Papers by Maria Montinari
International Journal of Cardiology, 2022
BACKGROUND Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is associated with various risk factors, including enviro... more BACKGROUND Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is associated with various risk factors, including environmental stressors. The aim of our paper is to study the mortality patterns in Italy with a focus on provinces of the Apulia Region from 1931 to 2015 to analyze the burden of the disease over time. METHODS We conducted an ecological analysis of mortality from all causes and from CHD in main Italian geographical areas and in the Apulian provinces, from 1931 to 2015. Sex-specific mortality and population data were obtained from the Italian National Institute of Statistics since 1969. Direct standardized mortality rates (SDRs) per 10,000 inhabitants with 90% confidence intervals (90%CI) were calculated from 1969, using the European population as standard. The standardized mortality ratios (SMRs%) were calculated with 90%CI and the Italian population as reference. RESULTS The SDRs indicate a decline in mortality from CHD in all geographical Italian areas and in the Apulian provinces for both sexes. However, this decline slowed over time, particularly in the South. The highest values of SMRs% were observed in the industrialized areas of Taranto and especially Brindisi, in both sexes. CONCLUSIONS The historical reconstruction over about 80 years highlighted critical issues for CHD at the start of the industrial development in the provinces of Brindisi and Taranto. This might suggest environmental pollution as risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, it would be necessary to verify how much other risk factors (eg. diabetes and obesity) affect the slowdown in the CHD mortality decline over the last decade.
Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 2022
Medicina nei secoli, 2017
Acta Medica Mediterranea, 2015
The metropolitan area of Taranto (Apulia region, Southern-Italy), characterized by a strong indus... more The metropolitan area of Taranto (Apulia region, Southern-Italy), characterized by a strong industrial presence since the early sixties, is an “environmental high-risk area”. Taranto is the most polluted area in Italy, and probably in Europe. In Taranto there is one of the biggest full-cycle steel plants in Europe (the Ilva), a cement factory of national importance, a huge petrochemical refinery, and two thermoelectric plants using the port area for the transit of goods and raw materials. There are also chemical factories producing glue, paint and synthetic enamel, factories that synthesize petrol and coal derivatives, factories producing rubber and plastic, second processing metallurgic industries, and factories producing mechanical, electronic and electro-technical components. Moreover, there are two incinerators and a public disposal plant. According to the data gathered by the National Inventory of Sources and Emissions (INES), Taranto is at a top place in Italy for industrial e...
Medicina nei secoli, 2017
Animal experimentation has played a key role in biomedical research throughout history, but it ha... more Animal experimentation has played a key role in biomedical research throughout history, but it has also been a cause of heated public, scientific and philosophical debate for hundreds of years. The use of animals as models for study of human anatomy and physiology began in ancient Greece and reemerged in the Renaissance, to satisfy scientific enquiry. This technique laid the foundations of scientific medical revolution in the following centuries. Animal experimentation has now developed to the point that animal models are employed in all fields of biomedical research including, but not limited to, molecular biology, immunology and infectious disease, pharmacology, oncology, transplantology and animal behavior. This article reviews the use of animals in biomedical research from a historical viewpoint, with a look at the ethical controversy. Key words: Animal experimentation - Animal models - Biomedical research
Medicina nei secoli, 2009
The aim of this study is to investigate leukaemia mortality in Salento. Leukaemia mortality in Sa... more The aim of this study is to investigate leukaemia mortality in Salento. Leukaemia mortality in Salento's population is compared to data for Apulia and Italy, for 1902 to 2002. With particular reference to the period from 1969 to 2002, the paper looks at leukaemia mortality in male and female populations. Data on all eligible leukaemia deaths was obtained from the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). An increase of leukaemia mortality was observed both in male and female populations. Leukaemia mortality in Salento's female population was greater than amongst males.
