Impact of particulate matter exposure on melanoma risk: A multicentre case-control study.

Background: The relationship between particulate matter (PM) exposure and melanoma risk remains largely unexplored. This study aims to investigate the association between PM10 and PM2.5 long-term exposure and melanoma risk.

An audibility model of the headband trial with a bone conduction device in single-sided deaf subjects.

Objective: Modelling the head-shadow effect compensation and speech recognition outcomes, we aimed to study the benefits of a bone conduction device (BCD) during the headband trial for single-sided deafened (SSD) subjects.

Design: This study is based on a database of individual patient measurements, fitting parameters, and acoustic BCD properties retrospectively measured on a skull simulator or from existing literature. The sensation levels of the Bone-Conduction and Air-Conduction sound paths were compared, modelling three spatial conditions with speech in quiet.

Erythrocyte glutathione transferase. A sensitive Up-Down biomarker of environmental and industrial pollution.

Erythrocyte glutathione transferase is a well-known biomarker of environmental pollution. Examination of the extensive scientific literature discovers an atypical and very interesting property of this enzyme which may reveal a chronic exposition to many contaminants but in some cases even an acute and short-term dangerous contamination. This review also underlines the peculiar molecular and kinetic properties of this enzyme which makes it unique in the panorama of enzymes used as biomarker for environmental contamination.

[Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Italy: The EpiCovAir study].

Background: after the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in 2020, several waves of pandemic cases have occurred in Italy. The role of air pollution has been hypothesized and investigated in several studies. However, to date, the role of chronic exposure to air pollutants in increasing incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections is still debated.

Association between short-term exposure to environmental air pollution and atopic dermatitis flare in patients treated with dupilumab.

Background: The magnitude of short/medium-term air pollution exposure on atopic dermatitis (AD) flare has not been fully investigated. The aim of the study was to investigate the association of short/medium-term exposure to airborne pollution on AD flares in patients treated with dupilumab.

Methods: Observational case-crossover study.

Choice of treatment evaluated after trial periods with bone conduction devices and contralateral routing of sound systems in patients with single-sided deafness.

Objectives: Patients with single-sided deafness (SSD) may experience difficulties with speech perception in noise, sound localization, have tinnitus and experience a reduced quality of life (QoL). contralateral routing of sound hearing aids (CROS) or bone conduction devices (BCD) may partly improve subjective speech communication and QoL in SSD patients. A trial period with these devices can help in making a well-informed choice of treatment.

A spatiotemporal analysis of NO concentrations during the Italian 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.

When a new environmental policy or a specific intervention is taken in order to improve air quality, it is paramount to assess and quantify-in space and time-the effectiveness of the adopted strategy. The lockdown measures taken worldwide in 2020 to reduce the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus can be envisioned as a policy intervention with an indirect effect on air quality. In this paper we propose a statistical spatiotemporal model as a tool for intervention analysis, able to take into account the effect of weather and other confounding factor, as well as the spatial and temporal correlation existing in the data.

Animal Biomonitoring for the Surveillance of Environment Affected by the Presence of Slight Contamination by β-HCH.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of hidden environmental pollution on some blood parameters of sheep to detect susceptible biomarkers able to reveal slight contamination. Four dairy sheep farms, two with semi-extensive and two with intensive type systems were involved in this study. Two farms in different systems were chosen as properly located in a southern area of Latium (Italy), close to the Sacco River, in which contamination with β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH) occurred in the past due to industrial waste.

Association between long-term exposure to air pollution and immune-mediated diseases: a population-based cohort study.

Objective: Environmental air pollution has been associated with disruption of the immune system at a molecular level. The primary aim of the present study was to describe the association between long-term exposure to air pollution and risk of developing immune-mediated conditions.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study on a nationwide dataset of women and men.

SPiNCAR: A systematic model to evaluate and guide actions for tackling AMR.

Background: Italy records very alarming levels antimicrobial resistance (AMR), so a National Action Plan on Antimicrobial resistance (PNCAR) was developed, adopting the AMR European Union's recommendations based on the results of the ECDC site visit of January 2017. For achieving PNCAR objectives, it is necessary to support and harmonize the implementation of recommendations in all the different healthcare levels (regional authorities and local trusts), so the SPiNCAR project was launched to create a tool for reaching this goal.

Methods: We developed a framework based on a scientific literature and national and international guidelines.

Targeting Oncogenic Src Homology 2 Domain-Containing Phosphatase 2 (SHP2) by Inhibiting Its Protein-Protein Interactions.

We developed a new class of inhibitors of protein-protein interactions of the SHP2 phosphatase, which is pivotal in cell signaling and represents a central target in the therapy of cancer and rare diseases. Currently available SHP2 inhibitors target the catalytic site or an allosteric pocket but lack specificity or are ineffective for disease-associated SHP2 mutants. Considering that pathogenic lesions cause signaling hyperactivation due to increased levels of SHP2 association with cognate proteins, we developed peptide-based molecules with nanomolar affinity for the N-terminal Src homology domain of SHP2, good selectivity, stability to degradation, and an affinity for pathogenic variants of SHP2 that is 2-20 times higher than for the wild-type protein.

