Vascular flora of eight water reservoir areas in southern Italy

Artificial lakes play an important role in maintaining the valuable biodiversity linked to water bodies and related habitats. The vascular plant diversity of eight reservoirs and surrounding areas in southern Italy was inventoried and further analysed in terms of biodiversity. A total of 730 specific and subspecific taxa were recorded, with 179 taxa in the poorest area and 303 in the richest one. The results indicate a good richness of the habitats surrounding the water basins, with some species of nature conservation interest and only a few alien species

MicroRNAs in melanoma development and resistance to target therapy

microRNAs constitute a complex class of pleiotropic post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression involved in the control of several physiologic and pathologic processes. Their mechanism of action is primarily based on the imperfect matching of a seed region located at the 5' end of a 21-23 nt sequence with a partially complementary sequence located in the 3' untranslated region of target mRNAs. This leads to inhibition of mRNA translation and eventually to its degradation. Individual miRNAs are capable of binding to several mRNAs and several miRNAs are capable of influencing the function of the same mRNAs. In recent years networks of miRNAs are emerging as capable of controlling key signaling pathways responsible for the growth and propagation of cancer cells. Furthermore several examples have been provided which highlight the involvement of miRNAs in the development of resistance to targeted drug therapies. In this review we provide an updated overview of the role of miRNAs in the development of melanoma and the identification of the main downstream pathways controlled by these miRNAs. Furthermore we discuss a group of miRNAs capable to influence through their respective up- or down-modulation the development of resistance to BRAF and MEK inhibitors

Audio-vestibular symptoms in systemic autoimmune diseases

Immune-mediated inner ear disease can be primary, when the autoimmune response is against the inner ear, or secondary. The latter is characterized by the involvement of the ear in the presence of systemic autoimmune conditions. Sensorineural hearing loss is the most common audiovestibular symptom associated with systemic autoimmune diseases, although conductive hearing impairment may also be present. Hearing loss may present in a sudden, slowly, rapidly progressive or fluctuating form, and is mostly bilateral and asymmetric. Hearing loss shows a good response to corticosteroid therapy that may lead to near-complete hearing restoration. Vestibular symptoms, tinnitus, and aural fullness can be found in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases; they often mimic primary inner ear disorders such as Menière’s disease and mainly affect both ears simultaneously. Awareness of inner ear involvement in systemic autoimmune diseases is essential for the good response shown to appropriate treatment. However, it is often misdiagnosed due to variable clinical presentation, limited knowledge, sparse evidence, and lack of specific diagnostic tests. The aim of this review is to analyse available evidence, often only reported in the form of case reports due to the rarity of some of these conditions, of the different clinical presentations of audiological and vestibular symptoms in systemic autoimmune diseases

Distribution of the brown bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus) in the Central Apennines, Italy, 2005-2014

Despite its critical conservation status, no formal estimate of the Apennine brown bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus) distribution has ever been attempted, nor a coordinated effort to compile and verify all recent occurrences has ever been ensured. We used 48331 verified bear location data collected by qualified personnel from 20052014 in the central Apennines, Italy, to estimate the current distribution of Apennine brown bears. Data sources included telemetry relocations, scats and DNA-verified hair samples, sightings, indirect signs of presence, photos from camera traps, and damage to properties. Using a grid-based zonal analysis to transform raw data density, we applied ordinary kriging and estimated a 4923 km2 main bear distribution, encompassing the historical stronghold of the bear population, and including a smaller (1460 km2) area of stable occupancy of reproducing female bears. National and Regional Parks cover 38.8% of the main bear distribution, plus an additional 19.5% encompassed by the Natura 2000 network alone. Despite some methodological and sampling problems related to spatial and temporal variation in sampling effort at the landscape scale, our approach provides an approximation of the current bear distribution that is suited to frequently update the distribution map. Future monitoring of this bear population would benefit from estimating detectability across a range on environmental and sampling variables, and from intensifying the collection of bear presence data in the peripheral portions of the distribution

