Gender Differences in Pro-social Behaviour: The Case of Fair-trade Food Consumers

Objective of this paper is to analyse the presence of gender differences in the purchase motivations of Fair Trade (FT) food products sold in the Italian World Shops (WS). At this end, a questionnaire has been distributed to a sample of consumers in four Italian regions. A bivariate ordered probit analysis has been performed in order to identify the determinants of the two main ethical motivations in the purchase: worker guarantees and solidarity. The variables used as determinants are individual and municipal characteristics. Among individual characteristics, gender is significant; among the municipal characteristics, the rate of female job market participation is also significant. These results give evidence of a gender gap in the preferences for public goods.ethical consumerism, gender preferences, fair trade, Consumer/Household Economics, Labor and Human Capital, D12, I31, L31, Z13,

Adherence to an adapted physical activity program in sedentary adults

Background/Objective. Physical exercise plays a key role in the prevention and prognosis of chronic diseases. Despite this evidence, a low percentage of patients regularly perform physical activity. A better understanding of the variables associated with poor adherence may help to develop some strategies to encourage people to participate in exercise interventions. This study investigated the factors influencing adherence to an Adapted Physical Activity (APA) program in subjects suffering from Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) clinically stable, Type 2 diabetes, or metabolic syndrome. Secondary end point was to test the efficacy of the exercise training on fitness parameters (VO2, Speed and Time) by 1 km test. Methods. The program was planned in two phases. Phase 1: individual and supervised training free program for 4 weeks; Phase 2: paid training supervised program involved small groups of 4-6 participants for 8 weeks. Results. 117 patients (50-64 years, 49 men and 68 women) started the APA program, but only 32 patients (17 men and 15 women) completed phase 2. As collected during telephone interviews, the main factors that influenced adherence including health status, work commitments or family problems. Regarding the physical efficacy, an improvement of the three fitness parameters was observed in the 32 patients who completed the 12 weeks of the APA program. Conclusions. The identification of factors that can influence adherence to exercise programs is the first step in planning and improving health interventions. These parameters have an important public health interest.This work was supported by Emilia Romagna Local Grant (1154/2011)

Cardiovascular Effects of Whole-Body Cryotherapy in Non-professional Athletes

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to investigate changes in heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and body temperature in non-professional trained runners during whole body cryotherapy (WBC). METHODS: Ten middle-distance runners received 3 once-a-day sessions of WBC. Subjects underwent BP measurements and ECG recorded before and immediately after the daily WBC session. During WBC we recorded a single lead trace (D1) for heart rhythm control. In addition, the 5 vital signs Blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and body temperature were monitored before, during, and after all WBC session. RESULTS: We did not report significant changes in ECG main intervals (PR, QT, and QTc). Mean heart rate changed from 50.98 ± 4.43 bpm (before) to 56.83 ± 4.26 bpm after WBC session (p < 0.05). The mean systolic blood pressure did not change significantly during and after WBC [b baseline: 118 ± 5 mmHg, changed to 120 ± 3 mmHg during WBC, and to 121 ± 2 mmHg after session (p < 0.05 vs. baseline)]. Mean respiratory rate did not change during WBC as well as oxygen saturations (98 vs. 99%). Body temperature was slightly increased after WBC, however it remains within physiological values CONCLUSION: In non-professional athletes WBC did not affect cardiovascular response and can be safely used. However, further studies are required to confirm these promising results of safety in elderly non-athlete subjects

