The aim of this study was to investigate the possible impact of smoking on the humoral response to the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (also known as the BioNTech-Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine).
A ...longitudinal sero-epidemiological study was conducted in sample of Italian healthcare workers (HCWs).
HCWs who were administered two doses of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine, 21 days apart, between December 2020 and January 2021, were invited to undergo multiple serology tests to identify SARS-CoV-2 S-RBD-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies. Participants also responded to questions about their smoking status (i.e. current smokers vs non-smokers) in a survey.
Sixty days after the completion of the vaccination cycle, serological analyses showed a difference in vaccine-induced IgG titre between current smokers and non-smokers, with median antibody titres of 211.80 AU/mL (interquartile range IQR 149.80–465.50) and 487.50 AU/mL (IQR 308.45–791.65) P-value = 0.002, respectively. This significant difference in vaccine-induced IgG titres between current smokers and non-smokers remained after adjusting for age, sex, and previous infection with SARS-CoV-2.
This study observed that vaccine-induced antibody titres decrease faster among current smokers than non-smokers. Further research to investigate the impact of smoking on the immunological response to COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 vaccines is required.
In this paper we introduce the DCT-GIST image representation model which is useful to summarize the context of the scene. The proposed image descriptor addresses the problem of real-time scene ...context classification on devices with limited memory and low computational resources (e.g., mobile and other single sensor devices such as wearable cameras). Images are holistically represented starting from the statistics collected in the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) domain. Since the DCT coefficients are usually computed within the digital signal processor for the JPEG conversion/storage, the proposed solution allows to obtain an instant and “free of charge” image signature. The novel image representation exploits the DCT coefficients of natural images by modelling them as Laplacian distributions which are summarized by the scale parameter in order to capture the context of the scene. Only discriminative DCT frequencies corresponding to edges and textures are retained to build the descriptor of the image. A spatial hierarchy approach allows to collect the DCT statistics on image sub-regions to better encode the spatial envelope of the scene. The proposed image descriptor is coupled with a Support Vector Machine classifier for context recognition purpose. Experiments on the well-known 8 Scene Context Dataset as well as on the MIT-67 Indoor Scene dataset demonstrate that the proposed representation technique achieves better results with respect to the popular GIST descriptor, outperforming this last representation also in terms of computational costs. Moreover, the experiments pointed out that the proposed representation model closely matches other state-of-the-art methods based on bag of Textons collected on spatial hierarchy.
•A new image descriptor for scene context classification purpose.•The descriptor is suitable for Image Generation Pipeline of single sensor devices.•The descriptor is computed directly on compressed domain (JPEG).•The descriptor is computed in realtime on platform with low computational resources.•The extraction process does not need extra information (e.g., a visual vocabulary).
Esca is one of the most common disease that can severely damage grapevine. This disease, if not properly treated in time, is the cause of vegetative stress or death of the attacked plant, with the ...consequence of losses in production as well as a rising risk of propagation to the closer grapevines. Nowadays, the detection of Esca is carried out manually through visual surveys usually done by agronomists, requiring enormous amount of time. Recently, image processing, computer vision and machine learning methods have been widely adopted for plant diseases classification. These methods can minimize the time spent for anomaly detection ensuring an early detection of Esca disease in grapevine plants that helps in preventing it to spread in the vineyards and in minimizing the financial loss to the wine producers. In this article, an image dataset of grapevine leaves is presented. The dataset holds grapevine leaves images belonging to two classes: unhealthy leaves acquired from plants affected by Esca disease and healthy leaves. The data presented has been collected to be used in a research project jointly developed by the Department of Information Engineering, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy and the STMicroelectronics, Italy, under the cooperation of the Umani Ronchi SPA winery, Osimo, Ancona, Marche, Italy. The dataset could be helpful to researchers who use machine learning and computer vision algorithms to develop applications that help agronomists in early detection of grapevine plant diseases. The dataset is freely available at http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/89cnxc58kj.1
An overview of the coastal vegetation of Site of Community Importance "Zone Umide della Capitanata" (Puglia Region) is here presented. Original relevés were performed in different locations of the ...site. On the basis of the in-field observations (142 original relevés) and of literature data, 44 plant communities have been defined, belonging to the following classes: Lemnetea minoris, Ruppietea maritimae, Potametea pectinati, Phragmito-Magnocaricetea, Cakiletea maritimae, Ammophiletea, Helichryso-Crucianelletea maritimae, Juncetea maritimi, Sarcocornietea fruticosae, Saginetea maritimae, Thero-Suaedetea, Tuberarietea guattatae, Nerio-Tamaricetea. For each vegetation unit, the distribution area at local and regional level and the relation to habitat types of the 92/43 EEC Directive are provided.
