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Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is related to increased inflammatory processes. The effects of resistance exercise on inflammatory biomarkers in T2DM are controversial. Our purpose was to determine the effectiveness of resistance exercise on inflammatory biomarkers in patients diagnosed with T2DM. Methods We searched four databases until September 2021. We included randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of the effects of resistance exercise on inflammatory biomarkers (C-reactive protein [CRP], tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-6, and interleukin-10) in patients with T2DM. A random effects meta-analysis was conducted to determine the standardized mean difference (SMD) and the raw mean difference (MD) for CRP. Results Thirteen RCTs were included in the review, and 11 in the meta-analysis for CRP. Lower CRP levels were observed when resistance exercise was compared with the control groups (SMD=–0.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], –0.37 to –0.02). When conducting the MD meta-analysis, resistance exercise showed a significant decrease in CRP of –0.59 mg/dL (95% CI, –0.88 to –0.30); otherwise, in the control groups, the CRP values increased 0.19 mg/dL (95% CI, 0.17 to 0.21). Conclusion Evidence supports resistance exercise as an effective strategy to manage systemic inflammation by decreasing CRP levels in patients with T2DM. The evidence is still inconclusive for other inflammatory biomarkers.

In this article we analyze the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Italian anti-violence system, through the eyes of the pratictioners of anti-violence centers, who are historically at the forefront in supporting women survivors of male violence. Their perspective is particularly relevant because, in Italy, anti-violence centers hold a "borderline" position, which lies between the political role of transformation and that of an actor of the private social provider of an 'essential' public service. On the basis of international recommendations, our analysis distinguishes two main areas of intervention on which national policies have been called to intervene: on one side, the protection of women victims of violence, and on the other their empowerment. Analyzing either official statistics and data collected through an online survey addressed to the practitioners of anti-violence centers during the lockdown, we highlight strengths and weaknesses of the policy measures implemented in Italy from their situated perspective, with reference both to the protection and the empowerment of survivors.

Background/objective: Uruguay was enrolled in the fourth edition of the Global Matrix on physical activity-related indicators in children and adolescents with the aim of producing its second Report Card and analyses on the ten core indicators. Methods: A harmonized development process proposed by the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance was followed. The best available scientific and grey literature was systematically searched for all the indicators included in the Report Card (Overall Physical Activity, Organized Sport Participation, Active Play, Active Transportation, Sedentary Behavior, Physical Fitness, Family and Peers, School, Community and Environment, and Government). A grading scale ranging from A to F was used. A new approach was used to grade the Government indicator according to the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance guidance. Results: New information was identified and 7 out of 10 indicators were graded, while there were 3 out of 10 indicators with incomplete information to be graded. An gender-based analysis was included in this second Report Card, providing separate grades for 5 of the indicators [girls/boys]: Overall Physical Activity [F/F], Organized Sport Participation [F/D], Active Transportation [C/C], Sedentary Behavior [D+/D+], and Community and Environment [D+/C-]. The comparison between 2018 and 2022 analysis showed a decrease in Overall Physical Activity and Organized Sport Participation, while the sources of influence School and Government obtained a higher grade in comparison with the previous Report Card. Conclusion: Uruguay has developed its second version of the Report Card on physical activity-related indicators in children and adolescents. The gender analysis showed inequalities between girls and boys. In summary, behavioral indicators have decreased while sources of influence have risen along the time.

Objective To describe demographic, clinical and laboratory features of systemic sclerosis sine scleroderma (ssSSc) in a large multicentre systemic sclerosis (SSc) cohort.Methods Data involving 1808 SSc patients from Italian Systemic sclerosis PRogression INvestiGation registry were collected. The ssSSc was defined by the absence of any cutaneous sclerosis and/or puffy fingers. Clinical and serological features of ssSSc were compared with limited cutaneous (lcSSc) and diffuse cutaneous (dcSSc) subsets.Results Among patients with SSc, only 61 (3.4%) were classified as having ssSSc (F/M=19/1). Time from Raynaud’s phenomenon (RP) onset to diagnosis was longer in ssSSc (3 years, IQR 1–16.5) than lcSSc (2 years, IQR 0–7), and dcSSc (1 year, IQR 0–3) (p

Classically, corticofugal feedback projections that adjust sensory processing are excitatory. Here, the authors uncover the presence of top-down inhibitory projections from cortical GABAergic neurons in the olfactory system, which directly inhibit olfactory bulb circuits.

