The effects of nutrition on maternal mortality: Evidence from 19th-20th century Italy

The role of nutrition on maternal mortality has been long debated in the historical and scientific literature. Some scholars refute any role of nutrition and diet in the decline of maternal mortality, privileging other causes such as the diffusion of professional midwifery and medical and scientific progress, while others are more open-minded about some possible nutritional effects. The present paper investigates the relationship between maternal mortality and nutrition in Italy between 1887 and 1955 with the purpose to provide new elements and new data to the knowledge of such an association. Using time-series techniques on the official data provided by the National Institute of Statistics, the analysis demonstrates that the trend of maternal mortality was affected by both long- and short-term dynamics of the average daily caloric intake of the Italian population once controlled for the economic situation, here proxied by the annual time series of the GDP per capita. The same analysis clarifies that the impact of nutrition is just one element of a complex picture in which the major role is played by medical advances and scientific progress. The introduction of sulphonamides, in the second half of the thirties of the twentieth century, emerges, in fact, as the turning point in the fight against maternal death

Non-blood sources of cell-free DNA for cancer molecular profiling in clinical pathology and oncology

Liquid biopsy can quantify and qualify cell-free (cfDNA) and tumour-derived (ctDNA) DNA fragments in the bloodstream. CfDNA quantification and mutation analysis can be applied to diagnosis, follow-up and therapeutic management as novel oncologic biomarkers. However, some tumor-types release a low amount of DNA into the bloodstream, hampering diagnosis through standard liquid biopsy procedures. Several tumors, as such as brain, kidney, prostate, and thyroid cancer, are in direct contact with other body fluids and may be alternative sources for cfDNA and ctDNA. Non-blood sources of cfDNA/ctDNA useful as novel oncologic biomarkers include cerebrospinal fluids, urine, sputum, saliva, pleural effusion, stool and seminal fluid. Seminal plasma cfDNA, which can be analyzed with cost-effective procedures, may provide powerful information capable to revolutionize prostate cancer (PCa) patient diagnosis and management. In the near future, cfDNA analysis from non-blood biological liquids will become routine clinical practice for cancer patient diagnosis and management

Caractéristiques qualitatives de la viande chez des porcs de race pure ou hybrides

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Erratum to: Examining the "evolution of increased competitive ability" hypothesis in response to parasites and pathogens in the invasive paper wasp Polistes dominula

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A Dynamic Objective Evaluation of Peripheral Arterial Disease by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

AbstractObjectivesNear-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), suitable for dynamic measurements, is not routinely used for peripheral arterial disease (PAD). We propose a dynamic NIRS-based measurement to quantify variations in muscle metabolism in PAD.MethodSixty-seven consecutive PAD patients (males=56, age 71.6±8.7 years) and 28 healthy subjects (males=12, age 30.4±11.9 years) were studied. An echo-colour Doppler (ECD) was performed and the ankle–brachial index (ABI) was calculated. Participants performed an incremental treadmill test with NIRS probes on the gastrocnemius. Variations in oxygenated (HbO2), deoxygenated (HHb), total (tHb=HbO2+HHb), and differential (dHb=HbO2−HHb) haemoglobin were recorded and quantified as area-under-curve (AUC) within the range 1.7–3.0kmh−1. Heart rate was recorded, and the number of beats in the same interval was calculated (dHr).ResultsO2HbAUC, HHbAUC and dHbAUC differed between diseased and non-diseased legs (P<0.0001) and exhibited different patterns related to PAD severity according to the ABI value. A compensatory heart rate increase was observed in PAD patients. Compared with the ECD positivity for occlusions/stenoses or multiple plaques, only the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of dHbAUC (area=0.932, P<0.0001) showed a sensitivity/specificity of 87.6/93.4 for values ≤−197 (LR+LR−: 13.36/0.13).ConclusionThe dynamic NIRS-based test, quantifying muscle metabolic response according to presence and degree of PAD, allows the evaluation of patients with walking disabilities

Como elaborar vinho de qualidade na pequena propriedade.

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Frequency of sleep bruxism behaviors in healthy young adults over a four-night recording span in the home environment

Objectives: This study aimed to assess frequency and multiple-night variability of sleep bruxism (SB) as well as sleep-time masticatory muscle activities (sMMA) in the home environment in healthy young adults using a portable device that provides electrocardiographic (ECG) and surface electromyographic (EMG) recordings from the masticatory muscles. Methods: The study was performed on 27 subjects (11 males, 16 females; mean age 28.3 ± 1.7 years) selected from a sample of healthy young students. Evaluation was carried out for four nights to record data on masticatory muscle activities using a compact portable device that previously showed an excellent agreement with polysomnography (PSG) for the detection of SB events. The number of SB episodes per sleep hour (bruxism index), and the number of tonic, phasic and mixed sMMA events per hour were assessed. A descriptive evaluation of the frequency of each condition was performed on all individuals, and gender comparison was investigated. Results: Mean sleep duration over the four recording nights was 7 ± 1.3 h. The average SB index was 3.6 ± 1.2. Most of the sMMA were tonic (49.9%) and phasic (44.1%). An ANOVA test showed the absence of significant differences between the four nights. No significant gender differences were detected for the SB index, phasic or tonic contractions; conversely, gender differences were detected for mixed sMMA events (p &lt; 0.05). Conclusion: This investigation supports the concept that sMMA events are quite frequent in healthy adults. Differences over the four-night recording span were not significant. These data could be compared to subjects with underlying conditions that may lead to an additive bruxism activity and possible clinical consequences

Thermo-responsive polymers as surface active compounds: A review

The great versatility and controllable properties that characterize polymeric materials allowed their spreading to many different areas. In the last years, this outstanding adaptability was even amplified by the introduction of smart polymers, i.e. materials able to sharply and often reversibly change their physico-chemical properties in response to external stimuli. In particular, the possibility of applying thermal stimuli in a controlled and simple way, coupled with the natural occurrence of thermal gradients, made thermo-responsive polymers particularly appealing, as they allowed to conceive applications that were not even imaginable for traditional materials. In this review we discuss the great potentialities of thermo-responsive polymers when used to functionalize a target surface or interface. The discussion will cover significant areas of interest where this class of materials has been employed, including cell culture, chromatography, colloidal stabilization and enhanced oil recovery. Many examples from the literature are reported in order to present the state of the art, the main advantages of this technology over conventional materials and the expected future developments. Moreover, some successful examples highlighting the innovative functionalities achievable by these active surfaces are presented

Between Constraints and Coercion. Marriage and Social Reproduction in Northern and Central Italy, 18th-19th Centuries

In this paper we review the main theories of household and marriage systems, highlighting their inability to account for the astonishing variety of family and marriage patterns that characterized modern Italy. We propose a new interpretative framework, where social reproduction is given pride of place as the main factor shaping marital behavior and household formation in the past. We test our theory analyzing five populations in northern and central Italy, characterized by different ecological, economic, and social conditions. We use an event history analysis approach to model the timing of marriage in the populations under study. The results confirm that coercion mattered much more than Malthusian economic constraints. We conclude suggesting a more general application of our approach to the study of marital behavior, family formation, and residential patterns in the past

Un excerptum non plutarcheo

The text (a letter by Alexander the Great to Aristotle, with the latter’s reply) is preserved by theVenetian ms., Bibl. Marc. gr. 203 (746) f. 230v, and belongs to the tradition of the Aristotelian commentators (known to us through Simplicius), not to the tradition of Plutarch’s Life of Alexander