Estrategias de participación democrática en el siglo XXI : (Argentina)

El concepto de ciudadanía es un concepto histórico y dinámico cuyo contenido ha variado a lo largo de las distintas épocas. Hay consenso en definir ciudadanía como un conjunto de derechos y responsabilidades de las personas en el marco de una comunidad determinada. La ciudadanía política incluye los derechos políticos, entre ellos el derecho al sufragio y a la participación política en carácter de elector o de dirigente. La ciudadanía social dota a los sujetos del derecho a un nivel adecuado de educación, de salud, de trabajo, de vivienda y de seguridad social. A diferencia de otro tipo de derechos, los derechos políticos consistentes en poder votar y poder ser elegido para cargos públicos tienen una extensión limitada: no todas las personas que forman parte de una comunidad son titulares de estos derechos. Para ser sujeto titular de esos derechos políticos se deben reunir algunas condiciones que varían según los países pero que, en la actualidad y en general, se vinculan con la capacidad de discernimiento y la nacionalidad. Educar para la ciudadanía es proveer herramientas conceptuales para que los y las adolescentes comprendan las distintas dimensiones del “ser ciudadano". Y es también proporcionar herramientas procedimentales para que estén en condiciones de ejercer plenamente su ciudadanía a través de la participación

Evaluation of delirium screening tools in geriatric medical inpatients: a diagnostic test accuracy study

Introduction: screening all unscheduled older adults for delirium is recommended in national guidelines, but there is no consensus on how to perform initial assessment. Aim: to evaluate the test accuracy of five brief cognitive assessment tools for delirium diagnosis in routine clinical practice. Methods: a consecutive cohort of non-elective, elderly care (older than 65 years) hospital inpatients admitted to a geriatric medical assessment unit of an urban teaching hospital. Reference assessments were clinical diagnosis of delirium performed by elderly care physicians. Routine screening tests were: Abbreviated Mental Test (AMT-10, AMT-4), 4 A's Test (4AT), brief Confusion Assessment Method (bCAM), months of the year backwards (MOTYB) and informant Single Question in Delirium (SQiD). Results: we assessed 500 patients, mean age 83 years (range = 66−101). Clinical diagnoses were: 93 of 500 (18.6%) definite delirium, 104 of 500 (20.8%) possible delirium and 277 of 500 (55.4%) no delirium; 266 of 500 (53.2%) were identified as definite or possible dementia. For diagnosis of definite delirium, AMT-4 (cut-point < 3/4) had a sensitivity of 92.7% (95% confidence interval (CI): 84.8–97.3), with a specificity of 53.7% (95% CI: 48.1–59.2); AMT-10 (<4/10), MOTYB (<4/12) and SQiD showed similar performance. bCAM had a sensitivity of 70.3% (95% CI: 58.5–80.3) with a specificity of 91.4% (95% CI: 87.7–94.3). 4AT (>4/12) had a sensitivity of 86.7% (95% CI: 77.5–93.2) and specificity of 69.5% (95% CI: 64.4–74.3). Conclusions: short screening tools such as AMT-4 or MOTYB have good sensitivity for definite delirium, but poor specificity; these tools may be reasonable as a first stage in assessment for delirium. The 4AT is feasible and appears to perform well with good sensitivity and reasonable specificity

Training lessicale nella Dislessia e Disortografia Evolutiva : analisi dell’efficacia di 2 nuovi trattamenti per il potenziamento della letto-scrittura

L’articolo presenta l’analisi di efficacia di due nuovi trattamenti di tipo lessicale per la Disortografia e la Dislessia Evolutiva. I programmi di potenziamento proposti, sono costituiti da un insieme di brani estratti da libri per la scuola primaria di primo grado ed ordinati rispettando principalmente la loro complessità sintattico-grammaticale (Indice di Gulpease).Lo studio ha coinvolto 53 soggetti frequentanti dal terzo anno della scuola primaria al secondo anno della scuola secondaria di primo grado con diagnosi di Disturbo Specifico dell’Apprendimento (dislessia e/o disortografia). La ricerca mostra un significativo miglioramento delle abilità sottoposte a training (lettura e/o scrittura) alle prove di valutazione utilizzate: lettura e/o scrittura di parole, non parole e testo

A general model of dioxin contamination in breast milk: results from a study on 94 women from the Caserta and Naples areas in Italy.

