Mealworms for Food: A Water Footprint Perspective

In this paper, we have explored the possibility of substituting traditional meat products with an alternative source of protein (insects) in order to reduce human pressure on water. Insects, in fact, could represent a good alternative source of quality proteins and nutrients and they are already a very popular component of the diet of one third of the world's population in approximately 80% of countries. In the study, we have taken into account only two species of edible insects (Tenebrio molitor and Zophobas morio mealworms), because they are already commercially produced even in Western countries, and for this reason it is possible to find specific data in literature about their diets. We have used the water footprint (WF) as a reliable indicator to calculate the volume of water required for production and to compare different products. The final aim of the work is, in fact, to evaluate the WF of the production of edible insects with a focus on water consumption associated with protein content, in order to make a comparison with other animal protein sources. We have demonstrated that, from a freshwater resource perspective, it is more efficient to obtain protein through mealworms rather than other traditional farmed animals

Predictors of Lung Cancer Risk: An Ecological Study Using Mortality and Environmental Data by Municipalities in Italy

Lung cancer (LC) mortality remains a consistent part of the total deaths occurring world-wide. Its etiology is complex as it involves multifactorial components. This work aims in providing an epidemiological assessment on occupational and environmental factors associated to LC risk by means of an ecological study involving the 8092 Italian municipalities for the period 2006–2015. We consider mortality data from mesothelioma as proxy of asbestos exposure, as well as PM2.5 and radon levels as a proxy of environmental origin. The compensated cases for occupational respiratory diseases, urbanization and deprivation were included as predictors. We used a negative binomial distribution for the response, with analysis stratified by gender. We estimated that asbestos is responsible for about 1.1% (95% CI: 0.8, 1.4) and 0.5% (95% CI: 0.2, 0.8) of LC mortality in males and females, respectively. The corresponding figures are 14.0% (95% CI: 12.5, 15.7) and 16.3% (95% CI: 16.2, 16.3) for PM2.5 exposure, and 3.9% (95% CI: 3.5, 4.2) and 1.6% (95% CI: 1.4, 1.7) for radon expo-sure. The assessment of determinants contribution to observed LC deaths is crucial for improving awareness of its origin, leading to increase the equity of the welfare system

Clinical, social and relational determinants of paediatric ambulatory drug prescriptions due to respiratory tract infections in Italy.

OBJECTIVES: Collecting information on patterns of drug prescriptions and on factors influencing prescribing decisions is fundamental for supporting the rational use of drugs. This study was aimed at investigating patterns of drug prescription in paediatric outpatients and at evaluating determinants of prescriptions for respiratory tract infections (RTIs). METHODS: We conducted a national cross-sectional survey involving primary care paediatricians and parents. Diagnoses and prescriptions made at each consultation were described. Poisson regression models were used to analyse determinants of drug and antibiotic prescriptions for visits due to RTIs. RESULTS: A total of 4,302 physician and parent questionnaires were analysed. These corresponded to 2,151 visits, 792 of which were due to RTIs. Drugs were prescribed in 83.4% of RTI visits, while antibiotics were prescribed in 40.4%. According to paediatricians' perceptions, 84.2% of parents of children with a RTI expected to receive a drug prescription. Paediatricians' perception of parental expectations was the strongest determinant for prescription of drugs and specifically of antibiotics [adjusted relative risk (RR): 1.7 and 3.6, respectively; P < 0.001]. However, in 77.1% of RTI visits, paediatricians judged themselves as not being influenced at all by parents' expectations in their decision to prescribe. CONCLUSIONS: This study underscores that relational factors, in particular perceived parental expectations, are one of the leading factors of drug prescriptions in paediatric ambulatory care settings, reinforcing the opinion that communication between physicians and parents can affect prescription patterns

Oxidative stress and menopause-related hot flashes may be independent events.

