Are the school prevention programmes - aimed at de-normalizing smoking among youths - beneficial in the long term? An example from the Smoke Free Class Competition in Italy

Tobacco smoking by young people is of great concern because it usually leads to regular smoking, nicotine addiction and quitting difficulties. Young people "hooked" by tobacco maintain the profits of the tobacco industry by replacing smokers who quit or die. If new generations could be tobacco-free, as supported by tobacco endgame strategies, the tobacco epidemic could end within decades. Smoking prevention programmes for teens are offered by schools with the aim to prevent or delay smoking onset. Among these, the Smoke Free Class Competition (SFC) was widely implemented in Europe. Its effectiveness yielded conflicting results, but it was only evaluated at short/medium term (6 - 18 months). The aim of this study is to evaluate its effectiveness after a longer follow-up (3 to 5 years) in order to allow enough time for the maturing of the students and the internalization of the experience and its contents. Fifteen classes were randomly sampled from two Italian high schools of Bologna province that regularly offered the SFC to first year students; 382 students (174 participating in the SFC and 208 controls) were retrospectively followed-up and provided their "smoking histories". At the end of their last year of school (after 5 years from the SFC), the percentage of students who stated that they were regular smokers was lower among the SFC students than in controls: 13.5% vs 32.9% (p=0.03). From the students' "smoking histories", statistically significant protective ORs were observed for SFC students at the end of 1st and 5th year: 0.42 (95% CI 0.19-0.93) and 0.32 (95% CI 0.11-0.91) respectively. Absence of smokers in the family was also a strongly statistically significant factor associated with being a non-smoker student. These results suggest that SFC may have a positive impact on lowering the prevalence of smoking in the long term (5 years)

Exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and hexachlorobenzene, semen quality and testicular cancer risk

PURPOSE: We carried out a case-control study to investigate the possible role of occupational and environmental exposure to endocrine disruptors in the onset of testicular cancer (TC). METHODS: We evaluated 125 TC patients and 103 controls. Seminal fluid examination and organochlorine analysis were performed in all subjects. Cases and controls were also interviewed using a structured questionnaire to collect demographic information, residence, andrological medical history and dietary information. RESULTS: We found that a higher level of reproductive tract birth defects was associated with a higher risk of TC. With regard to diet, cases reported a higher consumption of milk and dairy products than controls. Overall, there was a statistically significant increase in TC risk in cases with detectable values of total polychlorinated organic compounds against controls (14.4 vs. 1.0 %; p < 0.001). TC patients with detectable levels of organochlorines had lower mean semen parameters than those with undetectable levels, although this difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The International Agency for Research on Cancer recently included dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Group 1 of known human carcinogens. Our study confirmed and identified various risk factors for testicular cancer: cryptorchidism, consumption of milk and dairy products, parents' occupation and serum concentration of hexachlorobenzene and PCBs and, for the first time, we showed the correlation between semen quality and the serum concentration of these pollutants

Comment on a recent sensitivity analysis of radial base function and multi-layer feed-forward neural network models - Response

Contains fulltext : 112420.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Evaluation of flow dependent external costs in freight logistics networks

In this paper we face a distribution problem arising in a freight logistics context. More precisely, we are involved with the containerized flow originating from maritime terminals and going to inland destinations using the road transportation network. The goal is the minimization of the total shipping costs, given by the travelled distance, vehicles and external cost components. In particular, we consider accidental and polluting costs as external negative costs. Note that the proposed externality costs depend on the amount of flow through the selected arcs in the route and their capacity; therefore, a novel stepwise function is proposed and analyzed. A deep analysis is performed for evaluating the impact of environmental externalities on the choice of the route in terms of costs and distances depending on the density of the traffic. Results of an extensive computational experimentation performed with randomly generated instances of different size and capacity values of the arcs are reported. A real case instance related to the logistics network connecting the main ports of the Liguria County (Italy) to the main inland destinations is finally proposed and analyzed

