SERENA:Particle Instrument Suite for Determining the Sun-Mercury Interaction from BepiColombo

International audienceThe ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury will provide simultaneous measurements from two spacecraft, offering an unprecedented opportunity to investigate magnetospheric and exospheric particle dynamics at Mercury as well as their interactions with solar wind, solar radiation, and interplanetary dust. The particle instrument suite SERENA (Search for Exospheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances) is flying in space on-board the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and is the only instrument for ion and neutral particle detection aboard the MPO. It comprises four independent sensors: ELENA for neutral particle flow detection, Strofio for neutral gas detection, PICAM for planetary ions observations, and MIPA, mostly for solar wind ion measurements. SERENA is managed by a System Control Unit located inside the ELENA box. In the present paper the scientific goals of this suite are described, and then the four units are detailed, as well as their major features and calibration results. Finally, the SERENA operational activities are shown during the orbital path around Mercury, with also some reference to the activities planned during the long cruise phase

Correction to: SERENA: Particle Instrument Suite for Determining the Sun-Mercury Interaction from BepiColombo

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Elementi e caratteri dell'integrazione

In questo capitolo del volume viene proposta un'attenta analisi del percorso e dello status di integrazione delle comunità immigrate in Italia, sulla base di misure e indicatori che è stato possibile costruire a partire dai dati disponibili derivanti dalle fonti ufficiali e, per alcuni aspetti, da indagini campionarie ad hoc realizzate su scala nazionale o in contesti territoriali particolarmente significativi. L'analisi è stata realizzata seguendo la schematizzazione proposta da Golini, Strozza e Amato (2001) che hanno individuato quattro dimensioni generali che esprimono i principali aspetti che entrano in gioco nel processo di integrazione: A. le caratteristiche demografiche, sociali e territoriali che costituiscono i requisiti di base, in larga misura ascrivibili al capitale umano e sociale degli immigrati; B. le relazioni con la comunità di origine e con quella di accoglimento, nel tentativo di valutare la propensione alla stabilizzazione e l'interazione con la popolazione nazionale; C. l'effettivo inserimento e la piena realizzazione nel contesto scolastico e in quello lavorativo, dal momento che scuola e lavoro sono assi fondamentali per l'integrazione e per la mobilità sociale; D. le condizioni di vita e l'attiva partecipazione alla vita di tutti i giorni che testimoniano di un pieno e positivo processo di interazione con l'ambiente di accoglimento. Il ricorso ad una combinazione di tecniche di analisi multidimensionale dei dati (analisi fattoriale in componenti principali e cluster analysis gerarchico aggregativa) ha consentito di pervenire ad una sintesi dei risultati a partire da 24 comunità immigrate e una selezione di 15 indicatori elementari di integrazione. In generale, le quattro dimensioni emerse dall’analisi fattoriale sintetizzano alcune caratteristiche delle collettività straniere in termini di specificità (si pensa in particolare al primo asse) e stadio dell’immigrazione (terzo e quarto asse), ma mettono in evidenza anche aspetti specifici del processo di integrazione quali i problemi connessi alla segregazione occupazionale e le possibilità di commistione con gli autoctoni (secondo asse). In estrema sintesi si può dire che il gruppo A si caratterizza per essere costituito da collettività (quelle tunisina e marocchina) ormai stabili sul territorio italiano (elevata è la quota dei presenti da più di 10 anni) a prevalenza maschile con una struttura in parte riequilibrata a seguito dei ricongiungimenti familiari e con una distribuzione territoriale abbastanza diffusa e con una certa interazione con la comunità autoctona. Il gruppo B (composto da Albanesi, Iugoslavi, Macedoni, Cinesi, Croati, Indiani e Ghanesi), che è abbastanza simile al precedente (prevalenza maschile e una certa stabilità della presenza) con il quale si aggrega immediatamente nei passi successivi della procedura, si caratterizza soprattutto per la struttura demografica più equilibrata e la presenza di figli al seguito. Il gruppo C raccoglie collettività (quelle polacca, peruviana, ucraina, ecuadoriana, moldava e romena) a dominanza femminile in Italia di recente immigrazione per lo più per motivi di lavoro e/o con una fortissima componente illegale. Nei passaggi successivi della procedura di clustering si aggrega a tale gruppo anche quello composto dai Brasiliani e dai Russi (gruppo F) che hanno come connotato specifico il forte peso della nuzialità mista. Anche il gruppo D è a prevalenza femminile, con le due collettività che lo compongono (filippina e cingalese) stabili sul territorio e ben inserite nel mercato del lavoro, anche se fortemente segregate per settore occupazionale (si tratta di collettività che sia, per le femmine sia per i maschi, il principale comparto occupazionale è quello dei servizi alle famiglie, in particolare il lavoro domestico). Infine, il gruppo E è quello formato da comunità che nonostante la durata abbastanza lunga della presenza continuano ad avere una struttura demografica molto squilibrata con una scarsissima immigrazione femminile per lo più per ricongiungimento familiare e una quota trascurabile di figli al seguito. Il quadro che è stato possibile tracciare, per quanto circoscritto solo ad alcuni aspetti, mostra chiaramente come per ciascun gruppo, per ciascuna comunità immigrata, ci siano sempre contemporaneamente segnali positivi e altri negativi con riguardo ai processi di stabilizzazione e di riequilibrio della struttura demografica, ai problemi di segregazione occupazionale e alle possibilità/potenzialità di commistione con gli autoctoni, nonché al ruolo della donna nei processi migratori e nell’inserimento nella società di accoglimento. Ne emerge una situazione complessa, difficilmente sintetizzabile senza perderne alcuni aspetti caratteristici, che merita di essere monitorata attentamente per predisporre adeguate e mirate misure di intervento. Al riguardo, appare necessario prevedere indagini campionarie che consentano di approfondire aspetti specifici e di aggiornare periodicamente il quadro informativo

