GIS-based visual analysis for planning and designing historic urban landscapes

Visibility and scenic landscape analysis is an important field of study with direct implications in urban and regional landscape planning and management. More specifically, GIS-based landscape visibility analysis can be a tool to protect, manage, and plan also historic urban landscapes, focusing on scenic and visual values. Using visibility maps it is possible to predict the visual impact of transformations, locate interventions on the basis of visual sensitivity, and protect landscape of natural beauty, cultural heritage and significant landmarks visible from selected viewpoints. Among the studies carried out in some cities in the world, in Italy there is a pilot project for the integration of GIS-based visibility analysis in planning decisions for the Piedmont cultural heritage. GIS-based landscape visibility analysis has been developed on different areas located in the Piedmont Region within the framework of the landscape planning activity developed by the MiBAC (Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo) and the Piedmont Region - with the scientific advice of the Politecnico di Torino. A specific study has been carried out in the city of Turin. Set in an international perspective, this paper will focus on describing these applications and on highlighting some problematic issues and possible uses of such techniques in the planning domain

All in the Game. The Wire: un campo di ricerca sociologica

Analyzing with an ethnographic approach The Wire, one of the most important TV series on American ghettos, to understand and question the sociological perspective that emerges from the series, positioning it into the broader scientific debate. This is, in a nutshell, the work presented in the book It's all in the Game, the outcome of a laboratorial research activity carried out in 2020 by students and teachers of the Sociology of Communities and Urban Neighborhoods class, at the University of Bologna. The text is structured into four chapters, resulting from the four topics used to analysis the TV series: forms of social capital, the relationship between structural forces- culture of poverty and individual agency, neighborhood effects mechanism and the relationship between statistics and political action. Four subjects that are the core of many neighborhood- studies related researches and on which the TV series makes a clear stand. We analyzed those topics through a critical perspective, not considering them as a truth about ghettos, but as a very precise way of thinking about life in the American suburbs

Social cognition and real-life functioning in patient samples with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome with or without psychosis, compared to a large sample of patients with schizophrenia only and healthy controls

Patients with the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (DS) show an increased risk of developing a psychotic illness lifetime. 22q11.2DS may represent a reliable model for studying the neurobiological underpinnings of schizophrenia. The study of social inference abilities in a genetic condition at high risk for psychosis, like 22q11.2DS, may shed light on the relationships between neurocognitive processes and patients' daily general functioning. The study sample consisted of 1736 participants, divided into four groups: 22q11.2DS patients with diagnosis of psychotic disorder (DEL SCZ, N = 20); 22q11.2DS subjects with no diagnosis of psychosis (DEL, N = 43); patients diagnosed with schizophrenia without 22q11.2DS (SCZ, N = 893); and healthy controls (HC, N = 780). Social cognition was assessed through The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) and general functioning through the Specific Levels of Functioning (SLoF) scale. We analysed data through regression analysis. The SCZ and DEL groups had similar levels of global functioning; they both had significantly lower SLoF Total scores than HC (p < .001); the DEL SCZ group showed significantly lower scores compared to the other groups (SCZ, p = .004; DEL, p = .003; HC, p < .001). A significant deficit in social cognition was observed in the three clinical groups. In the DEL SCZ and SCZ groups, TASIT scores significantly predicted global functioning (p < .05). Our findings of social cognition deficit in psychosis-prone patients point to the possible future adoption of rehabilitation programmes, like Social Skills Training and Cognitive Remediation, during premorbid stages of psychosis

Barletta e la Terrasanta: bilancio storiografico e prospettive di ricerca

Nella costruzione della storia della città di Barletta un argomento fondamentale per le numerose testimonianze medievali presenti sul territorio, è quello dei rapporti con la Terrasanta. Considerati da una lunga storia critica riflesso delle vicende che videro l’occupazione della Palestin nel 1184 prima e nel 1291 dopo, con la conseguente diaspora di artisti, scultori e architetti sulle coste dell’Adriatico meridionale, in questo contributo si dimostra l’anteriorità di questi rapporti dovuta al ruolo che la città costiera svolse nei confronti dell’Oriente crociato già a partire dagli anni Trenta del XII secolo, all’epoca della regina Melisenda di Gerusalemme. Vengono analizzate le opere sopravvissute, alcune delle quali rese note anche dall’autrice in un contributo del 2009 relativo al ritrovamento, attraverso inventari museali, di un nucleo di sculture rinvenienti dalla distrutta chiesa di Nazareth a Barletta (sede dell’omonimo vescovado di Terrasanta) e conservati nel museo civico della stessa città. A questo nucleo si aggiungono le testimonianze scultoree della locale cattedrale, opere di pittura, miniatura, codici liturgici e oreficerie. Attraverso una serrata indagine storica e storiografica sostenuta dall’analisi stilistico-formale dei manufatti si propone un nuovo e inedito percorso di lettura della produzione artistica della città in relazione al contesto del Mediterraneo

Social Cognition Impairments in 22q11.2DS Individuals With and Without Psychosis: A Comparison Study With a Large Population of Patients With Schizophrenia

