CO-assimilation, sequestration, and storage by urban woody species growing in parks and along streets in two climatic zones.

Using two cities, Rimini (Italy, Cfa climate) and Krakow (Poland, Cfb), as living laboratories, this research aimed at measuring in situ the capacity of 15 woody species to assimilate, sequester, and store CO. About 1712 trees of the selected species were identified in parks or along streets of the two cities, and their age, DBH, height, and crown radius were measured. The volume of trunk and branches was measured using a terrestrial LiDAR.

Prevalence and incidence of external genital warts in a sample of Italian general female population.

Background: The Human papillomavirus is the most common sexually transmitted virus worldwide. The objective of this study was to estimate: 1) the prevalence and the incidence of external genital warts (eGW) in a sample of women attending community outpatient clinics and 2) the total number of eGW cases in the Italian female population aged 15-64 years.

Methods: A prospective study was performed for a 12-month period between 2009 and 2010, among a sample of women attending community gynecological outpatient clinics located throughout Italy.

HOLMES: The electron capture decay of [Formula: see text]Ho to measure the electron neutrino mass with sub-eV sensitivity.

The European Research Council has recently funded HOLMES, a new experiment to directly measure the neutrino mass. HOLMES will perform a calorimetric measurement of the energy released in the decay of [Formula: see text]Ho. The calorimetric measurement eliminates systematic uncertainties arising from the use of external beta sources, as in experiments with beta spectrometers.

A new surveillance gynecological network to assess the incidence and prevalence of genital warts in the Italian female population: lessons learned.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the etiologic agent of genital warts. Genital warts are transmitted through sexual contacts and caused in about 90% of the cases by HPV types 6 and 11. Worldwide, several million cases of genital warts occur each year both in females and males.

How to truly value implantable cardioverter-defibrillators technology: up-front cost or daily cost?

Background: We calculated the daily cost of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) based on their actual longevity to prove whether the up-front cost is a reliable parameter for the ICD purchasing-process. METHODS. Longevity of single chamber (SC), double chamber (DC), and biventricular (BiV) ICDs from Medtronic (MDT), Guidant (GDT), and St.

The Modified Five-Point Test: normative data for a sample of Italian healthy adults aged 16-60.

The Five-Point Test is one of the various measures of figural fluency functions that have been developed as nonverbal analogues to word fluency tasks, and used in neuropsychological assessment to evaluate the ability to initiate and sustain mental productivity, and to self-monitor and regulate responding in the visual-spatial domain. The aim of the current study was to collect normative data for a version of the Five-Point Test (M-FPT) administered to a sample of Italian healthy adults aged 16-60 (n = 332). Performance on the M-FPT was scored by computing the cumulative number of unique designs (UDs) performed on a 3-min administration time.

Stress induces altered CRE/CREB pathway activity and BDNF expression in the hippocampus of glucocorticoid receptor-impaired mice.

The gene coding for the neurotrophin Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) is a stress-responsive gene. Changes in its expression may underlie some of the pathological effects of stress-related disorders like depression. Data on the stress-induced regulation of the expression of BDNF in pathological conditions are rare because often research is conducted using healthy animals.

Time-dependent effects of escitalopram on brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neuroplasticity related targets in the central nervous system of rats.

Chronic treatment with antidepressants affects several proteins linked to neuroplasticity, particularly brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF): this leads eventually to their therapeutic effects. It is possible that also for putative early therapeutic onset, antidepressants may act by promoting cellular adaptations linked to neuroplasticity. Escitalopram, known to be already effective in preclinical models of depression after 7 days, allowed us to investigate whether two effective treatment regimens (7 and 21 days) may contribute to synaptic plasticity by acting on BDNF signalling.

The Italian version of the Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory-4. A new measure of brain injury outcome.

Aim: The assessment of major obstacles to community integration which may result from an acquired brain injury (ABI) is needed for rational planning and effective management of ABI patients' social adjustment. Currently, such a generally acceptable measure is not available for the Italian population. This paper reports the translation process, the internal consistency, and the inter-rater reliability data for the Italian version of the Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory-4 (MPAI-4), a useful measure with highly developed and well documented psychometric properties.

Early neonatal inflammation affects adult pain reactivity and anxiety related traits in mice: genetic background counts.

Unlabelled: Protracted or recurrent pain and inflammation in the early neonatal period may cause long-lasting changes in central neural function. However, more research is necessary to better characterize the long-term behavioral sequelae of such exposure in the neonatal period.

Objectives: (1) to study whether timing of postnatal exposure to persistent inflammation alters responsiveness to thermal pain in the adult animal; (2) to assess whether animals experiencing early postnatal chronic inflammation display altered anxiety related behavior; (3) to study the importance of genetic background.

