New technologies as a way to reduce urban segregation: the use of drones for mapping São Paulo's slum

For the past 30 years, public policies in São Paulo, the most populous city in Brazil, have recognized favelas as an integral part of the metropolis. However, historically, favelas are represented as empty areas on official maps. On the one hand, this situation reinforces the persistent invisibility of these areas, on the other hand, it demonstrates the lack of information for interventions. The traditional topographic surveys in loco or even the surveys generated from aerophotogrammetric refunds are deficient for the representation of the morphological complexity of the favelas. This article aims to analyze the potential and limitations of images captured by drones in favelas for the production of project material for interventions aimed at improving the inhabited environment. Case studies of surveys carried out in the Jardim Colombo and Antonico favelas, both members of the Paraisópolis Complex, the most populous favela in São Paulo, will be analyzed.Nos últimos trinta anos, as políticas públicas de São Paulo, a mais populosa cidade do Brasil, têm reconhecido as favelas como parte integrante da metrópole. Ainda assim, historicamente, as favelas são representadas como áreas vazias nos mapas oficiais. Por um lado, essa situação reforça a persistente invisibilidade dessas áreas, por outro, demonstra a carência de informações para intervenções. Os levantamentos topográficos tradicionais in loco ou até mesmo os levantamentos gerados a partir de restituições aerofotogramétricas são deficitários para a representação da complexidade morfológica das favelas. Este artigo pretende analisar as potencialidades e limitações das imagens captadas por drones em favelas para a produção de material de projeto de intervenções que tenham como objetivo a melhoria do ambiente habitado. Serão analisados estudos dos casos de levantamentos realizados nas favelas Jardim Colombo e Antonico, ambas integrantes do Complexo Paraisópolis, a favela mais populosa de São Paulo.Peer Reviewe

Idelalisib impairs T-cell-mediated immunity in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

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Micro-based evidence of EU competitiveness: The CompNet Database. National Bank of Belgium Working Paper No. 253, March 2014

Drawing from confidential firm-level balance sheets in 11 European countries, the paper presents a novel sectoral database of comparable productivity indicators built by members of the Competitiveness Research Network (CompNet) using a newly developed research infrastructure. Beyond aggregate information available from industry statistics of Eurostat or EU KLEMS, the paper provides information on the distribution of firms across several dimensions related to competitiveness, e.g. productivity and size. The database comprises so far 11 countries, with information for 58 sectors over the period 1995-2011. The paper documents the development of the new research infrastructure, the construction of the database, and shows some preliminary results. Among them, it shows that there is large heterogeneity in terms of firm productivity or size within narrowly defined industries in all countries. Productivity, and above all, size distribution are very skewed across countries, with a thick left-tail of low productive firms. Moreover, firms at both ends of the distribution show very different dynamics in terms of productivity and unit labour costs. Within-sector heterogeneity and productivity dispersion are positively correlated to aggregate productivity given the possibility of reallocating resources from less to more productive firms. To this extent, we show how allocative efficiency varies across countries, and more interestingly, over different periods of time. Finally, we apply the new database to illustrate the importance of productivity dispersion to explain aggregate trade results

Splenic trauma : WSES classification and guidelines for adult and pediatric patients

Spleen injuries are among the most frequent trauma-related injuries. At present, they are classified according to the anatomy of the injury. The optimal treatment strategy, however, should keep into consideration the hemodynamic status, the anatomic derangement, and the associated injuries. The management of splenic trauma patients aims to restore the homeostasis and the normal physiopathology especially considering the modern tools for bleeding management. Thus, the management of splenic trauma should be ultimately multidisciplinary and based on the physiology of the patient, the anatomy of the injury, and the associated lesions. Lastly, as the management of adults and children must be different, children should always be treated in dedicated pediatric trauma centers. In fact, the vast majority of pediatric patients with blunt splenic trauma can be managed non-operatively. This paper presents the World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) classification of splenic trauma and the management guidelines.Peer reviewe

A prokineticin-like protein responds to immune challenges in the gastropod pest Pomacea canaliculata

The golden apple snail Pomacea canaliculata is an invasive pest originating from South America. It has already been found in Asia, the southern United States and more recently in the EU. Aiming to target the immune system of the snail as a way to control its spreading, we have developed organ-specific transcriptomes and looked for molecules controlling replication and differentiation of snail hemocytes. The prokineticin domain-containing protein Astakine 1 is the only cytokine known thus far capable of regulating invertebrate hematopoiesis, and we analyzed the transcriptomes looking for molecules containing a prokineticin domain. We have identified a prokineticin-like protein (PlP), that we called Pc-plp and we analyzed by real-time PCR (qPCR) its expression. In control snails, highest levels of Pc-plp were detected in the digestive gland, the ampulla (i.e., a hemocyte reservoir) and the pericardial fluid (i.e., the hematopoietic district). We tested Pc-plp expression after triggering hematopoiesis via multiple hemolymph withdrawals, or during bacterial challenge through LPS injection. In both cases a reduction of Pc-plp mRNA was observed. The multiple hemolymph withdrawals caused a significant decrease of Pc-plp mRNA in pericardial fluid and circulating hemocytes, while the LPS injection promoted the Pc-plp mRNA drop in anterior kidney, mantle and gills, organs that may act as immune barrier in molluscs. Our data indicate an important role for prokineticin domain-containing proteins as immunomodulators also in gastropods and their dynamic expression may serve as a biosensor to gauge the effectiveness of immunological interventions aimed at curtailing the spreading of the gastropod pest P. canaliculata