Background 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11DS) represents one of the most important genetic risk factors for schizophrenia (SCZ) and a reliable biological model to study endophenotypic characters of SCZ. The aim of the study was to investigate Social Cognition impairments in subjects with 22q11.2DS compared to a considerable sample of schizophrenic patients. Methods Forty-four individuals with 22q11.2DS (DEL) and 18 patients with 22q11.2DS and psychosis (DEL_SCZ) were enrolled; these groups were compared to 887 patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) and 780 healthy controls (HCs); the latter groups were recruited by the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses (NIRP) to which our Centre took part. Social cognition was evaluated through The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT). A resampling procedure was employed to balance differences in samples size. Results All clinical groups (DEL; DEL_SCZ; and SCZ) showed worse performance on TASIT than HCs, except in Sincere scale. No differences between-clinical groups were found, except for Simple Sarcasm, Paradoxical Sarcasm and Enriched Sarcasm scales. Conclusions SC was impaired in individuals with 22q11.2DS regardless of psychotic symptomatology, similarly to people with SCZ. Therefore, SC deficits may represent potential endophenotypes of SCZ contributing to the vulnerability to psychosis

Accuracy of self-assessment of real-life functioning in schizophrenia

A consensus has not yet been reached regarding the accuracy of people with schizophrenia in self-reporting their real-life functioning. In a large (n=618) cohort of stable, community-dwelling schizophrenia patients we sought to: (1) examine the concordance of patients' reports of their real-life functioning with the reports of their key caregiver; (2) identify which patient characteristics are associated to the differences between patients and informants. Patient-caregiver concordance of the ratings in three Specific Level of Functioning Scale (SLOF) domains (interpersonal relationships, everyday life skills, work skills) was evaluated with matched-pair t tests, the Lin's concordance correlation, Somers' D, and Bland-Altman plots with limits of agreement (LOA). Predictors of the patient-caregiver differences in SLOF ratings were assessed with a linear regression with multivariable fractional polynomials. Patients' self-evaluation of functioning was higher than caregivers' in all the evaluated domains of the SLOF and 17.6% of the patients exceeded the LOA, thus providing a self-evaluation discordant from their key caregivers. The strongest predictors of patient-caregiver discrepancies were caregivers' ratings in each SLOF domain. In clinically stable outpatients with a moderate degree of functional impairment, self-evaluation with the SLOF scale can become a useful, informative and reliable clinical tool to design a tailored rehabilitation program

Effects on the incidence of cardiovascular events of the addition of pioglitazone versus sulfonylureas in patients with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled with metformin (TOSCA.IT): a randomised, multicentre trial

Background The best treatment option for patients with type 2 diabetes in whom treatment with metformin alone fails to achieve adequate glycaemic control is debated. We aimed to compare the long-term effects of pioglitazone versus sulfonylureas, given in addition to metformin, on cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods TOSCA.IT was a multicentre, randomised, pragmatic clinical trial, in which patients aged 50\ue2\u80\u9375 years with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled with metformin monotherapy (2\ue2\u80\u933 g per day) were recruited from 57 diabetes clinics in Italy. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1), by permuted blocks randomisation (block size 10), stratified by site and previous cardiovascular events, to add-on pioglitazone (15\ue2\u80\u9345 mg) or a sulfonylurea (5\ue2\u80\u9315 mg glibenclamide, 2\ue2\u80\u936 mg glimepiride, or 30\ue2\u80\u93120 mg gliclazide, in accordance with local practice). The trial was unblinded, but event adjudicators were unaware of treatment assignment. The primary outcome, assessed with a Cox proportional-hazards model, was a composite of first occurrence of all-cause death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, or urgent coronary revascularisation, assessed in the modified intention-to-treat population (all randomly assigned participants with baseline data available and without any protocol violations in relation to inclusion or exclusion criteria). This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00700856. Findings Between Sept 18, 2008, and Jan 15, 2014, 3028 patients were randomly assigned and included in the analyses. 1535 were assigned to pioglitazone and 1493 to sulfonylureas (glibenclamide 24 [2%], glimepiride 723 [48%], gliclazide 745 [50%]). At baseline, 335 (11%) participants had a previous cardiovascular event. The study was stopped early on the basis of a futility analysis after a median follow-up of 57\uc2\ub73 months. The primary outcome occurred in 105 patients (1\uc2\ub75 per 100 person-years) who were given pioglitazone and 108 (1\uc2\ub75 per 100 person-years) who were given sulfonylureas (hazard ratio 0\uc2\ub796, 95% CI 0\uc2\ub774\ue2\u80\u931\uc2\ub726, p=0\uc2\ub779). Fewer patients had hypoglycaemias in the pioglitazone group than in the sulfonylureas group (148 [10%] vs 508 [34%], p<0\uc2\ub70001). Moderate weight gain (less than 2 kg, on average) occurred in both groups. Rates of heart failure, bladder cancer, and fractures were not significantly different between treatment groups. Interpretation In this long-term, pragmatic trial, incidence of cardiovascular events was similar with sulfonylureas (mostly glimepiride and gliclazide) and pioglitazone as add-on treatments to metformin. Both of these widely available and affordable treatments are suitable options with respect to efficacy and adverse events, although pioglitazone was associated with fewer hypoglycaemia events. Funding Italian Medicines Agency, Diabete Ricerca, and Italian Diabetes Society