Ricerca di inibitori differenziali dell'enzima AKR1B1 in Brassica oleracea e Solanum lycopersicum

La tesi rientra in un più ampio progetto di nutraceutica co-finanziato dalla Regione Toscana in cui la ricerca degli inibitori differenziali dell'enzima aldoso reduttasi viene eseguita in estratti vegetali tramite l'esecuzione di saggi enzimatici per via spettrofotometrica. Il fine della ricerca è quello di individuare una molecola o dei gruppi di molecole che inibiscano l'azione riduttiva dell'enzima nella via dei polioli in condizioni di diabete, onde evitare l'instaurarsi delle complicanze secondarie legate alla malattia, senza però inibire la sua azione detossificante nei confronti delle aldeidi idrofobiche

Marxismo en el presente: mapa de los conceptos para pensar el cambio

L'assaig es proposa dibuixar un mapa, necessàriament parcial, d'algunes obres i autors que contribueixen a definir la imatge contemporània del marxisme i el posmarxismo. Un mapa organitzat a partir de paraules clau com capitalisme (David Harvey, Jacques Bidet, Gianfranco La Grassa, Robert Kurz), classe (Domenico Losurdo, Ernesto Laclau, Etienne Balibar), ideologia (Slavoj Žižek, Pierre Macherey, Frederic Jameson), dialèctica (Roberto Finelli, Costanzo Preve, Antonio Negri), Estat i política (Alain Badiou, Sylvain Lazarus, Chritian Laval, Mario Tronti). Una sèrie de posicions molt diferents, a les quals els autors proposen algunes problemàtiques transversals: la grandesa i els límits de la trobada amb el pensament post-estructuralista; la dificultat de derivar de la crítica al capitalisme l'afirmació d'un "nou ordre", que sàpiga dirigir-se a les seves víctimes; la fi de la unió entre el que de fèrtil hi ha al marxisme i la cultura de l'esquerra postmoderna; la diferència entre la pràctica teòrica i les formes de l'antagonisme a l'horitzó neoliberal contemporani, amb la reaparició de nocions oblidades massa ràpidament com "poble", "nació" o "identitat".The essay aims to draw a map, necessarily partial, of some works and some authors that contribute to define the contemporary image of Marxism and post-Marxism. A map organized from key words such as capitalism (David Harvey, Jacques Bidet, Gianfranco La Grassa, Robert Kurz), class (Domenico Losurdo, Ernesto Laclau, Etienne Balibar), ideology (Slavoj Žižek, Pierre Macherey, Frederic Jameson), dialectic (Roberto Finelli, Costanzo Preve, Antonio Negri), State and politics (Alain Badiou, Sylvain Lazarus, Chritian Laval,Mario Tronti). A series of very different positions, to which the authors propose some cross-cutting issues: the greatness and limits of the encounter with post-structuralist thought; the difficulty of deriving from the criticism of capitalism the affirmation of a "new order" that can speak to its victims; the end of the union between what is fertile in Marxism and the culture of the postmodern left; the difference between the theoretical practice and the forms of antagonism in the contemporary neoliberal horizon, with the reappearance of notions too quickly forgotten as "people", "nation" or "identity".El ensayo se propone dibujar un mapa, necesariamente parcial, de algunas obras y autores que contribuyen a definir la imagen contemporánea del marxismo y el posmarxismo. Un mapa organizado a partir de palabras clave como capitalismo (David Harvey, Jacques Bidet, Gianfranco La Grassa, Robert Kurz), clase (Domenico Losurdo, Ernesto Laclau, Etienne Balibar), ideología (Slavoj Žižek, Pierre Macherey, Frederic Jameson), diálectica (Roberto Finelli, Costanzo Preve, Antonio Negri), Estado y política (Alain Badiou, Sylvain Lazarus, Chritian Laval, Mario Tronti). Una serie de posiciones muy distintas, a las que los autores proponen algunas problemáticas transversales: la grandeza y los límites del encuentro con el pensamiento post-estructuralista; la dificultad de derivar de la crítica al capitalismo la afirmación de un "nuevo orden", que sepa dirigirse a sus víctimas; el fin de la unión entre lo que de fértil hay en el marxismo y la cultura de la izquierda posmoderna; la diferencia entre la práctica teórica y las formas del antagonismo en el horizonte neoliberal contemporáneo, con la reaparición de nociones olvidadas demasiado rápidamente como"pueblo", "nación" o "identidad"

