Open-access clinical trial registries: the Italian scenario

BACKGROUND: Citizens, patients and their representatives are increasingly insisting on working with health professionals to organize and discuss research protocols. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommended setting up a public clinical trial registry where anyone can find key information about a trial. Around the world, governments have, in fact, now begun to legislate mandatory disclosure of all clinical trials. The aims of the present survey were to assess the availability of clinical trial registries for Italian citizens and to examine the transparency of the data items reported. METHODS: The availability of open-access clinical trial registries was surveyed on a sample of 182 websites, including research institutes and centers of excellence (IRCCS-teaching hospitals), hospitals and associations. For each registry we downloaded a sample of two trials to assess the correspondence of the data items reported. Results from the Italian and international registries were compared. RESULTS: Fifteen percent of the sample had an open-access registry of clinical trials. Comparison of the data items available, in terms of completeness and transparency, from institutional and international registries indicated wide variability. CONCLUSIONS: Italian citizens, patients and their associations have scant access to local registries of clinical trials, and international registries are generally more informative. On the European level, advocacy and lobby actions are needed among citizens and patients to boost the diffusion of open-access clinical trial registries without language barriers, thereby facilitating participation, access to information, and the coordination of clinical research

METROPOLITAN AGRICULTURE, SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC DYNAMICS AND THE FOOD-CITY RELATIONSHIP IN SOUTHERN EUROPE

Peri-urban agriculture is a pivotal issue in the debate on sustainable management of land in metropolitan regions worldwide. Multiple socioeconomic and environmental solutions introduced by new models of peri-urban agriculture are playing an important role in planning and management of fringe land. The recent development of peri-urban agriculture in Southern European cities was supposed to reflect latent, crisis-driven processes of 'coming back to land': new land has been extensively cultivated, and new relations have been created between farmers, communities and territories within peri-urban areas. This study describes some relevant experiences of peri-urban farming in 6 metropolitan regions (Lisbon, Barcelona, Marseille, Rome, Athens, Istanbul) representative of different socioeconomic contexts in Southern Europe, outlining strengths and weaknesses in the use of fringe land for cropping, and evidencing relevant implications for urban sustainability

Women's perception of the benefits of mammography screening: population-based survey in four countries

Background Screening programmes are often actively promoted to achieve high coverage, which may result in unrealistic expectations. We examined women's understanding of the likely benefits of mammography screening. Methods Telephone survey of random samples of the female population aged ≥15 years in the US, UK, Italy, and Switzerland using three closed questions on the expected benefits of mammography screening. Results A total of 5964 women were contacted and 4140 women (69%) participated. Misconceptions were widespread: a majority of women believed that screening prevents or reduces the risk of contracting breast cancer (68%), that screening at least halves breast cancer mortality (62%), and that 10 years of regular screening will prevent 10 or more breast cancer deaths per 1000 women (75%). In multivariate analysis higher number of correct answers was positively associated with higher educational status (odds ratio [OR] = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.25, 1.66) and negatively with having had a mammography in the last 2 years (OR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.73, 1.01). Compared with US women (reference group) and Swiss women (OR = 0.98, 95% CI: 0.82, 1.18) respondents in Italy (OR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.50, 0.74) and the UK (OR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.60, 0.88) gave fewer correct answers. Conclusion In the US and three European countries a high proportion of women overestimated the benefits that can be expected from screening mammography. This finding raises doubts on informed consent procedures within breast cancer screening programme

Chemical bond analysis for the entire periodic table: Energy Decomposition and Natural Orbitals for Chemical Valence in the Four-Component Relativistic Framework

