showing 36 of ~574560 from 574555 documents
Results from the test of economic literacy in Germany and Japan: A critical discussion on the gender effect
2021
University lecturers and coordinators of business and economics courses around the world are faced with the challenge that beginning students in these courses have heterogeneous entry conditions in terms of personal characteristics. This article focuses on the economic knowledge of German and Japanese beginning students in a business and economics degree programme. The German and Japanese versions of the US-American Test of Economic Literacy were used for the assessment of the economic knowledge of German ( N = 901) and Japanese ( N = 571) students. The TEL consists of 45 items in two questionnaire versions and is based on 20 globally accepted core standards of economics. The analyses in th…
In silico identification of small molecules as new cdc25 inhibitors through the correlation between chemosensitivity and protein expression pattern
2021
The cell division cycle 25 (Cdc25) protein family plays a crucial role in controlling cell proliferation, making it an excellent target for cancer therapy. In this work, a set of small molecules were identified as Cdc25 modulators by applying a mixed ligand-structure-based approach and taking advantage of the correlation between the chemosensitivity of selected structures and the protein expression pattern of the proposed target. In the first step of the in silico protocol, a set of molecules acting as Cdc25 inhibitors were identified through a new ligand-based protocol and the evaluation of a large database of molecular structures. Subsequently, induced-fit docking (IFD) studies allowed us…
A paradigmatic autistic phenotype associated with loss of PCDH11Y and NLGN4Y genes
2021
Abstract Background Most studies relative to Y chromosome abnormalities are focused on the sexual developmental disorders. Recently, a few studies suggest that some genes located on Y chromosome may be related to different neurodevelopment disorders. Case presentation We report a child with sexual developmental disorder associated with a peculiar phenotype characterized by severe language impairment and autistic behaviour associated with a mosaicism [45,X(11)/46,XY(89)] and a partial deletion of the short and long arm of Y chromosome (del Yp11.31q11.23) that also involves the loss of both PCDH11Y and NLGN4Y genes. To our knowledge no study has ever reported the occurrence of the lack of bot…
Graphene and graphene oxide on Ir(111) are transparent to wetting but not to icing
2021
Anti-icing coatings reduce the freezing onset temperature for water by changing the chemical and physical environment at the water-substrate interface to prevent ice nucleation and growth. Graphene oxide has several attributes that make it attractive as an anti-icing coating and it has been theoretically predicted that graphene oxide has a lower freezing onset temperature than pristine graphene. Here, we test this hypothesis using carefully prepared, well-characterized graphene oxide substrates. We compare the water contact angle for graphene and graphene oxide coatings, both prepared on iridium(111) surfaces. The results show both materials to be transparent to wetting, but indicate a lowe…
The Inside Information Regime of the MAR andthe Rise of the ESG Era
2021
Abstract The rise in ESG investing has been characterized as an “investor revolution” and a manifestation of “social change”. The current coronavirus pandemic will arguably intensify the impact of such social change, with the “S” and “G” components of ESG, in particular, having been brought into sharper focus during the crisis. The issue of the extent to which ESG factors are (currently) of considerable importance – and, in particular, are likely to become even more so in the future – for the performance of share prices remains a highly controversial one in financial economics. However, where an empirically substantiated impact of ESG-related information on the prices of financial instrumen…
Relationship between emotional coping and depressive symptomatology
2021
IntroductionFrom the life cycle perspective, the aging is described as the strengthening of adaptive resources and the capacity for recovery or compensation for losses. These skills are grounded in the coping strategies that individuals apply in order to effectively adapt to diverse situations. Emotion-focused, passive coping strategies are considered to be maladaptive in the long term. These strategies are associated with affective disorders, being these phenomena of great impact in older adults.ObjectivesVerify if there is a relationship between emotion-focused coping strategies and depressive symptomsMethodsThe sample was composed of 418 healthy older adults, aged between 60 and 89 years…
SOUTHTRAC-GW: An airborne field campaign to explore gravity wave dynamics at the world’s strongest hotspot
2021
