2,040 research outputs found
DESENVOLVIMENTO DE UMA HANDBIKE DE BAIXO CUSTO
Este trabalho consiste no desenvolvimento de uma handbike, veĂculo de propulsĂŁo humana voltado para o lazer de pessoas portadoras de deficiĂŞncia fĂsica nos membros inferiores. O projeto foi focado em manter as condições de estabilidade e segurança em nĂveis satisfatĂłrios, onde foram analisados fatores referentes Ă geometria da direção, o dimensionamento geral, a ergonomia do ciclista e a análise estrutural, feita em software que utiliza o mĂ©todo dos elementos finitos, apresentando tambĂ©m uma seleção dos componentes necessários para seu funcionamento. O projeto prioriza a simplicidade na construção e manutenção, propondo mudanças nos conceitos já existentes, resultando em uma redução de custo final, contribuindo para popularização dessa prática esportiva no lazer, e ajudando na inclusĂŁo dessa parcela da sociedade
Sustainable development in higher education: an integrated teaching and research experience
The contribution presents a teaching experience in a master’s degree program of ​​the University of Florence in pedagogical area. Through an integrated research-informed teaching (RIT) approach and the use of active methodologies, the course focuses on the topics of Agenda 2030 and sustainability, dealing with educational dimension underlying development’s actions. The importance of student-centred and learning outcomes-oriented pedagogical and didactic approaches are highlighted. These are functional to the development of competences linked to the theme of sustainable development, but also oriented towards the training of education professionals who are considered central figures in the accompaniment and management of ecological and sustainable transition processes. The contribution offers the systematization of this long-term experience in university teaching.
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Lo sviluppo sostenibile nell’alta formazione: un’esperienza integrata di didattica e ricerca
Il contributo presenta un’esperienza di insegnamento all’interno di un corso di laurea magistrale di area pedagogica dell’Università di Firenze. Attraverso un approccio integrato di research-informed teaching (RIT) e l’utilizzo di metodologie attive, il corso è centrato sui temi dell’Agenda 2030 e della sostenibilità , esplicitando la dimensione educativa sottesa alle azioni di sviluppo. Si evidenzia l’importanza di approcci pedagogici e didattici student centred e learning outcomes oriented funzionali allo sviluppo di competenze legate al tema dello sviluppo sostenibile e volti alla formazione di professionisti dell’educazione e della formazione ritenuti figure centrali nell’accompagnamento e nella gestione di processi di transizione ecologica e sostenibile. Il contributo offre la sistematizzazione di questa esperienza pluriennale di didattica universitaria
Framing automatic grading techniques for open-ended questionnaires responses. A short survey
The assessment of students' performances is one of the essential components of teaching activities, and it poses different challenges to teachers and instructors, especially when considering the grading of responses to open-ended questions (i.e., short-answers or essays). Open-ended tasks allow a more in-depth assessment of students' learning levels, but their evaluation and grading are time-consuming and prone to subjective bias. For these reasons, automatic grading techniques have been studied for a long time, focusing mainly on short-answers rather than long essays. Given the growing popularity of Massive Online Open Courses and the shifting from physical to virtual classrooms environments due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the adoption of questionnaires for evaluating learning performances has rapidly increased. Hence, it is of particular interest to analyze the recent effort of researchers in the development of techniques designed to grade students' responses to open-ended questions. In our work, we consider a systematic literature review focusing on automatic grading of open-ended written assignments. The study encompasses 488 articles published from 1984 to 2021 and aims at understanding the research trends and the techniques to tackle essay automatic grading. Lastly, inferences and recommendations are given for future works in the Learning Analytics field
Pulmonary adenocarcinoma with massive lymphocytic infiltration: a case report with review of the literature of a rare histological entity with a peculiar biological behaviour
BACKGROUND: Tumors with a massive inflammatory infiltration are described in several organs. There is agreement about considering the inflammatory infiltration as the host's immune response to neoplastic cells; such neoplasms indeed have a better prognostic outcome than non-inflammatory counterparts. Only seventeen cases of pulmonary adenocarcinoma with massive lymphocytic infiltration (AMLI) have been reported in literature so far.
