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Egg (cyst) banks play a fundamental role in the survival strategy of the hydrobionts of temporary pools. Therefore a quantitative estimate, as accurate as possible, of their size is the starting point for all the possible considerations concerning the life history of the inhabiting populations. We describe here, in some details, a sampling procedure to evaluate the number of cysts laid by the anostracan Chirocephalus ruffoi Cottarelli & Mura, 1984, in an experimental pool and we show that this procedure results in a good estimate of the cyst bank consistency. A pool 150 cm in diameter was divided into five concentrical rings, 13 cm apart from each other, and a central core (with a 10 cm radius). The number of samples needed to obtain an accurate estimate was calculated by taking into account that, to perform uniform sampling, the total volume of the samples must be proportional to the volume of the pool bed in each ring. The number of cysts in each of the rings was then estimated by considering the mean of the experimental results of a previous study (61 core samples along six transects across the pool itself), multiplied by the number of samples ideally performed in each sector. Evaluating the cyst bank size by the above method resulted in an estimate with an error of only 4% compared to the real cyst bank size. We also show that the number of samples needed can significantly be reduced, with an error on the total number of cysts that can be controlled. This result, that follows from statistical considerations on the confidence interval for the mean, allows us to obtain a general sampling procedure that can be applied to statistically comparable pools.

Frutto dell'esperienza didattica di docenti che insegnano nei corsi di Scienze biologiche e Biotecnologie, questo testo ha l'obiettivo di fornire gli strumenti matematici necessari per lo studio e la modellizzazione dei fenomeni del vivente. L'apprendimento dei concetti matematici si svolge attraverso esempi ispirati dalla realtà di fenomeni naturali, fisici e biologici. I principali argomenti di matematica discreta, calcolo differenziale e integrale, teoria delle probabilità e statistica vengono trattati in modo semplice, partendo dalla conoscenza della sola matematica di base. Strutture di approfondimento e di sintesi aiutano a focalizzare e comprendere gli aspetti più importanti; numerosi box richiamano gli argomenti biologici ad essi correlati. Ciascun capitolo del libro è completato da esercizi, tutti interamente svolti.

We prove that there exists a class of solutions of the nonlinear Vlasov–Poisson equation (VPE) on a circle that converges weakly, as t → ∞, to a stationary homogeneous solution of VPE. This behavior is called, in the linear case, Landau damping. The result is obtained by constructing a suitable scattering problem for the solutions of the Vlasov–Poisson problem. A consequence of this result is that a class of stationary solutions of the Vlasov–Poisson equation is unstable in a weak topology.

The design of suspension systems for off-highway vehicles covers a specific field of automotive industry. During the last years, due to the working conditions in agricultural environments, there have been an increasing demand in power capabilities, loads and driving speeds of heavy duty vehicles. In this way the industrial design and consequently the research activity present a big potential of improvement. This paper describes the development, modeling and testing of suspension systems and control algorithms for heavy vehicles. The main targets of this activity, currently under development, consist in the study of the dynamical behaviour of agricultural tractors and the design of a cost-effective industrial solution. The work is structured in different steps: the definition of the project requirements (also by consultations with manufacturers), the modeling of agricultural tractors by symbolic and numerical multibody codes, the investigation of commercial solutions in terms of comfort, ride and energetic requirements and finally the development of control algorithms for hydro-pneumatic semi- active suspension systems. The main results are validated through experimental activities done by a suspension bench test purposely designed. The experimental sessions consist in the identification of the frequency response of the suspension system and the computation of performance indexes.

In Italy, vaccination against hepatitis B virus infection was strongly recommended for healthcare workers since 1985. Update findings on vaccination coverage are lacking.To assess current vaccination coverage against hepatitis B in this job category.In 2006, 1,632 healthcare workers randomly selected in 15 Italian public hospitals completed a self-administered precoded questionnaire.The overall vaccination coverage was 85.3%, a figure higher than the 64.5% observed in 1996. Vaccine coverage showed a significant downtrend (p0.01) from the Northern (93.1%) to the Southern (77.7%) areas. Logistic regression analysis showed that residence in the North (Odds ratio 4.2; 95% confidence interval 2.6-6.7) and youngest age (Odds ratio 4.5; 95% confidence interval 2.6-7.8), both were independent predictors of vaccine acceptance.Ten years apart, vaccine coverage has markedly increased, closely paralleling the downtrend in the incidence of acute B hepatitis among healthcare workers in Italy.

