Palatability as an Addictive Trigger in Obesity: A Changing Paradigm in the Past Decades

There is a crucial need for a more comprehensive management of obese patients. Asking these patients to reduce their food intake is not enough; rather it is important to consider treatment approaches that target palatability as the addictive trigger responsible for the persistence and increased prevalence of obesity. This has been and is still a challenge because of the need for identifying treatment approaches (e.g., pharmacotherapies), which are both safe and effective. Nonetheless, research is moving toward this direction

Metadoxine in the treatment of acute and chronic alcoholism: a review.

Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are responsible for a wide variety of medical problems. The pharmacotherapeutic aspect of alcoholism includes the use of drugs, with different actions and objectives. Among them, metadoxine seems to be of interest. Metadoxine is able to accelerate the elimination of alcohol from the blood and tissues, to help restore the functional structure of the liver and to relieve neuro-psychological disorders associated with alcohol intoxication. Metadoxine also seems to be safe; in more than 15 years of post-marketing surveillance only minor aspecific and reversible events were monitored in patients exposed to the treatment. In this review the preclinical and clinical results obtained using metadoxine in acute and chronic alcohol intoxication are reported

Phonostyle du discours politique français: analyse d’un discours

On distingue habituellement dans la communication deux types d’information: le contenu primaire ou linguistique, et le secondaire, appelé expression. C’est ce dernier qui fait l’objet d’étude de la phonostylistique actuelle. Cette discipline essaie de confirmer l’existence de phonostyles, selon des critères géographiques, sociales et culturels entre autres. Elle analyse les formes phoniques d’expressivité utilisées dans l’acte de parole et les impressions qu’elles produisent sur l’auditeur. La phonostylistique traditionnelle étudiait essentiellement le discours littéraire, la mise en parole de ce qui avait été déjà écrit et formalisé, en négligeant le discours spontané. De nos jours, le champ d’étude de cette discipline s’est élargi grâce à l’avènement de l’analyse du discours et elle s’occupe donc de l’oral spontané aussi bien que du style oralisé, c’est-à-dire que le type de discours utilisé pour l’analyse va au-delà du littéraire. Le matériel phonique étudié est alors devenu éclectique et appartient à de différents types de discours: radiophonique, politique, des snobs, des jeunes, d’une profession spécifique, etc. L’objectif de ce travail est d’intégrer et d’appliquer les connaissances acquises pendant les cours de Phonétique et phonologie française I et Phonétique et phonologie française II afin de réaliser une analyse du phonostyle de Manuel Valls, ancien Premier ministre de France, en tant qu’homme politique, et de souligner l’influence du contexte social et de l’image qu’il veut transmettre de lui-même sur sa production phonique.Trabajo publicado en Caldiz, A. y Rafaelli, V. (coords.) (2020). Exploraciones fonolingüísticas. V Jornadas Internacionales de Fonética y Fonología y I Jornadas Nacionales de Fonética y Discurso.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Fearing the Other: The Danger of a “Yellow” Invasion Between 19th and 20th century in Europe

This article starts from the European misgivings, founded or not, about a foreign invasion. It underlines how this fear has always been present in the old continent and how it can be observed from a different point of view. In fact this short essay deals with the fear of “yellow people” in Europe between 1800 and 1900 and with the role played in influencing Europeans’ imaginary and fears by missionaries and war correspondents in the Far East. History that should be magistra vitae ends up being a lesson we never learn. The main events analyzed in this paper are the Boxer rebellion and the Russian-Japanese war

Compras spot de equipamentos com base no TCO : o caso da empresa Alpha Alimentos

Orientador : José Eduardo Pecora Jr.Monografia (especialização) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas. Curso de Especialização MBA em Gerência de Sistemas LogísticosInclui referênciasResumo: As grandes empresas que possuem participação mundial no mercado em que atuam estão constantemente em busca de formas de redução de custos de forma a se manterem competitivas num mercado cada vez mais globalizado e competitivo. Empresas benchmarking em processos de compras utilizam metodologias estruturadas para a compra de itens considerados estratégicos e que possuem grandes oportunidades de ganho, onde uma dessas metodologias é o custo total de propriedade (TCO – Total Cost of Ownership). Este estudo teve por objetivo apresentar o processo atual de compras spot de equipamentos de uma empresa de porte multinacional do ramo alimentício e propor um modelo de utilização da metodologia TCO para tais processos de compra. A empresa está estruturada com uma central corporativa e diversas unidades fabris espalhadas pelo país. Esta configuração exige da área de Suprimentos grandes volumes de negociações spot demandadas por compras de equipamentos para atender o plano de crescimento de produção da empresa assim como para manutenção de seu patrimônio. Para um entendimento inicial foi apresentada uma breve fundamentação teórica sobre o processo tradicional de compras e a metodologia do custo total de propriedade, ou TCO. Esta metodologia estrutura o processo de compra de forma a permitir tomadas de decisões mais assertivas, pois passam a considerar também melhorias de desempenhos dos equipamentos além das oportunidades de redução de custos. Para um melhor resultado na implementação do custo total de propriedade também é recomendado a formação de uma equipe mais focada nas análises do TCO e menos ocupada com tarefas operacionais

