Mediterranean diet and outcomes of assisted reproduction: an Italian cohort study

Background: Detrimental lifestyle habits have been indicated as potential causes of reduced fertility. Recently studies have suggested an association between healthy diets and increased live birth rates after assisted reproduction techniques. However, the issue remains under debate, and evidence is still accumulating. Objective: The objective of the study was to study the relationship between a Mediterranean diet and outcomes of assisted reproduction techniques in subfertile couples in an Italian population. Study Design: This was a prospective cohort study, conducted in an Italian fertility clinic. Couples undergoing in vitro fertilization were interviewed on the day of oocyte retrieval to obtain information on personal and health history, lifestyle habits, and diet. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet was evaluated using a Mediterranean diet score. Relative risks and 95% confidence intervals for embryo transfer, clinical pregnancy, and live birth were calculated. Potential confounders were included in the equation model. Results: Among 474 women (mean age, 36.6 years, range, 27\u201345), 414 (87.3%) performed embryo transfer, 150 (31.6%) had clinical pregnancies, and 117 (24.7%) had live births. In a model including the potential confounders (age, leisure physical activity, body mass index, smoking, daily calorie intake, and previous failed in vitro fertilization cycles), findings showed that the Mediterranean diet score was not significantly associated with in vitro fertilization outcomes. Adjusted analyses were performed in strata of age, previous assisted reproduction technique cycles, and reasons for infertility, with consistent findings. The only exception was observed in women >35 years old with an intermediate Mediterranean diet score, who showed a lower risk of not achieving clinical pregnancy (adjusted relative risk, 0.84, 95% confidence interval, 0.71\u20131.00, P = .049). Conclusion: No clear association was observed between adherence to a Mediterranean diet and successful in vitro fertilization

Inferring hidden states in Langevin dynamics on large networks: Average case performance

We present average performance results for dynamical inference problems in large networks, where a set of nodes is hidden while the time trajectories of the others are observed. Examples of this scenario can occur in signal transduction and gene regulation networks. We focus on the linear stochastic dynamics of continuous variables interacting via random Gaussian couplings of generic symmetry. We analyze the inference error, given by the variance of the posterior distribution over hidden paths, in the thermodynamic limit and as a function of the system parameters and the ratio {\alpha} between the number of hidden and observed nodes. By applying Kalman filter recursions we find that the posterior dynamics is governed by an "effective" drift that incorporates the effect of the observations. We present two approaches for characterizing the posterior variance that allow us to tackle, respectively, equilibrium and nonequilibrium dynamics. The first appeals to Random Matrix Theory and reveals average spectral properties of the inference error and typical posterior relaxation times, the second is based on dynamical functionals and yields the inference error as the solution of an algebraic equation.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Tobacco vs. electronic cigarettes: absence of harm reduction after six years of follow-up

OBJECTIVE: Information on the long-term safety of electronic cigarettes (e-cig) is still limited. We report the results after six years of follow-up of the first observational study assessing e-cig long-term effectiveness and safety. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Participants were adults who smoked ≥1 tobacco cigarette/day (tobacco smokers); or used any type of e-cig inhaling ≥50 puffs weekly (e-cig users); or used both (dual users). Participants were contacted directly or by phone and/or internet interviews. Hospital discharge abstract data and carbon monoxide level tests were also used. RESULTS: Data were available for 228 e-cig users (all ex-smokers), 469 tobacco smokers, 215 dual users. A possibly smoking-related disease (PSRD) was recorded in 90 subjects (9.9%); 11 deceased (1.2%). No differences were observed across groups in PSRD rates, with minor changes in self-reported health. Among e-cig users, 64.0% remained tobacco abstinent. Dual users and tobacco smokers did not significantly differ in the rate of cessation of tobacco (38.6% vs. 33.9%, respectively) and all products (23.7% vs. 26.4%). A comparable decrease in daily cigarettes was also observed. 39.5% of the sample switched at least once (tobacco smokers: 15.1%; dual users: 83.3%). CONCLUSIONS: After six years, no evidence of harm reduction was found among e-cig or dual users. The complete switch to e-cig might support tobacco quitters remain abstinent, but the use of e-cig in addition to tobacco did not improve smoking cessation or reduction

