showing 36 of ~574560 from 574555 documents
Diasporic Politics and Defining Diaspora in Law: The Case of Latvia
2021
Abstract Passage of the Diaspora Law of Latvia required policymakers to go through an arduous process of discussing the limitations of diaspora, weighing the potential risks and benefits of various possible approaches, and ultimately agreeing on a definition to be included in the law. The end result was a very broad interpretation of who can be recognized as part of the Latvian diaspora. In this paper, to understand the political process of arriving at a definition, the theoretical perspectives of the ‘narrow’ and ‘broad’ definitions of diaspora are discussed, the motivations driving national governments to engage with their diasporas are analysed, and the discourse used during the drafting…
Cognitive processes related to problematic pornography use (PPU): A systematic review of experimental studies
2021
Highlights • Some people experience symptoms derived from pornography viewing. • Cognitive processes may be related to the development of Problematic Pornography Use (PPU). • We performed a systematic review of 21 studies exploring cognitive processes related to PPU. • We identified 4 cognitive processes relevant for the development and maintenance of PPU.
Tomato trichomes are deadly hurdles limiting the establishment of Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot (Acari: Phytoseiidae)
2021
[EN] Amblyseius swirskii is a predatory mite widely used for the control of very important pest species, such as whiteflies and thrips, in organic farming and conventional agriculture. However, this species cannot establish on tomato crops, probably due to the toxic effects of plant trichomes and their exudates. We evaluated tomato plants for effects on: a) A. swirskii preference mediated by plant volatiles, b) A. swirskii development, predation capacity and reproductive performance, c) the dispersal and survival of mites as affected by stem trichomes, and d) mite survival as a function of secondary metabolites secreted by tomato trichomes. The results showed that A. swirskii mites which ga…
Search for the charged lepton flavor violating decay J/ψ→eτ
2021
A search for the charged lepton flavor violating decay J/ψ→e±τ∓ with τ∓→π∓π0ντ is performed with about 10×109 J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII. No significant signal is observed, and an upper limit is set on the branching fraction B(J/ψ→e±τ∓)<7.5×10−8 at the 90% confidence level. This improves the previously published limit by two orders of magnitude.
Optimization of acetate production from citrus wastewater fermentation
2021
Abstract Citrus wastewater is a sugar-rich waste stream suitable for the recovery of energy of material from its treatment. In this study, fermentation of citrus wastewater was carried out to assess the optimal conditions to maximize the bioconversion of the organic substrate into acetate. Unbalanced nutrient (C: N: P 200:0.1:0.1) enabled the highest acetate production. The presence of the particulate organic fraction enabled to obtain a higher acetate concentration regardless the initial COD concentration. Initial pH values higher than 5 did not cause substantial differences on the maximum bioconversion of COD into acetate in Trial 3, whereas pH lower than 5 hindered the hydrolysis process…
Plastic end-of-life alternatives, with a focus on the agricultural sector
2021
The end of life (EoL) of plastic polymers depends on when they stop being considered a resource and begin to be considered a waste. Even with dynamic management, plastic pollution will increase in the coming decades. Reduction strategies focus on reducing the quantities of materials used in the construction of individual objects for packaging, support for reuse and recycling, incentives for gathering low-value plastics, awareness, and simplification. The agricultural sector, a sector in which the use of plastic is (apparently) not high, needs to combine environmental, social, and above all economic aspects, which can help entrepreneurs in the sector to optimize the recycling process.