Hereditary erythrocytosis is a rare hematologic disorder characterized by an excess of red blood cell production. Here we describe a European collaborative study involving a collection of 2,160 patients with erythrocytosis sequenced in ten different laboratories. We focused our study on the EGLN1 gene and identified 39 germline missense variants including one gene deletion in 47 probands. EGLN1 encodes the PHD2 prolyl 4-hydroxylase, a major inhibitor of hypoxia-inducible factor. We performed a comprehensive study to evaluate the causal role of the identified PHD2 variants: (i) in silico studies of localization, conservation, and deleterious effects; (ii) analysis of hematologic parameters of carriers identified in the UK Biobank; (iii) functional studies of the protein activity and stability; and (iv) a comprehensive study of PHD2 splicing. Altogether, these studies allowed the classification of 16 pathogenic or likely pathogenic mutants in a total of 48 patients and relatives. The in silico studies extended to the variants described in the literature showed that a minority of PHD2 variants can be classified as pathogenic (36/96), without any differences from the variants of unknown significance regarding the severity of the developed disease (hematologic parameters and complications). Here, we demonstrated the great value of federating laboratories working on such rare disorders in order to implement the criteria required for genetic classification, a strategy that should be extended to all hereditary hematologic diseases.

The tensile test is widely used for identifying the material plastic flow curve: this is a fundamental step in the design and in material behavior analysis. However, during these tests on ductile metals the necking phenomenon occurs, and the stress and strain states become triaxial and non-uniform. In the scientific literature several characterization methods have been proposed to properly address these aspects.The present work proposes an alternative strategy for identifying the plastic flow curve, focusing on temperature and strain-rate insensitive elasto-plastic materials. This is a hybrid methodology whereby a FE-based inverse method is combined with the 1D description of necking proposed by Audoly and Hutchinson. Indeed, the inverse method employs as target function the specimen profile, but to properly define it a relationship between the original and the deformed configuration of the tensile sample is required, and it is provided by this 1D model.The accuracy and the validity of the proposed strategy was verified on benchmark cases with ad-hoc experimental profiles obtained via numerical simulations. Finally, this method was applied to real case studies and the identified plastic flow curve was compared with the one obtained using a traditional FE-based inverse method having as target the force-stroke curve.

In this article, we present OpenCitations’ main data collections: the unified index of citation data (OpenCitations Index), and the bibliographic data corpus (OpenCitations Meta) in view of the integration of a new dataset provided by the Japan Link Center (JaLC). Based on a computational analysis of the titles of the publications performed in October 2023, 8.6% of the bibliographic metadata stored in OpenCitations Meta are not in English. Nevertheless, the ingestion of an Anglo-Japanese dataset represents the first opportunity to test the soundness of a language-agnostic metadata crosswalk process for collecting data from multilingual sources, aiming to preserve bibliodiversity and to minimize information loss considering the constraints imposed by the OpenCitations data model, which does not allow the acceptance of multiple values in different translations for the same metadata field. The JaLC dataset is set to join OpenCitations’ collections in November 2023, and it will be made available in RDF, CSV, and SCHOLIX formats. Data will be produced using open-source software and provided under a CC0 license via API services, web browsing interfaces, Figshare data dumps, and SPARQL endpoints, ensuring high interoperability, reuse, and semantic exploitation.

