Automated vehicles and the rethinking of mobility and cities

The project CityMobil2 has carried out a forward-looking exercise to investigate a lternative cybermobility scenarios, including both niche and large-market innovations, and their impacts on European cities and their transport systems. The paper describes the current status of and main trends in automated vehicles, a preliminary vision of the future city with mobility supported mainly by automated vehicles, and freight distribution. The expected positive impacts derive from the development of car sharing, the reduction of space required for parking vehicles, the possibilities for older people or those with disabilities to use cars, the enhancement of safety, and the improvement of efficiency of the transport system

GIFTS, una piattaforma ICT a supporto del trasporto merci intermodale

Il progetto GIFTS (Global Intermodal Freight Transport System, 2001-2004) finanziato dalla DG IST della Commissione Europea ha messo a punto un sistema ICT per la pianificazione ed il monitoraggio del trasporto. L'articolo presenta il sistema sviluppato da GIFTS, ne descrive i componenti e le applicazioni per il trasporto e la logistica. Viene quindi descritto il progetto pilota condotto sul trasporto ferroviario visto come segmento di un trasporto intermodale

Risultati sperimentali con Topik One, nuovo diserbante per il frumento tenero e duro

Topik® One is a novel, selective herbicide for the control of grasses and broadleaf weeds in soft and durum wheat. The efficacy of the product is based on the combination of two active ingredients (AI), piroxsulam and clodinafop-propargyl. In this study we present the results of field trials conducted over a period of three years (2011-2013) in Italy. Data implies that Topik One has very good efficacy against Alopecurus myosuroides, Avena spp., Bromus spp., Lolium spp. and a wide range of broadleaf weeds like Galium spp., Matricaria spp. and Sinapis spp.. Topik One is safe for use in durum and soft wheat when applied between BBCH 13-32 at different environmental conditions. Due to the combination of two complementary active ingredients with very strong grass weed activity, a relatively low dose of 0.25 kg/ha already provides sufficient control. In addition, combining two different modes of action (MoA) in the same product and applying it only once a year, keeps the agronomic risk of a resistance development low

Individualized Medicine for Renal Cell Carcinoma: Establishment of Primary Cell Line Culture from Surgical Specimens

BACKGROUND: The lack of effective "in vivo" and "in vitro" models to predict success of pharmacological therapy for patients with renal cell carcinoma, as well as, the variety of cancer cell types demands the development of better experimental models to understand the pathophysiology of the disease and evaluate drug sensitivity in vitro. PURPOSE: To develop primary renal cancer cell culture irrespective of tumor grade and tumor type, harvested from the patient's pathological specimen immediately after the laparoscopic radical nephrectomy to study potential "in vivo" pharmacological sensitivity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 24 patients (17 males and 7 females). Mean age of 63.1+/-3.1 y.o. The mean size of the renal masses was 7.56+/-3.1 cm. Normal and pathological renal tissue was collected immediately after the specimen was extracted and submitted to enzymatic digestion for 16-24 hours. Clear cell carcinoma cells were selected through multiple passages in DMEM medium supplemented with glucose and antibiotics. RESULTS: Establishment of cell line culture from all the patients' specimens irrespective of tumor grade and tumor type was achieved successfully. In addition to the tumor cell line culture, normal parenchyma tissue yielded primary cell lines to allow testing the response of tumor types to various pharmacological therapeutic agents and toxicity of such treatments to healthy tissue. From the initial collection of the specimens obtained after the removal of the kidney to the development of cell lines took occurred in average 32+6 hrs. The cells in culture showed characteristics of epithelial cells; like expression on cytokeratin and were maintained in culture for more than 20 passages. CONCLUSION: The development of renal cancer cell cultures in vitro is labor intense but may yield a more realistic model to tailor pharmacological therapies and predict therapeutic success prior to "in vivo" application-a step in the direction of individualized medicine for RCC.The authors gratefully acknowledge support from NIH- 2RO1DKO54084 (H. Koul) and the Department of Surgery, School of Medicine University of Colorado Denver AEF-seed grant funds (F. Kim and H. Koul)

Impact of occupational categories on the incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in Sardinia Island, Italy

Objective: Occupation is one of the potential risk factors for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for which previous controlled studies produced inconsistent results. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of several groups of occupational categories on ALS incidence. Methods: ALS patients from the southern part of Sardinia who had onset during 2012-2021 and fulfilled El Escorial revised diagnostic criteria were included. The risk of ALS was estimated in relation to the occupation held in 2011, as obtained from the 2011 Census that classified working activities in ten groups. Each occupational group was compared with a reference category represented by all other occupations, and rate ratio were calculated. Additive interaction between activity at work and age at ALS onset/sex on ALS incidence was calculated. Results: Employment in agriculture/breeding and in the armed forces were significantly associated with increasing ALS risk. None of the other assessed occupation groups was associated with change in the risk of ALS. Geographic analysis indicated that the effect of agriculture/breeding was particularly evident in the areas of higher risk for the general population. By contrast, an inverse pattern of spatial risk was associated with armed forces activity at work. The increased risk of ALS associated to agriculture/breeding was more evident in older people. No significant interaction was detected between working in the armed forces and older age/sex. Conclusions: The significant interaction between agriculture/breeding and age suggests that the mechanisms leading to ALS are complex and involve several factors

Therapeutic Immunization with HIV-1 Tat Reduces Immune Activation and Loss of Regulatory T-Cells and Improves Immune Function in Subjects on HAART

Although HAART suppresses HIV replication, it is often unable to restore immune homeostasis. Consequently, non-AIDS-defining diseases are increasingly seen in treated individuals. This is attributed to persistent virus expression in reservoirs and to cell activation. Of note, in CD4(+) T cells and monocyte-macrophages of virologically-suppressed individuals, there is continued expression of multi-spliced transcripts encoding HIV regulatory proteins. Among them, Tat is essential for virus gene expression and replication, either in primary infection or for virus reactivation during HAART, when Tat is expressed, released extracellularly and exerts, on both the virus and the immune system, effects that contribute to disease maintenance. Here we report results of an ad hoc exploratory interim analysis (up to 48 weeks) on 87 virologically-suppressed HAART-treated individuals enrolled in a phase II randomized open-label multicentric clinical trial of therapeutic immunization with Tat (ISS T-002). Eighty-eight virologically-suppressed HAART-treated individuals, enrolled in a parallel prospective observational study at the same sites (ISS OBS T-002), served for intergroup comparison. Immunization with Tat was safe, induced durable immune responses, and modified the pattern of CD4(+) and CD8(+) cellular activation (CD38 and HLA-DR) together with reduction of biochemical activation markers and persistent increases of regulatory T cells. This was accompanied by a progressive increment of CD4(+) T cells and B cells with reduction of CD8(+) T cells and NK cells, which were independent from the type of antiretroviral regimen. Increase in central and effector memory and reduction in terminally-differentiated effector memory CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells were accompanied by increases of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell responses against Env and recall antigens. Of note, more immune-compromised individuals experienced greater therapeutic effects. In contrast, these changes were opposite, absent or partial in the OBS population. These findings support the use of Tat immunization to intensify HAART efficacy and to restore immune homeostasis. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT0075159