New wine in new bottles: Visualizing the progression over time of the epidemics of tobacco smoking and obesity through the use of modified population pyramids

Tobacco smoking and obesity greatly contribute to premature death and disease in developed countries. In order to measure the extent to which these risk factors affect a population, as well as to describe the progression of these epidemics over time, routine surveillance of the prevalence of obesity and smoking is carried out by international organizations, national departments of health, and statistical offices. To this end, summary measures—like age-standardized rates, and tabular and graphical representations, such as maps—are used. In this study, we argue that population pyramids, a widely used demographic tool, may be easily adapted to provide relevant visual information for public health purposes. By means of two juxtaposed histograms, one for each gender, population pyramids show either the proportion or the actual number of subjects in each age and gender subgroup. We suggest that stratifying each bar of the two histograms according to ordinal categories of the health condition or risk factor examined may provide useful details on the relationship between this condition or factor and key demographic variables like age and gender. In addition, the actual number of exposed subjects can be immediately read from the graph. We therefore built a statistical routine with Stata to create modified population-pyramid plots separately for overweight/obese and current/former smoker. Data were derived from five National Health Interview Surveys carried out in Italy between 1983 and 2005. For each survey, data on age, gender, smoking status, height, and weight were extracted for subjects aged 20–99. Age and gender-specific prevalence rates of overweight/obese, and of current/former/never smoker were computed and applied to population estimates performed by the Italian national statistical institute (ISTAT). The resulting estimated numbers of underweight/normal weight/overweight/obese individuals and of former/current/never smokers were used to create the modified population pyramids. In conclusion, modified population pyramids may contribute to assessing the impact of risk factors on a population in absolute terms, to evaluating how these risk factors are distributed by age and gender, and to assessing how the age and gender distribution of these risk factors changes over time.

Morteros hidráulicos para enlucidos: caracterización mecánica y física de remedios tradicionales y productos industriales

La necesidad de atribuir propiedades impermeabilizantes a algunas superficies de construcciones acabadas con enlucidos, es decir, la necesidad de emplear materiales de revestimiento con resistencia mecánica mejor que las de los morteros de cal aérea, ha producido relaciones tecnicas quedadas casi invariadas en el tiempo desde la civilización romana hasta la importación de los aglutinantes hidráulicos, ampliamente empleados en la la obra de construcción desde el inicio del siglo pasado. La cultura técnica actual sugiere emplear en las obras de restauración de arquitecturas monumentales, materiales con prestaciones compatibles con lo que existe, y entonces con características mecánicas, químicas y físicas parecidas a las verificables en la construcción histórica: junto a volver a proponer materiales y tecnica deducidas por las tradiciones locales, se considera que la defensa del patrimonio histórico pueda realizarse tambièn con la utilización de tecnicas modernas, a condición de que la eficacia de éstas sea verificada científicamente y comprobada por experiencia. El presente estudio constituye una primera relación de las indagaciones que se están desarrolando actualmente en el DPCE de la Universidad de Palermo, en una tesis de doctorado. De acuerdo con las normas de procedimento a nivel nacional e internacional los experimentos de laboratorio aportan una serie de datos que se refieren a la caracterización mecánica y física de morteros para enlucidos, tanto preconfeccionados en establecimientos industriales como obtenidos mezclando los componenets básicos (aglutinante, agregadosreactivos y no-y agua). En los límites de las efectivas posibilidades tecnica, nos hemos orientado hacia las “recetas” de tipo traicional, muy difundidas por los tratados italianos y europeos, pero parcialmente reconocibles a través de análisis de laboratorio. La selección de los componentes básicos que se emplean en la ejecución de las pruebas , se ha dirigido hacia las materias primas (como las arenas locales, el “cocciopesto”, o la puzolana del Lazio) y productos de derivaciòn industrial (como el “grassello”, la cal hidráulica en polvo) comercializados en el ámbito palermitano o, mas genéricamente , de la Sicilia occidental; la estrechez del ámbito comercial es consiguiente a la observación de las exigencias económicas de la obra de restauración que, por naturaleza, tiene que ponerse en relación con las características materiales y ambientales de la estrecha área geográfica.Tópico 4: Morteros de cal, materiales cálcicos y cementíceos

Compact Thomson parabola spectrometer for fast diagnostics of different intensity laser-generated plasmas

A compact Thomson parabola spectrometer for diagnostics of laser-generated plasma, projected in Messina University, has been employed in different experiments concerning diagnostics of laser-generated plasmas. It allows to detect charged particles emitted from hot laser plasma and fast analyzing of their charge state, kinetic energy and mass-to-charge ratio. Moreover, it is possible to detect electrons emitted from laser-generated plasma. The spectrometer consists of a double pinhole input for alignment direction, a permanent magnet (0.004-4 kG) and an electric field ($0.05--5\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{kV}/\mathrm{cm}$) both orthogonal to the direction of the incident particles, and different type of planar detectors (multichannel plates, phosphorous screen, gafchromic, CR39 and PM 355 track detectors). Measurements have been acquired at MIFT in Messina observing electrons up to 10 keV kinetic energy, at INFN-LNS of Catania using ions emitted from plasma submitted to a postacceleration up to 30 kV per charge state and at PALS Laboratory in Prague detecting energetic ions above 1 MeV per charge state. The particles recognition using the Thomson spectrometer has been obtained comparing the experimental parabola curves with the theoretical simulations obtained using COMSOL software. Results will be presented and discussed

