Elderly patient-centered rehabilitation after cardiac surgery

The rate of over-70 year post-surgery patients referred to the Cardiac Rehabilitation Units is increasing. Strategies designed to encourage and facilitate participation in rehabilitation programs in the elderly should be developed. Aim of this paper is to present our elderly-centered program, specifically designed on patient’s needs and frailty, and its short- and medium-term results in 160 consecutive over-70 year patients, admitted in our Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit soon after cardiac surgery. The program was safe, well accepted by the patients, and effective in improving objective and subjective functional status

Hydration, pH, pigmentation, sebum and skin texture: an in vivo non invasive study in centenaries

Skin is the largest organ of the human body and during aging it shows easily modifications caused by the senescence. Hydration, pH, pigmentation, sebum and skin texture may undergo modifications, above all in centenaries. We can find some papers that analyse the modifications induced by aging (Marrakchi et al., 2007); but no one of these studies people in the range 90-110 years old. Thus, our work has the aim to verify how these parameters can change. In our study we recruited 80 volunteers of Sardinian population divided in two groups: young and old people. We analyzed levels of sebum, hydration, pigmentation and pH with instruments of Courage + Khazaka electronic GmbH. Then we prepared the imprint that must be observed at SEM. The microscope used was a FEI INSPECT S, wherewith we took some photos of each imprint. The modifications are: hydration and sebum decrease significantly in centenaries; pigmentation and pH levels were higher in the old volunteers like demonstrated by other authors (Stucker et al., 2002). Studying skin texture, we found a diminution of furrows in old people. We can say that decrease of hydration and sebum is mainly linked to low level of hormones, such as estrogens and androgens, while the augmentation of pigmentation is due to the thinness of skin; the higher values of pH have probably a relation with a minor presence of sebum and water in cutaneous surface. Furthermore, accuracy of the pictures taken with SEM demonstrates that the study of skin texture associated with analysis of pH, sebum, pigmentation and hydration can help the comprehension of skin aging

Histological, immunohistochemical and anthropological study among mummies coming from different geographic areas

Following the discovery of two partially mummified corps in a Cathedral of Castelsardo, to better understand the mummification process it was decided to compare them with a peruvian mummy given to the University of Sassari in the late ‘800. The aim of this work is to compare tissue conservation status by a morphological study supported by anthropological analysis. Samples of skin and muscle were taken and rehydrated in Sadison’s solution to be subjected to histological and immunohistochemical procedures. To establish sex, death-age and height we worked following classical methods (Ferembach 1980; Uberlaker 1989; Meindl and Lovejoy 1985). Castelsardo’s mummies conditions are generally fair, although very variable in different points of the body: the former is male, with death-age between 45-55 years. His height is 171 cm. The latter female, with death-age between 60-67 years. Her height is 157 cm. She shows reduction of some intersomatic spaces, spondyloarthropathy and scoliosis. The muscular and cutaneous tissues show a good conservation, in particular the former presents a fibrillar structure well-preserved, boundaries free between cells. The peruvian mummy is male, with death-age older than 25 years. His height is 160 cm. He shows osteophytosis at lumbar area with a collapse of the body at 4th lumbar vertebra; his conditions are overall good however the tissues show a poor conservation where a structural organization cannot be distinguished. This study allowed us to obtain paleo and microanatomy informations and to describe the morphological characteristics of mummified tissues

COVID-19 Severity in Multiple Sclerosis: Putting Data Into Context

Background and objectives: It is unclear how multiple sclerosis (MS) affects the severity of COVID-19. The aim of this study is to compare COVID-19-related outcomes collected in an Italian cohort of patients with MS with the outcomes expected in the age- and sex-matched Italian population. Methods: Hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and death after COVID-19 diagnosis of 1,362 patients with MS were compared with the age- and sex-matched Italian population in a retrospective observational case-cohort study with population-based control. The observed vs the expected events were compared in the whole MS cohort and in different subgroups (higher risk: Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS] score > 3 or at least 1 comorbidity, lower risk: EDSS score ≤ 3 and no comorbidities) by the χ2 test, and the risk excess was quantified by risk ratios (RRs). Results: The risk of severe events was about twice the risk in the age- and sex-matched Italian population: RR = 2.12 for hospitalization (p < 0.001), RR = 2.19 for ICU admission (p < 0.001), and RR = 2.43 for death (p < 0.001). The excess of risk was confined to the higher-risk group (n = 553). In lower-risk patients (n = 809), the rate of events was close to that of the Italian age- and sex-matched population (RR = 1.12 for hospitalization, RR = 1.52 for ICU admission, and RR = 1.19 for death). In the lower-risk group, an increased hospitalization risk was detected in patients on anti-CD20 (RR = 3.03, p = 0.005), whereas a decrease was detected in patients on interferon (0 observed vs 4 expected events, p = 0.04). Discussion: Overall, the MS cohort had a risk of severe events that is twice the risk than the age- and sex-matched Italian population. This excess of risk is mainly explained by the EDSS score and comorbidities, whereas a residual increase of hospitalization risk was observed in patients on anti-CD20 therapies and a decrease in people on interferon

