COMe: the ontology of bioinorganic proteins

BACKGROUND: Many characterised proteins contain metal ions, small organic molecules or modified residues. In contrast, the huge amount of data generated by genome projects consists exclusively of sequences with almost no annotation. One of the goals of the structural genomics initiative is to provide representative three-dimensional (3-D) structures for as many protein/domain folds as possible to allow successful homology modelling. However, important functional features such as metal co-ordination or a type of prosthetic group are not always conserved in homologous proteins. So far, the problem of correct annotation of bioinorganic proteins has been largely ignored by the bioinformatics community and information on bioinorganic centres obtained by methods other than crystallography or NMR is only available in literature databases. RESULTS: COMe (Co-Ordination of Metals) represents the ontology for bioinorganic and other small molecule centres in complex proteins. COMe consists of three types of entities: 'bioinorganic motif' (BIM), 'molecule' (MOL), and 'complex proteins' (PRX), with each entity being assigned a unique identifier. A BIM consists of at least one centre (metal atom, inorganic cluster, organic molecule) and two or more endogenous and/or exogenous ligands. BIMs are represented as one-dimensional (1-D) strings and 2-D diagrams. A MOL entity represents a 'small molecule' which, when in complex with one or more polypeptides, forms a functional protein. The PRX entities refer to the functional proteins as well as to separate protein domains and subunits. The complex proteins in COMe are subdivided into three categories: (i) metalloproteins, (ii) organic prosthetic group proteins and (iii) modified amino acid proteins. The data are currently stored in both XML format and a relational database and are available at . CONCLUSION: COMe provides the classification of proteins according to their 'bioinorganic' features and thus is orthogonal to other classification schemes, such as those based on sequence similarity, 3-D fold, enzyme activity, or biological process. The hierarchical organisation of the controlled vocabulary allows both for annotation and querying at different levels of granularity

Stati plurinazionali e diritto a secedere. I casi di Catalogna e Scozia.

L’obiettivo del seguente lavoro vuole essere quello di approfondire alcune tematiche inerenti un generale movimento secessionista. La secessione come istituto risulta l’oggetto principale del mio operato. Ci si propone allora, attraverso la ricerca e l’analisi degli scritti più rilevanti in materia, di riuscire a definire la natura giuridica di questo fenomeno, o quantomeno di poter affermare se esso sia un mero fatto extra-giuridico o possa invece iniziare a farsi rientrare tra i progetti per una eventuale sua costituzionalizzazione. Per poter portare a termine gli obiettivi prepostoci, sarà necessario partire dalle diverse teorie emerse nel corso degli anni circa il fenomeno separatista. Inoltre, come ogni teoria vuole, sarà altrettanto imprescindibile una proiezione ai casi pratici: ed ecco che la Spagna e ed il Regno Unito appaiono oggi di estrema attualità. Nei mesi precedenti l’Europa tutta è rimasta incollata agli esiti delle due consultazioni svoltosi nelle rispettive comunità della Scozia e della Catalogna, in entrambi i casi per il raggiungimento dell’indipendenza. Il risultato sarà quello di una difficile categorizzazione dell’istituto, il quale potrà risultare legittimo solo a seguito di negoziazioni condotte attraverso le procedure legali previste all’interno dei singoli ordinamenti. Per concludere, i partiti nazionalisti e quelli che detengono il potere centrale dovranno essere i protagonisti di una ridiscussione costituzionale dei confini territoriali. Sebbene interessato pure l’ordinamento internazionale, esso non potrà essere soggetto attivo nella disputa bensì mero recettore a posteriori. This work aims to investigate about issues around the secessionists movements. Institute of secession is going to be the most important object of my analysis. What I expect to reach from this work, is to delineate legal nature of secession, if we can refer it as a historical fact or if we can speak with legal terms to insert it in a Constitution. To complete the goal, is absolute necessary start from different theories that analyze secession from different perspective; but it is not enough, to better understand is important to study some practical cases: Scotland and Catalonia are of course two priorities today. A few months ago, all Europe remained attached to the referendum supported. In both cases, citizens had the opportunity to vote in favor of an independent country. We will face on a difficult task to considerate a legal process of secession only when it is preceded by a true negotiation between the central government and the nationalist party. To this end, a emerge an important role of the action of the territorial party. At last, the international legal system is obviously interested in issues of national borders, but that doesn’t mean that secession can be considered as an international right such as self-determination. International system could be a subject who only afterwards can express his opinion about a secession movement

