Generational Relations, Technology and Digital Communication: a Comparison between Multicultural and Native Families

The paper presents some first results of an ongoing research on the transformational decision-making processes within the family dialogue in relation to the use of digital technologies by adults and adolescents for study and work. Are these processes perceived differently within multicultural families than within native families? Besides analysing these issues, the paper presents an interesting insight into the so-called “media diet” of adolescents, with a focus on the pandemic period. The research was carried out by administering a questionnaire to almost four hundred students at a high school in Reggio Emilia (Italy)

Contesto familiare/culturale nel divide generazionale introdotto dalle tecnologie digitali

The transformations taking place in the contexts of pervasive use of social media by the adolescent generation, especially the degree of full immersion that this has caused, prompt an exploration through an empirical research project of the domestication patterns involving families today on the front of the moral economy related to new media. The overall objective is to de- scribe the students’ opinions on their own digital skills and habits and to collect their perceptions on adults’ digital skills and habits. Sharing of view- points and meanings can serve to limit the creation of a generation gap due to different approaches to digital tools. We produced and administered a 90-item questionnaire with open-ended and closed-ended questions to 362 students at a high school in Reggio Emi- lia, Italy. The questionnaire was administered online in the period between March and April 2022

Study of the human hypoglossal nucleus: Normal development and morpho-functional alterations in sudden unexplained late fetal and infant death

Abstract This study evaluated the development and the involvement in sudden perinatal and infant death of the medullary hypoglossal nucleus, a nucleus that, besides to coordinate swallowing, chewing and vocalization, takes part in inspiration. Through histological, morphometrical and immunohistochemical methods in 65 cases of perinatal and infant victims (29 stillbirths, 7 newborns and 29 infants), who died of both unknown and known cause, the authors observed developmental anomalies of the hypoglossal nucleus (HGN) in high percentage of sudden unexplained fetal and infant deaths. In particular, HGN hypoplasia, hyperplasia, positive expression of somatostatin and absence of interneurons were frequently found particularly in infant deaths, with a significant correlation with maternal smoking

El mantenimiento en la Empresa Provincial Integral de Transporte de Granma (Original)

The present work was carried out at Granma Integral Provincial Transport Company. It was developed with the objective of evaluating the quality of the technical maintenance of Diana buses in the above-mentioned company, through the use of world-class indicators. For this study, the methodology for calculating maintenance indicators, also called World Class indices was applied, in order to determine the technical quality of five buses under working or operating conditions; as well as the quality in the maintenance applied to this equipment to improve their technical performance. Likewise, the corresponding formulas were applied to allow revealing the quality of the technical services performed, and based on that information, issue evaluative criteria about the management of the maintenance function in the already mentioned company. Essentially, the Mean Time to Repair (TMPR), the Technical Availability (DISP) and the cost of maintenance by billing (CMFT), and some others, were taken into account. Among the main results, availability per equipment (DISP) stands out with an average value of 98,96% for the year 2019 and 98,22% for 2020, a result that according to Tavares (2008) can be considered acceptable. Finally, the quality of technical maintenance at Granma Integral Provincial.El presente trabajo se realizó en la Empresa Provincial Integral de Transporte Granma. Se desarrolló con el objetivo de evaluar la calidad del mantenimiento técnico de los ómnibus Diana, mediante la utilización de los indicadores de clase mundial. Para este estudio se aplicó la metodología de cálculo de los indicadores de mantenimiento o también llamados índices de clase mundial, con el fin de determinar la calidad técnica de cinco ómnibus bajo las condiciones de trabajo u operación de los mismos, así como la calidad en el mantenimiento aplicado a estos equipos para la mejora del desempeño técnico de cada uno. En el mismo se aplican las fórmulas correspondientes que permiten revelar la calidad de los servicios técnicos realizados, y sobre la base de dicha información, emitir criterios evaluativos acerca de la gestión de la función mantenimiento en la mencionada entidad. Esencialmente se tienen en cuenta el tiempo medio para la reparación, la disponibilidad técnica y el costo de mantenimiento por facturación, entre otros. Dentro de los principales resultados se destaca la disponibilidad por equipo, con unos valores promedios aceptables para cada año estudiado. De igual modo, la calidad de los mantenimientos técnicos en la Empresa Provincial Integral de Transporte Granma, durante el período observado, se catalogó de aceptable

Perianal abscess: a descriptive analysis of cases treated at the Hospital Santa Marcelina, São Paulo

