showing 36 of ~574560 from 574555 documents
Neural Teleportation
2023
In this paper, we explore a process called neural teleportation, a mathematical consequence of applying quiver representation theory to neural networks. Neural teleportation "teleports" a network to a new position in the weight space and preserves its function. This phenomenon comes directly from the definitions of representation theory applied to neural networks and it turns out to be a very simple operation that has remarkable properties. We shed light on surprising and counter-intuitive consequences neural teleportation has on the loss landscape. In particular, we show that teleportation can be used to explore loss level curves, that it changes the local loss landscape, sharpens global m…
A Nutraceutical Containing Chlorogenic Acid and Luteolin Improves Cardiometabolic Parameters in Subjects with Pre-Obesity: A 6-Month Randomized, Doub…
2023
Pre-obesity is a condition that predisposes to the risk of developing obesity, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and diabetes. Our previous study demonstrated that a Cynara cardunculus (L.) based nutraceutical named Altilix® (Bionap, Italy), containing chlorogenic acid and luteolin extracts, was able to improve several hepatic and cardio-metabolic parameters. Given this background, we conducted a post-hoc analysis of the Altilix® study in order to analyze the supplement’s effects in the subgroup of pre-obesity subjects on anthropometry (weight and waist circumference), glucose metabolism (HbA1C, HOMA-IR, and HOMA-β), lipid profile (total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-chole…
The relationship between maternal-fetus attachment and perceived parental bonds in pregnant women: Considering a possible mediating role of psycholog…
2023
Maternal-Fetal Attachment (MFA) delineates the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects that mothers develop toward the unborn baby during pregnancy. The literature indicates that optimal attachment in pregnancy represents a protective factor for the mother-child attachment bond after birth and child development outcomes. To date, there are few studies that have investigated associated factors of MFA. This study sets out to explore the association between perceived parental bonds and maternal-fetal bonding in pregnant women, accounting for factors such as psychological distress, socio-demographic and obstetric characteristics.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, 1,177 pregnant women an…
Chronic Urticaria—Pathogenesis, Diagnostics, Therapy and Influence of Coexisting Angioedema
2023
Urticaria is one of the most frequent dermatological diseases and it usually occurs in paroxysmal, recurrent form [...]
«Non oportet litigare: sed mansuetum esse ad omnes». Considerazioni sul valore normativo e religioso delle paci private
2023
The aim of this article is to investigate the religious and theological aspects related to the medieval practice of peacemaking. Pacta de crimine are legally justified by Roman sources (C. 2,4,18) but they are also characterised by the mes-sianic significance of peace. This paper considers the heritage of classical culture and theology analysing the normative experience of the commune of Perugia.
The Neoplastic Side of the Abdominal Wall: A Comprehensive Pictorial Essay of Benign and Malignant Neoplasms
2023
Abdominal wall neoplasms are usually benign and, in the majority of these cases, no further work-up or treatment is indicated. The percentage of malignant abdominal neoplasms, however, is not negligible. Radiologists play a pivotal role in identifying imaging features that should favor malignancy, including larger lesion size, edema, neurovascular involvement, and peripheral or inhomogeneous dynamic enhancement, thus indicating to the clinician the need for further work-up. Histopathology is the reference standard for the characterization of abdominal wall neoplasms. In patients undergoing surgery, radiological assessment is needed to guide the surgeon by providing a comprehensive anatomic …
Atomically Precise Distorted Nanographenes: The Effect of Different Edge Functionalization on the Photophysical Properties down to the Femtosecond Sc…
2023
Nanographenes (NGs) have been attracting widespread interest since they combine peculiar properties of graphene with molecular features, such as bright visible photoluminescence. However, our understanding of the fundamental properties of NGs is still hampered by the high degree of heterogeneity usually characterizing most of these materials. In this context, NGs obtained by atomically precise synthesis routes represent optimal benchmarks to unambiguously relate their properties to well-defined structures. Here we investigate in deep detail the optical response of three curved hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene (HBC) derivatives obtained by atomically precise synthesis routes. They are constituted…
Paving the way for the Paris Agreement:Contributions of SDEWES science
2023
Today, coal is responsible for 40% of annual CO2 emissions. At the same time, global warming causes climate changes accompanied with catastrophic meteorological phenomena all over the world. After the 2015 Paris Agriment many countries set ambitious energy policy to reduce the annual greenhouse gas emission. The 2021 UN Climate Change Conference, COP26 - Glasgow, ended with the adoption of a less stringent resolution than some anticipated: countries only agreed to “phase down” rather than “phase out” coal. Is possible the realization of the Paris Agreement after COP-26? For achieving this ambitious targets in such conditions, the support of the multi-disciplinary scientific knowledge is nee…
Supplementation with d-chiro-inositol in women
2023