European Clinics in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2007
HPV (human papillomavirus) is a virus responsible for many female and male genital tract diseases... more HPV (human papillomavirus) is a virus responsible for many female and male genital tract diseases. It is a small nonenveloped virus with icosahedral symmetry that contains a double-stranded DNA genomes of approximately 7,900 bp. Approximately 200 different HPVs have been characterized, classified in mucosal and cutaneous viruses, responsible for a wide spectrum of clinical conditions, from simple feet and hands warts to genital cancer. Their genome is functionally distinct in three regions. The condition of the host immune system is one of the factors that can strongly influence the natural history of HPV infection. The primary response to viral infection is cell-mediated, so conditions that compromise the immune system increase the viral infection risk. The molecular mechanisms involved in the onset of the cervical carcinoma are well defined, and they are mainly associated to the ability of the proteins E6 and E7 to neutralize the activity of p53 and retinoblastoma protein, respectively. The infection of HPV is mainly diagnosed through molecular methods. Several assays have been developed for the simultaneous identification of HPV types, the majority of which are polymerase chain reaction-based assays. Side by side with these assays, the emerging technology of the DNA chip may offer a reliable diagnostic tool for discriminating easily between many HPV genotypes.
![Research paper thumbnail of [The mortality rate for homicide among women in Italy: a historical and geographical analysis as a contribution to the study of femicide]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/85194296/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Epidemiologia e prevenzione
As 70% of the killings of women takes place in the context of relational dynamics and in 80% of t... more As 70% of the killings of women takes place in the context of relational dynamics and in 80% of the cases the perpetrator is a man, we can presume that femicide constitutes much of the homicide mortality among women. Epidemiological surveillance of the killings of women can, therefore, provide indicators on the trends and geographical distribution of femicide and, indirectly, of the more general phenomenon of harassment and violence against women. The analysis of 40 years of mortality shows only a slight decrease of the murders of women nationwide. This suggests that the factors that underline this phenomenon are deeply rooted in the relationship between men and women. The decrease has taken place mainly in the South and Islands and the percentage SMRs point to a reversal of the relationship between geographic areas: thus, at the end of the observation period the North-West assumes a greater weight than the South and Islands. So we cannot exclude that part of the decrease in murders...
Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare
The clinical manifestations of atherosclerosis are nowadays the main cause of death in industrial... more The clinical manifestations of atherosclerosis are nowadays the main cause of death in industrialized countries, but atherosclerotic disease was found in humans who lived thousands of years ago, before the spread of current risk factors. Atherosclerotic lesions were identified on a 5300-year-old mummy, as well as in Egyptian mummies and other ancient civilizations. For many decades of the twentieth century, atherosclerosis was considered a degenerative disease, mainly determined by a passive lipid storage, while the most recent theory of atherogenesis is based on endothelial dysfunction. The importance of inflammation and immunity in atherosclerosis's pathophysiology was realized around the turn of the millennium, when in 1999 the famous pathologist Russell Ross published in the New England Journal of Medicine an article entitled "Atherosclerosisan inflammatory disease". In the following decades, inflammation has been a topic of intense basic research in atherosclerosis, albeit its importance has ancient scientific roots. In fact, in 1856 Rudolph Virchow was the first proponent of this hypothesis, but evidence of the key role of inflammation in atherogenesis occurred only in 2017. It seemed interesting to retrace the key steps of atherosclerosis in a historical context: from the teachings of the physicians of the Roman Empire to the response-toinjury hypothesis, up to the key role of inflammation and immunity at various stages of disease. Finally, we briefly discussed current knowledge and future trajectories of atherosclerosis research and its therapeutic implications.
Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare
Ancient Greece was the cradle of the Mediterranean food tradition, characterized by the Mediterra... more Ancient Greece was the cradle of the Mediterranean food tradition, characterized by the Mediterranean "eternal trinity" wheat-olive oil-wine, the very essence of the country's traditional agricultural and dietary regime, enriched by a culture of sharing and commensality. This food model, subsequently adopted and spread by the Romans, was rediscovered at the end of the Second World War by two American researchers, Leland Allbaugh and Ancel Keys. With the famous Seven Countries Study, Keys demonstrated for the first time that populations practicing a Mediterranean diet-such as the Greeks and southern Italians-showed low mortality rates from ischemic heart disease compared to the peoples of Northern Europe and North America. Since then, numerous subsequent epidemiological studies and randomized clinical trials have confirmed the beneficial effects of the Mediterranean diet both in primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases. This review will focus on the origins of the Mediterranean diet from its roots and its relationship to cardiovascular disease, with a brief overview of the nutritional mechanisms that influence atherosclerosis.
Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare
Cardiac auscultation-even with its limitations-is still a valid and economical technique for the ... more Cardiac auscultation-even with its limitations-is still a valid and economical technique for the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases, and despite the growing demand for sophisticated imaging techniques, clinical use of the stethoscope in medical practice has not yet been abandoned. In 1816, René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laënnec invented the stethoscope, while examining a young woman with suspected heart disease, giving rise to mediated auscultation. He described in detail several heart and lung sounds, correlating them with postmortem pathology. Even today, a correct interpretation of heart sounds, integrated with the clinical history and physical examination, allows to detect properly most of the structural heart abnormalities or to evaluate them in a differential diagnosis. However, the lack of organic teaching of auscultation and its inadequate practice have a negative impact on the clinical competence of physicians in training, also reflecting a diminished academic interest in physical semiotic. Medical simulation could be an effective instructional tool in teaching and deepening auscultation. Handheld ultrasound devices could be used for screening or for integrating and improving auscultatory abilities of physicians; the electronic stethoscope, with its new digital capabilities, will help to achieve a correct diagnosis. The availability of innovative representations of the sounds with phonoand spectrograms provides an important aid in diagnosis, in teaching practice and pedagogy. Technological innovations, despite their undoubted value, must complement and not supplant a complete physical examination; clinical auscultation remains an important and cost-effective screening method for the physicians in cardiorespiratory diagnosis. Cardiac auscultation has a future, and the stethoscope has not yet become a medical heirloom.
Epidemiologia e prevenzione
OBIETTIVI: valutare l'andamento temporale della mortalità per patologie respiratorie nelle pr... more OBIETTIVI: valutare l'andamento temporale della mortalità per patologie respiratorie nelle province pugliesi utilizzando dati omogenei per fonte e metodologia di calcolo. DISEGNO: analisi ecologica storica degli andamenti temporali di mortalità per tumori e patologie dell'apparato respiratorio nelle province pugliesi, in Puglia e nelle ripartizioni geografiche italiane dal 1933 al 2010. SETTING E PARTECIPANTI: i dati di mortalità e le popolazioni residenti sono di fonte Istat. Sono state esaminate tutte le cause di decesso, il tumore della laringe, il tumore del polmone, l'insieme dei tumori respiratori, la bronchite, la polmonite e la broncopolmonite considerate congiuntamente, e l'insieme delle patologie respiratorie. Le analisi sono disaggregate per sesso dal 1969. PRINCIPALI MISURE DI OUTCOME: rapporti standardizzati di mortalità (SMR%) in riferimento all'Italia, con intervalli di confidenza al 95%, e tassi di mortalità standardizzati col metodo diretto (TSD ...
Epidemiologia e prevenzione
The Province of Lecce (Apulia Region, Southern Italy) is one of the Italian areas where the preva... more The Province of Lecce (Apulia Region, Southern Italy) is one of the Italian areas where the prevalence of respiratory disease and cancer of the respitartory tract is very high. Through a descriptive analysis of the historical series of tobacco culture indicators, a historical reconstruction of the development of tobacco cultivation in Salento (the area where the Province of Lecce is located) is here presented, in order to provide an additional element of knowledge on potential risk factors for respiratory diseases and cancers. Data regarding extensions in hectares and crop productions in the province of Lecce, in Apulia, and in Italy are from the Chamber of commerce of Lecce province and from the Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat). From 1929 to 1993, the province of Lecce provided between 75% and 94% of the tobacco cultivated in Apulia Region and 25% of the national tobacco until 1945. Since the late Sixties, a growing increase in annual average production was observed...
Aquatic toxicology (Amsterdam, Netherlands), Jan 28, 2017
The effects of an exposure to cadmium chloride 0.47μM for 150days were studied in kidneys of juve... more The effects of an exposure to cadmium chloride 0.47μM for 150days were studied in kidneys of juveniles Sparus aurata by a multidisciplinary approach so to correlate uptake and detoxification potential to changes in brush border and glycocalyx sugar composition. Results demonstrated that cadmium concentration in kidney significantly increased from day 30 reaching a plateau on day 120 while metallothioneins reached a peak on day 90 and by day 120 were already decreasing to control values. Cytological damage was extensive on day 90, clearly detectable at both structural and ultrastructural levels, in tubular cells and brush-border. Staining with a panel of four lectins revealed a significant increase in N-Ac-Gal and a decrease in mannose in the glycocalyx and the tubular basal membranes. From day 120, when cadmium concentration was high and metallothionein concentration decreasing, a clear recovery was observed in tubular cells morphology and sugar composition. Possible significance of...
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Papers by Maria Montinari