Interaction of coffee compounds with serum albumins. Part II: Diterpenes

Cafestol and 16-O-methylcafestol are diterpenes present in coffee, but whilst cafestol is found in both Coffea canephora and Coffea arabica, 16-O-methylcafestol (16-OMC) was reported to be specific of only C. canephora. The interactions of such compounds, with serum albumins, have been studied. Three albumins have been considered, namely human serum albumin (HSA), fatty acid free HSA (ffHSA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA). The proteins interact with the diterpenes at the interface between Sudlow site I and the fatty acid binding site 6 in a very peculiar way, leading to a significant change in the secondary structure. The diterpenes do not displace reference binding drugs of site 2, but rather they enhance the affinity of the site for the drugs. They, therefore, may alter the pharmacokinetic profile of albumin \u2013 bound drugs

Population Data for Y-Chromosome Haplotypes Defined by AmpFlSTR YFiler PCR Amplification Kit in North Sardinia (Italy)

The 17 Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) included in the AmpFlSTR YFiler Amplification Kit (AB Applied Biosystems) (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635 and GATA H4.1) were typed in 100 samples from North Sardinia (Italy). A total of 91 different haplotypes were found, where 9 haplotypes were shared by two individuals. The overall haplotype diversity (HD) was 0.9982. DYS458 non-consensus alleles were found in one samples, and one in the DYS438. We found a double peak in one sample for the DYS19 with alleles 15/16. Population comparisons with available 10 YSTR loci data in Mediterranean Basin samples were undertaken, significant differences were observed between our sample and all the compared populations, except for a entire sample from Sardinia. Prediction of haplogroups showed I2a1 was found to be the most frequent haplogroup (33%) in our sample. Testing high-resolution Y-chromosome data sets it is useful in autochthonous population and micro-population studies to highlight the most informative loci for evolutionary aims

Study of debris-flow initiation through the analysis of seismic signals

Monitoring data gathered in the headwaters of the Gadria catchment, eastern Italian Alps, have been analysed to study debris-flow initiation. The active channel, located at 2200 m a.s.l., was instrumented with a geophone, a time-lapse video camera and a rain gauge. The peak amplitude and duration of the seismic signals and their frequency content were analysed and compared with video images. Results showed that different seismic sources produced signals with different characteristics and that it is possible to discriminate the most intense runoff by analysing the combination of peak amplitude and duration of the seismic signal. The further development of this research would be to create an algorithm able to automatically classify the seismic sources and identify intense channel processes that can generate debris flows. In perspective, the combination of seismic detection in the initiation area with monitoring just above the infrastructures at risk could represent an effective solution to expand the lead time of an early warning system

Medical Costs of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in a Single Payer System: A Classification and Regression Tree Analysis

Background and objectives Many studies and systematic reviews have estimated the healthcare costs of diabetes using a cost-of-illness approach. However, in the studies based on this approach patients\u2019 heterogeneity is rarely taken into account. The aim of this study is to stratify patients with type-2 diabetes into homogeneous cost groups based on demographic and clinical characteristics. Methods We conducted a retrospective cost of illness study by linking individual data on health services utilization retrieved from the administrative databases of Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy). Direct medical costs (either all-cause or diabetes-related) were calculated from the perspective of regional health service, using tariffs for hospitalizations and outpatient services and the unit costs of prescriptions for drugs. The determinants of costs identified in a generalized linear regression model were used to characterize subgroups of patients with homogeneous costs in a classification and regression tree analysis. Results The study population consists of a cohort of 101,334 patients with type 2 diabetes, followed up for 1 year, with a mean age of 70.9 years. Age, gender, complications, comorbidities and living area accounted significantly for cost variability. The classification tree identified 10 patient subgroups with different costs, ranging from a median of \u20ac 483 to \u20ac 39,578. The 2 subgroups with highest costs comprised dialysis patients and the largest subgroup (57.9%) comprised patients aged 6565 years without renal, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications. Conclusions Patients\u2019 classification into homogeneous cost subgroups can be used to improve the management and budget allocation for patients with type 2 diabetes

Pediatric Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection and cancer in the Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment (HAART) era

Abstract Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) changed the natural history of pediatric HIV infection. This review focuses on trends of HIV-associated cancers in childhood in the HAART era and analyses potential pathogenetic mechanisms. HAART reduced AIDS-defined-malignancies (ADM), but incidence of several non-ADM is increasing. HIV-associated immune activation and inflammation, promoting tumorigenesis, can only partially be reduced by HAART. In addition, HIV-infected children may undergo accelerated immune senescence that favors cancer development. How HAART affects this condition is an open question. Lastly, there is no evidence that prenatal exposure to HAART increases the risk of cancer in childhood, but long-term studies are needed