Longevity of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators: implications for clinical practice and health care systems.

Aims: Comparative studies on the longevity of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) among different manufacturers have never been reported. Longevity of ICD devices implanted from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2002 was prospectively investigated according to their type and manufacturer.

Methods And Results: Longevity of single-chamber (SC), double-chamber (DC), and biventricular (CRT-D) ICDs from Medtronic (MDT), Guidant (GDT), and St Jude Medical (SJM) was measured in all the patients who required device replacement.

Quality of life and aphasia. Multicentric standardization of a questionnaire.

Aim: It is important to assess aphasics' quality of life in order to plan a rehabilitation treatment. To date such a tool is still missing for Italian patients. This paper reports normative data of the Italian version of SAQOL-39, a British questionnaire aimed to assess aphasics' quality of life.

Cancer in the excluded stomach 4 years after gastric bypass.

Gastric bypass is the preferred operation for treatment of morbid obesity on many services. The evaluation of the excluded stomach is always difficult and a matter of concern for the attending physician. There are only four reported cases of gastric cancer in the distal stomach after gastric bypass.

Economic evaluation of HIV treatments: the I.CO.N.A. cohort study.

Objective: To describe the changes in costs of care for HIV-positive patients in Italy after the spread of antiretroviral combination therapies (HAART).

Methods: Five thousand four hundred and twenty-two patients from the I.CO.

First Report of the Necrotic Strain of Potato virus Y (PVY) on Potatoes in the Northwestern United States.

More than 50 isolates of Potato virus Y (PVY) with characteristics of strains that cause tobacco veinal necrosis (PVY) were obtained from potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) grown in the northwestern United States. These isolates are being characterized at the biological and molecular levels.

[Economic burden and clinical course of HIV infection and AIDS today: how the variation of natural history, available treatments, and strictly related costs play a role in needs of health care].

In order to provide an updated balance of the evolution of the natural history of HIV infection, the major clinical end-points of disease morbidity and mortality were compared with the progressively increasing use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), in a cohort of patients followed by our tertiary care centre in an eight-year period including both the pre-HAART and the HAART era. Although direct expenditures for antiretroviral agents reached even 99.8% of overall costs related to drugs and blood derivatives at our entire unit in the year 2000, a clear shift towards outpatient assistance of HIV infection was realized during recent years, leading to an increased and greatly varied spectrum of infectious diseases hospitalized at our inpatient and Day-Hospital units.

Control of enzymatic browning in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) by sense and antisense RNA from tomato polyphenol oxidase.

Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity of Russet Burbank potato was inhibited by sense and antisense PPO RNAs expressed from a tomato PPO cDNA under the control of the 35S promoter from the cauliflower mosaic virus. Transgenic Russet Burbank potato plants from 37 different lines were grown in the field. PPO activity and the level of enzymatic browning were measured in the tubers harvested from the field.

A New Strain of Potato Carlavirus M.

In 1994, potato samples for certification from Idaho seed fields reacted in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests to a polyclonal potato carlavirus M (PVM) antiserum. Sample affinity to the antiserum was lower than control samples. Furthermore, ELISA-positive samples were obtained from both symptomatic as well as asymptomatic plants.

[Personal experience with a combination of Althesin and Atarax in caesarean section].

Personal experience with an association of Althesin and hydroxyzine administered in the same syringe in the induction and maintenance of anaesthesia for caesarean section is described. The technique proved to be sound, offering safe conditions for both mother and foetus, and absence of noteworthy side-effects, and a good post-operative analgesic effect. The overall results were better than those observed when TPS is used as the inducing agent.

[Our experience with althesin and hydroxyzine combined in the same syringe in minor surgery].

Personal experience in minor surgery with Althesin alone (200 cases) and in association with hydroxyzine in the same syringe (250 cases) is reported. Comparison showed that the association is useful, particularly in cases where the operation lasts longer and involves greater pain stimuli. It is felt that the method described will extend the use of Althesin in minor surgery.

Initiating day care at three years of age: effects on attachment.

Using the Ainsworth-Wittig strange situation, 12 42-month-old children with approximately 6-months of day-care experience were compared with individually matched children who had not had group child-rearing experience; 8 members of each experience group were female, and 4 members were male. While the day-care children showed less distress than the home-care children in the latter parts of the laboratory situation, the 2 groups were not different with respect to most other behaviors, including those toward the mother. However, day-care experience appeared to have differential effects as a function of sex; large differences were often found between the scores of the male subgroups, whereas the differences between the female subgroups were usually small.