Oxidative Folding of Proteins: The "Smoking Gun" of Glutathione.

Glutathione has long been suspected to be the primary low molecular weight compound present in all cells promoting the oxidative protein folding, but twenty years ago it was found "not guilty". Now, new surprising evidence repeats its request to be the "smoking gun" which reopens the criminal trial revealing the crucial involvement of this tripeptide.

Association between exposure to fine particulate matter and osteoporosis: a population-based cohort study.

Unlabelled: Long-term environmental air pollution exposure was associated with osteoporosis' risk in a cohort of women at high risk of fracture. Cortical sites seemed to be more susceptible to the exposure's effect.

Introduction: Environmental air pollution has been associated with disruption of bone health at a molecular level.

Trypsinogen and chymotrypsinogen: the mysterious hyper-reactivity of selected cysteines is still present after their divergent evolution.

An enigmatic and never described hyper-reactivity of most of the cysteines resident in the reduced, molten globule-like intermediate of a few proteins has been recently discovered. In particular, all ten cysteines of chymotrypsinogen showed hundred times increased reactivity against hydrophobic reagents. A single cysteine (Cys1) was also found thousand times more reactive toward GSSG, making speculate that a single glutathionylation could represent the primordial event of its oxidative folding.

Variety-seeking, learning and performance.

According to the variance hypothesis, variety-seeking or exploration is a critical condition for improving learning and performance over time. Extant computational learning models support this hypothesis by showing how individuals who are exposed to diverse knowledge sources are more likely to find superior solutions to a particular problem. Yet this research provides no precise guidelines about how broadly individuals should search.

[Exposure assessment of air pollution in Italy 2016-2019 for future studies on air pollution and COVID-19].

Air pollution is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, with adverse effects related both to short-term and long-term exposure. It has also recently been linked to COVID-19 pandemic. To analyze this possible association in Italy, studies on the entire area of the peninsula are necessary, both urban and non-urban areas.

Reflecting glory or deflecting stigma? The interplay between status and social proximity in peer evaluations.

How do candidates' status and social proximity to members of the evaluating audience interact to shape recognition in peer-based evaluative settings? In this study, we shed light on this question by adopting a mixed-method approach. We first examined field data on the conferral of awards in a peer-based evaluative contest-"The Silver Tag"-which is one of the most prestigious digital advertising awards contests in Norway. The field study revealed the existence of a negative interaction between status and social proximity on the allocation of awards.

New Factors Enhancing the Reactivity of Cysteines in Molten Globule-Like Structures.

Protein cysteines often play crucial functional and structural roles, so they are emerging targets to design covalent thiol ligands that are able to modulate enzyme or protein functions. Some of these residues, especially those involved in enzyme mechanisms-including nucleophilic and reductive catalysis and thiol-disulfide exchange-display unusual hyper-reactivity; such a property is expected to result from a low p and from a great accessibility to a given reagent. New findings and previous evidence clearly indicate that p perturbations can only produce two-four-times increased reactivity at physiological pH values, far from the hundred and even thousand-times kinetic enhancements observed for some protein cysteines.

Assessment of the impact of clinical recommendations on antibiotic use for CAP and HCAP: results from an implementation program in an Academic Hospital.

Background: Local guidelines and recommendations to treat common infectious diseases are a cornerstone of most Antimicrobial Stewardship programs. The evaluation of the adherence to guidelines is an effective quality measure of the programs themselves; the proposed evaluation model aimed at examining antibiotic treatment for pneumonia.

Study Design: A retrospective pre-post intervention study was conducted in a North-Eastern Italian Academic Hospital.

A Pilot Study of a Natural Food Supplement as New Possible Therapeutic Approach in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients.

The identification of natural bioactive compounds, able to counteract the abnormal increase of oxidative stress and inflammatory status in chronic degenerative non-communicable diseases is useful for the clinical management of these conditions. We tested an oral food supplement (OFS), chemically characterized and evaluated for in vitro and in vivo activity. Vitamin C, analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Diode Array Detector (HPLC-DAD), was 0.

Ultra-rapid glutathionylation of chymotrypsinogen in its molten globule-like conformation: A comparison to archaeal proteins.

Chymotrypsinogen, when reduced and taken to its molten globule-like conformation, displays a single cysteine with an unusual kinetic propensity toward oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and other organic thiol reagents. A single residue, identified by mass spectrometry like Cys1, reacts with GSSG about 1400 times faster than an unperturbed protein cysteine. A reversible protein-GSSG complex and a low pK (8.

Ultra-Rapid Glutathionylation of Ribonuclease: Is this the Real Incipit of its Oxidative Folding?

Many details of oxidative folding of proteins remain obscure, in particular, the role of oxidized glutathione (GSSG). This study reveals some unknown aspects. When a reduced ribonuclease A refolds in the presence of GSSG, most of its eight cysteines accomplish a very fast glutathionylation.