Historic masonry churches exposed to slow-moving landslides: A critical damage assessment

This paper deals with the damage assessment of historic masonry churches exposed to slow-moving landslides. A damage survey campaign was carried out on 33 listed churches located in the Liguria region (Italy) in areas affected by slow-moving landslides. For each church, information about zoning, state of activity and direction of landslide phenomena was collected and analyzed. Knowledge of each building’s main geometric and structural features, history and past interventions was gained by means on-site surveys and archival research. A detailed field-survey of crack patterns and deformations was also performed. Based on the critical assessment of the damage observed, preliminary conclusions on the structural response of historic masonry churches to slow-moving landslides were made. Recurrent types of damage and damage mechanisms were also identified

Effect of Slow-Moving Landslides on Churches in the Liguria Region: a Geotechnical Approach

Protecting cultural heritage from water-soil interaction related threats is a current issue and the prediction of the effects induced on buildings by landslides is very challenging. The main difficulties lie in the lack of detailed information about landside movements as well as in the modeling of soil-structure interaction. This paper study the effects of a particular category of slow-moving landslides, namely active rotational and translational slides with movement rates of the order of some mm/year, on buildings of historical and cultural interestsuch as churches. Three case studies located in the Liguria region (Italy) were analyzed by performing FEM and LEM numerical analyses on sections representative of the slope

Slow-Moving Landslide Damage Assessment of Historic Masonry Churches: Some Case-Studies in Italy

This paper presents a contribution for the damage assessment of historic masonry churches exposed to slow-moving landslides. In particular, the authors identified four global damage mechanisms, which are presented here by means of the critical damage assessment of four case studies located in the Liguria region (Italy) in areas affected by slow-moving landslides. For each church, a correlation between the damage patterns observed on-site and the ground movements induced by landslide phenomena was sought by means of visual inspections and crack interpretation. As a result, each damage mechanism was associated to a different pattern of ground movements produced by slow-moving landslides

Slow-Moving Landslide Damage Assessment of Historic Masonry Churches: Some Case-Studies in Italy

This paper presents a contribution for the damage assessment of historic masonry churches exposed to slow-moving landslides. In particular, the authors identified four global damage mechanisms, which are presented here by means of the critical damage assessment of four case studies located in the Liguria region (Italy) in areas affected by slow-moving landslides. For each church, a correlation between the damage patterns observed on-site and the ground movements induced by landslide phenomena was sought by means of visual inspections and crack interpretation. As a result, each damage mechanism was associated to a different pattern of ground movements produced by slow-moving landslides

Attitudes and beliefs on influenza vaccination during the covid-19 pandemic: Results from a representative italian survey

The last 2019/20 northern hemisphere influenza season overlapped with the first wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Italy was the first western country where severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spread to a significant extent. In this representative cross-sectional survey, we aimed to describe some opinions and attitudes of the Italian general population towards both influenza vaccination and the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify potential modifiers of the decision-making process regarding the uptake of the 2020/21 influenza vaccine. A total of 2543 responses were analyzed. Although most (74.8%) participants valued influenza vaccination positively and declared that it should be mandatory, some misconceptions around influenza persist. The general practitioner was the main source of trusted information on influenza vaccines, while social networks were judged to be the least reliable. Younger and less affluent individuals, subjects not vaccinated in the previous season, and those living in smaller communities showed lower odds of receiving the 2020/21 season influenza vaccination. However, the COVID-19 pandemic may have positively influenced the propensity of being vaccinated against 2020/21 seasonal influenza. In order to increase influenza vaccination coverage rates multidisciplinary targeted interventions are needed. The role of general practitioners remains crucial in increasing influenza vaccine awareness and acceptance by effective counselling

Effect of Recombinant Cytokines on the Expression of Natural Killer Cell Receptors from Patients with TB or/and HIV Infection

