University of Perugia

About: University of Perugia is a education organization based out in Perugia, Umbria, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Large Hadron Collider. The organization has 13365 authors who have published 39516 publications receiving 1265601 citations. The organization is also known as: Universitá degli Studi di Perugia & Universita degli Studi di Perugia.

Fish consumption and coronary heart disease mortality in Finland, Italy, and the Netherlands

Abstract: Fish consumption seems to protect against death from coronary heart disease (CHD). If this association is due to n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially fatty fish may be responsible for this protective effect. The association between total, lean, and fatty fish consumption and the risk of CHD mortality was examined in 1,088 Finnish, 1,097 Italian, and 553 Dutch men participants in the Seven Countries Study who were aged 50-69 years and free of CHD around 1970. After 20 years of follow-up, 242 (22.2%) men in Finland, 116 (10.6%) men in Italy, and 105 (19.0%) men in the Netherlands had died of CHD. Cox proportional hazards analysis showed no association between total fish consumption and CHD mortality. After adjustments were made for age, body mass index, smoking, energy intake, and relevant dietary variables, the pooled relative risk for the highest quartile of total fish compared with no fish consumption in the three countries was 1.08 (95% confidence interval: 0.76, 1.53). Lean fish consumption also was not associated with CHD mortality in any country. Fatty fish compared with non-fatty-fish consumption was associated with lower CHD mortality; the adjusted, pooled relative risk for fatty fish consumers was 0.66 (95% confidence interval: 0.49, 0.90). These data suggest that especially fatty fish is protective against CHD mortality.

The phylogeny of the four pan-American MtDNA haplogroups: implications for evolutionary and disease studies.

Abstract: Only a limited number of complete mitochondrial genome sequences belonging to Native American haplogroups were available until recently, which left America as the continent with the least amount of information about sequence variation of entire mitochondrial DNAs. In this study, a comprehensive overview of all available complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genomes of the four pan-American haplogroups A2, B2, C1, and D1 is provided by revising the information scattered throughout GenBank and the literature, and adding 14 novel mtDNA sequences. The phylogenies of haplogroups A2, B2, C1, and D1 reveal a large number of sub-haplogroups but suggest that the ancestral Beringian population(s) contributed only six (successful) founder haplotypes to these haplogroups. The derived clades are overall starlike with coalescence times ranging from 18,000 to 21,000 years (with one exception) using the conventional calibration. The average of about 19,000 years somewhat contrasts with the corresponding lower age of about 13,500 years that was recently proposed by employing a different calibration and estimation approach. Our estimate indicates a human entry and spread of the pan-American haplogroups into the Americas right after the peak of the Last Glacial Maximum and comfortably agrees with the undisputed ages of the earliest Paleoindians in South America. In addition, the phylogenetic approach also indicates that the pathogenic status proposed for various mtDNA mutations, which actually define branches of Native American haplogroups, was based on insufficient grounds.

Alignment of the dye's molecular levels with the TiO(2) band edges in dye-sensitized solar cells: a DFT-TDDFT study.

Abstract: We present a theoretical study of the lineup of the LUMO of Ru(II)-polypyridyl (N3 and N719) molecular dyes with the conduction band edge of a TiO2 anatase nanoparticle. We use density functional theory (DFT) and the Car?Parrinello scheme for efficient optimization of the dye?nanoparticle systems, followed by hybrid B3LYP functional calculations of the electronic structure and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) determination of the lowest vertical excitation energies. The electronic structure and TDDFT calculations are performed in water solution, using a continuum model. Various approximate procedures to compute the excited state oxidation potential of dye sensitizers are discussed. Our calculations show that the level alignment for the interacting nanoparticle?sensitizer system is very similar, within about 0.1?eV, to that for the separated TiO2 and dye. The excellent agreement of our results with available experimental data indicates that the approach of this work could be used as an efficient predictive tool to help the optimization of dye-sensitized solar cells.