The world of natural compounds has been investigated with the aim of discovering possible medical applications ever since the origin of medicine. Recently, the field of gynecology has developed a growing interest regarding inositols. Inositols are cyclic polyols with a key role in many metabolic pathways. Their stability throughout the evolution of life can mark these molecules as prebiotic, due to their biochemical importance. These molecules can be classified into nine stereoisomeric compounds; among them, myo-inositol (MI) is the most important and frequent form found in nature. Inositols were first discovered in 1850 by Johanes Joseph Scherer and extracted from muscle cells, the name of…
Investigating the Effects of Cell Size in Statistical Landslide Susceptibility Modelling for Different Landslide Typologies: A Test in Central–Northe…
2023
Optimally sizing grid cells is a relevant research issue in landslide susceptibility evaluation. In fact, the size of the adopted mapping units influences several aspects spanning from statistical (the number of positive/negative cases and prevalence and resolution/precision trade-off) and purely geomorphological (the representativeness of the mapping units and the diagnostic areas) to cartographic (the suitability of the obtained prediction images for the final users) topics. In this paper, the results of landslide susceptibility modelling in a 343 km2 catchment for three different types of landslides (rotational/translational slides, slope flows and local flows) using different pixel-size…
Effects of Boulder Arrangement on Flow Resistance Due to Macro-Scale Bed Roughness
2023
Flow resistance in gravel-bed channels is not only affected by the shape and size of the roughness elements, but also by their arrangement on the channel bed surface (position to flow streamlines, spacing between elements, and their protrusion from the channel bed). Many investigations proved that open channel flow resistance can be obtained by integrating the power velocity profile. For a macro-scale roughness condition, this study aims to investigate the effect of different boulder arrangements on flow resistance. First, for each arrangement, the equation relating Γ function of the power velocity profile, the Froude number, and the channel slope was calibrated using available measur…
The educational paradigm shift—a phenomenographic study of medical teachers’ experiences of practices
2023
Abstract Background This paper proposes a novel approach to the development of competence-oriented higher education, a national transformation aimed at harmonising and digitising undergraduate medical and dental education in Finland. Methods We apply phenomenography as a viable qualitative method for medical education research. To better understand medical teachers’ expectations towards the change in the educational paradigm, we need to study teachers’ experiences of the current practices in undergraduate medical and dental education. The phenomenographic approach facilitates solid links between research, educational development, and change. Results The phenomenographic study maps the quali…
The Influence of Sewage Sludge and Fly Ash Fertilization on the Total Number of Bacteria (TNB) and Bradyrhizobium Species in Soybean Agroecosystem
2023
The aim of this study was to determine the impact of different chemical properties in soil, including changes in magnetic susceptibility and the impact of humic substances from sewage sludge and fly ash on the microbial community in the soybean agroecosystem. A field experiment was carried out using the random plot method on Cambisol with a texture of silt loam. The experiment consisted of 24 plots (six treatments and four replications) using different dozes of sewage sludge and fly ash. The following physicochemical and chemical analyses were performed in the soil samples: pH in KCl, conductivity (λ), total content of heavy metal, magnetic measurements and fractional composition of …
Concordance of Radiological, Laparoscopic and Laparotomic Scoring to Predict Complete Cytoreduction in Women with Advanced Ovarian Cancer
2023
Objective: To identify the best method among the radiologic, laparoscopic and laparotomic scoring assessment to predict the outcomes of cytoreductive surgery in patients with advanced ovarian cancer (AOC). Methods: Patients with AOC who underwent pre-operative computed tomography (CT) scan, laparoscopic evaluation, and cytoreductive surgery between August 2016 and February 2021 were retrospectively reviewed. Predictive Index (PI) score and Peritoneal Cancer Index (PCI) scores were used to estimate the tumor load and predict the residual disease in the primary debulking surgery (PDS) and interval debulking surgery (IDS) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) groups. Concordance percentages we…
Glyphosate-based herbicide use affects individual microbial taxa in strawberry endosphere but not the microbial community composition
2023
AbstractAimsIn a field study, the effects of treatments of glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) in soil, alone and in combination with phosphate fertilizer, were examined on the performance and endophytic microbiota of garden strawberry.Methods and resultsThe root and leaf endophytic microbiota of garden strawberries grown in GBH-treated and untreated soil, with and without phosphate fertilizer, were analyzed. Next, bioinformatics analysis on the type of 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase enzyme was conducted to assess the potential sensitivity of strawberry-associated bacteria and fungi to glyphosate, and to compare the results with field observations. GBH treatments altered the abu…
CREDERE ALTRIMENTI
2023
This volume investigates alternative forms of belief, otherwise than religion and faith.
