Sulle tracce dei pastori-allevatori pre-protostorici nel Carso (e altrove): esempi di uso integrato di indicatori diversi

The Classical Karst is a plateau of low rounded hills and low mountains ranging from 100-200 m to 800-900 m above sea level, that covers the eastern most part of northern Italy and the southwestern part of Slovenia. The outcropping rocks are chiefly limestones, crossed by two flysch (marl and sandstone) belts, a dozen kilometres wide. The area is not suitable for agriculture, and since historical times pastoralism / herding of sheep and goats has been one of the main economic activities. Its importance also in prehistoric times – hinted at already at the end of the 19th century by Marchesetti – was confirmed in the late 1990s, when sedimentological and soil micro-morphological analyses of some cave deposits indicated that these sites, at least in the investigated areas, had been used by prehistoric shepherds for stabling their flocks. The re-examination of the archaeological materials found in the same caves suggested that the pastoral use presumably started in the Neolithic and continued till the Bronze or Iron Age. In the course of millennia the agents and the ways of using the caves would have clearly changed: on the grounds of the available data, and still referring to the models proposed by Brochier c. 20 years ago, at present the hypothesis that most of the Karst caves were basically used as “grottes-bergeries” – i.e. as stables almost without a contemporaneous human presence –, rather than “habitats-bergeries”, is likely, though not beyond doubt. Our interpretation combines direct and indirect indicators from different scientific fields: besides sedimentology, soil micromorphology and archaeology, at the basis of the renewed interest in pastoralism, archaeometry, geomorphology, archaeozoology, ethnohistory and ethnography. To test the potentiality of the use of data derived in particular from the last two fields, we have recently extended our research to other geographical areas, close to the Karst, immediately to the north, in the northeastern part of the region Friuli Venezia Giulia, and far away, in Sardinia

Transfusional approach in multi-ethnic Sickle Cell patients: real-world practice data from a Multicenter survey in Italy

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a worldwide distributed hereditary red cell disorder characterized by recurrent acute vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs and anemia). Gold standard treatments are hydroxycarbamide (HC) and/or different red blood cell (RBC) transfusion regimens to limit disease progression. Here, we report a retrospective study on 1,579 SCD patients (median age 23 years; 802 males/777 females), referring to 34 comprehensive Italian centers for hemoglobinopathies. Although we observed a similar proportion of Caucasian (47.9%) and African (48.7%) patients, Italian SCD patients clustered into two distinct overall groups: children of African descent and adults of Caucasian descent. We found a subset of SCD patients requiring more intensive therapy with a combination of HC plus chronic transfusion regimen, due to partial failure of HC treatment alone in preventing or reducing sickle cell-related acute manifestations. Notably, we observed a higher use of acute transfusion approaches for SCD patients of African descent when compared to Caucasian subjects. This might be related to (i) age of starting HC treatment; (ii) patients' low social status; (iii) patients' limited access to family practitioners; or (iv) discrimination. In our cohort, alloimmunization was documented in 135 patients (8.5%) and was more common in Caucasians (10.3%) than in Africans (6.6%). Alloimmunization was similar in male and female and more frequent in adults than in children. Our study reinforces the importance of donor-recipient exact matching for ABO, Rhesus, and Kell antigen systems for RBC compatibility as a winning strategy to avoid or limit alloimmunization events that negatively impact the clinical management of SCD-related severe complications

Instantaneous Angular Speed: comparisons between Torsional Laser Vibrometer and Encoder-Counter estimations

In recent years, some issues of the condition monitoring of rotating machinery have been tackled with the Instantaneous Angular Speed (IAS) analysis. In fact, from the variation of the IAS during the machine loads\u2019 cycle it\u2019s possible to identify defects and faults. The current work focuses on the estimation of the IAS through the Elapsed Time (ET) method and compares the results with the measurements of a B&K torsional laser vibrometer type 2523, allowing to highlight the differences between the methods and the influences of the processing parameters. The ET is based on the measurement, with a counter, of the time elapsed between the pulses of an encoder. Obviously, both encoder\u2019s and counter\u2019s characteristics, (the number of pulses/revolutions and the counter frequency), influence the range of applicability and the quality of the estimation. The B&K torsional laser vibrometer instead relies on the lasers\u2019 signal correlation and the angle resampling technique. The measurements are performed on an unloaded asynchronous four poles electrical motor. This is driven by an adjustable frequency AC drive system to simulate different working speed conditions. The IAS is estimated between the 150rpm and the 1500rpm range. The study shows the advantages and disadvantages of the two measurements approaches, reports their limitations and suggests a novel procedure for deriving the IAS form encoder/counter signals elaboration

Engagement and distraction. What about post-Lauream teacher education?

The aim of this paper is to present a research investigating the opportunity to alternate inpresence lectures with webinars and other online resources, in a context of post-graduate blended education. We\u2019ll illustrate the data collected through a questionnaire submitted to about one hundred adult students, participating to a blended course devoted to school teaching habilitation (PAS). Participants were asked to evaluate their own effort to the course completion: when, how much and where they were able to study the various sorts of materials (lectures, web-lectures, webinars, etc.), whether they perceived interference by external or internal distraction factors. As we shall see, the students\u2019 opinion is that distraction is mostly caused by internal factors, an issue that should be compared with the known relevance of interference due to BYOD and socialdevices related multitasking. It turns out that internal causes of distraction provide an emerging aspect of research on distance education

Haemochromatosis in children: A national retrospective cohort promoted by the A.I.E.O.P. (Associazione Italiana Emato-Oncologia Pediatrica) study group

: Haemochromatosis (HC) encompasses a range of genetic disorders. HFE-HC is by far the most common in adults, while non-HFE types are rare due to mutations of HJV, HAMP, TFR2 and gain-of-function mutations of SLC40A1. HC is often unknown to paediatricians as it is usually asymptomatic in childhood. We report clinical and biochemical data from 24 paediatric cases of HC (10 cases of HFE-, 5 TFR2-, 9 HJV-HC), with a median follow-up of 9.6 years. Unlike in the adult population, non-HFE-HC constitutes 58% (14/24) of the population in our series. Transferrin saturation was significantly higher in TFR2- and HJV-HC compared to HFE-HC, and serum ferritin and LIC were higher in HJV-HC compared to TFR2- and HFE-HC. Most HFE-HC subjects had relatively low ferritin and LIC at the time of diagnosis, so therapy could be postponed for most of them after the age of 18. Our results confirm that HJV-HC is a severe form already in childhood, emphasizing the importance of early diagnosis and treatment to avoid the development of organ damage and reduce morbidity and mortality. Although phlebotomies were tolerated by most patients, oral iron chelators could be a valid option in early-onset HC