Landscape and Cultural Heritage: Best Practices for Planning and Local Development: An Example from Southern Italy

AbstractThe multidisciplinary study of the landscape aims to highlight, through a multi-scale and multi-temporal reading, the development and evolution of processes of natural and anthropogenic transformation in the different contexts examined, recognizing their common characteristics and structural differences. Such an approach cannot be separated from the identification of settlement dynamics and social-economic changes of long duration, nor from diachronic analysis of specific vocations and evolutive processes of the territory. In the study area, which includes the land around Castel Lagopesole, was carried out an archaeological and topographic research about settlements and their lands in the XIII and XIV century (§ 1.-2., by S. Del Lungo); a structural analysis of the rural landscape and a comparison between ancient and current intended use of the soil (§ 3., by C. A. Sabia). The aim is to bring out the elements of the historical landscape of merit and to propose appropriate criteria for planning for their protection and local economic development (§ 4., by C. Pacella)

Rethinking the history of common walnut (Juglans regia L.) in Europe: Its origins and human interactions

Common walnut (Juglans regia L) is an economically important species cultivated worldwide for its high-quality wood and nuts. It is generally accepted that after the last glaciation J. regia survived and grew in almost completely isolated stands in Asia, and that ancient humans dispersed walnuts across Asia and into new habitats via trade and cultural expansion. The history of walnut in Europe is a matter of debate, however. In this study, we estimated the genetic diversity and structure of 91 Eurasian walnut populations using 14 neutral microsatellites. By integrating fossil pollen, cultural, and historical data with population genetics, and approximate Bayesian analysis, we reconstructed the demographic history of walnut and its routes of dispersal across Europe. The genetic data confirmed the presence of walnut in glacial refugia in the Balkans and western Europe. We conclude that human-mediated admixture between Anatolian and Balkan walnut germplasm started in the Early Bronze Age, and between western Europe and the Balkans in eastern Europe during the Roman Empire. A population size expansion and subsequent decline in northeastern and western Europe was detected in the last five centuries. The actual distribution of walnut in Europe resulted from the combined effects of expansion/contraction from multiple refugia after the Last Glacial Maximum and its human exploitation over the last 5,000 years

Ancient humans influenced the current spatial genetic structure of common walnut populations in Asia

Common walnut (Juglans regia L) is an economically important species cultivated worldwide for its wood and nuts. It is generally accepted that J. regia survived and grew spontaneously in almost completely isolated stands in its Asian native range after the Last Glacial Maximum. Despite its natural geographic isolation, J. regia evolved over many centuries under the influence of human management and exploitation. We evaluated the hypothesis that the current distribution of natural genetic resources of common walnut in Asia is, at least in part, the product of ancient anthropogenic dispersal, human cultural interactions, and afforestation. Genetic analysis combined with ethno-linguistic and historical data indicated that ancient trade routes such as the Persian Royal Road and Silk Road enabled long-distance dispersal of J. regia from Iran and Trans-Caucasus to Central Asia, and from Western to Eastern China. Ancient commerce also disrupted the local spatial genetic structure of autochthonous walnut populations between Tashkent and Samarkand (Central- Eastern Uzbekistan), where the northern and central routes of the Northern Silk Road converged. A significant association between ancient language phyla and the genetic structure of walnut populations is reported even after adjustment for geographic distances that could have affected both walnut gene flow and human commerce over the centuries. Beyond the economic importance of common walnut, our study delineates an alternative approach for understanding how the genetic resources of long-lived perennial tree species may be affected by the interaction of geography and human history

"Delirium Day": A nationwide point prevalence study of delirium in older hospitalized patients using an easy standardized diagnostic tool

Background: To date, delirium prevalence in adult acute hospital populations has been estimated generally from pooled findings of single-center studies and/or among specific patient populations. Furthermore, the number of participants in these studies has not exceeded a few hundred. To overcome these limitations, we have determined, in a multicenter study, the prevalence of delirium over a single day among a large population of patients admitted to acute and rehabilitation hospital wards in Italy. Methods: This is a point prevalence study (called "Delirium Day") including 1867 older patients (aged 65 years or more) across 108 acute and 12 rehabilitation wards in Italian hospitals. Delirium was assessed on the same day in all patients using the 4AT, a validated and briefly administered tool which does not require training. We also collected data regarding motoric subtypes of delirium, functional and nutritional status, dementia, comorbidity, medications, feeding tubes, peripheral venous and urinary catheters, and physical restraints. Results: The mean sample age was 82.0 \ub1 7.5 years (58 % female). Overall, 429 patients (22.9 %) had delirium. Hypoactive was the commonest subtype (132/344 patients, 38.5 %), followed by mixed, hyperactive, and nonmotoric delirium. The prevalence was highest in Neurology (28.5 %) and Geriatrics (24.7 %), lowest in Rehabilitation (14.0 %), and intermediate in Orthopedic (20.6 %) and Internal Medicine wards (21.4 %). In a multivariable logistic regression, age (odds ratio [OR] 1.03, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.05), Activities of Daily Living dependence (OR 1.19, 95 % CI 1.12-1.27), dementia (OR 3.25, 95 % CI 2.41-4.38), malnutrition (OR 2.01, 95 % CI 1.29-3.14), and use of antipsychotics (OR 2.03, 95 % CI 1.45-2.82), feeding tubes (OR 2.51, 95 % CI 1.11-5.66), peripheral venous catheters (OR 1.41, 95 % CI 1.06-1.87), urinary catheters (OR 1.73, 95 % CI 1.30-2.29), and physical restraints (OR 1.84, 95 % CI 1.40-2.40) were associated with delirium. Admission to Neurology wards was also associated with delirium (OR 2.00, 95 % CI 1.29-3.14), while admission to other settings was not. Conclusions: Delirium occurred in more than one out of five patients in acute and rehabilitation hospital wards. Prevalence was highest in Neurology and lowest in Rehabilitation divisions. The "Delirium Day" project might become a useful method to assess delirium across hospital settings and a benchmarking platform for future surveys

La Lucania tardoantica nella Tabula Peutingeriana alla luce delle fonti gromatiche

Adoperata solitamente per riscontrare l’esistenza o meno di un abitato, la Tabula Peutingeriana non è stata mai verificata e decodificata nelle molteplici riduzioni ed abbreviazioni che contiene per la provincia di Lucania et Bruttii. Il settore lucano è infatti uno dei più complessi da interpretare e gli elementi topografici inseriti possono essere compresi e identificati con maggiore certezza solamente se la mappa viene considerata all’interno del contesto culturale e materiale di pertinenza. Le indicazioni contenute nella versione tardoantica ed altomedievale dei testi gromatici e il riscontro archeologico offrono allora nuove chiavi interpretative per un territorio finora conosciuto solo per grandi linee. La Lucania acquista così nuove fondamenta, con le quali rileggerne l’Antichità classica e il Medioevo.About the provincia of Lucania et Bruttii the Peutinger Tabula has been used only to say when a settlement could have been deserted. Nobody has verified and decoded all the adaptations and abbreviations made drawing the map. This part is one of the most complexes to study and every topographic data can be identified only reading the map into its cultural and material context. Then lands surveyors handbooks, written in Late Antiquity ant Early Middle age, and archaeological finds help to discovery a provincia not very well known till today. And the Lucania gains new bases to understand its classic and medieval phases of life