Surnames as Markers of Pathologies – Two Statistical Techniques and Their Applications

The objective of this research is to propose and to validate two different statistical techniques to test the hypothesis of an association between surnames and pathologies, in a population participating in a screening procedure for a given pathology. We propose two statistical methods: a first technique is based on the rarefaction method, and second one is based on the principle of resampling, and it can be considered a special case of a randomisation test. Both the techniques are applied to a data set of babies screened for congenital hypothyroidism (CH), and they gave similar results. The large overlapping of the results seems to suggest a substantial validity of the proposed techniques

Surnames as Markers of Pathologies – Two Statistical Techniques and Their Applications

The objective of this research is to propose and to validate two different statistical techniques to test the hypothesis of an association between surnames and pathologies, in a population participating in a screening procedure for a given pathology. We propose two statistical methods: a first technique is based on the rarefaction method, and second one is based on the principle of resampling, and it can be considered a special case of a randomisation test. Both the techniques are applied to a data set of babies screened for congenital hypothyroidism (CH), and they gave similar results. The large overlapping of the results seems to suggest a substantial validity of the proposed techniques

Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Case Study

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by cortical dementia and irreversibly progressive developments leading to a vegetative state and, finally, to death. Although many aspects of its etiology, diagnosis and treatment still remain obscure and the current approach to the disease mostly suffers from limited and low-efficiency therapeutic means, nevertheless, recent interventions have aimed at improving patients’ quality of life through nonpharmacological approaches, including animal-assisted therapy (AAT), arousing growing interest. In order to assess the physiological and neuropsychological effects of AAT on AD, 24 residents of a rest house in northern Italy were enrolled. The intervention consisted of one 45-minute AAT session per week over ten weeks. Twelve residents (six AD and six non-AD) received AAT and twelve (six AD and six non-AD) were controls. In order to evaluate the physiological and clinical effect of AAT on AD residents, three cardiac parameters, including the systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate, were measured. Moreover, the neurocognitive and depressive states were assessed by the Mini Mental State Examination and the Geriatric Depression Scale, respectively. Analyses were performed by a four-way ANOVA model (including two ways for repeated measures) considering each main effect and interaction possible in the design. Our findings, despite the small sample size, suggest that AAT has a positive significant effect on physiological parameters and neurocognitive impairment, while no effect was observed on the depression level

Effects of a commercially available branched-chain amino acid-alanine-carbohydrate-based sports supplement on perceived exertion and performance in high intensity endurance cycling tests

Background:Sports nutritional supplements containing branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) have been widelyreported to improve psychological and biological aspects connected to central fatigue and performance inendurance exercise, although the topic is still open to debate. The aim of the present study was to determinewhether the intake of a commercially available BCAA-based supplement, taken according to the manufacturer’srecommendations, could affect the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and performance indexes at the beginning(1d) and end of a 9-week (9w) scheduled high intensity interval training program, with an experimental approachintegrating the determination of psychometric, performance, metabolic and blood biochemical parameters.Methods:This was a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study. Thirty-two untrained, healthy young adults(20 males and 12 female) were enrolled. A high-intensity endurance cycling (HIEC) test was used to induce fatigue inthe participants: HIEC consisted in ten 90 s sprints interspersed by ten 3 min recovery phases and followed by a finalstep time to exhaustion was used. In parallel with RPE, haematological values (creatine kinase, alanine, BCAA,tryptophan, ammonia and glucose levels), and performance indexes (maximal oxygen consumption - VO2max,powerassociated with lactate thresholds - WLT1,WLT2and time to exhaustion - TTE) were assessed. All subject took thesupplement (13.2 g of carbohydrates; 3.2 g of BCAA and 1.6 g of L-alanine per dose) or placebo before each test andtraining session. Dietary habits and training load were monitored during the entire training period.Results:The administration of the supplement (SU) at 1d reduced RPE by 9% during the recovery phase, as comparedto the placebo (PL); at 9w the RPE scores were reduced by 13 and 21% during the sprint and recovery phase,respectively; at 9w, prolonged supplement intake also improved TTE and TRIMP. SU intake invariably promoted a rapidincrease (within 1 h) of BCAA serum blood levels and prevented the post-HIEC tryptophan: BCAA ratio increase foundin the PL group, at both 1d and 9w. There was no difference in dietary habits between groups and those habits didnot change over time; no difference in glycemia was found between SU and PL. VO2max,WLT1and WLT2valuesimproved over time, but were unaffected by supplement intake. Conclusions:On the whole, these results suggest that i) the intake of the BCAA-based commercially availablesupplement used in this study reduces RPE as a likely consequence of an improvement in the serum tryptophan: BCAAratio; ii) over time, reduced RPE allows subjects to sustain higher workloads, leading to increased TRIMP and TTE

