29 research outputs found
Neurotrophin-3 and FLT3 Tyrosine Kinase Receptor in Perinatal Life
Our aim is to determine—in 30 healthy full-term infants and their mothers—circulating levels of neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) (important for antenatal and postnatal brain development and implicated in the immune response) and FLT3 tyrosine kinase receptor (FLT3) (controlling hematopoiesis and found in the nervous tissue), in the fetal and neonatal life. NT-3 levels, in contrast to FLT3 ones, increased significantly on the fourth postnatal day in relation to the low levels found in the mother, fetus, and day 1 neonate (P = .03, respectively). Maternal and umbilical NT3 levels positively correlated with respective FLT3 levels (P = .003 and P = .03). Circulating NT-3 levels increased in early neonatal life, possibly due to exposure to various stimuli soon after birth. FLT3 levels do not seem to behave accordingly, although these two substances probably synergize
Building Virtual Earth Observatories using Ontologies and Linked Geospatial Data
TELEIOS is a European project that addresses the need for scalable access to petabytes of Earth Observation data and the discovery of knowledge that can be used in applications. To achieve this, TELEIOS builds on scientific database technologies (array databases, SciQL, data vaults), Semantic Web technologies (stRDF and stSPARQL) and linked geospatial data. In this technical communication we outline the TELEIOS advancements to the state of the art and give an overview of its technical contributions up to today
Unpublished Mediterranean and Black Sea records of marine alien, cryptogenic, and neonative species
To enrich spatio-temporal information on the distribution of alien, cryptogenic, and
neonative species in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, a collective effort by 173
marine scientists was made to provide unpublished records and make them open
access to the scientific community. Through this effort, we collected and harmonized
a dataset of 12,649 records. It includes 247 taxa, of which 217 are Animalia, 25 Plantae
and 5 Chromista, from 23 countries surrounding the Mediterranean and the Black
Sea. Chordata was the most abundant taxonomic group, followed by Arthropoda,
Mollusca, and Annelida. In terms of species records, Siganus luridus, Siganus rivulatus,
Saurida lessepsianus, Pterois miles, Upeneus moluccensis, Charybdis (Archias)
longicollis, and Caulerpa cylindracea were the most numerous. The temporal
distribution of the records ranges from 1973 to 2022, with 44% of the records in
2020–2021. Lethrinus borbonicus is reported for the first time in the Mediterranean
Sea, while Pomatoschistus quagga, Caulerpa cylindracea, Grateloupia turuturu,
and Misophria pallida are first records for the Black Sea; Kapraunia schneideri is
recorded for the second time in the Mediterranean and for the first time in Israel;
Prionospio depauperata and Pseudonereis anomala are reported for the first time
from the Sea of Marmara. Many first country records are also included, namely:
Amathia verticillata (Montenegro), Ampithoe valida (Italy), Antithamnion
amphigeneum (Greece), Clavelina oblonga (Tunisia and Slovenia), Dendostrea cf.
folium (Syria), Epinephelus fasciatus (Tunisia), Ganonema farinosum (Montenegro),
Macrorhynchia philippina (Tunisia), Marenzelleria neglecta (Romania), Paratapes
textilis (Tunisia), and Botrylloides diegensis (Tunisia).peer-reviewe
Classifying current social responsibility accounting methods for assisting a dialogue between business and society
A reverse logistics social responsibility evaluation framework based on the triple bottom line approach
Today, reverse logistics systems are considered very important for businesses to improve their overall environmental and financial performance. The majority of the present models of environmental and sustainable reverse logistics systems mainly focus on a number of environmental and economic aspects. However, these models have recently incorporated a limited number of social aspects and much more must be done to have a more complete picture of the quality performance of reverse logistics systems as well as being a critical factor in measuring the contribution of a firm to sustainable development. This paper proposes an integrated model for introducing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability issues in reverse logistics systems as a means of developing a complete performance framework model. This will be done by developing a framework of performance indicators for measuring reverse logistics social responsibility performance based on the Triple Bottom Line approach (economic, environmental and social aspects). Finally, two numerical examples are presented in order to test the validity of the proposed framework
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An assessment framework of environmental management practices of EMAS certified firms
This article describes how the Environmental Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) is considered an effective means for firms to address environmental challenges such as wastewater treatment, solid waste management, recycling practices and air emissions control. Many of the present studies have mainly employed statistical and econometric methods to examine the role of EMAS certification, principally to identify potential relationships with economic and innovation parameters. This article aims to contribute to this academic field by analyzing the type of environmental issues addressed by EMAS certified firms. The method of analysis is based on the scoring/ benchmarking techniques for analyzing environmental statements published by EMAS certified firms. An application is made in a sample of EMAS certified Greek firms. The findings show that different environmental management practices have been undertaken by firms of different sectors. In general, the examined firms have focused on energy consumption, water reduction, solid waste management and air emission control issues, with little attention given to biodiversity topics. Finally, the best environmental scores were achieved by the petroleum industry, while the food sector ranked last overall
Mediators of Inflammation • Neurotrophin-3 and FLT3 Tyrosine Kinase Receptor in Perinatal Life
Our aim is to determine-in 30 healthy full-term infants and their mothers-circulating levels of neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) (important for antenatal and postnatal brain development and implicated in the immune response) and FLT3 tyrosine kinase receptor (FLT3) (controlling hematopoiesis and found in the nervous tissue), in the fetal and neonatal life. NT-3 levels, in contrast to FLT3 ones, increased significantly on the fourth postnatal day in relation to the low levels found in the mother, fetus, and day 1 neonate (P = .03, respectively). Maternal and umbilical NT3 levels positively correlated with respective FLT3 levels (P = .003 and P = .03). Circulating NT-3 levels increased in early neonatal life, possibly due to exposure to various stimuli soon after birth. FLT3 levels do not seem to behave accordingly, although these two substances probably synergize
Female gender is independently associated with increased carotid temperatures in patients with coronary artery disease
Background :
Limited are the data regarding the sex differences in functional carotid artery characteristics. Microwave Radiometry (MWR) is a new noninvasive method, which measures in vivo instantly the internal temperatures of tissues, reflecting inflammation. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), gender related differences apply in carotid plaque functional characteristics, as assessed by MWR.
Methods :
Consecutive patients with significant CAD were included in the study. All patients underwent evaluation of both carotid arteries by 1) ultrasound and 2) MWR. During ultrasound common carotid IMT and plaque thickness were assessed according to Mannheim consensus. During MWR measurements, temperature difference (ΔT) was assigned as maximal temperature along the carotid artery minus minimum. ΔT ≥ 0.90 °C was assigned as high ΔT.
Results :
In total 364 patients with significant CAD were included in the study. Of these 54 were female and 310 were male. Max plaque thickness and ccIMT were similar between males and females (2.38 ± 1.16 vs. 2.46 ± 1.12 mm, p = 0.63 and 0.944 ± 0.172 vs. 0.942 ± 0.169 mm, p = 0.96). Carotid arteries of females showed higher ΔT values (1.16 ± 0.48 vs 0.87 ± 0.45 °C, p < 0.001). Interestingly, females had more commonly high ΔT values bilaterally (35.2% vs 15.5%, p = 0.001). In multivariate analysis, female sex was independently associated with bilateral high ΔT, when adjusted to potential covariates (OR = 2.78, 95% CI = 1.42–5.45, p = 0.003).
Conclusions :
In patients with CAD, sex specific differences apply in functional but not in structural carotid artery characteristics. Whether this discrepancy has prognostic significance, remains to be clarified in future studies