The relative dependence of Spanish landscape pattern on environmental and geographical variables over time

The analysis of the dependence of landscape patterns on environment was carried out in order to investigate the landscape structure evolution of Spain. The underlying concept was that the dependence between landscape spatial structure and environmental factors could be gradually decreasing over time. Land cover data were recorded from aerial photo interpretation of 206 4 x 4 km(2) samples from three different years: 1956, 1984 and 1998. Geographical variables were taken into consideration together with the purely environmental ones. General Linear Models of repeated measures were then used to segregate environmental from geographical effects on the pattern of the land cover patches of the samples. Aridity, lithology and topography were the environmental factors used to analyse structural indices of landscape. Landscape composition has a higher dependence on environment than configuration. Environmental variables showed higher correlations with landscape composition and configuration than geographical variables. Ail-long them, overall the climatic aridity and topography significantly accounted for more variation than did lithology. There was a high degree of stability in land cover composition over time, with some significant exceptions. Nevertheless, the registered increase of fragmentation over time has demonstrated that configuration measures are needed to fully assess landscape change

Networking strategies in streptomyces coelicolor

We are interested the soil dwelling bacteria Streptomyces coelicolor because its cells grow end to end in a line. New branches have the potential to extend from any point along this line and the result is a network of branches and connections. This is a novel form of colonisation in the bacterial world and it is advantageous for spreading through an environment resourcefully. Networking protocols for communication technologies have similar pressures to be resourceful in terms of time, computing power, and energy. In this preliminary investigation we design a computer model of the biological system to understand its limitations and strategies for survival. The decentralised capacity for organisation of both the bacterial system and the model reflects well on the now-popular conventions for path finding and ad hoc network building in human technologies. The project will ultimately become a comparison of strategies between nature and the man-made

The Blow of Domestic Violence on Children's Health Outcomes

This article unravels the effect of Domestic Violence on children’s health production function. Drawing results from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, we find that there is a strong negative externality of household violence on children’s health outcomes. Simultaneity between child health and Domestic Violence makes it difficult to identify a causal effect, so we use an instrumental approach to address the potential bias. Children living in a household in which there is Domestic Violence appear to be between 55% and 61% less likely to have their health rated as Excellent. Our results are robust and statistically significant across all specifications. Our paper not only sheds light on the negative impact of DV on children’s health but provides a robust quantification of this effect

Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis and follow-up of multicentric infantile myofibromatosis: A case report

Myofibromatosis is an uncommon disorder of infancy, characterized by proliferation of myofibroblasts in solitary or multiple nodules. The clinical characteristics depend on the involved sites: Myofibromatosis may develop as a musculoskeletal form, with non-painful swellings and eventual mass effect symptoms, or as a generalized form with visceral involvement and organ failure. Prognosis and therapy vary between the abovementioned patterns. When there is no visceral involvement, the tumors may regress spontaneously; however, the visceral form may represent a lifethreatening condition with poor outcome and it requires aggressive management. Imaging assessment of disease spread is mandatory to determine diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. Due to the young age of the patients, a radiation-free evaluation is recommended. We herein describe a case of musculoskeletal myofibromatosis diagnosed in a 3-month-old male infant, investigated by serial wholebody magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination. The histological analysis and MRI characteristics enabled a correct diagnosis and organ involvement assessment with no radiation exposure. Moreover, whole-body MRI sequences provided a detailed evaluation of the disease within a short time frame, reducing the time of sedation, which is required to perform MRI in very young patients. Therefore, whole-body MRI was found to be accurate and safe in the diagnosis and follow-up of multicentric infantile myofibromatosis.Myofibromatosis is an uncommon disorder of infancy, characterized by proliferation of myofibroblasts in solitary or multiple nodules. The clinical characteristics depend on the involved sites: Myofibromatosis may develop as a musculoskeletal form, with non-painful swellings and eventual mass effect symptoms, or as a generalized form with visceral involvement and organ failure. Prognosis and therapy vary between the abovementioned patterns. When there is no visceral involvement, the tumors may regress spontaneously; however, the visceral form may represent a lifethreatening condition with poor outcome and it requires aggressive management. Imaging assessment of disease spread is mandatory to determine diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. Due to the young age of the patients, a radiation-free evaluation is recommended. We herein describe a case of musculoskeletal myofibromatosis diagnosed in a 3-month-old male infant, investigated by serial wholebody magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination. The histological analysis and MRI characteristics enabled a correct diagnosis and organ involvement assessment with no radiation exposure. Moreover, whole-body MRI sequences provided a detailed evaluation of the disease within a short time frame, reducing the time of sedation, which is required to perform MRI in very young patients. Therefore, whole-body MRI was found to be accurate and safe in the diagnosis and follow-up of multicentric infantile myofibromatosis

Essays on the spillovers of the household environment on childhood development: domestic violence, health and education, and maternal working hours on children's wellbeing