BackgroundThe Caserta and Naples areas in Campania Region experience heavy environmental contamination due to illegal waste disposal and burns, thus representing a valuable setting to develop a general model of human contamination with dioxins (PCDDs-PCDFs) and dioxin-like-PCBs (dl-PCBs).Methods94 breastfeeding women (aged 19-32 years; mean age 27.9 ± 3.0) were recruited to determine concentrations of PCDDs-PCDFs and dl-PCBs in their milk. Individual milk samples were collected and analyzed according to standard international procedures. A generalized linear model was used to test potential predictors of pollutant concentration in breast milk: age, exposure to waste fires, cigarette smoking, diet, and residence in high/low risk area (defined at high/low environmental pressure by a specific 2007 WHO report). A Structural Equation Model (SEM) analysis was carried out by taking into account PCDDs-PCDFs and dl-PCBs as endogenous variables and age, waste fires, risk area and smoking as exogenous variables.ResultsAll milk samples were contaminated by PCDDs-PCDFs (8.6 pg WHO-TEQ/98g fat ± 2.7; range 3.8-19) and dl-PCBs (8.0 pg WHO-TEQ/98g fat ± 3.7; range 2.5-24), with their concentrations being associated with age and exposure to waste fires (p < 0.01). Exposure to fires resulted in larger increases of dioxins concentrations in people living in low risk areas than those from high risk areas (p < 0.01).ConclusionsA diffuse human exposure to persistent organic pollutants was observed in the Caserta and Naples areas. Dioxins concentration in women living in areas classified at low environmental pressure in 2007 WHO report was significantly influenced by exposure to burns

Isolation and partial characterization of bacteriophages infecting Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae, causal agent of kiwifruit bacterial canker

The phytopathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) is the causal agent of bacterial canker of kiwifruit. In the last years, it has caused severe economic losses to Actinidia spp. cultivations, mainly in Italy and New Zealand. Conventional strategies adopted did not provide adequate control of infection. Phage therapy may be a realistic and safe answer to the urgent need for novel antibacterial agents aiming to control this bacterial pathogen. In this study, we described the isolation and characterization of two bacteriophages able to specifically infect Psa. φPSA1, a member of the Siphoviridae family, is a temperate phage with a narrow host range, a long latency, and a burst size of 178; φPSA2 is a lytic phage of Podoviridae family with a broader host range, a short latency, a burst size of 92 and a higher bactericidal activity as determined by the TOD value. The genomic sequence of φPSA1 has a length of 51,090 bp and a low sequence homology with the other siphophages, whereas φPSA2 has a length of 40 472 bp with a 98% homology with Pseudomonas putida bacteriophage gh-1. Of the two phages examined, φPSA2 may be considered as a candidate for phage therapy of kiwifruit disease, while φPSA1 seems specific toward the recent outbreak's isolates and could be useful for Psa typin

List of New Names of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria (2008-2010)

In 2010 the International Society of Plant Pathology Committee on the Taxonomy of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria published the Comprehensive List of Names of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria, 1980-2007 to provide an authoritative register of names of plant pathogens. In this manuscript we update the list of names by cataloguing names published from 2008 to 2010. We provide those names that have been validly and effectively published in this time frame, the proposed names that we judged to be invalid and names published earlier that did not make the previous lists. We also discuss problems that arise in the naming of strains that fall into the status Candidatus and nomenclatural problems in the genus Xanthomonas

List of New Names of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria (2011-2012)

The International Society of Plant Pathology Committee on the Taxonomy of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria has responsibility to evaluate the names of newly proposed pathovars for adherence to the International Standards for Naming Pathovars of Phytopathogenic Bacteria. Currently, the Comprehensive List of Names and the List of New Names of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria provide the authoritative register of names of bacterial plant pathogens. In this manuscript we up-date the list of names by cataloguing and evaluating names of plant pathogenic bacteria published in 2011 and 2012. We provide those names that have been validly and effectively published in this time frame, the proposed names that we judged to be invalid, and names published earlier that did not make the previous lists

Evaluation of the efficiency of a conventional PCR protocol for the diagnosis of bacterial spot disease caused by Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni in stone fruits and almond

Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni (Xap), the causal agent of bacterial spot disease of stone fruits and almond, has a quarantine status for the European Union and the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization. The symptoms in the diverse hosts show some differences and, although being quite typical, could be confused with those of some fungal diseases or other biotic or abiotic causes. Consequently, an accurate molecular diagnosis method is required for a rapid identification of the pathogen in samples of imported plants, from nurseries, orchards, etc. A protocol for conventional PCR designed by Pagani (2004) has been the only molecular analytic tool available for several years. It has been optimised for improving its specificity and sensitivity, and the results of its evaluation in 316 bacterial spot-like symptomatic samples of almond, apricot, cherry, Japanese plum and peach, compared with those of isolation and real-time PCR, are reported. The optimised PCR protocol showed specificity for a collection of Xap strains tested. Few non-desired reactions were obtained with some other xanthomonads which have not been reported from Prunus species. Sensitivity thresholds ranged from 102 to 105 CFU ml-1, depending on the hosts and type of plant material. This conventional PCR assay proved to be an excellent candidate for a rapid screening and presumptive diagnosis in cases where real-time PCR equipment is not available

Applications of gas chromatography for air and food quality assessment, and for monitoring health-related biomarkers.