Urea Cycle Metabolites and Atrial Fibrillation or Heart Failure Risk: Two Case-Control Studies in the PREDIMED Trial
2021
OBJECTIVES: To prospectively analyze the associations between urea cycle metabolites and incident atrial fibrillation (AF) or heart failure (HF), and to evaluate the effect of a Mediterranean diet (MD) intervention on such associations. METHODS: We designed two nested case-control studies within the PREDIMED trial, a randomized controlled trial aimed to evaluate the effect of two MD interventions, supplemented with either extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) or nuts, on cardiovascular disease (CVD). Fasting blood samples were collected at baseline and urea cycle metabolites (arginine, citrulline, and ornithine) and methylarginines (asymmetric dimethylarginine/symmetric dimethylarginine ratio (ADMA…
Taste Perception Profiles Are Associated With Adherence to Empirically Derived Dietary Patterns Among Older Adults With Metabolic Syndrome
2021
OBJECTIVES: Understanding individual-level drivers of food intake is critical when personalizing dietary guidance. One likely driver is taste perception; yet, limited data relate perception of all 5 tastes (sweet, salt, sour, bitter, umami) to dietary patterns (DPs). Our aim was to determine whether a multivariable measure of taste perception, taste perception profiles, was associated with adherence to empirically derived DPs. METHODS: Participants were 367 community-dwelling adults with metabolic syndrome from PREDIMED-Plus, Valencia (55–75 years; 55% female). Six taste perception profiles were derived from 5 taste perception scores via a data-driven clustering approach: Low All (23%), Hig…
C2orf69 mutations disrupt mitochondrial function and cause a multisystem human disorder with recurring autoinflammation
2021
BACKGROUND. Deciphering the function of the many genes previously classified as uncharacterized open reading frame (ORF) would complete our understanding of a cell’s function and its pathophysiology. METHODS. Whole-exome sequencing, yeast 2-hybrid and transcriptome analyses, and molecular characterization were performed in this study to uncover the function of the C2orf69 gene. RESULTS. We identified loss-of-function mutations in the uncharacterized C2orf69 gene in 8 individuals with brain abnormalities involving hypomyelination and microcephaly, liver dysfunction, and recurrent autoinflammation. C2orf69 contains an N-terminal signal peptide that is required and sufficient for mitochondrial…
Phloem and xylem flow contributions to nectarine fruit development
2021
This study aimed at determining how source-sink balance and phloem/xylem flows affect nectarine fruit growth during development. Different levels of water and assimilate availability to growing fruits were induced in vivo by varying leaf:fruit ratio (L:F) of fruiting shoots and by interrupting the phloem stream (girdling) at the base of entire fruiting shoots. Two fruiting shoots in each of six ‘Big Top’ adult nectarine trees were selected, labeled and their L:F was adjusted by thinning fruits or removing leaves to two levels: high L:F and low L:F. Stem water potential, stomatal conductance, continuous fruit diameter and leaf turgor pressure were measured before and after girdling at stage …
Prototipi di nuove centralità
2021
Le nuove centralità sono le grandi aree funzio- nali individuate dallo schema di massima del Piano Regolatore Generale di Palermo per il 2025, opzionate in base al Piano strategico del- la città che le individua come punti di forza del sistema urbano rispetto al contesto regionale. Individuano le aree nelle quali sono localizzati i servizi di rango elevato che fanno della città un polo gravitazionale rispetto al suo ambito metropolitano. La loro funzione si dispiega anche a livello urbano, potenziando, rifunzio- nalizzando, o rilocalizzando, attività di servizio a scala urbana e sovralocale.
Amyloid Beta-Mediated Changes in Synaptic Function and Spine Number of Neocortical Neurons Depend on NMDA Receptors
2021
Onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathophysiology differs between brain regions. The neocortex, for example, is a brain region that is affected very early during AD. NMDA receptors (NMDARs) are involved in mediating amyloid beta (Aβ) toxicity. NMDAR expression, on the other hand, can be affected by Aβ. We tested whether the high vulnerability of neocortical neurons for Aβ-toxicity may result from specific NMDAR expression profiles or from a particular regulation of NMDAR expression by Aβ. Electrophysiological analyses suggested that pyramidal cells of 6-months-old wildtype mice express mostly GluN1/GluN2A NMDARs. While synaptic NMDAR-mediated currents are unaltered in 5xFAD …
Correspondence re Piombino-Mascali et al on Mummy Research, Ethics and Editorial Comments
2021
Drawing space in the places of myth: Luigi Moretti and Sicily
2021
Come si disegnava l’architettura negli anni ’30? È questo il quesito di partenza attraverso cui si vuole imbastire una più ampia riflessione sull’architettura di quel periodo, assumendo come riferimento un progetto siciliano di Luigi Moretti: la Casa del Balilla di Messina del 1936. L’analisi iniziale del corpus delle tavole di progetto dell’edificio ha preventivamente lo scopo di valutare i contenuti espressivi del disegno inteso come strumento disciplinare proprio dell’architettura. Ma il fatto che l’opera prima di Luigi Moretti in terra di Sicilia non abbia mai visto la luce ha altresì indotto all’elaborazione di un’esegesi ulteriore, consistente nella costruzione di un modello tridimens…
Mechanisms of Immune Evasion in Multiple Myeloma: Open Questions and Therapeutic Opportunities
2021