Usefulness of the organ culture system in the in vitro diagnosis of coeliac disease: A multicentre study

Objective. Diagnosis of coeliac disease is based on the presence of villous atrophy which recovers following a gluten-free diet. The presence of circulating antiendomysial antibodies as well as their disappearance after a gluten-free diet supports the diagnosis. It has also been demonstrated that antiendomysial antibodies are detectable in supernatants of cultured intestinal biopsies from patients with coeliac disease. The objective of this study was to compare the histology and antiendomysial antibodies in culture supernatants of intestinal biopsies to validate the in vitro organ culture system as a future diagnostic tool for coeliac disease. Material and methods. Seventy-five antiendomysial serum-positive patients on a gluten-containing diet were evaluated. Patients underwent endoscopy with 5 biopsy fragments: 3 for histology, 1 cultured with and the other without gliadin-peptide activator. Antiendomysial antibodies were evaluated in all culture supernatants. Results. Sixty-eight patients had evidence of villous atrophy, while 73 out of 75 were positive to the organ culture system. The agreement rate between organ culture and histology results was 94%. Conclusions. As all the centres participating in the study obtained good agreement between organ culture and histology results, the new system could be considered a reliable tool for the diagnosis of coeliac disease. Nevertheless, it is possible to highlight cases with an organ culture-positive and -negative histology. This feature could be of considerable interest because, as the sensitivity of organ culture seems to be greater than the initial histology, the new system might be useful in uncertain cases where the risk of missing the diagnosis of coeliac disease is high

Adherence to the Mediterranean diet and nasopharyngeal cancer risk in Italy

Purpose: Few studies investigated the role of diet on nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) risk in non-endemic areas. The aim of this study was to assess the association between adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet and NPC risk in a southern European low-risk population. Methods: We conducted a hospital-based case-control study in Italy, including 198 histologically confirmed NPC cases and 594 matched controls. Dietary habits were collected by means of a validated food-frequency questionnaire, including 83 foods, food groups, or beverages. Adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet was assessed through a Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), based on nine dietary components characterizing this dietary profile, i.e., high intake of vegetables, fruits and nuts, cereals, legumes, and fish; low intake of dairy products and meat; high monounsaturated to saturated fatty acid ratio; and moderate alcohol intake. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) of NPC, and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs), for increasing MDS (i.e., increasing adherence) using multiple logistic regression models, adjusted for major confounding factors. Results: As compared to MDS 64 4, the ORs of NPC were 0.83 (95% CI: 0.54\u20131.25) for MDS of 5 and 0.66 (95% CI: 0.44\u20130.99) for MDS 65 6, with a significant trend of decreasing risk (p 0.043). The corresponding population attributable fraction was 22%, indicating that 22% of NPC cases in this population would be avoided by shifting all subjects to a score 656. Conclusions: Our study supports a favorable role of the Mediterranean diet on NPC risk

GBStools: A Statistical Method for Estimating Allelic Dropout in Reduced Representation Sequencing Data

Reduced representation sequencing methods such as genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) enable low-cost measurement of genetic variation without the need for a reference genome assembly. These methods are widely used in genetic mapping and population genetics studies, especially with non-model organisms. Variant calling error rates, however, are higher in GBS than in standard sequencing, in particular due to restriction site polymorphisms, and few computational tools exist that specifically model and correct these errors. We developed a statistical method to remove errors caused by restriction site polymorphisms, implemented in the software package GBStools. We evaluated it in several simulated data sets, varying in number of samples, mean coverage and population mutation rate, and in two empirical human data sets (N = 8 and N = 63 samples). In our simulations, GBStools improved genotype accuracy more than commonly used filters such as Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium p-values. GBStools is most effective at removing genotype errors in data sets over 100 samples when coverage is 40X or higher, and the improvement is most pronounced in species with high genomic diversity. We also demonstrate the utility of GBS and GBStools for human population genetic inference in Argentine populations and reveal widely varying individual ancestry proportions and an excess of singletons, consistent with recent population growth.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y MuseoInstituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Celula