The increasing number of objects in Earth orbit has encouraged the development of space surveillance and tracking (SST) applications. A critical aspect of SST is the identification and characterization of close encounters between pairs of space objects. The present work introduces a tool for the analysis of conjunctions, consisting of several modules. The first module, which has been shown to greatly speed up the process, employs a series of geometric and temporal filters to shorten the list of potential colliding pairs. The remaining objects are then propagated to compute important parameters such as time of closest approach (TCA), miss distance (MD), and probability of collision (PoC), the latter using three different methods. When a conjunction assessment returns an MD or a PoC that exceeds predefined alert thresholds, the algorithm enables the planning of an impulsive collision avoidance maneuver (CAM) at specific maneuver epochs. CAM candidates are determined using an analytical Keplerian approach, with the goal of achieving the desired PoC or MD. The user can then verify the performance of a specific candidate through perturbed propagation, and the MD and PoC are recalculated after the maneuver to ensure that they meet the desired thresholds. In conclusion, this paper evaluates the performance of the tool using synthetic and real data, providing valuable insights into its effectiveness.

Tuber melanosporum is an ascomycete that forms ectomycorrhizal (ECM) symbioses with a wide range of host plants, producing edible fruiting bodies with high economic value. The quality of seedlings in the early symbiotic stage is important for successful truffle cultivation. Numerous bacterial species have been reported to take part in the truffle biological cycle and influence the establishment of roots symbiosis in plant hosts and the development of the carpophore. In this work, three different bacteria formulations were co-inoculated in Quercus ilex L. seedlings two months after T. melanosporum inoculation. At four months of bacterial application, the T. melanosporum ECM root tip rate of colonization and bacterial presence were assessed using both morphological and molecular techniques. A 2.5-fold increase in ECM colonization rate was found in the presence of Pseudomonas sp. compared to the seedlings inoculated only with T. melanosporum. The same treatment caused reduced plant growth either for the aerial and root part. Meanwhile, the ECM colonization combined with Bradyrhizobium sp. and Pseudomonas sp. + Bradyrhizobium sp. reduced the relative density of fibrous roots (nutrient absorption). Our work suggests that the role of bacteria in the early symbiotic stages of ECM colonization involves both the mycorrhizal symbiosis rate and plant root development processes, both essential for improve the quality of truffle-inoculated seedlings produced in commercial nurseries.

The last two decades have seen the development and diffusion of new technologies that can help in managing geographic information. This has led to a proliferation of grassroots processes for exploring, creating and sharing geographical data as a way for citizens to take part in decision making in different kinds of processes.However, these ongoing processes are facing technological, cognitive and economic barriers. Universities with the use of open-source geospatial information and communication technologies (Geo-ICTs) should be the primary actors in supporting students and citizens in developing their own spatial thinking and abilities in a more effective and engaging way.In this framework, the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Climate Justice (University of Padova) is developing the massive open online course (MOOC) ‘GIScience for Climate Justice’, here with the use of open-source and freeware Geo-ICTs that will be freely available for all before the end of 2022.By completing the MOOC, students will learn how to increase their knowledge of climate change and climate justice issues autonomously. Practical activities will improve their skills in obtaining and using geodata and information produced by European institutions, which can lead to them producing and sharing their own data and preparing and managing collaborative projects for sustainability and environmental monitoring.In this contribution, the theoretical background and entire methodology for the preparation and dissemination of the MOOC are presented and discussed, with the aim of disseminating and sharing this experience to actors interested in developing similar activities of using Geo-ICTs for good.

Abstract Background Congenital Generalized Lipodystrophy (CGL) is an ultra-rare disease characterized by metabolic disorders. However, the evaluation of functional exercise capacity, cardiovascular (CV) response to exercise, and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in CGL is scarce. Here we evaluated the performance and CV response to exercise and their association with PAD in CGL compared to healthy individuals. Methods Twelve CGL and 12 healthy subjects matched for age and gender were included. Functional exercise capacity, CV response, and PAD were measured using the six-minute walk test (6MWT) and ankle-brachial index (ABI), respectively. Results At baseline, CGL subjects showed reduced predicted walked distance (6MWD) (p = 0.009) and increased heart rate (HR), systolic (SBP), and diastolic (DBP) pressures compared to healthy subjects (p