AbstractIntroductionPerianal suppurations have an incidence of 1–2:10,000 inhabitants per year and represent about 5% of proctology consultations, more frequently in males, being rare in childhood. Although perianal or anorectal abscess is an entity of relatively simple diagnosis and treatment, in a considerable percentage of patients difficulties will be found, especially considering that the initial treatment of these patients is performed by non-specialist physicians.ObjectiveThis is a retrospective survey of cases of perianal and anorectal abscess operated in Santa Marcelina Hospital between October 2011 and December 2014.Patients and methodsA retrospective study of patients operated on an emergency basis for perianal and/or anorectal abscess in Santa Marcelina Hospital between October 2011 and December 2014, being excluded patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Data of gender, age, clinical presentation, the season of the year in which the abscess occurred, time of progression of symptoms, comorbidities, signs of Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) on admission, surgeries carried out, reoperations and clinical outcome were analyzed.ResultsElectronic medical records of 52 patients (73.1% male) who underwent surgical treatment of anorectal and perianal abscess were analyzed. The mean overall age was 43.03 years, and all patients reported pain as the main symptom, with a mean time of symptoms of 6.5 days. As for the season of the year of onset and diagnosis of perianal abscess, 61.5% of patients had this pathology in the summer and spring months.ConclusionIn our study, it can be observed a higher incidence of perianal abscess in males and in the warmer months; furthermore, just over half of the patients developed perianal fistula in their progression

Elevated serum Neurofilament Light chain (NfL) as a potential biomarker of neurological involvement in Myotonic Dystrophy type 1 (DM1)

Background Cognitive and behavioural symptoms due to involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) are among the main clinical manifestations of Myotonic Dystrophy type 1 (DM1). Such symptoms affect patients' quality of life and disease awareness, impacting on disease prognosis by reducing compliance to medical treatments. Therefore, CNS is a key therapeutic target in DM1. Deeper knowledge of DM1 pathogenesis is prompting development of potential disease-modifying therapies: as DM1 is a rare, multisystem and slowly progressive disease, there is need of sensitive, tissue-specific prognostic and monitoring biomarkers in view of forthcoming clinical trials. Circulating Neurofilament light chain (NfL) levels have been recognized as a sensitive prognostic and monitoring biomarker of neuroaxonal damage in various CNS disorders. Methods We performed a cross-sectional study in a cohort of 40 adult DM1 patients, testing if serum NfL might be a potential biomarker of CNS involvement also in DM1. Moreover, we collected cognitive data, brain MRI, and other DM1-related diagnostic findings for correlation studies. Results Mean serum NfL levels resulted significantly higher in DM1 (25.32 +/- 28.12 pg/ml) vs 22 age-matched healthy controls (6.235 +/- 0.4809 pg/ml). Their levels positively correlated with age, and with one cognitive test (Rey's Auditory Verbal learning task). No correlations were found either with other cognitive data, or diagnostic parameters in the DM1 cohort. Conclusions Our findings support serum NfL as a potential biomarker of CNS damage in DM1, which deserves further evaluation on larger cross-sectional and longitudinal studies to test its ability in assessing brain disease severity and/or progression

Paraneoplastic Hypercalcemia Secondary to Canine Mammary Tumors

Background: Paraneoplastic syndromes are complexes symptom that occur at a distinct site from the primary tumor or its metastasis by the production of hormone by the tissue in which the tumor appears. Paraneoplastic hypercalcemia is associated with an abnormal elevation of serum calcium levels and the mainly tumor related to this syndrome in canine is lymphoma, anal sac apocrine gland adenocarcinoma and multiple myeloma. In mammary tumors, the most frequent tumor that affect female dogs, this syndrome was also observed. The aims of this study were to evaluate serum calcium levels in female dogs with malignant mammary tumors and correlate calcium levels with clinicopathological parameters.Materials, Methods & Results: It was evaluated fifty-one female dogs with mammary carcinomas (simple carcinomas and carcinoma in mixed tumors) for serum calcium levels using colorimetric test. Clinical-histopathological data as spray status, pseudopregnancy, tumor size, ulceration, clinical staging, histopathological type and tumor grade were also evaluated in association with serum calcium levels. All dogs were treated with unilateral mastectomy. It was observed that 18 animals (35%) had calcium serum levels increased (>11.5 mg/dL) and 56% (10/18 cases) of these animals had serum calcium levels higher than 12 mg/dL. All dogs with hypercalcemia were asymptomatic, including two female dogs that presented the highest levels (13.43 mg/dL and 14.28 mg/dL). Hypercalcemia of malignancy was related to mammary carcinomas after the exclusion of other causes of hypercalcemia through laboratory tests (complete blood count and serum biochemistry) and abdominal ultrasound. No correlation was verified between the corrected serum calcium values with clinical and histopathological parameters evaluated.Discussion: In this study, it was observed a high incidence of paraneoplastic hypercalcemia associated with canine mammary tumors (35%). In humans, this syndrome is related in up to 10% of all patients with advanced cancer and with worse prognosis. The most frequent clinical signs of hypercalcemia are nonspecific and can be confused with other diseases, such as polyuria, polydipsia, anorexia, constipation, lethargy and weakness. The treatment of this syndrome is based on tumor resection and when necessary other treatments can be performed with fluid containing 0.9% sodium chloride, furosemide, prednisolone and calcitonin. Patients with asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic hypercalcemia (calcium levels <12 mg/ dL) do not require immediate treatment. Clinical signs occur more frequently with serum calcium levels higher than 15 mg/dL. Calcium levels higher than 18 mg/dL are considered a medical emergency and the clinical signs observed are trigger seizures, cardiac arrhythmia, acute renal failure and death. Most animals of this study presented mild hypercalcemia, that could justify the absence of clinical signs related to this syndrome, and the treatment for this syndrome was the tumor removal. The high serum calcium levels did not show correlation with more aggressive tumors and poorer prognosis, conditions evaluated by histological type, tumor grade and clinical stage. The evaluation of serum calcium levels is an important clinical test to be done in female dogs with mammary tumors, besides to be an affordable and technically simple test. The clinical signs related to this syndrome are nonspecific and may be confused with other diseases commonly observed in older dogs. The data suggest that there are no correlation between serum calcium levels with aggressiveness of canine mammary tumors and with other clinical features

