Social Perceptions of Forest Ecosystem Services in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The forests of the Albertine Rift are known for their high biodiversity and the important ecosystem services they provide to millions of inhabitants. However, their conservation and the maintenance of ecosystem service delivery is a challenge, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our research investigates how livelihood strategy and ethnicity affects local perceptions of forest ecosystem services. We collected data through 25 focus-group discussions in villages from distinct ethnic groups, including farmers (Tembo, Shi, and Nyindu) and hunter-gatherers (Twa). Twa identify more food-provisioning services and rank bush meat and honey as the most important. They also show stronger place attachment to the forest than the farmers, who value other ecosystem services, but all rank microclimate regulation as the most important. Our findings help assess ecosystem services trade-offs, highlight the important impacts of restricted access to forests resources for Twa, and point to the need for developing alternative livelihood strategies for these communities

Il progetto "Web Hospital Incident Reporting" : esperienza all'interno di tre Aziende Sanitarie lombarde

Il Web Hospital Incident Reporting \ue8 uno strumento informatico che ha la funzione di supportare il percorso del Risk Manager Aziendale in tutte la fasi che sono proprie del processo attivit\ue0 di Risk Management, ovvero Identificazione, Valutazione, Trattamento e Controllo dei rischi aziendali. In questi termini interviene sul piano pratico e a supporto del management aziendale, nella realizzazione di un sistema di Clinical Governance con la relativa estensione del concetto di Risk Management non pi\uf9 limitato al concetto di controllo e sicurezza legato essenzialmente all\u2019attivit\ue0 clinica pura, ma si estende ad un controllo di gestione allargato a tutti i settori dell\u2019Azienda Sanitaria: \ue8 il passaggio tra un sistema di Risk management Clinico a un modello di Risk Management Integrato. Il sistema consta di due moduli software Web Based (ove per Web Based si intende un applicativo software che utilizza il circuito di comunicazione internet: questo favorisce l\u2019implementazione dello stesso in qualsiasi struttura aziendale, in quanto non interferisce con i sistemi informatici interni). Il primo modulo detto di \u201cinterfaccia segnalatore\u201d realizza la scheda informatizzata di Incident Reporting: il segnalatore potr\ue0 eseguire la sua segnalazione e con un accesso libero e anonimo attraverso apposito link apposto nella Bacheca informatica e/o nell\u2019area intranet aziendale. Con queste modalit\ue0 la scheda di segnalazione informatizzata, viene resa disponibile a tutti dipendenti (sia di area clinica che di area amministrativa e tecnica) affinch\ue9 possano eseguire la segnalazione. L\u2019informatizzazione della scheda di segnalazione oltre a renderla pi\uf9 agevole e veloce, sostituendo la scheda cartacea e funzionando da guida con i relativi elenchi a tendina, garantisce il recepimento dell\u2019informazione nella sua completezza da parte del Risk Manager aziendale in tempo reale, attraverso una mail di Alert. In particolare nel caso in cui oggetto della segnalazione fosse un \u201cevento sentinella\u201d nella mail di segnalazione dell\u2019avvenuto inserimento il