Abstract Here, we established a program of low-intensity aerobic exercise and compared the effects of exercise preoperative, postoperative, and a combination of both pre- and postoperative protocols ...on recovery from sciatic nerve crush injury in mice using behavioral, biochemical, and morphological assays. Sciatic nerve crush was performed in adult male mice. The animals were submitted to preoperative (for 2 weeks), postoperative (for 2 weeks), and a combination of preoperative-postoperative (for 4 weeks) training protocols. During the training period, functional recovery was monitored using the Sciatic Functional Index, the Sciatic Static Index, and mechanical and cold hypersensitivity analyses. Morphological and biochemical alterations were analyzed on the 14th day post-crushing. The functional recovery values of all of the exercised groups were significantly better than the nonexercised group. Biochemically, all of the exercise groups showed a reduction in the increase of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in the sciatic nerve and in the IL-1β and interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R) levels in the spinal cord. However, the levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) decreased only in the postoperative group and in the combination exercise protocols. In the morphological analysis, the combination exercise subjects presented an increase in fiber and axon diameter, in the myelination degree and in the number of myelinated fibers. The present study showed that pre- and postoperative exercise achieved values for functional and morphological sciatic nerve regeneration that were significantly better than either the preoperative or postoperative protocols. This experimental study suggests that physical exercise can restore motor and nerve function to a substantial degree when performed using a prophylactic and therapeutic approach.
This paper investigates the effect of immigration on innovation in Italy, a country characterized by prevalently unskilled immigration. After addressing the potential endogeneity of the share of ...immigrants in the population using immigrant enclaves, no evidence is found of either positive or negative effects of migrants on innovation. This result is robust to allowing for different effects of low- and medium-high-skilled migrants, to using linear and non-linear models, and to considering both province-level data on patent applications and firm-level self-reported measures also capturing innovation adoption.
BackgroundCross-sectional human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA prevalence peaks at young ages, reflecting sexual acquisition and typically rapid clearance. In some populations, HPV prevalence demonstrates ...a second peak in older women. Longitudinal data may help to explain this second peak MethodsWe followed a population-based cohort of 7237 women in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, in which we had previously observed a second peak in the baseline HPV prevalence in older women. We tested for >40 HPV types by polymerase chain reaction. We analyzed age-specific patterns of acquisition and persistence 5–7 years after enrollment for individual HPV types ResultsAt enrollment and follow-up, cross-sectional data revealed U-shaped age-specific HPV prevalence curves for virtually every type, with higher prevalences in the younger and older women than in the middle-aged women. Prospectively, acquisition of types decreased significantly as women aged (PTrend<.05, for both), with the highest peak in young women and a secondary minor peak in older women. Type-specific persistence of HPV increased with age (PTrend<.0001). Overall, HPV acquisition predominated at younger ages, whereas persistent infections gradually became more prominent with age (PTrend<.0001) ConclusionsNewly apparent infections decreased, whereas persistence increased, with age; this latter tendency supports the utility of HPV screening in older women
The Milan Higher Education Observatory (MHEO) has as its object of analysis the tertiary education system (University, AFAM and ITS Academy) of the Metropolitan City of Milan and the Lombardy region. ...This first report presents the players in the higher education system in the geographical area of interest, addresses the issue of educational offers by providing data on the number and composition by areas of study of the courses offered by the three kinds of institutions, details the composition of students by level of education, by area of study and by gender, and finally addresses the issue of PhDs, by providing data not only on the current situation but also on recent trends.
Background The natural history of human papillomavirus (HPV) infections in older women is critical for preventive strategies, including vaccination and screening intervals, but is poorly understood. ...In a 7-year population-based cohort study in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, we examined whether women’s age and the duration of carcinogenic HPV infections influenced subsequent persistence of infection and risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 (CIN 2) or worse disease. Methods At enrollment, of the 9466 participants eligible for pelvic examination, 9175 were screened for cervical neoplasia using multiple methods; those with CIN 2 or worse disease were censored and treated. Participants at low risk of CIN 2 or worse (n = 6029) were rescreened at 5–7 years (passively followed), whereas higher-risk participants (n = 2115) and subsets of low-risk women (n = 540) and initially sexually inactive women (n = 410) were rescreened annually or semiannually (actively followed) for up to 7 years. HPV testing was done using a polymerase chain reaction–based method. We determined, by four age groups (18–25, 26–33, 34–41, and ≥42 years), the proportion of prevalent infections (found at baseline) and newly detected infections (first found during follow-up) that persisted at successive 1-year time points and calculated absolute risks of CIN 2 and CIN grade 3 (CIN 3) or worse during follow-up. P values are two-sided. Results Regardless of the woman's age, newly detected infections were associated with very low absolute risks of persistence, CIN 2, or worse disease. For newly detected infections, the rate of progression to CIN 2+ (or CIN 3+), after 3 years of follow-up, was not higher for women aged 34 years and older than for younger women. Moreover, rates of newly detected infections declined sharply with age (in the actively followed group, at ages 18–25, 26–33, 34–41, and ≥42 years, rates were 35.9%, 30.6%, 18.1%, and 13.5%, respectively; P < .001). Among prevalent infections, persistent infections among older women (≥42 years) was higher than that among younger age groups or new infections at any age (P < .01 for comparison of eight groups). Most (66 of 85) CIN 2 or worse detected during follow-up was associated with prevalent infections. Only a small subset (25 of 1128) of prevalent infections persisted throughout follow-up without apparent CIN 2 or worse. Conclusions The rate of new infections declines with age, and new infections typically do not progress to CIN 2 or worse disease in older women; thus, overall potential benefit of prophylactic vaccination or frequent HPV screening to prevent or detect new carcinogenic HPV infections at older ages is low.
