The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Italian Nature-Based Programs in the Educational, Therapeutic, Training and Leisure Areas

In these times of global crisis caused by Covid-19, there is an urgent need to address the topic of nature-based experiences in education: the pandemic has strongly highlighted both the interdependence between human beings and nature, and the need for mending the dichotomic vision that keeps them separate. Experiential education in natural contexts within an ecological framework might have a strategic role in this crucial period to develop anthropologic, civic, and dialogic conscience (Morin, 2001). Through this study, CEFEO Research Center had the objective of investigating the socio-economic impact of Covid-19 on Italian nature-based programs in the educational, therapeutic, training, and leisure areas. From 28 May to 19 June 2020, an online questionnaire was distributed with the purpose of understanding the socio-economic impact of the pandemic on nature-based programs during the lockdown period and during the period of first reopening, and the related needs and new opportunities for the future. The results highlight a paradox: the Covid-19 crisis has caused more problems for a sector which was already suffering from a lack of funding and of social and institutional acknowledgment. Many agencies working in the field lost months of income and numerous working days, and they are uncertain about the future: they are having difficulties surviving in a moment when we need them more

Famiglie pakistane in Italia durante il Covid-19: un’indagine su problemi, bisogni e risorse

This paper reports on a survey which involved 152 parents (90% fathers) of Pakistani origin living in Italy. The aim of this research was to understand the impact of Covid-19 on these families and, especially, on their wellbeing, on managing domestic and school life, on resources and protective factors. Another goal was to involve a target of parents who are quite absent in current similar studies in Italy. In spite of its limitations, this quantitative study offers the specific point of view of Pakistani immigrant fathers who, despite experiencing a strong crisis, show themselves to be able to draw from personal, religious and relational resources, mainly connected to their culture of origin.Il presente lavoro espone i risultati di una indagine, svolta tramite un questionario, che ha coinvolto 152 genitori di origine pakistana residenti in Italia (90% padri). L’obiettivo della ricerca era di comprendere l’impatto del Covid-19 sui suddetti nuclei familiari e, soprattutto, sul livello di benessere dei componenti, sulla gestione della vita domestica e scolastica, e su risorse e fattori protettivi. Altro obiettivo è stato quello di coinvolgere un target di genitori pressoché assente da ricerche e studi analoghi, attualmente disponibili in Italia. Questa indagine quantitativa, seppur con i limiti che verranno descritti, offre il punto di vista specifico di padri immigrati pakistani che, pur riportando una situazione di crisi piuttosto accentuata, dimostrano di attingere a risorse personali, religiose e relazionali prevalentemente legate alla cultura di origine

IL PROCESSO DI PRODUZIONE SCRITTA: LA COESIONE VERBALE IN TESTI DI SCUOLA PRIMARIA

Una delle principali difficoltà che incontrano i bambini della scuola primaria nella produzione scritta riguarda la coesione verbale, ovvero il mantenimento lungo il testo della dimensione temporale inizialmente selezionata per riportare gli eventi. L’articolo esamina questo specifico tipo di competenza testuale negli alunni di sei classi del secondo ciclo della scuola primaria, tre delle quali hanno partecipato alla sperimentazione educativa sulla produzione di testi scritti “Osservare l’interlingua”. Il confronto fra i dati raccolti all’inizio e alla fine dell’anno scolastico mostra una riduzione dei salti immotivati da un tempo verbale all’altro, definiti shift temporali, nei testi prodotti nelle classi del campione sperimentale in misura maggiore rispetto a quelle di controllo e sottolinea gli effetti positivi, a breve e lungo termine, di una didattica task-based condotta con approccio inclusivo, cooperativo ed attivo.  The process of writing: verb cohesion in primary school textsOne of principal difficulties in producing written texts for primary school pupils concerns verb cohesion, i.e. maintaining the temporal dimension initially chosen for expressing events throughout the text. The paper examines this specific textual competence in pupils from six classes within second cycle of primary school. Three of these classes were involved in the “Observing interlanguage” project focused on written production. The comparison of data collected at the beginning and the end of school year shows a decrease in temporal shifts (transitions from one verb tense to another) in the texts produced by the students involved in the project with regard to the control group. These findings highlight the positive effects, both short-term and long-term, of task-based teaching through an inclusive, cooperative and active approach.