DMTs and Covid-19 severity in MS: a pooled analysis from Italy and France

We evaluated the effect of DMTs on Covid-19 severity in patients with MS, with a pooled-analysis of two large cohorts from Italy and France. The association of baseline characteristics and DMTs with Covid-19 severity was assessed by multivariate ordinal-logistic models and pooled by a fixed-effect meta-analysis. 1066 patients with MS from Italy and 721 from France were included. In the multivariate model, anti-CD20 therapies were significantly associated (OR = 2.05, 95%CI = 1.39–3.02, p < 0.001) with Covid-19 severity, whereas interferon indicated a decreased risk (OR = 0.42, 95%CI = 0.18–0.99, p = 0.047). This pooled-analysis confirms an increased risk of severe Covid-19 in patients on anti-CD20 therapies and supports the protective role of interferon

The productive Home: Unfolding the blurred line between working and living

The digitalization of labor – enabled by the rise of the Internet and digital technologies – began a redefinition of architecture typologies. The typologies of Home and Office, once seen as stable and fixed, with clear distinctions, are now blurring their boundaries towards each other. The ubiquity of the network has spread work outside of the office and, as a result, the boundaries of these two dimensions are diluted in the realm of an omnipresent and interconnected reality. New phenomena are emerging. Every place, as long as connected to the network, becomes a productive one, even the most private and intimate: the home. How is this shift concretizing in architectural design? The productive home project aims to give tangible and spatial form to the contemporary condition of labor, unfolding the blurred line between domesticity and productivity. The project has been thought out as a series of designed scenario: each of them aim to reflect upon the relationship between the working and living sphere: from blurred to sharply separated, the goal is to express the different nuances of the contemporary condition of Labor.Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Complex Project

Anthropological investigation on the remains of “Sa Figu” tomb II (Ittiri-Sassari) early bronze age

The excavations carried out in tomb II belonging to the hypogeic necropolis of “Sa Figu”, near the village of Ittiri, (Sassari, Italy) supplied human bone remains and pottery unambiguously referred to the Early Bronze Age (characterized by the local culture of “Bonnannaro”). Our work is an anthropological study, it focused on analysis of human remains. The aim of our paper was to obtain the minimum number of individuals (MNI), sex, death age and analysis of paleopathologies. In order to establish sex of single individuals we followed the work lines of Ferembach (Ferembach et al, 1980),and also sex has been determined by using a method based on equation of discriminant functions, since the only bones intact and in large number were talus and calcaneus. The estimation of age at death was essentially based on the diaphysis size (Uberlaker, 1989), on the cranial sutures obliteration (Meindl and Lovejoy, 1985), for adult, and for subadults on the diaphysis size, welding between epiphysis and diaphysis and on teeth formation and eruption according to Ubelaker. The minimum number of individuals is 63 persons, 39 are adults and 24 are subadults. We were able to recognize the sex of 30 individuals by observing the morphological and metric features of talus. Moreover, we have recognized 14 male and 16 female individuals while the remaining bones were too small and fragmented to proceed further. Analyzing bone fragments we recovered differents paleopathologies including arthropathies, hereditary skeletal dysplasia, tumours, dental-alveolar diseases and many henthesopathies

Phosphorylation of the Light-Harvesting Complex II Isoform Lhcb2 Is Central to State Transitions

Light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) is a crucial component of the photosynthetic machinery, with central roles in light capture and acclimation to changing light. The association of an LHCII trimer with PSI in the PSI-LHCII supercomplex is strictly dependent on LHCII phosphorylation mediated by the kinase STATE TRANSITION7, and is directly related to the light acclimation process called state transitions. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), the LHCII trimers contain isoforms that belong to three classes: Lhcb1, Lhcb2, and Lhcb3. Only Lhcb1 and Lhcb2 can be phosphorylated in the N-terminal region. Here, we present an improved Phos-tag-based method to determine the absolute extent of phosphorylation of Lhcb1 and Lhcb2. Both classes show very similar phosphorylation kinetics during state transition. Nevertheless, only Lhcb2 is extensively phosphorylated (>98%) in PSI-LHCII, whereas phosphorylated Lhcb1 is largely excluded from this supercomplex. Both isoforms are phosphorylated to different extents in other photosystem supercomplexes and in different domains of the thylakoid membranes. The data imply that, despite their high sequence similarity, differential phosphorylation of Lhcb1 and Lhcb2 plays contrasting roles in light acclimation of photosynthesis