Composición y calidad de la leche en función de la etapa de lactancia y de la paridad

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the relationship among lactation order and days in milking with milk production, composition and somatic cells count (SCC) from Holstein cows and also verify the efficiency of "California Mastitis Test” (CMT) to detect high scores of SCC. Milk samples were collected from the Experimental Farm of Iguatemi located in Maringa, Parana State, from 2008 to 2009. Regression analyzes were performed by a computer system R (2009) in order to verify the behavior of production and milk components as a function of days of lactation order and using the mixed model methodology, considering animal and day of milk control as random. To evaluate the efficiency of CMT test in detecting high SCC was considered negative binomial distribution for the response variable, because it is data that exhibit over dispersion, using the methodology of generalized linear models. It was found that milk production increases and milk fat decreases by the lactation order. Milk protein increases with the days in milking because milk production is decreased. It was concluded that milk production and quality are closely connected to the lactation order and days in milking and CMT performed on farm is positively linked with CCS.El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la relación entre el orden y los días de lactancia con la producción, composición y conteo de células somáticas (CCS) en leche de vacas Holstein, así como comprobar la eficacia de la prueba California para Mastitis (CMT) detectando alto CCS. Se tomaron muestras de leche del rebaño de la Hacienda Experimental de Iguatemi, Maringá-PR, en un periodo comprendido entre 2008 y 2009. Fueron realizados análisis de regresión utilizando el programa estadístico R (2009) con el fin de verificar el comportamiento de la producción y los componentes de la leche en función de los días y orden de lactancia utilizando la metodología de modelos lineares mixtos, considerando el animal y día de control lechero como aleatorios. Para evaluar la eficacia de la prueba de CMT para detectar alto CCS se consideró distribución binomial negativa para la variable respuesta, ya que los datos mostraron sobredispersión utilizando la metodología de modelos lineales generalizados. Se encontró que a medida que la producción de leche aumenta, el porcentaje de grasa en la leche disminuye, siendo diferente en cada orden de lactancia. El porcentaje de proteína aumenta con el periodo de lactación, mientas disminuye la producción. Se concluye que la producción y la calidad de la leche están estrechamente relacionadas con el orden y los días de lactación, la prueba CMT tiene relación positiva con el CCS

Dominantly inherited micro-satellite instable cancer - the four Lynch syndromes - an EHTG, PLSD position statement

The recognition of dominantly inherited micro-satellite instable (MSI) cancers caused by pathogenic variants in one of the four mismatch repair (MMR) genes MSH2, MLH1, MSH6 and PMS2 has modified our understanding of carcinogenesis. Inherited loss of function variants in each of these MMR genes cause four dominantly inherited cancer syndromes with different penetrance and expressivities: the four Lynch syndromes. No person has an "average sex "or a pathogenic variant in an "average Lynch syndrome gene" and results that are not stratified by gene and sex will be valid for no one. Carcinogenesis may be a linear process from increased cellular division to localized cancer to metastasis. In addition, in the Lynch syndromes (LS) we now recognize a dynamic balance between two stochastic processes: MSI producing abnormal cells, and the host's adaptive immune system's ability to remove them. The latter may explain why colonoscopy surveillance does not reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer in LS, while it may improve the prognosis. Most early onset colon, endometrial and ovarian cancers in LS are now cured and most cancer related deaths are after subsequent cancers in other organs. Aspirin reduces the incidence of colorectal and other cancers in LS. Immunotherapy increases the host immune system's capability to destroy MSI cancers. Colonoscopy surveillance, aspirin prevention and immunotherapy represent major steps forward in personalized precision medicine to prevent and cure inherited MSI cancer

Measurement of the Z/gamma* + b-jet cross section in pp collisions at 7 TeV

The production of b jets in association with a Z/gamma* boson is studied using proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and recorded by the CMS detector. The inclusive cross section for Z/gamma* + b-jet production is measured in a sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.2 inverse femtobarns. The Z/gamma* + b-jet cross section with Z/gamma* to ll (where ll = ee or mu mu) for events with the invariant mass 60 < M(ll) < 120 GeV, at least one b jet at the hadron level with pT > 25 GeV and abs(eta) < 2.1, and a separation between the leptons and the jets of Delta R > 0.5 is found to be 5.84 +/- 0.08 (stat.) +/- 0.72 (syst.) +(0.25)/-(0.55) (theory) pb. The kinematic properties of the events are also studied and found to be in agreement with the predictions made by the MadGraph event generator with the parton shower and the hadronisation performed by PYTHIA.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physic