Chemopreventive and Anticancer Role of Resveratrol against Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma
2023
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most prevailing and aggressive head and neck cancers, featuring high morbidity and mortality. The available conventional treatments suffer from several adverse effects and are often inefficient in terms of their survival rates. Thus, seeking novel therapeutic agents and adjuvants is of the utmost importance for modern society. Natural polyphenolic compounds have recently emerged as promising chemopreventive and anticancer agents. Specifically, the natural compound resveratrol (RSV) has recently gained momentum for this purpose. RSV is useful for treating OSCC due to its antiproliferative, antimetastatic, and proapoptotic effects. Additionall…
Influence of Dirac cone warping and tilting on the Friedel oscillations in a topological insulator
2023
We calculate the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction between impurity spins, localized at the surface of an imperfect topological insulator (TI). Namely, we consider the warping and tilting of a TI Dirac cone. We show that the warping and tilting addition to the initial Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI) yields a highly anisotropic response to the localized spin rotation. Also, the Friedel oscillation strength of such an imperfect TI depends on the direction in its plane. Latter dependence, parametrized by Lissajous curves of spin-response components, can serve as a “fingerprint” of the initial Dirac cone distortion in the TI. The ensuing unusual dynamics is due to the interplay of S…
Credere senza dogma
2023
In this chapter, the author looks for a form of belief without any dogmaticism.
Accuracy of a computer vision system for estimating biomechanical measures of body function in axial spondyloarthropathy patients and healthy subjects
2023
Objective Advances in computer vision make it possible to combine low-cost cameras with algorithms, enabling biomechanical measures of body function and rehabilitation programs to be performed anywhere. We evaluated a computer vision system's accuracy and concurrent validity for estimating clinically relevant biomechanical measures. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Laboratory. Participants Thirty-one healthy participants and 31 patients with axial spondyloarthropathy. Intervention A series of clinical functional tests (including the gold standard Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index tests). Each test was performed twice: the first performance was recorded with a camera, and a co…
The Development of Generativity in Middle Adulthood and the Beginning of Late Adulthood: A Longitudinal Study from Age 42 to 61
2023
AbstractPrevious studies have yielded mixed results regarding the development of generativity during adulthood. Longitudinal data were utilized to investigate the average development of generativity between the ages of 42 and 61 as well as individual differences in terms of its development. The study used data from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS) (initial N = 369). The data consisted of 291 individuals whose generativity scores, measured using the Generativity Scale, were available at age 42, 50, or 61. Rasch analysis was utilized to form a generativity measure. The development of generativity between the measurements was investigated in women a…
Ecological Indicator Values for Europe (EIVE) 1.0
2023
Aims: To develop a consistent ecological indicator value system for Europe for five of the main plant niche dimensions: soil moisture (M), soil nitrogen (N), soil reaction (R), light (L) and temperature (T). Study area: Europe (and closely adjacent regions). Methods: We identified 31 indicator value systems for vascular plants in Europe that contained assessments on at least one of the five aforementioned niche dimensions. We rescaled the indicator values of each dimension to a continuous scale, in which 0 represents the minimum and 10 the maximum value present in Europe. Taxon names were harmonised to the Euro+Med Plantbase. For each of the five dimensions, we calculated European values fo…
Present Status and Future Outlook
2023
Sustainable, modern societies require significant progress toward sustainable technologies, industries, and products. Solvent-free methods, which are of great interest in a vast range of catalyst synthesis, have added value to material manufacturing, and many essential industrial organic synthesis and transformations can offer economically viable alternatives for classical procedures. Moreover, they can modernize classical technologies and organic reactions toward environmental sustainability, making them cleaner, safer, and more efficient. Simultaneously, with proper tailor-made catalyst employment, further noticeable increases in reactivity and selectivity can be expected under mild/short…
Evidence of Seasonal Variation in Body Color in Adults of the Parasitoid Cirrospilus pictus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) in Sicily, Italy
2023
