Interprofessional collaboration between different health care professions in emilia romagna

Background and aim of the work: Interprofessional collaboration in the healthcare sector contributes to the delivery of high quality and safe services to patients across different subdivisions of the healthcare system which is faced with constant challenges. The international literature offers a plethora of tools for assessing the collaboration between health workers, but only a few of these have been validated in the Italian language. One that has undergone such validation is the interprofessional collaboration (IPC) scale, which measures the perception of collaboration among health professionals. An advantage of this scale is that is addresses all workers within the system, and is not limited to specific professions. The aim of the present study was to apply the validated Italian version of the IPC scale, to a context different to the one used for its validation, to measure the level of collaboration between different health care workers. Method: A questionnaire-based study was conducted on a sample consisting of 329 health professionals working at Azienda USL-IRCCS in Reggio Emilia. The categorical and continuous variables were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequen-cies, percentages and standard deviations). Results: The IPC scale showed physicians to express the highest level of collaboration with other professionals, in line with the results of other studies in the literature. The values calculated for the factors “accommodation” and “communication” were higher than for “isolation”, de-picting a good level collaboration. The only case in which the isolation factor, which describes an absence of collaboration, was equal to the other two factors was in relation to the evaluation of midwives by nursing aides/orderlies. Conclusions: In conclusion, the Italian version of the IPC scale provides a useful instrument for measuring interprofessional collaboration between workers in the healthcare sector. In the present study, it revealed a satisfactory level of collaboration between health professionals in an organization located in Emilia Romagna, Italy. (www.actabiomedica.it)

Influence of intensive agriculture on dry deposition of aerosol nutrients

A procedure is presented for quantification of sources contributing to atmospheric aerosol chemical nutrient concentrations and dry deposition fluxes. Source apportionment using principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple linear regression analysis (MLRA) was followed by application of a size-segregated particle dry deposition model. In a rural region of southeast Brazil, biomass burning, products of secondary reactions, and soil dust re-suspension explained 43%, 31% and 21% of PM(2.5) mass, respectively. Re-suspension and biomass burning contributed 22% and 19%, respectively, to PM(10) mass, and re-suspension accounted for approximately half of the mass of coarse particles. At least 40% of NO(3)(-)-N, 20% of phosphorus and 55% of potassium deposited originated from agriculture-related emissions. Deposition to tropical forest is currently higher than the minimum under natural conditions by factors of 12.2 (N), 6.2 (P) and 2.6 (K)

Front. Plant. Sci.

Plasmodesmata (PD) pores connect neighbouring plant cells and enable direct transport across the cell wall. Understanding the molecular composition of these structures is essential to address their formation and later dynamic regulation. Here we provide a biochemical characterisation of the cell wall co-purified with primary PD of Arabidopsis thaliana cell cultures. To achieve this result we combined subcellular fractionation, polysaccharide analyses and enzymatic fingerprinting approaches. Relative to the rest of the cell wall, specific patterns were observed in the PD fraction. Most xyloglucans, although possibly not abundant as a group, were fucosylated. Homogalacturonans displayed short methylated stretches while rhamnogalacturonan I species were remarkably abundant. Ful l rhamnogalacturonan II forms, highly methyl-acetylated, were also present. We additionally showed that these domains, compared to the broad wall, are less affected by wall modifying activities during a time interval of days. Overall, the protocol and the data presented here open new opportunities for the study of wall polysaccharides associated with PD.Ecole Universitaire de Recherche de Sciences des Plantes de Paris-SaclayThe function of membrane tethering in plant intercellular communicatio

Characteristics of the colorectal cancers diagnosed in the early 2000s in Italy. Figures from the IMPATTO study on colorectal cancer screening

The impact of organized screening programmes on colorectal cancer (CRC) can be observed at a population level only several years after the implementation of screening. We compared CRC characteristics by diagnostic modality (screen-detected, non-screen-detected) as an early outcome to monitor screening programme effectiveness. Data on CRCs diagnosed in Italy from 2000 to 2008 were collected by several cancer registries. Linkage with screening datasets made it possible to divide the cases by geographic area, implementation of screening, and modality of diagnosis (screen-detected, non-screen-detected).We compared the main characteristics of the different subgroups of CRCs through multivariate logistic regression models. The study included 23,668 CRCs diagnosed in subjects aged 50-69 years, of which 11.9%were screendetected (N=2,806), all from the North-Centre of Italy. Among screen-detected CRCs, we observed a higher proportion of males, of cases in the distal colon, and a higher mean age of the patients. Compared with pre-screening cases, screen-detected CRCs showed a better distribution by stage at diagnosis (OR for stage III or IV: 0.40, 95%CI: 0.36-0.44) and grading (OR for poorly differentiated CRCs was 0.86, 95%CI: 0.75-1.00). Screen-detected CRCs have more favourable prognostic characteristics than non-screen-detected cases. A renewed effort to implement screening programmes throughout the entire country is recommended

Consensus protocol for EEG and amplitude-integrated EEG assessment and monitoring in neonates