Ag-sensitized Tb3+/Yb3+ codoped silica-zirconia glasses and glass-ceramics: Systematic and detailed investigation of the broadband energy-transfer and downconversion processes

Abstract Various studies report that Tb3+/Yb3+ co-doped materials can split one UV or 488 nm (visible) photon in two near infrared (NIR) photons at 980 nm by an energy-transfer process involving one Tb3+ and two Yb3+ ions. Additionally, it was demonstrated that Ag multimers can provide an efficient optical sensitizing effect for rare earth ions (RE3+ ions), resulting in a broadband enhanced excitation, which could have a significant technological impact, overcoming their limited spectral absorptions and small excitation cross sections. However, a systematic and detailed investigation of the down-conversion process enhanced by Ag nanoaggregates is still lacking, which is the focus of this paper. Specifically, a step by step analysis of the energy-transfer quantum-cutting chain in Ag-exchanged Tb3+/Yb3+ co-doped glasses and glass-ceramics is presented. Moreover, the direct Ag-Yb3+ energy-transfer is also considered. Results of structural, compositional, and optical characterizations are given, providing quantitative data for the efficient broadband Ag-sensitization of Tb3+/Yb3+ quantum cutting. A deeper understanding of the physical processes beneath the optical properties of the developed materials will allow a wiser realization of more efficient energy-related devices, such as spectral converters for silicon solar cells and light-emitting devices (LEDs) in the visible and NIR spectral regions

b \bar b b\bar b production in proton-nucleus collisions at the LHC

A sizable rate of events, with several pairs of $b$-quarks produced contemporarily by multiple parton interactions, may be expected at very high energies as a consequence of the large parton luminosities. The production rates are further enhanced in hadron-nucleus reactions, which may represent a convenient tool to study the phenomenon. We compare the different contributions to $b{\bar b}b{\bar b}$ production, due to single and double parton scatterings, in collisions of protons with nuclei at the CERN-LHC.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Are nutrition and physical activity associated with gut microbiota? A pilot study on a sample of healthy young adults

BACKGROUND: The literature shows that gut microbiota composition is related with health, and a lot of individual and outer factors may determine its variability. In particular, nutrition and exercise seem to influence the presence in the gut of the two major bacterial phyla of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. STUDY DESIGN: An ongoing cross-sectional investigation is aimed to explore these associations in humans. METHODS: Healthy Caucasian young adults were asked to provide a fecal sample in order to analyze their gut microbiome considering their Body Mass Index (BMI), adherence to Mediterranean diet and Physical Activity (PA) level. RESULTS: A total of 59 participants (49.1% males, mean age 23.1 ± 3.14 years) were enrolled so far. Firmicutes (61.6±14.6) and Bacteroidetes (30.7 ± 13.3) showed the highest relative abundance in fecal samples. The Pearson's analysis showed a significant negative correlation between PA and Firmicutes (r =-0.270, p = 0.03). Linear regression confirmed a significant decrease of this phylum with the increase of PA (R2 = 0.07, p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary results suggest the association between physical activity and gut microbiota composition in healthy humans

Expression and function of the bile acid receptor GpBAR1 (TGR5) in the murine enteric nervous system

