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Since the voluntary environmental reporting of companies started in the late eighties, there has been a profusion of literature describing why a company should report and what principles should be followed. This thesis takes a less prescriptive approach by investigating what explains the environmental communication in some Italian firms in the Energy and the Ceramic sectors. The research for these

As oncological treatment might impair the patients' fertility, male cancer patients are offered to cryopreserve semen prior to treatment. Impaired sperm DNA quality is associated with reduced fertility, and in case of assisted reproduction, sperm DNA integrity may have an impact on choice of method. Therefore, we have assessed sperm DNA integrity in cancer patients, comparing pre- and post-treatme

The main functions of estrogen are associated with reproduction. However, estrogen has been shown to be of functional importance also in non-classic target organs. Previous studies, especially epidemiologic and clinical ones, have addressed estrogen's influence on periodontitis, suggesting that estrogen has a beneficial effect, but the biological mechanisms have not been identified. Estrogen exert

PURPOSE: Amacrine cells expressing nitric oxide synthase (NOS) are seen in normal retinas and retinal grafts to extend long processes, which can be followed for long distances. Taking advantage of the morphologic features of these cells, the present study examined whether graft-host connections involve cells capable of producing nitric oxide, a recognized retinal neuromodulatory compound.METHODS:

Pregnancies following in-vitro fertilization (IVF) are known to be at increased risk of a number of pregnancy- and delivery-related complications when compared with non-IVF pregnancies. Most of these complications seem to be due to underlying fertility problems. Ovarian stimulation carries a marked risk for two serious conditions - ovarian torsion and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome - both of wh

Heart rate can be extracted from the extracorporeal venous pressure signal of a dialysis machine. The results are of comparable accuracy and reliability to the ones obtained by the PPG reference signal from a pulse oximeter. Difficulties that occur during heart rate estimation were determined, and some can be overcome by a slight adjustment of blood flow rate. The described techniques, after being

Background: Cystatin C is a major inhibitor of the elastin- and collagen-degrading cysteine proteases and may therefore have an important role in preserving atherosclerotic plaque stability. In this study we analyzed the associations between human carotid plaque cystatin C expression and the plaque content of collagen and elastin. Methods: Thirty-one plaques were removed by endarterectomy and homo