Women and Petty Violence in Cheltenham and Exeter, 1880-1909

The historiography of female violence has largely centred on women’s experiences as victims or on their perpetration of lethal acts such as murder and infanticide. In the last decade, however, scholars have paid increasing attention to women’s perpetration of non-lethal violent crime. This thesis contributes to recent scholarship by examining female acts of assault in late Victorian and Edwardian England in an understudied region of the country: whilst most historians have focused on the North, South East or Midlands, this study draws attention to the South West of the country and situates women’s acts of minor violence within the context of wider national patterns. Focusing specifically on cases prosecuted at the Exeter and Cheltenham magistrates’ courts in the years 1880-1909, the thesis follows women through different stages of their offending trajectories: the perpetration of their acts; their treatment by magistrates; their portrayal in the media; and, finally, their experiences after facing prosecution.Using evidence from court records, newspapers and census returns, the study employs both quantitative and qualitative analyses in order to examine patterns in the perpetration and outcome of female non-lethal violence. These examinations reveal that women’s ‘expected’ and ‘actual’ roles – especially those relating to motherhood, wifehood and the neighbourhood – impacted not only the ways in which their assaults were committed but also on their treatment by the justice system and the media. It is also demonstrated that women’s positions could contribute to their propensity to reoffend, an action which sometimes resulted in women’s marginalisation in post-offending life. By following the women’s experiences from the onset to aftermath of their violence, this thesis offers an original and comprehensive contribution to the historiography of female violence in late Victorian and Edwardian England

Physical activity programs in older persons with Alzheimer’s disease: a need for dedicated trials

Recent works highlight the influence of different aspects of lifestyle on cognitive decline and the risk of dementia. Some data suggest that exercise could improve cognitive performance, especially executive functions and reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia in the elder. There is controversial data regarding the role of physical exercise on cognitive performance in older patients with dementia, which may be due to diverse study designs. Innovative interventional trials need to adapt their aims toward physical and cognitive changes in patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD) in association with physical activity (PA). Future goals should include specific Adapted Physical Activity (APA) intervention programs on maintaining cognitive, emotional, and physical function in older persons with dementia at risk of rapid decline. In this commentary, we will provide novel insights on the use of potential physical activity programs in Alzheimer's Disease Day Centers

Gene Therapy for Mitochondrial Diseases: Current Status and Future Perspective

Mitochondrial diseases (MDs) are a group of severe genetic disorders caused by mutations in the nuclear or mitochondrial genome encoding proteins involved in the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) system. MDs have a wide range of symptoms, ranging from organ-specific to multisystemic dysfunctions, with different clinical outcomes. The lack of natural history information, the limits of currently available preclinical models, and the wide range of phenotypic presentations seen in MD patients have all hampered the development of effective therapies. The growing number of pre-clinical and clinical trials over the last decade has shown that gene therapy is a viable precision medicine option for treating MD. However, several obstacles must be overcome, including vector design, targeted tissue tropism and efficient delivery, transgene expression, and immunotoxicity. This manuscript offers a comprehensive overview of the state of the art of gene therapy in MD, addressing the main challenges, the most feasible solutions, and the future perspectives of the field

Analysis of Devices for Thermal Energy Consumption Monitoring and Design of A Bench Test for their Characterization

Abstract The mandatory introduction in Italy of the accounting of consumption for heating and domestic hot water in centralized heating systems has determined the introduction on the market of many commercial solutions based on different measuring principles. In order to find a proper method for testing the solutions proposed by the vendors, in the present work the uncertainty of the results reachable with the different types of measuring devices has been evaluated. Based on the best theoretical results achievable with the different types of devices the scheme of a test bed for the characterization of commercial systems is proposed

Physiological mechanisms and adaptation strategies of Lactuca sativa L. in response to Olea europaea L. and Ficus carica L. allelochemicals

Agro-industrial wastes of Ficus carica L. and Olea europaea L. represent great sources of bioactive phenolic compounds that would be actively involved in sustainable development. Most of these wastes possess a valuable source of phytotoxic compounds that would be used as potential bioherbicides, but their function and mechanisms of action in cultivated crops remain far to be understood. In this study, we investigate the biochemical and physiological mechanisms of action of fig and olive allelochemicals extracts in lettuce as a model plant for weed species studies. Results revealed that these allelochemicals triggered an oxidative stress through cell membrane damage in lettuce roots and leaves, which was mitigated by various adaptive responses. Therefore, an intricate defense system was implicated by the increase of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants in lettuce tissues. This adaptive physiological response was highly correlated with the regulation of the phenylpropanoid pathway through the distinguished activation of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase by 98% and phenolic accumulation by 85% under olive and fig leaves aqueous extracts. The outcomes of this study will help understanding the response of cultivated crop to fig and olive phenolic compounds that can be selective in their actions, or the plants can be selective in their responses

