2nd World Congress on Public Health and Nutrition March 22-23, 2017 Rome, Italy

Biography:

Sandra Sikic has her expertise in environmental health. Currently she works as a Deputy Director in the Andrija Stampar Teaching Institute of Public Health, Zagreb. She graduated in chemistry from the Faculty of Science in Zagreb and has a Ph.D. in natural sciences, biology. She completed one-year specialist training at the Business Academy Experta in Zagreb and gained the title Health Manager. She is a lecturer in the field of public health and environmental health at the University of Applied Health Sciences. She attended a number of training and professional education courses both in Croatia and European Union. She’s the author of numerous  professional and scientific papers. Further professional interest is in toxicology, water and food safety as well as other environmental factors.

Recent Publications:

1. Radasevic H, Sostar Z, Jelusic S, Portolan Pajic I, Mestric A, Leppée (2015) The effect of physical activity intensity on body mass index and body fat percentage. Eur J Public Health 25 (3):459-460
2. Štimac D., Polić-Vižintin M., Škes M., Cattunar A., Cerović R., Stojanović D. (2010) Utilization of cardiovascular drugs in Zagreb 2001-2005. Acta Cardiol 65(2): 193-201.
3. Polić Vižintin M, Badanjak A, Tripković I, Štimac D, Smirčić Duvnjak L. Diabetes Mellitus  as Public Health Priority in Zagreb –Croatia ( 2001-2009) Diabetes 61
4. Croatian Institute of Public Health (2015) Croatian health statistics yearbook
5. Andrija Stampar Teaching Institute of Public Health (2015) Health service yearbook, City of Zagreb

Abstract:

A balanced diet and safe foods are one of the key elements of health. High energy intake and lack of physical activity result in increase of overweight and obesity, which cause a number of health problems. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading causes of death in the European Region. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of death in Croatia with the rate of 47% and 45, 5 % in the City of Zagreb in 2015. NCDs are becoming a major health, economic and social issue. On the other hand, food production is one of the most important industries in the world. Advantages of globalization are obvious, but there is a need for risk management and standardization to provide safe and quality food products. With the aim of strengthening the role of public health institutions and importance of food safety in different South-Eastern European regions, Andrija Stampar Teaching Institute of Public Health, Zagreb, Croatia initiated the foundation of South-East European Network for Food Safety and Quality Control (SEEN-FSQC). The countries in South-East Europe were politically and economically connected in the past and food safety was regulated by the same directives. Nowadays, these countries are politically independent and they belong to different political and economic associations (EU, CEFTA). Applied Food Safety Directives might be different in each country; therefore SEEN-FSQC is initiating a standardization of public health activities and food control in South-East region of Europe. SEEN-FSQC ensures formation of an expert group for the purpose of sharing knowledge, training and providing help to decision-makers, as well as education and international co-operation. Network members are the most appreciated institutions and scientific laboratories, including public health institutions, faculties that work in food production process in any way and leading private laboratories from South-East Europe.

Biography:

Luigi Montano, UroAndrologist, has his expertise in Environmental Pathology and his interest is focused on the reproductive health in high environmental risk areas. In fact, he is the creator and Coordinator of EcoFoodFertility project a multicenter, multidisciplinary research connecting human life-style and dietary habits to the environmental consequences of exposure to pollutants with the aim of: 1. Developing a better understanding of the environmental impact of pollutants on healthy humans in areas with different environmental impacts; 2. Use human semen as an early and sensitive biomarker of environmental exposure to pollutants; 3. Identify dietary approaches and/or detoxifying therapy in order to improve the human semen quality in healthy men who living in polluted areas. The project is starting up in several environmental risk areas of Italy and draw up a new model of research for Environmental Impact Assessment and for Primary Prevention of Risk Areas.

Recent Publications

1. Le Moal J. Rolland M, Goria S, Wagner V, De Crouy-Chanel P, Rigou A, De Mouzon J, Royère D. 2014. Semen quality trends in French regions are consistent with a global change in environmental exposure. Reproduction, 147(4):567-74.
2. L.Montano, L. Iannuzzi, J. Rubes, C. Avolio, C. Pistos, A. Gatti, S. Raimondo, T.Notari. 2014. EcoFoodFertility – Environmental and food impact assessment on male reproductive function. Andrology 2(Suppl.2):69, 2014.
3. L. Montano, T. Notari, S.Raimondo, P.Bergamo, M.Rossi, D.Luongo, MG Volpe, L. Iannuzzi. 2015.Evaluation of Environmental Impact on Sperm DNA integrity by Sperm Chromatin Dispersion Test ad p53 Elisa: Preliminary data.(EcoFoodFertility Project).Reprod Toxicol.,Vol. 56: 20,2
4. Bergamo P, Volpe MG, Lorenzetti S, Mantovani A, Notari T, Cocca E, Cerullo S, Di Stasio M, Cerino P, Montano L. 2016. Human semen as an early, sensitive biomarker of highly polluted living environment in healthy men: a pilot biomonitoring study on trace elements in blood and semen and their relationship with sperm quality and RedOx status. Reprod Toxicol., 66:1-9.
5. Vecoli C, Montano L, Andreassi MG. 2016. Environmental pollutants: genetic damage and epigenetic changes in male germ cells. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 23(23):23339-48. DOI: 10.1007/s11356-016-7728-4

Abstract:

