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In the Pistoia Nursery-Ornamental Rural District (Italy), a leader in Europe in ornamental nurseries covering over 5200 hectares with over 2500 different species of plant, plant-parasitic nematodes represent a serious concern. The potential efficacy of a pot cultivation system using commercial substrates to control plant-parasitic nematodes was assessed. On two different plant species, two different pot cultivation managements, potted plants, and potted plants previously cultivated in natural soil were compared to plants only cultivated in natural soil. The entire soil nematode structure with and without plants was evaluated. The relationship between soil properties and soil nematode community was investigated. All the studied substrates were free from plant-parasitic nematodes. Regarding free-living nematodes, Peat–Pumice showed nematode assemblage established by colonizer and extreme colonizer bacterial feeders, whereas Peat–Perlite included both bacterial and fungal feeders, and, finally, coconut fiber also included omnivores and predators. In farming, the substrates rich in organic matter such as coconut fiber could still play an important role in suppressing plant-parasitic nematodes because of the abundance of free-living nematodes. In fact, they are of crucial importance in both the mineralization of organic matter and the antagonistic control of plant-parasitic nematodes. Potting systems equally reduce virus-vector nematodes and improve the prey/predator ratio favoring natural control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to analyse the performance of 5,518 collective observations of the Spanish LaLiga teams for eight consecutive seasons (from 2011–12 to 2018–19), considering the final league ranking. The teams were divided into four groups: Europe (from 1st to 6th), Upper-Middle (from 7th to 11th), Lower-Middle (from 12th to 17th) and Relegation (from 18th to 20th). The variables recorded were: Passes, Successful Passes, Crosses, Shots, Goals, Corners, Fouls, Width, Length, Height, distance from the goalkeeper to the nearest defender (GkDef), total distance covered (TD) and number of points accumulated. The main results were that: 1) Europe, being superior to the rest of the groups, showed lower values of Length from 2015–16, and lower values of GkDef from 2014–15; 2) Upper-Middle showed lower values of Length from 2015–16; 3) Lower-Middle showed fewer Shots from 2013–14, and lower values of Length, GkDef and TD from 2014–15; and, 4) Relegation barely showed significant differences between seasons in any variable. The study concludes that the teams of the Europe, Upper-Middle and Relegation groups showed quite stable performance, while the teams of the Lower-Middle group presented a worsening in different dimensions as the seasons progressed. The information provided in this study makes it possible to have reference values that have characterized the performance of the teams for each group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is aimed at illustrating how the traditional idea of "inalienability" of personality rights has been reshaped and transformed by the increasing commodification of corporeal and incorporeal components of identity. Three different legal regimes have recently emerged in Europe: market-inalienability with regard to body rights; limited inalienability rules with regard to personal data; modified contract law applicable to incorporeal components of identity – such as name or likeness – having commercial value. The objective of this paper is to describe each of these models and provide a contribution both to the theory of inalienability and of contract law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: First, to validate a previously developed model for screening for pre-eclampsia (PE) by maternal characteristics and medical history in twin pregnancies; second, to compare the distributions of mean arterial pressure (MAP), uterine artery pulsatility index (UtA-PI), serum placental growth factor (PlGF) and serum pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in twin pregnancies that delivered with PE to those in singleton pregnancies and to develop new models based on these results; and, third, to examine the predictive performance of these models in screening for PE with delivery at < 32 and < 37 weeks' gestation.Methods: Two datasets of prospective non-intervention multicenter screening studies for PE in twin pregnancies at 11 + 0 to 13 + 6 weeks' gestation were used. The first dataset was from the EVENTS (Early vaginal progesterone for the preVention of spontaneous prEterm birth iN TwinS) trial and the second was from a previously reported study that examined the distributions of biomarkers in twin pregnancies. Maternal demographic characteristics and medical history from the EVENTS-trial dataset were used to assess the validity of risks from our previously developed model. The combined data from the first and second datasets were used to compare the distributional properties of log10 multiples of the median (MoM) values of UtA-PI, MAP, PlGF and PAPP-A in twin pregnancies that delivered with PE to those in singleton pregnancies and develop new models based on these results. The competing-risks