The GAP-TPC

Several experiments have been conducted worldwide, with the goal of observing low-energy nuclear recoils induced by WIMPs scattering off target nuclei in ultra-sensitive, low-background detectors. In the last few decades noble liquid detectors designed to search for dark matter in the form of WIMPs have been extremely successful in improving their sensitivities and setting the best limits. One of the crucial problems to be faced for the development of large size (multi ton-scale) liquid argon experiments is the lack of reliable and low background cryogenic PMTs: their intrinsic radioactivity, cost, and borderline performance at 87 K rule them out as a possible candidate for photosensors. We propose a brand new concept of liquid argon-based detector for direct dark matter search: the Geiger-mode Avalanche Photodiode Time Projection Chamber (GAP-TPC) optimized in terms of residual radioactivity of the photosensors, energy and spatial resolution, light and charge collection efficiencyComment: 7 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication on JINS

Comparison of caecal and faeces fermentation characteristics of ostrich by in vitro gas production technique

To compare caecal and faecal fermentation characteristics, ostrich caecal content (CI) and faeces (FI) were used as inocula for an in vitro gas production trial in which four substrates (dehydrated alfalfa, alfalfa hay, maize and a commercial concentrate) were tested. The fermentation characteristics (degraded organic matter, OMd; potential gas production, A; acetate; branched chain proportion, BCP) were studied by inoculum and substrate. CI and FI showed significant differences for almost all the fermentation parameters, and CI had higher values than FI for OMd (76.83 vs. 72.79%, p<0.01), A (250.3 vs. 229.3 ml/g, p<0.01), acetate (57.91 vs. 53.20 mmol/l, p<0.01) and BCP (0.031 vs. 0.027, p<0.05). CI and FI showed differences in carbohydrates and protein fermentation, but the interaction between the tested effects was not significant. The regression equations to estimate caecal fermentation characteristics from faeces suggest the possibility to use faeces as inoculum alternative to faeces. © 2011 Taylor & Francis

Cutaneous melanoma frequencies and seasonal trend in 20 years of observation of a population characterised by excessive sun exposure

Background. Cutaneous melanoma is an aggressive form of skin cancer. It has become an increasingly common neoplasm in the most developed countries, especially among individuals of European origin. Patients and methods. Anonymous data of patients with cutaneous melanoma were collected from the diagnostic database of the University Hospital of Trieste from 1 January 1990 to 10 December 2013. Our study is based on a population which was constant over the period of observation; it was also well-defined and characterised by unrestrained sun exposure. Results. The number of cutaneous melanomas increased during the period of observation with a seasonality trend and gender related differences both for anatomical sites distribution and stage of the disease. Moreover, 6% of our cohort developed multiple melanomas. Conclusions. In a well-defined population devoted to excessive sun exposure the frequencies of skin melanomas roughly doubled from 1990 to 2013 following a seasonal trend. In that population, prevention efforts according to gender specific risk behaviour, as well as follow-up programmes both for evaluation of metastatic spreading and for early diagnosis of additional skin melanomas, are crucial due to gender specific differences and to the occurrence of multiple melanomas. \ua9 2015 Serena Bonin et al., published by De Gruyter Open

Effect of mannanoligosaccharides supplementation on caecal microbial activity of rabbits

A total of 200 weaned (35 days) hybrid Hyla rabbits were randomly divided among five groups housed in bicellular cages (20 cages per group). Between 35 and 60 days of age, the groups were submitted to the following treatments: group ANT (positive control) fed a basal diet supplemented with antibiotics (colistin sulphate, 144 mg/kg; tylosin, 100 mg/kg; and oxytetracyclin, 1000 mg/kg); groups MOS-0.5, MOS-1.0 and MOS-1.5 fed the basal diet supplemented with 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 g/kg mannanoligosaccharides (MOS), respectively; another group fed the basal diet without antibiotics or mannanoligosaccarides supplementation (negative control). Along the trial, an episode of epizootyc rabbit enteropathy occurs so that in the control group mortality rate was very high (78%) and survivor rabbits showed severe symptoms of disease (diarrhoea). Thus, the control group was discarded from the trial. At 60 days of age, samples of caecal content were collected from 10 rabbits per group and used as inocula for an in vitro gas production trial. At the end of fermentation (120 h of incubation), organic matter digestibility (OMd), cumulative gas production, fermentation kinetics, pH, volatile fatty acid (VFA) and NH3 productions were measured. Inoculum from MOS-1.0 rabbits showed the significant higher values of OMd (64.21%, P < 0.05), gas production (262.32 ml/g, P < 0.05), acetate (96.99 mmol/g OM, P < 0.05) and butyrate (26.21 mmol/g OM, P < 0.05) than the other groups. Slight differences were recorded among the groups ANT, MOS-0.5 and MOS-1.5. In addition, branched chain acids, in proportion to total VFAs, were significantly higher in MOS-1.0 inoculum (0.04, P < 0.05). MOS are able to affect fermentation activity of caecal micro-organism, but their activities seem not proportional to their level in the diet. Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2010