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PubMed1999

Smoking in Mediterranean countries: Europe, North Africa and the Middle-East. Results from a co-operative study.

SETTING: Although smoking is considered a major public health problem, it remains an important component of social behaviour and economic activity. OBJECTIVE: To provide an initial evaluation, from available data, of the main characteristics of smoking in the Mediterranean region. DESIGN: A questionnaire was sent to a group of correspondents-clinicians or epidemiologists involved in tobacco prevention-in the different countries. RESULTS: The proportion of smokers was quite different in men and women. In the majority of the countries over 45% of men and under 15% of women were smokers. The mean age of initiation of smoking was about 15. In every country mainly manufactured cigarettes were smoked, and the younger population preferred American cigarettes. Doctors and medical students had smoking habits similar to those of the general population. All of the countries included in the study had antismoking legislation, but only some put restrictions on advertising or sponsoring from the tobacco industry. CONCLUSION: To deal with the situation, recommendations have been proposed by a group of IUATLD experts in the different regions. The first of these is the implementation of a co-operative study in order to collect reliable data on smoking. Other recommendations are to set up educational programmes for health professionals to aid them in their smoking prevention activities.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Appropriate timing of glimepiride administration in patients with type 2 diabetes millitus: a study in Mediterranean countries.

Sulfonylureas are used to treat patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus when diet and exercise fail. Glimepiride, a new sulfonylurea, can be administered in one daily dose, thanks to its pharmacokinetic properties. We attempted to establish the optimal time of day for the administration of Glimepiride in a group of patients from the Mediterranean area by clinical trial. No relationship was found between the time of administration and fasting blood glucose values, or HbA1c, or the frequency or severity of hypoglycemic episodes.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Role of water reuse for enhancing integrated water management in Europe and Mediterranean countries.

Recycling water is an important aspect of water resource and environment management policies, ensuring reliable alternative water resources, reducing environmental pollution and achieving a more sustainable form of development. This paper focuses on wastewater reuse as a strategy for integrated water management. Key economic, financial, regulatory, social and technical factors that help to make water reuse projects successful are reviewed. Selected examples from Northern and Western Europe and arid and semi-arid Mediterranean regions illustrate the contribution of wastewater reuse to integrated management of water resources.

City Planning↗
PubMed1987

Epidemiology of Q fever in Italy and in other Mediterranean countries.

The history of Q fever in Italy may be divided into three periods: epidemic in character after the Second World War, endemic occurrence from 1960 to 1980, and sporadic occurrence at present. Clinical symptoms are unspecific, and diagnosis must be confirmed by serology and isolation of the causative agent. The reported incidence is consequently underestimated. Results are reported of a seroepidemiologic survey in animals and humans in the Italian region and western Sicily. In the Mediterranean area several epidemic foci are still present. The need of further studies to evaluate the incidence of Q fever and to shed more light upon the epidemiology of Coxiella burnetii infections is stressed.

Africa, Northern↗
PubMed1999

Ti plasmids from Agrobacterium characterize rootstock clones that initiated a spread of crown gall disease in Mediterranean countries.

Crown gall caused by Agrobacterium is one of the predominant diseases encountered in rose cultures. However, our current knowledge of the bacterial strains that invade rose plants and the way in which they spread is limited. Here, we describe the integrated physiological and molecular analyses of 30 Agrobacterium isolates obtained from crown gall tumors and of several reference strains. Characterization was based on the determination of the biovar, analysis of 16S ribosomal DNA restriction fragment length polymorphisms by PCR (PCR-RFLP), elucidation of the opine type, and PCR-RFLP analysis of genes involved in virulence and oncogenesis. This study led to the classification of rose isolates into seven groups with common chromosome characteristics and seven groups with common Ti plasmid characteristics. Altogether, the rose isolates formed 14 independent groups, with no specific association of plasmid- and chromosome-encoded traits. The predominant Ti plasmid characteristic was that 16 of the isolates induced the production of the uncommon opine succinamopine, while the other 14 were nopaline-producing isolates. With the exception of one, all succinamopine Ti plasmids belonged to the same plasmid group. Conversely, the nopaline Ti plasmids belonged to five groups, one of these containing seven isolates. We showed that outbreaks of disease provoked by the succinamopine-producing isolates in different countries and nurseries concurred with a common origin of specific rootstock clones. Similarly, groups of nopaline-producing isolates were associated with particular rootstock clones. These results strongly suggest that the causal agent of crown gall disease in rose plants is transmitted via rootstock material.

Arginine↗
PubMed2004

Clonality and diversity of the fish pathogen Lactococcus garvieae in Mediterranean countries.

Infection with Lactococcus garvieae is considered the most important risk factor for the European trout industry, and the losses are approximately 50% of the total production. To improve our understanding of the genetic links among strains originating from different countries, we examined the population structure of L. garvieae by comparing 81 strains isolated from different sources and ecosystems (41 farms in six countries) in which the bacterium is commonly found. Genetic similarities (as assessed with molecular tools, including restriction fragment length polymorphism ribotyping with two endonucleases) were compared with serological data. The combined results reveal that in endemic sites the bacterial population displays a clonal structure, whereas bacterial diversity characterizes sites where the infection is sporadic.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Population structure of Aedes albopictus (Skuse): the mosquito which is colonizing Mediterranean countries.