Abstract Objective At present, there is growing demand for alternative, or additional, treatments to hormone replacement therapy for menopause-related hot flashes (HF). Antioxidant supplements have been recently proposed as possible candidates for this purpose, regardless of the absence of clear evidence in support of a link between these vasomotor symptoms and oxidative stress (OxS). The aim of our study was to evaluate the association between HF and OxS serum markers in a large sample of middle-aged women. Materials and methods We conducted a cross-sectional study on 245 perimenopausal and early postmenopausal women (age 45–60 years). The variables examined were presence of self-reported HF and levels of 8-iso-prostaglandin F2α, 8-OH-deoxy-2′-guanosine, advanced oxidation protein products, total antioxidant power, uric acid, thiols, and paroxonase-1. Results Seventy-six women (31%) reported to suffer from HF (either medium or high intensity). None of the peripheral markers of OxS examined was found to be significantly associated with the presence of HF. Conclusion Taken together, our data suggest that systemic OxS might not be implicated with the onset of the climacteric vasomotor symptoms that most commonly affect women experiencing perimenopause and early postmenopause

Modifications of Chest CT Body Composition Parameters at Three and Six Months after Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia: A Retrospective Cohort Study

We aimed to describe body composition changes up to 6-7 months after severe COVID-19 and to evaluate their association with COVID-19 inflammatory burden, described by the integral of the C-reactive protein (CRP) curve. The pectoral muscle area (PMA) and density (PMD), liver-to-spleen (L/S) ratio, and total, visceral, and intermuscular adipose tissue areas (TAT, VAT, and IMAT) were measured at baseline (T0), 2-3 months (T1), and 6-7 months (T2) follow-up CT scans of severe COVID-19 pneumonia survivors. Among the 208 included patients (mean age 65.6 ± 11 years, 31.3% females), decreases in PMA [mean (95%CI) -1.11 (-1.72; -0.51) cm2] and in body fat areas were observed [-3.13 (-10.79; +4.52) cm2 for TAT], larger from T0 to T1 than from T1 to T2. PMD increased only from T1 to T2 [+3.07 (+2.08; +4.06) HU]. Mean decreases were more evident for VAT [-3.55 (-4.94; -2.17) cm2] and steatosis [L/S ratio increase +0.17 (+0.13; +0.20)] than for TAT. In multivariable models adjusted by age, sex, and baseline TAT, increasing the CRP interval was associated with greater PMA reductions, smaller PMD increases, and greater VAT and steatosis decreases, but it was not associated with TAT decreases. In conclusion, muscle loss and fat loss (more apparent in visceral compartments) continue until 6-7 months after COVID-19. The inflammatory burden is associated with skeletal muscle loss and visceral/liver fat loss

Modeling the response of soil moisture to climate variability in the Mediterranean region

International audienceFuture climate scenarios for the Mediterranean region indicate a possible decrease in annual precipitation associated with an intensification of extreme rainfall events in the coming years. A major challenge in this region is to evaluate the impacts of changing precipitation patterns on extreme hydrological events such as droughts and floods. For this, it is important to understand the impact of climate change on soil moisture since it is a proxy for agricultural droughts, and the antecedent soil moisture condition plays a key role on runoff generation. This study focuses on 10 sites, located in southern France, with available soil moisture, temperature, and precipitation observations for a 10-year time period. Soil moisture is simulated at each site at the hourly time step using a model of soil water content. The sensitivity of the simulated soil moisture to different changes in precipitation and temperature is evaluated by simulating the soil moisture response to temperature and precipitation scenarios generated using a delta change method for temperature and a stochastic model (the Neyman–Scott rectangular pulse model) for precipitation. Results show that soil moisture is more impacted by changes in precipitation intermittence than precipitation intensity and temperature. Overall, increased temperature and precipitation intensity associated with more intermittent precipitation leads to decreased soil moisture and an increase in the annual number of days with dry soil moisture conditions. In particular, a temperature increase of +4 ∘C combined with a decrease of annual rainfall between 10 % and 20 %, corresponding to the current available climate scenarios for the Mediterranean, lead to a lengthening of the drought period from June to October with an average of +28 d of soil moisture drought per year