Are Europeans moving towards dietary habits more suitable for reducing cardiovascular disease risk?

Aims: Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death in Europe. Food choices represent the most important factors undermining health and well-being; they account for as much as half of all CVD deaths in Europe. The aim of this viewpoint is to evaluate food choices of the European population and their temporal trends in relation to possible effects on the cardiovascular disease risk. Data synthesis: The CVD death rate attributable to diet-related factors has fallen in Europe over the last 25 years; however, the pace of the reduction has slowed down in the last ten years. In parallel, in the last decade unfavorable changes in the dietary habits associated with CVD risk have occurred. Conclusions: A mismatch exists between the available evidence on the health-promoting potential of the diet and the relatively modest and inconsistent improvements of dietary habits in the European population observed in recent years. Nutritional education alone will not be enough to improve the lifestyle of people in Europe. Policy options to be considered to reach this aim should necessarily include also initiatives for facilitating production, marketing, availability and affordability of healthy foods in each and every European country

Wilson Loops and Area-Preserving Diffeomorphisms in Twisted Noncommutative Gauge Theory

We use twist deformation techniques to analyse the behaviour under area-preserving diffeomorphisms of quantum averages of Wilson loops in Yang-Mills theory on the noncommutative plane. We find that while the classical gauge theory is manifestly twist covariant, the holonomy operators break the quantum implementation of the twisted symmetry in the usual formal definition of the twisted quantum field theory. These results are deduced by analysing general criteria which guarantee twist invariance of noncommutative quantum field theories. From this a number of general results are also obtained, such as the twisted symplectic invariance of noncommutative scalar quantum field theories with polynomial interactions and the existence of a large class of holonomy operators with both twisted gauge covariance and twisted symplectic invariance.Comment: 23 page

I-21 Current therapeutic guidelines in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy to prolong life

Duchenne's myopathy is an X-linked disease with well defined evolutionary phases, characterized by degradation of the walking function, development of evolutive scoliosis and progressive decline of the respiratory function leading patients to premature death. In 1985 Y. Rideau in France carried out a new global therapeutic strategy for treatment of lower limb deformities, scoliosis deformity and progressive restrictive syndrome. The indication for surgery at the lower limbs is made very early, at the onset of the first signs of disease. The procedures are carried out at the same time and always bilaterally; they include: (i) hip section of superficial flexors; (ii) iliotibial band resection; (iii) subcutaneous tenotomy of semitendineous and gracilis; (iv) subcutaneous lengthening of Achilles tendons. In the post-operative period, the patient begins exercises of active and passive mobility in few days and after three weeks recovers his performances; ambulation will remain almost normal for several years. A comparison of two groups of patients, the first precociously operated on the lower limbs, the other one not operated, shows better performances in the operated group. The indications for surgical treatment of Duchenne scoliosis must be made after the loss of ambulation and not too late, to avoid the concurrent respiratory restrictive syndrome makes the patient inoperable. Over ten years ago, in Poitiers, a specific instrumentation for Duchenne scoliosis was created, providing for cylindrical rods fixed by peduncular screws at the sacro-lumbar level. On the dorso-lumbar level, the rod becomes flat to allow more flexibility of the trunk. The complications observed in a group of 55 patients operated for scoliosis, consisted in 2 cases of breaking of rods and 1 superficial infection. The surgery approach in DMD has the double aim to prolong the time of the autonomous ambulation and to avoid the evolution of scoliosis, limiting the harmful effects of the scoliosis on the respiratory function. However, the surgery alone is unable to prolong the life expectancy in these patients, without treating the restrictive respiratory syndrome, first by nasal ventilation and then by elective tracheotomy, essential for the survival of the patient

Biostratigraphy of the upper Bajocian-middle Callovian (Middle Jurassic), South America