Marxismo en el presente : mapa de los conceptos para pensar el cambio

El ensayo se propone dibujar un mapa, necesariamente parcial, de algunas obras y autores que contribuyen a definir la imagen contemporánea del marxismo y el posmarxismo. Un mapa organizado a partir de palabras clave como capitalismo (David Harvey, Jacques Bidet, Gianfranco La Grassa, Robert Kurz), clase (Domenico Losurdo, Ernesto Laclau, Etienne Balibar), ideología (Slavoj Žižek, Pierre Macherey, Frederic Jameson), diálectica (Roberto Finelli, Costanzo Preve, Antonio Negri), Estado y política (Alain Badiou, Sylvain Lazarus, Chritian Laval, Mario Tronti). Una serie de posiciones muy distintas, a las que los autores proponen algunas problemáticas transversales: la grandeza y los límites del encuentro con el pensamiento post-estructuralista; la dificultad de derivar de la crítica al capitalismo la afirmación de un "nuevo orden", que sepa dirigirse a sus víctimas; el fin de la unión entre lo que de fértil hay en el marxismo y la cultura de la izquierda posmoderna; la diferencia entre la práctica teórica y las formas del antagonismo en el horizonte neoliberal contemporáneo, con la reaparición de nociones olvidadas demasiado rápidamente como "pueblo", "nación" o "identidad".The essay aims to draw a map, necessarily partial, of some works and some authors that contribute to define the contemporary image of Marxism and post-Marxism. A map organized from key words such as capitalism (David Harvey, Jacques Bidet, Gianfranco La Grassa, Robert Kurz), class (Domenico Losurdo, Ernesto Laclau, Etienne Balibar), ideology (Slavoj Žižek, Pierre Macherey, Frederic Jameson), dialectic (Roberto Finelli, Costanzo Preve, Antonio Negri), State and politics (Alain Badiou, Sylvain Lazarus, Chritian Laval, Mario Tronti). A series of very different positions, to which the authors propose some cross-cutting issues: the greatness and limits of the encounter with post-structuralist thought; the difficulty of deriving from the criticism of capitalism the affirmation of a "new order" that can speak to its victims; the end of the union between what is fertile in Marxism and the culture of the postmodern left; the difference between the theoretical practice and the forms of antagonism in the contemporary neoliberal horizon, with the reappearance of notions too quickly forgotten as "people", "nation" or "identity".L'assaig es proposa dibuixar un mapa, necessàriament parcial, d'algunes obres i autors que contribueixen a definir la imatge contemporània del marxisme i el posmarxismo. Un mapa organitzat a partir de paraules clau com capitalisme (David Harvey, Jacques Bidet, Gianfranco La Grassa, Robert Kurz), classe (Domenico Losurdo, Ernesto Laclau, Etienne Balibar), ideologia (Slavoj Žižek, Pierre Macherey, Frederic Jameson), dialèctica (Roberto Finelli, Costanzo Preve, Antonio Negri), Estat i política (Alain Badiou, Sylvain Lazarus, Chritian Laval, Mario Tronti). Una sèrie de posicions molt diferents, a les quals els autors proposen algunes problemàtiques transversals: la grandesa i els límits de la trobada amb el pensament post-estructuralista; la dificultat de derivar de la crítica al capitalisme l'afirmació d'un "nou ordre", que sàpiga dirigir-se a les seves víctimes; la fi de la unió entre el que de fèrtil hi ha al marxisme i la cultura de l'esquerra postmoderna; la diferència entre la pràctica teòrica i les formes de l'antagonisme a l'horitzó neoliberal contemporani, amb la reaparició de nocions oblidades massa ràpidament com "poble", "nació" o "identitat"

Prevalence of interstitial pneumonia suggestive of COVID-19 at 18F-FDG PET/CT in oncological asymptomatic patients in a high prevalence country during pandemic period: a national multi-centric retrospective study