Phytochemical Characterization, Antioxidant and Anti-Proliferative Properties of Rubia cordifolia L. Extracts Prepared with Improved Extraction Conditions

none11sìRubia cordifolia L. (Rubiaceae) is an important plant in Indian and Chinese medical systems. Extracts prepared from the root, stem and leaf have been used traditionally for the management of various diseases. Some of the known effects are anti-inflammation, neuroprotection, anti-proliferation, immunomodulation and anti-tumor. A comparative account of the extracts derived from different organs that lead to the identification of the most suitable solvent is lacking. We explored the presence of phytochemicals, antioxidant activity and anti-proliferative properties of a variety of solvent-based extracts of root, and methanol extracts of stem and leaf of R. cordifolia L. The antioxidant potential was determined by DPPH, hydrogen peroxide, nitric oxide and total antioxidant assays. The anti-proliferative nature was evaluated by MTT assay on HeLa, ME-180 and HepG2 cells. The composition of the extracts was determined by UPLC-UV-MS. We found that the root extracts had the presence of higher amounts of antioxidants over the stem and leaf extracts. The root extracts prepared in methanol exhibited the highest cytotoxicity in HepG2 cells. The main compounds identified through UPLC-UV-MS of the methanol extract give credibility to the previous results. Our comprehensive study corroborates the preference given to the root over the stem and leaf for extract preparation. In conclusion, we identified the methanol extract of the root to be the most suited to have bioactivity with anti-cancer potential.Humbare, Ravikiran B; Sarkar, Joyita; Kulkarni, Anjali A; Juwale, Mugdha G; Deshmukh, Sushil H; Amalnerkar, Dinesh; Chaskar, Manohar; Albertini, Maria C; Rocchi, Marco B L; Kamble, Swapnil C; Ramakrishna, SeeramHumbare, Ravikiran B; Sarkar, Joyita; Kulkarni, Anjali A; Juwale, Mugdha G; Deshmukh, Sushil H; Amalnerkar, Dinesh; Chaskar, Manohar; Albertini, Maria C; Rocchi, Marco B L; Kamble, Swapnil C; Ramakrishna, Seera

Genetic modulation of the Let-7 microRNA binding to KRAS 3'-untranslated region and survival of metastatic colorectal cancer patients treated with salvage cetuximab-irinotecan

There is increasing evidence that the Let-7 microRNA (miRNA) exerts an effect as a tumor suppressor by targeting the KRAS mRNA. The Let-7 complementary site (LCS6) T>G variant in the KRAS 3'-untranslated region weakens Let-7 binding. We analyzed whether the LCS6 variant may be clinically relevant to patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (MCRC) treated with anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy. LCS6 genotypes and KRAS/BRAF mutations were determined in the tumor DNA of 134 patients with MCRC who underwent salvage cetuximab-irinotecan therapy. There were 34 G-allele (T/G+G/G) carriers (25%) and 100 T/T genotype carriers (75%). G-allele carriers were significantly more frequent in the KRAS mutation group than in patients with KRAS wild type (P=0.004). In the 121 patients without BRAF V600E mutation, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) times were compared between carriers of the LCS6 G-allele genotypes and carriers of the wild-type T/T genotype. LCS6 G-allele carriers showed worse OS (P=0.001) and PFS (P=0.004) than T/T genotype carriers (confirmed in the multivariate model including the KRAS status). In the exploratory analysis of the 55 unresponsive patients with KRAS mutation, LCS6 G-allele carriers showed adverse OS and PFS times. These findings deserve additional investigations as they may open novel perspectives for the treatment of patients with MCRC

Cross section measurements of 155,157Gd(n, γ) induced by thermal and epithermal neutrons