This thesis contains three chapters that each study the spillover effects of two aspects of the child's household environment, Domestic Violence (chapter one and two) and Maternal Working Hours (chapter three). The first chapter looks at Children's Health, the second at Education Outcomes and the third looks at children's Well-Being. Understanding what influences a child's early development is of paramount importance as it explains future job market performance and success in life in general. All chapters exploit the data set UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a longitudinal survey following around 19,000 children born in the UK in 2000-01. The first chapter studies the effect of Domestic Violence on children's health production function. We use waves 4 and 5 of the MCS, when children are aged 7 and 11, respectively. We find that there is a strong negative externality of living in a household where there is violence on children's parental-assessed health outcomes. Simultaneity between the child's health and the existence of Domestic Violence in the household makes it diffcult to establish a causal relationship, so we use an instrumental approach to address the potential bias caused by this. In particular, our results show that children exposed to Domestic Violence appear to be between 55% and 61% less likely to have their health rated as Excellent. Our results are robust and statistically significant across all specifications. Our paper not only sheds light on the negative impact of Domestic Violence on children's health but provides a robust quantification of this effect. This chapter is co-authored with Prof. Jofre-Bonet and Dr. Serra-Sastre. The second chapter studies the spillover effect on children's educational attainment of living in a household in which mothers are subject to Domestic Violence. To do so, we exploit measurements of the child's educational performance in English, Science, Mathematics, Physical Education, Creativity, and Information and Technology by the age of 7 and 11, available in the MCS. Our results suggest that growing up in a household where there is Domestic Violence has a negative impact on all educational outcomes. Our results are robust and hold when addressing several potential sources of sample selection bias. Children from domestically abused mothers lose around 0.20 standard deviations in English and 0.30 standard deviations in Mathematics scores at an age as early as 11 years. The cumulative negative effect is heterogenous across academic areas, being more pronounced for those subjects where past knowledge acquisition is essential (i.e., Mathematics and Science). This chapter is co-authored with Prof. Jofre-Bonet and Dr. Serra-Sastre. The third chapter investigates how maternal working status is connected to children's well-being at ages 7 and 11. The rapid increase of female participation in the labour market, along with the impact that well-being levels during childhood has on their psychological development and labour market outcomes later in adulthood, calls for a closer examination of this topic. To do so, we also exploit the MCS, which contains a very complete set of children's well-being outcomes and the intensity of the engagement of mothers with the labour market. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to use such a full array of children's well-being indicators and relate it to maternal labour supply. Our results show that in households in which mothers work fulltime, children are, on average, happier, less worried, as well as less likely to lose their temper. Further, we investigate whether child obesity, which has been related to children's well-being, is associated to the mother's working hours, the mother's commuting time and the father's employment status. We find that higher the number of working hours of the mother increases the likelihood of the child being obese at 7 and 11 years of age, in line with previous literature. This chapter is co-authored with Prof. Jofre-Bonet and Dr. Serra-Sastre

Interprofessional Communication Team for Caregivers of Patients Hospitalized in the COVID-19 Wards: Results From an Italian Experience

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency restrictions did not allow clinician family meetings and relatives' visits. In Molinette Hospital, a new communication model between healthcare providers and families of COVID-19 affected patients was developed by a team of physicians and psychologists. The study's aims were to investigate caregivers' distress and to analyse their satisfaction with the communications provided. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among caregivers of patients of Molinette Hospital COVID wards. Between April and June 2020, all caregivers were contacted 2 weeks after the patient's discharge/death to assess their satisfaction with the communications received through an online survey. Results: A total of 155 caregivers completed the survey. Caregivers' distress level was found to be higher in women than men (p = 0.048) and in caregivers whose relative died compared to the caregivers whose relative was discharged (p < 0.001). More than 85% of caregivers defined communication “excellent”/“very good”; being male was associated with higher satisfaction levels than women (β = −0.165, p = 0.046). Besides daily communication, 63 caregivers (40.6%) received additional support from a psychologist of the team. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study presenting, in an emergency, a new model of communication provided by a team of physicians and psychologists, and analyzing satisfaction with it. This model was highly appreciated by caregivers and it limited the discomfort caused by the restrictions on relatives' visits. It would be interesting to further evaluate the possibility of extending a communication model that includes doctors and psychologists in routine clinical practice

Orthorexia nervosa: A cross-sectional study among athletes competing in endurance sports in Northern Italy

Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) is an eating disorder marked by an excessive control over the quality of the food eaten. Some groups present a higher prevalence of ON and people practicing sports seems to be a population at risk. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of ON in endurance athletes and to compare their prevalence with the ones recorded in the sedentary population and in athletes playing other sports. A cross-sectional survey was carried in Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta, among 549 participants in local sports events aged between 18 and 40 years old. The questionnaire assessed socio-demographic characteristics, physical activity, nutrition and diet, the ORTO-15 questionnaire and Eating Habits Questionnaire (EHQ). The sample was stratified according to the minutes of sport practiced in a week and the type of sport played. Crosstab chi-square analyses to determine group differences on categorical variables (e.g. gender), and ANOVAs or t tests to determine group differences on continuous variables were performed. When required, post hoc analyses were performed. Linear and logistic regressions were performed in order to investigate potential predictors of orthorexia. The EHQ mean scores ware significantly higher in people who practice sports >150 minutes/week. EHQ score resulted to be positively correlated with endurance sport practice >150 minutes/week, with a coefficient of 2.407 (I.C.95% [0.27;4.54], p = 0.027). Analyses carried out suggested a correlation between endurance sport practice and ON. Further studies should be performed to identify diagnostic criteria and to compare different questionnaire used to assess them