Pollen-based temperature and precipitation changes in the Ohrid Basin (western Balkans) between 160 and 70 ka

Our study aims to reconstruct climate changes that occurred at Lake Ohrid (south-western Balkan Peninsula), the oldest extant lake in Europe, between 160 and 70&thinsp;ka (covering part of marine isotope stage 6, MIS 6; all of MIS 5; and the beginning of MIS 4). A multi-method approach, including the “Modern Analog Technique” and the “Weighted Averaging Partial Least-Squares Regression”, is applied to the high-resolution pollen sequence of the DEEP site, collected from the central part of Lake Ohrid, to provide quantitative estimates of climate and bioclimate parameters. This allows us to document climatic change during the key periods of MIS 6 and MIS 5 in southern Europe, a region where accurate climate reconstructions are still lacking for this time interval. Our results for the penultimate glacial show cold and dry conditions, while the onset of the “last interglacial” is characterized by wet and warm conditions, with temperatures higher than today (by ca. 2&thinsp;∘C). The Eemian also shows the well-known climatic tri-partition in the Balkans, with an initial pre-temperate phase of abrupt warming (128–121&thinsp;ka), a central temperate phase with decreasing temperatures associated with wet conditions (121–118&thinsp;ka), followed by a post-temperate phase of progressive change towards cold and dry conditions (118–112&thinsp;ka). After the Eemian, an alternation of four warm/wet periods with cold/dry ones, likely related to the succession of Greenland stadials and cold events known from the North Atlantic, occurred. The observed pattern is also consistent with hydrological and isotopic data from the central Mediterranean. The Lake Ohrid climate reconstruction shows greater similarity with climate patterns inferred from northern European pollen records than with southern European ones, which is probably due to its intermediate position and the mountainous setting. However, this hypothesis needs further testing as very few climate reconstructions are available for southern Europe for this key time period.</p

Large-Scale Distribution of the European Seahorses (Hippocampus Rafinesque, 1810): A Systematic Review

Human pressures on marine ecosystems have caused extensive degradation of marine habitats and several local extinctions. Overexploitation and destructive fishing practices are responsible for biodiversity loss in many coastal ecosystems. The definition of conservation programs in marine fish requires comprehensive knowledge on large-scale geographical distribution, while considering distribution/abundance patterns in relation to key environmental variables. Due to their life-cycle traits, the two European seahorses (Hippocampus guttulatus and H. hippocampus), as with other congeneric species, are particularly sensitive to the effects of anthropogenic activities and habitat changes. However, information on the ecological distribution of these two species is scattered, patchy, and mainly focused on small-scale studies. In this paper, we followed an international standard protocol for systematic reviews (the PRISMA protocol) to provide a detailed assessment of the two species’ geographical distribution in relation to the environmental characteristics. According to the 134 analyzed studies, Hippocampus guttulatus is more common in confined areas, while H. hippocampus is found in marine shelf waters. With several interspecific differences, seagrasses were the most used holdfasts of both species. The EUNIS codes (European nature information system) referring to a specific and unique habitat were discussed as a potential tool for defining the ecological distribution of the two species. The obtained results and their future implementation could help plan conservation actions

Corrigendum to “Pollen-based paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic change at Lake Ohrid (south-eastern Europe) during the past 500 ka” published in Biogeosciences, 13, 1423–1437, 2016

In this corrigendum we report an updated pollen record from the Lake Ohrid DEEP site spanning the past 500 ka whereby we have reprocessed and re-analyzed 104 samples affected by chemical procedure problems that occurred in one palynological laboratory. Firstly, these samples were affected by the use of wrong containers, causing in- adequate settling of particles at the set centrifuging speed. Secondly, HCl and HF treatments were combined without the prescribed intermediate centrifuging and decanting steps. The inaccuracy in the protocol resulted in the loss of smaller pollen grains and in the overrepresentation of bisaccate ones in most of the re-analyzed samples. We therefore provide an updated set of figures with the new data and have revised the description of the results, discussion and conclusions re- ported in Sadori et al. (2016) where necessary. We stress that the majority of the original results and conclusions remain valid, while the records’ reliability and resolution have improved as 12 samples that had been omitted in the original study because of low count sums are now included in the revised dataset (Sadori et al., 2018)

Association between work related stress and health related quality of life: the impact of socio-demographic variables. A cross sectional study in a region of central Italy

The aim of this work is investigate relationship between health-related quality of life and work-related stress and the impact of gender, education level, and age on this relationship. A cross-sectional study was conducted among workers of various setting in Rome and Frosinone. Work-related stress was measured with a demand-control questionnaire and health-related functioning by SF (short form)-12 health survey. There were 611 participants. Men reported high mental composite summary (MCS) and physical composite summary (PCS). In multivariate analysis age, gender (p < 0.001) and job demand (0.045) predicted low PCS. Low MCS predicted poor PCS. Job demand and educational level resulted negatively associated with MCS. In an analysis stratified for age, gender, and educational level, gender and age resulted effect modifier for MCS, gender and education level for PCS. In women increase of decision latitude predict (p = 0.001) an increase in MCS; a low job demand predict high MCS in male (p ≤ 0.001). In younger workers, a lower level of job demand predicted high MCS (<0.001). For PCS, gender and education level resulted effect modifier. In women, high decision latitude predicted higher PCS (p = 0.001) and lower level of job demand results in higher PCS (p ≤ 0.001). Higher educational level resulted predictor of low PCS. Management of risk about work-related stress should consider socio-demographic factors

