Croplands proximity is associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis incidence and age at onset.

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease resulting from an intricate interplay between genetics and environmental factors. Many studies have explored living in rural areas as a possible risk factor for ALS, without focusing simultaneously on incidence, age at onset and phenotypic features.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of croplands residential proximity on ALS incidence and phenotype, focusing on age of onset, site of onset and progression rate.

Evaluating genotype by environment interaction for growth traits in Limousine cattle.

Environmental conditions affect the growth and health of animals, making it crucial to quantify heat stress and the genetic basis of heat tolerance in animal breeding. The main objective of this study was to evaluate heat stress on growth and investigate the genetic background of tolerance to harsh environmental conditions in the Italian Limousine beef cattle. Three growth traits were analysed: average daily gain (ADG), weaning weight (WW), and yearling weight (YW).

Disentangling the relationship between social cognition, executive functions and behaviour changes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background: Social cognition (SC) deficits are included in the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-frontotemporal spectrum disorder (ALS-FTDS) revised diagnostic criteria. However, the impact of SC assessment on cognitive classification and the cognitive-behavioural correlates of SC remain unclear. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the impact of SC assessment on ALS-FTDS categorisation and explore the relationship of SC with executive functions (EF) and behaviour changes in a cohort of ALS patients.

Sex Differences in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Survival and Progression: A Multidimensional Analysis.

Objective: To investigate sex-related differences in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) prognosis and their contributing factors.

Methods: Our primary cohort was the Piemonte and Aosta Register for ALS (PARALS); the Pooled Resource Open-Access ALS Clinical Trials (PRO-ACT) and the Answer ALS databases were used for validation. Survival analyses were conducted accounting for age and onset site.

High serum uric acid levels are protective against cognitive impairment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background: Uric acid (UA) has emerged as a factor that can modify cognitive function both in the general population and in people with neurodegenerative disorders. Since very few data are available concerning amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), we explored the correlation of UA levels and cognitive impairment in a large cohort of ALS patients.

Methods: We enrolled ALS patients consecutively seen at the Turin ALS expert center in the 2007-2018 period who underwent both cognitive/behavioral and UA evaluation at diagnosis.

Recurring volcanic winters during the latest Cretaceous: Sulfur and fluorine budgets of Deccan Traps lavas.

Two events share the stage as main drivers of the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction-Deccan Traps volcanism, and an asteroid impact recorded by the Chicxulub crater. We contribute to refining knowledge of the volcanic stressor by providing sulfur and fluorine budgets of Deccan lavas from the Western Ghats (India), which straddle the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Volcanic fluorine budgets were variable (400 to 3000 parts per million) and probably sufficient to affect the environment, albeit only regionally.

Mycotoxins and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Food Exposure, Nutritional Implications and Dietary Solutions.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder determined by a combination of both genetic and environmental factors. Despite wide investigations, the role of chronic exposure to environmental pollutants is still rather unknown. Among natural toxins, the mycotoxins have received major attention only in the last few years, due to both technical and scientific achievements that allowed to disentangle many important features of the complex fungal biology.

Presymptomatic geographical distribution of ALS patients suggests the involvement of environmental factors in the disease pathogenesis.

Background: Given that the pathogenetic process of ALS begins many years prior to its clinical onset, examining patients' residential histories may offer insights on the disease risk factors. Here, we analyzed the spatial distribution of a large ALS cohort in the 50 years preceding the disease onset.

Methods: Data from the PARALS register were used.

How heat stress conditions affect milk yield, composition, and price in Italian Holstein herds.

An edited data set of 700 bulk and 46,338 test-day records collected between 2019 and 2021 in 42 Holstein-dominated farms in the Veneto Region (North of Italy) was available for the present study. Information on protein, fat and lactose content, somatic cell count, and somatic cell score was available in bulk milk as well as individual test-day records, whereas urea concentration (mg/dL), differential somatic cell count (%), and milk yield (kg/d) were available for test-day records only. Milk features were merged with meteorological data retrieved from 8 weather stations located maximum 10 km from the farms.

Exposure to electromagnetic fields does not modify neither the age of onset nor the disease progression in ALS patients.

Being exposed to electromagnetic fields has been suggested to increase the risk of developing Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Here, we investigated the effect of exposure to electromagnetic fields on ALS onset age and progression rate (ΔALSFRS-r). A large cohort of ALS patients (n = 1098) was geolocalized at the time of their diagnosis.

Grazing affects metabolic pattern of individual cow milk.

Effective traceability tools able to characterize milk from pasture are important to safeguard low-input farming systems, niche dairy products, and local traditions. The aims of the present study were to investigate the ability of proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H NMR) spectroscopy to discriminate between milk produced from cows before and after the beginning of the grazing season, and to assess the effects of grazing on milk metabolites. The research trial involved a single alpine holding with 72 lactating cows.

