La carta naturale e culturale del Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga

Lo scopo del seguente lavoro è la costruzione di un GeoDataBase relativo ai beni culturali ed ambientali del Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga attraverso un approccio neogeografico. Il lavoro è organizzato in tre fasi: nella prima fase è stato necessario eseguire un’analisi bibliografica ed inventariale per identificare le evidenze culturali ed ambientali del Parco. È stata poi determinata una tassonomia, articolata in sette categorie e ventitré sotto categorie, sulla base delle direttive dei vari consigli d’Europa riguardanti il patrimonio culturale che si sono susseguiti dagli anni Sessanta ad oggi e sulle raccomandazioni internazionali dell’UNESCO. Infine sono stati rilevati sul campo i beni inizialmente inventariati e, una volta riconosciuti, è avvenuta la creazione del GeoDataBase (GDB), l’assegnazione della categoria tassonomica di appartenenza ad ogni singolo elemento e la rappresentazione cartografica.The aim of this study is to create a natural and cultural map related to the environmental and historical heritage of Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park through a neogeographical approach. The study has been divided into three phases: for the first phase, in order to spot the Park’s peculiarities, it was necessary to make a bibliographic and stock-list analysis of the Park which lead to classification of seven categories and twenty-three under-categories taxonomy, based on data Unesco international advises as well as from the EU’s guidelines over Europe’s cultural heritage from the 60’s to these days. Finally stock-listed materials have been detected and it was possible to build a GDB and to allocate the correct taxonomy to each element which have been then represented on cartographic graph

Reliability and Validity of the Italian Translation of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale in a Sample of Consecutively Admitted Psychotherapy Patients

The present study examined the reliability and validity of the Italian translation of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale (UPPS-P) in a clinical sample of 268 consecutively admitted psychotherapy patients (43.3% male; mean age = 40.48 (SD = 12.52); 38.8% inpatient). The Italian UPPS-P replicated the internal consistency coefficients of the original UPPS-P (0.84 to 0.92 across the five subscales). Moreover, confirmatory factor analyses evidenced an adequate fit for the a-priori five-factor model of the scale (WLSMV CFA χ2(1642) = 2833.06, p .10; CFI = .90; TLI = .90). Furthermore, the UPPS-P scales were significantly related to the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 total score (rs = 0.23 to 0.60 across the five scales). Finally, the five UPPS-P scales showed distinct associations with domain scores and interview-based dimensional scores of personality disorders. These findings suggest that the Italian version of the UPPS-P can be considered a valid and reliable alternative to the original UPPS-P and can be a useful diagnostic tool in a clinical sample

Nuovi neogeografi crescono con il progetto di alternanza scuola-lavoro “conoscere per conoscerci”

Il diffondersi di nuovi strumenti di informazione geografica sta trasformando la geografia tradizionale, e con essa anche il modo di produrre cartografia, attraverso diverse tecniche di produzione e nuove forme di condivisione di contenuti. La cartografia ‘creata dagli utenti’, definita anche come cartografia partecipata, rappresenta un fenomeno in crescita grazie alla facilità di costruire percorsi con i GPS interni agli smartphone. “Conoscere per conoscerci” è un progetto di Alternanza Scuola Lavoro svolto dal CNR-ITABC in tre istituti scolastici di Roma e provincia in cui gli studenti, attraverso strumenti non convenzionali e applicazioni on line (pratiche neogeografiche), si sono recati durante il GISDay 2016 organizzato dall’ESRI, in tre luoghi rappresentativi dell’area in cui vivono (Villa Borghese a Roma; Centro Storico di Monterotondo; Villa Adriana a Tivoli) al fine di costruire una web map e promuovere il digital storytelling come metodo didattico innovativo

Preliminary results demonstrating the impact of Mediterranean diet on bone health

Nutrition is an environmental factor affecting bone health. Nutrition is considered essential to achieve and maintain optimal bone mass. Mediterranean diet (MD) has shown to prevent bone disease. Aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between bone health status and adherence the MD

Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet and Circulating Levels of Sirtuin 4 in Obese Patients: A Novel Association

PURPOSE: This study was aimed at evaluating sirtuin 4 (Sirt4) levels in obese individuals, in relation to their adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), a healthy dietary pattern characterized by high antioxidant capacity, and markers of visceral fat storage. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Forty-three obese patients (44% males; BMI: 36.7-58.8 kg/m2) were consecutively included. PREvención con DIeta MEDiterránea (PREDIMED) and the 7-day food records were used to assess the adherence to MD and dietary pattern, respectively. Visceral adiposity index (VAI) was calculated. Sirt4 levels were detected by ELISA method. RESULTS: The majority of the obese participants (62.8%) had an average adherence to MD. Compared with average adherers, low adherers had higher BMI, energy intake, and percentage of energy from lipids, mainly saturated fat and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and lower Sirt4 levels. After adjusting for BMI, Sirt4 levels remained negatively correlated with VAI. After adjusting for total energy intake, Sirt4 levels remained negatively associated with PREDIMED and consumption of n-3 PUFA, vitamins C and E. The threshold value of PREDIMED predicting the lowest decrease in Sirt4 levels was found at a score of 6. CONCLUSIONS: Less reduced Sirt4 levels in obese patients adhering to MD suggest a further aspect of the antioxidant advantage of MD