The biostratigraphic division of the upper Bajocian-middle Callovian of South America is based on ammonites from different sections of the following provinces and regions: Neuquén, Mendoza, and San Juan in Argentina; Malleco, Linares, Talca, Atacama, Antofagasta, and Tarapacá in Chile. The complete upper Bajocian-middle Callovian succession includes the following biostratigraphic units: the Megasphaeroceras magnum assemblage zone, lowermost upper Bajocian; the Cadomites-Tulitidae mixed assemblage, (?lower) middle and upper Bathonian; the Steinmanni zone, index Lilloettia steinmanni (Spath), uppermost Bathonian, with two local horizons — Stehnocephalites gerthi horizon (Argentina) and Choffatia jupiter horizon (northern Chile); the Vergarensis zone, index Eur y cep halites vergarensis (Burck.), near the Bathonian-Callovian boundary; the Bodenbenderi zone, index Neuquenicerás (Frickites) bodenbenderi (Tornq.), lower Callovian; the Proximum zone, index Hecticoceras proximum Elmi, uppermost lower Callovian; and the Rehmannia (Loczyceras) patagoniensis horizon, middle Callovian.La división bioestratigráfica del Bajociano superior-Caloviano inferior de América del Sur esté basada en la fauna de amonites proveniente de diferentes secciones de las provincias/regiones de Neuquén, Mendoza, San Juan (Argentina), Malleco, Linares, Talca, Atacama, Antofagasta, y Tarapacá (Chile). La sucesión del Bajociano superior-Caloviano medio incluye las siguientes unidades bioestratigráfícas: zona de asociación de Megasphaeroceras magnum, Bajociano superior bajo; asociación de mezcla de Cadomites- Tulitidae, Bathoniano (?inferior) medio y superior; zona de Steinmanni, fósil guía Lilloettia steinmanni (Spath), Bathoniano superior alto, con dos horizontes locales — horizonte con Stehnocephalites gerthi (Argentina) y horizonte con Choffatia jupiter (norte de Chile); zona de Vergarensis, fósil guía Eurycephalites vergarensis (Burck.), aproximadamente límite Bathoniano-Caloviano; zona de Bodenbenderi, fósil guía Neuquenicerás (Frickites) bodenbenderi (Tornq.), Caloviano inferior; zona de Proximum, fósil guía Hecticoceras proximum Elmi, Caloviano inferior alto; horizonte con Rehmannia (Loczyceras) patagoniensis, Caloviano medio.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Biostratigraphy of the upper Bajocian-middle Callovian (Middle Jurassic), South America

The biostratigraphic division of the upper Bajocian-middle Callovian of South America is based on ammonites from different sections of the following provinces and regions: Neuquén, Mendoza, and San Juan in Argentina; Malleco, Linares, Talca, Atacama, Antofagasta, and Tarapacá in Chile. The complete upper Bajocian-middle Callovian succession includes the following biostratigraphic units: the Megasphaeroceras magnum assemblage zone, lowermost upper Bajocian; the Cadomites-Tulitidae mixed assemblage, (?lower) middle and upper Bathonian; the Steinmanni zone, index Lilloettia steinmanni (Spath), uppermost Bathonian, with two local horizons — Stehnocephalites gerthi horizon (Argentina) and Choffatia jupiter horizon (northern Chile); the Vergarensis zone, index Eur y cep halites vergarensis (Burck.), near the Bathonian-Callovian boundary; the Bodenbenderi zone, index Neuquenicerás (Frickites) bodenbenderi (Tornq.), lower Callovian; the Proximum zone, index Hecticoceras proximum Elmi, uppermost lower Callovian; and the Rehmannia (Loczyceras) patagoniensis horizon, middle Callovian.La división bioestratigráfica del Bajociano superior-Caloviano inferior de América del Sur esté basada en la fauna de amonites proveniente de diferentes secciones de las provincias/regiones de Neuquén, Mendoza, San Juan (Argentina), Malleco, Linares, Talca, Atacama, Antofagasta, y Tarapacá (Chile). La sucesión del Bajociano superior-Caloviano medio incluye las siguientes unidades bioestratigráfícas: zona de asociación de Megasphaeroceras magnum, Bajociano superior bajo; asociación de mezcla de Cadomites- Tulitidae, Bathoniano (?inferior) medio y superior; zona de Steinmanni, fósil guía Lilloettia steinmanni (Spath), Bathoniano superior alto, con dos horizontes locales — horizonte con Stehnocephalites gerthi (Argentina) y horizonte con Choffatia jupiter (norte de Chile); zona de Vergarensis, fósil guía Eurycephalites vergarensis (Burck.), aproximadamente límite Bathoniano-Caloviano; zona de Bodenbenderi, fósil guía Neuquenicerás (Frickites) bodenbenderi (Tornq.), Caloviano inferior; zona de Proximum, fósil guía Hecticoceras proximum Elmi, Caloviano inferior alto; horizonte con Rehmannia (Loczyceras) patagoniensis, Caloviano medio.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Recent evolution of the Punta San Matteo serac (Ortles-Cevedale Group, Italian Alps)

This paper summarizes the main results of surveys carried out on the Punta San Matteo serac (Ortles-Cevedale Group, Italy). The monitoring campaigns mainly consisted in surveying the serac with a Total Station (over the period from July 2005 to November 2005) and with a laser scanner. The displacements of the unstable ice mass (about 12 m) and its geometry and volume (about 560,000 m') have been calculated. In addition several photographs collected during the field campaigns made it possible to describe the evolution of this unstable ice mass and recorded its partial collapse and gradual breaking into tiny parts. The air temperature trend was also evaluated; the serac displacements resulted not strongly correlated with temperature evolution and the main falling events occurred in the autumn and not in summer when air temperature reached the highest peaks