Simple Summary The growing interest in immunotherapy for the treatment of multiple myeloma demands a deep knowledge of the complex interactions between malignant and immune cells within the bone marrow. Indeed, understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this network should represent the basis for the design of novel patient-oriented biological therapeutic approaches. Here, we describe the role of the main immune components of the myeloma niche along disease evolution and their implication in impairing/improving the response to anti-cancer treatments. Additionally, we provided an overview of the potential weakness of this pro-tumor interplay, evidencing novel therapeutic …
Methodological considerations for interrupted time series analysis in radiation epidemiology: an overview
2021
Interrupted time series analysis (ITSA) is a method that can be applied to evaluate health outcomes in populations exposed to ionizing radiation following major radiological events. Using aggregated time series data, ITSA evaluates whether the time trend of a health indicator shows a change associated with the radiological event. That is, ITSA checks whether there is a statistically significant discrepancy between the projection of a pre-event trend and the data empirically observed after the event. Conducting ITSA requires one to consider specific methodological issues due to unique threats to internal validity that make ITSA prone to bias. We here discuss the strengths and limitations of …
The Association Between Quantitative Flow Ratio and Intravascular Imaging-defined Vulnerable Plaque Characteristics in Patients With Stable Angina an…
2021
Background: This study aimed to examine whether quantitative flow ratio (QFR), an angiography-based computation of fractional flow reserve, was associated with intravascular imaging-defined vulnerable plaque features, such as thin cap fibroatheroma (TCFA) in patients with stable angina, and non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome.Methods: Patients undergoing optical coherence tomography (OCT) or intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) examinations were identified from two prospective studies and their interrogated vessels were assessed with QFR. Lesions in the OCT cohort were classified into tertiles: QFR-T1 (QFR ≤ 0.85), QFR-T2 (0.85 &lt; QFR ≤ 0.93), and QFR-T3 (QFR &gt; 0.93). L…
Il progetto indispensabile per il costruito archeologico
2021
Il contributo, redatto su invito per la sezione “Patrimonio e archeologia” di un volume promosso dalla Società scientifica nazionale ProArch, prende avvio da alcune considerazioni sul costruito archeologico come archetipo del concetto stesso di patrimonio e come campo d’indagine e di progetto sempre attuale, specialmente in area mediterranea, in cui il patrimonio architettonico è connotato da spessore e stratificazione più marcati che altrove, fornendo supporto fisico a un’identità comune. Inoltre, l’intervento sul costruito archeologico, nella sua essenza intrinseca di incompletezza, viene indicato come rappresentativo dell’essenza stessa dell’atto progettuale, considerato come parte del p…
Healthy mistrust or complacent confidence? : Civic vigilance in the reporting by leading newspapers on nuclear waste disposal in Finland and France
2021
Trust and confidence have been identified as crucial for efforts at solving the conundrum of high-level radioactive waste management (RWM). However, mistrust has its virtues, especially in the form of “civic vigilance”—healthy suspicion towards the powers that be. This article examines civic vigilance in the form of “watchdog journalism,” as practiced by the leading Finnish and French newspapers—Helsingin Sanomat (HS) and Le Monde (LM)—in their RWM reporting. Although both countries are forerunners in RWM, Finland constitutes a Nordic “high-trust society” while France has been characterized as a “society of mistrust.” Employing the methods of frame analysis, key RWM-related news frames were…
Characterizing Breakthrough Cancer Pain Using Ecological Momentary Assessment with a Smartphone App: Feasibility and Clinical Findings.
2021
Background: mobile applications (apps) facilitate cancer pain ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and provide more reliable data than retrospective monitoring. The aims of this study are (a) to describe the status of persons with cancer pain when assessed ecologically, (b) to analyze the utility of clinical alarms integrated into the app, and (c) to test the feasibility of implementing an app for daily oncological pain monitoring. Methods: in this feasibility study, 21 patients (mean age = 56.95 years, SD = 10.53, 81.0% men) responded to an app-based evaluation of physical status (baseline and breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP)) and mental health variables (fatigue, mood, and coping) daily d…
Multimodal Simulation of a Novel Device for a Safe and Effective External Ventricular Drain Placement
2021
BackgroundExternal ventricular drain (EVD) placement is mandatory for several pathologies. The misplacement rate of the EVD varies widely in literature, ranging from 12.3 to 60%. The purpose of this simulation study is to provide preliminary data about the possibility of increasing the safety of one of the most common life-saving procedures in neurosurgery by testing a new device for EVD placement.MethodsWe used a novel guide for positioning the ventricular catheter (patent RM2014A000376). The trajectory was assessed using 25 anonymized head CT scans. The data sets were used to conduct three-dimensional computer-based and combined navigation and augmented reality-based simulations using pla…
The influence of Coulomb interaction screening on the excitons in disordered two-dimensional insulators.
