Timing of initiation of oral anticoagulants in patients with acute ischemic stroke and atrial fibrillation comparing posterior and anterior circulation strokes

Background: The aim of this study in patients with acute posterior ischemic stroke (PS) and atrial fibrillation (AF) were to evaluate the risks of recurrent ischemic event and severe bleeding and these risks in relation with oral anticoagulant therapy (OAT) and its timing. Methods: Patients with PS were prospectively included; the outcome events of these patients were compared with those of patients with anterior stroke (AS) which were taken from previous registries. The primary outcome was the composite of: stroke recurrence, TIA, symptomatic systemic embolism, symptomatic cerebral bleeding and major extracranial bleeding occurring within 90 days from acute stroke. Results: A total of 2,470 patients were available for the analysis: 473 (19.1%) with PS and 1,997 (80.9%) AS. Over 90 days, 213 (8.6%) primary outcome events were recorded: 175 (8.7%) in patients with AS and 38 (8.0%) in those with PS. In patients who initiated OAT within 2 days, the primary outcome occurred in 5 out of 95 patients (5.3%) with PS compared to 21 out of 373 patients (4.3%) with AS (OR 1.07; 95% CI 0.39-2.94). In patients who initiated OAT between days 3 and 7, the primary outcome occurred in 3 out of 103 patients (2.9%) with PS compared to 26 out of 490 patients (5.3%) with AS (OR 0.54; 95% CI 0.16-1.80). Conclusions: Patients with posterior or anterior stroke and AF appear to have similar risks of ischemic or hemorrhagic events at 90 days with no difference concerning the timing of initiation of OAT

The application of a plant biostimulant based on seaweed and yeast extract improved tomato fruit development and quality

Plant biostimulants are under investigation as innovative products to improve plant production and fruit quality, without resulting in environmental and food contaminations. Here, the effects of the application of Expando, a biostimulant based on seaweed and yeast extracts, on plant productivity, fruit ripening times, and fruit quality of Solanum lycopersicum var. Micro-Tom were evaluated. After biostimulant treatment, a two-week reduction of ripening times and a concomitant enhancement of the production percentage during the earliest ripening times, in terms of both fruit yield (+110%) and size (+85%), were observed. Concerning fruit quality, proximate analysis showed that tomatoes treated with the biostimulant had better nutritional composition compared to untreated samples, since both the quality of unsatured fatty acids (C16:3ω3: +328%; C18:2ω6: −23%) and micronutrients essential for human health (Fe: +14%; Cu: +21%; Zn: +24%) were increased. From a nutraceutical point of view, despite strong changes in bioactive compound profile not being observed, an increase of the antioxidant properties was recorded in fruits harvested by plants treated with the biostimulant (2,2’-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS): +38%; 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH): +11%). In conclusion, the biostimulant application was able to reduce the ripening times and fruit size, while slightly increasing nutritional and nutraceutical values, leading to more marketable tomato fruit

Pseudo-Mallows for Efficient Probabilistic Preference Learning

We propose the Pseudo-Mallows distribution over the set of all permutations of $n$ items, to approximate the posterior distribution with a Mallows likelihood. The Mallows model has been proven to be useful for recommender systems where it can be used to learn personal preferences from highly incomplete data provided by the users. Inference based on MCMC is however slow, preventing its use in real time applications. The Pseudo-Mallows distribution is a product of univariate discrete Mallows-like distributions, constrained to remain in the space of permutations. The quality of the approximation depends on the order of the $n$ items used to determine the factorization sequence. In a variational setting, we optimise the variational order parameter by minimising a marginalized KL-divergence. We propose an approximate algorithm for this discrete optimization, and conjecture a certain form of the optimal variational order that depends on the data. Empirical evidence and some theory support our conjecture. Sampling from the Pseudo-Mallows distribution allows fast preference learning, compared to alternative MCMC based options, when the data exists in form of partial rankings of the items or of clicking on some items. Through simulations and a real life data case study, we demonstrate that the Pseudo-Mallows model learns personal preferences very well and makes recommendations much more efficiently, while maintaining similar accuracy compared to the exact Bayesian Mallows model.Comment: 45 pages, 11 Figure

The application of a biostimulant based on tannins afects root architecture and improves tolerance to salinity in tomato plants