Principali caratteristiche e inserimento lavorativo dei naturalizzati e degli stranieri di prima e seconda generazione in Svizzera

Dopo aver esaminato l'evoluzione della popolazione straniera in Svizzera, evidenziando il peso delle seconde generazioni e delle naturalizzazioni, viene proposta una suddivisione delle principali comunità immigrate in tre categorie identificabili attraverso i dati censuari e dalle caratteristiche demografiche specifiche. La descrizione degli indicatori elementari scelti per misurare il livello d'istruzione e il grado di inserimento lavorativo delle collettività immigrate fa da premessa all'analisi della situazione al 2000, descritta analiticamente attraverso i valori degli indicatori proposti, mediante il confronto tra le diverse categorie di immigrati distinte per comunità di origine, fasce d'età e genere

Measuring immigrants' integration in Italy on the basis of official statistics

This contributions analyses the problems involved in the creation of a system of indicators for the integration of immigrant communities in Italy utilising the official statistics. In the first section, the evolution of foreign immigration in Italy is reconstructed since the 1980s, focusing in particular on the past decade. This rich and complex portrait, however, increases the difficulties of the analysis, due to the considerable differences in almost all the profiles of the immigrant communities in Italy. In the second section, aspects and measurements of integration process are identified considering the definitions of integration adopted at the political level or discussed in the scientific debate. The reference spheres of the integration process are considered to be the migration characteristics, demographic aspects (in terms of characteristics and behaviour), economic aspects (work and income), social aspects (relations with the receiving and sending countries, housing, health and deviance), and cultural aspects (education and language knowledge). The last section of the article examines the ways in which the available statistics enable us to analyse some of the features of integration identified previously. Attention is focused on the social and demographic aspects enabling us to make a general portrait of the characteristics of the main foreign communities, and on the insertion in the labour market, a fundamental condition for achieving a full integration in the host society. An examination of the data shows a growing immigration with an increasingly complex structure

From east to west: the former USSR citizens in Italy

In the first decade of 21st century the presence of former USSR citizens in Italy has rapidly grown. At the beginning of 2000, according to the data provided by the archive of residence permits, they were less than 24.000 (13.000 Russians). The 2002 regularization programme has had a strong effect in the growth of their regular presence. At the beginning of 2009 they were almost 240,000 (more than 144,000 Ukrainians). They have peculiar characteristics and show particular socio-economic behaviours. A large part of this presence is constituted by women, in many cases middle aged, mostly employed in the sector of family services. In Italy Moldavians, Ukrainians and Russians are the three most numerous communities coming from this area. Our analysis is focused on these citizenships. In the first part of the paper we enlighten the most relevant demographic trends. We discuss the principal changes interested the three communities describing the specific characteristics (gender and age composition, territorial distribution, marital status, reason of the stay, etc.) and demographic behaviours (marriages, births, etc.). In a second part we study, through a longitudinal approach, the changes that have affected the cohort of regularized belonging to the three citizenships. We can distinguish two principle groups: regularized people that continue to have a residence permit in the years following the regularization and regularized people for whom is not possible to find a correspondence in the archives of residence permits. The principal differences between the two groups will be analyzed. For the first group we especially study the changes occurred during the period of observation: particular attention is paid to the internal mobility (and to marital status changes)

Prevalence of nocturnal asthma in a general population sample: determinants and effect of aging