Outpatient monitoring plays a key role in the long-term success of kidney transplantation. Shared management of transplanted patients between transplant centers and local nephrology units is becoming common practice and is a benefit both for the patients, who can be followed in an outpatient office closer to their homes, and for the transplant centers, which are overwhelmed by an increasing number of follow-up patients. The program is also well accepted by the referring nephrology units, which are interested in improving their skills. In this article a model of clinical collaboration is discussed, although it is well known that it is impossible to apply the same rules to all centers. However, to make any collaborative program feasible, two main requirements must be met. First, every local unit should have a referent nephrologist responsible for the clinical follow-up of transplant recipients and for the waiting list; second, every transplant center should organize transplant refresher courses for their referring nephrologists.

It is well known that the human herpes virus 8 (HHV8) is linked to several malignancies such as Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). Moreover, pancytopenia due to hemophagocytic syndrome could be associated with HHV8 infection. In renal transplant recipients affected by KS, the tapering of immunosuppression often leads to KS remission, but also results in graft loss in50% of cases. Chemotherapy and antiviral therapy have also been used, mainly in the presence of visceral involvement.We describe a transplant recipient with widespread cutaneous and visceral KS HHV8 associated, complicated by hemophagocytic syndrome. At transplantation the patient's serology for HHV8 was negative, but thereafter it became positive. The first step in treatment (cyclosporine dose reduction until suspension) failed to improve the clinical course. Therefore, therapy combining liposomal doxorubicin and foscarnet was started. Clearance of HHV8 in the blood and complete resolution of the KS lesions were achieved. Immunosuppression with cyclosporine was resumed. No KS relapse has occurred, blood tests for HHV8 are negative, and graft function is good after a 5-yr follow-up.Therapy combining liposomal doxorubicin and foscarnet was effective in this renal transplant recipient with KS and HHV8 infection and enabled us to resume immunosuppressive therapy; therefore, reducing the risk of acute/chronic rejection.

Recommendations are made for controlling the transmission of the hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses from healthcare workers to patients. These recommendations were based both on the literature and on experts' opinions, obtained during a Consensus Conference. The quality of the published information and of the experts' opinions was classified into 6 levels, based on the source of the information. The recommendations can be summarised as follows: all healthcare workers must undergo hepatitis B virus vaccination and adopt the standard measures for infection control in hospitals; healthcare workers who directly perform invasive procedures must undergo serological testing and the evaluation of markers of viral infection. Those found to be positive for: 1) HBsAg and HBeAg, 2) HBsAg and hepatitis B virus DNA, or 3) anti-hepatitis C virus and hepatitis C virus RNA must abstain from directly performing invasive procedures; no other limitations in their activities are necessary. Infected healthcare workers are urged to inform their patients of their infectious status, although this is left to the discretion of the healthcare worker; whose privacy is guaranteed by law. If exposure to hepatitis B virus occurs, the healthcare worker must undergo prophylaxis with specific immunoglobulins, in addition to vaccination.

Emotional dysregulation is a complex pattern of reactivity to reality stimuli that now can be empirically studied. The dysregulation of emotion rating scale (DERS, Gratz and Roamer, 2004 ) seems tobea good instrument to evaluate the components and the phases of the process of emotional dysregulation. In this presentation, the data from Italian clinical and non-clinical population will be discussed. Clinical subjects will be: borderline personality disorder BPD obesity with binge eating obesity without binge eating. Preliminary data concerning the process of emotional reactivity, after the presentation of emotionally significant video clips in borderline patients, will be presented, too. The main interest of this data is to compare different patterns of emotional dysregulation in different clinical populations.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is now a well consolidated system of treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and for clinical conditions where emotional dysregulation plays an important role both in pathogenesis and in stability over time of dysfunctional phenomena. DBT treatment is made of different modes (individual psychotherapy, skills training, phone calls, team meeting) contributing in different ways to the outcome. What seems very important, in order to better understand the therapeutic process, is to clarify the role and effect of treatment components. Recent research is mainly focused on skills training and, in particular, on mindfulness. Research data show that Borderline subjects have strong difficulties in “being here and now in an accepting and non-judgmental stance”. This is significantly connected to their tendency to be emotionally and behaviorally dysregulated. Consequently, the possibility to modify the vicious circle connecting lack in mindfulness-emotional dysregulation-behavioral dysregulation appears a very powerful, and specific, component of DBT therapeutic method.