Innate immunity changes in soccer players after whole-body cryotherapy

Whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) consists of short exposure (up to 2-3 min) to dry air at cryogenic temperatures (up to -190 degrees C) and has recently been applied for muscle recovery after injury to reduce the inflammation process. We aimed to determine the impact of cryotherapy on immunological, hormonal, and metabolic responses in non-professional soccer players (NPSPs). Nine male NPSPs (age: 20 +/- 2 years) who trained regularly over 5 consecutive days, immediately before and after each training session, were subjected to WBC treatment (WBC-t). Blood samples were collected for the evaluation of fifty analytes including hematologic parameters, serum chemistry, and hormone profiles. Monocytes phenotyping (Mo) was performed and plasmatic markers, usually increased during inflammation [CCL2, IL-18, free mitochondrial (mt)DNA] or with anti-inflammatory effects (IL2RA, IL1RN), were quantified. After WBC-t, we observed reduced levels of ferritin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean platelet volume, testosterone, and estradiol, which however remain within the normal ranges. The percentage of the total, intermediates and non-classical Mo increased, while classical Mo decreased. CXCR4 expression decreased in each Mo subset. Plasma IL18 and IL2RA levels decreased, while IL1RN only exhibited a tendency to decrease and CCL2 showed a tendency to increase. Circulating mtDNA levels were not altered following WBC-t. The differences observed in monocyte subsets after WBC-t may be attributable to their redistribution into the surrounding tissue. Moreover, the decrease of CXCR4 in Mo subpopulations could be coherent with their differentiation process. Thus, WBC through yet unknown mechanisms could promote their differentiation having a role in tissue repair

An Expanded Evaluation of Protein Function Prediction Methods Shows an Improvement In Accuracy

Background: A major bottleneck in our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of life is the assignment of function to proteins. While molecular experiments provide the most reliable annotation of proteins, their relatively low throughput and restricted purview have led to an increasing role for computational function prediction. However, assessing methods for protein function prediction and tracking progress in the field remain challenging. Results: We conducted the second critical assessment of functional annotation (CAFA), a timed challenge to assess computational methods that automatically assign protein function. We evaluated 126 methods from 56 research groups for their ability to predict biological functions using Gene Ontology and gene-disease associations using Human Phenotype Ontology on a set of 3681 proteins from 18 species. CAFA2 featured expanded analysis compared with CAFA1, with regards to data set size, variety, and assessment metrics. To review progress in the field, the analysis compared the best methods from CAFA1 to those of CAFA2. Conclusions: The top-performing methods in CAFA2 outperformed those from CAFA1. This increased accuracy can be attributed to a combination of the growing number of experimental annotations and improved methods for function prediction. The assessment also revealed that the definition of top-performing algorithms is ontology specific, that different performance metrics can be used to probe the nature of accurate predictions, and the relative diversity of predictions in the biological process and human phenotype ontologies. While there was methodological improvement between CAFA1 and CAFA2, the interpretation of results and usefulness of individual methods remain context-dependent

An expanded evaluation of protein function prediction methods shows an improvement in accuracy

Background: A major bottleneck in our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of life is the assignment of function to proteins. While molecular experiments provide the most reliable annotation of proteins, their relatively low throughput and restricted purview have led to an increasing role for computational function prediction. However, assessing methods for protein function prediction and tracking progress in the field remain challenging. Results: We conducted the second critical assessment of functional annotation (CAFA), a timed challenge to assess computational methods that automatically assign protein function. We evaluated 126 methods from 56 research groups for their ability to predict biological functions using Gene Ontology and gene-disease associations using Human Phenotype Ontology on a set of 3681 proteins from 18 species. CAFA2 featured expanded analysis compared with CAFA1, with regards to data set size, variety, and assessment metrics. To review progress in the field, the analysis compared the best methods from CAFA1 to those of CAFA2. Conclusions: The top-performing methods in CAFA2 outperformed those from CAFA1. This increased accuracy can be attributed to a combination of the growing number of experimental annotations and improved methods for function prediction. The assessment also revealed that the definition of top-performing algorithms is ontology specific, that different performance metrics can be used to probe the nature of accurate predictions, and the relative diversity of predictions in the biological process and human phenotype ontologies. While there was methodological improvement between CAFA1 and CAFA2, the interpretation of results and usefulness of individual methods remain context-dependent. Keywords: Protein function prediction, Disease gene prioritizationpublishedVersio