Splenomegaly impacts prognosis in essential thrombocythemia and polycythemia vera: A single center study

Splenomegaly is one of the major clinical manifestations of primary myelofibrosis and is common also in other chronic Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms, causing symptoms and signs and affecting quality of life of patients diagnosed with these diseases. We aimed to study the impact that such alteration has on thrombotic risk and on the survival of patients with essential thrombocythemia and patients with Polycythemia Vera (PV). We studied the relationship between splenomegaly (and its grade), thrombosis and survival in 238 patients with et and 165 patients with PV followed at our center between January 1997 and May 2019

Lattice-Boltzmann simulations of the thermally driven 2D square cavity at high Rayleigh numbers

The thermal lattice Boltzmann equation (TLBE) with multiple-relaxation-times (MRT) collision model is used to simulate the steady thermal con- vective ows in the two-dimensional square cavity with differentially heated vertical walls at high Rayleigh numbers. The MRT-TLBE consists of two sets of distribution functions, i.e., a D2Q9 model for the mass-momentum equations and a D2Q5 model for the temperature equation. The dimension- less ow parameters are the following: the Prandtl number Pr = 0:71 and the Rayleigh number Ra = 106, 107, and 108. The D2Q9+D2Q5 MRT-TLBE is shown to be second-order accurate and to be capable of yielding results of benchmark quality, including various Nusselt numbers and local hydrody- namic intensities. The results obtained by using the MRT-TLBE agree well with existing benchmark data obtained by other methods

Lattice-Boltzmann Simulations of the Thermally Driven 2D Square Cavity at High Rayleigh Numbers

The thermal lattice Boltzmann equation (TLBE) with multiple-relaxation-times (MRT) collision model is used to simulate the steady thermal convective flows in the two-dimensional square cavity with differentially heated vertical walls at high Rayleigh numbers. The MRT-TLBE consists of two sets of distribution functions, i.e., a D2Q9 model for the mass-momentum equations and a D2Q5 model for the temperature equation. The dimensionless flow parameters are the following: the Prandtl number Pr = 0.71 and the Rayleigh number Ra = 106, 107, and 108. The D2Q9 + D2Q5 MRT-TLBE is shown to be second-order accurate and to be capable of yielding results of benchmark quality, including various Nusselt numbers and local hydrodynamic intensities. Our results also agree well with existing benchmark data obtained by other method

Dinamiche dell’uso e delle coperture del suolo dell’ultimo mezzo secolo nel paesaggio forestale siciliano.