It is widely known that thematic resolution affects spatial pattern and landscape metrics performances. In literature, data dealing with this issue usually refer to a specific class scheme with its ...thematic levels. In this paper, the effects of different land cover (LC) and habitat classification schemes on the spatial pattern of a coastal landscape were compared. One of the largest components of the Mediterranean wetland system was considered as the study site, and different schemes widely used in the EU were selected and harmonized with a common thematic resolution, suitable for habitat discrimination and monitoring. For each scheme, a thematic map was produced and, for each map, 28 landscape metrics were calculated. The landscape composition, already in terms of number of classes, class area, and number of patches, changes significantly among different classification schemes. Landscape complexity varies according to the class scheme considered and its underlying semantics, depending on how the different types aggregate or split when changing class scheme. Results confirm that the selection of a specific class scheme affects the spatial pattern of the derived landscapes and consequently the landscape metrics, especially at class level. Moreover, among the classification schemes considered, EUNIS seems to be the best choice for a comprehensive representation of both natural and anthropogenic classes.
This is a note about early attempts of
Salicornia patula
Duval-Jouve cultivation in the northern part of Apulia region (southern Italy). This species, which occupies the driest parts along the edges ...of coastal lagoons on mudflats or sands that are inundated in winter, has a long history of gathering from the wild as a source of food. At our knowledge, no information has been reported about the domestication of
S. patula
in Italy. In the Gargano area of Apulia region, this species was domesticated forty years ago as a minor cultivation limited to private gardens. The growing market demand of this vegetable for both fresh consumption and for processing packinghouses is very recently encouraging some farmers to cultivate it for marketing.
S. patula
might become an attractive new cash crop for marsh marginal lands, but prerequisites to its success are the selection of superior genotypes and the set-up of its right agro-technique.
The Gargano is one of the richest Mediterranean areas in biodiversity. The work reports an assessment of the presence and conservation status of the habitats according to the 92/43/EEC Directive of ...Gargano coastal and low hill belts, their relationships with plant communities, threatened species, phytoclimatology, threats, and suggestions for management purposes. The field surveys revealed 33 habitats of Directive, and 6 of them are priority (1150 * Coastal lagoons, 2250 * Coastal dunes with Juniperus ssp., 2270 * Wooded dunes with Pinus pinea and/or Pinus pinaster , 6220 * pseudo-steppe with grasses and annuals of the Thero-Brachypodietea , 7210 * Calcareous fens with Cladium mariscus and species of the Caricion davallianae , 91AA * Eastern white oak woods). The updates of six Special Areas Conservation and three Special Protection Areas of Natura 2000 network are provided.
Purpose
The functional role of the
FSHR
promoter −29G/A polymorphism (rs1394205) in men is not clear. Some studies failed to find a relationship between the
FSHR
−29G/A and follicle-stimulating ...hormone (FSH) levels and did not associate the SNP with male infertility. Only one study showed that the
FSHR
−29 SNP modulates serum FSH levels in Baltic young male cohort. Because the SNP −29G/A has to be shown to have a strong effect on in vitro transcription activity of the
FSHR
promoter and the activation of
FSHR
is necessary for a normal FSH function, this study was undertaken to assess whether the
FSHR
-29G/A SNP modulates the gonadal endocrine function in men.