Gas chromatography has been applied in a wide range of fields: from environmental analysis to culture heritage sector, from biochemical field to food analysis, because of its high versatility and its availability in many laboratories. In this work, gas chromatography (GC) coupled to flame ionization detector (FID) or mass-spectrometry (MS) was exploited in various sectors related to food chemistry, demonstrating its high performance and versatility. In the first study, GC-MS has been exploited for the assessment of the efficiency of kitchen hoods filters, and to monitor volatile organic compounds (VOCs) development in different cooking systems and foods, thus contributing to assess air quality in indoor environments. In particular, a new method involving the sampling of the air during a cooking process by a polyethylene terephthalate (PET, Nalophan) bag and the subsequent analysis by solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and GC-MS, was applied for the first time to the study of VOCs developed in different cooking systems (deep-frying of French fries, grilling of a hamburger, boiling of cauliflower and heating of sunflower oil). The same method was applied for the efficiency test of odor filters used in domestic kitchen hoods and also to develop and validate an alternative method to the one proposed by current legislation EN IEC 61591. The second study exploited again a new SPME-GC-MS, but in a different field: the study of food shelf-life. The first objective was the study of the efficiency of a new biopackaging (BP), based on biopolymers, to preserve the quality of organic chicken meat under modified atmosphere (MAP) in comparison with a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) material, during storage at 2°C. The second purpose regarded the comparison of the shelf-life of organic and traditional chicken meat (of the same species) in a cellophane packaging under aerobic conditions at 2°C. The results were promising and this study contributed to encourage the use of new biodegradable materials and the consumption of sustainable and organic products. In chapter 3, the presented study applied GC-FID, for the valorisation of food products and by- products, by analysing a bioactive compound, squalene, in vegetable oils and apple by-products (seeds and peels), after developing and validating a new, rapid and simple analytical method. Squalene has been demonstrated to have several beneficial properties; in the present study, its content in different extra virgin olive oils and olive oils were investigated. Squalene was also monitored during the refining process of different vegetable oils: olive, soybean, grapeseed, sunflower, sunflower with high oleic content and maize oils, in order to evaluate possible losses during the process. The proposed method was applied also to the study of squalene in two apple by-products (peels and seeds) to evaluate their possible exploitation in food, cosmetical or pharmaceutical fields. In the future, the method could be exploited in the study of squalene in many different food matrices, reducing time, solvents and costs respect other analytical methods present in literature. In the study presented in the last chapter, GC was exploited for a different purpose again. The aim was the determination of analytes, short chain free fatty acids (SCFAs), in biological samples as faeces and fermentation fluids, where their measurement gives an indication of the effect of a special diet or environmental condition, where higher content is in general associated with positive effects. A new GC-FID method was developed and exploited in two different projects in collaboration with the School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine of the University of Camerino for the determination and quantification of eight SCFAs (acetic, propionic, i-butyric, butyric, i-valeric, valeric, i-caproic and caproic acids) in different biological samples (rat, mice and human faeces and in fermentation fluids samples). Indeed, in the last decades SCFAs were recognized for their beneficial effects on the host health status and their analysis contributed to the to investigate for instance the effect of diet supplementation in the people health or to study the adaptation of gut microbiota during geographical, habits and diet changes. These works represent some examples of the possible exploitation of gas chromatography in food chemistry and in close fields. Important information and analytical tools have been obtained, that contributed to assess the quality of a food, or air quality, or the effect of a diet, or environmental conditions, on the overall health status of an individual

Extensive remodeling of the Pseudomonas syringae pv. avellanae type III secretome associated with two independent host shifts onto hazelnut

BACKGROUND: Hazelnut (Corylus avellana) decline disease in Greece and Italy is caused by the convergent evolution of two distantly related lineages of Pseudomonas syringae pv. avellanae (Pav). We sequenced the genomes of three Pav isolates to determine if their convergent virulence phenotype had a common genetic basis due to either genetic exchange between lineages or parallel evolution. RESULTS: We found little evidence for horizontal transfer (recombination) of genes between Pav lineages, but two large genomic islands (GIs) have been recently acquired by one of the lineages. Evolutionary analyses of the genes encoding type III secreted effectors (T3SEs) that are translocated into host cells and are important for both suppressing and eliciting defense responses show that the two Pav lineages have dramatically different T3SE profiles, with only two shared putatively functional T3SEs. One Pav lineage has undergone unprecedented secretome remodeling, including the acquisition of eleven new T3SEs and the loss or pseudogenization of 15, including five of the six core T3SE families that are present in the other Pav lineage. Molecular dating indicates that divergence within both of the Pav lineages predates their observation in the field. This suggest that both Pav lineages have been cryptically infecting hazelnut trees or wild relatives for many years, and that the emergence of hazelnut decline in the 1970s may have been due to changes in agricultural practice. CONCLUSIONS: These data show that divergent lineages of P. syringae can converge on identical disease etiology on the same host plant using different virulence mechanisms and that dramatic shifts in the arsenal of T3SEs can accompany disease emergence