Addressing COVID-19 Communication and Management by a Systems Thinking Approach

A systemic stock-flow diagram is proposed for the communication and management of health services and strategies concerning the COVID-19 epidemic. The possible role of government interventions in activating systemic leverage points is also addressed. The presented approach, based on Systems Thinking, can create the basis for creating an analytical simulator of the disease spread, and at the same time the diagram can constitute a powerful tool for improving the quality of information for both policy-makers and the general public in situations of epidemics

Effect of pretreatment with immune serum on murine sarcoma virus (Moloney) tumour induction and growth.

Regressor serum from MSV-M-infected mice markedly reduced MSV-M oncogenesis when administered i.p. (0-1 ml/mouse) as much as 30 days before i.m. MSV-M infection in adult BALB/c mice. The regressor serum activity appeared to be directly dependent on the amount of IgG, as shown by: (1) inactivity of sera which have low virus-neutralizing antibody content; (2) high effectiveness only of the IgG serum fraction; (3) inactivity of regressor serum incubated with anti-mouse gamma-globulin serum. The regressor serum activity was specific and could not be ascribed to interferon or interferon-inducing factors, antigen-antibody complexes or free antigen. The activity was not suppressed by sublethal irradiation (380 rad) of recipient mice. These results suggest that the activity of regressor serum administered before MSV-M infection is mediated through sensitization of host cells which are not radiosensitive

The multiple vehicle balancing problem

This paper deals with the multiple vehicle balancing problem (MVBP). Given a fleet of vehicles of limited capacity, a set of vertices with initial and target inventory levels and a distribution network, the MVBP requires to design a set of routes along with pickup and delivery operations such that inventory is redistributed among the vertices without exceeding capacities, and routing costs are minimized. The MVBP is NP\u2010hard, generalizing several problems in transportation, and arising in bike\u2010sharing systems. Using theoretical properties of the problem, we propose an integer linear programming formulation and introduce strengthening valid inequalities. Lower bounds are computed by column generation embedding an ad\u2010hoc pricing algorithm, while upper bounds are obtained by a memetic algorithm that separate routing from pickup and delivery operations. We combine these bounding routines in both exact and matheuristic algorithms, obtaining proven optimal solutions for MVBP instances with up to 25 stations

Topography of the Dolomites modulates range dynamics of narrow endemic plants under climate change

open9noClimate change is expected to threaten endemic plants in the Alps. In this context, the factors that may modulate species responses are rarely investigated at a local scale. We analyzed eight alpine narrow endemics of the Dolomites (southeastern Alps) under different predicted climate change scenarios at fine spatial resolutions. We tested possible differences in elevation, topographic heterogeneity and velocity of climate change among areas of gained, lost, or stable climatic habitat. The negative impact of climate change ranged from moderate to severe, depending on scenario and species. Generally, range loss occurred at the lowest elevations, while gained and stable areas were located at highest elevations. For six of the species, climate change velocity had higher values in stable and gained areas than in lost ones. Our findings support the role of topographic heterogeneity in maintaining climatic microrefugia, however, the peculiar topography of the Dolomites, characterized by high altitude plateaus, resulted in high climate change velocity in areas of projected future climatic suitability. Our study supports the usefulness of multiple predictors of spatio-temporal range dynamics for regional climate-adapted management and eventual assisted colonization planning to not overlook or overestimate the potential impact of climate change locally.openRota F.; Casazza G.; Genova G.; Midolo G.; Prosser F.; Bertolli A.; Wilhalm T.; Nascimbene J.; Wellstein C.Rota, F.; Casazza, G.; Genova, G.; Midolo, G.; Prosser, F.; Bertolli, A.; Wilhalm, T.; Nascimbene, J.; Wellstein, C

Weighted complex projective 2-designs from bases: optimal state determination by orthogonal measurements

We introduce the problem of constructing weighted complex projective 2-designs from the union of a family of orthonormal bases. If the weight remains constant across elements of the same basis, then such designs can be interpreted as generalizations of complete sets of mutually unbiased bases, being equivalent whenever the design is composed of d+1 bases in dimension d. We show that, for the purpose of quantum state determination, these designs specify an optimal collection of orthogonal measurements. Using highly nonlinear functions on abelian groups, we construct explicit examples from d+2 orthonormal bases whenever d+1 is a prime power, covering dimensions d=6, 10, and 12, for example, where no complete sets of mutually unbiased bases have thus far been found.Comment: 28 pages, to appear in J. Math. Phy

A new approach for the recovery of polyphenols from Arthrospira platensis: advancement of green process through high pressure/temperature extraction

The cyanobacterium Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis was used as raw material for the recovery of polyphenols by the high temperature/high pressure extraction process, to be used as ingrediet for fuctional foods preparation

Recovery of phenolic compounds from Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis: an approach on green extraction through innovative alternative techniques for food application

New innovating extraction technology for the recovery of phenolic compounds from biomass of the cyanobacterium Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis have been used. The extracts have been evaluated as ingredient to fortify functional foods

β3-Adrenoreceptor Blockade Induces Stem Cells Differentiation in Melanoma Microenvironment

Although there is an increasing evidence that cancer stem cell (CSC) niches in the tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a crucial role in sustaining solid tumors progression, several molecular players involved in this regulation still remain unknown. The role of β-adrenergic signaling in enhancing tumor growth through β2-adrenoreceptors (β2-ARs) has been confirmed in different cancer models, but the role played by the β3-adrenergic receptor (β3-AR) has recently emerged. Previous studies showed that β3-AR promotes cancer growth through the activation of different stromal cells in the TME, and leads to melanoma malignancy progression through inflammation, angiogenesis, and immunotolerance. Here we show that in B16 melanoma-bearing mice, the pharmacological β3-AR blockade is able to reduce the expression of CSC markers, and to induce a differentiated phenotype of hematopoietic subpopulations in TME. In particular, cytofluorimetric analysis (FACS) of the tumor mass shows that β3-AR antagonist SR59230A promotes hematopoietic differentiation as indicated by increased ratios of lymphoid/hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and of myeloid progenitor cells/HSCs, and increases the number of Ter119 and natural killer (NK) precursor cells, and of granulocyte precursors, indicating active hematopoiesis within the tumor tissue. Moreover, pharmacological antagonism of β3-AR induces mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) differentiation into adipocytes subtracting a potential renewal of the stem compartment by these cells. Here we demonstrate that β3-AR blockade in the TME by inducing the differentiation of different stromal cells at the expense of stemness traits could possibly have a favorable effect on the control of melanoma progression