Fine wines : a study of financial returns with a focus on the Covid-19 pandemic and key implications of wine frauds

This dissertation investigated how fine wines can be a valid asset class and how they have performed in terms of returns in the past 6 years, with a focus on the COVID-19 pandemic. It analyzed the extensive literature around fine wines and the definition of fine wine and attempted to link the fine wine phenomenon to relevant notions in the literature on strategy and management theory. Qualitative data gathered through expert interviews aimed at validating fine wines as an asset class and to understand better what influenced price increases of fine wines, as well as how fake wines may limit the market and hamper growth. Fine wines were confirmed to be a valid asset class, recently gaining more interest due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the growth of fine wines into Asian markets. Experts further acknowledged that fake wines are a serious threat and that investors should always be careful, especially when buying from China, and buy directly from producers or trusted sales representatives to avoid fakes. Quantitative data used from the eWibe proprietary database, to analyze price trends and study price behavior. Fine wines have demonstrated the ability to deliver, on average, a 60% gross return over 6 years, which can increase up to an average 90% by selecting the fine wines produced in the two best performing regions, namely Burgundy in France and Piedmont in Italy. Finally, by comparing these two, we found that the April 2021 adverse weather had an average impact on Burgundy’s prices of 12%.Esta dissertação investigou como os vinhos finos podem ser uma classe de bens válida e como atuaram em termos de retorno nos últimos 6 anos, com enfoque na pandemia da COVID-19. Analisou a literatura sobre vinhos finos e a definição de vinho fino e tentou ligar o fenómeno do vinho fino a noções relevantes na literatura sobre estratégia e teoria de gestão. Dados qualitativos recolhidos através de entrevistas de peritos para validar os vinhos finos como uma classe de bens e de compreender o que influenciou os aumentos de preços, assim como os falsos podem limitar o mercado e dificultar o crescimento. Os vinhos finos foram confirmados como sendo uma classe de ativos válida, ganhando mais interesse durante a pandemia de Covid-19 e ao crescimento dos vinhos finos nos mercados asiáticos. Os especialistas reconheceram que os vinhos falsos são uma séria ameaça, os investidores devem ter cuidado, especialmente quando compram da China, e comprar diretamente aos produtores para evitar falsificações. Dados quantitativos usados do banco de dados proprietário eWibe, para analisar tendências de preços e estudar o comportamento dos preços. Os vinhos finos têm demonstrado a capacidade de proporcionar, em média, um retorno bruto de 60% ao longo de 6 anos, que pode aumentar até uma média de 90%, selecionando os vinhos finos produzidos nas duas regiões com melhor desempenho, nomeadamente Borgonha e Piemonte. Comparando estas duas regiões, constatamos que o clima adverso de Abril de 2021 teve um impacto médio de 12% nos preços da Borgonha

Prenatal chlorpyrifos exposure alters motor behavior and ultrasonic vocalization in cd-1 mouse pups

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is a non-persistent organophosphate (OP) largely used as pesticide. Studies from animal models indicate that CPF is a developmental neurotoxicant able to target immature central nervous system at dose levels well below the threshold of systemic toxicity. So far, few data are available on the potential short- and long-term adverse effects in children deriving from low-level exposures during prenatal life and infancy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Late gestational exposure [gestational day (GD) 14–17] to CPF at the dose of 6 mg/kg was evaluated in CD-1 mice during early development, by assessment of somatic and sensorimotor maturation [reflex-battery on postnatal days (PNDs) 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15] and ultrasound emission after isolation from the mother and siblings (PNDs 4, 7 and 10). Pups' motor skills were assessed in a spontaneous activity test on PND 12. Maternal behavior of lactating dams in the home cage and in response to presentation of a pup previously removed from the nest was scored on PND 4, to verify potential alterations in maternal care directly induced by CPF administration.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>As for the effects on the offspring, results indicated that on PND 10, CPF significantly decreased number and duration of ultrasonic calls while increasing latency to emit the first call after isolation. Prenatal CPF also reduced motor behavior on PND 12, while a tendency to hyporeflexia was observed in CPF pups by means of reflex-battery scoring. Dams administered during gestation with CPF showed baseline levels of maternal care comparable to those of controls, but higher levels of both pup-directed (licking) and explorative (wall rearing) responses.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Overall our results are consistent with previous epidemiological data on OP neurobehavioral toxicity, and also indicate ultrasonic vocalization as an early marker of CPF exposure during development in rodent studies, with potential translational value to human infants.</p

THE ITALIAN NETWORK FOR EARLY DETECTION OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND NATIONAL POLICIES

Background: Well-structured monitoring system is crucial to identify interventions for children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDD). Subjects and methods: The NIDA Network enrolled more than 760 at risk for NDD and typically developing infants to detect early signs of NDD. Results: The NIDA Network was born in some Italian regions to engage clinical centers in a research project. It is increasingly turning out to be a national monitoring project well integrated in the Italian National Health System policies. Conclusions: The NIDA Network activities are finalized at diagnosis and interventions to improve quality of life of children with NDD and their families

