Vegetation and habitats of Community interest of an isolated biotope of the “Gessoso-Solfifera” Formation (inland of Sicily): the Site of Community Importance “Monte Conca” (ITA050006)

CNS involvement in OFD1 syndrome: a clinical, molecular, and neuroimaging study

Background Oral-facial-digital type 1 syndrome (OFD1; OMIM 311200) belongs to the expanding group of disorders ascribed to ciliary dysfunction. With the aim of contributing to the understanding of the role of primary cilia in the central nervous system (CNS), we performed a thorough characterization of CNS involvement observed in this disorder. Methods A cohort of 117 molecularly diagnosed OFD type I patients was screened for the presence of neurological symptoms and/or cognitive/behavioral abnormalities on the basis of the available information supplied by the collaborating clinicians. Seventy-one cases showing CNS involvement were further investigated through neuroimaging studies and neur…

Strategies for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in Urban Areas: The Erice 50 Charter

The Erice 50 Charter titled "Strategies for Diseases Prevention and Health Promotion in Urban Areas" was unanimously approved at the conclusion of the 50th Residential Course "Urban Health. Instruments for promoting health and for assessing hygienic and sanitary conditions in urban areas", held from 29th March to 2nd April 2017 in Erice, at the "Ettore Majorana" Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture and promoted by the International School of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine "G. D'Alessandro" and the Study Group "Building Hygiene" of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (SItI). At the conclusion of the intense learning experience during the Course…

La flora vascolare delle Rocche di Entella (entroterra della Sicilia occidentale)

We present the results of a study on the vascular flora of the Rocche di Entella (Contessa Entellina, Palermo province); this biotope, extending over an area of 178 hectares and including a Nature Reserve, has been recognized as a Site of Community Interest (ITA020042). The biotope is characterized by the Messinian gypseous-sulphureous series and falls within the lower mesomediterranean bioclimatic belt, with upper dry ombrotype, locally tending towards thermomediterranean thermotype. Local landscape is affected by prolonged historical exploitation of the territory, which led to the impoverishment of climacic forest communities, almost totally replaced by secondary vegetation (grasslands) a…

Cardiovascular events and intensity of treatment in polycythemia vera.

A b s t r ac t Background Current treatment recommendations for patients with polycythemia vera call for maintaining a hematocrit of less than 45%, but this therapeutic strategy has not been tested in a randomized clinical trial. Methods We randomly assigned 365 adults with JAK2-positive polycythemia vera who were being treated with phlebotomy, hydroxyurea, or both to receive either more intensive treatment (target hematocrit, <45%) (low-hematocrit group) or less intensive treatment (target hematocrit, 45 to 50%) (high-hematocrit group). The primary composite end point was the time until death from cardiovascular causes or major thrombotic events. The secondary end points were cardiovascula…