2021
AbstractWe study the joint effect of disorder and Coulomb interaction screening on the exciton spectra in two-dimensional (2D) structures. These can be van der Waals structures or heterostructures of organic (polymeric) semiconductors as well as inorganic substances like transition metal dichalcogenides. We consider 2D screened hydrogenic problem with Rytova–Keldysh interaction by means of so-called fractional Scrödinger equation. Our main finding is that above synergy between screening and disorder either destroys the exciton (strong screening) or promote the creation of a bound state, leading to its collapse in the extreme case. Our second finding is energy levels crossing, i.e. the degen…
Body Mass Index and Risk for Intubation or Death in SARS-CoV-2 Infection
2021
Enduring the Autoimmune Aporia of Democratic Sovereignty
2021
The aim of this article is to read Rogues, in order to show that Derrida is neither a philosopher of democracy nor a critic of sovereignty , but rather a thinker of democratic sovereignty. Taking my cue from his Aporias, I argue that democratic sovereignty is aporetically in excess over itself, for it is based on articulating the path through the im-possible passage from the unconditional injunction of the ‘promise’ to the exigency of sovereignty. That is why it can neither be absorbed into the conditions of any existing democracy nor abstracted into any pure identity of sovereignty. Political trends today fail in enduring the aprioricity of aporia, as neoliberals valorize the posited condi…
Belief elicitation with multiple point predictions
2021
Abstract We propose a simple, incentive compatible procedure based on binarized linear scoring rules to elicit beliefs about real-valued outcomes - multiple point predictions. Simultaneously eliciting multiple point predictions with linear incentives reveals the subjective probability distribution without pre-defined intervals or probabilistic statements. We show that the approach is theoretically as robust as existing methods, while adapting flexibly to different beliefs. In a laboratory experiment, we compare our procedure to the standard approach of eliciting discrete probabilities on pre-defined intervals. We find that elicitation with multiple point predictions is faster, perceived as …
Efficacy and safety of preoperative with Lugol's iodine solution euthyroid patients with Graves' disease (LIGRADIS Trial): study protocol for a multi…
2021
"Artículo escrito por un elevado número de autores, solo se referencian el que aparece en primer lugar, el nombre del grupo de colaboración, si le hubiere, y los autores pertenecientes a la UAM"
Incidence, Clinical Characteristics and Management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Spain: Large-Scale Epidemiological Study
2021
(1) Aims: To assess the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Spain, to describe the main epidemiological and clinical characteristics at diagnosis and the evolution of the disease, and to explore the use of drug treatments. (2) Methods: Prospective, population-based nationwide registry. Adult patients diagnosed with IBD—Crohn’s disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) or IBD unclassified (IBD-U)—during 2017 in Spain were included and were followed-up for 1 year. (3) Results: We identified 3611 incident cases of IBD diagnosed during 2017 in 108 hospitals covering over 22 million inhabitants. The overall incidence (cases/100,000 person-years) was 16 for IBD, 7.5 for CD, 8 for UC, and…
Palermo collaborativa
2021
La città di Palermo ha una vocazione multiculturale ed è luogo dell’integrazione e dell’accoglienza. Questa sua caratteristica è confermata dalla partecipazione attiva e propositiva alla redazione della “Carta di Palermo” del 2015 sui temi della mobilità umana internazionale da parte di numerose organizzazioni non governative e realtà associative, accanto alle istituzioni pubbliche. Palermo, come modello positivo di contaminazione culturale e di città collaborativa, lancia la proposta di andare oltre il permesso di soggiorno per approdare al concetto di “cittadinanza di residenza”, riconoscendo il diritto alla mobilità come diritto della persona umana. La migrazione non deve essere consider…
Liquid structure of a choline chloride-water natural deep eutectic solvent: A molecular dynamics characterization
2021
The liquid structure of a representative of the first water-in-salt (WiS) Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NADES), hereinafter indicated as aquoline, a mixture of choline chloride (ChCl) and water with molar ratio 1:3.33, is ex- plored at ambient conditions. Using Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation tools, we extract structural informa- tion at atomistic level on the nature of inter-correlations between the different moieties. Despite being a very fluid liquid, with much lower viscosity than other common ChCl-based DES, aquoline turns out to be very struc- tured. Computed X-ray and neutron weighted scattering patterns (the latter also on selectively deuterated mix- tures) highlight the existe…
