Prolonged higher dose methylprednisolone vs. conventional dexamethasone in COVID-19 pneumonia: a randomised controlled trial (MEDEAS)

Dysregulated systemic inflammation is the primary driver of mortality in severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Current guidelines favor a 7-10-day course of any glucocorticoid equivalent to dexamethasone 6 mg·day-1. A comparative RCT with a higher dose and a longer duration of intervention was lacking

Persistence and learning effects in design innovation : evidence from panel data

This paper explores persistence and learning effects in the aesthetic and symbolic dimensions of design innovation. By combining insights from innovation economics and design studies, we discuss design innovation as the result of firm-specific cumulative learning. We then conceptualise design and product innovation as complementary processes whose interplay may lead to learning effects across different dimensions of knowledge creation. We provide quantitative evidence for these insights applying dynamic probit and bivariate probit models to a longitudinal dataset of manufacturing firms based in Spain for the period 2007-2016. Our findings confirm the presence of persistence effects in design innovation, offering novel evidence in support of the view whereby design is an iterative process shaped by the knowledge generated through firms’ previous engagement with design. In addition, the results contribute to our understanding of the role of design beyond its functional dimension, pointing to mutually reinforcing effects between aesthetic and symbolic design and product innovation

From helpers to vulnerable people: Consequences of the pandemic for older volunteers in an Italian study.

The Covid-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on the older population in many respects. One of the main consequences has been the strengthening of the dynamics of ageism. The research presented in this paper aims to investigate the consequences of the pandemic and the lockdown on the population of self-sufficient older citizens in a circumscribed area of Northern Italy, one of the territories that was affected the most by the pandemic. The research focuses on the conditions of people over 65 years who were carrying out voluntary work in various local organizations. Secondary analysis was conducted on data from a research carried out in a District of Northern Italy. The results of the study showed numerous consequences for this population group, suddenly driven to operate a profound shift in their routine. The main consequence was a transformation in their role: the volunteers were people whose helped other people and suddenly they found themselves labelled as fragile recipients of help. The paper examines how these conditions reinforce a stereotyped image of the elders and poses some possible strategies to counter it, with particular focus to the functions of social workers

Methods for characterization/manipulation of human corneal stem cells and their applications in regenerative medicine.

Cell therapy is an emerging therapeutic strategy aimed at replacing or repairing severely damaged tissues with cultured cells. Speci fi cally, ocular burns cause depletion of limbal stem cells, which leads to corneal opaci fi cation and visual loss. Corneal stem cells are segregated in the basal layer of the limbus, which is the transitional zone of the epithelium located between the cornea and the bulbar conjunctiva. Autologous cultured limbal epithelial cells can restore damaged corneas. We sought to establish a culture system that allows preservation of limbal stem cells and preparation of manageable epithelial sheets. We outline some quality criteria, which assure the clinical performance of keratinocyte culture: evaluation of the number of holoclones within a cultured epithelial graft, proportion of aborting colonies, and percentage of cells expressing high levels of D Np63 a

Species identification through DNA "barcodes

Conventional methods for forensic species identification are mainly based on immunological procedures, which have limited applications for old and degraded specimens. The mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequence has emerged in forensics among molecular methods. Recent investigations in the taxonomic field have suggested that a DNA-based identification system may aid the resolution of animal diversity and classification using sequence analysis and phylogenetic links. Selected gene sequences can be viewed as a genetic "barcode," which is enclosed in every cell, and barcoding is a standardized approach for characterizing species using short DNA sequences as a diagnostic biomarker for organisms. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of barcode mitochondrial genes, such as the cytochrome c oxidase sub 1 (COI) and the 16S rRNA gene, as a forensic tool. We developed a new approach for species testing and identification with a singleplex PCR amplification that will be useful not only in criminal casework but also in biosecurity, food authentication, investigation against poaching or illegal trade of endangered species, and wildlife enforcement. Seven fragments ranging from 157 to 541 bp (base pairs) in humans were selected from COI and 16S rRNA genes by different redesigned sets of primers suitable for forensic purposes. The specificity of each primer pair was evaluated with a single PCR reaction on different substrates, and the diversity values were calculated by statistical tests to select a set of markers that could be useful in different caseworks. A case example of forensic species identification is also presented

Slow and fast evolving markers typing in Modena males (North Italy).

One hundred thirty male individuals, strictly selected for their geographical origin and for typical regional surnames were submitted to the analysis. 17 STRs (short tandem repeats) loci and 19 SNPs binary markers (single nucleotide polymorphisms) of male-specific region of the Y chromosome (MSY) were typed to well characterize the selected population of Modena province. The availability of joint distribution of MSY haplotypes and haplogroup frequencies is becoming an important tool for both human evolutionary studies and forensic investigation, but large databases of complete Y-lineages are needed for a better understanding of the power of the combined use of Y-specific polymorphisms. A total of 129 haplotypes and 9 haplogroups were found and R1b haplogroup with a frequency of 67.7% was the most frequent, as expected because of the geographical location of the sample (Northwestern Italy). The Modena Y-lineages (STRs and SNPs independently) were also compared with published data of other neighbouring populations' samples

Two caseworks for one gene: successful species identification from compromised bone materials with the 12S rRNA

The availability of a reliable molecular assay in species recognition in forensic cases is of paramount importance when visual inspection or morphological methods are not exhaustive, especially from challenging samples. Here, two different caseworks involving bone samples founded during medico-legal outdoor investigations are presented. In order to exclude the human nature of the specimens and to determine the exact species they belong to, we proceeded with the molecular approach trying to generate sequences from the classical mtDNA markers cyt b and COI. However, they both gave critical results. For this reason, a short amplicon of ~ 150 bp of the 12S rRNA gene was used as an alternative.This short fragment was sufficient to identify the biological origin of the bone specimens with a high degree of certainty leading to the exclusion of their human nature. This work highlights the utility of the 12S rRNA and underlines the importance of deepen the choice of alternative shorter markers with respect to the classical ones, in order to achieve species identification even from challenging and degraded material in forensic criminal and wildlife caseworks

Enantiomeric separation of DNS-amino acids and DBS-amino acids by ligand exchange chromatography with S- and R-phenylalaninamide modified silica gel

(S)- and (R)-phenylalaninamide [(S)- and (R)-pheA, respectively] were covalently bonded to silica, and the novel chiral stationary phases (CSps) obtained were used for ligand-exchange chromatographic (LEC) separations with Cu(II) as complexing metal ion. These CSps perform good separations of dansyl-I (Dns)- and dabsyl-I (Dbs) amino acids. The results [enantioselectivity factor (α), retention factor (k') and elution order] were compared with the data obtained previously using one of the selectors as an additive to the mobile phase. Moreover, these CSPs were successfully employed in the direct resolution of a five-membered ring cyclic sulphonamide (γ-sultam) without any prederivatization procedure. The chiral recognition process was found to be consistent with a ligand-exchange mechanism, the geometry of the mixed diastereomeric complexes being strongly dependent on the structural features of the selector covalently bonded to the phase and on the steric bulk of the Dns- and Dbs-amino acid protecting groups. In order to investigate the nature of the interactions involved in the discrimination process, the influence of temperature on the chromatographic parameters (k', α) was also evaluated