The aim of this work is to establish inclusive guidelines on electroencephalography (EEG) applicable to all neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Guidelines on ideal EEG monitoring for neonates are available, but there are significant barriers to their implementation in many centres around the world. These include barriers due to limited resources regarding the availability of equipment and technical and interpretive round-the-clock personnel. On the other hand, despite its limitations, amplitude-integrated EEG (aEEG) (previously called Cerebral Function Monitor [CFM]) is a common alternative used in NICUs. The Italian Neonatal Seizure Collaborative Network (INNESCO), working with all national scientific societies interested in the field of neonatal clinical neurophysiology, performed a systematic literature review and promoted interdisciplinary discussions among experts (neonatologists, paediatric neurologists, neurophysiologists, technicians) between 2017 and 2020 with the aim of elaborating shared recommendations. A consensus statement on videoEEG (vEEG) and aEEG for the principal neonatal indications was established. The authors propose a flexible frame of recommendations based on the complementary use of vEEG and aEEG applicable to the various neonatal units with different levels of complexity according to local resources and specific patient features. Suggestions for promoting cooperation between neonatologists, paediatric neurologists, and neurophysiologists, organisational restructuring, and teleneurophysiology implementation are provided

Insights into Ligand–Protein Binding from Local Mechanical Response

Computational studies of ligand–protein binding are crucial for properly designing novel compounds of potential pharmacological interest. In this respect, researchers are increasingly interested in steered molecular dynamics for ligand–protein binding and unbinding studies. In particular, it has been suggested that analyzing the work profiles along the ligand–protein undocking paths could be fruitful. Here, we propose that small portions of work profiles, termed “local mechanical responses” of the system to a steering force, could serve as a universal measure for capturing relevant information about the system under investigation. Specifically, we first collected a high number of steering trajectories using two biological systems of increasing complexity (i.e., alanine dipeptide and (R)-roscovitine/CDK5 complex). Then, we devised a novel postprocessing tool to be applied to the local mechanical responses, to extract structural information related to the biological processes under investigation. Despite the out-of-equilibrium character of the trajectories, the analysis carried out on the work profiles provided pivotal information about the investigated biological processes. This could eventually be applied to drug design

Enzyme Promiscuity in Enolase Superfamily. Theoretical Study of o-Succinylbenzoate Synthase Using QM/MM Methods

The promiscuous activity of the enzyme o-succinylbenzoate synthase (OSBS) from the actinobacteria Amycolatopsis is investigated by means of QM/MM methods, using both density functional theory and semiempirical Hamiltonians. This enzyme catalyzes not only the dehydration of 2-succinyl-6R-hydroxy-2,4-cyclohexadiene-1R-carboxylate but also catalyzes racemization of different acylamino acids, with N-succinyl-R-phenylglycine being the best substrate. We investigated the molecular mechanisms for both reactions exploring the potential energy surface. Then, molecular dynamics simulations were performed to obtain the free energy profiles and the averaged interaction energies of enzymatic residues with the reacting system. Our results confirm the plausibility of the reaction mechanisms proposed in the literature, with a good agreement between theoretical and experimentally derived activation free energies. Our simulations unravel the role played by the different residues in each of the two possible reactions. The presence of flexible loops in the active site and the selection of structural modifications in the substrate seem to be key elements to promote the promiscuity of this enzyme.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad project CTQ2012-36253-C03-03 ́ and FEDER funds. K.S. thanks the Polish National Science Center (NCN) for Grant 2011/02/A/ST4/00246. The authors acknowledge computational facilities of the Servei d’Informatica ̀ de la Universitat de Valencia in the ̀ “Tirant” supercomputer, which is part of the Spanish Supercomputing Network

Structural Insights from Binding Poses of CCR2 and CCR5 with Clinically Important Antagonists: A Combined In Silico Study

Chemokine receptors are G protein-coupled receptors that contain seven transmembrane domains. In particular, CCR2 and CCR5 and their ligands have been implicated in the pathophysiology of a number of diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Based on their roles in disease, they have been attractive targets for the pharmaceutical industry, and furthermore, targeting both CCR2 and CCR5 can be a useful strategy. Owing to the importance of these receptors, information regarding the binding site is of prime importance. Structural studies have been hampered due to the lack of X-ray crystal structures, and templates with close homologs for comparative modeling. Most of the previous models were based on the bovine rhodopsin and β2-adrenergic receptor. In this study, based on a closer homolog with higher resolution (CXCR4, PDB code: 3ODU 2.5 Å), we constructed three-dimensional models. The main aim of this study was to provide relevant information on binding sites of these receptors. Molecular dynamics simulation was done to refine the homology models and PROCHECK results indicated that the models were reasonable. Here, binding poses were checked with some established inhibitors of high pharmaceutical importance against the modeled receptors. Analysis of interaction modes gave an integrated interpretation with detailed structural information. The binding poses confirmed that the acidic residues Glu291 (CCR2) and Glu283 (CCR5) are important, and we also found some additional residues. Comparisons of binding sites of CCR2/CCR5 were done sequentially and also by docking a potent dual antagonist. Our results can be a starting point for further structure-based drug design