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Background and Objectives: Hormonal changes physiologically occurring in menopausal women may increase the risk of developing metabolic and vasomotor disturbances, which contribute to increase the risk of developing other concomitant pathologies, such as metabolic syndrome (MetS). Materials and Methods: Retrospective data from 200 menopausal women with MetS and vasomotor symptoms taking one sachet per day of the dietary supplement INOFOLIC® NRT (Farmares srl, Rome, Italy) were collected. Each sachet consisted of myo-Inositol (2000 mg), cocoa polyphenols (30 mg), and soy isoflavones (80 mg, of which 50 mg is genistin). Patients recorded their symptoms through a medical questionnaire at the beginning of the administration (T0) and after 6 months (T1). Results: We observed an improvement in both the frequency and the severity of hot flushes: increased percentage of 2–3 hot flushes (28 at T0 vs. 65% at T1, p value < 0.001) and decreased percentage of 4–9 hot flushes (54% at T0 vs. 18% at T1, p value < 0.001). Moreover, symptoms of depression improved after supplementation (87% at T0 vs. 56% at T1 of patients reported moderate depression symptoms, p value < 0.001). Regarding metabolic profile, women improved body mass index and waist circumference with a reduction in the percentage of overweight and obesity women (88% at T0 vs. 51% at T1, p value = 0.01; 14% at T0 vs. 9% at T1, p value = 0.04). In addition, the number of women suffering from non-insulin dependent diabetes reduced (26% at T0 vs. 16% at T1, p value = 0.04). Conclusions: These data corroborate previously observed beneficial effects of the oral administration of myo-Inositol, cocoa polyphenols, and soy isoflavones against menopausal symptoms in the study population. Considering the promising results of the present study, further prospective controlled clinical trials are needed to deeply understand and support the efficacy of these natural compounds for the management of menopausal symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to COVID-19, the 32nd Olympic Games were postponed temporarily for the first time, apart from those cancelled during the First and Second World Wars. Did the pandemic also affect the results? We aim to understand the impact of stringency measures on athletes' performance in the Olympics. For many athletes, the Olympics are the pinnacle of their careers, and they follow intense training schedules to arrive at the Games in peak physical condition. Stringency measures may have affected their results by making it harder for them to train effectively, to access sports infrastructure, to meet teammates, and more generally to follow an athletic lifestyle. Our quantitative analysis shows that stringency measures had an effect on the number of Olympic medals won, especially in team sports. This is consistent with the idea that stricter non-pharmaceutical interventions made it harder for teams to train together and achieve the necessary chemistry and harmony to succeed in such a competitive event. Furthermore, women were more severely penalized by higher stringency measures than men in team events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different countries have adopted different policies in their fight against the COVID-19 outbreak. In this work we aim to model these approaches with respect to the first wave of COVID-19 (from January to October 2020) in the five Central Asian republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan). By means of a multivariate approach based on principal component analysis and cluster analysis, we derived three clusters. Each of these represents a different strategy adopted by a group of governments in a given period of the first wave: pre-pandemic, initial reaction, and emergency scenarios. The contribution of these results is two-fold: on the one hand they may help us to understand differences and similarities among Central Asian republics during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak and guide future quantitative or qualitative studies; on the other hand, our findings suggest that, with the exception of Turkmenistan, the different countries adopted very similar strategies and that deaths, more than cases, pushed governments to impose restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances a composite indicator called urban environmental virtuosity index (UEVI), in order to measure the efforts made by public local bodies in applying an ecosystem approach to urban management. UEVI employs the less exploited process-based selection criteria for representing the original concept of virtuosity, providing makes a cross cities comparison. In developing such a framework the main technical issue of constructing a composite indicator, involving the weighting and the aggregation phases, will be overcome by using a multivariate approach.

The study the ARDL model, Mean Group (MG), and the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) model to examine the Environemtnal Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in 43 African countries pooled into 3 income groups from 1980–2016. The EKC hypothesis is accepted in only 21% of the sample but rejected in 70% of the countries in the total sample. This result shows that carbon emissions increase as economic growth increases in 79% of the countries while economic growth will lead to lower carbon emissions in only a few countries (21%). The study concludes that an increase in economic growth will induce higher emissions in most countries in Africa. These countries should take all possible policy actions such as the massive deployment of renewable energy, carbon tax policy, and the carbon emissions trading scheme to curtain growth in carbon emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the impact of an unconventional monetary policy of the U.S. on the institutional investor flows in India. We assess the relationship between institutional investor flows and market returns before, during and after the U.S. quantitative easing (QE) period. We find a bi-directional Granger causality between domestic institutional investor flows and market returns in the pre QE period. However, the post QE period shows a bi-directional Granger causality between foreign institutional investor flows and market returns. This indicates that the power to influence market returns in India has shifted from the domestic institutional investors to foreign institutional investors during the QE period. Thus, we find evidence for a change in the market dynamics of an emerging country due to spillover effects of an unconventional monetary policy of a foreign country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact urbanization, industrialization, corruption, human development, energy consumption, and foreign direct investment (FDI) on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of 61 developing economies of the global south region of Asia, Africa, and Latin America during the period 1990–2015. The empirical results show that the effect of corruption on CO2 emissions is indeed heterogeneous and contradictory. Specifically, results exhibit that due to immature economic system, and policy paralysis, corruption penetrates the developing economies, and eventually cause carbon emission and pollution. Furthermore, results reveal that FDI guided by clean development mechanism and involved in emission reduction projects in the developing economies play a predominant role to curb the CO2 emission, pollution, and environmental degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]