Purpose: To assess the presence and pattern of incidental interstitial lung alterations suspicious of COVID-19 on fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) ([18F]FDG PET/CT) in asymptomatic oncological patients during the period of active COVID-19 in a country with high prevalence of the virus. Methods: This is a multi-center retrospective observational study involving 59 Italian centers. We retrospectively reviewed the prevalence of interstitial pneumonia detected during the COVID period (between March 16 and 27, 2020) and compared to a pre-COVID period (January\u2013February 2020) and a control time (in 2019). The diagnosis of interstitial pneumonia was done considering lung alterations of CT of PET. Results: Overall, [18F]FDG PET/CT was performed on 4008 patients in the COVID period, 19,267 in the pre-COVID period, and 5513 in the control period. The rate of interstitial pneumonia suspicious for COVID-19 was significantly higher during the COVID period (7.1%) compared with that found in the pre-COVID (5.35%) and control periods (5.15%) (p < 0.001). Instead, no significant difference among pre-COVID and control periods was present. The prevalence of interstitial pneumonia detected at PET/CT was directly associated with geographic virus diffusion, with the higher rate in Northern Italy. Among 284 interstitial pneumonia detected during COVID period, 169 (59%) were FDG-avid (average SUVmax of 4.1). Conclusions: A significant increase of interstitial pneumonia incidentally detected with [18F]FDG PET/CT has been demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. A majority of interstitial pneumonia were FDG-avid. Our results underlined the importance of paying attention to incidental CT findings of pneumonia detected at PET/CT, and these reports might help to recognize early COVID-19 cases guiding the subsequent management

Whole-remnant and maximum-voxel SPECT/CT dosimetry in ¹³¹I-NaI treatments of differentiated thyroid cancer.

Purpose To investigate the possible differences between SPECT/CT based whole-remnant and maximum-voxel dosimetry in patients receiving radio-iodine ablation treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC).Methods Eighteen DTC patients were administered 1.11 GBq of 131I-NaI after near-total thyroidectomy and rhTSH stimulation. Two patients had two remnants, so in total dosimetry was performed for 20 sites. Three SPECT/CT scans were performed for each patient at 1, 2, and 3-7 days after administration. The activity, the remnant mass, and the maximum-voxel activity were determined from these images and from a recovery-coefficient curve derived from experimental phantom measurements. The cumulated activity was estimated using trapezoidal-exponential integration. Finally, the absorbed dose was calculated using S-values for unit-density spheres in whole-remnant dosimetry and S-values for voxels in maximum-voxel dosimetry.Results The mean absorbed dose obtained from whole-remnant dosimetry was 40 Gy (range 2-176 Gy) and from maximum-voxel dosimetry 34 Gy (range 2-145 Gy). For any given patient, the activity concentrations for each of the three time-points were approximately the same for the two methods. The effective half-lives varied (R = 0.865), mainly due to discrepancies in estimation of the longer effective half-lives. On average, absorbed doses obtained from whole-remnant dosimetry were 1.2 ± 0.2 (1 SD) higher than for maximum-voxel dosimetry, mainly due to differences in the S-values. The method-related differences were however small in comparison to the wide range of absorbed doses obtained in patients.Conclusions Simple and consistent procedures for SPECT/CT based whole-volume and maximum-voxel dosimetry have been described, both based on experimentally determined recovery coefficients. Generally the results from the two approaches are consistent, although there is a small, systematic difference in the absorbed dose due to differences in the S-values, and some variability due to differences in the estimated effective half-lives, especially when the effective half-life is long. Irrespective of the method used, the patient absorbed doses obtained span over two orders of magnitude