Il lavoro è stato realizzato nell’ambito dell’Azione 3 del progetto LIFE11 ENV IT 215 “RESILienza al cambiamento climatico nelle FOReste MEDiterranee”. In particolare, è stato implementato un sistema di monitoraggio attraverso indagini diacroniche sui principali contesti territoriali pre-forestali e forestali della Sicilia. L’analisi è stata condotta a livello di paesaggio in sei distretti forestali, rappresentativi delle principali categorie forestali della regione, quali i Sicani, le Madonie, i Nebrodi, l’Etna, l’area del Calatino (Sicilia SO) e l’isola di Pantelleria. L’analisi condotta ha come obiettivo il cambiamento dell’uso e delle coperture del suolo avvenuti nel corso dell’ultimo sessantennio. Per la realizzazione degli strati informativi si è fatto ricorso alla fotointerpretazione in ambiente GIS di immagini telerilevate. In particolare, le immagini utilizzate e gli strati informativi realizzati sono relativi a cinque periodi: 1955, 1966/68, 1988/89 (foto aeree), 2007/12 (ortofoto). Il dettaglio tematico delle coperture dei periodi 1988/89 e 2012 è stato realizzato a partire dalla legenda delle categorie forestali della Carta Forestale della Regione Siciliana (CFRS 2011), opportunamente aggiornata e verificata. Le coperture storiche sono state ottenute mediante apposita fotointerpretazione stereoscopica delle foto aeree relative agli anni 1955, 1966/68. Sono state inoltre realizzate, per tutti gli anni considerati, le carte del grado di copertura, utilizzando sei classi progressive. Per il confronto temporale delle coperture del suolo tra il 1988/89 e il 2012 è stato possibile ottenere un elevato livello di accuratezza tematica corrispondente alla legenda delle categorie forestali della CFRS, mentre per il periodo tra il 1954/55 e il 1966/68 l’accuratezza tematica ottenuta corrisponde al livello III della legenda Corine LC, lo stesso dettaglio ha riguardato il confronto diacronico tra 1955 e 2012. L’analisi diacronica degli usi e delle coperture del suolo ha permesso di individuare le componenti del manto forestale che nel periodo indagato non hanno subito trasformazioni nella propria struttura orizzontale; sono state cartografate le aree di variazione, per evidenziare l’entità e la direzione dei principali cambiamenti. I risultati dell’indagine diacronica conseguiti nei distretti forestali analizzati evidenziano importanti processi dinamici avvenuti in termini sia di cambiamento dell’uso e della copertura del suolo sia, soprattutto, in termini di aumento della complessità delle strutture forestali. Tali dinamiche mettono in evidenza anche le diversità tra i contesti territoriali analizzati in termini di potenzialità ecologico-forestale e livelli di antropizzazione/conservazione delle risorse forestali

Childhood immunization coverage during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Province of Siracusa, Italy

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted routine immunization activities and a decline in vaccination coverage has been documented around the world. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on routine childhood vaccination coverage in the Province of Siracusa, Italy. Methods: We compared 2020 and 2019 vaccination coverage by age group and vaccine type. Results were considered statistically significant at a two-tailed p-value ≤0.05. Results: Our findings show that vaccination coverage rates for mandatory and recommended vaccinations decreased in 2020 compared with the previous year (range from -1.4 % to -7.8%). Anti-rotavirus vaccination increased (+4.8%, as compared to 2019), while the reductions observed for polio vaccination (hexavalent) and human papillomavirus vaccination in males were not statistically significant. The reduction did not hit the population in the same manner, with the greater decreases observed for children aged >24 months compared to the younger (-5.5% vs. -2.2%) and for booster doses compared to the primary vaccinations (-6.4% vs. -2.6%). Conclusions: This study found that vaccination coverage of routine childhood immunisations was negatively affected during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Province of Siracusa. It is of huge importance to put in place some catch-up programs to ensure vaccinations at the earliest of individuals who missed immunization during the pandemic

Immunization status against measles of health-care workers operating at three sicilian university hospitals: An observational study

Measles is a highly contagious vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) that also commonly affects health-care workers (HCWs). Measles immunization of HCWs was strongly recommended by international health authorities, in order to limit the spreading of the illness to susceptible patients and colleagues. An observational study, evaluating the immunization and vaccination status against measles of HCWs working at three Sicilian university hospitals, was conducted. All subjects not completely immune (vaccinated with only one dose in their lifetime), not immune (not vaccinated or not naturally immunized), and with an unknown immunization status were considered not immunized. Among HCWs operating in the three Sicilian university hospitals, 54.6% were not immune against measles. The average age of not immune HCWs was 51.3 (SD ± 9.8), ranging between 25 and 71 years old. In particular, 46.9% of HCWs not immunized worked in “at-risk” hospital units, based on medical conditions of patients which increases the probability of contracting an infection. Vaccination coverage rates observed against measles are considerably lower than other European countries and inadequate. It is therefore crucial to tackle vaccine hesitancy among HCWs, promoting strategies targeted to evaluate immunization status against VPDs and to significantly increase vaccine coverages, such as tailored training and vaccination offer or compulsory vaccination program