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| 2. |
- Castelnuovo, Gianluca, et al.
(författare)
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What Is the Role of the Placebo Effect for Pain Relief in Neurorehabilitation? : Clinical Implications From the Italian Consensus Conference on Pain in Neurorehabilitation
- 2018
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Neurology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-2295. ; 9
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: It is increasingly acknowledged that the outcomes of medical treatments are influenced by the context of the clinical encounter through the mechanisms of the placebo effect. The phenomenon of placebo analgesia might be exploited to maximize the efficacy of neurorehabilitation treatments. Since its intensity varies across neurological disorders, the Italian Consensus Conference on Pain in Neurorehabilitation (ICCP) summarized the studies on this field to provide guidance on its use.Methods: A review of the existing reviews and meta-analyses was performed to assess the magnitude of the placebo effect in disorders that may undergo neurorehabilitation treatment. The search was performed on Pubmed using placebo, pain, and the names of neurological disorders as keywords. Methodological quality was assessed using a pre-existing checklist. Data about the magnitude of the placebo effect were extracted from the included reviews and were commented in a narrative form.Results: 11 articles were included in this review. Placebo treatments showed weak effects in central neuropathic pain (pain reduction from 0.44 to 0.66 on a 0-10 scale) and moderate effects in postherpetic neuralgia (1.16), in diabetic peripheral neuropathy (1.45), and in pain associated to HIV (1.82). Moderate effects were also found on pain due to fibromyalgia and migraine; only weak short-term effects were found in complex regional pain syndrome. Confounding variables might have influenced these results.Clinical implications: These estimates should be interpreted with caution, but underscore that the placebo effect can be exploited in neurorehabilitation programs. It is not necessary to conceal its use from the patient. Knowledge of placebo mechanisms can be used to shape the doctor-patient relationship, to reduce the use of analgesic drugs and to train the patient to become an active agent of the therapy.
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- Cipollini, Monica, et al.
(författare)
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Polymorphisms within base and nucleotide excision repair pathways and risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma
- 2016
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Ingår i: DNA Repair. - : Elsevier BV. - 1568-7864. ; 41, s. 27-31
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The thyrocytes are exposed to high levels of oxidative stress which could induce DNA damages. Base excision repair (BER) is one of the principal mechanisms of defense against oxidative DNA damage, however recent evidences suggest that also nucleotide excision repair (NER) could be involved. The aim of present work was to identify novel differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) risk variants in BER and NER genes. For this purpose, the most strongly associated SNPs within NER and BER genes found in our previous GWAS on DTC were selected and replicated in an independent series of samples for a new case-control study. Although a positive signal was detected at the nominal level of 0.05 for rs7689099 (encoding for an aminoacid change proline to arginine at codon 117 within NEIL3), none of the considered SNPs (i.e. rs7990340 and rs690860 within RFC3, rs3744767 and rs1131636 within RPA1, rs16962916 and rs3136166 in ERCC4, and rs17739370 and rs7689099 in NEIL3) was associated with the risk of DTC when the correction of multiple testing was applied. In conclusion, a role of NER and BER pathways was evoked in the susceptibility to DTC. However, this seemed to be limited to few polymorphic genes and the overall effect size appeared weak.
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- Hannon, Gina E., et al.
(författare)
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The reconstruction of past forest dynamics over the last 13,500 years in SW Sweden
- 2018
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Ingår i: The Holocene. - : SAGE Publications. - 0959-6836 .- 1477-0911. ; 28:11, s. 1791-1800
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Evidence for unbroken continuity of tree taxa over the last c. 13,500 years is presented from a biodiversity ‘hotspot’ nature reserve in south-west Sweden.Forest composition, continuity, fire and disturbance events are reconstructed using palaeoecological methods. A lake record reveals that Pinus sylvestris,Betula spp., Salix spp., Populus tremula and Hippophae rhamnoides were the initial trees scattered in a semi-open, steppe environment. This developedinto forest with Pinus, Betula, Corylus, Alnus, Ulmus and Populus with evidence for frequent fires. Deciduous trees became more significant as fires becameless frequent and Quercus, Fraxinus and Tilia expanded. Fire frequencies increased again in the Bronze Age probably associated with anthropogenic useof the forest, and the first Fagus sylvatica pollen was recorded. Burning continued through the Iron Age, but charcoal is briefly absent for a period oftenreferred to as the ‘Late Iron Age Lull’. The forest re-expanded with successions involving Juniperus, but with an altered composition from the earlier mixeddeciduous community, to one dominated by Fagus. This is coincident with the first pollen records for Picea abies. The early Holocene mixed forest withfrequent low-intensity fires is potentially associated with the greatest diversity of red-listed insect species. Forest continuity and the fragmented reservoirpopulations of old deciduous trees in the Fagus-dominated forest today are likely to have been critical in preserving the present-day, species-rich, rareepiphytic flora, wood-inhabiting fungi and invertebrate communities. As many of these forest fragments may become more vulnerable with future climatechange, tree diversity with some disturbance may become essential for survival of the endangered saproxylic species.