Risk Manager aziendale riceve debita informazione. \uc8 previsto inoltre un feedback automatico per il segnalatore, nel momento in cui il Risk manager visualizza e/o valuta e tratta la segnalazione. Il secondo modulo \ue8 il \u201cPannello Risk Manager\u201d realizza il pannello di controllo dei rischi ad uso del Management Aziendale. A differenza del modulo interfaccia segnalazione, l\u2019accesso al pannello di controllo Risk Manager viene eseguito attraverso apposita password e username. Possono essere creati diversi livelli di visualizzazione delle informazioni in relazione alle figure responsabili sicurezza che l\u2019azienda ha ritenuto opportuno coinvolgere. Attraverso il pannello di controllo \ue8 possibile eseguire le seguenti funzioni: 1. visualizzare la singola scheda di segnalazione recepita a sistema, sulla base dell\u2019Alert ricevuto via mail; 2. per gli eventi sentinella e per le altre tipologie di eventi su cui per obbligo istituzione, \ue8 necessario procedere con una RCA o altra tecnica di approfondimento, \ue8 possibile registrare le attivit\ue0 eseguite e tracciare il contenuto e l\u2019esito dell\u2019attivit\ue0 svolta; 3. dare al segnalatore un feedback immediato attraverso la funzione di aggiornamento dello stato della segnalazione; 4. tracciare a sistema le azioni correttive e migliorative che si sono adottate sulle singole criticit\ue0 rilevate, al fine di valutarne l\u2019efficacia nel tempo; 5. gestire attraverso il sistema i gruppi di lavoro coinvolti su progetti di lavoro mirati ad intervenire su cui si \ue8 deciso di intervenire con i piani di miglioramento; 6. tracciare i \u201ccosti\u201d derivanti da situazioni persistenti critiche e/o da difettosit\ue0 sistemiche (e non solo in area clinica) e/o da eventi dannosi: \ue8 possibile grazie al collegamento che pu\uf2 essere fatto dalle tabelle di sistema \u201cstruttura\u201d e i relativi codici del controllo di gestione aziendale. 7. estrarre da apposita tabella, le statistiche tutte le informazioni contenute nelle segnalazioni pervenute a sistema attraverso la scheda di segnalazione informatizzata e questo a titolo di esempio nei termini che seguono: \uf0fc tipologia di struttura aziendale(ambulatori coinvolti) e tipologia di prestazione assistenziale (esame diagnostico \u2013 fase terapeutica etc.) \uf0fc tipologia evento(near miss/ eventi sentinella etc.) \uf0fc luogo di accadimento \uf0fc esito dell\u2019evento \uf0fc piani di miglioramento \uf0fc gruppi coinvolti nelle azioni correttive e preventive \uf0fc fattori determinanti e/o concausanti relative agli eventi dannosi e potenzialmente dannosi \uf0fc conseguenze dell\u2019evento \uf0fc valutazione del rischio \uf0fc comparazione tra area critica \u2013 costo piano di miglioramento - risparmio ottenibile sui centri di costo delle singole strutture aziendali. Nelle tre Aziende Sanitarie coinvolte nel progetto, il sistema \ue8 stato implementato con fasi temporali e modalit\ue0 di configurazione totalmente personalizzate, e in linea con quanto predisposto all\u2019interno del proprio Piano per la gestione dei Rischi Aziendale. L\u2019obiettivo comune \ue8 stato per\uf2 quello di avere uno strumento utile sia a livello di singola azienda, che a livello interaziendale, che permetta la tracciabilit\ue0 delle informazioni sui rischi, ma anche i relativi piani di miglioramento, nell\u2019ottica di una crescita comune e condivisa

