Physical Activity and Adiposity Markers at Older Ages: Accelerometer Vs Questionnaire Data

Physical activity is critically important for successful aging, but its effect on adiposity markers at older ages is unclear as much of the evidence comes from self-reported data on physical activity. We assessed the associations of questionnaire-assessed and accelerometer-assessed physical activity with adiposity markers in older adults

Landscape and Cultural Heritage: Best Practices for Planning and Local Development: An Example from Southern Italy

AbstractThe multidisciplinary study of the landscape aims to highlight, through a multi-scale and multi-temporal reading, the development and evolution of processes of natural and anthropogenic transformation in the different contexts examined, recognizing their common characteristics and structural differences. Such an approach cannot be separated from the identification of settlement dynamics and social-economic changes of long duration, nor from diachronic analysis of specific vocations and evolutive processes of the territory. In the study area, which includes the land around Castel Lagopesole, was carried out an archaeological and topographic research about settlements and their lands in the XIII and XIV century (§ 1.-2., by S. Del Lungo); a structural analysis of the rural landscape and a comparison between ancient and current intended use of the soil (§ 3., by C. A. Sabia). The aim is to bring out the elements of the historical landscape of merit and to propose appropriate criteria for planning for their protection and local economic development (§ 4., by C. Pacella)

Experimental test on an RC beam equipped with embedded barometric pressure sensors for strains measurement

The current trend in structural health monitoring (SHM) is to install increasingly large numbers of distributed, heterogeneous types of sensors, for a timely and exhaustive detection of any possible damage scenario evolving in the system. These sensors should be low-cost, easy to install, robust and durable. Among others, strain remains one of the most straightforward measurands for monitoring the state of a structural element and for assessing its health condition. However, for application to reinforced concrete structures, currently available strain sensing devices, such as electric strain gauges or fibre optic sensors, do not fully satisfy the aforementioned requirements, generally proving difficult to install, fragile and expensive. In this paper, an innovative monitoring technology, called Smart Steel System (S3), is proposed that measures strains in reinforced concrete members, by incorporating commercial barometric pressure MEMS sensors in appropriate sealed cavities embedded in the reinforcing steel bars. The results of an experimental campaign are reported, in which a reinforced concrete beam, instrumented with both S3 devices and conventional electrical strain gauges, is subjected to increasing loading and unloading cycles until collapse. The tests show the superior robustness of the S3 system during construction and loading as well as its good sensing accuracy, demonstrating its potential for a massive use in SHM applications

The hidden costs of livestock environmental sustainability: The case of Podolian Cattle

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is currently one of the most widely used methods for assessing the environmental impacts and performance of livestock products. According to this procedure, intensification of animal production is generally advocated to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions compared with extensive grazing systems due to the use of selected breeds, with enhanced productivity, and the significant reductions in CH4 emissions consequent to the use of concentrates rather than forages. In addition, the impact of intensive systems on land use is much lower. However, free-ranging Podolian cattle show a number of positive environmental effects, such as increased climate stability, improved soil functionality, water quality and footprint and preservation from fires along with maintaining an economically active social community in otherwise unproductive, marginal areas. Other beneficial effects of extensive Podolian farming system include low competition with human nutrition and high level of animal health and welfare. An economic evaluation of these non-commodity outputs should be indirectly estimated by the avoided costs (e.g. reduced veterinary interventions and therapy treatments) or the lack of profits (e.g. direct payments for the enhancement of environmental performance) that would have incurred in their absence. These economic evaluations should be used in order to allocate them as further outputs to be included in the LCA in order to achieve a more accurate estimation of the impact of the Podolian farming system

Clinical, socioeconomic, and behavioural factors at age 50 years and risk of cardiometabolic multimorbidity and mortality: A cohort study