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- Kuosmanen, Niina, et al.
(författare)
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The role of climate, forest fires and human population size in Holocene vegetation dynamics in Fennoscandia
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Vegetation Science. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1100-9233 .- 1654-1103. ; 29:3, s. 382-392
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- QuestionsWe investigated the changing role of climate, forest fires and human population size in the broad-scale compositional changes in Holocene vegetation dynamics before and after the onset of farming in Sweden (at 6,000cal yr BP) and in Finland (at 4,000calyr BP). LocationSouthern and central Sweden, SW and SE Finland. MethodsHolocene regional plant abundances were reconstructed using the REVEALS model on selected fossil pollen records from lakes. The relative importance of climate, fires and human population size on changes in vegetation composition was assessed using variation partitioning. Past climate variable was derived from the LOVECLIM climate model. Fire variable was reconstructed from sedimentary charcoal records. Estimated trend in human population size was based on the temporal distribution of archaeological radiocarbon dates. ResultsClimate explains the highest proportion of variation in vegetation composition during the whole study period in Sweden (10,000-4,000cal yr BP) and in Finland (10,000-1,000cal yr BP), and during the pre-agricultural period. In general, fires explain a relatively low proportion of variation. Human population size has significant effect on vegetation dynamics after the onset of farming and explains the highest variation in vegetation in S Sweden and SW Finland. ConclusionsMesolithic hunter-gatherer populations did not significantly affect vegetation composition in Fennoscandia, and climate was the main driver of changes at that time. Agricultural communities, however, had greater effect on vegetation dynamics, and the role of human population size became a more important factor during the late Holocene. Our results demonstrate that climate can be considered the main driver of long-term vegetation dynamics in Fennoscandia. However, in some regions the influence of human population size on Holocene vegetation changes exceeded that of climate and has a longevity dating to the early Neolithic.
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- Molinari, Chiara, et al.
(författare)
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Interdisciplinary approach for reconstructing an alder-based historical agricultural practice of the Eastern Ligurian Apennines (NW Italy)
- 2016
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Ingår i: Environmental Archaeology. - 1461-4103. ; 21:1, s. 31-44
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Data from four soil profiles studied through pollen and macroscopic charcoal analyses were used to identify specific palynological assemblages associated with a traditional land-use system documented in the Eastern Ligurian Apennines (NW Italy) between the 18th and early 20th century, concerning a cyclical use of grey alder plots for temporary cultivations involving to the use of controlled fire. This is the first attempt to verify on palynological evidence some hypotheses raised by previous historical ecology studies about the consequences of this agricultural practice (recently named alnocoltura) on past and present vegetation. Our investigations underline (1) high percentages of anthropogenic pollen indicators, (2) increase of Ericaceae percentages, (3) low pollen percentages of Alnus, (4) high macrocharcoal concentrations and (5) high values of palynological richness during periods affected by the alnocoltura cycle according to the historical sources. Similar patterns are also detectable in pollen diagrams from two adjacent peat bogs. The paper shows the strength of an interdisciplinary methodology (field observations, cartographical and archival historical data, palynological and archaeological investigations) for studies of past land-use systems. By demonstrating the necessity of a long-term prospective in environmental reconstructions for the preservation of the cultural landscape, one of the important elements of this research is its potential contribution to issues of habitat management and nature-conservation policy. Further analyses are needed to test the replicability and reliability of the hypotheses derived from this study.
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| 10. |
- Molinari, Chiara, et al.
(författare)
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The climate, the fuel and the land use: long-term regional variability of biomass burning in boreal forests
- 2018
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley. - 1365-2486 .- 1354-1013. ; 24:10, s. 4929-4945
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The influence of different drivers on changes in North American and European boreal forests biomass burning (BB) during the Holocene was investigated based on the following hypotheses: land use was important only in the southernmost regions, while elsewhere climate was the main driver modulated by changes in fuel type. BB was reconstructed by means of 88 sedimentary charcoal records divided into six different site clusters. A statistical approach was used to explore the relative contribution of (a) pollen‐based mean July/summer temperature and mean annual precipitation reconstructions, (b) an independent model‐based scenario of past land use (LU), and (c) pollen‐based reconstructions of plant functional types (PFTs) on BB. Our hypotheses were tested with: (a) a west‐east northern boreal sector with changing climatic conditions and a homogeneous vegetation, and (b) a north‐south European boreal sector characterized by gradual variation in both climate and vegetation composition. The processes driving BB in boreal forests varied from one region to another during the Holocene. However, general trends in boreal biomass burning were primarily controlled by changes in climate (mean annual precipitation in Alaska, northern Quebec, and northern Fennoscandia, and mean July/summer temperature in central Canada and central Fennoscandia) and, secondarily, by fuel composition (BB positively correlated with the presence of boreal needleleaf evergreentrees in Alaska and in central and southern Fennoscandia). Land use playedonly a marginal role. A modification towards less flammable tree species (by promoting deciduous stands over fire‐prone conifers) could contribute to reduce circumboreal wildfire risk in future warmer periods.
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