Immunoreactive "calcitonin-like" material in heroin addicts: varying reactivity with different antibodies

High levels of immunoreactive calcitonin (iCT) in the blood of heroin addicts were previously reported. As it is well known that multiple forms of calcitonin exist in the blood and in tissues, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the immunological nature of the CT-like immunoreactive material found in the blood of these subjects. We investigated 25 addicts, who had been using heroin for more than one year and were hospitalized for a 2 week detoxication program. Blood samples were drawn at the start of the program (when the subjects were still on heroin) and after 5 and 12 days of abstinence from heroin. Twenty-five healthy subjects served as controls. We used 2 commercial RIA kits, calibrated against the same reference material (WHO 70-234), but employing different antisera. One antiserum substantially confirmed the previous findings of increased levels of calcitonin during heroin use, but the other seemed to exclude any change in the hormone concentrations. This suggests that the "calcitonin like" material found in heroin addicts contains some epitopes similar to those found in the calcitonin standard which are detected by the first antiserum. However it lacks other epitopes which are also present in calcitonin standard and which are recognized by the second antiserum. Therefore, this substance seems to be different from the standard human calcitonin 1-32. A possible involvement of a calcitonin analogue (precursor or metabolite) in the biochemical changes occurring during chronic opiate use is suggested

On the level of safety knowledge in the general public

Following the implementation of international and national regulations and standards pertaining the control of risks in different industrial and civil domains, a general increase of the safety knowledge was noticed and recognized in literature (e.g. Lee & Harrison, 2000). Indeed, different campaigns to rise the awareness of the general public were developed and implemented. However, even if numerous studies and researches measured the safety culture in occupational domains (Choudhry et al., 2007), a measurement of the safety culture in the civil society is far to be defined. The present paper shows an attempt of measuring the public safety knowledge: a simple methodology based on gaming (safety quiz related to darts playing) was developed to collect data on the safety knowledge in the population, both for children and for adults. Different sets of questions were established for children (aged from 4 to 15) and adults. The quiz was proposed during the European Researchers’ Night in 2015, 2016 in Turin (Italy), collecting about 250 replies. The present paper presents the analysis of the data collected, together with some observations both on the diffusion of the safety culture in the general public and on the possible improvement of the data collection approach

Safety Knowledge In The General Population In The School Age

Within the major risk reduction measures, the basic knowledge and awareness of safety issues in various environments must be highlighted for their importance. The knowledge of the main concepts of safety means that a good safety culture. As this knowledge grows, operators will be more willing to adopt the prescribed prevention and protection measures in the work environment. In addition, good knowledge can push operators to actively participate in data collection campaigns and proactive security measures. In fact, the safety regulations of various countries prescribe training and information campaigns for the safety in the workplace. To be effective, these training and information measures require the operators to have a basic safety culture and knowledge. Poor data on the level of basic knowledge possessed by the general population are available. The culture and basic knowledge about safety are acquired during the development phase of the individual. To evaluate at which level this knowledge is acquired, a data collection on the safety knowledge of children in primary and secondary schools was carried out. About 1600 students (around 800 in primary schools and 800 in secondary schools) from 5 different schools, aged between 7 and 15, were involved in the data collection. The schools where the data collection was carried out are in the city of Turin, Italy. Data collection was carried out through a game-based approach, requiring the answer to a short series of multiple-choice questions. The questions changed according to the age of the participants. Based on the results obtained from the data collection, in this article it is shown how the knowledge about safety varies with the age, gender and location of the school (consequently with the socio-economic environment of the neighbourhood in which the school is located

Integrated monitoring of risks for Seveso plants

Design documentation, safety and security analysis, environmental studies, studies on organizational factors, product characterization, etc., constitute the knowledge base each process plant, with a higher or lower detail, uses for plant management. Most of this knowledge is often lost inside an accumulation of formal documents that are not made available for practical use, while it should be disclosed and exploited within a living model of the plant (updated in real time), to which the various actors should refer to make their decisions throughout the lifecycle of the installations. How to give a shared representation of the factory (state, history, behavior), in order to improve the reliability and flow of decision-making, investment, prevention, protection, crisis management? A Risk monitoring systems and knowledge management to be integrated in the architectures of the company IoT has been proposed, developed and tested in French national institute for industrial environment and risks (INERIS). The initial risk modelling embedded in the knowledge management systems, based on the bow-tie methodology to identify the barriers for critical sequences to the Major accidents and to assess their availability, to be used for decision making, has been here integrated with the Integrated Dynamic Decision Analysis in order to obtain the critical sequences of events, that include the operator contribution (in terms of errors and recovery), the barrier effectiveness and the plant behavior. The representation of the plant in the shape of sequences allow a more user-friendly management of the information and thus a simplified control of the coherence of the risk assessment modelling with the real plant behavior, and an enhanced decision-making support in the definition of plant control measures, both technical and operational. It also allows an easier integration of the data coming from the field, with traditional or new technologies, as virtual and augmented reality. The proposed solution is exemplified through the application to an ammonia storage plant

Endocrine metabolic response to surgical stress

La risposta metabolica allo stress chirurgic

Detection of Mycoplasma genitalium from urethral swabs of human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients

Mycoplasmas have been suggested as co-factors in the pathogenesis of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The prevalence of urethral infection by Mycoplasma genitalium was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with urethral swabs from 35 HIV-infected patients at different stages of the disease (all of them were heterosexual men). M genitalium was detected in 2 out of 19 non-AIDS (stage A and B) patients and in a similar proportion (1 out of 14; 7.1%) of samples from healthy individuals. A dramatic increase in the frequency of M. genitalium detection was observed in samples of AIDS (stage C) patients. In fact, 9 out of 16 (56,2%) specimens tested positive by PCR. We found no association in AIDS patients between M. genitalium infection and CD4 count, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) p24 antigenemia or opportunistic infection