Previous benefit-risk perception studies and social experiences have clearly demonstrated that any emerging technology platform that ignores benefit-risk perception by citizens might jeopardize its public acceptability and further development. The aim of this survey was to investigate the Italian judgment on nanotechnology and which demographic and heuristic variables were most influential in shaping public perceptions of the benefits and risks of nanotechnology

The frequency of PC allele for acid phosphatase in fourteen Sardinian villages correlates positively with the altitude and negatively with past malarial morbidity and GdMed prevalence. The susceptibility towards hemolytic favism in Sardinian males with G6PD deficiency is dependent on the erythrocyte acid phosphatase and thalassemia phenotypes. Thalassemia trait exerts a protective action only in subjects carrying PA allele for acid phosphatase. The data suggest that the gradient for malaria morbidity directly or indirectly, through interactions with thalassemia and G6PD polymorphisms, mediated by the habit of eating Vecia faba, may have had a significant role in determining the heterogeneous distribution of acid phosphatase polymorphism in Sardinia. Besides malaria, other environmental factors related with altitude seem to have been very important in shaping the present pattern of distribution of both acid phosphatase and G6PD polymorphisms in Sardinia.

Abstract. Placental alkaline phosphatase is a polymorphic glycoenzyme, produced by the fetal part of the placenta, which is found at an early stage of gestation and in considerable amount in the maternal bloodstream. Previous studies have shown an interaction of this polymorphism with that of ABO system during intrauterine life. In the present study the relationship between placental alkaline phosphatase phenotype and feto‐maternal isoimmunization in the ABO system was investigated. Isoimmunization was defined by a positive direct Coombs test on cord blood and/or jaundice in the neonatal period. In infants incompatible with their mothers in the B group, the incidence of the above‐mentioned signs of isoimmunization was lower in the presence of allele PIf1 of placental alkaline phosphatase. This relationship was not found in infants of group A. The present observations suggest that placental alkaline phosphatase may play an important role in the maternal‐fetal immunological relationships.

This study examined the effect of some maternal factors on the pre-and postnatal development of a group of infants of diabetic mothers (IDMs). Body weight, length and head circumference were measured at birth and at 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, and 48 months of age. No