Search results for "42"

Illicit drugs consumption evaluation by wastewater-based epidemiology in the urban area of Palermo city (Italy)

2017

Introduction. A wastewater-based epidemiology approach was performed to estimate the drug consumption in Palermo city, the fifth largest city of Italy with a population of 671 696 inhabitants, and to investigate the monthly variability of drug loads in wastewater from different areas of the city. A seven-months detection campaign was conducted at the two wastewater treatment plants of the city. Methods. Following a pre-treatment, 32 samples of wastewater were analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Results. We estimated a mean cocaine use in Palermo of 0.19 g/day/1000 people, corresponding to 1.90 doses/1000 people and cannabinoids use of 2.85 g/day/1000 people, correspo…

Consistent phenological shifts in the making of a biodiversity hotspot: the Cape flora

2011

Abstract Background The best documented survival responses of organisms to past climate change on short (glacial-interglacial) timescales are distributional shifts. Despite ample evidence on such timescales for local adaptations of populations at specific sites, the long-term impacts of such changes on evolutionary significant units in response to past climatic change have been little documented. Here we use phylogenies to reconstruct changes in distribution and flowering ecology of the Cape flora - South Africa's biodiversity hotspot - through a period of past (Neogene and Quaternary) changes in the seasonality of rainfall over a timescale of several million years. Results Forty-three dist…

The ecosocial approach in social work as a framework for structural social work

2016

The article aims to deepen the understanding of structural social work from the point of view of the ecosocial framework. It analyses selected current international literature from the debate on the new wave of various interpretations of ecological social work. The debate shares four main themes: (a) a global perspective, (b) a critical view of professional social work, (c) a holistic ecosocial transition of society and (d) environmental and ecological justice. The ecosocial framework challenges structural social work to follow the principles of sustainable development and considers environmental issues as a crucial part of the goals and practical activities of structural social work.

Marine food web perspective to fisheries‐induced evolution

2021

Abstract Fisheries exploitation can cause genetic changes in heritable traits of targeted stocks. The direction of selective pressure forced by harvest acts typically in reverse to natural selection and selects for explicit life histories, usually for younger and smaller spawners with deprived spawning potential. While the consequences that such selection might have on the population dynamics of a single species are well emphasized, we are just beginning to perceive the variety and severity of its propagating effects within the entire marine food webs and ecosystems. Here, we highlight the potential pathways in which fisheries‐induced evolution, driven by size‐selective fishing, might reson…

Evolutionary genomics can improve prediction of species' responses to climate change

2020

Abstract Global climate change (GCC) increasingly threatens biodiversity through the loss of species, and the transformation of entire ecosystems. Many species are challenged by the pace of GCC because they might not be able to respond fast enough to changing biotic and abiotic conditions. Species can respond either by shifting their range, or by persisting in their local habitat. If populations persist, they can tolerate climatic changes through phenotypic plasticity, or genetically adapt to changing conditions depending on their genetic variability and census population size to allow for de novo mutations. Otherwise, populations will experience demographic collapses and species may go ext…

The role of the European Society of Human Genetics in delivering genomic education

2021

The European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) was founded in 1967 as a professional organisation for members working in genetics in clinical practice, research and education. The Society seeks the integration of scientific research and its implementation into clinical practice and the education of specialists and the public in all areas of medical and human genetics. The Society works to do this through many approaches, including educational sessions at the annual conference; training courses in general and specialist areas of genetics; an online resource of educational materials (EuroGEMS); and a mentorship scheme. The ESHG Education Committee is implementing new approaches to expand the r…

Application of Lean Six Sigma methodology to a school based immunization project in Italy.

2015

Use of ICT to support epidemiological surveillance on a community of university students during SARS-CoV-2 phase 3 pandemic

2021

Populations documenting to date low incidence rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection are immunologically susceptible and at high exposure risk of new COVID-19 outbreaks during phase 3 of the pandemic. Following the experience documented by other countries with regard to the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) to counteract the current pandemic, Italy has implemented a contact tracing system based on a mobile application. In this work, we describe the proposal of a complementary ICT-based prototypal model of COVID-19 prevention and surveillance system, involving the university students as sentinels acting both in the academic community and the general population.

Seroprevalence of and risk factors for Leishmania seropositivity in a sample population of Western Sicily (Italy)

2013

Background: Leishmania is a vector-borne parasite responsible for significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of and risk factors for Leishmania infantum seropositivity in a sample of Sicilian population.Methods: A total of 260 subjects were interviewed using a standardized questionnaire and requested for an venous blood sample.Results: Overall, 36 subjects (13.8%) were seropositive against L. infantum with a statistically significant higher prevalence of positivity in older subjects (p=0.04). After adjustment for age, a higher risk for Leishmania seropositivity was found in subjects who had pets living outdoors and untreated with anti-p…

Ethically ethnic: the ethno-culturalization of the moral conduct of the Sámi and the Roma in the governance in Finland between the 1850s and 1930s

2015

Although there was not a focused administration on ethnic minorities in Finland until the last decades of the 20th century, there was variety of rationalities, techniques and practices of governance used for their conduct. In this article I analyze how the governance of the Roma and the Sámi – two biggest minorities at the time – changed after mid-1800s, when the new understanding, the ethno-cultural one, on population diffused among administration and governing bodies. This Foucauldian analysis concentrates on the descent of this ‘event’, the social and political conditions of its mergence, and the actual changes it meant in the governance of these minorities. peerReviewed