BACKGROUND: Multimorbidity is increasingly common and is associated with adverse health outcomes, highlighting the need to broaden the single-disease framework that dominates medical research. We examined the role of midlife clinical characteristics, socioeconomic position, and behavioural factors in the development of cardiometabolic multimorbidity (at least 2 of diabetes, coronary heart disease, and stroke), along with how these factors modify risk of mortality. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Data on 8,270 men and women were drawn from the Whitehall II cohort study, with mean follow-up of 23.7 years (1985 to 2017). Three sets of risk factors were assessed at age 50 years, each on a 5-point scale: clinical profile (hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, overweight/obesity, family history of cardiometabolic disease), occupational position, and behavioural factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, physical activity). The outcomes examined were cardiometabolic disease (diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke), cardiometabolic multimorbidity, and mortality. We used multi-state models to examine the role of risk factors in 5 components of the cardiometabolic disease trajectory: from healthy state to first cardiometabolic disease, from first cardiometabolic disease to cardiometabolic multimorbidity, from healthy state to death, from first cardiometabolic disease to death, and from cardiometabolic multimorbidity to death. A total of 2,501 participants developed 1 of the 3 cardiometabolic diseases, 511 developed cardiometabolic multimorbidity, and 1,406 died. When behavioural and clinical risk factors were considered individually, only smoking was associated with all five transitions. In a model containing all 3 risk factor scales, midlife clinical profile was the strongest predictor of first cardiometabolic disease (hazard ratio for the least versus most favourable profile: 3.74; 95% CI: 3.14-4.45) among disease-free participants. Among participants with 1 cardiometabolic disease, adverse midlife socioeconomic (1.54; 95% CI: 1.10-2.15) and behavioural factors (2.00; 95% CI: 1.40-2.85), but not clinical characteristics, were associated with progression to cardiometabolic multimorbidity. Only midlife behavioural factors predicted mortality among participants with cardiometabolic disease (2.12; 95% CI: 1.41-3.18) or cardiometabolic multimorbidity (3.47; 95% CI: 1.81-6.66). A limitation is that the study was not large enough to estimate transitions between each disease and subsequent outcomes and between all possible pairs of diseases. CONCLUSIONS: The importance of specific midlife factors in disease progression, from disease-free state to single disease, multimorbidity, and death, varies depending on the disease stage. While clinical risk factors at age 50 determine the risk of incident cardiometabolic disease in a disease-free population, midlife socioeconomic and behavioural factors are stronger predictors of progression to multimorbidity and mortality in people with cardiometabolic disease

ITS2 in calanoid copepods: reconstructing phylogenetic relationships and identifying a newly introduced species in the Mediterranean

Phylogenetic inference and molecular taxonomy are becoming increasingly important approaches to classical morphological systematics and marine ecology. The number of molecular markers suitable for such goals is quite high, but general use restricts the list to a few of them, mainly mitochondrial (namely cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, COI and Cytochrome b), especially in copepods. The ribosomal cistronic regions have been widely used for broad phylogenetic analyses in different taxa. Among them, the internal transcribed spacers (ITS rDNA) are powerful tools for phylogenetic reconstructions at the different taxonomic levels, although not yet extensively used for copepods. In the present work, we tested the suitability of ITS2 rDNA marker to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of calanoid copepods using sequences retrieved from GenBank, complementing the phylogenetic positions of the species studied with their morphological and ecological traits. Through ITS2 rDNA we provided the first molecular evidence for the invasive calanoid Pseudodiaptomus marinus from the Mediterranean Sea (Lake Faro, Sicily, Italy), and compared it with the GenBank ITS2 sequences for P. marinus from Korea and other calanoid species. The divergence of the sequences of our P. marinus from those of Korean specimens was quite prominent (4.4%) and allowed us to hypothesise either a new forma living in the Mediterranean or a cryptic species. This study highlights the appropriateness of ITS2 for phylogenetic reconstructions and species identification, as well as for barcoding, meta-barcoding and phylogeographic approaches, and evidences the need for a more thorough knowledge of ribosomal regions in copepods from different sites