Unusual Repertoire of Vocalizations in the BTBR T+tf/J Mouse Model of Autism

BTBR T+ tf/J (BTBR) is an inbred mouse strain that displays social abnormalities and repetitive behaviors analogous to the first and third diagnostic symptoms of autism. Here we investigate ultrasonic vocalizations in BTBR, to address the second diagnostic symptom of autism, communication deficits. As compared to the commonly used C57BL/6J (B6) strain, BTBR pups called more loudly and more frequently when separated from their mothers and siblings. Detailed analysis of ten categories of calls revealed an unusual pattern in BTBR as compared to B6. BTBR emitted high levels of harmonics, two-syllable, and composite calls, but minimal numbers of chevron-shaped syllables, upward, downward, and short calls. Because body weights were higher in BTBR than B6 pups, one possible explanation was that larger thoracic size was responsible for the louder calls and different distribution of syllable categories. To test this possibility, we recorded separation calls from FVB/NJ, a strain with body weights similar to BTBR, and 129X1/SvJ, a strain with body weights similar to B6. BTBR remained the outlier on number of calls, displaying low numbers of complex, upward, chevron, short, and frequency steps calls, along with high harmonics and composites. Further, developmental milestones and growth rates were accelerated in BTBR, indicating an unusual neurodevelopmental trajectory. Overall, our findings demonstrate strain-specific patterns of ultrasonic calls that may represent different lexicons, or innate variations in complex vocal repertoires, in genetically distinct strains of mice. Particularly intriguing is the unusual pattern of vocalizations and the more frequent, loud harmonics evident in the BTBR mouse model of autism that may resemble the atypical vocalizations seen in some autistic infants

Early behavioral markers for neurodevelopmental disorders in the first 3 years of life: An overview of systematic reviews

Being able to recognize red flags for neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) is crucial to provide timely intervention programs. This work aims to support - within a scientific framework - the construction of an instrument capable to early detect all spectrum of NDD and explore all areas of development, detect failures in typical developmental pathways and point out atypical signs at all ages. This overview of reviews provides evidence for differences in children later diagnosed with NDD compared to typically developing peers such as delays in motor, language development and temperament in the first three years of age, repetitive/stereotyped behaviors, atypicalities/delays in play, object use, attention, visual, sensory processing and social engagement in the first and second year, and difficulties in feeding and sleeping in the first year. These behaviors must be carefully observed as potential red flags for NDD. However, data of the systematic reviews are not yet useful to develop an evidence-based clinical screening. It urges to increase efforts in producing systematic reviews on early behavioral markers for each NDD. Trial registration:CRD42019137731. (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=137731)

Register-based cumulative prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders during childhood and adolescence in Central Italy

Background: Studies have evaluated the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), focusing on different ages during childhood and adolescence. How cumulative prevalence increases before adulthood remains unclear.&nbsp; Methods: We used data from the Autism Register of the Regional Reference Centre for Autism in L’Aquila, Central Italy, to retrieve information on individuals born in 2001–2012 with any of the inclusion diagnoses of ASD (DSM criteria) for the period 2001 to 2018. Cumulative prevalence on L’Aquila district population data was calculated as percentages for three-year age strata.&nbsp; Results: All prevalence data were estimated at December 31st, 2018. The overall crude prevalence was 0.95% (352 cases over 36938 population). Cumulative prevalence was 1.19% among those born in 2001-2003 (15 to 17 years of follow up), 1.15% among those born in 2004-2006 (12 to 14 years of follow up), 1.04% among those born in 2007-2009 (9 to 11 years of follow up), 0.80% among those born in 2010-2012 (6 to 8 years of follow up), and 0.57% among those born in 2013-2015 (3 to 5 years of follow up). The proportion of ASD diagnoses until the age of 5 years, compared to the group diagnosed 6 to 8 years of age, showed a significant increasing trend over calendar time (53.6% for those born in 2001-2003, to 77.0% for those born in 2010-2012).&nbsp; Conclusions: Cumulative prevalence by time period provides a better understanding of ASD occurrence than a point prevalence. We did not find any difference in frequency of diagnosis comparing age strata and year of birth, suggesting that frequencies of ASD diagnosis remained roughly constant from 2001 to 2015. Results show that cumulative prevalence of autism diagnosis does not substantially change over time; instead, diagnosis of ASD is more likely at earliest ages over time, although new cases of ASD are also detected at later ages.&nbsp

Quantifying ultrasonic mouse vocalizations using acoustic analysis in a supervised statistical machine learning framework

