Highlights • During the last decades the refusal of vaccination is increasing. • There is lowest vaccination coverage in countries with anti-vaccination campaigns. • Proponents against vaccination ...now use the Internet and web 2.0 in particular. • HCWs have a pivotal role in imparting information and advice to the public on the vaccines promotion. • HCWs are models for patients and parents in particular, but vaccination coverages of HCWs are low.
•A recently proposed smartphone app for leaf area index estimation is tested.•The app is compared to the widespread and reliable AccuPAR ceptometer.•The analyzed canopy structures deviate from light ...transmittance model assumptions.•An overall good agreement between the two methods was observed.•The app is a good alternative in case of few resources or high portability needs.
The increasing availability of high-quality sensors and computational power on low-cost mobile devices like smartphones and tablets is opening new possibilities for adopting this kind of technology for monitoring biophysical processes of interest for agronomic and environmental studies. A method for leaf area index (LAI) estimates based on gap fraction, derived from the segmentation of images acquired at 57° below the canopy, was recently proposed and implemented in the smartphone app PocketLAI®, and successfully tested against commercial devices for paddy rice. In this study, PocketLAI was tested against the AccuPAR ceptometer on canopy structures (maize, row-seeded giant reed and natural grassland) that strongly deviate from the ideal assumption behind the simplified model for light transmittance into the canopy used in the app (i.e., random distribution of infinitely small leaves). The comparison between PocketLAI and AccuPAR showed overall good performances for the app, with root mean square error of 0.41, 0.49 and 0.96m2m−2 for grassland, maize and giant reed respectively, and R2 of 0.86, 0.92 and 0.88. A saturation effect was observed for PocketLAI for LAI values higher than 5m2m−2 especially for giant reed, with the LAI values obtained with the app markedly underestimating those provided by AccuPAR. Although further studies are needed to better investigate the need for calibrating the app in case of low-quality devices, these results confirm the possible role of PocketLAI in providing a suitable alternative to the commercial tools available for indirect LAI estimates in contexts characterized by few economic resources or when a high portability is needed.
The static magnetic fields, in the range from 0 to 670 mT, heavily influenced not only the rates of viability, necrosis and apoptosis of human macrophages, but also the expression of their membranal ...protein markers CD14 and CD64. The infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis led to a significant decrease of these harmful magnetic-field effects. ...
Pretransplant donor biopsy (PTDB)‐based marginal donor allocation systems to single or dual renal transplantation could increase the use of organs with Kidney Donor Profile Index (KDPI) in the ...highest range (e.g. >80 or >90), whose discard rate approximates 50% in the United States. To test this hypothesis, we retrospectively calculated the KDPI and analyzed the outcomes of 442 marginal kidney transplants (340 single transplants: 278 with a PTDB Remuzzi score <4 median KDPI: 87; interquartile range (IQR): 78–94 and 62 with a score = 4 median KDPI: 87; IQR: 76–93; 102 dual transplants median KDPI: 93; IQR: 86–96) and 248 single standard transplant controls (median KDPI: 36; IQR: 18–51). PTDB‐based allocation of marginal grafts led to a limited discard rate of 15% for kidneys with KDPI of 80–90 and of 37% for kidneys with a KDPI of 91–100. Although 1‐year estimated GFRs were significantly lower in recipients of marginal kidneys (−9.3, −17.9 and −18.8 mL/min, for dual transplants, single kidneys with PTDB score <4 and =4, respectively; p < 0.001), graft survival (median follow‐up 3.3 years) was similar between marginal and standard kidney transplants (hazard ratio: 1.20 95% confidence interval: 0.80–1.79; p = 0.38). In conclusion, PTDB‐based allocation allows the safe transplantation of kidneys with KDPI in the highest range that may otherwise be discarded.
This study shows that the standardized assessment of formalin‐fixed pretransplant biopsies helps recover donors with KDPI in the highest range that would be otherwise discarded, and by providing the expected graft outcomes based on KDPI and pretransplant biopsy, it guides the clinician facing the difficult decision whether to accept or reject these organs. See editorial by Gupta et al on page 2444.