Chemical bonding is a ubiquitous concept in chemistry and it provides a common basis for experimental and theoretical chemists to explain and predict the structure, stability and reactivity of chemical species. Among others, the Energy Decomposition Analysis (EDA, also known as the Extended Transition State method) in combination with Natural Orbitals for Chemical Valence (EDA-NOCV) is a very powerful tool for the analysis of the chemical bonds based on a charge and energy decomposition scheme within a common theoretical framework. While the approach has been applied in a variety of chemical contexts, the current implementations of the EDA-NOCV scheme include relativistic effects only at scalar level, so simply neglecting the spin-orbit coupling effects and de facto limiting its applicability. In this work, we extend the EDA-NOCV method to the relativistic four-component Dirac-Kohn-Sham theory that variationally accounts for spin-orbit coupling. Its correctness and numerical stability have been demonstrated in the case of simple molecular systems, where the relativistic effects play a negligible role, by comparison with the implementation available in the ADF modelling suite (using the non-relativistic Hamiltonian and the scalar ZORA approximation). As an illustrative example we analyse the metal-ethylene coordination bond in the group 6-element series (CO)$_5$TM-C$_2$H$_4$, with TM =Cr, Mo, W, Sg, where relativistic effects are likely to play an increasingly important role as one moves down the group. The method provides a clear measure (also in combination with the CD analysis) of the donation and back-donation components in coordination bonds, even when relativistic effects, including spin-orbit coupling, are crucial for understanding the chemical bond involving heavy and superheavy atoms.Comment: 49 pages, 2 figure

Renal function and physical fitness after 12-mo supervised training in kidney transplant recipients

To evaluate the effect of a 12-mo supervised aerobic and resistance training, on renal function and exercise capacity compared to usual care recommendations

Women's perception of the benefits of mammography screening: population-based survey in four countries