Migrant workers in Italy: an analysis of injury risk taking into account occupational characteristics and job tenure

Abstract Background Migrants resident in Italy exceeded 5 million in 2015, representing 8.2% of the resident population. The study of the mechanisms that explain the differential health of migrant workers (as a whole and for specific nationalities) has been identified as a priority for research. The international literature has shown that migrant workers have a higher risk of total and fatal injury than natives, but some results are conflicting. The aim of this paper is to study the injury risk differentials between migrants, born in countries with strong migratory pressure (SMPC), and workers born in high income countries (HIC), taking into account individual and firm characteristics and job tenure. In addition to a comprehensive analysis of occupational safety among migrants, the study focuses on Moroccans, the largest community in Italy in the years of the analysis. Methods Using the Work History Italian Panel-Salute integrated database, only contracts of employment in the private sector, starting in the period between 2000 and 2005 and held by men, were selected. The analysis focused on economic sectors with an important foreign component: engineering, construction, wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage. Injury rates were calculated using a definition of serious occupational injuries based on the type of injury. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) were calculated using a Poisson distribution for panel data taking into account time-dependent variables. Results Injury rates among SMPC workers were higher than for HIC workers in engineering (15.61 ‰ py vs. 8.92 ‰ py), but there were no significant differences in construction (11.21 vs. 10.09), transportation and storage (7.82 vs. 7.23) and the wholesale and retail sectors (4.06 vs. 4.67). Injury rates for Moroccans were higher than for both HIC and total migrant workers in all economic sectors considered. The multivariate analysis revealed an interaction effect of job tenure among both SMPC and Moroccan workers in the construction sector, while in the wholesale and retail trade sector an interaction effect of job tenure was only observed among Moroccan workers. Conclusions Migrant workers have higher occupational injury rates than Italians in the engineering and construction sectors, after two years of experience within the job. Generally the risk differentials vary depending on the nationality and economic sector considered. The analysis of injury risk among migrant workers should be restricted to serious injuries; furthermore, job tenure must be taken into account

A Conceptual Study on the Role of Blockchain in Sustainable Development of Public–Private Partnership

Background: Studies have highlighted how public–private partnerships are characterized by a lack of transparency, low availability of data, low accountability, and, often, strong opportunism. All these factors do not allow potential interested parties to trust it. This undermines the possibility of good cooperation between the public and private sectors and has presented a great limit for the Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) diffusion. Several articles in the literature highlight, in general, the numerous advantages generated using the blockchain in different organizations. The adoption of blockchain in the operation of PPPs could be a solution to overcome the limitations encountered in public–private partnerships. The aim of this study is to propose a theoretical framework aimed at connecting two topics (PPPs and Blockchain)—analyzed separately by literature—to highlight how blockchain can correct the limitations inherent to the functioning of traditional PPPs. Methods: The authors applied a qualitative research method to examine the role of blockchain from a PPP perspective. The authors present a conceptual work in which they advance a theoretical framework by integrating and proposing new relationships between constructs and developing logical arguments for these associations. Through a problem-focused approach, besides presenting a solution to overcome the critical issues, the authors also put forward ideas to help fill a gap in the literature to date. Results: The study showed that blockchain can generate a major shift in the function of PPPs. On the one hand, it makes it possible to overcome many limitations that have hindered the development of partnerships, thus making it possible to spread them further, while on the other hand, it has a positive impact on the strategic role of PPPs in achieving sustainable development goals. Conclusions: Blockchain technology is considered very immature, probably because a single underlying standard does not exist and concepts are difficult to master. Based on state-of- the-art standards, blockchain has the potential to be considered a transformative or even disruptive innovation for PPPs

Aspettative di vita, lavori usuranti e equità del sistema previdenziale. Prime evidenze dal Work Histories Italian Panel

Gender Wage Differentials, Equilibrium Search, Discrimination, Structural Estimation.Gender Wage Differentials, Equilibrium Search, Discrimination, Structural Estimation.

Antiseizure effects of cannabidiol leading to increased peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma levels in the hippocampal CA3 subfield of epileptic rats

We evaluated the effects of cannabidiol (CBD) on seizures and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPAR) levels in an animal model of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were continuously monitored by video-electrocorticography up to 10 weeks after an intraperitoneal kainic acid (15 mg/kg) injection. Sixty-seven days after the induction of status epilepticus and the appearance of spontaneous recurrent seizures in all rats, CBD was dissolved in medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil and administered subcutaneously at 120 mg/kg (n = 10) or 12 mg/kg (n = 10), twice a day for three days. Similarly, the vehicle was administered to ten epileptic rats. Brain levels of PPAR immunoreactivity were compared to those of six healthy controls. CBD at 120 mg/kg abolished the seizures in 50% of rats (p = 0.033 vs. pretreatment, Fisher’s exact test) and reduced total seizure duration (p < 0.05, Tukey Test) and occurrence (p < 0.05). PPAR levels increased with CBD in the hippocampal CA1 subfield and subiculum (p < 0.05 vs. controls, Holm–Šidák test), but only the highest dose increased the immunoreactivity in the hippocampal CA3 subfield (p < 0.001), perirhinal cortex, and amygdala (p < 0.05). Overall, these results suggest that the antiseizure effects of CBD are associated with upregulation of PPAR in the hippocampal CA3 region