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Carboxylic acids adsorption on anatase TiO2 is a key process in circular economy and sustainability. Yet, in spite of several decades of investigations, its intimate working mechanisms still remain elusive. In particular, the behavior of the acid proton and its localization – either on the molecule or on the surface – are still open issues. By modeling the adsorption of formic acid on top of regular (101) anatase TiO2 surfaces, we found that, in the 0 K limit, the acid proton is shared between a carboxylic oxygen and a surface oxygen. In this regime, the proton behavior is mainly governed by quantum delocalization effects in a single potential well. Nonetheless, as temperature is raised to room conditions, simulations evidenced a rapid “classical” shuttling of the proton due to the onset of a two-wells free energy profile separated by a free energy barrier of the order of kT. This picture, supported by the agreement between simulated and experimental IR spectra, shows that the titania surface acts like a protecting group for the carboxylic acid functionality. Such a conceptual insight might help rationalize the chemical processes of carboxylic species on TiO2 surfaces. more...

1) main text file of the paper: "Computational modeling of open framework silicates: probing straight bond angles in ferrierite reveals intriguing links between mineralogy, nanomaterial science and technological applications"by F. Trudu, G. Tabacchi, E. Fois (pdf file)2) supporting information (pdf file)3) zip folder containing relevant data files in cif formatTwitter handle of the submitting author:@BL76276 more...

supporting experimental and computational data for the article:Structure and Host–Guest Interactions of Perylene–Diimide Dyes in Zeolite L NanochannelsJ. Phys. Chem. C, 2018, 122 (6), 3401–3418DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b1060The content of the paper is summarized in a blog post (see links below). more...

Background. ESCULAPIO is a multicenter project, funded by the Italian Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, aimed at implementing communication strategies to improve vaccination knowledge and attitudes among different target populations. Objective. The objective of the Sicilian research unit was, in the first phase, to identify, through systematic literature revision, which vaccination determinants play a role in the uptake of recommended vaccines included in the Italian Vaccination Plan. Design. A systematic literature review was carried out on studies describing the determinants underlying pneumococcal and meningococcal vaccination uptake. The analysis was limited to papers published in English from 2000 to date. Results. A total of 188 (meningococcal) and 731 (pneumococcal) papers were found. After selection by publication data, country (Europe), article type (original article), target population (healthy subjects), 7 (meningococcal) and 4 ( pneumococcal) manuscripts were finally included in the analysis. For meningococcal vaccination a better socioeconomic status is related to vaccination acceptance, whereas distance from immunization service is a negative determinant. For pneumococcal vaccination the determinants related to vaccination uptake are older parental age and a strong vaccine recommendation. Conversely, when the vaccine needs to be paid for, a refusal is more likely Conclusions. Our results show that payment for vaccination is a major barrier and communication about meningococcal and pneumococcal vaccination should be targeted towards specific population groups, especially through the counseling activities by health professionals. more...

Preprint (submitted version) of the article:Molecular Engineering of MnII Diamine Diketonate Precursors for the Vapor Deposition of Manganese Oxide Nanostructuresby:C. Maccato, L. Bigiani, G. Carraro, A. Gasparotto, R. Seraglia, J. Kim, A. Devi, G. Tabacchi, E. Fois, G. Pace, V. Di Noto, D. Barreca, To be cited as:Chem. Eur. J. 2017, 23, 17954-17963DOI: 10.1002/chem.201703423supporting data are available at the links below more...