This paper investigates whether or not research quality is significantly associated with a university's ability to attract students from other provinces in Italy. First-university enrolments of ...students over the period 2003-11 are regressed on universities' research-quality indicators computed from various bibliometric databases using fixed-effects gravity models. The estimates suggest that research performance is a significant predictor of student enrolment, with estimated elasticities between 0.013 and 0.059, depending on the indicator used.
This article investigates whether and to what extent poor proficiency in Italian impairs immigrants’ labor market integration in Italy. Using individual-level survey data, we apply instrumental ...variables methods to leverage presumably exogenous variations in Italian proficiency induced by immigrants’ demo-linguistic characteristics (e.g., age at arrival, linguistic distance between mother tongue and destination language, speaking Italian during childhood) and their interplays. We find that, given the low-skill nature of Italy's immigrant labor market, poor proficiency in communication skills (speaking and understanding Italian) produces larger penalties for immigrants’ labor force participation and employment than does the lack of formal skills (reading and writing). In contrast, no effect is found on immigrants’ job characteristics like the type of contract and full-time or part-time work. Whereas female immigrants were more penalized than males by poor linguistic proficiency in labor force participation, immigrants in linguistic groups that were more likely to work with (for) co-nationals were less affected by linguistic barriers than other immigrant groups. Yet, when investigating perceived integration outcomes, immigrants working with (for) co-nationals fared worse on feeling at home, feeling accepted, and overall life satisfaction in Italy. As our analysis shows, linguistic enclaves in workplaces, while not always representing a hurdle to immigrants’ labor market success, can generate trade-offs for other non-labor market integration outcomes. These findings highlight that the development of linguistic skills should be prioritized in migration policy agendas, taking into account heterogeneity in immigrants’ demographic and linguistic profiles.
Persistent cervical infections with carcinogenic human papillomaviruses (HPV) cause virtually all cervical cancer. Cytologic abnormalities are the manifestations of HPV infections used to identify ...women at risk. To compare the potential of the full range of anogenital HPV genotypes to induce cytopathic effects, we examined the influences of HPV type, viral load, and age on cytopathology among 1,222 women having a single HPV type at enrollment into a 10,000-woman population-based study in Costa Rica. Cervical specimens were tested for approximately 40 HPV types by MY09/MY11 L1 primer PCR and type-specific dot blot hybridization. Types were organized by phylogenetic species and cancer risk. PCR signal strength served as a qualitative surrogate for viral load. Overall, 24.8% 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 22.4-27.3 of single prevalent HPV infections had concurrent abnormalities (atypical squamous cells or worse) ranging from 0.0% to 80.0% based on HPV type. Noncarcinogenic alpha3/alpha15 types, although highly prevalent, uncommonly caused cytologic abnormalities (13.1%; 95% CI, 9.8-17.0). In contrast, one quarter to nearly one half of infections with a single major carcinogenic species type (alpha9/alpha11/alpha7/alpha5/alpha6) produced abnormalities. Greater abnormalities were observed with increasing qualitative viral load of carcinogenic types; fewer abnormalities were observed among older women (>54 years). A high percentage (46.2%) of detected abnormalities in women infected with HPV16 or related alpha9 types were high grade or worse, consistent with strong carcinogenicity, compared with 10.7% in women infected with alpha7 types, including HPV18, a major cause of adenocarcinoma. The lack of evident severe abnormalities associated with HPV18 and related HPV types might have implications for screening for poorly detected glandular and alpha7-related lesions.
BackgroundDetailed epidemiologic studies of cervical type-specific human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in large populations are scarce MethodsWe recruited a population-based cohort in Guanacaste, ...Costa Rica. Participants were interviewed, screened for cervical neoplasia, and tested for >40 HPV types by use of MY09/11 L1 consensus primer polymerase chain reaction. We estimated the risk factors for infection and the associations between type-specific HPV infections and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and cancer in 8514 sexually active women who had not undergone a hysterectomy ResultsThe overall HPV prevalence was 26.5%. The most common type was HPV-16 (3.6% of the population). HPV prevalence showed a U-shaped age-specific curve. Sexual behaviors were the main determinants of oncogenic and nononcogenic infections; age at first sexual intercourse was not independently associated with infection. Barrier contraceptive use was somewhat protective against infection. Oncogenic infections were strongly associated with risk of all grades of CIN and of cancer. Types 16, 18, and 58 were the most common in women diagnosed with CIN3 and cancer. Except for those that included HPV-16, multiple-type infections were associated with an increased risk (compared with that for single-type infections) of all grades of CIN and of cancer ConclusionsWe confirmed the bimodal age pattern of HPV infection in Guanacaste and the sexually transmitted nature of both oncogenic and nononcogenic HPV types
PDF