© SIF, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019Neutron capture cross section measurements on 155Gd and 157Gd were performed using the time-of-flight technique at the n_TOF facility at CERN on isotopically enriched samples. The measurements were carried out in the n_TOF experimental area EAR1, at 185 m from the neutron source, with an array of 4 C6D6 liquid scintillation detectors. At a neutron kinetic energy of 0.0253 eV, capture cross sections of 62.2(2.2) and 239.8(8.4) kilobarn have been derived for 155Gd and 157Gd, respectively, with up to 6% deviation relative to values presently reported in nuclear data libraries, but consistent with those values within 1.6 standard deviations. A resonance shape analysis has been performed in the resolved resonance region up to 181 eV and 307 eV, respectively for 155Gd and 157Gd, where on average, resonance parameters have been found in good agreement with evaluations. Above these energies and up to 1 keV, the observed resonance-like structure of the cross section has been analysed and characterised. From a statistical analysis of the observed neutron resonances we deduced: neutron strength function of 2. 01 (28) × 10 - 4 and 2. 17 (41) × 10 - 4; average total radiative width of 106.8(14) meV and 101.1(20) meV and s-wave resonance spacing 1.6(2) eV and 4.8(5) eV for n + 155Gd and n + 157Gd systems, respectively.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Anti-chemokine antibodies after SARS-CoV-2 infection correlate with favorable disease course.

Infection by SARS-CoV-2 leads to diverse symptoms, which can persist for months. While antiviral antibodies are protective, those targeting interferons and other immune factors are associated with adverse COVID-19 outcomes. Instead, we discovered that antibodies against specific chemokines are omnipresent after COVID-19, associated with favorable disease, and predictive of lack of long COVID symptoms at one year post infection. Anti-chemokine antibodies are present also in HIV-1 and autoimmune disorders, but they target different chemokines than those in COVID-19. Finally, monoclonal antibodies derived from COVID- 19 convalescents that bind to the chemokine N-loop impair cell migration. Given the role of chemokines in orchestrating immune cell trafficking, naturally arising anti-chemokine antibodies associated with favorable COVID-19 may be beneficial by modulating the inflammatory response and thus bear therapeutic potential. One-Sentence Summary Naturally arising anti-chemokine antibodies associate with favorable COVID-19 and are predictive of lack of long COVID

The characteristics and activities of child and adolescent mental health services in Italy: a regional survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To date, no studies have assessed in detail the characteristics, organisation, and functioning of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). This information gap represents a major limitation for researchers and clinicians because most mental disorders have their onset in childhood or adolescence, and effective interventions can therefore represent a major factor in avoiding chronicity. Interventions and mental health care are delivered by and through services, and not by individual, private clinicians, and drawbacks or limitations of services generally translate in inappropriateness and ineffectiveness of treatments and interventions: therefore information about services is essential to improve the quality of care and ultimately the course and outcome of mental disorders in childhood and adolescence.</p> <p>The present paper reports the results of the first study aimed at providing detailed, updated and comprehensive data on CAMHS of a densely populated Italian region (over 4 million inhabitants) with a target population of 633,725 subjects aged 0-17 years.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Unit Chiefs of all the CAMHS filled in a structured 'Facility Form', with activity data referring to 2008 (data for inpatient facilities referred to 2009), which were then analysed in detail.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eleven CAMHS were operative, including 110 outpatient units, with a ratio of approximately 20 child psychiatrists and 23 psychologists per 100,000 inhabitants aged 0-17 years. All outpatient units were well equipped and organized and all granted free service access. In 2008, approximately 6% of the target population was in contact with outpatient CAMHS, showing substantial homogeneity across the eleven areas thereby. Most patients in contact in 2008 received a language disorder- or learning disability diagnosis (41%). First-ever contacts accounted for 30% of annual visits across all units. Hospital bed availability was 5 per 100,000 inhabitants aged 0-17 years.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The percentage of young people in contact with CAMHS for mental disorders is in line with those observed in previous epidemiological studies. The overall number of child psychiatrists per 100,000 inhabitants is one of the highest in Europe and it is comparable with the most well equipped areas in the US. This comparison should be interpreted with caution, however, because in Italy, child psychiatrists also treat neurological disorders. Critical areas requiring improvement are: the uneven utilisation of standardised assessment procedures and the limited availability of dedicated emergency services during non-office hours (e.g., nights and holidays).</p

Model-independent search for the presence of new physics in events including H → γγ with s \sqrt{s} = 13 TeV pp data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Abstract A model-independent search for new physics leading to final states containing a Higgs boson, with a mass of 125.09 GeV, decaying to a pair of photons is performed with 139 fb−1 of s $$\sqrt{s}$$ = 13 TeV pp collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. This search examines 22 final states categorized by the objects that are produced in association with the Higgs boson. These objects include isolated electrons or muons, hadronically decaying τ-leptons, additional photons, missing transverse momentum, and hadronic jets, as well as jets that are tagged as containing a b-hadron. No significant excesses above Standard Model expectations are observed and limits on the production cross section at 95% confidence level are set. Detector efficiencies are reported for all 22 signal regions, which can be used to convert detector-level cross-section limits reported in this paper to particle-level cross-section constraints