Ermöglichende Platzgestaltung: Regulierte Selbstregulierung und Planung der Nichtplanung als Gestaltungs- und Nutzungsalternative von öffentlichen Plätzen

Das Ziel dieser Bachelor-Arbeit liegt darin aufzuzeigen, wie ein „neues Planungsverständnis“ in Form einer Kombination der Ansätze „der regulierten Selbstregulierung“ und der „Planung der Nichtplanung“ eine Alternative zur Gestaltung und Nutzung von öffentlichen Plätzen sein kann. Die Bedürfnisse der Bevölkerung fliessen dabei direkt in die Gestaltung und Nutzung von öffentlichen Plätzen ein. Die aus dieser Bachelor-Arbeit resultierenden Vorüberlegungen zur Platzgestaltung stellen dar, wie das „neue Planungsverständnis“ angewendet werden kann. Die Autorenschaft hat ein Modell mit den für sie relevanten soziokulturellen Kriterien für die Gestaltung und Nutzung von öffentlichen Plätzen entwickelt. Anhand dieser Kriterien werden gängige Gestaltungsansätze bewertet, und es wird veranschaulicht, an welchen Stellen das „neue Planungsverständnis“ ansetzt. In die Gestaltung von öffentlichen Plätzen sind verschiedene Akteurinnen und Akteure involviert. Die lokale Bevölkerung wird in der Regel durch partizipative Prozesse einbezogen, damit deren Bedürfnisse in die Platzgestaltung einfliessen können. Der Soziokulturellen Animation kommt in diesen Prozessen, wenn überhaupt, die Rolle der Auftragnehmerin zu. Sie hat die Aufgabe, Bedürfnisse abzuholen und bestimmte Zielgruppen zu aktivieren, damit diese ihre Meinung einbringen können. Diese Bachelor-Arbeit zeigt auf, wie die Soziokulturelle Animation durch die An-wendung des „neuen Planungsverständnisses“ proaktiver handeln und ihre Rolle in der Platzgestaltung erweitern kann. Obwohl die Arbeit aus der Position der Soziokulturellen Animation geschrieben ist, bietet sie auch Praktikerinnen und Praktikern der Stadtverwaltung und der Landschaftsplanung interessante Ansatzpunkte

Exosomes as Intercellular Signaling Organelles Involved in Health and Disease: Basic Science and Clinical Applications

Cell to cell communication is essential for the coordination and proper organization of different cell types in multicellular systems. Cells exchange information through a multitude of mechanisms such as secreted growth factors and chemokines, small molecules (peptides, ions, bioactive lipids and nucleotides), cell-cell contact and the secretion of extracellular matrix components. Over the last few years, however, a considerable amount of experimental evidence has demonstrated the occurrence of a sophisticated method of cell communication based on the release of specialized membranous nano-sized vesicles termed exosomes. Exosome biogenesis involves the endosomal compartment, the multivesicular bodies (MVB), which contain internal vesicles packed with an extraordinary set of molecules including enzymes, cytokines, nucleic acids and different bioactive compounds. In response to stimuli, MVB fuse with the plasma membrane and vesicles are released in the extracellular space where they can interact with neighboring cells and directly induce a signaling pathway or affect the cellular phenotype through the transfer of new receptors or even genetic material. This review will focus on exosomes as intercellular signaling organelles involved in a number of physiological as well as pathological processes and their potential use in clinical diagnostics and therapeutics

BET protein inhibition sensitizes glioblastoma cells to temozolomide treatment by attenuating MGMT expression

