Aplotipi del sistema beta-adrenergico e risposta ai betabloccanti

Background: the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the adrenergic system with essential hypertension (EH) and with the blood pressure (BP) response to beta-blockers is debated. Aims: to analyse the association of haplotypes of the adrenergic system with EH and with the BP response to atenolol. Materials and Methods: in 1112 never treated EH patients and 203 normotensives, tightly linked single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of beta-adrenergic receptors (ADRB1--Ser49Gly and Arg389Gly--; ADRB2--Cys19Arg, Gly16Arg and Gln27Glu--) and G-protein beta3-subunit (GNB3-- A3882C, G5249A and C825T--) were genotyped (either PCR followed by RFLP or Realtime Taq-Man PCR). Association of haplotypes with EH and with the BP response to atenolol 50 mg b.i.d. in a subgroup of EH patients (n= 340) was evaluated (Haploview 3.2, Stata 9.2). Results: no SNPs or haplotypes were associated with EH. In females only, GNB3 SNPs and haplotypes were associated with the BP response (p<0.05). Conclusions: our study confirmed the sex-specific association of GNB3 with the BP response to atenolol with no substantial advantage of the analysis of haplotypes over SNPs

Value Co-Destruction: a Text-Mining-Based Mixed Method Study on Social Media Interactions

To better understand how big data interconnects firms and customers, we analyse the role of customers’ emotions in the process of value co-destruction in a social media context. We perform a text mining based algorithm capable of identifying anger, expectation, disgust, fear, and sadness in peaks of problematic social interactions. The developed algorithm associated with an in-depth qualitative analysis shows how to employ unstructured big data to understand the role of negative emotions in the process of value co-destruction

Comparison of Pre- and Post-Remediation Stream Water Chemistry in the Arsenic-Contaminated Baccu Locci Mine Watershed (Italy): Preliminary Data

AbstractEnvironmental issues related to past mining activities have become the subject of public interest only in the last 20-25 years. Consequently, experience related to the mitigation and control of environmental pollution in mining areas is a recent development. The existing methods of remediation are often partially ineffective, especially when applied without an in-depth geochemical and mineralogical study of the site. This paper reports on preliminary data concerning the effect of remediation actions in an arsenic-contaminated mine watershed (Baccu Locci mine – Italy) a few months from its completion. The persistence of the pre-remediation conditions raises some doubt on the effectiveness of the undertaken remediation actions, even if more time is certainly needed to reach a new environmental steady state. Much remains to be learned about mistakes and successes of mine site remediation, and the monitoring of the Baccu Locci area represents an opportunity to acquire new fundamental knowledge on this issue

Time to clean up food production? Digital technologies, nature-driven agility, and the role of managers and customers

This article employs a multiple-case study research design to unpack the complex relationship between digital transformation, agility, and environmental sustainability in the agri-food industry. Our findings show that to achieve a cleaner food production that does not compromise the natural life cycle, firms need to deploy naturedriven agility, a novel type of agility. We conceptualized nature-driven agility as the firm ability to flexibly and effectively utilize natural resources to adapt the full production process to market changes and capture new value-creation opportunities within nature constraints. This study found that nature-driven agility relies on digital technologies to make predictions about natural resource dynamics that may impact the critical steps of the agri-food production process. We also identify some factors that clarify how the benefits of nature-driven agility on cleaner food production strongly depend on managers’ commitment to environmental sustainability and the pressure of customers for new products aligned with ecological sustainability purposes. Finally, we synthesized the findings in the Nature-driven Agility (NaDrA) framework, which practitioners can use to design proper operations that capture value-creation opportunities while improving agri-food firms’ environmental performance

Digital Transformation Through the Lens of Digital Data Handling: An Exploratory Analysis of Agri-Food SMEs

This study aims to explore digital transformation and the level of sophistication in the digital data handling strategy by agri-food small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By developing an exploratory multiple-case study that involves fourteen food processing SMEs, this paper identifies a data processing flow made up of the following phases: data generation, data acquisition, data storage, data analysis, and data exploitation. In addition, it shows how data processing flow may occur in a number of ways, thereby classifying the agri-food SMEs’ digital transformation as paper master, digital wannabe, and digital champion. Hence, the article contributes to providing the conceptualization of a data processing flow, which includes the progressive stages in data management identified across firms by proposing a data handling strategy framework. Such a framework offers a snapshot of firms at various levels of digitization in their handling of various kinds of data, thus clarifying how the strategies of data processing flow occur

low enthalpy geothermal systems for air conditioning a case study in the mediterranean climate

Abstract This paper presents a preliminary evaluation of the technical and economic feasibility of a low-enthalpy geothermal system for air conditioning and its integration with other systems, including a photovoltaic plant and an electrical storage system. The pilot building is a research center located in the southern side of the Mediterranean basin (Sardinia, Italy). Preliminarily, the main geological, hydrogeological and geothermal characteristics of the area were analyzed. Then, an energetic assessment of the building and its plants was performed. The hourly production of a photovoltaic plant already designed for the building was assessed. To improve the energy efficiency and the thermal energy self-consumption, an alternative thermal generation plant was proposed to replace the existing air conditioning system: a water-water heat pump coupled with a low-enthalpy geothermal probe (vertical configuration), to be embedded into the ground or placed into an existing groundwater well. The feasibility of electric storage was evaluated by considering a system capacity of 100 kWh to temporarily store and self-consume the electricity overproduced by the photovoltaic plant. A preliminary economic assessment showed the viability of the photovoltaic system. The 100 kWh-capacity electric storage will increase the self-production percentage, but it is not economically affordable. The replacement of the current air-water heat pumps with one water-water heat pump will be economically convenient if coupled with a groundwater geothermal probe, but the solution of a vertical probe embedded into the ground is unsustainable, due to high drilling costs

Animal Forest Mortality: Following the Consequences of a Gorgonian Coral Loss on a Mediterranean Coralligenous Assemblage

In this work, the consequences of a local gorgonian coral mortality on the whole coralligenous assemblage were studied. A Before/After-Control/Impact sampling design was used: the structure of the coralligenous assemblage was compared before and after the gorgonian mortality event at the mortality site and two control sites. At the mortality site, a relevant decrease in alpha and beta diversity occurred, with a shift from a stratified assemblage characterized by gorgonians and other invertebrates to an assemblage dominated by algal turfs; conversely, neither significant variations of the structure nor decrease in biodiversity were observed at the control sites. The assemblage shift involved the main taxa in different times: in autumn 2018, a large proportion of the plexaurid coral Paramuricea clavata died, but no significant changes were observed in the structure of the remaining assemblage. Then, in autumn 2019, algal turfs increased significantly and, one year later, the abundance of the gorgonian Eunicella cavolini and bryozoans collapsed. Although the mechanisms of the assemblage shift following gorgonian loss will remain uncertain and a cause-effect relationship cannot be derived, results suggest the need for detecting signs of gorgonian forests stress in monitoring programs, which should be considered early indicators of their condition. in the coralligenous monitoring programs for detecting any sign of gorgonian forests stress which should be considered an early indicator of the assemblage condition