model was used to estimate the individual patient-specific risks of delivery with PE at < 32 and < 37 weeks' gestation. Screening performance was measured by detection rates (DR) and areas under the receiver-operating-characteristics curve.Results: The EVENTS-trial dataset comprised 1798 pregnancies, including 168 (9.3%) that developed PE. In the validation of the prior model based on maternal characteristics and medical history, calibration plots demonstrated very good agreement between the predicted risks and the observed incidence of PE (calibration slope and intercept for PE < 32 weeks were 0.827 and 0.009, respectively, and for PE < 37 weeks they were 0.942 and -0.207, respectively). In the combined data, there were 3938 pregnancies, including 339 (8.6%) that developed PE and 253 (6.4%) that delivered with PE at < 37 weeks' gestation. In twin pregnancies that delivered with PE, MAP, UtA-PI and PlGF were, at earlier gestational ages, more discriminative than in singleton pregnancies and at later gestational ages they were less so. For PAPP-A, there was little difference between PE and unaffected pregnancies. The best performance of screening for PE was achieved by a combination of maternal factors, MAP, UtA-PI and PlGF. In screening by maternal factors alone, the DR, at a 10% false-positive rate, was 30.6% for delivery with PE at < 32 weeks' gestation and this increased to 86.4% when screening by the combined test; the respective values for PE < 37 weeks were 24.9% and 41.1%.Conclusions: In the assessment of risk for PE in twin pregnancy, we can use the same prior model based on maternal characteristics and medical history as reported previously, but in the calculation of posterior risks it is necessary to use the new distributions of log10 MoM values of UtA-PI, MAP and PlGF according to gestational age at delivery with PE. © 2020 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developments in '-omics' are creating a paradigm shift in laboratory medicine leading to personalized medicine. This allows the increase in diagnostics and therapeutics focused on individuals rather than populations. In order to investigate whether laboratory medicine is ready to play a key role in the integration of personalized medicine in routine health care and set the state-of-the-art knowledge about personalized medicine and laboratory medicine in Europe, a questionnaire was constructed under the auspices of the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) and the European Society of Pharmacogenomics and Personalised Therapy (ESPT). The answers of the participating laboratory medicine professionals indicate that they are aware that personalized medicine can represent a new and promising health model, and that laboratory medicine should play a key role in supporting the implementation of personalized medicine in the clinical setting. Participants think that the current organization of laboratory medicine needs additional/relevant implementations such as (i) new technological facilities in -omics; (ii) additional training for the current personnel focused on the new methodologies; (iii) incorporation in the laboratory of new competencies in data interpretation and counseling; and (iv) cooperation and collaboration among professionals of different disciplines to integrate information according to a personalized medicine approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vault of the Arles City Hall, or Hôtel de Ville, represents the architect's revenge on the corporations of masons. Completed in 1676, the relationship of span to rise of the vault make it the boldest work of masonry in Europe, and while this complex vault appears to be a unitary structure, two vaults actually share the work, leaning against each other on the big arch. Bibliographic and archival research showed that surveys of the vault were missing; the only ancient survey was lost in the 1970s. A recent survey campaign made an analysis possible, leading to a hypothesis about the architect Mansart's choices, based on hypothetical solutions to resolve the formal construction issues of the vault. A connoisseur of geometry and optics, Mansart knew that the human eye was unable to perceive the exact geometry of a surface. Knowing that he couldn't control the intersections of vault portions and then the joints of the rows in the space, he introduced a solution that involved drawing the intersections in plan and then projecting them on the vault to obtain the spatial intersections. No further constructions of the bold type followed the vaulted space in the Hôtel de ville, because the spatial research that linked the new discipline (stereotomy) to the quality of architectural space had by then come to an end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the new frontiers of personality rights and the problem of commodification in Europe. It states that the protection of personality emerged as an autonomous problem in the nineteenth century when the introduction of free press, the increase in the use of commercial advertisements, and the introduction of new technologies such as photography enabled new and more subtle invasions of the personal sphere. These developments raised concerns in the ruling classes, leading to increase in the number of lawsuits.