Publications by authors named "Rubini M"

In recent years, an increasing number of reports have described invasive infections caused by bacteria from (SAGs). seems to be more related with pleuropulmonary infections and abscess of the brain and deep soft tissues, and it is more likely to cause suppurative and non-bacteremic infections compared to other members of the same genus. We present two clinical cases of invasive infections in pediatric patients: a liver abscess case and a pansinusitis case associated with bilateral otomastoiditis and parapharyngeal abscess complicated by acute mediastinitis, thrombophlebitis of the cavernous sinus, and thrombosis of the cranial tract of the ipsilateral jugular vein.

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Objectives: The present research investigated the role of a pervasive and often negative form of indirect contact, exposure to mass media news on interethnic contact. Specifically, we examined the associations between mass media exposure and both African immigrants' attitudes toward native Italians and their collective action intentions to achieve higher intergroup equality in the host country.

Method: We conducted two survey studies, one cross-sectional (Study 1, = 285) and the second longitudinal (Study 2, = 423) with African immigrants living in Italy.

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Article Synopsis
  • - 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) is a supplement primarily used for improving fertility and preventing neural tube defects during pregnancy, but its use has expanded into other medical areas over the past decade.
  • - The review highlights advantages of 5-MTHF over folic acid in pregnancy, such as faster action and better bioavailability, while also discussing its debated effectiveness in managing cardiovascular risks and links to postpartum depression.
  • - Overall, the literature suggests that 5-MTHF has potential benefits in various therapeutic contexts, but more research is needed to clarify its role in preventing cardiovascular disorders.
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Within the canonical repertoire of the amino acid involved in protein biogenesis, proline plays a unique role as an amino acid presenting a modified backbone rather than a side-chain. Chemical structures that mimic proline but introduce changes into its specific molecular features are defined as proline analogues. This review article summarizes the existing chemical, physicochemical, and biochemical knowledge about this peculiar family of structures.

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Spontaneous smiles in response to politicians can serve as an implicit barometer for gauging electorate preferences. However, it is unclear whether a subtle Duchenne smile-an authentic expression involving the coactivation of the zygomaticus major (ZM) and orbicularis oculi (OO) muscles-would be elicited while reading about a favored politician smiling, indicating a more positive disposition and political endorsement. From an embodied simulation perspective, we investigated whether written descriptions of a politician's smile would trigger morphologically different smiles in readers depending on shared or opposing political orientation.

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Objectives: The present research investigates the associations between immigrants' positive and negative contact with the majority group and their psychological well-being, as indicators of their psychosocial adjustment to the host society. Perceived personal discrimination and relative deprivation in comparison to the majority group are assessed as mediators of the associations between intergroup contact and psychological well-being.

Method: We conducted a three-wave longitudinal study with newcomer African immigrants living in Italy ( = 240; 61.

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In adolescence individuals enlarge their social relationships and peer groups acquire a strong importance for their identity. Moreover, adolescents can experiment negative relationships with peers, i.e.

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The pursuit of novel antifungal agents is imperative to tackle the threat of antifungal resistance, which poses major risks to both human health and to food security. Iturin A is a cyclic lipopeptide, produced by Bacillus sp., with pronounced antifungal properties against several pathogens.

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Despite significant strides in reducing gender disparities over the past decades, women still face disparities in several domains. While extensive research has explored the various consequences of gender inequalities for women, this study ( = 493 participants) delves into a less-explored dimension, investigating whether and how perceiving gender inequalities is associated with attitudes toward minorities. Drawing on relative deprivation theory and intra-minority solidarity research, we examined the relationship between women's perceptions of gender inequalities-spanning workplace inequality, domestic inequality, sexual harassment, and social expectations-and attitudes toward gays and lesbians, transgender women, and immigrants.

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The cis/trans isomerization of peptidyl-prolyl peptide bonds is often the bottleneck of the refolding reaction for proteins containing cis proline residues in the native state. Proline (Pro) analogues, especially C4-substituted fluoroprolines, have been widely used in protein engineering to enhance the thermodynamic stability of peptides and proteins and to investigate folding kinetics. 4-thiaproline (Thp) has been shown to bias the ring pucker of Pro, to increase the cis population percentage of model peptides in comparison to Pro, and to diminish the activation energy barrier for the cis/trans isomerization reaction.