Statement of the Problem: Several studies have shown a dramatic reduction of male fertility in many industrialized countries and infertility is becoming a top priority for the public health. A pilot biomonitoring study of EcoFoodFertility Project a multicenter, multidisciplinary research connecting human life-style and dietary habits to the environmental consequences of exposure to pollutants, was conducted in Campania region (Italy) on a cohort of clinically healthy male residents in “Land of Fires” (high environmental impact- HEI) compared with a similar cohort living in the rural area of the same Region, Alto-MedioSele (low environmental impact–LEI).
Methodology and Theoretical Orientation: 110 healthy males were recruited from HEI and LEI areas (age 28±5years). Enrollment criteria were no smoking, no habitual alcohol drinking and no occupational exposure. In both semen and blood we analyzed 22 trace elements by optical emission spectrometry and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) by spectrophotometry. In a randomly subset of 20 subjects from each group, we analyzed sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) by Sperm Chromatin Dispersion test and antioxidant enzyme activities in the semen (Glutathione reductase, Glutathione peroxidase) by spectrophotometry.

Findings: HEI subjects showed significantly higher values (p <0.05) for Al, Mn, Cr, Mg, Li, Co, Ca in blood, as well as for Cr, Cu and Zn in the semen, while Fe was lower in the semen of HEI-group (p<0.05). Immotile sperms and the DFI were both higher (p<0.026 and p<0.01, respectively) in HEI-group. TAC in blood showed no differences, while TAC, GSR and GpX in the seminal plasma were significantly lower in the HEI-group (p<0.05).The percentage of immotile sperms showed significant (p <0.005) inverse correlations with both TAC and GSH in semen.
Conclusion & Significance: These results suggest sperm motility, DFI, antioxidant capacity, chemical element pattern are influenced by high environmental pressure and human semen could be used as an early and reliable tool of environmental impact assessment on human health, useful for innovative prevention programs and health surveillance in risk areas.

Biography:

John-Jules Ch. Meyer studied Mathematics with Computer Science and Digital Signal Processing at Leyden University. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam on a subject in theoretical computer science. Since 1993 he has been a full professor of computer science, and artificial intelligence in particular, at Utrecht University. At the moment he is heading the Artificial Intelligence Division within the Department of Information and Computing Sciences and is programme leader of the AI Master of the UU. Currently he is also the CSO of the Alan Turing Institute Almere, which specializes in multi-disciplinary research for the health sciences, and the CEO of Companion Diagnostics ltd. as a part of Emotional Brain ltd. He has over 500 peer-reviewed publications in international journals and conference proceedings. In 2005 he was appointed as a Fellow of the European Coordinating Committee for Artificial Intelligence.

Recent Publications

1. D. Höhle, C.R.C. Pieterman, G.D. Valk, A.R. Hermus, H.P.F. Koppeschaar, J.-J. Ch. Meyer & R.P.J. de Lange, Classifying the Decision To Perform Surgery in MEN1 Cancer Patients Using Decision Trees, in Proc. CBMS 2011 (the 24^th Int. Symp. on Computer-Based Medical Systems) & HEALTHGRID 2011, (T. Solomonides, ed.), Bristol, 2011, 6 p.
2. I. ÄŒače, J.-J. Ch. Meyer, C.R.C. Pieterman, & G.D. Valk, Encapsulated Models for Reasoning and Decision Support, in: INFORMATIK 2013: Informatik angepasst an Mensch, Organisation und Umwelt (Matthias Horbach, ed.), 16-20 September 2013, Koblenz, GI-Edition - Lecture Notes in Informatics (LNI), P-220, Bonner Köllen Verlag, 2013, pp. 1821.
3. I. ÄŒače and J.-J. Ch. Meyer, Mechanistic Models for Healthcare: A Review of Current Practice and Possibilities, in: Proc. E-Health 2014 (part of the 
Multi Conf. on Computer Science and Information Systems 2014 – MCCSIS 2014) (P. Kommers, P. Isaías, C. Gauzente, M. Baptista Nunes, G. Chao Peng & M. Macedo, eds.), Lisbon, Portugal, IADIS Press, 2014, pp. 394-398.
4. J.-J. Ch. Meyer, Agent Technology, in: Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Engineering, Vol. 1 (B.W. Wah, ed.), Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, 2009, pp. 42-49.
5. M. Peeters, K. van den Bosch, J.-J. Ch. Meyer & M. Neerincx, Agent-Based Personalisation and User Modeling for Personalised Educational Games, in: ACM UMAP '16: Proc. of the 2016 Conference on User Modeling Adaptation and Personalization (J. Vassileva, J. Blustein, L. Aroyo & S. D’Mello, eds.), Halifax, NS, Canada, July 13 - 17, 2016, pp. 303-304.

 

Abstract:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more and more ubiquitous, also witness the ‘hype’ of the self-driving car the call for a ban on the use of smart killer robots in warfare, and the fear of AI by well-known persons, including some excellent scientists like Stephen Hawking, "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race". But AI also invades health care and related fields ever more. And I believe this is a good thing. Primarily inspired by work we have done at the Alan Turing Institute Almere (ATIA), in this invited talk I’ll review a number of applications of AI in health care and medicine. I’ll talk about advanced diagnostic techniques based on machine learning, modeling techniques and also artificial companions to assist with the care of patients in a hospital or home setting. These companions are able to monitor the behavior of patients, help them remind of taking medication, but also can have conversations with them giving them the feeling that they are cared for. This is important in times where health care is economized upon like we face in The Netherlands. Moreover, so-called serious games can be used to train health care professionals. In Utrecht we have worked on the personalization of this type of games involving automatic adaptation to knowledge and skills of the user/trainee.