The Management of Psoriatic Arthritis in Italy: Organizational Impact Analysis of Optimized Pathways

BACKGROUND: The management of psoriatic arthritis requires competencies in the fields of both rheumatology and dermatology, and a multidisciplinary approach.AIM: To propose an effective pathway for the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of psoriatic arthritis in the Italian context, and to assess its organizational impact on the Regional Health Service of Lombardy Region.METHODS: The analysis was performed through interviews conducted with two key opinion leaders in the areas of dermatology and rheumatology. The current pathway of patients who present symptoms that might be related to psoriatic arthritis was defined and an optimized pathway was then proposed on the basis of the clinical practice, considering the implementation of a dermatology and rheumatology shared outpatient service. The organizational impact of the optimized pathway was then assessed from both the hospital and that of the Regional Health Service of Lombardy Region perspectives.RESULTS: The implementation of the service would have a positive impact on patients' experience, improving the quality of the service provided, thanks to the multidisciplinary approach adopted, limiting the patients' resources needed for the diagnosis, reducing the number of visits and time loss. The optimized pathway, therefore, would have a limited impact on the marketing mix, while potentially improving patients satisfaction, increasing the possibility of patients' retention. To successfully implement the dermatological and rheumatologic multidisciplinary service, a precise communication strategy is mandatory.CONCLUSIONS: The optimized pathway for the diagnosis and management of psoriatic arthritis proposed would have a limited organizational impact at both hospital and Regional Health Service levels, while leading to theoretical benefits in terms of a prompt diagnosis of the pathology

Il trattamento chirurgico dei tumori maligni del labbro. Esperienza personale

I tumori maligni del labbro rappresentano circa l’1-2% delle neoplasie cervico-facciali. Tali lesioni sono più frequentemente costi - tuite da carcinomi spinocellulari e basocellulari che nel complesso rappresentano il 25% di tutti i tumori orali. Mentre il carcinoma spinocellulare si localizza soprattutto sul labbro inferiore, il carcino - ma basocellulare si riscontra maggiormente sul labbro superiore .Il sesso maschile risulta essere sensibilmente il più colpito. L’etiopatoge - nesi di queste neoplasie è legata all’esposizione solare, al fumo, alla predisposizione genetica (mutazione del gene soppressore p53), all’e - voluzione di forme di precancerosi, quali radiodermiti, cheiliti croni - che, xeroderma pigmentosum. Inoltre, alcuni Autori enfatizzano il ruolo svolto da diversi agenti virali quali HPV16, HPV24, HSV1 e HSV2. Il trattamento dei carcinomi del labbro è prevalentemente chirurgico ed è fondamentalmente rappresentato dall’escissione della lesione e successiva ricostruzione del labbro. Le tecniche riparative sono numerose e per la maggior parte basate sull’utilizzo di lembi cutanei locali di scorrimento e di rotazione. La ricostruzione del lab - bro comporta un notevole impegno al fine di preservare quanto più possibile forma e funzioni essendo il labbro fondamentale nell’ali - mentazione, nella fonazione e nella mimica espressiva. Gli Autori riportano la loro esperienza riguardo il trattamento chi - rurgico di 19 pazienti, 17 di sesso maschile, di età compresa tra 58 e 84 anni (età media 72 anni), affetti da carcinoma del labbro (16 spi - nocellulari, 3 basocellulari) con prevalenza di forme ben differenziate. Vengono inoltre discusse le principali problematiche ricostruttive ine - renti la preservazione degli aspetti estetici e funzionali delle labbra

Large scale datasets for Image and Video Captioning in Italian

The application of Attention-based Deep Neural architectures to the automatic captioning of images and videos is enabling the development of increasingly performing systems. Unfortunately, while image processing is language independent, this does not hold for caption generation. Training such architectures requires the availability of (possibly large-scale) language specific resources, which are not available for many languages, such as Italian.In this paper, we present MSCOCO-it e MSR-VTT-it, two large-scale resources for image and video captioning. They have been derived by applying automatic machine translation to existing resources. Even though this approach is naive and exposed to the gathering of noisy information (depending on the quality of the automatic translator), we experimentally show that robust deep learning is enabled, rather tolerant with respect to such noise. In particular, we improve the state-of-the-art results with respect to image captioning in Italian. Moreover, in the paper we discuss the training of a system that, at the best of our knowledge, is the first video captioning system in Italian

