Genetic stress echocardiography: role of A2a receptors polymorphism in modulating coronary flow reserve response in non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy

Background: Vasodilator stress imaging is based on coronary A2a receptor stimulation via endogenous adenosine (with dipyridamole administration), exogenous adenosine, or selective A2a receptor stimulation (with binodenoson).The recognized inter-individual variability in response to adenosine might be in part determined by genetic polymorphism in A2a adenosine receptors. Aim: to assess whether A2a receptor (263 C>T and 1976 C>T) polymorphism affects the coronary flow reserve (CFR) response in patients with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Methods: we evaluated 44 DCM patients 34 males; age 62?9 years) by transthoracic dipyridamole (0.84 mg/kg) stress echocardiography. All patients had an ejection fraction <40% (mean 21.1?16.3%) and angiographically normal coronary arteries with NYHA class <3. CFR was assessed on left anterior descending coronary artery using Doppler as the ration of maximal peak vasodilation (dipyridamole) to rest diastolic flow velocity. All patients underwent peripheral blood sampling and A2a receptor genotyping with PCR and enzyme restriction analysis. Results: CFR was 2.1?0.6 (range=1.5-4). There was no correlation between CFR and 263 C>T variant of A2a gene. However, patients with 1976 TT genotype had significantly lower values from 1976 CC patients (p<0.05). The 7 patients omozygous for 1976 TT had an OR=8.8 (95% CI, 1-81, p=0.04) for abnormal CFR. Conclusion: In DCM patients 1976 C>T polymorphism of the adenosine A2A receptor gene may affect CFR response. In particular, the 1976-TT variant of A2a gene blunts the coronary vasodilatory response

Maternal and Sex Dependency of Insulin Resistance: Longitudinal PET and Echocardiography Study from the Healthy Fetus to the Adult Minipig

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Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Conference of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) 2015: advancing efficient methodologies through community partnerships and team science

It is well documented that the majority of adults, children and families in need of evidence-based behavioral health interventionsi do not receive them [1, 2] and that few robust empirically supported methods for implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) exist. The Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) represents a burgeoning effort to advance the innovation and rigor of implementation research and is uniquely focused on bringing together researchers and stakeholders committed to evaluating the implementation of complex evidence-based behavioral health interventions. Through its diverse activities and membership, SIRC aims to foster the promise of implementation research to better serve the behavioral health needs of the population by identifying rigorous, relevant, and efficient strategies that successfully transfer scientific evidence to clinical knowledge for use in real world settings [3]. SIRC began as a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded conference series in 2010 (previously titled the “Seattle Implementation Research Conference”; $150,000 USD for 3 conferences in 2011, 2013, and 2015) with the recognition that there were multiple researchers and stakeholdersi working in parallel on innovative implementation science projects in behavioral health, but that formal channels for communicating and collaborating with one another were relatively unavailable. There was a significant need for a forum within which implementation researchers and stakeholders could learn from one another, refine approaches to science and practice, and develop an implementation research agenda using common measures, methods, and research principles to improve both the frequency and quality with which behavioral health treatment implementation is evaluated. SIRC’s membership growth is a testament to this identified need with more than 1000 members from 2011 to the present.ii SIRC’s primary objectives are to: (1) foster communication and collaboration across diverse groups, including implementation researchers, intermediariesi, as well as community stakeholders (SIRC uses the term “EBP champions” for these groups) – and to do so across multiple career levels (e.g., students, early career faculty, established investigators); and (2) enhance and disseminate rigorous measures and methodologies for implementing EBPs and evaluating EBP implementation efforts. These objectives are well aligned with Glasgow and colleagues’ [4] five core tenets deemed critical for advancing implementation science: collaboration, efficiency and speed, rigor and relevance, improved capacity, and cumulative knowledge. SIRC advances these objectives and tenets through in-person conferences, which bring together multidisciplinary implementation researchers and those implementing evidence-based behavioral health interventions in the community to share their work and create professional connections and collaborations

The correlation between the intangible and business performance: An empirical analysis

This paper focuses on the strategic importance of intangible resources, such as causal variables for the creation of business value. In the first part of the work will be highlighted, in historical key, the evolution that has characterized the enterprise economy and which has helped to make the strategic importance of the intangible. In the second part of the work, through a methodology of quantitative research, will be tested the hypothesis that the increase of investments in intangible assets increased business performance. Therefore, it will be selected a sample of thirty companies in the manufacturing sector operating in the Lazio region, not listed on official markets and with a workforce over fifty. By using the statistical technique of linear regression bivariate, considering a three-year period, the level of correlation between the intangible and the volume of sales will be measured

Evidence of disorientation towards immunization on online social media after contrasting political communication on vaccines. Results from an analysis of Twitter data in Italy

Background In Italy, in recent years, vaccination coverage for key immunizations as MMR has been declining to worryingly low levels, with large measles outbreaks. As a response in 2017, the Italian government expanded the number of mandatory immunizations introducing penalties to unvaccinated children's families. During the 2018 general elections campaign, immunization policy entered the political debate with the government in-charge blaming oppositions for fuelling vaccine scepticism. A new government (formerly in the opposition) established in 2018 temporarily relaxed penalties and announced the introduction of forms of flexibility. Objectives and methods First, we supplied a definition of disorientation, as the "lack of well-established and resilient opinions among individuals, therefore causing them to change their positions as a consequence of sufficient external perturbations". Second, procedures for testing for the presence of both short and longer-term collective disorientation in Twitter signals were proposed. Third, a sentiment analysis on tweets posted in Italian during 2018 on immunization topics, and related polarity evaluations, were used to investigate whether the contrasting announcements at the highest political level might have originated disorientation amongst the Italian public. Results Vaccine-relevant tweeters' interactions peaked in response to main political events. Out of retained tweets, 70.0% resulted favourable to vaccination, 16.4% unfavourable, and 13.6% undecided, respectively. The smoothed time series of polarity proportions exhibit frequent large changes in the favourable proportion, superimposed to a clear up-and-down trend synchronized with the switch between governments in Spring 2018, suggesting evidence of disorientation among the public. Conclusions The reported evidence of disorientation for opinions expressed in online social media shows that critical health topics, such as vaccination, should never be used to achieve political consensus. This is worsened by the lack of a strong Italian institutional presence on Twitter, calling for efforts to contrast misinformation and the ensuing spread of hesitancy. It remains to be seen how this disorientation will impact future parents' vaccination decisions

Behavioural Epidemiology of infectious diseases: going beyond its limits: why not?

The spread and control of current Covid19 pandemic are much better modellable and understandable by adopting the paradigm of the behavioral epidemiology of infectious diseases (BEID): social distancing; public health authorities interventions, acceptance of the forthcoming vaccines, rational vs irrational behaviors, negationism etc [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. However, even BEID has learned a lot from what we know of current pandemic [7]. The first and main lesson we have learnt is that we must go well beyond the current limits of BEID. Namely (non exhaustive list!!!)