1,153 research outputs found
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 measuresâlike age-standardized rates, and tabular and graphical representations, such as mapsâare 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 20â99. 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.
A Data-Driven Dimensionality Reduction Approach to Compare and Classify Lipid Force Fields
Molecular dynamics simulations of all-atom and coarse-grained lipid bilayer models are increasingly used to obtain useful insights for understanding the structural dynamics of these assemblies. In this context, one crucial point concerns the comparison of the performance and accuracy of classical force fields (FFs), which sometimes remains elusive. To date, the assessments performed on different classical potentials are mostly based on the comparison with experimental observables, which typically regard average properties. However, local differences of the structure and dynamics, which are poorly captured by average measurements, can make a difference, but these are nontrivial to catch. Here, we propose an agnostic way to compare different FFs at different resolutions (atomistic, united-atom, and coarse-grained), by means of a high-dimensional similarity metrics built on the framework of Smooth Overlap of Atomic Position (SOAP). We compare and classify a set of 13 FFs, modeling 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) bilayers. Our SOAP kernel-based metrics allows us to compare, discriminate, and correlate different FFs at different model resolutions in an unbiased, high-dimensional way. This also captures differences between FFs in modeling nonaverage events (originating from local transitions), for example, the liquid-to-gel phase transition in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayers, for which our metrics allows us to identify nucleation centers for the phase transition, highlighting some intrinsic resolution limitations in implicit versus explicit solvent FFs
3D Printing Cardiovascular Anatomy: A Single-Centre Experience
This chapter presents the experience of the cardiac engineering team within the Centre for Cardiovascular Imaging at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (London, UK) in using three-dimensional (3D) printing technology. 3D models can serve different functions towards implementing a patient-specific approach for studying and potentially treating congenital heart disease (CHD). In order to showcase different potential applications, this chapter discusses not only clinical case studies and engineering experiments but also the potential for translation through patients and public involvement and engagement (PPI/E)
Il mercato del lavoro nell'ambito delle scienze motorie e sportive: una ricerca europea
The analysis of the employment and the labour force in the sport sector has implications that have received little attention in the public debate and in the scientific investigation. Therefore, the EU funded project named «A European Sector Skills Alliance for Sport » (ESSA-Sport) offered the opportunity to implement quality research and consultations, to identify the realities, trends and challenges facing the sector, and to undertake the first real analysis of the sport labour market in Europe. The methodology adopted was based on two main axes: the analysis of the micro-data of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) released from Eurostat for the years 2011-2016; a secondary anal-ysis of national sources, databases and research papers combined with con-sultations with national experts of the 28-EU countries. Results show that employment in the sport sector represents today, in Europe, an important element of the Member Statesâ economy. The sector is very dynamic: in the period 2011-2016 the sport employment in the 28 EU Member States shows an average annual rate of 2.2 %. In the future, the sectors of education, health care, etc. are likely to grow, and all these sectors are clearly linked with the sport sector that will see a further area of growth.Lâanalisi dellâoccupazione e della forza lavoro nel settore delle scienze mo-torie e sportive sviluppa delle implicazioni che hanno ricevuto scarsa atten-zione sia nel dibattito pubblico che nella ricerca scientifica. A tal proposito, il progetto europeo denominato «A European Sector Skills Alliance for Sport» (ESSA-Sport)» ha offerto lâopportunitĂ di condurre una ricerca internazionale e una serie di consultazioni finalizzate ad identificare le realtĂ , i trend e le sfide che il settore affronta, e a sviluppare la prima analisi del mer-cato del lavoro in Europa. La metodologia di studio si Ăš fondata su due assi principali: unâanalisi dei micro-dati disponibili tramite la Labour Force Survey (LFS) rilasciata da EUROSTAT tra gli anni 2011 e 2016; unâanalisi secondaria di risorse nazionali, database e report di ricerca a cui si Ăš aggiunta una consultazione con ricercatori esperti di ognuno dei 28 Paesi Membri della Unione Europea. I risultati hanno dimostrato come lâoccupazione nel settore delle scienze motorie e sportive rappresenti in Europa, oggi, un importante elemento per lâeconomia degli Stati Membri. Il settore Ăš fortemente dinamico: nel periodo 2011-2016 lâoccupazione ha riportato un tasso di crescita annuo pari al 2.2%. In aggiunta, si sono evinti trend di crescita anche per gli anni futuri in rapporto allo sviluppo di settori connessi con le scienze motorie e sportive quali quelli della salute, dell'educazione, della cura. 