As part of the studies on the morphological color variation of insects, a case study on the seasonal body color variation of Cirrospilus pictus (Nees) (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae: Eulophinae) parasitoid of leafminers is reported. Observations were made from January 2000 to December 2003 in north-western Sicily (Italy), in relation to sex, body regions of adults and seasonal periods. Wasps parasitizing Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) were collected from organic citrus orchards (Citrus limon L., var. “Femminello zagara bianca” and “Femminello comune”). Adults were grouped in classes: yellow males, black males, yellow females, yellow–black females and black females. …
Overweight/obesity-related transcriptomic signature as a correlate of clinical outcome, immune microenvironment, and treatment response in hepatocell…
2023
BackgroundsThe pandemic of overweight and obesity (quantified by body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25) has rapidly raised the patient number of non-alcoholic fatty hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and several clinical trials have shown that BMI is associated with the prognosis of HCC. However, whether overweight/obesity is an independent prognostic factor is arguable, and the role of overweight/obesity-related metabolisms in the progression of HCC is scarcely known.Materials and methodsIn the present study, clinical information, mRNA expression profile, and genomic data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) as a training cohort (TCGA-HCC) for the identification of overweight/obesity-rela…
Rei publicae Romanae auctor : la construction du mythe de Lucius Junius Brutus à l’époque impériale
2023
Un archétype au service des idées républicaines Dans sa dissertation académique consacrée à la figure de Lucius Junius Brutus, au début du xviiie siècle, Christoph Ludwig Crell, un juriste érudit habitué à travailler sur l’histoire et le droit des Romains, n’hésitait pas à caractériser ce personnage comme le fondateur de la république romaine : rei publicae Romanae auctor. Revalorisant des témoignages antiques, et avant tout les récits de Tite-Live et Denys d’Halicarnasse, sur le rôle de prem...
Proteolytic activity and MMP-14-like protein levels are affected by Vanadium in Paracentrotus lividus Embryo
2023
The increasing industrial use of vanadium (V), as well as its recent medical use in various pathologies has intensified its environmental release, making it an emerging pollutant [1]. The sea urchin embryo has long been used to study the effects induced by metals, including V. In this study we used an integrated approach that correlates the biological effects on embryo development with proteolytic activities of gelatinases that could better reflect any metal induced imbalances. V-exposure caused morphological/morphometric aberrations, mainly concerning the correct dis-tribution of embryonic cells, the development of the skeleton and the embryo volume [2]. Moreover, V induced a concentration…
Removal of ammonium ions from aqueous solutions using alkali-activated analcime as sorbent
2023
Five alkali-activated analcime (ANA) sorbents (ANA-MK 1, ANA 2, ANA 3, ANA-MK 4, and ANA-MK 5) were developed for ammonium (NH4+) ion removal. Acid treatment and calcination were used as pre-treatments for analcime, and metakaolin (MK) was used as a blending agent in three sorbents. Sorption experiments were performed to evaluate the effects of sorbent dosage (1–20 g L−1), initial NH4+ ion concentration (5–1000 g L−1), and contact time (1 min–24 h). ANA-MK 1, ANA 2, and ANA-MK 4 were the most efficient sorbents for NH4+ ion removal, with a maximum experimental sorption uptake of 29.79, 26.00, and 22.24 mg g−1, respectively. ANA 3 and ANA-MK 5 demonstrated…
Tackling wicked problems in performance management and governance of public health: an empirical analysis of COVID-19 vaccination strategies
2023
PurposePublic health strategies and activities are intrinsically complex. According to the literature, this “wickedness” depends on the different interests and expectations of the stakeholders and the community, the fragmented governance of the related services and the challenges in measuring and assessing public health outcomes. Existent performance measures and management systems for public health are not designed to cope with wickedness since they are mainly focused on inputs and outputs, neglecting broader outcomes because of their long-term impact and the poor accountability of results. This research aims to tackle this shortfall by adopting a dynamic performance management (DPM) appro…
The role of Plant Growth Promoting (PGP) bacteria in the growth of Mediterranean diet plants producing high-value compounds
2023
Loss of fertility, together with drought and aridity, results in soil unproductivity and eventually desertification. Unsustainable agricultural practices are currently stressing the soil: an undervalued resource that, in addition to food, provides a multitude of invaluable services such as regulating the microclimate, reducing contaminants, and capturing CO2. Hence, there is an increasing need to resort to sustainable approaches toward agricultural systems. Although Sicily is one of those regions most affected by water shortages, it is at the same time a reservoir of drought-resistant Mediterranean plants with high nutritional value and a rich microbiota. This project aims to promote agricu…