BACKGROUND: Bile acids (BAs) regulate cells by activating nuclear and membrane-bound receptors. G protein coupled bile acid receptor 1 (GpBAR1) is a membrane-bound G-protein-coupled receptor that can mediate the rapid, transcription-independent actions of BAs. Although BAs have well-known actions on motility and secretion, nothing is known about the localization and function of GpBAR1 in the gastrointestinal tract. METHODS: We generated an antibody to the C-terminus of human GpBAR1, and characterized the antibody by immunofluorescence and Western blotting of HEK293-GpBAR1-GFP cells. We localized GpBAR1 immunoreactivity (IR) and mRNA in the mouse intestine, and determined the mechanism by which BAs activate GpBAR1 to regulate intestinal motility. KEY RESULTS: The GpBAR1 antibody specifically detected GpBAR1-GFP at the plasma membrane of HEK293 cells, and interacted with proteins corresponding in mass to the GpBAR1-GFP fusion protein. GpBAR1-IR and mRNA were detected in enteric ganglia of the mouse stomach and small and large intestine, and in the muscularis externa and mucosa of the small intestine. Within the myenteric plexus of the intestine, GpBAR1-IR was localized to approximately 50% of all neurons and to >80% of inhibitory motor neurons and descending interneurons expressing nitric oxide synthase. Deoxycholic acid, a GpBAR1 agonist, caused a rapid and sustained inhibition of spontaneous phasic activity of isolated segments of ileum and colon by a neurogenic, cholinergic and nitrergic mechanism, and delayed gastrointestinal transit. CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES: G protein coupled bile acid receptor 1 is unexpectedly expressed in enteric neurons. Bile acids activate GpBAR1 on inhibitory motor neurons to release nitric oxide and suppress motility, revealing a novel mechanism for the actions of BAs on intestinal motility

Mediterranean diet, physical activity and gut microbiome composition: A cross-sectional study among healthy young italian adults

Background. This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the microbial composition of the gut and its possible association with the Mediterranean diet (MD) after adjusting for demographic and anthropometric characteristics in a sample of healthy young Italian adults. Methods. Gut microbiota, demographic information, and data on adherence to MD and physical activity (PA) habits were collected in a sample of 140 university students (48.6% males, mean age 22.5 ± 2.9) with a mean body mass index (BMI) of 22.4 ± 2.8 kg/m2 (15.2–33.8) and a mean PA level of 3006.2 ± 2973.6 metabolic equivalent (MET)-minutes/week (148–21,090). Results. A high prevalence of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes was found in all the fecal samples. Significant dissimilarities in the microbiota composition were found on the basis of MD adherence and PA levels (p = 0.001). At the genus level, Streptococcus and Dorea were highly abundant in overweight/obese individuals, Ruminococcus and Oscillospira in participants with lower adherence to MD, and Lachnobacterium in subjects with low levels of PA (p = 0.001). A significantly higher abundance of Paraprevotella was shown by individuals with lower BMI, lower MD adherence, and lower PA levels (p = 0.001). Conclusions. This study contributes to the characterization of the gut microbiome of healthy humans. The findings suggest the role of diet and PA in determining gut microbiota variability

Archaeology, heritage and identity : the creation and development of a national museum in Wales

This thesis examines selected issues, events, episodes and timeframes in the early life of the National Museum of Wales in order to analyse influential and defining aspects in its complex past. It provides a critical perspective on the cultural processes surrounding the foundation and development of the Museum, as well as the array of identities, archaeologies and representations produced. A further aim is to identify and deconstruct the trajectories of research and thought within the Museum's Archaeological department during the early 20th century. The thesis seeks to demonstrate the complexities of the museum experience and to highlight the nuances and subtleties within the national context. It provides a contextual view of the initial movement to establish a national museum and antiquities collection, and subsequently focuses mainly on critical aspects in the development, research and interpretive practices of the Archaeological department. While some awareness exists across the archaeological and museum spectrum that figures such as Sir R.E. Mortimer Wheeler and Sir Cyril Fox spent part of their archaeological careers at the National Museum of Wales, there has to date been no focused, critical analysis of their active roles in shaping, and contributing to, archaeological practice within the Museum itself and within the wider contexts of Welsh and British archaeology. Closer examination of the curatorial and personnel structures in the Museum raises important questions regarding research agendas, the ways in which the material culture collections were augmented, interpreted and displayed, and conflicting political ideologies. Additionally, it draws attention to the dynamics of curatorial practice and representation in a national institutional context. Studying the period of time between the initial move to establish a national museum in the 1890s and the development of a national archaeological collection in the 1920s/30s, reveals the shifts and transformations in cultural politics, institutional practices and museological philosophies.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo