Modulation of Gut Microbiota and Neuroprotective Effect of a Yeast‐Enriched Beer

Beer is the most consumed alcoholic beverage worldwide. It is rich in nutrients, and with its microbial component it could play a role in gut microbiota modulation. Conflicting data are currently available regarding the consequences of alcohol and alcohol‐containing beverages on dementia and age‐associated disorders including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a neurodegeneration characterized by protein aggregation, inflammatory processes and alterations of components of the gut–brain axis. The effects of an unfiltered and unpasteurized craft beer on AD molecular hallmarks, levels of gut hormones and composition of micro/mycobiota were dissected using 3xTg‐AD mice. In addition, to better assess the role of yeasts, beer was enriched with the same Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain used for brewing. The treatment with the yeast‐enriched beer ameliorated cognition and favored the reduction of A(1‐42) and pro‐inflammatory molecules, also contributing to an increase in the concentration of anti‐inflammatory cytokines. A significant improvement in the richness and presence of beneficial taxa in the gut bacterial population of the 3xTg‐AD animals was observed. In addition, the fungal order, Sordariomycetes, associated with gut inflammatory conditions, noticeably decreased with beer treatments. These data demonstrate, for the first time, the beneficial effects of a yeast‐enriched beer on AD signs, suggesting gut microbiota modulation as a mechanism of action

Should I give kids money? The role of pocket money on at-risk behaviors in Italian adolescents

Background. Discussion on the impact of pocket money on positive behaviors is still debated. Objective. To investigate the effect of diverse money allowance schemes on risky behaviors (smoking, alcohol, binge drinking, drug use, gambling) during adolescence. Method. 989 students aged 15 from Lombardy (Italy) reported information on money availability in the 2018 wave of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study. To analyze the relationship between money availability and risky behaviors we computed odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals through unconditional multiple logistic regression models. Results. Spending more than 10€ weekly was associated with higher likelihood to smoke, binge drink or gamble. Receiving pocket money (rather than receiving money upon request) was related to higher likelihood to engage in risky behaviors. Conclusions. Pocket money may have a negative impact on adolescents, particularly with a substantial amount of money. More research is needed to understand why providing money only if needed may serve as a protective factor against risky behaviors

VPM: Analyzing human daily habits through process discovery

Models usually employed for Ambient Intelligence (AmI) in smart homes are usually obtained directly from sensor logs composed by timestamped sequences of sensor measurements. Such approaches, still effective at different tasks, have the drawback of producing representations difficult to read and validate. In this paper we propose a tool, called Visual Process Maps (VPM), intended to allow the analysis of human routines at the human action level thanks to log preprocessing and the application of process discovery

V-DOOR: A Real-Time Virtual Dressing Room Application Using Oculus Rift

In recent years and with its accessibility, the use of online shopping for clothing has increased. Virtual Dressing Rooms (VDRs) represent an effective way to enact the ability to "try before buying, thus removing an important obstacle for online shopping. While most of the VDR tools that have been realized so far are based on Augmented Reality and are installed directly inside the retail shops, this paper proposes a real-time VDR application titled V-DOOR that leverages the features of Oculus Rift to create an immersive experience that enables customers to try on clothes virtually in the comfort of their own home rather than physically in the retail shop

CyberVR: An Interactive Learning Experience in Virtual Reality for Cybersecurity Related Issues

The use of videogames has become an established tool to educate users about various topics. Videogames can promote challenges, co-operation, engagement, motivation, and the development of problem-solving strategies, which are all aspects with an important educational potential. In this paper, we present the design and realization of CyberVR, a Virtual Reality (VR) videogame that acts as an interactive learning experience to improve the user awareness of cybersecurity-related issues. We report the results of a user study showing that CyberVR is equally effective but more engaging as learning method toward cybersecurity education than traditional textbook learning

Drilling, instrumentation and sampling consideration for geoscience studies of magma-hydrothermal regimes

Drilling, diagnostic, and sampling technologies are reviewed and a strawman drill hole is used for identifying scientific and technological limitations. (MHR

Seismic noise at Solfatara Volcano (Campi Flegrei): acquisition techniques and first results for the definition of the shallow crustal structure

In the period 2-6 April 2007 a seismic survey was carried out at Solfatara Volcano, (Campi Flegrei, Southern Italy) with the aim of inferring the shallow structure and evaluating local site effects. Five circular seismic arrays equipped with 1-Hz 3-component Mark LE3Dlite sensors, were installed in the Solfatara crater. Each array consisted of 4 sensors, 3 of them evenly spaced (120°) around the circumference and the fourth placed at its center. The arrays were designed with radii of 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 m. Some stations of the arrays shaped two orthogonal profiles of about 250-m-length, roughly oriented in the N-S and E-W directions. A further seismic station was installed outside the crater, on the Eastern rim. The particular geometry of the station deployment was adopted to apply the spatial autocorrelation technique (Aki, 1957) and its modifications (MSPAC, Bettig et al., 2001, CCA, Cho et al., 2004), to the data recorded by each array and to infer shearwave velocity models for different areas of the crater. Further information about the shallow structure will come from the application of Nakamura’s technique (1989) to microtremor recorded at each sampled site. The two orthogonal profiles oriented N-S and E-W will be useful to map possible variations of the resonance frequencies and amplification values along the N-S and E-W directions. The results of the preliminary spectral analysis of some samples of seismic noise recorded during the 2-6 April 2007 survey at Solfatara Volcano, are already indicative of differences among the spectral content of the microtremor recorded in different areas of the crater. In particular the most evident differences are observed between the recordings of the stations located in the central part of the crater and those deployed in the Northern and Eastern areas. Moreover, the seismic noise recorded outside the crater has spectral characteristics that are very different from those observed for the array stations. The observed differences in the spectral content of the seismic noise could be due both to the presence of horizontal velocity contrasts and to variations of the thickness of the shallower layers. The high density of the deployment and the large number of the sampled sites will allow to obtain a detailed shallow velocity structure, to investigate about the presence (or not) of lateral heterogeneities and to map resonance frequencies and amplifications values in different areas of the crater.PublishedViennaope