A growth curve is presented, that using the Tanner and Whitehouse's 50th centile, plots the height versus weight, both for males and females. The age is gives as parameter on the curves. In this way, weight, height and age are merged on a single chart for every sex. After exemplifying its advantages, the simpler relief of deviation from the values of the height-weight medians on the various ages, because the values of weight refer to the real height (and back), not to the age. With the same rule, curves relating to 10th and 90th centiles are processed by Tanner and Whitehouse's values. Collating between them, curves allow some morphological relief. Moreover, for both referred to the 50th centile of Tanner and Whitehouse curves (for the male sex and the female one), is presented a simple mathematical expression of interpolation, which shows and excellent representation of the measured dates. This expression is composed of a third-degree polynomial (cubic), which is fitted to the dates by the method of least square. The result of the correlation height-weight allows both to synthesize the dates in a sole expression and a simpler relief of discordance in the growth.

The influence of the model of object relations on modern psychodynamic research has led to increased emphasis on the importance of relations and traumatic events in the genesis of some psychic disorders, especially with regard to personality disorders. The development of axis II in the DSM-III system has increased the number of empiric studies in this field. In this paper, the Authors report data relating to a sample of 49 subjects with personality disorders (DSM-III-R) in which the presence of sexual abuse, physical maltreatment and negative family atmosphere was examined using a self-administered questionnaire (CAT). The results suggest a significant presence of these events throughout the sample and reveal a correlation between some personality disorders and specific traumatic events. It may therefore be hypothesized that the presence of these events represents an important factor from the point of treatment, both in technical and in prognostic terms.

As you enter the store with a child, she may be overloaded with stimuli, such as bright lights, many colors, people, little children and babies, music playing, or a voice over the loudspeaker. You will want to direct the child’s energies and excitement into positive actions and maintain appropriate behavior.

Jean Piaget (1896–1980) was a Swiss psychologist, educator, and author of over thirty volumes. His major contribution was in the field of beginning intelligence. Through his keen observational skills of young children, he showed how emerging intelligence goes through various stages of intellectual development as we interact with others and the environment. As an educator, he believed that students should be involved in the process of inventing and discovering their knowledge rather than being told what and how to do things.

An important characteristic marking the preoperational period is the emergence of language. Speaking allows children facility in communicating with others, thus providing a form of expression that up to this point had not been available to them. In the sensorimotor period, children limit their intellectual or thinking ability to their use of objects. If they want to make an idea known to a parent or playmate, they have to do it by pointing to objects or by taking the person by the hand to show them what they mean.

Outdoor activities enable children to learn about the outside world, develop their gross motor skills (large muscles), and allow them to express themselves freely. The activities in this chapter will help children in these areas along with several other developmental subject areas.

The prescriptions of antiepileptic drugs in the years 1985 and 1986 were used to identify all possible cases of epilepsy in a population of about 50,000 people. The general practitioners of the study area filled out a questionnaire for each user of antiepileptic drugs registered as a patient of theirs. This information was integrated using data obtained by local specialist services or directly collected by visits and/or phone interviews. Two-hundred and fifty-six of the 417 antiepileptic drug users proved to be active epileptics with a prevalence rate of 5.2/1000, the annual incidence rate for 1986 being 51.8/100,000. The main patterns of the disease appeared to be consistent with those of the literature while the prior history of seizures in the previous five years was generally lower. The health care of epileptic patients involved a wide range of specialists. The general practitioners were responsible for the final diagnosis of epilepsy in 10% of patients and for the management of the disease in 22%, most of the patients being over 50 years old. The calculated mean prescribed daily doses of the antiepileptic drugs suggested that many epileptics were taking therapeutic schedules lower than those of the literature.

The characteristics of preoperational thinking will be discussed in the next several chapters of Part I and will cover the rest of our major area of interest, namely, the years from 2 to 5. The young preoperational child shows signs of thinking on his own. These mental activities, or “operations,” as Piaget refers to them, are not logical (in fact, they are prelogicai!) and are restricted to how things look and appear.