Multilocus electrophoresis analysis has been used to study the genetic structure of 18 populations of Aedes albopictus newly introduced to Italy, in comparison with two populations in the United States, four in Japan, and four in Indonesia. Allozyme analysis revealed that 15 out of the 18 studied loci were polymorphic among the 28 populations. No significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were found at polymorphic loci. High genetic affinity was observed between the Italian populations and those from the United States and Japan. The analysis of variance in allele frequencies showed that variance among subpopulations accounted for most of the total variance, suggesting that isolation of the Italian populations is not related to distance. Analysis of linkage disequilibrium using Ohta's method shows that the variance in the frequency of allele combinations could be explained by the action of the genetic drift which accompanies the establishment of new populations. The colonization process of Ae. albopictus in Italy is following a trend similar to that previously observed in the U.S. A., probably because both infestations derive from several successive introductions, each with large numbers of individuals.

Aedes↗
PubMed2003

Type of alcoholic beverage and first acute myocardial infarction: a case-control study in a Mediterranean country.

BACKGROUND: Although international comparisons have consistently found an inverse association between wine and coronary heart disease, few epidemiologic studies are available in Southern Europe. We assessed the association of wine, red wine, and the pattern of drinking wine during meals with the risk of myocardial infarction. HYPOTHESIS: We specifically evaluated three hypotheses: (1) Is the protection against incidence of nonfatal myocardial infarction stronger for wine than for other alcoholic beverages? (2) Does the wine consumed during meals represent a more beneficial pattern of alcohol consumption? (3) Is red wine more advantageous than other types of wine? METHODS: A case-control study (171 cases, 171 matched controls) was conducted in Spain. Multiple dietary and nondietary potential confounders were assessed. RESULTS: Exposure to wine, red wine, and wine during meals was associated with risk reductions similar to those of other alcoholic beverages (point estimates of the odds ratio for low and high intake were 0.48 and 0.38 for wine; 0.42 and 0.55 for other beverages). However, after controlling for total alcohol intake, wine consumption (g/day) improved the prediction of a myocardial infarction. CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed that red wine or drinking wine during meals was similar to alcohol from other sources for reducing coronary risk. However, an additional benefit of wine, keeping constant overall alcohol intake, deserves further research.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Identification of two distinct amplifications of the esterase B locus in Culex pipiens (L.) mosquitoes from Mediterranean countries.

Two new highly active esterases were detected by starch electrophoretic studies in Culex pipiens mosquitoes from the area of Montpellier (France) and from Cyprus. We demonstrate here that both the French and the Cyprus esterases B are overproduced due to amplification of the coding gene. The production of the esterase B is approximately 50- and 500-fold higher in mosquitoes from France and Cyprus, respectively, than in susceptible insects, whereas the number of gene copies is about 25 and 250. Differences of about 7- and 95-fold were also found in the degree of chlorpyrifos resistance. RFLP comparison of the amplified region containing the esterase B gene revealed large differences between French and Cyprus mosquitoes. It thus appears that two distinct haplotypes with an esterase B gene coding an enzyme with identical electrophoretic mobility have been amplified. We therefore named the haplotypes in mosquitoes from France and Cyprus B4 and B5, respectively. The estimated genetic distance between these two haplotypes is not smaller than those observed in all pair comparisons of other known esterase B haplotypes. These results are discussed in the context of amplification phenomena.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Hepatitis A virus in urban sewage from two Mediterranean countries.

Molecular methods for the detection and typing of hepatitis A virus (HAV) strains in sewage were applied to determine its distribution in Cairo and Barcelona. The study revealed the occurrence of different patterns of hepatitis A endemicity in each city. The circulating strains characterized, whether in Cairo or Barcelona, were genotype IB. The effects of a child vaccination programme and the increase in the immigrant population on the overall hepatitis A occurrence in Barcelona were evaluated. While vaccination contributed to a significant decrease in the number of clinical cases, the huge recent immigration flow has probably been responsible for the re-emergence of the disease in the last year of study, in the form of small outbreaks among the non-vaccinated population.

Disease Outbreaks↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Clinical experience with aztreonam in four Mediterranean countries.

Aztreonam is a new, synthetic, monobactam beta-lactam antibiotic with activity directed specifically against aerobic gram-negative bacteria. At doses of 1-8 g per day, aztreonam was administered parenterally to patients with serious gram-negative infections of the urinary tract or other sites. A total of 462 organisms were isolated from sites of urinary tract infection; 93% of the isolates obtained within 48 hr before the initiation of aztreonam therapy were eradicated. Forty-three (86%) of 50 strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from urinary sites were eradicated. Eighty-six percent of gram-negative organisms isolated before treatment from other sites of infection were eradicated. Whatever the site of infection, the percentage of patients with a complete resolution of signs and symptoms was similar. Aztreonam was well tolerated both locally and systemically.

Adolescent↗