Introduction While it is impossible to prevent every injury, literature suggests that injury rates could be reduced by 25% if people took appropriate preventative action. On the other side, one major problem of Group Fitness Instructors is to find the right intensity/level suitable for every attendee during classes (e.g. ballroom dancing). Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the opportunity to adopt already validated function ability tests on group fitness activities with the aim to prevent injuries and maintain or increase quality of life. Methods The study was conducted with a quasi-experimental design. The Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and the Barthel index (BI) were administered to an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG) of elderly persons living in an inner city area of Palermo, Italy. EG was enrolled in three classes of ballroom dancing. Participants were assessed by BI and then submitted the BBS. The exclusion criteria were: 1) persons aged less than 58; 2) persons with a diagnosis of a disabling disease; 3) ex-professional athletes; 4) for EG, no more than 2 months of previous ballroom dancing experience. Means and SD were used to report preliminary descriptive results. For the purposes of our study a score of 70% for both scales (BBS-70% and BI-70%) was identified as the threshold value between a good and a poor performance. The STATISTICA software was adopted to perform the K-S normality test. Results One hundred twenty people participated to the study. We recruited 66 people as a CG (77.2 ± 6.4 yrs; 26.4 ± 4.4 BMI) and 54 people as EG (69.3 ± 8.3 yrs; 26.6 ± 4.4 BMI). The BI and BBS of CG were 76.51 ± 32 and 31.3 ± 13.2 respectively, while the BI and BBS of EG were 97.5 ± 7.7 and 51.2 ± 5.9, respectively. The BI of CG showed 0.33 K-S values while the same analysis for SG gave 0.47. We found the same trend on BBS values of CG (0.06) compared to EG (0.22). In EG, BBS-70% included 92.6% of cases compared with 24.2% of CG. The Barthel Index indicated a very similar profile: for EG BI-70% accounted for 98.1 of cases while BI-70% of CG 69.7%. Discussion BBS and BI promise to be able to predict who is eligible to start with Group Fitness and who is not. Indeed, the majority of the elderly persons belonging to EG reported higher BBS and BI values than the 70% threshold. Larger numbers and an accurate statistical analysis are necessary to confirm these findings. Preliminary results are very encouraging. References 1. Muir SW, Berg K, Chesworth BM, Klar N, Speechley M. Modifiable Risk Factors Identify People Who Transition from Non-fallers to Fallers in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Prospective Study. Physiother Can 2010; 62 (4): 358-67. 2. Hackney ME, Earhart GM. Effects of dance on movement control in Parkinson’s disease: a comparison of Argentine tango and American ballroom. J Rehabil Med 2009; 41 (6): 475-81. more...

In a context where obesity represents a cause of concern in childhood and where there is a lack of standardized data collection systems, ASSO Project (Adolescents and Surveillance System for Obesity prevention), financed by the Italian Ministry of Health, aims to develop a surveillance system structured on adolescents lifestyles. It is a prospective study with online data collection, simultaneous descriptive data analysis and real time report. The ASSO-Toolkit is made of questionnaires, forms and a fitness test battery: ASSO-PIQ (Personal Information Questionnaire);ASSO-PASAQ (Physical Activity, Smoke, Alcohol, Questionnaire); ASSO- FHQ (Food Habits Questionnaire); ASSO-FFQ (Food Frequency Questionnaire); ASSO-BFMF (Body and Fitness Measures Form); ASSO- FTB (Fitness Tests Battery). The aims of this study is to evaluate the predictive validity, the criterion validity and the reliability of ASSOFTB, in other words to assess how well the system operates to meet its obje! ctives. The ASSO-FTB consists of 20mSRT (Shuttle Run Test) to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness, the handgrip strength test and the standing broad jump to assess musculoskeletal fitness, the 4x10mSRT to assess motor fitness and last but not least the sit up test to estimate muscle endurance. Forty male adolescents (17,32 ± 1,0 yrs; 175,3 ± 6,0 cm; 72,4 ± 14,7 kg; waist circ. 86,2 ± 12,4 cm) attending the same secondary school, voluntarily participated to the pilot study. In a school setting, the already standardised procedures were administered by the ASSO-FTB specialist in collaboration with the (PE) teacher. All data collected were updated through the already existing website (www.assoproject.info) and codified by the dedicated ASSO-FTB server. All equipments adopted were selected according to the previous publications (HELENA Study, AVENA Study, FITNESSGRAM and ALPHA Study). Data were analyzed using STATISTICA software, two-tail paired t test, ! two-tail Unpaired t test and Pearson correlation were used when appropriate. Participants were significantly higher in BMI compared to data published by Espana-Romeo et al in 2010. As expected, the maximal isometric strength showed no differences between dx (35,07±7,3 kg) and sx (35,8±4,8 kg) handgrips respectively. The standing broad jump (178,07 ± 26,9 cm) has evinced less distance than Espana-Romeo study (183,4 ± 32,75), p = 0,37. The sit-up test reported a mean value of 44,9 ± 32,8 reps. On the whole findings show that there is a correlation between handgrip and standing broad jump (r = 0.7), underlining that this last test is better indicative of the upper and lower body muscular strength. The trial showed that the FTB-system was structurally simple, low cost, reliable and well accepted by the key partners. At this stage ASSOFTB seems to be able to meet scientific standards. More studies are necessary for the ASSO-toolkit validation. Preliminary results are very encouraging. more...