The number of organ donors in Italy is increasing, but with still disappointing living donation activity and relatively frequent objection by potential deceased donors' relatives to organ recovery. ...Few studies have assessed health care students' knowledge and attitude on donation.
We administered a questionnaire to medical (MS) and nursing students (NS) at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy, and 749 students (406 MS and 343 NS) completed the questionnaire.
Although 95% of students were in favor of donation, only 21.9% of NS and 24.9% of MS were registered as donors. One quarter of students reported family disagreement. MS appeared more confident with personnel involved in donation. Overall, 60% of students knew the term donation after brain death but only 40% were aware of the criteria used to define it. Barely 27.1% of NS and 15.3% of MS believed they had received sufficient information in lessons. Backward logistic regression demonstrated that students whose families agree with them and who knew the definition of donation after brain death were more likely to express the disposition of registering, and those who showed distrust in the declaration of brain death were half as likely to register as donors.
Students expressed a lack of knowledge, controversial attitudes on donation, and strong need for education; increased awareness may help increase donation rates. The majority of educational institutions in Italy do not directly address training on organ donation and transplantation for health care students; an integrated curriculum favoring interpersonal discussion including practical aspects is urgently required.
•Relatives' objection to organ recovery after death is frequent in Italy.•Italian health care students expressed a lack of knowledge on donation.•Education on donation among health care students may help increase donation rates.
Abstract
Soil suppressiveness which is the natural ability of soil to support optimal plant growth and health is the resultant of multiple soil microbial components; which implies many difficulties ...when estimating this soil condition. Microbial benefits for plant health from repeated digestate applications were assessed in three experimental sites surrounding anaerobic biogas plants in an intensively cultivated area of northern Italy. A 2-yr trial was performed in 2017 and 2018 by performing an in-pot plant growth assay, using soil samples taken from two fields for each experimental site, of which one had been repeatedly amended with anaerobic biogas digestate and the other had not. These fields were similar in management and crop sequences (maize was the recurrent crop) for the last 10 yr. Plant growth response in the bioassay was expressed as plant biomass production, root colonization frequency by soil-borne fungi were estimated to evaluate the impact of soil-borne pathogens on plant growth, abundance of
Pseudomonas
and actinomycetes populations in rhizosphere were estimated as beneficial soil microbial indicators. Repeated soil amendment with digestate increased significantly soil capacity to support plant biomass production as compared to unamended control in both the years. Findings supported evidence that this increase was principally attributable to a higher natural ability of digestate-amended soils to reduce root infection by saprophytic soil-borne pathogens whose inoculum was increased by the recurrent maize cultivation.
Pseudomonas
and actinomycetes were always more abundant in digestate-amended soils suggesting that both these large bacterial groups were involved in the increase of their natural capacity to control soil-borne pathogens (soil suppressiveness).
Crop models, like many representations of environmental processes, tend to be over-parameterised. A redesign of the SUCROS family of crop models, largely driven by sensitivity analysis, is presented ...here. In particular, two new versions of WOFOST, the most widespread model from this family, were developed. The first (WOFOST-GT) reduces model complexity through the definition of functions driven by few parameters with biological meaning. The other (WOFOST-GT2) improves canopy representation and senescence. Each version was evaluated for rice and winter wheat. Results highlighted a similar accuracy for the three versions: the original one achieved mean normalized RMSE of 13.75% and 10.75% for winter wheat and rice; corresponding values for the new versions were 14.42% and 10.79% (WOFOST-GT), and 14.38% and 10.85% (WOFOST-GT2). The new versions were considerably less complex, (60% less parameters). These improvements, increasing model usability without compromising its sophistication, can be transferred to other models from the same family.