Most children tend to feel confined when riding in a car because they have nowhere to run, walk, or even move about. Within the car itself, there is not much stimuli to keep a child entertained. For this reason, parents should encourage their child to look out the windows and notice things along the road. There are so many beautiful things in nature to see and learn about. The sky is the limit. Teach the child about such things as the clouds and rain. Sing songs to keep the child entertained.

Our next area of investigation is a look at how preschoolers develop the concept of number. Depending on who you ask, the concept of number could have several interpretations. For the teacher, it might mean a student’s ability to do well in math. For the scientist, it might mean someone with a natural tendency to reason abstractly with numerals and symbols. But for Piaget, who researched the topic, the answer ties into his theory of cognitive development. Piaget claims that the concept of number has its origins in the development of certain schema that begin to take root during the early preoperational years (and even before that in the sensorimotor period!) and culminate with the child’s ability to conserve quantity (or number).

The earliest physical experiences of very young children are spatial (geometric) rather than arithmetic.

Dr. Seuss created The Cat in the Hat for a rainy day of entertainment in the home of “Sally and I.” But I wouldn’t dare suggest that you bring “Thing One” and “Thing Two” into your home. Try setting up learning centers or areas of interest throughout your home. It is a creative way to transform your home into a productive world for your child. These areas will provide an opportunity for your child to choose constructive activities that are appropriate for her level of skill and interest: 1. Participation in activities with puzzles and manipulative toys includes practice of fine motor skills (small muscles), eye-hand coordination, recognition of shape and color, practice solving problems, and opportunity for creativity. Help your child find enough space in which to engage in these activities, either on the floor or at a table. Your child may need help in selecting a puzzle or toy. Encourage your child when she needs help. Put in a few crucial pieces of a puzzle if necessary for your child, but don’t do it all unless placing pieces herself is frustrating for your child. Encourage your child to clean up one activity before choosing another. 2. Set up a comfortable and quiet area for reading books and listening to tapes and records. Supervise your child when he is using a record player or tape recorder. Allow your child to wear headphones if you have them. There are books available in stores that sell tapes that go with certain books. Encourage your child to listen to the tape while looking at the book.

Another major area where preoperational children are not ready to reason logically is their inability to conserve. Piaget divides the intellectual development of young children and adolescents into four general periods: 1. The sensorimotor period, 0–2 years old 2. The preoperational period, 2–7 years old 3. The period of concrete operations, 7–11 years old 4. The period of formal operations, 11–15 years old

Results of asymptotic stability and instability for nonautonomous differential systems with unbounded right hand side are obtained by using several auxiliary functions and topological properties of the @W-limit set of solutions. The theorem established is applied to prove the asymptotic stability of the stationary solution of the Lienard equation with unbounded dampings.

The β-hexosaminidase (EC 3.2.1.30)isoenzymes were separated on the basis of their carbohydrate moieties by an affinity chromatography using immobilized phenylboronate. Normal lymphocytes and granulocytes contain two major forms of β-hexosaminidase. acute lymphoblastic, acute myeloblastic, chronic lymphocytic and chronic myelocytic leukemic cells contain an extra, distinct isoenzyme of β-hexosaminidase. This extra isoenzyme may be a marker for the leukemic conversion of hematopoietic tissue.

β-N-Acetyl-d-glucosaminidase and its kinetic characteristics were determined in serum and skin from both diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance patients and controls. Mean total activity was reduced (p < 0.05) in the skin of both patient groups. β-N-Acetyl-d-glucosaminidase isoenzyme expression was investigated using chromatofocusing on PBE-94 coupled with automated enzyme assay. The isoenzyme profiles from serum showed two major forms (A and B) whose ratio varied from 2:1 in controls to 3:1 in diabetics. Moreover, diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance subjects displayed an intermediate (I) form. The A/B isoenzyme ratio was completely reversed in skin.

On etudie un probleme concernant la bifurcation de Hopf pour une famille a 1 parametre d'equations differentielles dans un cas de resonance

Good separations of the two major beta-hexosaminidase forms from human leukocytes were achieved by chromatofocusing, a technique which separates proteins on the basis of their isoelectric points. The use of an automated and reliable method is described for the identification of homozygotes and carriers of the GM2 gangliosidosis.

The existence of 2 -dimensional invariant tori and their bifurcation in 3-dimensional invariant tori are investigated for a family of (non- hamiltonian) differential sistems inR4.Techniques inspired to the « K.A.M. theory » are used to identify « paths of bifurcation » in the parameters space.