The Italian national trends in smoking initiation and cessation according to gender and education

Objectives. This study aims to assess the trend in initiation and cessation of smoking across successive birth cohorts, according to gender and education, in order to provide useful suggestion for tobacco control policy. Study design. The study is based on data from the ?Health conditions and resort to sanitary services? survey carried out in Italy from October 2004 to September 2005 by the National Institute of Statistics. Through a multisampling procedure a sample representative of the entire national territory was selected. Methods. In order to calculate trends in smoking initiation and cessation, data were stratified for birth cohorts, gender and edu- cation level, and analyzed through the life table method. Results. The cumulative probability of smoking initiation, across subsequent generations, shows a downward trend followed by a plateau. This result highlights that there is not a shred of evidence to support the hypothesis of an anticipation in smok- ing initiation. The cumulative probability of quitting, across subsequent generations, follows an upward trend, highlighting the growing tendency of smokers to become an ?early quitter?, who give up within 30 years of age. Conclusion. Results suggest that the Italian antismoking approach, for the most part targeted at preventing the initiation of smoking emphasising the negative consequences, has an effect on the early smoking cessation. Health policies should reinforce the existing trend of ?early quitting? through specific actions. In addition our results show that men with low education exhibit the higher probability of smoking initiation and the lower prob- ability of early quitting, and therefore should be targeted with special attention

VMXR: a EUD Environment for Virtual Merchandizing in XR

This paper presents the current development state of VMXR, a Proof of Concept (PoC) environment allowing people without programming experience to create and configure product showcases in a Virtual and eXtended reality setting. The aim of the PoC is to identify proper metaphors and workflows for supporting showcase designers in creating interactions with the virtual product representation or enhancing the physical environment through additional information and media

Maximum-likelihood retrieval of volcanic ash concentration and particle size from ground-based scanning lidar

An inversion methodology, named maximum-likelihood (ML) volcanic ash light detection and ranging (Lidar) retrieval (VALR-ML), has been developed and applied to estimate volcanic ash particle size and ash mass concentration within volcanic plumes. Both estimations are based on the ML approach, trained by a polarimetric backscattering forward model coupled with a Monte Carlo ash microphysical model. The VALR-ML approach is applied to Lidar backscattering and depolarization profiles, measured at visible wavelength during two eruptions of Mt. Etna, Catania, Italy, in 2010 and 2011. The results are compared with those of ash products derived from other parametric retrieval algorithms. A detailed comparison among these different retrieval techniques highlights the potential of VALR-ML to determine, on the basis of a physically consistent approach, the ash cloud area that must be interdicted to flight operations. Moreover, the results confirm the usefulness of operating scanning Lidars near active volcanic vents

Cognitive Impairment and Age-Related Vision Disorders: Their Possible Relationship and the Evaluation of the Use of Aspirin and Statins in a 65 Years-and-Over Sardinian Population

Neurological disorders (Alzheimer’s disease, vascular and mixed dementia) and visual loss (cataract, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy) are among the most common conditions that afflict people of at least 65 years of age. An increasing body of evidence is emerging, which demonstrates that memory and vision impairment are closely, significantly, and positively linked and that statins and aspirin may lessen the risk of developing age-related visual and neurological problems. However, clinical studies have produced contradictory results. Thus, the intent of the present study was to reliably establish whether a relationship exist between various types of dementia and age-related vision disorders, and to establish whether statins and aspirin may or may not have beneficial effects on these two types of disorders. We found that participants with dementia and/or vision problems were more likely to be depressed and displayed worse functional ability in basic and instrumental activities of daily living than controls. Mini mental state examination scores were significantly lower in patients with vision disorders compared to subjects without vision disorders. A closer association with macular degeneration was found in subjects with Alzheimer’s disease than in subjects without dementia or with vascular dementia, mixed dementia, or other types of age-related vision disorders. When we considered the associations between different types of dementia and vision disorders and the use of statins and aspirin, we found a significant positive association between Alzheimer’s disease and statins on their own or in combination with aspirin, indicating that these two drugs do not appear to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease or improve its clinical evolution and may, on the contrary, favor its development. No significant association in statin use alone, aspirin use alone, or the combination of these was found in subjects without vision disorders but with dementia, and, similarly, none in subjects with vision disorders but without dementia. Overall, these results confirm the general impression so far; namely, that macular degeneration may contribute to cognitive disorders (Alzheimer’s disease in particular). In addition, they also suggest that, while statin and aspirin use may undoubtedly have some protective effects, they do not appear to be magic pills against the development of cognitive impairment or vision disorders in the elderly

End-User Development for eXtended Reality using a multimodal Intelligent Conversational Agent