Nocturnal asthma (NA) is important because of clinical and prognostic implications. Previous data on prevalence may be overestimated, because they are derived from selected series. Observations on monitoring of peak expiratory flow in elderly asthmatics suggested that prevalence of NA may increase with age. This study was designed to estimate the prevalence of NA-related symptoms in a sample drawn from a general population and evaluate the role of aging. Subjects (1,100, mean age 41.9, SD 22.8 years) were randomly selected from the lists of seven general practitioners. A questionnaire on nighttime and morning NA-associated symptoms was used and frequency of occurrence was rated as never, sometimes (less than once a week), and often (once a week or more). In the overall sample, symptoms were experienced "sometimes" by 2.3%-4.9% of subjects, whereas the response "often" was given by 0.9%-1.6% of subjects. Among subjects with a diagnosis of asthma, symptoms occurred sometimes in 16.7%-23.7% and often in 5%-15%. Symptoms reported the morning after were significantly more frequent among patients aged 65 years and older (p < 0.005), whereas the difference for nighttime symptoms was not statistically significant in different age groups, confirming an age-related blunted sensitivity. Logistic regression analysis shows that a diagnosis of asthma is the most important correlate of symptoms, with odds ratio (OR) up to 14.78 for cough; advanced age also proved to be an independent risk factor (OR 3.35-4.97). In conclusion, although the prevalence of NA was previously overestimated, our results indicate its importance, particularly among elderly patients who are exposed to a prominent risk of underdiagnosis and undertreatment

Extracellular vesicles from PBDE-47 treated M(LPS) THP-1 macrophages modulate the expression of markers of epithelial integrity, EMT, inflammation and muco-secretion in ALI culture of airway epithelium

Aims: The lung epithelial cells form a physical barrier to the external environment acting as the first line of defence against potentially harmful environmental stimuli. These cells interact with several other cellular components, of which macrophages are some of the most relevant. We analysed the effects of the PBDE-47 on the microRNA cargo of THP-1 macrophage like derived small Extracellular Vesicles (sEVs) and the effects on A549 lung epithelial cells.Main methods: sEVs from M(LPS) THP-1 macrophage-like cells after PBDE-47 treatment (sEVsPBDE+LPS) were characterized by nanoparticle tracking analysis and their microRNA cargo studied by qPCR. Confocal microscopy was applied to study sEVs cellular uptake by A549 cells. The expression of tight junctions (TJs), adhesion molecules, inflammation markers and mucus production in A549 cultured in air liquid interface (ALI) conditions were studied by Real Time PCR and confocal microscopy.Key findings: sEVsPBDE+LPS microRNA cargo analysis showed that the PBDE-47 modulated the expression of the miR-15a-5p, miR29a-3p, miR-143-3p and miR-122-5p. Furthermore, ALI cultured A549 cells incubated with sEVsPBDE+LPS showed that zonula occludens-1 (p &lt;= 0.04), claudin (p &lt;= 0.02), E-cadherin (p &lt;= 0.006) and Vimentin (p &lt;= 0.0008) mRNAs were increased in A549 cells after sEVsPBDE+LPS treatment. Indeed, Interleukin (IL)-8 (p &lt;= 0.008) and mucin (MUC5AC and MUC5B) (p &lt;= 0.03 and p &lt;= 0.0001) mRNA expression were up-and down-regulated, respectively.Significance: PBDE-47 treated macrophages secrete sEVs with altered microRNA cargo that affect the mRNA expression of TJs, adhesion molecules, cytokines and EMT markers damaging the normal function of the lung epithelium, potentially contributing to the development of lung diseases

Investigating the Relationship between Parental Education, Asthma and Rhinitis in Children Using Path Analysis

Parental socioeconomic position (SEP) is a known determinant of a child’s health. We aimed to investigate whether a low parental education, as proxy of SEP, has a direct effect on physician-diagnosed asthma, current asthma and current allergic rhinitis in children, or whether associations are mediated by exposure to other personal or environmental risk factors. This study was a secondary data analysis of two cross-sectional studies conducted in Italy in 2006. Data from 2687 adolescents (10–14 years) were analyzed by a path analysis model using generalized structural equation modelling. Significant direct effects were found between parental education and family characteristics (number of children (coefficient = 0.6229, p &lt; 0.001) and crowding index (1.1263, p &lt; 0.001)) as well as with exposure to passive smoke: during pregnancy (maternal: 0.4697, p &lt; 0.001; paternal: 0.4854, p &lt; 0.001), during the first two years of children’s life (0.5897, p &lt; 0.001) and currently (0.6998, p &lt; 0.001). An indirect effect of parental education was found on physician-diagnosed asthma in children mediated by maternal smoking during pregnancy (0.2350, p &lt; 0.05) and on current allergic rhinitis mediated by early environmental tobacco smoke (0.2002; p &lt; 0.05). These results suggest the importance of promotion of ad-hoc health policies for promoting smoking cessation, especially during pregnancy