Automatic Middle-Out Optimisation of Coarse-Grained Lipid Force Fields
Automatic data-driven approaches are increasingly used to develop accurate
molecular models. But the parameters of such automatically-optimised models are
typically untransferable. Using a multi-reference approach in combination with
an automatic optimisation engine (SwarmCGM), here we show that it is possible
to optimise coarse-grained (CG) lipid models that are also transferable,
generating optimised lipid force fields. The parameters of the CG lipid models
are iteratively and simultaneously optimised against higher-resolution
simulations (bottom-up) and experimental data (top-down references). Including
different types of lipid bilayers in the training set guarantees the
transferability of the optimised force field parameters. Tested against
state-of-the-art CG lipid force fields, we demonstrate that SwarmCGM can
systematically improve their parameters, enhancing the agreement with the
experiments even for lipid types not included in the training set. The approach
is general and can be used to improve existing CG lipid force fields, as well
as to develop new custom ones.Comment: Paper (Pages 1-16) + Supporting Information (Pages 17-40
First report outside Eastern Europe of West Nile virus lineage 2 related to the Volgograd 2007 strain, northeastern Italy, 2014
open11noWest Nile virus (WNV) is a Flavivirus transmitted to vertebrate hosts by mosquitoes, maintained in nature through an enzootic bird-mosquito cycle. In Europe the virus became of major public health and veterinary concern in the 1990s. In Italy, WNV re-emerged in 2008, ten years after the previous outbreak and is currently endemic in many areas of the country. In particular, the northeastern part of Italy experience continuous viral circulation, with human outbreaks caused by different genovariants of WNV lineage 1, Western-European and Mediterranean subcluster, and WNV lineage 2, Hungarian clade. Alongside the WNV National Surveillance Program that has been in place since 2002, regional surveillance plans were implemented after 2008 targeting mosquitoes, animals and humans.openRavagnan, Silvia; Montarsi, Fabrizio; Cazzin, Stefania; Porcellato, Elena; Russo, Francesca; Palei, Manlio; Monne, Isabella; Savini, Giovanni; Marangon, Stefano; Barzon, Luisa; Capelli, GioiaRavagnan, Silvia; Montarsi, Fabrizio; Cazzin, Stefania; Porcellato, Elena; Russo, Francesca; Palei, Manlio; Monne, Isabella; Savini, Giovanni; Marangon, Stefano; Barzon, Luisa; Capelli, Gioi
Mapping of Aedes albopictus abundance at a local scale in Italy
Given the growing risk of arbovirus outbreaks in Europe, there is a clear need to better
describe the distribution of invasive mosquito species such as Aedes albopictus. Current challenges
consist in simulating Ae. albopictus abundance, rather than its presence, and mapping its simulated
abundance at a local scale to better assess the transmission risk of mosquito-borne pathogens
and optimize mosquito control strategy. During 2014â2015, we sampled adult mosquitoes using
72 BG-Sentinel traps per year in the provinces of Belluno and Trento, Italy. We found that the sum of
Ae. albopictus females collected during eight trap nights from June to September was positively related
to the mean temperature of the warmest quarter and the percentage of artificial areas in a 250 m
buffer around the sampling locations. Maps of Ae. albopictus abundance simulated from the most
parsimonious model in the study area showed the largest populations in highly artificial areas with
the highest summer temperatures, but with a high uncertainty due to the variability of the trapping
collections. Vector abundance maps at a local scale should be promoted to support stakeholders and
policy-makers in optimizing vector surveillance and control
- âŠ