Roots have important roles for plants to withstand adverse environmental conditions, including salt stress. Biostimulant application was shown to enhance plant resilience towards abiotic stresses. Here, we studied the effect of a tannin-based biostimulant on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) grown under salt stress conditions. We investigated the related changes at both root architecture (via imaging and biometric analysis) and gene expression (RNA-Seq/qPCR) levels. Moreover, in order to identify the main compounds potentially involved in the observed effects, the chemical composition of the biostimulant was evaluated by UV/Vis and HPLC-ESI-Orbitrap analysis. Sixteen compounds, known to be involved in root development and having a potential antioxidant properties were identified. Significant increase of root weight (+ 24%) and length (+ 23%) was observed when the plants were grown under salt stress and treated with the biostimulant. Moreover, transcriptome analysis revealed that the application of the biostimulant upregulated 285 genes, most of which correlated to root development and salt stress tolerance. The 171 downregulated genes were mainly involved in nutrient uptake. These data demonstrated that the biostimulant is able not only to restore root growth in salty soils, but also to provide the adequate plant nourishment by regulating the expression of essential transcription factors and stress responsive genes

Microbial Biostimulants as Response to Modern Agriculture Needs: Composition, Role and Application of These Innovative Products

An increasing need for a more sustainable agriculturally-productive system is required in order to preserve soil fertility and reduce soil biodiversity loss. Microbial biostimulants are innovative technologies able to ensure agricultural yield with high nutritional values, overcoming the negative effects derived from environmental changes. The aim of this review was to provide an overview on the research related to plant growth promoting microorganisms (PGPMs) used alone, in consortium, or in combination with organic matrices such as plant biostimulants (PBs). Moreover, the effectiveness and the role of microbial biostimulants as a biological tool to improve fruit quality and limit soil degradation is discussed. Finally, the increased use of these products requires the achievement of an accurate selection of beneficial microorganisms and consortia, and the ability to prepare for future agriculture challenges. Hence, the implementation of the microorganism positive list provided by EU (2019/1009), is desirable

Abscisic Acid Stimulates Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Secretion from L-Cells and Its Oral Administration Increases Plasma Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Levels in Rats

In recent years, Abscisic Acid (ABA) has been demonstrated to be involved in the regulation of glucose homeostasis in mammals as an endogenous hormone, by stimulating both insulin release and peripheral glucose uptake. In addition, ABA is released by glucose- or GLP-1-stimulated \u3b2-pancreatic cells. Here we investigated whether ABA can stimulate GLP-1 release. The human enteroendocrine L cell line hNCI-H716 was used to explore whether ABA stimulates in vitro GLP-1 secretion and/or transcription. ABA induced GLP-1 release in hNCI-H716 cells, through a cAMP/PKA-dependent mechanism. ABA also enhanced GLP-1 transcription. In addition, oral administration of ABA significantly increased plasma GLP-1 and insulin levels in rats. In conclusion, ABA can stimulate GLP-1 release: this result and the previous observation that GLP-1 stimulates ABA release from \u3b2 -cells, suggest a positive feed-back mechanism between ABA and GLP-1, regulating glucose homeostasis. Type 2 diabetes treatments targeting the GLP-1 axis by either inhibiting its rapid clearance by dipeptidyl-peptidase IV or using GLP-1 mimetics are currently used. Moreover, the development of treatments aimed at stimulating GLP-1 release from L cells has been considered as an alternative approach. Accordingly, our finding that ABA increases GLP-1 release in vitro and in vivo may suggest ABA and/or ABA analogs as potential anti-diabetic treatments

System der Museen von Vaste und Poggiardo

Il Sistema Museale di Vaste e Poggiardo è composto dal Museo Archeologico e dal Parco dei Guerrieri, frutto dei ritrovamenti effettuati nelle campagne di scavo dirette dal prof. Francesco D’Andria, dalle chiese rupestri di S. Maria degli Angeli e dei Ss. Stefani e, infine, dall’area naturalistica attrezzata dell’Arboreto didattico. Questo nucleo di beni culturali ed ambientali è contraddistinto da una segnaletica in magenta, colore che identifica Poggiardo nell’ambito del SAC, Sistema Ambientale e Culturale delle Serre Salentine. L’istituzione del Sistema Museale rappresenta un importante risultato cui si giunge dopo alcuni decenni di ricerche ed opere di tutela e valorizzazione condotte nell’ambito di una proficua collaborazione tra enti territoriali, Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e il Turismo, Università del Salento