The southern part of South America and the Antarctic peninsula are known as the world’s strongest hotspot region of stratospheric gravity wave (GW) activity. Large tropospheric winds are deflected by the Andes and the Antarctic Peninsula and excite GWs that might propagate into the upper mesosphere. Satellite observations show large stratospheric GW activity above the mountains, the Drake Passage, and in a belt centered along 60°S. This scientifically highly interesting region for studying GW dynamics was the focus of the Southern Hemisphere Transport, Dynamics, and Chemistry–Gravity Waves (SOUTHTRAC-GW) mission. The German High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO) was deployed …
A Systematic Review of the Hydrological, Environmental and Durability Performance of Permeable Pavement Systems
2021
Due to urbanization, large portions of vegetated territory have been replaced by waterproof surfaces. The consequences are greater outflows, lower infiltration, and lower evapotranspiration. Pavement systems made with permeable surfaces allow the infiltration of water, ensuring reduction of runoff volume. In this paper, the methods of analysis of the hydrological and environmental performance of the pavement systems are reviewed in the context of urban drainage and regarding their durability. The purpose is to present an overview of the studies published during the last decade in the field. The Pubmed and Web Science Core Collection electronic databases were used to conduct the scientific l…
Teacher-rated aggression and co-occurring behaviors and emotional problems among schoolchildren in four population-based European cohorts
2021
Aggressive behavior in school is an ongoing concern. The current focus is on specific manifestations such as bullying, but the behavior is broad and heterogenous. Children spend a substantial amount of time in school, but their behaviors in the school setting tend to be less well characterized than at home. Because aggression may index multiple behavioral problems, we used three validated instruments to assess means, correlations and gender differences of teacher-rated aggressive behavior with co-occurring externalizing/internalizing problems and social behavior in 39,936 schoolchildren aged 7-14 from 4 population-based cohorts from Finland, the Netherlands, and the UK. Correlations of aggr…
Credit and financial markets in the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the Middle Ages. Historiographic production and recent developments
2021
El artículo examina la trayectoria de los estudios sobre el crédito y los mercados financieros en la Península Ibérica a finales de la Edad Media, desde los primeros trabajos sobre la usura y el préstamo a interés, fundamentalmente judío, en la primera mitad del siglo XX, hasta las líneas de investigación más recientes, que se ramifican en diversas direcciones, desde el marco teórico, doctrinal y legal del mercado del crédito y el estudio de los diferentes instrumentos financieros –préstamo a interés, crédito comercial y bancario, crédito a largo plazo en forma de censales y censos consignativos– a la deuda pública y el crédito privado, especialmente el crédito rural. Todos estos estudios m…
Penfigoide ampollar en paciente en tratamiento con nivolumab
2021
Fusaristatins D–F and (7S,8R)-(−)-chlamydospordiol from Fusarium sp. BZCB-CA, an endophyte of Bothriospermum chinense
2021
Abstract Three new lipodepsipeptides, fusaristatins D–F (1–3) and a new α-pyrone derivative, (7S,8R)-(−)-chlamydospordiol (5), together with eight known compounds (4, 6–12) were obtained from solid rice cultures of Fusarium sp. BZCB-CA, an endophyte of the Chinese medicinal plant, Bothriospermum chinense. The planar structures of the new metabolites (1–3, 5) were established by spectroscopic techniques (1D/2D NMR and HRESIMS). Marfey’s method was applied to determine the absolute configuration of 1, while the absolute configuration of 5 was determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography analysis in addition to Mosher’s method. Crystallographic data of inflatin C (7) are also supplied he…
Assessment of Gait after Treatment of Tibial Nonunion with the Ilizarov Method
2021
Background: Tibial nonunion is a common bone union disorder leading to abnormal gait, and thus reducing quality of life in the social dimension. Research question: The aim of our work was to comprehensively assess gait parameters of patients who had undergone Ilizarov treatment for tibial nonunion compared to a control group of healthy individuals. Methods: This study evaluated patients treated for aseptic tibial nonunion with the Ilizarov method. 24 patients with a mean age of 55.0 years were included in the study. The control group consisted of 32 healthy volunteers with no significant medical history who were selected to match the gender and age of patients in the study group so that the…
Is there a need to widely prescribe antibiotics in patients hospitalized with COVID-19?
2021
Highlights • Antibiotics were a main part of COVID-19 treatments during the first epidemic peak. • Bacterial coinfections seem to be rare, especially if no ICU transfer needed. • We studied the place of antibiotics and the impact on prognosis of patients. • Antibiotics were prescribed if more severe infection and has no impact on prognosis. • We think that antibiotic therapy must be not widely prescribed.