This paper presents a review of the current knowledge regarding the macro- and micronutrient requirements of infants and discusses issues related to these requirements during the first year of life. The paper also reviews the current reference values used in European countries and the methodological approaches used to derive them by a sample of seven European and international authoritative committees from which background scientific reports are available. Throughout the paper, the main issues contributing to disparities in micronutrient reference values for infants are highlighted. The identification of these issues in relation to the specific physiological aspects of infants is important for informing future initiatives aimed at providing standardized approaches to overcome variability of micronutrient reference values across Europe for this age group. more...

This paper presents a review of the current knowledge regarding the macro- and micronutrient requirements of infants and discusses issues related to these requirements during the first year of life. The paper also reviews the current reference values used in European countries and the methodological approaches used to derive them by a sample of seven European and international authoritative committees from which background scientific reports are available. Throughout the paper, the main issues contributing to disparities in micronutrient reference values for infants are highlighted. The identification of these issues in relation to the specific physiological aspects of infants is important for informing future initiatives aimed at providing standardized approaches to overcome variability of micronutrient reference values across Europe for this age group. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. more...

BACKGROUND: Strong relations between physical fitness and health in adolescents have been established in the last decades. The main objectives of the present investigation were to assess major physical fitness components in a sample of Italian school adolescents, comparing them with international data, and providing a Fitness Index model derived from percentile cut-off values of five considered physical fitness components. METHODS: A total of 644 school pupils (15.9�1.1 years; M: N.=399; F: N.=245) were tested using the ASSO-Fitness Test Battery (FTB), a tool developed within the Adolescents and Surveillance System for the Obesity prevention project, which included the handgrip, standing broad-jump, sit-up to exhaustion, 4x10-m shuttle run and 20-m shuttle run tests. Stratified percentile values and related smoothed curves were obtained. The method of principal components analysis (PCA) was applied to the considered five fitness components to derive a continuous fitness level score (the Fit-Score). A Likert-type scale on the Fit-Score values was applied to obtain an intuitive classification of the individual level of fitness: very poor (X0.5) between the Fit-Score and all the fitness components. The median Fit-Score was equal to 33 for females and 53 for males (in a scale from 0 to 100). CONCLUSIONS: The ASSO-FTB allowed the assessment of health-related fitness components in a convenient sample of Italian adolescents and provided a Fitness Index model incorporating all these components for an intuitive classification of fitness levels. If this model is confirmed, the monitoring of these variables will allow early detection of health-related issues in a mass population, thus giving the opportunity to plan appropriate interventions. Scopus more...

Adolescents' obesity is a major concern in our modern life; it could lead to significant increase in the rate of obese in the future generations and consequently the health budget. The ASSO Project in Italy (Adolescence Surveillance System for Obesity prevention) is tackling this new pandemic through multi facets monitoring system using the new e-technology (life style, diet, smoking, drinking and exercise habits). The project is in process of being implemented in Italy after a pilot in the South of the country. The objective of this short communication is to provide an overview of the project, the method applied, its implementation and the very first exercise related results in more than 800 teenagers. 78% of the assessed teenagers are found to be sedentary. More than three quarters of the 22% active adolescents are being such because they undertake sports at competitive or non-competitive levels. The cardiorespiratory endurance of these adolescent' sample is found to be very weak with no difference between the under 16 and the over 16 years old, thing which will raise many concerns. 2016. Scopus more...