Per la valorizzazione dei paesaggi storici: Eugenio Battisti e Marco Dezzi Bardeschi.

Il progetto di paesaggio per anni ha trovato sublimazione del disegno di ville, giardini e conventi. All’interno della ricerca sulla valorizzazione e sulla tutela del patrimonio storico, la conservazione dei giardini ha via via raggiunto una posizione di rilievo in tema di restauro e di riuso dei monumenti. Lo spazio aperto vegetale disegnato è stato quindi elevato, negli ultimi decenni, a testimonianza archeologica da preservare. Documento fondamentale di questa mutata percezione è rappresentata nella Carta dei giardini storici ICOMOS IFLA, redatta a Firenze nel 1981. La vegetazione come materiale alla base della costituzione del progetto degli spazi aperti, è mutevole e instabile. Questa trasformabilità che dipende in gran parte dal coinvolgimento di materia viva presenta due aspetti significativi

La cultura della vite. Restauro dei paesaggi agrari in aree archeologiche

Il paesaggio dell'Italia centrale è stato storicamente configurato da istanze produttive, economiche e sociali. A partire dalla tradizione etrusca di organizzazione del territorio fino alle sistemazioni moderne la piantata della vita ha impresso un carattere culturale al territorio che oggi appare come una traccia preziosa del nostro passato, importante da conoscere, conservare e valorizzare

Development of piezoelectric harvesters with integrated trimming devices

Piezoelectric cantilever harvesters have a large power output at their natural frequency, but in some applications the frequency of ambient vibrations is different fromthe harvester\u2019s frequency and/or ambient vibrations are periodicwith some harmonic components. To copewith these operating conditions harvesters with integrated trimming devices (ITDs) are proposed. Some prototypes are developed with the aid of an analytical model and tested with an impulsive method. Results show that a small trimming device can lower the main resonance frequency of a piezoelectric harvester of the same extent as a larger tip mass and, moreover, it generates at high frequency a second resonance peak. A multi-physics numerical finite element (FE) model is developed for predicting the generated power and for performing a stress-strain analysis of harvesters with ITDs. The numerical model is validated on the basis of the experimental results. Several configurations of ITDs are conceived and studied. Numerical results show that the harvesters with ITDs are able to generate relevant power at two frequencies, owing to the particular shape of the modes of vibration. The stress in the harvesters with ITDs is smaller than the stress in the harvester with a tip mass trimmed to the same frequency

A face-smoothed cell method for static and dynamic piezoelectric coupled problems on polyhedral meshes

Low-order discretization schemes are suitable for modeling 3-D multiphysics problems since a huge number of degrees of freedom (DoFs) is typically required by standard high-order Finite Element Method (FEM). On the other hand, polyhedral meshes ensure a great flexibility in the domain discretization and are thus suitable for complex model geometries. These features are useful for the multiphysics simulation of micro piezoelectric devices with a thin multi-layered and multi-material structure. The Cell Method (CM) is a low-order discretization scheme which has been mainly adopted up to now for electromagnetic problems but has not yet been used for mechanical problems with polyhedral discretization. This work extends the CM to piezo-elasticity by reformulating local constitutive relationships in terms of displacement gradient. In such a way, piecewise uniform edge basis functions defined on arbitrary polyhedral meshes can be used for discretizing local constitutive relationships. With the CM matrix assembly is completely Jacobian-free and do not require Gaussian integration, reducing code complexity. The smoothing technique, firstly introduced for FEM, is here extended to CM in order to avoid shear locking arising when low-order discretization is used for thin cantilevered beams under bending. The smoothed CM is validated for static and dynamic problems on a real test case by comparison with both second-order FEM and experimental data. Numerical results show that accuracy is retained even if a much lower number of DoFs is required compared to FEM

Plant microRNAs from Moringa oleifera Regulate Immune Response and HIV Infection

Traditional medicine is often chosen due to its affordability, its familiarity with patient's cultural practices, and its wider access to the local community. Plants play an important role in providing indispensable nutrients, while specific small RNAs can regulate human gene expression in a cross-kingdom manner. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of plant-enriched purified extract microRNAs from Moringa oleifera seeds (MO) on the immune response and on HIV infection. Bioinformatic analysis shows that plant microRNAs (p-miRs) from MO belonging to 18 conserved families, including p-miR160h, p-miR166, p-miR482b, p-miR159c, p-miR395d, p-miR2118a, p-miR393a, p-miR167f-3p, and p-miR858b are predicted to target with high affinity BCL2, IL2RA, TNF, and VAV1, all these being involved in the cell cycle, apoptosis, immune response and also in the regulation of HIV pathogenesis. The effects of MO p-miRs transfected into HIV+ PBMCs were analyzed and revealed a decrease in viability associated with an increase of apoptosis; an increase of T helper cells expressing Fas and a decrease of intracellular Bcl2 protein expression. Meanwhile no effects were detected in PBMCs from healthy donors. In CD4(+) T cells, transfection significantly reduced cell activation and modified the T cell differentiation, thereby decreasing both central and effector memory cells while increasing terminal effector memory cells. Interestingly, the p-miRs transfection induces a reduction of intracellular HIV p24 protein and a reduction of viral DNA integration. Finally, we evaluated the effect of synthetic (mimic) p-miR858b whose sequence is present in the MO p-miR pool and predicted to target VAV1, a protein involved in HIV-Nef binding. This protein plays a pivotal role in T cell antigen receptor (TCR) signaling, so triggering the activation of various pathways. The transfection of HIV+ PBMCs with the synthetic p-miR858b showed a reduced expression of VAV1 and HIV p24 proteins. Overall, our evidence defines putative mechanisms underlying a supplementary benefit of traditional medicine, alongside current antiretroviral therapy, in managing HIV infection in resource-limited settings where MO remains widely available

Quercetin pentaacetate inhibits in vitro human respiratory syncytial virus adhesion.