Methods
A total of 200 men with alteration of conventional sperm parameters or normozoospermia (according to the parameters WHO 2010), were genotyped by TaqMan Assay. Hormone levels were measured by immunoassay, and sperm analysis was performed according to the World Health Organization criteria.
Results
A significant gradient of increasing FSH levels across the
FSHR
−29G/A genotypes was observed (
p
< 0.01). Among normozoospermic men (
n
= 110), those with
FSHR
−29A-allele carriers (GA + AA and AA) had higher serum FSH (
p
< 0.01) and LH levels (
p
< 0.05) and higher body mass index (BMI) (
p
< 0.01) compared to men with the GG genotype. The carrier status of rs1394205 genotypes did not affect the other endocrine parameters neither in men with altered sperm parameters nor in normozoospermic men.
Conclusions
The
FSHR
−29G/A polymorphism modulates FSH and, for the first time, LH serum levels and BMI in normozoospermic men. These findings underline the importance to pay close attention to the studies of genetic variations associated with clinical-endocrine parameters.
Habitats are effective indicators of biodiversity. Remote sensing data and techniques are of great utility for their long-term monitoring. Habitat maps can be derived from land cover (LC) maps ...through rules obtained from expert knowledge and integrated with in situ data. Spatial (vegetation pattern) and temporal (phenology and water seasonality) relationships were explored and documented to infer reliable rules for LC (according to the Food and Agricultural Organization Land Cover Classification System (FAO-LCCS) taxonomy) to habitat (Annex I to the 92/43 EEC Directive and EUNIS) class translation. A coastal site in southern Italy was considered as study site for the definition and validation of such rules. Phenological data of the plant communities were collected on the basis of vegetation plots randomly distributed within the study site. Water seasonality was extracted from periodical observation of the water surface. Vegetation pattern was analyzed by means of vegetation survey along transects. The potentiality of rules, based on this specific expert knowledge, was tested in an experimental setting for habitat mapping. The overall accuracy of the habitat map was 75.1%. Such a result supports the usefulness of prior expert knowledge for habitat mapping from LCCS classes and disambiguation on one-to-many relations between LC/LU and habitat types.
Purpose
The
FSHB
gene -211G/T polymorphism has been reported to modulate gene expression and to cause inter-individual differences in FSH serum levels in men. This study was undertaken to assess the ...functional relevance of this polymorphism on gonadotropin and total testosterone serum levels and sperm parameters in men from Eastern Sicily (Italy).
Methods
To accomplish this, 200 men with abnormal conventional sperm parameters or normozoospermia (according to the parameters of WHO 2010) were genotyped by TaqMan Assay.
Results
The frequency of
FSHB
-211 T allele was significantly higher (
p
< 0.005) in patients with altered conventional sperm parameters (18.9% of chromosomes) compared to that observed in men with normozoospermia (10.9% of chromosomes). Decreasing serum levels of FSH and LH were observed across the three
FSHB
-211 genotype subgroups (
p
< 0.001 and
p
< 0.05, respectively). In addition, the FSHB -211G/T polymorphism showed a total testosterone downward trend that became more evident in men with the TT genotype compared to subjects with the GG genotype (
p
= 0.05). Furthermore, we found a trend towards decreased sperm concentration, total sperm count, sperm forward motility and testicular volume in men with GT and TT genotypes.
Conclusions
These findings showed that the
FSHB
-211 G/T polymorphism modulates male gonadal function with a clear influence on hormonal levels and sperm parameters.
Capsule
The present study was undertaken to evaluate the distribution of the
FSHB
-211 G/T in men with normal or abnormal sperm parameters from Southern Italy to assess its functional relevance on the serum levels of reproductive hormones and on sperm parameters in men.
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