The Conselice Study of Brain Ageing

Among the age-related diseases, the development of cognitive impairments, in particular dementia, is the most devastating for the individual and has great social and healthcare costs. Accurate information is needed about the prevalence and incidence of cognitive disorders and the physiology of the ageing brain. In particular, only scant data are available about the relationship between ageing, cognitive status and nutritional factors. In order to address these issues we planned the Conselice Study of Brain Ageing, a longitudinal study of physiologic and pathologic brain ageing. The center involved in the study was the municipality of Conselice, Ravenna province, in the Northern Italian region Emilia-Romagna. A total of 1016 subjects aged 65 and over was enrolled at baseline. Information about cognitive status at 4-years of follow-up was collected for 940 of them. These data have been used to estimate prevalence and incidence of dementia in the elderly Italian population and to investigate the possible role of baseline blood homocysteine as risk factors for dementia

Seismotectonics of the Southern Apennines and Adriatic foreland: insights on active regional E-W shear zones from analogue modeling

The active tectonics at the front of the Southern Apennines and in the Adriatic foreland is characterized by E-W striking, right-lateral seismogenic faults, interpreted as reactivated inherited discontinuities. The best studied among these is the Molise-Gondola shear zone (MGsz). The interaction of these shear zones with the Apennines chain is not yet clear. To address this open question we developed a set of scaled analogue experiments, aimed at analyzing: 1) how dextral strike-slip motion along a pre-existing zone of weakness within the foreland propagates toward the surface and affects the orogenic wedge; 2) the propagation of deformation as a function of displacement; 3) any insights on the active tectonics of Southern Italy. Our results stress the primary role played by these inherited structures when reactivated, and confirm that regional E-W dextral shear zones are a plausible way of explaining the seismotectonic setting of the external areas of the Southern Apennines

Modes of fault reactivation from analogue modeling experiments: implications for the seismotectonics of the southern Adriatic foreland (Italy)

The active tectonics at the front of the Southern Apennines and in the Adriatic foreland is characterized by E-W striking, right-lateral seismogenic faults, interpreted as reactivated inherited discontinuities. The best studied among these is the Molise-Gondola shear zone (MGsz). The interaction of these shear zones with the Apennines chain is not yet clear. To address this open question we developed a set of scaled analogue experiments, aimed at analyzing: 1) how dextral strike-slip motion along a pre-existing zone of weakness within the foreland propagates toward the surface and affects the orogenic wedge; 2) the propagation of deformation as a function of increasing displacement; 3) any insights on the active tectonics of Southern Italy. Our results stress the primary role played by these inherited structures when reactivated, and confirm that regional EW dextral shear zones are a plausible way of explaining the seismotectonic setting of the external areas of the Southern Apennines

Classificação preliminar das paisagens da sub-região do Abobral, Pantanal, usando imagens de satélite.

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Emergency-department accesses in home care paediatric patients: Occurrence and risks of use in a six-year retrospective investigation in Northern Italy

Objective To assess the determinants of ED use in paediatric patients enrolled in an Integrated Paediatric Home Care (IPHC) program. Methods A retrospective study was conducted using administrative databases on a cohort of patients enrolled in an IPHC program between January 1st, 2012, and December 31st, 2017, in Northern Italy. ED visits that occurred during the IPHC program were considered. Data were collected considering sociodemographic, clinical and organizational variables. A multivariable stepwise logistic regression analysis was performed. The dependent variable to identify possible associations was ED visit. Results A total of 463 ED visits occurred in 465 children, with an incidence rate of 1. The risk of ED visits significantly increased among children involved in the IPHC program after hospital discharge (OR 1.94). Additionally, the risk of ED visits increased significantly as the duration of IPHC increased (OR 5.80 between 101 and 200 days, to OR 7.84 between 201 and 300 days, OR 12.54 between 301 and 400 days and OR 18.67 to more than 400 days). Conclusion The overall results represent a practical perspective to contribute improving both the service quality of IPHC and reducing low acuity and improper ED use

Mapeamento de unidades de paisagem em nível de fazenda, Pantanal da Nhecolândia.

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Índice de vegetação na detecção de áreas recém-queimadas no Pantanal utilizando imagens CBERS.

Dentre os indicadores de sustentabilidade das fazendas pantaneiras, destaca-se o grau de intensidade de queimadas das paisagens, portanto, há a necessidade de um método prático para quantificar especialmente a intensidade da queima

Influência de variáveis climáticas sobre o comportamento ingestivo de vacas de corte no Pantanal.

Estudos sobre o comportamento animal em condições naturais são fundamentais para definição de critérios de bem-estar animal. Este teve como objetivo avaliar a influência de variáveis climáticas sobre o comportamento ingestivo de vacas de cria criadas em pastagens nativa na sub-região da Nhecolândia, Pantanal, no período de 2002 a 2004

Uso de um modelo linear de mistura espectral e índice de vegetação na avaliação de pastagens em degradação no Pantanal.

Este estudo teve por objetivo avaliar áreas de campos degradados por malva-branca por meio de imagens criadas a partir do modelo linear de mistura espectral e índice de vegetação de diferença normalizada utilizando imagens LANDSAT, em período de seca no Pantanal

A comparison of acute phase proteins and traditional risk factors as markers of combined plaque and intima-media thickness and plaque density in carotid and femoral arteries

AbstractObjectives: to test the hypothesis that some acute phase proteins may be better independent predictors of objective measures of arterial wall impairment than traditional risk factors. Design: cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, C3 complement and traditional risk factors were measured in 288 men aged 55-64 years, randomly chosen from the local registry lists. By ultrasound assessment of the bifurcations of carotid and femoral arteries, maximum combined plaque/intima-media thickness (CPIMTmax) and mean plaque density (MPD, in a grey scale from 0 to 255) were also measured. Results: in multivariate analysis only traditional risk factors remained associated with the overall CPIMTmax: smoking (r = 0.35, p < 0.0001), cholesterol (r = 0.23, p = 0.0001), age (r = 0.22, p = 0.0002), glucose (r = 0.18, p = 0.002) and systolic blood pressure (r = 0.13, p = 0.02). However, with regard to carotid disease only, fibrinogen was the strongest covariate of CPIMT (r = 0.18, p = 0.002). The overall MPD was independently associated with CRP (r = 0.25, p = 0.0008), physical activity (r = 0.19, p = 0.009), triglycerides (r = −0.18, p = 0.02) and body mass index (r = 0.15, p = 0.04). CRP was mainly associated with femoral MPD, while triglycerides were the major (inverse) covariate of carotid MPD. Conclusions: traditional risk factors are the main determinants of CPIMTmax, although fibrinogen seems to play a role in carotids. CRP was associated with high density femoral plaques. Finally, no acute phase protein was independently associated with low density, potentially vulnerable, plaques.Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg 26, 81-87 (2003