Search results for "letters"
showing 10 items of 129 documents
There is a relationship between obesity and COVID‐19 but more information is needed
2020
Abstract We read with particular interest your comments in Obesity regarding the Coronavirus‐19 (COVID‐19) epidemic (1) and a related manuscript by Simonnet et al. (2). Resolution of the specific relationship between obesity and COVID‐19, two existing public health epidemics, is critically needed to potentially prevent health systems worldwide from being overburdened. Few studies describing COVID‐19 with rates of obesity exist, and most are based on heterogeneous populations (Table 1) (2‐7). In cohort studies with COVID‐19 disease, obesity rates are generally reported as no higher than population‐based estimates; in contrast, subgroups of critically ill patients (e.g, intensive care unit (I…
Standards not that standard
2015
There is a general assent on the key role of standards in Synthetic Biology. In two consecutive letters to this journal, suggestions on the assembly methods for the Registry of standard biological parts have been described. We fully agree with those authors on the need of a more flexible building strategy and we highlight in the present work two major functional challenges standardization efforts have to deal with: the need of both universal and orthogonal behaviors. We provide experimental data that clearly indicate that such engineering requirements should not be taken for granted in Synthetic Biology. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s1303…
Report on Italy
2019
The right to take part personally in criminal proceedings, although not expressly provided at a Constitutional level, is an expression of the principle of a fair trial upheld by Article 6 of the ECHR and translated into Article 111 of the Italian Constitution. In the course of years, the CCP, also following some condemnations by the Strasbourg Court, underwent several modifications aimed at implementing principles and conditions affirmed by the ECHR that can legitimate proceedings in absentia of a defendant. This study is structured into different parts. In the first, an analysis of national rules concerning the participation of a defendant and other private parties at each stage of proceed…
No evidence that economic inequality moderates the effect of income on generosity
2019
A landmark study published in PNAS [Côté S, House J, Willer R (2015) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112:15838–15843] showed that higher income individuals are less generous than poorer individuals only if they reside in a US state with comparatively large economic inequality. This finding might serve to reconcile inconsistent findings on the effect of social class on generosity by highlighting the moderating role of economic inequality. On the basis of the importance of replicating a major finding before readily accepting it as evidence, we analyzed the effect of the interaction between income and inequality on generosity in three large representative datasets. We analyzed the donating behavior of…
Enhanced detection of terrestrial gamma-ray flashes by AGILE
2015
Abstract At the end of March 2015 the onboard software configuration of the Astrorivelatore Gamma a Immagini Leggero (AGILE) satellite was modified in order to disable the veto signal of the anticoincidence shield for the minicalorimeter instrument. The motivation for such a change was the understanding that the dead time induced by the anticoincidence prevented the detection of a large fraction of Terrestrial Gamma‐Ray Flashes (TGFs). The configuration change was highly successful resulting in an increase of one order of magnitude in TGF detection rate. As expected, the largest fraction of the new events has short duration (<100 μs), and part of them has simultaneous association with light…
Conduit dynamics and post explosion degassing on Stromboli: A combined UV camera and numerical modeling treatment.
2016
Abstract Recent gas flux measurements have shown that Strombolian explosions are often followed by periods of elevated flux, or “gas codas,” with durations of order a minute. Here we present UV camera data from 200 events recorded at Stromboli volcano to constrain the nature of these codas for the first time, providing estimates for combined explosion plus coda SO2 masses of ≈18–225 kg. Numerical simulations of gas slug ascent show that substantial proportions of the initial gas mass can be distributed into a train of “daughter bubbles” released from the base of the slug, which we suggest, generate the codas, on bursting at the surface. This process could also cause transitioning of slugs i…
Insulin degludec and insulin glargine 300 U/mL: Which of these two insulins causes less hypoglycemia?
2019
The interesting article by Yamabe et al.1 showed, using continuous glucose monitoring, that insulin degludec (I‐Deg) was associated with a high percentage of time with nocturnal hypoglycemia than with insulin glargine 300 U/mL (I‐G300; P = 0.02). However, we observe that some possible confounding factors might have influenced the results, such as differences in concomitant medications, use of the same titration protocol for both kinds of insulin or differences in glucose levels. This is also a recurrent problem in clinical trials, which sometime produce conflicting results. In fact, the study of Yamabe et al. is partly in agreement with some recently published clinical trials that gave diff…
Interdisciplinary dynamics and generic conventions: the case of Clinical Ethics Committees
2023
In recent years, Clinical Ethics Committees (CECs) have become increasingly istitutionalised by way of a growing belief that they play an important role in successfully helping health care professionals to address ethical dilemmas. The majority of members have a medical or nursing background, with an increasing number of legal members, lay, and religious representation, and discuss a variety of issues that might arise in clinical settings, from Withholding and Withdrawing Treatment and Do Not Resuscitate Orders, to Advance Directives and Confidentiality, to name just a few. In this regard, the UK Clinical Ethics Network (UKCEN) was established in 2001 to provide support for the growing numb…
Jaume ultimo conte di Urgell: eco di una ribellione nella documentazione siciliana
2020
Scomparso il 31 maggio 1410 Martino l’Umano senza discendenti legittimi diretti, si pose il problema di eleggere un nuovo sovrano per la Corona d’Aragona. Il numero inizialmente cospicuo di candidati al trono si ridusse a due: l’infante di Castiglia Ferdinando di Trastámara e il conte Jaume de Urgell, in linea teorica il pretendente più accreditato. A diventare re fu invece Ferdinando, elezione che fu vista nell’isola come fine dei disordini locali. La notizia della cattura del conte di Urgell fu presto nota ai siciliani, come attesta un gruppo di lettere contenute nella documentazione cittadina. Il saggio ricostruisce la complessa vicenda politica e umana del ribelle Jaume, destinato a una…