características materiales y ambientales de la estrecha área geográfica.Tópico 4: Morteros de cal, materiales cálcicos y cementíceos

Aspettative di vita, lavori usuranti e equità del sistema previdenziale. Prime evidenze dal Work Histories Italian Panel

Gender Wage Differentials, Equilibrium Search, Discrimination, Structural Estimation.Gender Wage Differentials, Equilibrium Search, Discrimination, Structural Estimation.

Ferritin heavy chain Is the host factor responsible for HCV-Induced inhibition of apoB-100 production and is required for efficient viral infection

Hepatic fat export occurs by apolipoprotein B-100-containing lipoprotein production, whereas impaired production leads to liver steatosis. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated to dysregulation of apoB-100 secretion and steatosis; however, the molecular mechanism by which HCV affects the apoB-100 secretion is not understood. Here, combining quantitative proteomics and computational biology, we propose ferritin heavy chain (Fth) as being the cellular determinant of apoB-100 production inhibition. By means of molecular analyses, we found that HCV nonstructural proteins and NS5A appear to be sufficient for inducing Fth up-regulation. Fth in turn was found to inhibit apoB-100 secretion leading to increased intracellular degradation via proteasome. Notably, intracellular Fth down-regulation by siRNA restores apoB-100 secretion. The inverse correlation between ferritin and plasma apoB-100 concentrations was also found in JFH-1 HCV cell culture systems (HCVcc) and HCV-infected patients. Finally, Fth expression was found to be required for robust HCV infection. These observations provide a further molecular explanation for the onset of liver steatosis and allow for hypothesizing on new therapeutic and antiviral strategies

Steps towards collective sustainability in biomedical research

The optimism surrounding multistakeholder research initiatives does not match the clear view of policies that are needed to exploit the potential of these collaborations. Here we propose some action items that stem from the integration between research advancements with the perspectives of patient-advocacy organizations, academia, and industry

Non-symplectic symmetries and bi-Hamiltonian structures of the rational Harmonic Oscillator

The existence of bi-Hamiltonian structures for the rational Harmonic Oscillator (non-central harmonic oscillator with rational ratio of frequencies) is analyzed by making use of the geometric theory of symmetries. We prove that these additional structures are a consequence of the existence of dynamical symmetries of non-symplectic (non-canonical) type. The associated recursion operators are also obtained.Comment: 10 pages, submitted to J. Phys. A:Math. Ge

Particle tracking in a gap of aquatic vegetation meadow

Aquatic vegetation considerably affects the flow field in water bodies, with influence increasing as the depth decreases. As a consequence, vegetation also affects suspended particle transport. In inshore sandy beds less than 40 m deep of the Mediterranean Sea, meadows of Posidonia oceanica are widespread. This plant is constituted by a tuft of very thin and flexible ribbon-like leaves about 1 cm wide and up to 1.5 m long; the meadow areal density can reach 1000-1200 plant/m2. Frequently, such meadows are not continuous but vegetated areas alternate with sand strips (“gaps”). The presence of such discontinuities noticeably affects the flow field and gaps can actually act as particle traps. Some laboratory experiments were performed aiming at studying the flow field in a gap of artificial Posidonia oceanica canopy. In this paper, the measured flow field is used to track single particles within the gap. A simple particle tracking model which assumes no-slip condition and random velocity fluctuations is adopted. A large number of single-particle tracking were performed considering several release elevations of particles as well as several falling velocities of the latters. The examination of the whole tracks allows one to recognize the particle fate as the simulation parameters vary. In spite of the model assumptions, the study gives useful indications on the behavior of a gap towards the suspended particle transport

Lymphoscintigraphy with peritumoral injection versus lymphoscintigraphy with subdermal periareolar injection of technetium-labeled human albumin to identify sentinel lymph nodes in breast cancer patients

Background: Preoperative lymphoscintigraphy is without doubt a valid method for the detection of the sentinel lymph node (SLN). There has been considerable debate regarding the optimal site for the introduction of the tracer; various sites include peritumoral (PT), periareolar (PA), subdermal, and intradermal injection Purpose: To evaluate retrospectively the lymphoscintigraphic identification rate of peritumoral (PT) injection versus subdermal periareolar (PA) injection in the detection of SLNs in breast cancer. Material and Methods: Between October 2002 and December 2011, a cohort of 906 consecutive patients with biopsy proven breast cancer underwent 914 SLN biopsy procedures. A total of 339 procedures (Group A) were performed using a peritumoral (PT) deep injection of radiotracer while 575 procedures (Group B) adopted a subdermal periareolar PA injection of radiotracer towards the upper outer quadrant, regardless of the site of the carcinoma. All the patients underwent synchronous excision of the breast cancer and SLN biopsy. Results: SLNs were identified in the lymphoscintigram in 308/339 cases (90.85%) of Group A (PT injection) and in 537/ 575 cases (93.39%) of Group B (PA injection). Furthermore, in 2/339 patients (0.58%) of Group A, internal mammary lymph nodes were found at lymphoscintigraphy, whereas no internal mammary sentinel nodes were found in the Group B patients. The intraoperative identification rate of axillary SLNs was 99.41% (337 of 339) in the Group A patients and 99.65% (573 of 575) in the Group B patients. There was no significant difference in the two groups between the incidence of the number of SLNs detected and the incidence of identification of positive SLNs. Conclusion: PT versus PA injection of radiotracer showed comparable success rates for axillary SLN identification, and can be considered a rapid and reliable method