Nutritional epigenomic and DNA-damage modulation effect of natural stilbenoids
2023
The aim of the present work is the evaluation of biological effects of natural stilbenoids found in Vitis vinifera, with a focus on their activity as epigenetic modulators. In the present study, resveratrol, pterostilbene and for the first time their dimers (±)-trans-δ-viniferin, (±)-trans-pterostilbene dehydrodimer were evaluated in Caco-2 and HepG-2 cell lines as potential epigenetic modulators. Stilbenoids were added in a Caco-2 cell culture as a model of the intestinal epithelial barrier and in the HepG-2 as a model of hepatic environment, to verify their dose-dependent toxicity, ability to interact with DNA, and epigenomic action. Resveratrol, pterostilbene, and (±)-trans-pterostilbene…
Spore production monitoring reveals contrasting seasonal strategies and a trade‐off between spore size and number in wood‐inhabiting fungi
2023
1. Traits related to reproduction and dispersal drive the assembly and dynamics of species communities and can explain and predict how species respond to habitat loss and fragmentation and to the changing climate. For fungi, such links remain poorly known. 2. We examine how spore production rate, a key demographic trait, is influenced by the interaction between environmental conditions and species traits. We monitored the spore production of 97 wood-inhabiting fungal species on 107 decaying logs for two years and analyzed the data with a hierarchical community model. 3. Our analysis demonstrates clear species differences in seasonal patterns, with spring and summer release dominating in per…
Breather dynamics in a stochastic sine-Gordon equation: evidence of noise-enhanced stability
2023
The dynamics of sine-Gordon breathers is studied in the presence of dissipative and stochastic perturbations. Taking a stationary breather with a random phase value as the initial state, the performed simulations demonstrate that a spatially-homogeneous noisy source can make the oscillatory excitation more stable, i.e., it enables the latter to last significantly longer than it would in a noise-free scenario. Both the frequency domain and the localization of energy are examined to document the effectiveness of the noise-enhanced stability phenomenon, which emerges as a nonmonotonic behavior of an average characteristic time for the breather as a function of the noise intensity. The influenc…
Intra-Articular Injection of Botulinum Toxin for the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials
2023
The purpose of the present paper was to review the available evidence on intra-articular botulinum toxin (BTX) injection in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis and to compare it to other conservative treatment options. A systematic review of the literature was performed on the PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Pedro and Research Gate databases with the following inclusion criteria: (1) randomized controlled trials (RCTs), (2) written in the English language, and (3) published on indexed journals in the last 20 years (2001–2021) dealing with the use of BTX intra-articular injection for the treatment of knee OA. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias to…
Marine macrophytes: diversity and applications
2023
The research activity deals with several aspects of biology, systematics and ecology of marine macrophytes, with a special focus on macrophytes inhabiting the Mediterranean Sea. In particular, the research focuses on: 1) Marine alien macrophytes (e.g. Caulerpa, Asparagopsis, Halophila) and their interactions with autochthonous macrophytes, with particular attention to Marine Protected Areas. 2) Coralline red algae (Rhodoliths, Lithophyllum byssoides), characterized by a carbonate thallus, which form complex structures that increase the habitat biodiversity and are a key component in the cycle of carbonate budget. Thus, they are of high interest for conservation. 3) Brown algae belonging to …
Dietary Intake, Serum Hormone Concentrations, Amenorrhea and Bone Mineral Density of Physique Athletes and Active Gym Enthusiasts
2023
As the diet, hormones, amenorrhea, and bone mineral density (BMD) of physique athletes (PA) and gym enthusiasts (GE) are little-explored, we studied those in 69 females (50 PA, 19 GE) and 20 males (11 PA, 9 GE). Energy availability (EA, kcal·kgFFM−1·d−1 in DXA) in female and male PA was ~41.3 and ~37.2, and in GE ~39.4 and ~35.3, respectively. Low EA (LEA) was found in 10% and 26% of female PA and GE, respectively, and in 11% of male GE. In PA, daily protein intake (g/kg body mass) was ~2.9–3.0, whereas carbohydrate and fat intakes were ~3.6–4.3 and ~0.8–1.0, respectively. PA had higher protein and carbohydrate and lower fat intakes than GE (p <…