Predictors of cardiovascular disease in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a common comorbidity in patients with chronic airway obstruction, and is associated with systemic inflammation and airway obstruction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictors of CVD in two different conditions causing chronic airway obstruction, asthma and COPD. METHODS: Lung function tests, clinical and echocardiographic data were assessed in 229 consecutive patients, 100 with asthma and 129 with COPD. CVD was classified into: pressure overload (PO) and volume overload (VO). Sub-analysis of patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) and pulmonary hypertension (PH) was also performed. RESULTS: CVD was found in 185 patients (81%: 51% COPD and 30% asthmatics) and consisted of PO in 42% and of VO in 38% patients. COPD patients, as compared to asthmatics, had older age, more severe airway obstruction, higher prevalence of males, of smokers, and of CVD (91% vs 68%), either PO (46% vs 38%) or VO (45% vs 30%). CVD was associated with older age and more severe airway obstruction both in asthma and COPD. In the overall patients the predictive factors of CVD were age, COPD, and male sex; those of PO were COPD, BMI, VC, FEV(1) and MEF(50) and those of VO were age, VC and MEF(50). In asthma, the predictors of CVD were VC, FEV(1), FEV(1) /VC%, and PaO(2), those of PO were VC, FEV(1) and FEV(1) /VC%, while for VO there was no predictor. In COPD the predictors of CVD were age, GOLD class and sex, those of VO age, VC and MEF(50), and that of PO was BMI. Sub-analysis showed that IHD was predicted by COPD, age, BMI and FEV(1), while PH (found only in 25 COPD patients), was predicted by VO (present in 80% of the patients) and FEV(1). In subjects aged 65 years or more the prevalence of CVD, PO and VO was similar in asthmatic and COPD patients, but COPD patients had higher prevalence of males, smokers, IHD, PH, lower FEV(1) and higher CRP. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that cardiovascular diseases are frequent in patients with chronic obstructive disorders, particularly in COPD patients. The strongest predictors of CVD are age and airway obstruction. COPD patients have higher prevalence of ischemic heart disease and pulmonary hypertension. In the elderly the prevalence of PO and VO in asthma and COPD patients is similar

Nine ideas to improve the clinical management of HIV infected patients during the COVID-19 pandemic

Globally, in 2019, HIV infection was still responsible for 1.7 million new infections 2.2 and for 690,000 deaths in the same year. Tailored and new antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens, individualised follow-up and new technologies to support data-sharing between health—care professional caring for people living with HIV (PLHIV) and to deliver ART to patients are desperately needed to reach the 90-90-90-90 ambitious goals. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, responsible for the Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic that spread globally in 2020, posed a huge challenge for PLHIV and HIV physicians worldwide in terms of continuum of care.In this paper we encourage “up-to-date patient-centred HIV medicine” and we give nine ideas to improve HIV management in clinical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic

Using machine learning to map the European Cleantech sector

This paper is the introductory chapter of a series of analyses that will result from the CLEU1 project, a collaboration between the universities of Politecnico di Torino, Politecnico di Milano and Università degli Studi di Bologna. The project focuses on Cleantech, an industry sector that develops and deploys sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions for various target applications. It aims to: i) analyse the actions that are undertaken by European Cleantech firms to engage in transformative climate and innovation actions to align with the European Green Deal-inspired policies; ii) examine the association of environmental innovation and the number of new investments made by venture capital (VC) investors in Cleantech companies on environmental indicators; iii) analyse the enabling factors for the development of European Cleantech firms, with a focus on EU-level and country-level targeted policies and regulations and the different sources of financing; iv) analyse the extent to which the implementation of policies and regulations affect both the propensity of cleantech firms to seek external equity financing and the equity offering by VC funds