Work environment, volume of activity and staffing in neonatal intensive care units in Italy: results of the SONAR-nurse study

Neonatal units' volume of activity, and other quantitative and qualitative variables, such as staffing, workload, work environment, care organization and geographical location, may influence the outcome of high risk newborns. Data about the distribution of these variables and their relationships among Italian neonatal units are lacking

Chanalyzer : a computational geometry approach for the analysis of protein channel shape and dynamics

Morphological analysis of protein channels is a key step for a thorough understanding of their biological function and mechanism. In this respect, molecular dynamics (MD) is a very powerful tool, enabling the description of relevant biological events at the atomic level, which might elude experimental observations, and pointing to the molecular determinants thereof. In this work, we present a computational geometry-based approach for the characterization of the shape and dynamics of biological ion channels or pores to be used in combination with MD trajectories. This technique relies on the earliest works of Edelsbrunner and on the NanoShaper software, which makes use of the alpha shape theory to build the solvent-excluded surface of a molecular system in an aqueous solution. In this framework, a channel can be simply defined as a cavity with two entrances on the opposite sides of a molecule. Morphological characterization, which includes identification of the main axis, the corresponding local radius, and the detailed description of the global shape of the cavity, is integrated with a physico-chemical description of the surface facing the pore lumen. Remarkably, the possible existence or temporary appearance of fenestrations from the channel interior towards the outer lipid matrix is also accounted for. As a test case, we applied the present approach to the analysis of an engineered protein channel, the mechanosensitive channel of large conductance

Cardiac amyloidosis: the great pretender

Cardiac amyloidosis (CA) is often misdiagnosed because of both physician-related and disease-related reasons including: fragmented knowledge among different specialties and subspecialties, shortage of centres and specialists dedicated to disease management, erroneous belief it is an incurable disease, rarity of the condition, intrinsic phenotypic heterogeneity, genotypic heterogeneity in transthyretin-related forms and the necessity of target organ tissue histological diagnosis in the vast majority of cases. Pitfalls, incorrect beliefs and deceits challenge not only the path to the diagnosis of CA but also the precise identification of aetiological subtype. The awareness of this condition is the most important prerequisite for the management of the risk of underdiagnoses and misdiagnosis. Almost all clinical, imaging and laboratory tests can be misinterpreted, but fortunately each of these diagnostic steps can also offer diagnostic “red flags” (i.e. highly suggestive findings that can foster the correct diagnostic suspicion and facilitate early, timely diagnosis). This is especially important because outcomes in CA are largely driven by the severity of cardiac dysfunction and emerging therapies are aimed at preventing further amyloid deposition

identifying the most promising agronomic adaptation strategies for the tomato growing systems in southern italy via simulation modeling

Abstract The main cultivation area of the Italian processing tomato is the Southern Capitanata plain. Here, the hardest agronomic challenge is the optimization of the irrigation water use, which is often inefficiently performed by farmers, who tend to over-irrigate. This could become unsustainable in the next years, given the negative impacts of climatic changes on groundwater availability and heat stress intensification. The aim of the study was to identify the most promising agronomic strategies to optimize tomato yield and water use in Capitanata, through a modeling study relying on an extensive dataset for model calibration and evaluation (22 data sets in 2005–2018). The TOMGRO simulation model was adapted to open-field growing conditions and was coupled with a soil model to reproduce the impact of water stress on yield and fruit quality. The new model, TomGro_field, was applied on the tomato cultivation area in Capitanata at 5 × 5 km spatial resolution using an ensemble of future climatic scenarios, resulting from the combination of four General Circulation Models, two extreme Representative Concentration Pathways and five 10-years time frames (2030–2070). Our results showed an overall negative impact of climate change on tomato yields (average decrease = 5–10%), which could be reversed by i) the implementation of deficit irrigation strategies based on the restitution of 60–70% of the crop evapotranspiration, ii) the adoption of varieties with longer cycle and iii) the anticipation of 1–2 weeks in transplanting dates. The corresponding irrigation amounts applied are around 360 mm, thus reinforcing that a rational water management could be realized. Our study provides agronomic indications to tomato growers and lays the basis for a bio-economic analysis to support policy makers in charge of promoting the sustainability of the tomato growing systems

Assessment of the Effects of Autonomous Mowers on Plant Biodiversity in Urban Lawns