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Research has widely explained gender inequalities in terms of gender stereotypes, according to which women are considered more nurturing, empathic, and emotional but less competent - than men. Recent evidence highlights that especially women are portrayed along multiple dimensions. In this research, we adopted an implicit Semantic Misattribution procedure to detect whether gender stereotypes have a multidimensional structure and are differently attributed to men and women.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study examines the effects of a Gram-negative bacteria, commonly found in some beverages, on inflammation and gut health in a mouse model of colitis induced by DSS.
  • - Results showed that this bacteria reduces symptoms of colitis, improves tissue health, and enhances gut microbiota balance by promoting beneficial microbial growth while suppressing harmful ones.
  • - Additionally, it appears to boost the immune response by increasing certain protective genes and lowering inflammatory cytokines, suggesting its potential as a probiotic for bowel diseases.
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Personal identity and social identification processes can be challenging for adolescents belonging to an ethnic minority, who have to cope with the acculturation task of navigating several (and often conflictual) alternatives put forth by their cultural heritage community and destination society. Because identity and acculturation tasks are embedded in core domains of adolescents' life, this three-wave longitudinal study with ethnic minority adolescents (N = 244, 43.4% male; M = 14.

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Background: It is evident that COVID-19 will remain a public health concern in the coming years, largely driven by variants of concern (VOC). It is critical to continuously monitor vaccine effectiveness as new variants emerge and new vaccines and/or boosters are developed. Systematic surveillance of the scientific evidence base is necessary to inform public health action and identify key uncertainties.

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This study aims to tackle positive and negative intergroup contact in school and out-of-school contexts to test whether a spillover effect (i.e., the extent to which experiences that individuals have in one context spill over into another) applies to intergroup contact.

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Typhoid fever (Typhoid or enteric fever) is still the most common bacterial bloodstream infection worldwide, caused by . The transmission route is indirect through passive vehicles such as contaminated water or food. Main clinical findings are a fever lasting more than three days, abdominal symptoms, leukocytosis, and anemia.

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Background: Drowning is a serious and underestimated public health problem, with the highest morbidity and mortality reported among children. Data regarding pediatric outcomes of drowning are often inadequate, and data collection is poorly standardized among centers. This study aims to provide an overview of a drowning pediatric population in pediatric emergency department, focusing on its main characteristics and management and evaluating prognostic factors.

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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease with a prevalence of 1%. Currently, RA treatment aims to achieve low disease activity or remission. Failure to achieve this goal causes disease progression with a poor prognosis.

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  • A study investigated the effects of B vitamins and homocysteine on various health outcomes using data from nearly 386,000 UK Biobank participants, revealing mixed results in past research into their health impacts.
  • The research included a phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) to find associations between B vitamins, homocysteine, and numerous diseases, followed by Mendelian randomization (MR) to confirm causality for certain outcomes.
  • Out of 1117 tested phenotypes, 32 associations were found significant, with three showing causality: higher vitamin B6 linked to lower kidney stone risk, and higher homocysteine associated with increased risks of hypercholesterolemia and chronic kidney disease. *
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In the present contribution, we aimed to test the psychometric properties of the Intergroup Contact Interactions Scale (ICIS). The ICIS is a tool that can easily be administered to assess ethnic minority and majority adolescents' positive and negative intergroup contact in both school and out-of-school contexts. Study I included 169 adolescents in Italy (40.

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impairs normal brain development and socio-cognitive abilities. The pathogenesis of this condition points out the involvement of genetic and environmental factors during in-utero life. Placenta, as an interface tissue between mother and fetus, provides developing fetus requirements and exposes it to maternal environment as well.

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Background: In children with congenital heart disease (CHD) respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection may have a severe course, with increased risk of morbidity and mortality, requiring hospital admission and intensive care. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of prophylaxis with palivizumab in preventing RSV-associated hospitalization in infants with CHD.

Methods: We carried out an observational, retrospective study in a paediatric cardiology division at a secondary-care centre in Italy, extracting from the database children with CHD who, from November 2004 to March 2022, matched the criteria for palivizumab prophylaxis, to evaluate the hospitalization rate in CHD patients with and without palivizumab prophylaxis and their RSV-related hospitalization characteristics compared with a group of children without CHD and no other underlying clinical conditions (control group, CG), hospitalized for RSV infection.

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Introduction: This study ( = 141,  = 20.15) aimed at deepening knowledge on the factors that can lead young adults to deny the inalienability of human rights to migrants by examining whether, under realistic and symbolic intergroup threat (versus no-threat), the denial of human rights to migrants increases. In doing so, the role of fraternalistic relative deprivation in mediating this relation was examined.

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