L’AGROALIMENTARE TRA GLOBALE E LOCALE: dall’Italian sounding ai mercati storici di Palermo

Il tema dell'italian sounding e della tutela delle tipicità è oggi di grande importanza nel quadro della valorizzazione dei prodotti agroalimentari con valenza territoriale e tipica. L'approvvigionamento alimentare delle città avviene tramite i grandi circuiti globali della distribuzione mentre i mercati storici costituiscono un'attrazione turistica e una manifestazione della cultura mediterranea. Si ipotizza un loro ruolo nel consentire la valorizzazione locale dei prodotti regionali

La filiera cerealicola siciliana

Copia digital. Madrid : Ministerio de Cultura. Subdirección General de Coordinación Bibliotecaria, 200

Factors affecting effective ventilation during newborn resuscitation: a qualitative study among midwives in rural Tanzania

Background: Intrapartum-related hypoxia accounts for 30% of neonatal deaths in Tanzania. This has led to the introduction and scaling-up of the Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) programme, which is a simulation-based learning programme in newborn resuscitation skills. Studies have documented ineffective ventilation of non-breathing newborns and the inability to follow the HBB algorithm among providers. Objective: This study aimed at exploring barriers and facilitators to effective bag mask ventilation, an essential component of the HBB algorithm, during actual newborn resuscitation in rural Tanzania. Methods: Eight midwives, each with more than one year’s working experience in the labour ward, were interviewed individually at Haydom Lutheran Hospital, Tanzania. The audio recordings were transcribed and translated into English and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Midwives reported the ability to monitor labour properly, preparing resuscitation equipment before delivery, teamwork and frequent ventilation training as the most effective factors in improving actual ventilation practices and promoting the survival of newborns. They thought that their anxiety and fear due to stress of ventilating a non-breathing baby often led to poor resuscitation performance. Additionally, they experienced difficulties assessing the baby’s condition and providing appropriate clinical responses to initial interventions at birth; hence, further necessary actions and timely initiation of ventilation were delayed. Conclusions: Efforts should be focused on improving labour monitoring, birth preparedness and accurate assessment immediately after birth, to decrease intrapartum-related hypoxia. Midwives should be well prepared to treat a non-breathing baby through high-quality and frequent simulation training with an emphasis on teamwork training

Soil carbon budget account for the sustainability improvement of a Mediterranean vineyard area

Sustainable viticulture is suggested as an interesting strategy for achieving the objectives of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction in terms of mitigation and adaptation. However, knowledge and quantification of the contribution of sustainable vineyard management on climate change impact are needed. Although it is widely assessed by several authors that the agricultural stage has a great impact in the wine chain, very few studies have evaluated the greenhouse gas emission in this phase including the ability of soil to sequester carbon (C) or the off-farm C loss by erosion. This work aimed to provide a vineyard carbon budget (vCB) tool to quantify the impact of grape production on GHG emission including the effects of environmental characteristics and agricultural practices. The vCB was estimated considering four different soil management scenarios: conventional tillage (CT), temporary cover crop with a leguminous species in alternate inter-rows (ACC), temporary cover crop with a leguminous species (CC), permanent cover crop (PCC). The estimation of vCB was applied at territory level in a viticulture area in Sicily (2468 ha of vineyard) using empirical data. Results of the present study showed that the environmental characteristics strongly affect the sustainability of vineyard management; the highest contribution to total CO2 emission is, in fact, given by the C losses by erosion in sloping vineyards. Soils of studied vineyards are a source of CO2 due to the low C inputs and high mineralization rate, except for soil managed by CC which can sequester soil C, contributing positively to vCB. The highest total CO2 emission was estimated in vineyards under CT management (2.31 t ha−1y−1), followed by CC (1.27 t ha−1y−1), ACC (0.69 t ha−1y−1) and PCC (0.64 t ha−1y−1). Findings of vCB applied at territory level highlighted the key role of the evaluation of carbon budget (CB) on a larger scale to identify the CO2 emission in relation to climatic and environmental factors. The present study could contribute to provide suggestions to policymakers and farmers for reducing GHG emissions and promote more sustainable grape production practices