CASE PRESENTATION: We present a case of pulmonary adenocarcinoma with massive lymphocytic infiltration occurring in a 71 years old male smoker. He came under our attention because of dyspnea, and underwent a left lower lobectomy. Histological examination showed a moderately differentiated (G2) acinar adenocarcinoma associated with a stromal desmoplastic reaction and a massive inflammatory infiltration, made up mostly of CD3+ lymphocytes. pTNM stage was pT2a, N0 (clinical stage: Ib).Molecular testing of EGFR gene showed no mutations and immunohistochemistry for ALK resulted negative.EBV infection was ruled out by EBV in situ hybridization.
CONCLUSIONS: Literature review showed seventeen similar cases, with a 16/1 male/female ratio and a mean age of 70,2 years. In eight out of seventeen cases EBV-infection was demonstrated with immunohistochemical or molecular biology techniques.Similarly to the cases previously reported in literature our patient is a male smoker, without lymph node metastasis and he is still alive after a follow-up period of six months without recurrent or residual disease.Because of histological, biological and clinical peculiarity, we propose to take into account pulmonary adenocarcinomas with massive inflammatory infiltration for a separate pathological classificatio
Pulmonary squamous cell carcinoma with lepidic growth pattern : new insights into lung cancer classification
Lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) has always been considered a monomorphic entity, different from lung adenocarcinoma which is known to be a very heterogeneous tumor from morphological and molecular point of view. Just two histological subtypes of SCC are recognised, the basaloid and lymphoepithelioma-like histotypes, as in other sites different from the lung. Recently, different studies tried to expand the classification of SCC by adding different subtypes based on morphological characteristics (such as keratinization or clear cell features) or different growth patterns (papillary or basaloid). We report a case of squamous cell carcinoma with a previously unreported, distinctive and predominant "lepidic" growth pattern, with its immunophenotypical and molecular characterization
Isolation and characterization of two newly established thymoma PDXs from two relapses of the same patient: a new tool to investigate thymic malignancies
BackgroundThymic malignancies are a heterogeneous group of rare cancers for which systemic chemotherapy is the standard treatment in the setting of advanced, recurrent or refractory diseases. Both environmental and genetic risk factors have not been fully clarified and few target-specific drugs have been developed for thymic epithelial tumors. A major challenge in studying thymic epithelial tumors is the lack of preclinical models for translational studies.Main bodyStarting from bioptic material of two consecutive recurrences of the same patient, we generated two patient-derived xenografts. The patient-derived xenografts models were characterized for histology by immunohistochemistry and mutations using next-generation sequencing. When compared to the original tumors resected from the patient, the two patient-derived xenografts had preserved morphology after the stain with hematoxylin and eosin, although there was a moderate degree of de-differentiation. From a molecular point of view, the two patient-derived xenografts maintained 74.3 and 61.8% of the mutations present in the human tumor of origin.Short conclusionThe newly generated patient-derived xenografts recapitulate both the molecular characteristics and the evolution of the thymoma it derives from well, allowing to address open questions for this rare cancer
Synchronous pleural and peritoneal malignant mesothelioma : a case report and review of literature
The coexistence of mesothelioma and other primary malignancies has been previously reported in literature, but the finding of a pleural mesothelioma with a synchronous peritoneal mesothelioma has not been reported so far. We report a case of a 58-years-old woman that came to our attention for the incidental finding of an inguinal mass. Fine-needle biopsies of the mass and a thoracoscopy with pleural biopsies were performed, after imaging studies showed pleural thickenings suspicious for malignancy. Histological morphology and growth pattern were similar in both cases. Both tumors stained for calretinin, but only the pleural mesothelioma showed positivity for Wilms-Tumor 1 antibody. We tried to demonstrate with molecular biology techniques whether they were synchronous or one was the metastasis of the other, but our studies did not give informative results. The prognosis in this case is poor, and after 6 months the patient is still following a chemotherapy regimen, which is the only practicable approach given the extent of the disease