BACKGROUND: NK cells express several specialized receptors through which they recognize and discriminate virally-infected/tumor cells efficiently from healthy cells and kill them. This ability to lyse is regulated by an array of inhibitory or activating receptors. The present study investigated the frequency of various NK receptors expressed by NK cell subsets from HIV-infected TB patients. The effect of IL-15+IL-12 stimulation on the expression of NK receptors was also studied. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The study included 15 individuals each from normal healthy subjects, pulmonary tuberculosis patients, HIV-infected individuals and patients with HIV and tuberculosis co-infection. The expression of NK cell receptors was analyzed on two NK cell subsets within the peripheral blood: CD16+CD3- and CD56+CD3- using flow cytometry. The expression of inhibitory receptors (CD158a, CD158b, KIRp70, CD85j and NKG2A) on NK subsets was increased in HIV, when compared to NHS. But the response in HIV-TB was not uniform. Stimulation with IL-15+IL-12 dropped (p<0.05) the expression of CD85j and NKG2A in HIV. The basal expression of natural cytotoxicity receptors (NKp30 and NKp46) on NK cell subsets was lowered (p<0.05) in HIV and HIV-TB as compared to NHS. However, the expression of NKp44 and NKG2D was elevated in HIV. Enhanced NKp46 and NKG2D expression was observed in HIV with IL-15+IL-12 stimulation. The coreceptor NKp80 was found to be expressed in higher numbers on NK subsets from HIV compared to NHS, which elevated with IL-15+IL-12 stimulation. The expression of NK receptors and response to stimulation was primarily on CD56+CD3- subset. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: IL-15+IL-12 has an immunomodulatory effect on NK cell subsets from HIV-infected individuals viz down-regulation of iNKRs, elevation of activatory receptors NKp46 and NKG2D, and induction of coreceptor NKp80. IL-15+IL-12 is not likely to be of value when co-infected with TB probably due to the influence of tuberculosis

Damage Assessment of Historic Masonry Churches Exposed to Slow-moving Landslides

This paper presents a first contribution to the damage assessment of historic masonry churches exposed to slow-moving landslides. No studies have ever been devoted to systematically investigating the effects of slow-moving landslides on this type of structures. In this work, a damage survey campaign was performed on 33 listed churches located in landslides-affected areas in the Liguria region (Italy). For each church, information regarding zoning, state of activity and estimate direction of landslide phenomena was collected and analysed. A suitable knowledge of the main geometric and structural features as well as of history and past interventions was achieved for each building by means of on-site surveys and archival research. A detailed field-survey of crack patterns and deformations was also performed. The critical assessment of the damage observed allowed to put forward some original remarks on the structural response of historic masonry churches to slow-moving landslides. Furthermore, some recurrent types of damage and damage mechanisms were identified for the first time

Modulation of human T-lymphocyte proliferation by 4-hydroxynonenal, the bioactive product of neutrophil-dependent lipid peroxidation

The proliferative capacity of immune cells is known to be sensitive to conditions of oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation. We tested the hypothesis that activated neutrophils can induce peroxidation in extracellular lipid substrates, and evaluated the effects of 4-hydroxy-2,3-trans-nonenal (4-HNE)--the most reactive aldehydic product of lipid peroxidation--on mitogen-induced proliferation of human T lymphocytes. Neutrophils activated in the presence of extracellular lipid substrates (liposomes, cellular membranes) induced lipid peroxidation. By means of cytoimmunofluorescent labeling and confocal microscopy, the binding of 4-HNE to surface and cytoplasmic proteins of activated neutrophils was observed. Short (20 min) pre-treatment of cells with low concentrations of 4-HNE were able to dose-dependently decrease the proliferation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes challenged with PHA or anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody OKT3, as well as the proliferation of a tetanus specific human T-cell line challenged with tetanus toxoid. In these conditions, the binding of 4-HNE to surface and cytoplasmic proteins of lymphocytes was also observed. When the proliferative capacity of peripheral blood lymphocytes was monitored over several days after 4-HNE treatment and PHA challenge, a recovery and a rebound in cell proliferation was observed. Data reported indicate that the lipid peroxidation promoted by activated neutrophils can exert modulatory effects on the responsivity of human T cells, through the action of its most reactive product, 4-HNE

A Geotechnical Analysis to Assess the Effect of Slow-Moving Landslides on Historic Masonry Churches

The protection of cultural heritage from water-soil interaction related threats is a crucial challenge for the scientific community. Among the hazards threatening heritage buildings, slow-moving landslides have been recently found to produce significant damage to historic masonry churches. However, assessing the effects of these phenomena is very challenging, as detailed information about slow-moving landslide movements is not generally available. To tackle this problem, geotechnical analyses can be performed, which enable the landslide-induced soil displacement profiles to be predicted. In view of this, this paper investigates the effects of slow-moving landslides on historic masonry churches by performing geotechnical analyses on two case studies located in the Liguria region (Italy). For each case study, limit equilibrium (LE) and finite element (FE) analyses were carried out with reference to representative sections of the slope on which the building was located. Different scenarios of water table levels were also simulated to evaluate a potential evolution of the slope stability conditions towards failure. Finally, the damage level of the building under study was assessed through a damage criterion available in the literature and compared with the severity of the damage observed on site