Made available in DSpace on 2020-12-12T01:06:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-01-15 Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) is one of the main etiological agents of diseases of the lower respiratory tract and is often responsible for the hospitalization of children and the elderly. To date, treatments are only palliative and there is no vaccine available. Natural products show exceptional structural diversity and they have played a vital role in drug research. Several investigations focused on applied structural modification of natural products to improved metabolic stability, solubility and biological actions them. Quercetin is a flavonoid that presents several biological activities, including anti-hRSV role. Some works criticize the pharmacological use of Quercetin because it has low solubility and low specificity. In this sense, we acetylated Quercetin structure and we used in vitro and in silico assays to compare anti-hRSV function between Quercetin (Q0) and its derivative molecule (Q1). Q1 shows lower cytotoxic effect than Q0 on HEp-2 cells. In addition, Q1 was more efficient than Q0 to protect HEp-2 cells infected with different multiplicity of infection (0.1–1 MOI). The virucidal effects of Q0 and Q1 suggest interaction between these molecules and viral particle. Dynamic molecular results suggest that Q0 and Q1 may interact with F-protein on hRSV surface in an important region to adhesion and viral infection. Q1 interaction with F-protein showed ΔG= -14.22 kcal/mol and it was more stable than Q0. Additional, MTT and plate assays confirmed that virucidal Q1 effects occurs during adhesion step of cycle hRSV replication. In conclusion, acetylation improves anti-hRSV Quercetin effects because Quercetin pentaacetate could interact with F-protein with lower binding energy and better stability to block viral adhesion. These results show alternative anti-hRSV strategy and contribute to drug discovery and development. Universidade Estadual Paulista UNESP (FCLAssis) Universidade Estadual Paulista UNESP IBILCE Centro Multiusuário de Inovação Biomolecular (CMIB) Universidade Estadual Paulista UNESP IBILCE Department of Biology University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1 Universidade Estadual Paulista UNESP (FCLAssis) Universidade Estadual Paulista UNESP IBILCE Centro Multiusuário de Inovação Biomolecular (CMIB) Universidade Estadual Paulista UNESP IBILCE FAPESP: 2014/12298-

Reduced humoral response to two doses of COVID-19 vaccine in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: Data from ESCAPE-IBD, an IG-IBD study

Background Patients on immunosuppressive drugs have been excluded from COVID-19 vaccines trials, creating concerns regarding their efficacy. Aims To explore the humoral response to COVID-19 vaccines in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) Methods Effectiveness and Safety of COVID-19 Vaccine in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Treated with Immunomodulatory or Biological Drugs (ESCAPE-IBD) is a prospective, multicentre study promoted by the Italian Group for the study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. We present data on serological response eight weeks after the second dose of COVID-19 vaccination in IBD patients and healthy controls (HCs). Results 1076 patients with IBD and 1126 HCs were analyzed. Seropositivity for anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG was reported for most IBD patients, even if with a lesser rate compared with HCs (92.1% vs. 97.9%; p<0.001). HCs had higher antibody concentrations (median OD 8.72 [IQR 5.2-14-2]) compared to the whole cohort of IBD patients (median OD 1.54 [IQR 0.8-3.6]; p<0.001) and the subgroup of IBD patients (n=280) without any treatment or on aminosalicylates only (median OD 1.72 [IQR 1.0–4.1]; p<0.001). Conclusions Although most IBD patients showed seropositivity after COVID-19 vaccines, the magnitude of the humoral response was significantly lower than in HCs. Differently from other studies, these findings seem to be mostly unrelated to the use of immune-modifying treatments (ClinicalTrials.govID:NCT04769258)

How future surgery will benefit from SARS-COV-2-related measures: a SPIGC survey conveying the perspective of Italian surgeons

COVID-19 negatively affected surgical activity, but the potential benefits resulting from adopted measures remain unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the change in surgical activity and potential benefit from COVID-19 measures in perspective of Italian surgeons on behalf of SPIGC. A nationwide online survey on surgical practice before, during, and after COVID-19 pandemic was conducted in March-April 2022 (NCT:05323851). Effects of COVID-19 hospital-related measures on surgical patients' management and personal professional development across surgical specialties were explored. Data on demographics, pre-operative/peri-operative/post-operative management, and professional development were collected. Outcomes were matched with the corresponding volume. Four hundred and seventy-three respondents were included in final analysis across 14 surgical specialties. Since SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, application of telematic consultations (4.1% vs. 21.6%; p < 0.0001) and diagnostic evaluations (16.4% vs. 42.2%; p < 0.0001) increased. Elective surgical activities significantly reduced and surgeons opted more frequently for conservative management with a possible indication for elective (26.3% vs. 35.7%; p < 0.0001) or urgent (20.4% vs. 38.5%; p < 0.0001) surgery. All new COVID-related measures are perceived to be maintained in the future. Surgeons' personal education online increased from 12.6% (pre-COVID) to 86.6% (post-COVID; p < 0.0001). Online educational activities are considered a beneficial effect from COVID pandemic (56.4%). COVID-19 had a great impact on surgical specialties, with significant reduction of operation volume. However, some forced changes turned out to be benefits. Isolation measures pushed the use of telemedicine and telemetric devices for outpatient practice and favored communication for educational purposes and surgeon-patient/family communication. From the Italian surgeons' perspective, COVID-related measures will continue to influence future surgical clinical practice