Cartographies of the Body in Pandemic Times
As Fox and Alldred (2020) note, culture/nature dualism has supplied post-Enlightenment philosophers, scientists and social scientists with a neat way to set limits on the respective Cartographies of the Body in Pandemic Times Saúde em Redes. 2022; 8 (3) 494 concerns of the social and natural sciences (see also Barad, 2007; Braidotti, 2013; Fullagar et al., 2019). This dualism has also enabled the creation of distinctions between “modern” (read “civilised”) and “traditional” (read “primitive”) bodies and ways of being-in-the-world. Yet, when critically exploring issues of embodiment, the influence of the built environment on well-being, climate transitions and/or the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic such distinctions start to become problematic, as eloquently argued in the last three decades by feminist, post-human, newmaterialist and political ecological –among others– debates and propositions. Giving continuity to an ongoing dialogue started in 2018 between scholars and activists from Latin America and Europe, we organized the online seminar “Re-assembling the nature-culture-body nexus: practices and epistemologies”. In this two-parts online event was explored how the interrelated domains of health, physical activity, and education can look like from perspectives that de-stabilise established ontological boundaries between nature, culture, the body, and their relationship. This paper is the transcription of the second session, called “Cartographies of the body in pandemic times”, and present the dialogues between Alice del Gobbo, Carla Panico, Gianluca De Fazio, Alexandre Fernandez Vaz and Eduardo Galak, researchers from Brazil, Italy Portugal and Argentina
Combined Large Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinomas of the Lung: Integrative Molecular Analysis Identifies Subtypes with Potential Therapeutic Implications
Simple Summary In this manuscript, we offer an integrated molecular analysis of 44 combined large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas (CoLCNECs) in order to deepen the knowledge about these rare histotypes and to clarify their relationship with lung cancers. In the present state of research, molecular studies are still scant, consisting of small and heterogeneous cohorts, and the genomic landscape is poorly characterized. This study shows that CoLCNECs constitute a standalone group of neuroendocrine neoplasm, with three different molecular profiles, two of which overlap with pure LCNEC or adenocarcinoma. CoLCNECs can be considered an independent histologic category with specific genomic and transcriptomic features, different and therefore not comparable to other lung cancers. Indeed, in addition to a histological re-evaluation of lung cancer classification, our study may help to develop a new diagnostic approach for novel and personalized treatments in CoLCNECs. Background: Combined large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (CoLCNEC) is given by the association of LCNEC with adeno or squamous or any non-neuroendocrine carcinoma. Molecular bases of CoLCNEC pathogenesis are scant and no standardized therapies are defined. Methods: 44 CoLCNECs: 26 with adenocarcinoma (CoADC), 7 with squamous cell carcinoma (CoSQC), 3 with small cell carcinoma (CoSCLC), 4 with atypical carcinoid (CoAC) and 4 napsin-A positive LCNEC (NapA+), were assessed for alterations in 409 genes and transcriptomic profiling of 20,815 genes. Results: Genes altered included TP53 (n = 30), RB1 (n = 14) and KRAS (n = 13). Targetable alterations included six KRAS G12C mutations and ALK-EML4 fusion gene. Comparison of CoLCNEC transcriptomes with 86 lung cancers of pure histology (8 AC, 19 ADC, 19 LCNEC, 11 SCLC and 29 SQC) identified CoLCNEC as a separate entity of neuroendocrine tumours with three different molecular profiles, two of which showed a non-neuroendocrine lineage. Hypomethylation, activation of MAPK signalling and association to immunotherapy signature specifically characterized each of three CoLCNEC molecular clusters. Prognostic stratification was also provided. Conclusions: CoLCNECs are an independent histologic category. Our findings support the extension of routine evaluation of KRAS mutations, fusion genes and immune-related markers to offer new perspectives in the therapeutic management of CoLCNEC
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