Il potenziale della formazione outdoor

Il contributo introduce al tema della formazione outdoor, contestualizzandola all'interno del panorama italiano: vengono discusse le le motivazioni e le finalità alla base di queste pratiche in particolare nel periodo storico attuale, e vengono condivise alcune riflessioni metodologiche sul ruolo del formatore outdoor

Lo stato dell’arte dei progetti nature-based in ambito educativo, formativo, terapeutico e ricreativo in Italia: i dati di una ricerca di mappatura

The main purpose of this study is to outline a quantitative and qualitative map of the Italian organizations working in the socio-educational, training,therapeutic, and leisure areas, that use nature-based methodologies. The second goal is to understand the professional identities of these organizations,through an analysis of their history, practical proposals, practitioners’ qualifications, evaluation practices. 99 participants, selected through nonprobabilitysampling, answered a questionnaire that was partly developed with the collaboration of stakeholders’ representatives. The conclusions focus on a reflection on the findings and on the perspectives for further research. This paper follows another one named “The state of art of naturebased programs in the educational, training, therapeutic, and leisure areas in Italy: conceptual framework and possible categorization of sectors/contexts.”, which had the aim to outline the Italian state of art regarding the terminology and the differentiation of the various nature-based areas.La ricerca che qui presentiamo è stata finalizzata principalmente a disegnare una mappa quantitativa e qualitativa delle realtà che operano in Italia utilizzando metodologie e approcci nature-based negli ambiti socio-educativo, formativo, didattico (extrascuola), terapeutico e per il tempo libero. Il secondo obiettivo è stato quello di comprendere le identità professionali di tali soggetti analizzando la loro storia, le loro proposte operative, la preparazione professionale e i titoli di studio, la prassi di effettuare valutazioni delle proposte realizzate. La ricerca ha coinvolto un campione non-probabilistico formato da 99 soggetti coinvolti nella compilazione di un questionario ideato anche con la collaborazione di stakeholdher, rappresentanti del comparto nature-based. Le conclusioni esplicitano le riflessioni scaturite dai dati raccolti e disegnano le prospettive di sviluppo di ulteriori fasi e studi futuri. Il presente contributo è il seguito di una prima parte dal titolo “Lo stato dell’arte dei progetti nature-based in ambito educativo, formativo, terapeutico e ricreativo in Italia: quadro concettuale e una possibile categorizzazione dei settori/contesti.”, in cui viene ricostruito il quadro del panorama nazionale in merito all’utilizzo della terminologia e alla differenziazione nei diversi ambiti specifici di operatività

Cerebellar Ataxia with Complete Clinical Recovery and Resolution of MRI Lesions Related to Central Pontine Myelinolysis: Case Report and Literature Review

There are several reports of central pontine myelinolysis (CPM) in a setting of malnutrition, alcoholism, and chronic debilitating illness associated with electrolyte abnormalities, especially hyponatremia. The cause of myelinolysis is still under debate, and, although osmotic effects are thought to be responsible in most cases, alternative pathological factors should be considered [King et al.: Am J Med Sci 2010;339:561–567]. We report a case of CPM in a patient with recent chemotherapy for colon cancer without electrolyte unbalance and otherwise unexplained causes. Moreover, the present case is an example of the unusual clinical ataxic variant, followed by complete recovery without any specific treatment. The diagnosis was confirmed by MRI, which showed a characteristic hyperintense signal abnormality in the central part of the pons with an unaffected outer rim. One month later, we observed complete resolution of clinical and radiological symptoms

LONG-TERM INTRAOCULAR PRESSURE AFTER UNCOMPLICATED PARS PLANA VITRECTOMY FOR IDIOPATHIC EPIRETINAL MEMBRANE

\u2019Purrpose: To investigate long-term intraocular pressure trends after uncomplicated pars plana vitrectomy for idiopathic epiretinal membrane. Methods: Three hundred and sixty-eight eyes of 368 consecutive patients were enrolled. Changes in intraocular pressure 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery and during the fi nal follow-up visit were evaluated in vitrectomized eyes and nonvitrectomized fellow eyes. Results: The median follow-up period was 36 months (range 12 \u2013 92 months). Longitudinal data analysis evidenced a 2.5-mmHg (2.2 mmHg; 2.7 mmHg, 95% con fi dence interval) statis- tically signi fi cant difference in intraocular pressure 30 days after surgery between treated and fellow untreated eyes, gradually recovering to a not signi fi cant 0.2-mmHg ( 2 0.1 mmHg; 0.4 mmHg, 95% con fi dence interval) difference within 26 months. The incidence of late-onset ocular hypertension was 5.7% (21 over 347, 2%; 12%, 95% con fi dence interval) without difference between the treated eyes and the group control. No signi fi cant difference in the incidence of late-onset ocular hypertension and sex, lens status, or gauge of vitrectomy instru- ments was detected. Only patient \u2019 sagewassigni fi cantly higher (mean difference 4.2 years; 0.1 \u2013 8.0 years, Monte Carlo, 95% con fi dence interval) in those who de veloped late-onset ocular hypertension in the vitrectomized eye. Conclusion: Uncomplicated pars plana vitrectomy for idiopathic epiretinal membrane seems not to increase the risk of late-onset ocular hypertension or open-angle glaucoma development.