In the past years, both the research community and commercial products have proposed various solutions aiming to support end-user developers (EUDevs), namely users without extensive programming skills, to build and customize XR experiences. However, current tools may not fully eliminate the potential for user errors or misunderstandings. In this paper, we present EUD4XR, a methodology consisting of an intelligent conversational agent to provide contextual help, to EUDevs, during the authoring process. The key characteristics of this agent are its multimodality, comprehending the user’s voice, gaze, and pointing, combined with the environment status. Moreover, the agent could also demonstrate concepts, suggest components, and help explain errors further to reduce misunderstandings for end-user developers of VR/XR

Laparoscopic Excision of Endometriosis May Require Unilateral Parametrectomy

Nerve-sparing complete excision of endometriosis may not be possible. In these patients, unilateral parametrectomy may be a reasonable alternative management strategy

Preoperative assessment of cardiovascular risk in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery: The Orion study

In patients undergoing noncardiac surgery risk indices can estimate patients' perioperative risk of major cardiovascular complications. The indexes currently in use were derived from observational studies that are now outdated with respect to the current clinical context. We undertook a prospective, observational, cohort study to derive, validate, and compare a new risk index with established risk indices. We evaluated 7335 patients (mean age 63±13 years) who underwent noncardiac surgery. Based on prospective data analysis of 4600 patients (derivation cohort) we developed an Updated Cardiac Risk Score (UCRS), and validated the risk score on 2735 patients (validation cohort). Four variables (i.e. the UCRS) were significantly associated with the risk of a major perioperative cardiovascular events: high-risk surgery, preoperative estimate glomerular filtration rate <30 ml/min/1.73 m2, age ≥75 years, and history of heart failure. Based on the UCRS we created risk classes 1,2,3 and 4 and their corresponding 30-day risk of a major cardiovascular complication was 0.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.5-1.7), 2.5 (95% CI 1.6-5.6), 8.7 (95% CI 5.2-18.9) and 27.2 (95% CI 11.8-50.3), respectively. No significant differences were found between the derivation and validation cohorts. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves demonstrate a high predictive performance of the new index, with greater power to discriminate between the various classes of risk than the indexes currently used. The high predictive performance and simplicity of the UCRS make it suitable for wide-scale use in preoperative cardiac risk assessment of patients undergoing noncardiac surgery

Professional competencies in health promotion and public health: what is common and what is specific? Review of the European debate and perspectives for professional development.

According to the Nairobi Call to Action, the growth of practitioners' skills can be favoured by setting accreditation standards and by reorienting professional competencies of current and future health workers. This will make it possible to develop a critical mass of competent practitioners, foster training, and increase visibility of the professional field. Through a review of the literature, the authors offer an overview of competency-based strategies for professional development in health promotion. The main research questions discussed were as follows: Is there a shared definition of public health?; Is there a shared definition of health promotion?; Who are the main stakeholders for public health and health promotion in Europe?; What is the meaning of professional competencies in education and practice for public health and health promotion?; Is there a shared system of professional core competencies in public health and health promotion?;What is common and what is specific between the two systems of professional competencies?; Is it useful and feasible to create specific strategies of professional development for public health and health promotion? A transformative use of competencies makes it possible to inform students, professionals, employers, and political decision-makers about what is expected from a specific profession and its values

Examples of multi-sensor determination of eruptive source parameters of explosive events at mount etna

International audienceMulti-sensor strategies are key to the real-time determination of eruptive source parameters (ESPs) of explosive eruptions necessary to forecast accurately both tephra dispersal and deposition. To explore the capacity of these strategies in various eruptive conditions, we analyze data acquiredby two Doppler radars, ground- and satellite-based infrared sensors, one infrasound array, visible video-monitoring cameras as well as data from tephra-fallout deposits associated with a weak and a strong paroxysmal event at Mount Etna (Italy). We find that the different sensors provide complementary observations that should be critically analyzed and combined to provide comprehensive estimates of ESPs. First, all measurements of plume height agree during the strong paroxysmal activity considered, whereas some discrepancies are found for the weak paroxysm due to rapid plume and cloud dilution. Second, the event duration, key to convert the total erupted mass (TEM) in the mass eruption rate (MER) and vice versa, varies depending on the sensor used, providing information on different phases of the paroxysm (i.e., unsteady lava fountaining, lava fountain-fed tephra plume, waning phase associated with plume and cloud expansion in the atmosphere). As a result, TEM and MER derived from different sensors also correspond to the different phases of the paroxysms. Finally, satellite retrievals for grain-size can be combined with radar data to provide a first approximation of total grain-size distribution (TGSD) in near real-time. Such a TGSD shows a promising agreement with the TGSD derived from the combination of satellite data and whole deposit grain-size distribution (WDGSD)