5,655 research outputs found
Occupational risk factors in inflammatory bowel disease
Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are the two main forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Although the aetiology of IBD is not completely understood, an interaction between genetic and environmental factors has been proposed. In this context, however, environmental epidemiology lacks a comprehensive evaluation of the possible role of occupational exposures in IBD development and progression. Therefore, aim of our review was to evaluate how certain occupational risk factors may affect IBD pathogenesis, clinical history and severity of disease manifestations
Directive 2019/904/EU. The need to raise awareness on plastic misuse and consequences on health
Experimental Indications for the Response of the Spectators to the Participant Blast
Precise momentum distributions of identified projectile fragments, formed in
the reactions 238U + Pb and 238U + Ti at 1 A GeV, are measured with a
high-resolution magnetic spectrometer. With increasing mass loss, the
velocities first decrease as expected from previously established systematics,
then level off, and finally increase again. Light fragments are on the average
even faster than the projectiles. This finding is interpreted as the response
of the spectators to the participant blast. The re-acceleration of projectile
spectators is sensitive to the nuclear mean field and provides a new tool for
investigating the equation of state of nuclear matter.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, background information on
http://www-wnt.gsi.de/kschmidt
Disinvestment in healthcare: An overview of HTA agencies and organizations activities at European level
Background: In an era of a growing economic pressure for all health systems, the interest for "disinvestment" in healthcare increased. In this context, evidence based approaches such as Health Technology Assessment (HTA) are needed both to invest and to disinvest in health technologies. In order to investigate the extent of application of HTA in this field, methodological projects/frameworks, case studies, dissemination initiatives on disinvestment released by HTA agencies and organizations located in Europe were searched. Methods: In July 2015, the websites of HTA agencies and organizations belonging to the European network for HTA (EUnetHTA) and the International Network of Agencies for HTA (INAHTA) were accessed and searched through the use of the term "disinvestment". Retrieved deliverables were considered eligible if they reported methodological projects/frameworks, case studies and dissemination initiatives focused on disinvestment in healthcare. Results: 62 HTA agencies/organizations were accessed and eight methodological projects/frameworks, one case study and one dissemination initiative were found starting from 2007. With respect to methodological projects/frameworks, two were delivered in Austria, one in Italy, two in Spain and three in U.K. As for the case study and the dissemination initiative, both came from U.K. The majority of deliverables were aimed at making an overview of existing disinvestment approaches and at identifying challenges in their introduction. Conclusions: Today, in a healthcare context characterized by resource scarcity and increasing service demand, "disinvestment" from low-value services and reinvestment in high-value ones is a key strategy that may be supported by HTA. The lack of evaluation of technologies in use, in particular at the end of their lifecycle, may be due to the scant availability of frameworks and guidelines for identification and assessment of obsolete technologies that was shown by our work. Although several projects were carried out in different countries, most remain constrained to the field of research. Disinvestment is a relatively new concept in HTA that could pose challenges also from a methodological point of view. To tackle these challenges, it is necessary to construct experiences at international level with the aim to develop new methodological approaches to produce and grow evidence on disinvestment policies and practices
Auto and crosscorrelograms for the spike response of LIF neurons with slow synapses
An analytical description of the response properties of simple but realistic
neuron models in the presence of noise is still lacking. We determine
completely up to the second order the firing statistics of a single and a pair
of leaky integrate-and-fire neurons (LIFs) receiving some common slowly
filtered white noise. In particular, the auto- and cross-correlation functions
of the output spike trains of pairs of cells are obtained from an improvement
of the adiabatic approximation introduced in \cite{Mor+04}. These two functions
define the firing variability and firing synchronization between neurons, and
are of much importance for understanding neuron communication.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and Other Infections at Large Sports Gatherings: A Surprising Gap in Our Knowledge
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Response of Spiking Neurons to Correlated Inputs
The effect of a temporally correlated afferent current on the firing rate of
a leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neuron is studied. This current is
characterized in terms of rates, auto and cross-correlations, and correlation
time scale of excitatory and inhibitory inputs. The output rate
is calculated in the Fokker-Planck (FP) formalism in the limit of
both small and large compared to the membrane time constant of
the neuron. By simulations we check the analytical results, provide an
interpolation valid for all and study the neuron's response to rapid
changes in the correlation magnitude.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Interleukin-2 Production by Dendritic Cells and its Immuno-Regulatory Functions
Dendritic cells (DCs) are uniquely potent antigen presenting cells that acquire microbial products and prime adaptive immune responses against pathogens. Furthermore, DCs also play a key role in induction and maintenance of tolerance. Although numerous studies have assessed the diverse functions of DCs, many unanswered questions remain regarding the molecular mechanisms that DCs use to achieve immunoregulation. While not widely regarded as a significant provider of T-cell growth factors, DCs have previously been identified as a potential source of IL-2 cytokine. Recent research indicates that microbes are the most effective stimuli to trigger IL-2 production in DCs by activating the calcineurin/NFAT signaling pathway. Herein we describe recent insights into the production and function of IL-2 cytokine and IL-2 receptor in DCs early after stimulation through pattern recognition receptors. These findings clarify how DCs fine-tune effector and regulatory responses by modulating IL-2 production in both tolerance and immunity
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