•Two improved versions of WOFOST were developed: WOFOST-GT and WOFOST-GT2.•The new versions were compared with the original one for rice and wheat simulations.•Both the versions are as accurate as the original one with 40% of the parameters.•WOFOST-GT2 has a new representation of the canopy and of senescence dynamics.
•An app for smartphone for indirect LAI estimates is proposed.•It uses sensors and processing power normally present in modern mobile phones.•The algorithm is based on a model for light transmission ...into the canopy.•The app was successfully compared (trueness, precision) with commercial instruments.
Leaf area index (LAI) is a crucial variable in agronomic and environmental studies, because of its importance for estimating the amount of radiation intercepted by the canopy and the crop water requirements. Direct methods for LAI estimation are destructive, labor and time consuming, and hardly applicable in case of forest ecosystems. This led to the development of different indirect methods, based on models for light transmission into the canopy and implemented into dedicated commercial instruments (e.g., LAI-2000 and different models of ceptometers). However, these instruments are usually expensive and characterized by a low portability, and could require long and expensive maintenance services in case of damages.
In this study, we present an app for smartphone implementing two methods for LAI estimation, based on the use of sensors and processing power normally present in most of the modern mobile phones. The first method (App-L) is based on the estimation of the gap fraction at 57.5° (to acquire values that are almost independent of leaf inclination) from luminance estimated above and below the canopy. The second method (App-G) estimates the gap fraction via automatic processing of images acquired below the canopy. The performances of the two methods implemented in the app were evaluated using data collected in a scatter-seeded rice field in northern Italy, and compared with those of the LAI-2000 and AccuPAR ceptometer, by determining the methods’ accuracy (trueness and precision, the latter represented by repeatability and reproducibility) and linearity. The performances of App-G (mean repeatability limit=0.80m2m−2; mean reproducibility limit=0.82m2m−2; RMSE=1.04m2m−2) were similar to those shown by LAI-2000 and AccuPAR, whereas App-L achieved the best trueness value (RMSE=0.37m2m−2), although it resulted the less precise, requiring a large number of replicates to provide reliable estimations. Despite the satisfactory performances, the app proposed should be considered just as an alternative to the available commercial instruments, useful in contexts characterized by low economic resources or when the highest portability is needed.
Different studies described the antibacterial properties of Lavandula angustifolia (Mill.) essential oil and its anti-inflammatory effects. Besides, no data exist on its ability to activate human ...macrophages during the innate response against Staphylococcus aureus. The discovery of promising regulators of macrophage-mediated inflammatory response, without side effects, could be useful for the prevention of, or as therapeutic remedy for, various inflammation-mediated diseases. This study investigated, by transcriptional analysis, how a L. angustifolia essential oil treatment influences the macrophage response to Staphylococcus aureus infection. The results showed that the treatment increases the phagocytic rate and stimulates the containment of intracellular bacterial replication by macrophages. Our data showed that this stimulation is coupled with expression of genes involved in reactive oxygen species production (i.e., CYBB and NCF4). Moreover, the essential oil treatment balanced the inflammatory signaling induced by S. aureus by repressing the principal pro-inflammatory cytokines and their receptors and inducing the heme oxygenase-1 gene transcription. These data showed that the L. angustifolia essential oil can stimulate the human innate macrophage response to a bacterium which is responsible for one of the most important nosocomial infection and might suggest the potential development of this plant extract as an anti-inflammatory and immune regulatory coadjutant drug.
Abbreviations: CE: controlled environment; EO: essential oil; LA: Lavandula angustifolia Mill.; MDM: monocyte-derived macrophages; NE: natural environment; Neg-Res: negative responsive donors; TLR-IL1R: Toll-like receptor-interleukin 1 receptor; Pos-Res: positive responsive donor
Highlights • Apulia Region in Italy introduced universal routine vaccination (URV) against varicella in 2006. • A seroprevalence survey was carried out 6 years after the introduction of URV. • 93% of ...Apulian aged 18–65 years was immune to varicella. • The URV did not seem to change the varicella epidemiological pattern among adults.
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