Dietary habits, lifestyle, and gestational diabetes in immigrant women: a survey in Northwestern Tuscany (Central Italy).

Background: immigrant women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) have additional language and cultural obstacles in following lifestyle and dietary recommendations within a Western health care setting.

Objectives: to describe: • sociodemographic characteristics and dietary and lifestyle behaviours in Italian and immigrant pregnant women who underwent a GDM screening; • any differences in these aspects among GDM Italian and immigrant women; • any differences in terms of primary maternal-neonatal outcomes among GDM and normal glucose tolerance (NGT) cohorts.

Design: survey.

Glandular trichomes and essential oil composition of endemic Sideritis italica (Mill.) Greuter et Burdet from central Italy.

Sideritis italica (Mill.) Greuter et Burdet belongs to the Lamiaceae family and is endemic to Italy. The glandular trichomes (morphology, distribution, histochemistry, and ultrastructure) of the plant were studied for the first time, along with the chemical composition of the essential oils.

Ligand development in the Ni-catalyzed hydrocyanation of alkenes.

The addition of HCN to alkenes is a very useful reaction for the synthesis of functional organic substrates. Industrially the nickel-catalyzed hydrocyanation has gained considerable importance mainly because of the production of adiponitrile in the DuPont process. In this process the hydrocyanation of butadiene is carried out using aryl phosphite-modified nickel catalyst.

Lewis acid controlled regioselectivity in styrene hydrocyanation.

According to present knowledge, the Ni-catalyzed hydrocyanation of styrene leads predominantly to the branched product 2-phenylpropionitrile (98 %). We observed a dramatic inversion of the regioselectivity upon addition of a Lewis acid. Up to 83 % of the linear product 3-phenylpropionitrile was obtained by applying phosphite ligands in the presence of AlCl(3).

Composition of essential oils from leaves and flowers of Stachys germanica subsp. salviifolia (Ten.) gams (Labiatae) and related secretory structures.

The essential oils from both leaves (L) and flowers (F) of Stachys germanica subsp. salviifolia (Ten.) Gams (Labiatae/Lamiaceae) from Italy were analyzed by GC-MS for the first time.

Manganese catalysed asymmetric cis-dihydroxylation with H2O2.

High turnover enantioselective alkene cis-dihydroxylation is achieved with H(2)O(2) catalysed by manganese based complexes containing chiral carboxylato ligands.

Quality of life in chronic pancreatitis.

In an era such as the present one in which there is a high demand for health services with the associated pressure of controlling spending, health care organizations are concerned about the cost-effectiveness of quality improvement interventions. On the other hand, the impact of the disease and the treatment on the patient's overall well-being and functioning has become a topic of growing interest not only in clinical research but also in practice. The clinical evaluation of the benefits of specific treatments for chronic, debilitating and incurable diseases should increasingly include formal assessment of patient activity and well-being.