Gaining information on the impact of lawn management with autonomous mowers on the floristic composition is crucial to improve their plant biodiversity. In this study, an autonomous mower with a reduced mowing frequency and a more sporadic mowing management system with a ride-on rotary mower were compared in terms of the effect on three dicotyledonous species (Phyla nodiflora, Lotus corniculatus and Sulla coronaria) transplanted onto stands of Bermuda and Manila grass. Regardless of the management system, P. nodiflora achieved the best results in terms of survival for both lawns (74.92 and 58.57% in Manila and Bermuda grass, respectively). In Bermuda grass, a higher percentage of surviving individuals was observed for the ordinary mower management system (42.59%), rather than with the autonomous mower (9.10%), while no differences emerged on Manila grass. On both Manila and Bermuda grass, a higher average percentage of coverage for single individual was observed for the ordinary mower management system (1.60 and 0.37%, respectively) compared to the autonomous mower system (0.55 and 0.08%, respectively). P. nodiflora had a higher percentage of individuals with flowers with the ordinary management system rather than with autonomous mower system both on Manila (60.73% and 33.90%, respectively) and Bermuda grass (48.66 and 3.32%, respectively). Despite a lower impact on the planted species being observed for the ordinary mower management system, encouraging results were obtained with the autonomous mower, for instance regarding the percentage of surviving individuals for P. nodiflora (33.95%) and L. corniculatus (22.08%) on Bermuda grass and the percentage of individuals with flowers for the same two species (33.90 and 13.59%, respectively) on Manila grass. Furthermore, the autonomous mower management system’s primary energy consumption over the year was lower compared to that of the ordinary system both on Manila (200.4 and 614.97 kWh ha−1 year−1, respectively) and Bermuda grass (177.82 and 510.99 kWh ha−1 year−1, respectively)

Inclusive Hadronic Decay Rate of the τ Lepton from Lattice QCD: The u[over ¯]s Flavor Channel and the Cabibbo Angle.

We present a lattice determination of the inclusive decay rate of the process τ↦X_{us}ν_{τ} in which the τ lepton decays into a generic hadronic state X_{us} with u[over ¯]s flavor quantum numbers. Our results have been obtained in n_{f}=2+1+1 isosymmetric QCD with full nonperturbative accuracy, without any operator product expansion approximation and, except for the presently missing long-distance isospin-breaking corrections, include a solid estimate of all sources of theoretical uncertainties. This has been possible by using the Hansen-Lupo-Tantalo method [M. Hansen et al., Phys. Rev. D 99, 094508 (2019)PRVDAQ2470-001010.1103/PhysRevD.99.094508] that we have already successfully applied [A. Evangelista et al., Phys. Rev. D 108, 074513 (2023)PRVDAQ2470-001010.1103/PhysRevD.108.074513] to compute the inclusive decay rate of the process τ↦X_{ud}ν_{τ} in the u[over ¯]d flavor channel. By combining our first-principles theoretical results with the presently available experimental data, we extract the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element |V_{us}|, the Cabibbo angle, with a 0.9% accuracy, dominated by the experimental error

Carpal tunnel syndrome in cardiac amyloidosis: implications for early diagnosis and prognostic role across the spectrum of aetiologies

n/

Disconnected contribution to the LO HVP term of muon g-2 from ETMC

We present a lattice determination of the disconnected contributions to the leading-order hadronic vacuum polarization (HVP) to the muon anomalous magnetic moment in the so-called short and intermediate time-distance windows. We employ gauge ensembles produced by the Extended Twisted Mass Collaboration (ETMC) with Nf=2+1+1 flavors of Wilson twisted-mass clover-improved quarks with masses approximately tuned to their physical value. We take the continuum limit employing three lattice spacings at a.bout 0.08, 0.07 and 0.06 fm

Insights on the association between thyroid diseases and colorectal cancer

Benign and malignant thyroid diseases (TDs) have been associated with the occurrence of extrathyroidal malignancies (EMs), including colorectal cancers (CRCs). Such associations have generated a major interest, as their characterization may provide useful clues regarding diseases’ etiology and/or progression, with the possible identification of shared congenital and environmental elements. On the other hand, elucidation of the underlying molecular mechanism(s) could lead to an improved and tailored clinical management of these patients and stimulate an increased surveillance of TD patients at higher threat of developing EMs. Here, we will examine the epidemiological, clinical, and molecular findings connecting TD and CRC, with the aim to identify possible molecular mechanism(s) responsible for such diseases’ relationship