IL CONTROLLO DEI MOVIMENTI TERRA MEDIANTE TECNICHE DI POSIZIONAMENTO SATELLITARE

I rilievi satellitari, specialmente quando il posizionamento è supportato da reti di stazioni permanenti GNSS e dal calcolo delle correzioni differenziali in tempo reale (NRTK, Network Real Time Kinematic), consentono il raggiungimento di accuratezze e precisioni relativamente elevate. Per questa ragione essi appaiono fortemente vantaggiosi per le esigenze dei cantieri infrastrutturali, in quanto la semplicità delle determinazioni (e dunque la frequenza con cui esse possono essere svolte), il limitato impatto sull’attività ordinaria del cantiere e la flessibilità delle procedure costituiscono elementi di grande importanza per il conseguimento dell’ottimizzazione tecnico-economica in alcune fasi costruttive. Nel sito prescelto per l’esperimento è in costruzione un’importante strada di scorrimento: la Nuova Circonvallazione Interna di Roma, in sostituzione di un tratto della esistente Tangenziale Est; l’attività sperimentale è consistita nella sistematica acquisizione delle coordinate di punti appartenenti ad una superficie interessata da lavori di scavo, in modo da realizzare la ricostruzione del modello digitale del terreno (DTM) per ciascuna rilevazione compiuta, e successivamente ottenere utili informazioni quali, in particolare, l’entità dei volumi di scavo o di riporto di terreno realizzati nell’intervallo di tempo tra rilievi successivi. I risultati conseguiti appaiono fortemente indicativi dell’utilità di queste tecniche di posizionamento nell’attività costruttiva delle grandi opere di ingegneria civile e nella gestione dei cantieri complessi: la sperimentazione ha mostrato infatti che è possibile mantenere un efficace controllo sulla produzione del cantiere e sulla tempistica di lavoro, con evidenti benefiche ricadute in termini di efficienza organizzativa e di corretta gestione economic

Community-based management of child malnutrition in Zambia: HIV/AIDS infection and other risk factors on child survival

(1) Background: Supplementary feeding programs (SFPs) are effective in the community-based treatment of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) and prevention of severe acute malnutrition (SAM); (2) Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on a sample of 1266 Zambian malnourished children assisted from 2012 to 2014 in the Rainbow Project SFPs. Nutritional status was evaluated according to WHO/Unicef methodology. We performed univariate and multivariate Cox proportional risk regression to identify the main predictors of mortality. In addition, a time-to event analysis was performed to identify predictors of failure and time to cure events; (3) Results: The analysis included 858 malnourished children (19 months +/- 9.4; 49.9% males). Program outcomes met international standards with a better performance for MAM compared to SAM. Cox regression identified SAM (3.8; 2.1-6.8), HIV infection (3.1; 1.7-5.5), and WAZ <-3 (3.1; 1.6-5.7) as predictors of death. Time to event showed 80% of children recovered by SAM/MAM at 24 weeks. (4) Conclusions: Preventing deterioration of malnutrition, coupled to early detection of HIV/AIDS with adequate antiretroviral treatment, and extending the duration of feeding supplementation, could be crucial elements for ensuring full recovery and improve child survival in malnourished Zambian children

Bone marrow adipocytes support haematopoietic stem cell survival

In bone marrow (BM), haematopoietic elements are mingled with adipocytes (BM-A), which are the most abundant stromal component in the niche. BM-A progressively increase with ageing, eventually occupying up to 50% of BM cavities. In this work, the role played by BM-A was explored by studying primary human BM-A isolated from hip surgery patients at the molecular level, through microarray analysis, and at the functional level, by assessing their relationship with primary human haematopoietic stem cells (HSC) by the long-term culture initiating cell (LTC-IC) assay. Findings demonstrated that BM-A are capable of supporting HSC survival in the LTC-IC assay, since after 5 weeks of co-culture, HSC were still able to proliferate and differentiate. Furthermore, critical molecules such as C-X-C motif chemokine 12 (CXCL12), interleukin (IL)-8, colony-stimulating factor 3 (CSF3), and leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF), were expressed at similar levels in BM-A and in primary human BM mesenchymal stromal cells (BM-MSC), whereas IL-3 was higher in BM-A. Interestingly, BM-A displayed a different gene expression profile compared with subcutaneous adipose tissue adipocytes (AT-A) collected from abdominal surgery patients, especially in terms of regulation of lipid metabolism, stemness genes and white-to-brown differentiation pathways. Accordingly, analysis of the gene pathways involved in haematopoiesis regulation showed that BM-A are more closely related to BM-MSC than to AT-A. The present data suggest that BM-A play a supporting role in the haematopoietic niche and directly sustain HSC survival

Development of a New and Improved Guanidine-based Rac1 Inhibitor with in Vivo Activity against Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Rac1 (Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1), is a member of the family of Rho GTPases involved in the dynamic control of cytoskeleton reorganization and other fundamental cellular functions including growth, motility and survival. Aberrant activity of Rac1 and its regulators is common in human cancer. In particular, deregulated expression/activity of Rac Guanine nucleotide Exchange Factors (GEFs), responsible for Rac activation, has been largely associated to a metastatic phenotype and drug resistance. Thus, the development of novel Rac1-GEF interaction inhibitors is a promising strategy for finding new preclinical candidates. In this work, we have studied structure-activity relationships within a new family of N,N’-disubstituted guanidine as Rac1-GEF protein-protein interaction inhibitors, starting from our first developed member 1A-116. We found that new analogue 1D-142, bearing a pyridine ring instead of benzene ring, presents improved antiproliferative activity in human cancer cell lines and higher potency as Rac1-GEF interaction inhibitor in vitro. In addition, 1D-142 reduces TNFα-induced NF-κB nuclear translocation, a mechanisms mediated by Rac1 during cell proliferation and migration in NSCLC. Notably, 1D-142 was used to show for the first time the application of a Rac1 inhibitor in a lung cancer animal model.</p