Bromodomain and extra-terminal tail (BET) proteins have been identified as potential epigenetic targets in cancer, including glioblastoma. These epigenetic modifiers link the histone code to gene transcription that can be disrupted with small molecule BET inhibitors (BETi). With the aim of developing rational combination treatments for glioblastoma, we analyzed BETi-induced differential gene expression in glioblastoma derived-spheres, and identified 6 distinct response patterns. To uncover emerging actionable vulnerabilities that can be targeted with a second drug, we extracted the 169 significantly disturbed DNA Damage Response genes and inspected their response pattern. The most prominent candidate with consistent downregulation, was the O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) gene, a known resistance factor for alkylating agent therapy in glioblastoma. BETi not only reduced MGMT expression in GBM cells, but also inhibited its induction, typically observed upon temozolomide treatment. To determine the potential clinical relevance, we evaluated the specificity of the effect on MGMT expression and MGMT mediated treatment resistance to temozolomide. BETi-mediated attenuation of MGMT expression was associated with reduction of BRD4- and Pol II-binding at the MGMT promoter. On the functional level, we demonstrated that ectopic expression of MGMT under an unrelated promoter was not affected by BETi, while under the same conditions, pharmacologic inhibition of MGMT restored the sensitivity to temozolomide, reflected in an increased level of γ-H2AX, a proxy for DNA double-strand breaks. Importantly, expression of MSH6 and MSH2, which are required for sensitivity to unrepaired O6-methylguanine-lesions, was only briefly affected by BETi. Taken together, the addition of BET-inhibitors to the current standard of care, comprising temozolomide treatment, may sensitize the 50% of patients whose glioblastoma exert an unmethylated MGMT promoter

Economia di territorio e area integrata

Proposta del tavolo di discussione sul tema del rapporto tra economia, insediamento, paesaggio e infrastruttura per il Libro Bianco per la città di Parm

Magnetic solid-phase extraction based on diphenyl functionalization of Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urine samples

Superparamagnetic Fe3O4 diphenyl nanoparticles were prepared according to a solvothernal procedure and characterized by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, surface area measurements, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The magnetic phases present in the nanoparticle samples were analyzed by thermomagnetic analysis and the samples' magnetic properties were studied by vibrating sample magnetometry. The resulting nanoparticles having an average diameter of 200 nm were then used as solid-phase extraction sorbent for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urine samples. Method validation proved the feasibility of the developed beads for the quantitation of the investigated analytes at trace levels obtaining lower limit of quantitation values in the ng/l range. A good precision with coefficients of variations always lower than 15% was obtained. Finally, the superior extraction performance of the synthesized nanoparticles with respect to commercially available beads was proved

Mapping Woody Volume of Mediterranean Forests by Using SAR and Machine Learning: A Case Study in Central Italy

In this paper, multi-frequency synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data at L- and C-bands (ALOS PALSAR and Envisat/ASAR) were used to estimate forest biomass in Tuscany, in Central Italy. The ground measurements of woody volume (WV, in m3/ha), which can be considered as a proxy of forest biomass, were retrieved from the Italian National Forest Inventory (NFI). After a preliminary investigation to assess the sensitivity of backscatter at C- and L-bands to forest biomass, an approach based on an artificial neural network (ANN) was implemented. The ANN was trained using the backscattering coefficient at L-band (ALOS PALSAR, HH and HV polarization) and C-band (Envisat ASAR in HH polarization) as inputs. Spatially distributed WV values for the entire test area were derived by the integration (fusion) of a canopy height map derived from the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (ICESat GLAS) and the NFI data, in order to build a significant ground truth dataset for the training stage. The analysis of the backscattering sensitivity to WV showed a moderate correlation at L-band and was almost negligible at C-band. Despite this, the ANN algorithm was able to exploit the synergy of SAR frequencies and polarizations, estimating WV with average Pearson’s correlation coefficient (R) = 0.96 and root mean square error (RMSE) ≃ 39 m3/ha when applied to the test dataset and average R = 0.86 and RMSE ≃ 75 m3/ha when validated on the direct measurements from the NFI. Considering the heterogeneity of the scenario (Mediterranean mixed forests in hilly landscape) and the small amount of available ground measurements with respect to the spatial variability of different plots, the obtained results can be considered satisfactory. Moreover, the successful use of WV from global maps for implementing the algorithm suggests the possibility to apply the algorithm to wider areas or even to global scales