Corticosteroid-Sparing Effect of Chromoglycate Sodium and Nedocromil

The most appropiate management for bronchial asthma is the control of airway inflammation. Corticosteroids are the most effective anti-inflammatory drugs available, but they have a number of side effects; most of these are dose-dependent. In children, asthma control should be accomplished with low steroid doses possibly given by inhalation. In a double-bind placebo-controlled crossover study a group of children with mild to moderate asthma received NED 16 mg/day or BDP 400 μg/day. Values for FEV1, PEF, symptoms use ofbronchodilators overlapped, whereas bronchial hyper-responsiveness assessed by histamine bronchoprovocation challenge was better with BDP than NED. In another case, one boy with high bronchial hyper-reactivity assessed by provocation test with hypertonic solution, experienced a significant improvement only after 2 weeks of therapy with Deflazacort (2 mg/Kg/day) followed by 4 months on combined treatment with NED (16 mg/day) and BDP (300 μ/day). Authors conclude that NED could have a steroidsparing effect over long-term use

Therapeutic Effects of Vitamin D in Asthma and Allergy

In recent years, low vitamin D status has been proposed as a putative risk factor for allergic diseases. A growing body of literature reports low vitamin D levels in atopic patients and supports an association between vitamin D deficiency and risk of adverse asthma and allergies outcomes. Therefore, it has been speculated that vitamin D supplementation may either prevent or reduce the risk of allergic diseases. Birth cohort studies addressing the role of vitamin D intake during pregnancy have shown conflicting results regarding allergy outcomes in offspring. Currently, only a few studies have tried to supplement vitamin D in asthmatic patients, often as an add-on therapy to standard asthma controller medications, and results are not all consistent. There is emerging data to show that vitamin D can enhance the antiinflammatory effects of glucocorticoids and potentially be used as adjuvant therapy in steroid-resistant asthma. Recent in vivo data suggest that vitamin D supplementation may also reduce the severity of atopic dermatitis. This review examines the existing relevant literature focusing on vitamin D supplementation in the treatment of allergic diseases

Once daily nebulized beclomethasone is effective in maintaining pulmonary function and improving symptoms in asthmatic children

Background and Aim. Compliance with long-term inhaled therapy in asthma is often poor, but it is likely to be improved with a simplified administration, once daily.The present study was designed to assess whether, in childhood asthma, a single dose of nebulized beclomethasone dipropionate once daily was as effective and safe as the same total daily dose administered twice daily. Methods. Asthmatic children, not treated with inhaled steroids for at least a month preceding the study and using short-acting bronchodilators more than once a week were enrolled in a double-blind, double dummy, randomised, multicentric study. After a two week run-in period on nebulised twice daily 400 mcg beclomethasone dipropionate, patients were randomly assigned to twelve weeks of treatment with 800 mcg nebulised beclomethasone dipropionate daily, either in single dose (o.d. group) or divided into two 400 mcg doses (b.i.d. group). Results. 65 children (mean age 8.6 years, mean FEV1 81% of predicted), were valuable for intention to treat. During the run-in period, a significant improvement in FEV1, FVC, morning and evening PEF values and clinical scores was observed. Children then entered the randomised trial: 32 were included in the o.d. group and 33 in the b.i.d. group. During the twelve week treatment period, the observed improvement in pulmonary function parameters was maintained in both treatment groups. Morning and evening PEF showed a progressive slight increase as well as PEF diurnal variability showed a progressive reduction in the two treatment groups during the whole study period without reaching statistical significance. Moreover, in both treatment groups a similar progressive increase in symptom free nights and days and in the percentage of children achieving total asthma symptoms control was detected. Finally, no significant changes in urinary cortisol/creatinine ratio were observed throughout the study period and between groups. Conclusions. A daily dose of 800 mcg of beclomethasone, administered for twelve weeks with a nebuliser either once or twice daily provide similar efficacy in maintaining pulmonary function and symptoms of asthmatic children, with a good tolerability profile

Explaining differences in efficiency. A meta-study on local government literature

This paper reviews the literature on local government efficiency by meta-reviewing 360 observations retrieved from 54 papers published from 1993 to 2016. The meta-regression is based on a random effect model estimated with the 2-step Random Effects Maximum Likelihood (REML) technique proposed by Gallet and Doucouliagos (2014). Results indicate that the study design matters when estimating a frontier in local government. We find that studies focusing on technical efficiency provide higher efficiency scores than works evaluating cost efficiency. The same applies when using panel data instead of cross-section data. Interestingly, studies that use the Free Disposal Hull (FDH) approach yield, on average, higher efficiency scores than papers employing the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method, thereby suggesting that in this literature the convexity hypothesis of the production set is a matter. Finally, the efficiency of local government increases with the level of development of the analysed countries and is positively related to the national integrity of the legal system. The opposite holds when considering the corruption

WEEDS IN SOYBEAN CROP AFTER ANNUAL CROPS AND PASTURE

The use of crop practices to reduce the weed community is an ally to integrated weed management. Given this, the study aimed to identify a composition and weed infestation in a soybean area under different predecessor crops implanted in different years. The experiment was carried out in the 2019/2020 harvest in Dourados, MS. The experimental design was a randomized block with nine treatments. The treatments were composed of autumn-winter crops. The area with predecessor cultivation: corn-Brachiaria intercropping; cowpea beans; single corn; an area with predecessor cultivation of Brachiaria as pasture for one year; two years; three years; four years; five years, and six years. All treatments were followed by soybean cultivation in the 2018/2019 harvest and an intercropping with corn and Brachiaria in the 2019 off-season harvest. There was a difference in the absolute weed infestation between the evaluated areas. Treatments with corn and cowpea had greater weed infestation. However, areas with pasture or intercropping with corn and Brachiaria showed less infestation, especially in areas with Brachiaria grown in the off-season for more than two years. The weed species composition differs between the areas evaluated. The implantation of a corn-Brachiaria intercropping in the off-season under a crop rotation system, especially in areas with Brachiaria grown in the off-season for more than four years, reduces the weed infestation