Famiglie pakistane in Italia nel Covid-19: una rilevazione su problemi, bisogni e risorse nel rapporto con le istituzioni educative e scolastiche

The aim of this contribution is to investigate how families of Pakistani origins residing in Italy experienced the pandemic. The paper presents the opinion of 152 parents (81,6% fathers) regarding their children wellbeing and the school-families relationship during Covid-19 (data was collected through a specific session of a broader survey: Gigli, Borelli & Raja, 2021). Data shows that participants’ worries about the consequences of pandemic on their children mainly concern the compulsive use of technology, sleep problems and difficulties integrating at school. Another aspect that was stud-ied regards the participation to parents’ informal class chats (on instant com-munication software): most respondents participate passively, but the majority thinks they are useful tools to get information. The relationship between school and families was also investigated: more than 90% of participants believes that the sanitary restrictions have worsen the communication between school and families. Participants’ level of satis-faction with school appears to be low. The worsening that emerges could be due to a linguistic gap, to difficulties integrating and to the lack of specific dedicated attention from schools towards families, during intense periods of the pandemic crisis.L’obiettivo di questo lavoro è indagare l’esperienza vissuta durante l’emergenza pandemica dalle famiglie di origine pakistana residenti in Italia. In particolare, saranno esposti i dati emergenti dall’opinione di 152 genitori (di cui 81,6% padri) sul benessere dei figli e sul rapporto scuola-famiglie nel Covid-19 (raccolti in una sessione specifica del questionario utilizzato in una ricerca più ampia: Gigli, Borelli & Raja, 2021). Dalla rilevazione emerge che le principali preoccupazioni dei partecipanti rispetto alle ripercussioni della pandemia sui propri figli riguardano l’uso compulsivo di strumenti tecnologici, problemi di sonno, momenti di regressione e difficoltà ad integrarsi negli ambienti scolastici. Un altro aspetto emerso è che la partecipazione dei genitori alle chat di classe avviene in modo passivo; nonostante la bassa partecipazione alle chat, la maggioranza ritiene comunque che esse siano strumenti utili per ottenere informazioni. In merito alla relazione scuola-famiglie, più del 90% dei partecipanti ritieneche le limitazioni igienico/sanitarie abbiano peggiorato gli scambi comunicativi; in linea di massima, il livello di soddisfazione dei genitori verso i servizi educativi e scolastici è basso. In conclusione, emerge un quadro di peggioramento che si ipotizza possa essere dovuto al gap linguistico, alla difficoltà di integrazione e alla poca attenzione specifica dedicata dalle scuole in piena crisi pandemica alla relazione con le famiglie

Inflammation: an important parameter in the search of prostate cancer biomarkers

Background A more specific and early diagnostics for prostate cancer (PCa) is highly desirable. In this study, being inflammation the focus of our effort, serum protein profiles were analyzed in order to investigate if this parameter could interfere with the search of discriminating proteins between PCa and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Methods Patients with clinical suspect of PCa and candidates for trans-rectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy (TRUS) were enrolled. Histological specimens were examined in order to grade and classify the tumor, identify BPH and detect inflammation. Surface Enhanced Laser Desorption/Ionization-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometry (SELDI-ToF-MS) and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) coupled with Liquid Chromatography-MS/MS (LC-MS/MS) were used to analyze immuno-depleted serum samples from patients with PCa and BPH. Results The comparison between PCa (with and without inflammation) and BPH (with and without inflammation) serum samples by SELDI-ToF-MS analysis did not show differences in protein expression, while changes were only observed when the concomitant presence of inflammation was taken into consideration. In fact, when samples with histological sign of inflammation were excluded, 20 significantly different protein peaks were detected. Subsequent comparisons (PCa with inflammation vs PCa without inflammation, and BPH with inflammation vs BPH without inflammation) showed that 16 proteins appeared to be modified in the presence of inflammation, while 4 protein peaks were not modified. With 2-DE analysis, comparing PCa without inflammation vs PCa with inflammation, and BPH without inflammation vs the same condition in the presence of inflammation, were identified 29 and 25 differentially expressed protein spots, respectively. Excluding samples with inflammation the comparison between PCa vs BPH showed 9 unique PCa proteins, 4 of which overlapped with those previously identified in the presence of inflammation, while other 2 were new proteins, not identified in our previous comparisons. Conclusions The present study indicates that inflammation might be a confounding parameter during the proteomic research of candidate biomarkers of PCa. These results indicate that some possible biomarker-candidate proteins are strongly influenced by the presence of inflammation, hence only a well-selected protein pattern should be considered for potential marker of PCa