Informal support to first-parents after childbirth: a qualitative study in low-income suburbs of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Tanzania, and many sub-Saharan African countries, postpartum health programs have received less attention compared to other maternity care programs and therefore new parents rely on informal support. Knowledge on how informal support is understood by its stakeholders to be able to improve the health in families after childbirth is required. This study aimed to explore discourses on health related informal support to first-time parents after childbirth in low-income suburbs of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirteen focus group discussions with first-time parents and female and male informal supporters were analysed by discourse analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The dominant discourse was that after childbirth a first time mother needed and should be provided with support for care of the infant, herself and the household work by the maternal or paternal mother or other close and extended family members. In their absence, neighbours and friends were described as reconstructing informal support. Informal support was provided conditionally, where poor socio-economic status and non-adherence to social norms risked poor support. Support to new fathers was constructed as less prominent, provided mainly by older men and focused on economy and sexual matters. The discourse conveyed stereotypic gender roles with women described as family caretakers and men as final decision-makers and financial providers. The informal supporters regulated the first-time parents' contacts with other sources of support.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Strong and authoritative informal support networks appear to persist. However, poverty and non-adherence to social norms was understood as resulting in less support. Family health in this context would be improved by capitalising on existing informal support networks while discouraging norms promoting harmful practices and attending to the poorest. Upholding stereotypic notions of femininity and masculinity implies great burden of care for the women and delimited male involvement. Men's involvement in reproductive and child health programmes has the potential for improving family health after childbirth. The discourses conveyed contradicting messages that may be a source of worry and confusion for the new parents. Recognition, respect and raising awareness for different social actors' competencies and limitations can potentially create a health-promoting environment among families after childbirth.</p

Fluids and barriers of the CNS establish immune privilege by confining immune surveillance to a two-walled castle moat surrounding the CNS castle

Neuronal activity within the central nervous system (CNS) strictly depends on homeostasis and therefore does not tolerate uncontrolled entry of blood components. It has been generally believed that under normal conditions, the endothelial blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the epithelial blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB) prevent immune cell entry into the CNS. This view has recently changed when it was realized that activated T cells are able to breach the BBB and the BCSFB to perform immune surveillance of the CNS. Here we propose that the immune privilege of the CNS is established by the specific morphological architecture of its borders resembling that of a medieval castle. The BBB and the BCSFB serve as the outer walls of the castle, which can be breached by activated immune cells serving as messengers for outside dangers. Having crossed the BBB or the BCSFB they reach the castle moat, namely the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-drained leptomeningeal and perivascular spaces of the CNS. Next to the CNS parenchyma, the castle moat is bordered by a second wall, the glia limitans, composed of astrocytic foot processes and a parenchymal basement membrane. Inside the castle, that is the CNS parenchyma proper, the royal family of sensitive neurons resides with their servants, the glial cells. Within the CSF-drained castle moat, macrophages serve as guards collecting all the information from within the castle, which they can present to the immune-surveying T cells. If in their communication with the castle moat macrophages, T cells recognize their specific antigen and see that the royal family is in danger, they will become activated and by opening doors in the outer wall of the castle allow the entry of additional immune cells into the castle moat. From there, immune cells may breach the inner castle wall with the aim to defend the castle inhabitants by eliminating the invading enemy. If the immune response by unknown mechanisms turns against self, that is the castle inhabitants, this may allow for continuous entry of immune cells into the castle and lead to the death of the castle inhabitants, and finally members of the royal family, the neurons. This review will summarize the molecular traffic signals known to allow immune cells to breach the outer and inner walls of the CNS castle moat and will highlight the importance of the CSF-drained castle moat in maintaining immune surveillance and in mounting immune responses in the CNS