Dissipative scaling of step-pool features
2021
Abstract This paper focuses on the dissipative similarity of step-pool units at rill, flume and stream scale. This investigation is carried out using recent advances in open channel flow resistance, applications of close-range photogrammetry to rill erosion, available published data on step-pool features in flumes and streams and a new dataset of measurements in fixed bed step-pool rills. A theoretically-based equation for calculating the Darcy-Weisbach friction factor obtained by integration of a power velocity profile is presented. The scale factor Γ of this power velocity profile, which is included in the flow resistance equation, was previously calibrated (Eq. 10) for mobile bed rills w…
TURF-BOX: an active lighting multispectral imaging system with led VIS-NIR sources for monitoring of vegetated surfaces
2021
A microcontroller driven system suitable to monitor soil and low vegetation is described. A radiometrically pre-calibrated imaging camera driven by a microcontroller is contained in a light-tight box aiming at an actively illuminated target surface area of 50×38 cm, using LED sources with different emission wavelengths (blue, green, red and infrared). The adopted arrangement allows measurements independent from local lighting conditions and from the in situ, per-session calibrations necessary with the conventional instrumentation adopted for field measurements. Sequential lighting of the target surface with the monochromatic LED sources allows capturing multispectral images at a relatively …
Healthcare for Older Adults, Where Are We Moving towards?
2021
Since the end of World War II, science has not stopped progressing [...]
Effect of Design Features and Operating Conditions on the Performance of a Bipolar Membrane-Based Acid/Base Flow Battery
2021
In the context of renewable energy sources, storage systems have been proposed as a solution to the issues related to fluctuations in the production and consumption of electric power. The EU funded BAoBaB project is aimed at developing the Acid/Base Flow battery (AB-FB), an environment-friendly, cost-competitive, grid-scale battery storage system based on the cyclic coupling of Bipolar Membrane ElectroDialysis (BMED) and its reverse, the Bipolar Membrane Reverse ElectroDialysis (BMRED) (Pärnamäe et al., 2020). Bipolar membranes promote catalytically water dissociation, thus allowing the storage of electric power in the form of acidic and alkaline solutions (pH gradient), obtained from their…
Electrochemical production and use of chlorinated oxidants for the treatment of wastewater contaminated by organic pollutants and disinfection
2021
Abstract In the last years, an increasing attention has been devoted to the use of electrogenerated chlorinated oxidants for the treatment of wastewater polluted by recalcitrant organics and/or for the disinfection of water contaminated by pathogen microorganisms. In this review, more recent and relevant findings were presented and critically discussed. The main advantages and disadvantages of this technique were commented, including the potential formation of toxic chlorinated organic specie and of chlorate and perchlorate or the difficult selection of proper operative parameters, as well as the key points that should be addressed to enhance the use on an applicative scale.
Freud and the Philosophy: precedents of a fundamental ambivalence.
2021
La relación del psicoanálisis con la filosofía debe tener en cuenta el propio rechazo que Freud declaró contra todo intento de reducir la psicología al conocimiento de los fenómenos de la conciencia, que de modo temprano e insistente vinculó a la noción idealista de “cosmovisión” (Weltanschauung). Sin embargo, un seguimiento minucioso de las principales tendencias filosóficas que se daban en su contexto muestra el verdadero lugar de privilegio que corresponde al pensamiento filosófico de cara a la configuración identitaria del psicoanálisis como disciplina (y de su objeto de estudio: el inconsciente), con un marco epistemológico propio que bebe de la con-fluencia ideológica que el neopositi…
Effetto di diversi trattamenti Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) sulla qualità di frutti di gelso (Morus alba L. cv Kokuso 21)
2021
Il consumo italiano di piccoli frutti ha visto un notevole incremento nell’ultima decade grazie alla maggior attenzione rivolta dal consumatore al valore nutrizionale della frutta fresca. Il gelso è un frutto climaterico, caratterizzato da un elevato contenuto in carotene, vitamine B1, B2 e C, glucosio, saccarosio, acido tartarico e succinico, fenoli totali e antociani. Grazie al suo particolare valore nutraceutico il gelso è considerato oltre che un alimento funzionale anche un prodotto di alta gamma. Tuttavia, la commercializzazione di questo tipo di frutto è ancora in certa misura ostacolata dalla loro spiccata deperibilità ed è pertanto necessario sviluppare metodi in grado di estendern…