New insights into the raw milk microbiota diversity from animals with a different genetic predisposition for feed efficiency and resilience to mastitis.

The main objective of this study was to assess the microbiota diversity in milk samples collected from Holstein cows with different estimated breeding values for predicted feed efficiency, milk coagulation, resilience to mastitis, and consequently, to study its effects on milk quality. One hundred and twenty milk samples were collected in two seasons (summer and winter) from different commercial dairy farms in the Nord-east of Italy. For each trait, 20 animals divided into two groups of the high (10 cows) and the low (10 cows) were selected to study the microbiota profile using 16S rRNA metabarcoding sequencing.

Massive methane fluxing from magma-sediment interaction in the end-Triassic Central Atlantic Magmatic Province.

Exceptional magmatic events coincided with the largest mass extinctions throughout Earth's history. Extensive degassing from organic-rich sediments intruded by magmas is a possible driver of the catastrophic environmental changes, which triggered the biotic crises. One of Earth's largest magmatic events is represented by the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province, which was synchronous with the end-Triassic mass extinction.

Decoding distinctive features of plasma extracellular vesicles in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a multifactorial, multisystem motor neuron disease for which currently there is no effective treatment. There is an urgent need to identify biomarkers to tackle the disease's complexity and help in early diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanostructures released by any cell type into body fluids.

Dairy Cows' Health during Alpine Summer Grazing as Assessed by Milk Traits, Including Differential Somatic Cell Count: A Case Study from Italy.

Extensive summer grazing is a dairy herd management practice frequently adopted in mountainous areas. Nowadays, this activity is threatened by its high labour demand, but it is fundamental for environmental, touristic and economic implications, as well as for the preservation of social and cultural traditions. Scarce information on the effects of such low-input farming systems on cattle health is available.

The main pulse of the Siberian Traps expanded in size and composition.

Emplacement of large volumes of (sub)volcanic rocks during the main pulse of the Siberian Traps occurred within <1 m.y., coinciding with the end-Permian mass extinction.

Large-scale sill emplacement in Brazil as a trigger for the end-Triassic crisis.

The end-Triassic is characterized by one of the largest mass extinctions in the Phanerozoic, coinciding with major carbon cycle perturbations and global warming. It has been suggested that the environmental crisis is linked to widespread sill intrusions during magmatism associated with the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP). Sub-volcanic sills are abundant in two of the largest onshore sedimentary basins in Brazil, the Amazonas and Solimões basins, where they comprise up to 20% of the stratigraphy.

A core extended naphtalene diimide G-quadruplex ligand potently inhibits herpes simplex virus 1 replication.

G-quadruplexes (G4s) are nucleic acids secondary structures, epigenetic regulators in cells and viruses. In herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1)-infected cells, G4s are massively present during viral replication. We here aimed at investigating the possibility to target the HSV-1 G4s by a core extended naphtalene diimide (c-exNDI) G4 ligand.

A 3-year interval is too short for re-screening women testing negative for human papillomavirus: a population-based cohort study.

Objective: To compare the results from an initial negative human papillomavirus (HPV) test with re-screening after 3 years in women attending two HPV-based screening programmes.

Design: Population-based cohort study.

Setting: Two cervical service screening programmes in Italy.

Effects of alginate on stability and ecotoxicity of nano-TiO2 in artificial seawater.

The large-scale use of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nano-TiO₂) in consumer and industrial applications raised environmental health and safety concerns. Potentially impacted ecosystems include estuarine and coastal organisms. Results from ecotoxicological studies with nano-TiO₂ dispersed in salt exposure media are difficult to interpret due to fast flocculation and sedimentation phenomena affecting the dispersion stability.

Cervical cancer screening by high risk HPV testing in routine practice: results at one year recall of high risk HPV-positive and cytology-negative women.

Objective: Cervical cancer screening by human papillomavirus (HPV) testing requires the use of additional triage and follow-up analyses. We evaluated women's compliance with and the performance of this strategy in a routine setting.

Setting: Five cervical service screening programmes in North-East Italy.

A model of quality assurance and quality improvement for post-graduate medical education in Europe.

Background: The issue of quality assurance (QA) and quality improvement (QI), being the quality of medical education intimately related to the quality of the health care, is becoming of paramount importance worldwide.

Aim: To describe a model of implementing a system for internal QA and QI within a post-graduate paediatric training programme based on the ISO 9001:2000 standard.

Methods: For the ISO 9001:2000 standard, the curriculum was managed as a series of interrelated processes and their level of function was monitored by ad hoc elaborated objective indicators.