Examination of rodent vocalizations in experimental conditions can yield valuable insights into how disease manifests and progresses over time. It can also be used as an index of social interest, motivation, emotional development or motor function depending on the animal model under investigation. Most mouse communication is produced in ultrasonic frequencies beyond human hearing. These ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) are typically described and evaluated using expert defined classification of the spectrographic appearance or simplistic acoustic metrics resulting in nine call types. In this study, we aimed to replicate the standard expert-defined call types of communicative vocal behavior in mice by using acoustic analysis to characterize USVs and a principled supervised learning setup. We used four feature selection algorithms to select parsimonious subsets with maximum predictive accuracy, which are then presented into support vector machines (SVM) and random forests (RF). We assessed the resulting models using 10-fold cross-validation with 100 repetitions for statistical confidence and found that a parsimonious subset of 8 acoustic measures presented to RF led to 85% correct out-of-sample classification, replicating the experts' labels. Acoustic measures can be used by labs to describe USVs and compare data between groups, and provide insight into vocal-behavioral patterns of mice by automating the process on matching the experts' call types

Automated pose estimation captures key aspects of General Movements at eight to 17 weeks from conventional videos

Aim: General movement assessment requires substantial expertise for accurate visual interpretation. Our aim was to evaluate an automated pose estimation method, using conventional video records, to see if it could capture infant movements using objective biomarkers. Methods: We selected archived videos from 21 infants aged eight to 17 weeks who had taken part in studies at the IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris (Italy), from 2011 to 2017. Of these, 14 presented with typical low-risk movements, while seven presented with atypical movements and were later diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Skeleton videos were produced using a computational pose estimation model adapted for infants and these were blindly assessed to see whether they contained the information needed for classification by human experts. Movements of skeletal key points were analysed using kinematic metrics to provide a biomarker to distinguish between groups. Results: The visual assessments of the skeleton videos were very accurate, with Cohen's K of 0.90 when compared with the classification of conventional videos. Quantitative analysis showed that arm movements were more variable in infants with typical movements. Conclusion: It was possible to extract automated estimation of movement patterns from conventional video records and convert them to skeleton footage. This could allow quantitative analysis of existing footage.Peer reviewe

The endocannabinoid transport inhibitor AM404 differentially modulates recognition memory in rats depending on environmental aversiveness

Cannabinoid compounds may influence both emotional and cognitive processes depending on the level of environmental aversiveness at the time of drug administration. However, the mechanisms responsible for these responses remain to be elucidated. The present experiments investigated the effects induced by the endocannabinoid transport inhibitor AM404 (0.5–5 mg/kg, i.p.) on both emotional and cognitive performances of rats tested in a Spatial Open Field task and subjected to different experimental settings, named High Arousal (HA) and Low Arousal (LA) conditions. The two different experimental conditions influenced emotional reactivity independently of drug administration. Indeed, vehicle-treated rats exposed to the LA condition spent more time in the center of the arena than vehicle-treated rats exposed to the HA context. Conversely, the different arousal conditions did not affect the cognitive performances of vehicle-treated animals such as the capability to discriminate a spatial displacement of the objects or an object substitution. AM404 administration did not alter locomotor activity or emotional behavior of animals exposed to both environmental conditions. Interestingly, AM404 administration influenced the cognitive parameters depending on the level of emotional arousal: it impaired the capability of rats exposed to the HA condition to recognize a novel object while it did not induce any impairing effect in rats exposed to the LA condition. These findings suggest that drugs enhancing endocannabinoid signaling induce different effects on recognition memory performance depending on the level of emotional arousal induced by the environmental conditions

Premature changes in neuronal excitability account for hippocampal network impairment and autistic-like behavior in neonatal BTBR T+tf/J mice

Coherent network oscillations (GDPs), generated in the immature hippocampus by the synergistic action of GABA and glutamate, both depolarizing and excitatory, play a key role in the construction of neuronal circuits. In particular, GDPs-associated calcium transients act as coincident detectors for enhancing synaptic efficacy at emerging GABAergic and glutamatergic synapses. Here, we show that, immediately after birth, in the CA3 hippocampal region of the BTBR T+tf/J mouse, an animal model of idiopathic autism, GDPs are severely impaired. This effect was associated with an increased GABAergic neurotransmission and a reduced neuronal excitability. In spite its depolarizing action on CA3 pyramidal cells (in single channel experiments EGABA was positive to Em), GABA exerted at the network level an inhibitory effect as demonstrated by isoguvacine-induced reduction of neuronal firing. We implemented a computational model in which experimental findings could be interpreted as the result of two competing effects: a reduction of the intrinsic excitability of CA3 principal cells and a reduction of the shunting activity in GABAergic interneurons projecting to principal cells. It is therefore likely that premature changes in neuronal excitability within selective hippocampal circuits of BTBR mice lead to GDPs dysfunction and behavioral deficits reminiscent of those found in autistic patients