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For many years, we have devoted our research to the study of the thermodynamic properties of hydrophobic hydration processes in water, and we have proposed the Ergodic Algorithmic Model (EAM) for maintaining the thermodynamic properties of any hydrophobic hydration reaction at a constant pressure from the experimental determination of an equilibrium constant (or other potential functions) as a function of temperature. The model has been successfully validated by the statistical analysis of the information elements provided by the EAM model for about fifty compounds. The binding functions are convoluted functions, RlnKeq = {f(1/T)* g(T)} and RTlnKeq = {f(T)* g(lnT)}, where the primary linear functions f(1/T) and f(T) are modified and transformed into parabolic curves by the secondary functions g(T) and g(lnT), respectively. Convoluted functions are consistent with biphasic dual-structure partition function, {DS-PF} = {M-PF} ∙ {T-PF} ∙ {ζw}, composed by ({M-PF} (Density Entropy), {T-PF}) (Intensity Entropy), and {ζw} (implicit solvent). In the present paper, after recalling the essential aspects of the model, we outline the importance of considering the solvent as “implicit” in chemical and biochemical reactions. Moreover, we compare the information obtained by computer simulations using the models till now proposed with “explicit” solvent, showing the mess of information lost without considering the experimental approach of the EAM model.

Abstract Introduction The survival of preterm babies has increased worldwide, but the risk of neuro-developmental disabilities remains high, which is of concern to both the public and professionals. The early identification of children at risk of neuro-developmental disabilities may increase access to intervention, potentially influencing the outcome. Aims Neuroprem is an area-based prospective cohort study on the neuro-developmental outcome of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants that aims to define severe functional disability at 2 years of age. Methods Surviving VLBW infants from an Italian network of 7 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) were assessed for 24 months through the Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales (GMDS-R) or the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSDI III) and neuro-functional evaluation according to the International Classification of Disability and Health (ICF-CY). The primary outcome measure was severe functional disability at 2 years of age, defined as cerebral palsy, a BSDI III cognitive composite score

Background: Despite the increased survival of preterm newborns worldwide, the risk of neurodevelopmental disabilities remains high. Analyzing the outcomes of the preterm population can identify risk factors and enable specific early interventions.Aims: Neuroprem is a prospective cohort study of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants that aims to evaluate the neurodevelopmental outcomes and risk factors for severe functional disability at 2 years of corrected age.Methods: Nine Italian neonatal intensive care units participated in the network. The Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales (GMDS-R) or the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSDI III) and a neuro-functional evaluation (according to the International Classification of Disability and Health and Neuro-Functional Assessment, or NFA ICF-CY) were administered to VLBW infants at 24 months of corrected age. The primary outcome measure was severe functional disability, defined as cerebral palsy, bilateral blindness, deafness, an NFA ICF-CY of >2, a BSDI III cognitive composite score of

The thermodynamic properties of hydrophobic hydration processes can be represented in probability space by a Dual-Structure Partition Function {DS-PF} = {M-PF} · {T-PF}, which is the product of a Motive Partition Function {M-PF} multiplied by a Thermal Partition Function {T-PF}. By development of {DS-PF}, parabolic binding potential functions α) RlnKdual = (−ΔG°dual/T) ={f(1/T)*g(T)} and β) RTlnKdual = (−ΔG°dual) = {f(T)*g(lnT)} have been calculated. The resulting binding functions are “convoluted” functions dependent on the reciprocal interactions between the primary function f(1/T) or f(T) with the secondary function g(T) or g(lnT), respectively. The binding potential functions carry the essential thermodynamic information elements of each system. The analysis of the binding potential functions experimentally determined at different temperatures by means of the Thermal Equivalent Dilution (TED) principle has made possible the evaluation, for each compound, of the pseudo-stoichiometric coefficient ±ξw, from the curvature of the binding potential functions. The positive value indicates convex binding functions (Class A), whereas the negative value indicates concave binding function (Class B). All the information elements concern sets of compounds that are very different from one set to another, in molecular dimension, in chemical function, and in aggregation state. Notwithstanding the differences between, surprising equal unitary values of niche (cavity) formation in Class A hfor>A = −22.7 ± 0.7 kJ·mol−1·ξw−1 sets with standard deviation σ = ±3.1% and sfor>A = −445 ± 3J·K−1·mol−1·ξw−1J·K−1·mol−1·ξw−1 with standard deviation σ = ±0.7%. Other surprising similarities have been found, demonstrating that all the data analyzed belong to the same normal statistical population. The Ergodic Algorithmic Model (EAM) has been applied to the analysis of important classes of reactions, such as thermal and chemical denaturation, denaturation of proteins, iceberg formation or reduction, hydrophobic bonding, and null thermal free energy. The statistical analysis of errors has shown that EAM has a general validity, well beyond the limits of our experiments. Specifically, the properties of hydrophobic hydration processes as biphasic systems generating convoluted binding potential functions, with water as the implicit solvent, hold for all biochemical and biological solutions, on the ground that they also are necessarily diluted solutions, statistically validated.