Boosting the Performance of One-Step Solution-Processed Perovskite Solar Cells Using a Natural Monoterpene Alcohol as a Green Solvent Additive
2021
The perovskite film is the core of a perovskite solar cell (PSC), and its quality is crucial for the performance of such devices. The morphology, crystallinity, and surface coverage of the perovskite layer greatly affect the power conversion efficiency (PCE), hysteresis, and long-term stability of PSCs. The incorporation of appropriate solvent additives in the perovskite precursor solution is an effective strategy to control the film morphology and reduce the defects and grain boundaries. However, the commonly used solvent additives are environmentally harmful and highly toxic. In this work, α-terpineol (a nontoxic, eco-friendly, and low-cost monoterpene alcohol) is employed for the first t…
A Two-layer Partitioning for Non-point Spatial Data
2021
Non-point spatial objects (e.g., polygons, linestrings, etc.) are ubiquitous and their effective management is always timely. We study the problem of indexing non-point objects in memory. We propose a secondary partitioning technique for space-oriented partitioning indices (e.g., grids), which improves their performance significantly, by avoiding the generation and elimination of duplicate results. Our approach is novel and of a high impact, as (i) it is extremely easy to implement and (ii) it can be used by any space-partitioning index. We show how our approach can be used to boost the performance of spatial range queries. We also show how we can avoid performing the expensive refinement s…
Xylo-Oligosaccharides in Prevention of Hepatic Steatosis and Adipose Tissue Inflammation: Associating Taxonomic and Metabolomic Patterns in Fecal Mic…
2021
We have shown that prebiotic xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS) increased beneficial gut microbiota (GM) and prevented high fat diet-induced hepatic steatosis, but the mechanisms associated with these effects are not clear. We studied whether XOS affects adipose tissue inflammation and insulin signaling, and whether the GM and fecal metabolome explain associated patterns. XOS was supplemented or not with high (HFD) or low (LFD) fat diet for 12 weeks in male Wistar rats (n = 10/group). Previously analyzed GM and fecal metabolites were biclustered to reduce data dimensionality and identify interpretable groups of co-occurring genera and metabolites. Based on our findings, biclustering provides a use…
Current practice in nutrition after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation – Results from a survey among hematopoietic stem cell transpla…
2021
Summary Background Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) is frequently associated with impaired oral intake and malnutrition, which potentially increases morbidity and mortality. Therefore, nutrition is one of the major challenges in the post-transplant period. Methods To document the current clinical approach in nutritional treatment, we designed a questionnaire concerning the current practice in nutrition after alloHSCT and distributed it to German speaking centers performing alloHSCT in Germany, Austria and Switzerland between November 2018 and March 2020. Twenty-eight (39%) of 72 contacted centers completed the survey, 23 from Germany, two from Austria and three …
Impact of Age and Comorbidity on Multimodal Management and Survival from Colorectal Cancer : A Population-Based Study
2021
This retrospective population-based study examined the impact of age and comorbidity burden on multimodal management and survival from colorectal cancer (CRC). From 2000 to 2015, 1479 consecutive patients, who underwent surgical resection for CRC, were reviewed for age-adjusted Charlson comorbidity index (ACCI) including 19 well-defined weighted comorbidities. The impact of ACCI on multimodal management and survival was compared between low (score 0–2), intermediate (score 3) and high ACCI (score ≥ 4) groups. Changes in treatment from 2000 to 2015 were seen next to a major increase of laparoscopic surgery, increased use of adjuvant chemotherapy and an intensified treatment of metastatic dis…
MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH IN A SURGICAL PRECISION NECK STABBING
2021
Trauma involving the neck region are to always be considered as clinical/surgical emergencies because of the presence of vascular, nervous and lymphatic vessels, along with the pharyngo-esophageal and laryngo-tracheal structures. For this reason, therapeutic and diagnostic timing arouses great interest. The authors report the case of a conscious and hemodynamically stable man, presented to the emergency room for a neck penetrating trauma, caused by a knife passing through his neck (zone II) from right to left. A correct instrumental examination (CT angiography and selective right carotid axis angiography) and the multidisciplinary surgical approach proved to be fundamental for the safe extr…
One Year of Dapaglifozin Add-On Therapy Ameliorates Surrogate Indexes of Insulin Resistance and Adiposity in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
2021
Introduction: This study investigates the effects of dapagliflozin on the visceral adiposity index (VAI), lipid accumulation product (LAP), product of triglycerides and glucose (TyG) and triglycerides to HDL-cholesterol ratio (TG/HDL-C) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). Methods: In this real-life study, dapaglifozin was added to metformin alone (group 1, no. 42) or insulin plus metformin (group 2, no. 58) in 100 T2D patients. Results: In group 1, after 6 months of dapaglifozin addition, a significant decrease in BMI (p < 0.001), waist circumference (WC) (p < 0.001), systolic blood pressure (SBP) (p = 0.009), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (p = 0.012), mean fasting blood…
Engineering quantum materials with chiral optical cavities.