GBStools: A Statistical Method for Estimating Allelic Dropout in Reduced Representation Sequencing Data

Reduced representation sequencing methods such as genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) enable low-cost measurement of genetic variation without the need for a reference genome assembly. These methods are widely used in genetic mapping and population genetics studies, especially with non-model organisms. Variant calling error rates, however, are higher in GBS than in standard sequencing, in particular due to restriction site polymorphisms, and few computational tools exist that specifically model and correct these errors. We developed a statistical method to remove errors caused by restriction site polymorphisms, implemented in the software package GBStools. We evaluated it in several simulated data sets, varying in number of samples, mean coverage and population mutation rate, and in two empirical human data sets (N = 8 and N = 63 samples). In our simulations, GBStools improved genotype accuracy more than commonly used filters such as Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium p-values. GBStools is most effective at removing genotype errors in data sets over 100 samples when coverage is 40X or higher, and the improvement is most pronounced in species with high genomic diversity. We also demonstrate the utility of GBS and GBStools for human population genetic inference in Argentine populations and reveal widely varying individual ancestry proportions and an excess of singletons, consistent with recent population growth.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y MuseoInstituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Celula

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Lethality Did not Change over Time in Two Italian Provinces

This retrospective cohort study included all the subjects diagnosed with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection (n=2493) in 2 Italian provinces. Two hundred fifty-eight persons died, after a median of 14.0\ub111.0 days. Adjusting for age, gender, and main comorbidities, the 6528-day case-fatality rate did not decrease from March to April 2020 (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.93; P=.6)

Health-related quality of life in adults with epilepsy : the effect of age, age at onset and duration of epilepsy in a multicentre Italian study

Background: The potential effect of age-related factors on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients with epilepsy has rarely been analyzed in the literature.Methods: We examined this association in a selected population of 815 adults with epilepsy recruited in the context of a multicentre study for the evaluation of Epi-QoL, one of the first Italian epilepsy-specific measures of HRQOL for adults with epilepsy. The Epi-QoL is a 46-item self-administered questionnaire focusing on six domains, which was successfully tested for reproducibility and validity. Ordinary least-squares regression models were used to assess the relationships between age-related factors (patient's age, age at seizure onset, and duration of epilepsy) and overall Epi-QoL score, controlling for the effect of potential confounders. We fitted simple regression models including each age-related factor alone to assess the independent role of each factor on the overall Epi-QoL score. We also fitted multiple regression models including pairs of age-related factors solely, as well as one or two age-related factors together with the same set of confounders.Results: Simple regression models showed that age and duration of epilepsy were significant negative predictors of the overall Epi-QoL score: the higher was each age-related factor, the lower was the overall Epi-QoL score; age at onset alone was a nonsignificant predictor of the overall Epi-QoL score. Multiple regression models including two age-related factors solely showed that duration of epilepsy was still a significant negative predictor of the overall Epi-QoL score in both pairwise models, whereas age was a significant negative predictor only in the model including age at onset. Age at onset emerged as a significant positive predictor of the overall Epi-QoL score only in the model including age: the higher was age at onset, the higher was the overall Epi-QoL score. Adjusted regression models including either one or two age-related factors and controlling for the selected confounding variables showed that the age-related factors had no significant effect on the overall Epi-QoL score anymore.Conclusions: If no other known correlates of the overall Epi-QoL score are considered, age and duration of epilepsy can be expected to have a significant negative association with HRQOL in epilepsy (with the effect of duration being stronger and more consistent across models than the one of age), whereas age at onset is a positive predictor of the overall HRQOL of limited significance. However, demographic and clinical factors, such as seizure frequency in the preceding 12 months, may provide a better explanation of HRQOL in epilepsy