Background: Screening programmes are often actively promoted to achieve high coverage, which may result in unrealistic expectations. We examined women's understanding of the likely benefits of mammography screening. Methods: Telephone survey of random samples of the female population aged 15 years in the US, UK, Italy, and Switzerland using three closed questions on the expected benefits of mammography screening. Results: A total of 5964 women were contacted and 4140 women (69%) participated. Misconceptions were widespread: a majority of women believed that screening prevents or reduces the risk of contracting breast cancer (68%), that screening at least halves breast cancer mortality (62%), and that 10 years of regular screening will prevent 10 or more breast cancer deaths per 1000 women (75%). In multivariate analysis higher number of correct answers was positively associated with higher educational status (odds ratio [OR] = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.25, 1.66) and negatively with having had a mammography in the last 2 years (OR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.73, 1.01). Compared with US women (reference group) and Swiss women (OR = 0.98, 95% CI: 0.82, 1.18) respondents in Italy (OR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.50, 0.74) and the UK (OR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.60, 0.88) gave fewer correct answers. Conclusion: In the US and three European countries a high proportion of women overestimated the benefits that can be expected from screening mammography. This finding raises doubts on informed consent procedures within breast cancer screening programmes. [Authors]]]> Breast Neoplasms ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Mammography ; Mass Screening eng https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_7F081FA0D56E.P001/REF.pdf http://nbn-resolving.org/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:ch:serval-BIB_7F081FA0D56E9 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/urn/urn:nbn:ch:serval-BIB_7F081FA0D56E9 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Copying allowed only for non-profit organizations https://serval.unil.ch/disclaimer application/pdf oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_7F0821E3DC67 2022-05-07T01:21:22Z <oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"> https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_7F0821E3DC67 Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma as a Masquerade Syndrome of Scleral Melting and Granulomatous Kerato-Uveitis. info:doi:10.1055/s-0031-1273241 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1055/s-0031-1273241 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/21484645 Moulin, A.P. Hamedani, M. Majo, F. Schaefer, F. Guex-Crosier, Y. info:eu-repo/semantics/article article 2011 Klinische Monatsblatter Fur Augenheilkunde, vol. 228, no. 4, pp. 347-349 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/1439-3999 urn:issn:0023-2165 eng oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_7F0838694976 2022-05-07T01:21:22Z openaire documents urnserval <oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"> https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_7F0838694976 Effects of Different Training Intensity Distributions Between Elite Cross-Country Skiers and Nordic-Combined Athletes During Live High-Train Low. info:doi:10.3389/fphys.2018.00932 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3389/fphys.2018.00932 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/30072913 Schmitt, L. Willis, S.J. Coulmy, N. Millet, G.P. info:eu-repo/semantics/article article 2018 Frontiers in physiology, vol. 9, pp. 932 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/1664-042X urn:issn:1664-042X <![CDATA[&lt;b&gt;Purpose:&lt;/b&gt; To analyze the effects of different training strategies (i.e., mainly intensity distribution) during living high - training low (LHTL) between elite cross-country skiers and Nordic-combined athletes. &lt;b&gt;Methods:&lt;/b&gt; 12 cross-country skiers (XC) (7 men, 5 women), and 8 male Nordic combined (NC) of the French national teams were monitored during 15 days of LHTL. The distribution of training at low-intensity (LIT), below the first ventilatory threshold (VT1), was 80% and 55% in XC and NC respectively. Daily, they filled a questionnaire of fatigue, and performed a heart rate variability (HRV) test. Prior (Pre) and immediately after (Post), athletes performed a treadmill incremental running test for determination of &lt;mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"&gt; &lt;mml:mover&gt; &lt;mml:mtext&gt;V&lt;/mml:mtext&gt; &lt;mml:mo&gt;˙&lt;/mml:mo&gt; &lt;/mml:mover&gt; &lt;/mml:math&gt; O &lt;sub&gt;2max&lt;/sub&gt; and &lt;mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"&gt; &lt;mml:mover&gt; &lt;mml:mtext&gt;V&lt;/mml:mtext&gt; &lt;mml:mo&gt;˙&lt;/mml:mo&gt; &lt;/mml:mover&gt; &lt;/mml:math&gt; O &lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; at the second ventilatory threshold ( &lt;mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"&gt; &lt;mml:mover&gt; &lt;mml:mtext&gt;V&lt;/mml:mtext&gt; &lt;mml:mo&gt;˙&lt;/mml:mo&gt; &lt;/mml:mover&gt; &lt;/mml:math&gt; O &lt;sub&gt;2V T2&lt;/sub&gt; ), a field roller-skiing test with blood lactate ([La-]) assessment. &lt;b&gt;Results:&lt;/b&gt; The training volume was in XC and NC, respectively: at LIT: 45.9 ± 6.4 vs. 23.9 ± 2.8 h ( &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.001), at moderate intensity: 1.9 ± 0.5 vs. 3.0 ± 0.4 h, ( &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.001), at high intensity: 1.2 ± 0.9 vs. 1.4 ± 02 h ( &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; = 0.05), in strength (and jump in NC): 7.1 ± 1.5 vs. 18.4 ± 2.7 h, ( &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.001). Field roller-skiing performance was improved (-2.9 ± 1.6%, &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.001) in XC but decreased (4.1 ± 2.6%, &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.01) in NC. [La-] was unchanged (-4.1 ± 14.2%, &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; = 0.3) in XC but decreased (-27.0 ± 11.1%, &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.001) in NC. Changes in field roller-skiing performance and in [La-] were correlated ( &lt;i&gt;r&lt;/i&gt; = -0.77, &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.001). &lt;mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"&gt; &lt;mml:mover&gt; &lt;mml:mtext&gt;V&lt;/mml:mtext&gt; &lt;mml:mo&gt;˙&lt;/mml:mo&gt; &lt;/mml:mover&gt; &lt;/mml:math&gt; O &lt;sub&gt;2max&lt;/sub&gt; increased in both XC and NC (3.7 ± 4.2%, &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; = 0.01 vs. 3.7 ± 2.2%, &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; = 0.002) but &lt;mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"&gt; &lt;mml:mover&gt; &lt;mml:mtext&gt;V&lt;/mml:mtext&gt; &lt;mml:mo&gt;˙&lt;/mml:mo&gt; &lt;/mml:mover&gt; &lt;/mml:math&gt; O &lt;sub&gt;2V T2&lt;/sub&gt; increased only in XC (7.3 ± 5.8%, &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt; = 0.002). HRV analysis showed differences between XC and NC mainly in high spectral frequency in the supine position (HF &lt;sub&gt;SU&lt;/sub&gt; ). All NC skiers showed some signs of overreaching at Post. &lt;b&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/b&gt; During LHTL, despite a higher training volume, XC improved specific performance and aerobic capacities, while NC did not. All NC skiers showed fatigue states. These findings suggest that a large amount of LIT with a moderate volume of strength and speed training is required during LHTL in endurance athletes