2021
Nature materials 20, 438 – 442 (2020). doi:10.1038/s41563-020-00801-7
Reazione sociale, differenziazione e individuazione
2021
A sociological approach to the study of sociopathic behavior
AN EXPERIMENTAL WORKFLOW FOR THE VIRTUAL RECONSTRUCTION OF ANCIENT STATUES
2021
The work aims to investigate the main steps of a virtual reconstruction process of ancient statues, inspecting theoretical and technical approaches. Two fragmentary Roman statues from the "Sanctuary of Isis", inside the Archaeological Park of Lilibeo-Marsala (Italy), were chosen as a case study. Trying to preserve the original artwork authenticity and the transparency of the reconstruction method, a workflow was developed following three steps: 1) 3D survey and reality based model production; 2) evaluation of reconstruction hypotheses based on a rigorous selection of reference sources; 3) 3D modelling and source-based model creation. Three models for multiple visualization purposes were car…
Corticotroph aggressive pituitary tumours and carcinomas frequently harbour ATRX mutations
2021
Abstract Context Aggressive pituitary tumors (APTs) are characterized by unusually rapid growth and lack of response to standard treatment. About 1% to 2% develop metastases being classified as pituitary carcinomas (PCs). For unknown reasons, the corticotroph tumors are overrepresented among APTs and PCs. Mutations in the alpha thalassemia/mental retardation syndrome X-linked (ATRX) gene, regulating chromatin remodeling and telomere maintenance, have been implicated in the development of several cancer types, including neuroendocrine tumors. Objective To study ATRX protein expression and mutational status of the ATRX gene in APTs and PCs. Design We investigated ATRX protein expression by us…
Cement augmentation for trochanteric fracture in elderly: A systematic review()
2021
Abstract Background Cement augmentation of internal fixation of hip fracture has reported to improve fracture stability in osteoporotic hip fractures, reducing the risk of cut-out of the sliding screw through the femoral head. The purpose of present study was to perform a systematic literature review on the effects of augmentation technique in patients with osteoporotic hip fractures. Material and methods A comprehensive literature search was systematically performed to evaluate all papers published in English language included in the literature between January 2010 and July 2020, according to the PRISMA 2009 guidelines. In vivo and in vitro studies, case reports, review articles, cadaveric…
Diversification des cultures, exemple de la lentille et biologie translationnelle
2021
National audience; Présentation de l'Atelier :Les protéines sont des macronutriments majeurs dans l’alimentation des hommes et des animaux. Or la production de protéines végétales est toujours déficitaire en France qui a recours à des importations pour couvrir ses besoins.Les légumineuses contiennent plus de protéines que les céréales. En outre, leur culture contribue à la mise en œuvre de systèmes moins demandeurs en intrants qui peuvent ainsi, seuls, en rotation ou en mélange, contribuer efficacement à la démarche one health, vers une meilleure santé globale des hommes, des animaux, des cultures et de l’environnement. Améliorer la qualité des protéines végétales, tout en maintenant voire …
Are requirements elicitation sessions influenced by participants' gender? An empirical experiment
2021
[EN] Context: Requirements elicitation is a crucial phase in the software development life cycle. During requirements elicitation sessions, requirements engineers capture software requirements, and motivate stakeholders to express needs and expected software functionalities. In this context, there is a lack of extensive empirical research reporting the extent to which elicitation sessions can be influenced by participants' gender. Objective: This paper presents our research endeavour to investigate requirements engineers' effort and elicited requirements' accuracy based on participants' gender. Method: We conducted an experiment in two rounds with a total of 59 students who played the role …
Genomic Analysis and Lineage Identification of SARS-CoV-2 Strains in Migrants Accessing Europe Through the Libyan Route
2021
Many African countries, representing the origin of the majority of refugees, asylum-seekers, and other migrants, toward regions bordering on the Mediterranean area, are experiencing sustained local transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Sicily is one of the main entry gates of migrants crossing into Europe. We conducted a pilot study, based on the full-genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 strains isolated from migrants coming to Sicily by crossing the Mediterranean Sea, with the aim to investigate the viral genome polymorphism and to describe their genetic variations and the phylogenetic relationships. On June 21, a nongovernmental organization vessel rescu…
Socio-Demographic Characteristics and Sexual Behavioral Factors of Patients with Sexually Transmitted Infections Attending a Hospital in Southern Ita…
2021
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a serious global health problem. In Italy, data describing the vulnerability to STIs of specific sexual minorities and the influence of sociodemographic and behavioral determinants are limited, as most infections are not subject to mandatory notification. This retrospective study describes the sociodemographic profile and main sexual behaviors of patients attending a hospital in Palermo (Sicily, Italy) from January 2018 to March 2019 as predictors of STI risk. Patients were divided in subgroups: men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM), men-who-have-sex-with-women (MSW), bisexual men and females. Data were obtained through an anonymous questionnaire. Patien…
Adhesion G protein-coupled receptor VLGR1/ADGRV1 regulates cell spreading and migration by mechanosensing at focal adhesions.