Facing a stressor involves a cardiac vagal tone response and a feedback effect produced by social interaction in visceral regulation. This study evaluated the contribution of baseline vagal tone and of social engagement system (SES) functioning on the ability to deal with a stressor. Participants (n = 70) were grouped into a minimized social interaction condition (procedure administered through a PC) and a social interaction condition (procedure administered by an experimenter). The State Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and a debriefing questionnaire were completed by the subjects. The baseline vagal tone was registered during the baseline, stressor and recovery phases. The collected results highlighted a significant effect of the baseline vagal tone on vagal suppression. No effect of minimized vs. social interaction conditions on cardiac vagal tone during stressor and recovery phases was detected. Cardiac vagal tone and the results of the questionnaires appear to be not correlated. The study highlighted the main role of baseline vagal tone on visceral regulation. Some remarks on SES to be deepen in further research were raised.

This article systematically presents an alternate scenario to the theme that Islam and the West are heading toward an inevitable clash of civilizations. It explores the common mod values shared by Christians and Muslims and identifies many areas where both Islam and the West would benefit if they made common cause. The paper proceeds to deconstruct some of the imagined differences between Islam and the West and proceed.. to examine the emerging reconciliation, mutual understanding, and cooperation between the Vatican and various Muslim groups and governments. The author laments the decline of morality and virtue globally. He insists that the upsurge of spirituality and piety in contemporary Muslim societies may benefit not only the West but all of humanity. If Muslim fervor and Christian order can make common cause, it can stem the moral and spiritual decline of civilization.

I The domain of Islam embraces some one billion people, 20 percent of the world’s population, distributed across the globe in virtually every political unit and geographical context. Ideologically, the Muslim world senses a profound communion in the deeply embedded Islamic concept of a territorially dispersed but spiritually unified global Islamic commonwealth - ummah. Oswald Spengler, in his monumental Decline ofthe West, reminds us that the Islamic community “embraces the whole of the world-cavern, here and beyond, the orthodox and the good angels and spirits, and within the community the State only formed a smaller unit of the visible side, a unit, therefore, of which the operations were governed by the major whole." This relationship between the modern nation-state and the ummah, now suppressed by the force of modern nationalism, continues to exist as a powerful primordial sentiment of transcendent importance. That its dimensions, contours, and strength cannot be assessed by empirical social science analysis does not make it less real as a critical component of the Muslim psyche. This impulse towards Islamic unity, charged with emotion, religious fervor, and ideology, canonically sustained by the concept of ummah, is also nurtured by a vivid memory of Islamic imperial grandeur and by a vibrant dynamic of missionary zeal. The latter, carrying out the Qur’anic proclamation of the universality of Islam and the command for global dispensation of the Qur’anic message, has lost little of its original impetus. The force of ummah is the tacit dimension, the psychic indwelling nature of Islam. Nor can this compelling centrifugal thrust be lightly dismissed as the transitory phase of a historical process. No other religion has quite so powerful an impetus for global expansion - neither Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism nor Christianity ...