Environmental Risk Factors in Psoriasis: The Point of View of the Nutritionist

Psoriasis is a common, chronic, immune-mediated skin disease with systemic pro-inflammatory activation, where both environmental and genetic factors contribute to its pathogenesis. Among the risk factors for psoriasis, evidence is accumulating that nutrition plays a major role, per se, in psoriasis pathogenesis. In particular, body weight, nutrition, and diet may exacerbate the clinical manifestations, or even trigger the disease. Understanding the epidemiological relationship between obesity and psoriasis is also important for delineating the risk profile for the obesity-related comorbidities commonly found among psoriatic patients. Moreover, obesity can affect both drug's pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Additionally, the overall beneficial effects on the obesity-associated comorbidities, clinical recommendations to reduce weight and to adopt a healthy lifestyle could improve the psoriasis severity, particularly in those patients with moderate to severe disease, thus exerting additional therapeutic effects in the conventional treatment in obese patients with psoriasis. Education regarding modifiable environmental factors is essential in the treatment of this disease and represents one of the primary interventions that can affect the prognosis of patients with psoriasis. The goal is to make psoriatic patients and health care providers aware of beneficial dietary interventions. The aim of this review is to assess the relevance of the environmental factors as modifiable risk factors in psoriasis pathogenesis, with particular regard to the involvement of obesity and nutrition in the management of psoriasis, providing also specific nutrition recommendations

QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus evaluation for latent tuberculosis infection among Italian healthcare workers: a cross-sectional study

Background: healthcare workers (HCWs) are at higher risk of being exposed to tuberculosis (TB). The aim of this study was to estimate LTBI prevalence and evaluate associated risk factors among Italian HCWs using a new generation IGRA test, Quantiferon Plus (QTF-Plus), providing also an analytical evaluation of this test. Methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted during the annual health surveillance program performed in 2017, evaluating 1470 HCWs of a teaching hospital in Rome, tested with QTF-Plus. A standardized questionnaire was collected for multivariate risk analysis. The independent variables associated with a higher frequency of LTBI were tested in a multivariate logistic regression model. Results: LTBI was diagnosed in 50 out of 1470 (3.4%) of HCWs. The male gender and age>40 years were significantly associated with the risk of LTBI. The levels of interferon-γ were significantly lower in subjects with a recent conversion than in those with an older positivity. Moreover, interferon-γ values exceeding 8 IU/ml were recorded in 8 out of 35 remote subjects but in no recent subjects. The concordance between TB1 and TB2 results was 88%, while in 6 out of 50 subjects we found a discrepancy. Conclusion: the LTBI condition among Italian HCWs was very low. In subjects with discordant outcomes between TB1 and TB2, especially when the test values are close to the cut-off, is recommended a repetition of the test to confirm its positivity. Key words: tuberculosis, latent tuberculosis infection, interferon-gamma release assay, quantiferon plus, healthcare worker

Executive Functioning and Personality Traits in Insomnia Disorder: A Preliminary Report on the Clinical Importance of Objective and Subjective Reduction of Total Sleep Time

To confirm and extend previous findings on the relationships between executive functioning (EF) and insomnia, as well as the available evidence on the associations between personality traits and insomnia, 30 consecutively-admitted insomnia participants and 30 community dwelling adult participants matched on age, gender and educational level, were administered a battery of EF measures and the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5). Insomnia participants underwent two full-night polysomnographic (PSG) recording, followed by a morning assessment of subjective sleep parameters. A misperception index (MI) was computed in order to identify participants characterized by objective insomnia and non-objective insomnia. The EF performance associations between insomnia and poor performance on selected executive functions was confirmed. However, the objective insomnia and non-objective insomnia sub-groups show significant differences on specific EF indices, as well as on dysfunctional personality dimensions

Coffee consumption, metabolic syndrome and clinical severity of psoriasis: Good or bad stuff?

Despite the wide consumption of coffee, its anti-inflammatory effect on clinical severity of psoriasis is still debatable. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the coffee consumption and clinical severity of psoriasis in a sample of patients stratified according to the presence of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and smoking. This cross-sectional case-control observational study was conducted on 221 treatment-naïve psoriatic patients. Lifestyle habits, anthropometric measures, clinical and biochemical evaluations were obtained. Clinical severity of psoriasis was assessed by Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score. Data on energy caloric intake and coffee consumption were collected using a 7-day food diary record. The coffee consumption was analyzed as coffee intake (consumers and non-consumers) and daily servings (range 0-4 servings/day). Coffee consumers have a lower PASI score vs non-consumers (p < 0.001). The lowest PASI score and MetS prevalence were found in patients consuming 3 cups of coffee/day (p < 0.001), which was also the most common daily serving (34.8%), whereas the highest PASI score was found among those drinking ≥ 4 cups/day. Grouping the case patients according to smoking and MetS, the best odds of PASI score was observed in those drinking 3 cups of coffee per day and no smokers, after adjusting for total energy intake (OR 74.8; p < 0.001). As a novel finding, we reported a negative association between coffee intake, MetS prevalence and clinical severity of psoriasis. The evaluation of the anti-inflammatory effect of coffee on clinical severity of psoriasis, whose metabolic risk increases along with its clinical severity, could be of great importance from a public health perspective