2021
Summary VLGR1 (very large G protein-coupled receptor-1) is by far the largest adhesion G protein-coupled receptor in humans. Homozygous pathologic variants of VLGR1 cause hereditary deaf blindness in Usher syndrome 2C and haploinsufficiency of VLGR1 is associated with epilepsy. However, its molecular function remains elusive. Herein, we used affinity proteomics to identify many components of focal adhesions (FAs) in the VLGR1 interactome. VLGR1 is localized in FAs and assembles in FA protein complexes in situ. Depletion or loss of VLGR1 decreases the number and length of FAs in hTERT-RPE1 cells and in astrocytes of Vlgr1 mutant mice. VLGR1 depletion reduces cell spread and migration kinetic…
COPD significantly increases cerebral and cardiovascular events in hypertensives
2021
AbstractEssential hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease often coexist in the same patient. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the addition of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease modifies the risk of cardiovascular events in hypertensives. We enrolled 1728 hypertensives. Study outcomes included fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular stroke and myocardial infarction, and cardiovascular death. During a mean follow-up of 57 months there were 205 major adverse cardiovascular events (2.47 per 100 pts/yr): cardiac (n117; 1.41 per 100 pts/yr) and cerebrovascular (n = 77; 0.93 per 100 pts/yr). In hypertensives with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease we observed a greater…
What drives willingness to purchase and stated buying behavior toward organic food? A Stimulus–Organism–Behavior–Consequence (SOBC) perspective
2021
Abstract The consumption of organic food is gaining ground globally due to consumers’ concerns for personal health and food safety. Several countries, such as Japan, are turning their focus to promoting organic food consumption, but research is scarce on Japan’s organic food market. Additionally, despite consumers’ positive predisposition, retail sales in Japan for organic food are low, and there is a need to understand the reason for this disparity. The present study addressed this need by examining factors that may drive consumers’ willingness to purchase (WTP) and stated buying behavior (SBB) toward organic food through the Stimulus–Organism–Behavior–Consequence (SOBC) paradigm. The deve…
Figure : come funzionano le immagini dal Rinascimento a Instagram : recensione e riflessioni sul saggio di Riccardo Falcinelli
2021
La prospettiva, che oggi sembra la cosa più naturale del mondo, è in realtà un artificio, una convenzione, un dispositivo tipicamente quattrocentesco per mettere a fuoco le immagini dentro un campo intenzionalmente delimitato. Non c’è niente di neutro. Ogni artefatto comunicativo implica una distanza ottimale; e questo un grafico lo deve sapere. Il progetto grafico è come una partita a scacchi: qualunque cosa è sapientemente calcolata; se sbagli una mossa, perdi. Il grafico non può limitarsi a pensare a come il suo progetto funzionerà in astratto; deve precisamente pensare a come sarà fruito nei diversi canali di comunicazione attraverso i quali prenderà forma.
Applying systematic review search methods to the grey literature: a review of education and training courses on breastfeeding support for health prof…
2021
Abstract Background Currently, lactation training courses aimed at health professionals are important for informing and supporting mothers who are breastfeeding. In this review, we seek to analyze similarities and/or variations in course content, modes of delivery, costs, teaching style and learning strategies among courses. To our knowledge, a review of lactation training courses available worldwide is lacking. Thus, the aim of this review is to describe course models aimed at training health professionals in lactation support for mothers. Methods Through searching grey literature, training courses were obtained from several directories, including the Alaska Breastfeeding Coalition, Intern…