Interferon alpha exposure increases the expression of the enzymes belonging to the kynurenine pathway in an in vitro model of human neurons: SH-SY5Y cells

The past two decades have witnessed a burgeoning area of pre-clinical and clinical research linking psychiatric illnesses – particularly major depression (MD) – to activation of the inflammatory immune system. One of the stronger evidence supporting a causal role for inflammation in leading MD comes from reports indicating that depressive symptoms frequently develop in patients undergoing immunotherapy with cytokines, such as interferon (IFN)-α, for the treatment of malignancies or chronic viral infection. Although INF-alpha- induced effects on the brain made of IFN-α a model to study the influence of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the CNS and behavior the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects are far from being fully understood. It has been proposed that IFN-α may contribute to the etiology of MD by inducing indolamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) expression and thus unbalancing in the tryptophan/kynurenine metabolism toward the production of neurotoxic metabolites and\or reducing serotonin (5-HT) availability. IDO catalyzes the initial rate-limiting step in tryptophan degradation along the kynurenine pathway (KP). Kynurenine, the initial product of tryptophan degradation, is further catalysed into neurotoxic end-products through steps catalyzed by kynurenine 3-monooxygenase (KMO) and kynureninase (Kynu). However, Kynurenine can also be catabolised by kynurenine aminotransferase (KAT), into kynurenic acid, a potentially neuroptotective agent. A role for a disturbance in the equilibrium between neurotoxic/ neuropoptective end KP endproducts producing an alteration in the neuroprotective–neurodegenerative balance in the brain of patients with MD, has been proposed in the neurodegeneration hypothesis of depression. Given that we previously demonstrated that IFN-α induces toxic effects in an in vitro model of human neurons (human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells) we were aim to investigate the effects of IFN-α on KP in these cells. Our studies show that IFN-α exposure increased the expression of all the kynurenergic enzymes investigated (IDO, KMO, Kynu and KAT). More particularly strongly induced the expression of IDO mRNA (more than 900 –fold) in SH-SY5Y cells. Similar effects on kynurenergic enzyme expression were also observed when SH-SY5Y cells where differentiated with all-trans retinoic acid (in presence of neurotrophic support and in serum deprived conditions). We also demonstrated that INF-α decreased 5-HT levels whereas increased the kynurenine levels in the medium of both differentiated as well not differentiated SH-SY5Y cells

Effects of LPS injection on Pc-astakine expression in the gastropod Pomacea canaliculata

Astakine-1 is a prokineticin-containing factor and the first hematopoietic cytokine described in invertebrates. Astakine-1 was firstly retrieved in the freshwater crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus, and recent experiments have demonstrated the presence of astakine-like molecules also in insects and molluscs, including the freshwater snail, Pomacea canaliculata. In control conditions Pcastakine is expressed in several organs, especially in the ampulla (reservoir of hemocytes and potential district of hemocyte maturation) and in the pericardial fluid (i.e. the hematopoietic tissue). By mean of qPCR experiments, we have analyzed the effects of the injection of 50 \ub5g LPS on the expression of the gene Pc-astakine. Our observations indicate that 24 h after the injection, the major modification of the Pc-astakine expression was evident in the anterior kidney, a potential hemocyte reservoir, in which the expression of the gene decreased to almost undetectable level. In the pericardial fluid, ampulla and circulating hemocytes, the expression of Pc-astakine dropped to less than 50 % with respect to the sham-injected control snails. The drop in the amount of mRNA detected by qPCR could reflect an increased rate of translation and consequent degradation of the available mRNA, rather than a decrease of the transcription rate. Similarly, in the bivalve Crassostrea gigas, it has been suggested that accumulated Cg-astakine transcripts are largely translated under some environment stress, including immune stimuli. On the whole, our results indicate that the expression of Pc-astakine and the translation rate of its mRNA may be influenced by immune stimuli, and support the hypothesis that PcAstakine may be involved in Pomacea hematopoiesis and/or may have immune-related functions, as well

N-acetyl-cysteine prevents toxic oxidative effects induced by IFN-alpha in human neurons

Currently IFN-\u3b1 is widely used for effective treatment of viral infections and several malignancies. However, IFN-\u3b1 can cause neuropsychiatric disturbances and mental impairments, including fatigue, insomnia, depression, irritability and cognitive deficits. Molecular and cellular mechanisms leading to such side-effects are still poorly understood. Neurons seem to be an important target in mediating cellular effects induced by exposure to this cytokine, but so far little is known about IFN-\u3b1-induced effects on these cells. We have investigated the ability of IFN-\u3b1 (2-100 ng/ml) to induce damage and toxicity to the human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell line, commonly used for studying such phenomena, and the mechanisms underlying these effects. After 24 h treatment, IFN-\u3b1 increased mitochondrial activity, whereas cell density was reduced in a dose- and time-dependent manner. This effect did not depend on reduced cell proliferation, but rather the activation of apoptosis, as revealed by an increased Bax:Bcl-2 mRNA ratio after 72-h IFN-\u3b1 exposure. At this time-point, IFN-\u3b1 also reduced the expression of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene, and induced an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS). A co-treatment with N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC; 5 mm), a potent antioxidant and mitochondrial modulator, was able to counteract all of these IFN-\u3b1-induced effects. These findings demonstrated that IFN-\u3b1 induces neurotoxicity and apoptosis that is, in part, very likely due to mitochondrial damages and production of ROS. We suggest that NAC, already tested for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, may be useful to prevent IFN-\u3b1-induced central side-effects in a safe and effective way