Marxismo en el presente : mapa de los conceptos para pensar el cambio

El ensayo se propone dibujar un mapa, necesariamente parcial, de algunas obras y autores que contribuyen a definir la imagen contemporánea del marxismo y el posmarxismo. Un mapa organizado a partir de palabras clave como capitalismo (David Harvey, Jacques Bidet, Gianfranco La Grassa, Robert Kurz), clase (Domenico Losurdo, Ernesto Laclau, Etienne Balibar), ideología (Slavoj Žižek, Pierre Macherey, Frederic Jameson), diálectica (Roberto Finelli, Costanzo Preve, Antonio Negri), Estado y política (Alain Badiou, Sylvain Lazarus, Chritian Laval, Mario Tronti). Una serie de posiciones muy distintas, a las que los autores proponen algunas problemáticas transversales: la grandeza y los límites del encuentro con el pensamiento post-estructuralista; la dificultad de derivar de la crítica al capitalismo la afirmación de un "nuevo orden", que sepa dirigirse a sus víctimas; el fin de la unión entre lo que de fértil hay en el marxismo y la cultura de la izquierda posmoderna; la diferencia entre la práctica teórica y las formas del antagonismo en el horizonte neoliberal contemporáneo, con la reaparición de nociones olvidadas demasiado rápidamente como "pueblo", "nación" o "identidad".The essay aims to draw a map, necessarily partial, of some works and some authors that contribute to define the contemporary image of Marxism and post-Marxism. A map organized from key words such as capitalism (David Harvey, Jacques Bidet, Gianfranco La Grassa, Robert Kurz), class (Domenico Losurdo, Ernesto Laclau, Etienne Balibar), ideology (Slavoj Žižek, Pierre Macherey, Frederic Jameson), dialectic (Roberto Finelli, Costanzo Preve, Antonio Negri), State and politics (Alain Badiou, Sylvain Lazarus, Chritian Laval, Mario Tronti). A series of very different positions, to which the authors propose some cross-cutting issues: the greatness and limits of the encounter with post-structuralist thought; the difficulty of deriving from the criticism of capitalism the affirmation of a "new order" that can speak to its victims; the end of the union between what is fertile in Marxism and the culture of the postmodern left; the difference between the theoretical practice and the forms of antagonism in the contemporary neoliberal horizon, with the reappearance of notions too quickly forgotten as "people", "nation" or "identity".L'assaig es proposa dibuixar un mapa, necessàriament parcial, d'algunes obres i autors que contribueixen a definir la imatge contemporània del marxisme i el posmarxismo. Un mapa organitzat a partir de paraules clau com capitalisme (David Harvey, Jacques Bidet, Gianfranco La Grassa, Robert Kurz), classe (Domenico Losurdo, Ernesto Laclau, Etienne Balibar), ideologia (Slavoj Žižek, Pierre Macherey, Frederic Jameson), dialèctica (Roberto Finelli, Costanzo Preve, Antonio Negri), Estat i política (Alain Badiou, Sylvain Lazarus, Chritian Laval, Mario Tronti). Una sèrie de posicions molt diferents, a les quals els autors proposen algunes problemàtiques transversals: la grandesa i els límits de la trobada amb el pensament post-estructuralista; la dificultat de derivar de la crítica al capitalisme l'afirmació d'un "nou ordre", que sàpiga dirigir-se a les seves víctimes; la fi de la unió entre el que de fèrtil hi ha al marxisme i la cultura de l'esquerra postmoderna; la diferència entre la pràctica teòrica i les formes de l'antagonisme a l'horitzó neoliberal contemporani, amb la reaparició de nocions oblidades massa ràpidament com "poble", "nació" o "identitat"

Technetium-99m-labelled red blood cell imaging in the diagnosis of hepatic haemangiomas: the role of SPECT/CT with a hybrid camera

Delayed liver single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) after (99m)Tc red blood cell (RBC) labelling is helpful in detecting hepatic haemangiomas; however, diagnosis can be difficult when lesions are situated adjacent to structures like the inferior vena cava, the heart or hepatic vessels, where blood activity persists. The aims of this study were to evaluate the usefulness of RBC SPECT and transmission computed tomography (RBC SPECT/CT) performed simultaneously with a hybrid imaging system for correct characterisation of hepatic lesions in patients with suspected haemangioma, and to assess the additional value of fused images compared with SPECT alone. Twelve patients with 24 liver lesions were studied. The acquisitions of both anatomical (CT) and functional (SPECT) data were performed during a single session. SPECT images were first interpreted alone and then re-evaluated after adding the transmission anatomical maps. Image fusion was successful in all patients, with perfect correspondence between SPECT and CT data, allowing the precise anatomical localisation of sites of increased blood pool activity. SPECT/CT had a significant impact on results in four patients (33.3%) with four lesions defined as indeterminate on SPECT images, accurately characterising the hot spot foci located near vascular structures. In conclusion, RBC SPECT/CT imaging using this hybrid SPECT/CT system is feasible and useful in the identification or exclusion of suspected hepatic haemangiomas located near regions with high vascular activity