Are there effective interventions to increase physical activity in children and young people? An umbrella review

Background: Obesity and physical inactivity among children and young people are public health concerns. While numerous interventions to promote physical activity are available, little is known about the most effective ones. This study aimed to summarize the existing evidence on interventions that aim to increase physical activity. Methods: A systematic review of reviews was conducted. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses published from January 2010 until November 2017 were identified through PubMed, Scopus and the Cochrane Library. Two reviewers independently assessed titles and abstracts, performed data extraction and quality assessment. Outcomes as level of physical activity and body mass index were collected in order to assess the efficacy of interventions. Results: A total 30 studies examining physical activity interventions met the inclusion criteria, 15 systematic reviews and 15 meta-analyses. Most studies (N = 20) were implemented in the school setting, three were developed in preschool and childcare settings, two in the family context, five in the community setting and one miscellaneous context. Results showed that eight meta-analyses obtained a small increase in physical activity level, out of which five were conducted in the school, two in the family and one in the community setting. Most promising programs had the following characteristics: included physical activity in the school curriculum, were long-term interventions, involved teachers and had the support of families. Conclusion: The majority of interventions to promote physical activity in children and young people were implemented in the school setting and were multicomponent. Further research is needed to investigate nonschool programs

House of Physical Activity Cards: the Lancet Observatory experience

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Fitting ODE models of tear film breakup

Several elements are developed to quantitatively determine the contribution of different physical and chemical effects to tear breakup (TBU) in normal subjects. Fluorescence (FL) imaging is employed to visualize the tear film and to determine tear film (TF) thinning and potential TBU. An automated system using a convolutional neural network was trained and deployed to identify multiple TBU instances in each trial. Once identified, extracted FL intensity data was fit by mathematical models that included tangential flow along the eye, evaporation, osmosis and FL intensity of emission from the tear film. Optimizing the fit of the models to the FL intensity data determined the mechanism(s) driving each instance of TBU and produced an estimate of the osmolarity within TBU. Initial estimates for FL concentration and initial TF thickness agree well with prior results. Fits were produced for $N=467$ instances of potential TBU from 15 normal subjects. The results showed a distribution of causes of TBU in these normal subjects, as reflected by estimated flow and evaporation rates, which appear to agree well with previously published data. Final osmolarity depended strongly on the TBU mechanism, generally increasing with evaporation rate but complicated by the dependence on flow. The method has the potential to classify TBU instances based on the mechanism and dynamics and to estimate the final osmolarity at the TBU locus. The results suggest that it might be possible to classify individual subjects and provide a baseline for comparison and potential classification of dry eye disease subjects

Aligning MIS5 proxy records from Lake Ohrid (FYROM) with independently dated Mediterranean archives: implications for core chronology

The DEEP site sediment sequence obtained during the ICDP SCOPSCO project at Lake Ohrid was dated using tephrostratigraphic information, cyclostratigraphy, and orbital tuning through marine isotope record. Although this approach is suitable for the generation of a general chronological framework of the long succession, it is insufficient to resolve more detailed paleoclimatological questions, such as leads and lags of climate events between marine and terrestrial records or between different regions. In this paper, we demonstrate how the use of different tie points can affect cyclostratigraphy and orbital tuning for the period between ca. 140 and 70 ka and how the results can be correlated with directly/indirectly radiometrically-dated Mediterranean marine and continental proxy records. The alternative age model obtained shows consistent differences with that proposed by Francke et al. (2015) for the same interval, in particular at the level of the MIS6-5e transition. According to this age model, different proxies from the DEEP site sediment record support an increase of temperatures between glacial to interglacial conditions, which is almost synchronous with a rapid increase in sea surface temperature observed in the western Mediterranean. The results show how important a detailed study of independent chronological tie points is for synchronizing different records and to highlight asynchronisms of climate events

'To school of prevention: the vaccinations', project in the ASL Roma 4

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The association between adherence to cancer screening programs and health literacy. A systematic review and meta-analysis

The effectiveness of a cancer screening program relies on its adherence rate. Health literacy (HL) has been investigated among the factors that could influence such participation, but the findings are not always consistent. The aim of this meta-analysis was to summarize the evidence between having an adequate level of HL (AHL) and adherence to cancer screening programs. PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched. Cross-sectional studies, conducted in any country, that provided raw data, unadjusted or adjusted odds ratio (OR) on the associations of interest were included. The quality of the studies was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Inverse-variance random effects methods were used to produce pooled ORs and their associated confidence interval (CI) stratified by time interval (e.g., undergoing screening in the last period, or at least once during lifetime) for each cancer type, considering unadjusted and adjusted estimates separately. A sensitivity analysis was performed for those studies providing more estimates. Overall, 15 articles of average-to-good quality were pooled. We found a significant association between AHL and higher screening participation for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer, independently of other factors, both overall (N = 7, aOR = 1.73; 95% CI: 1.27–2.36; N = 3, aOR = 1.64; 95% CI: 1.30–2.09; and N = 5, aOR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.12–1.39, respectively) and in most time-stratified analyses. The sensitivity analyses confirmed these results. Health literacy seems to be critical for an effective cancer prevention. Given the high prevalence of illiterate people across the world, a long-term action plan is needed