Environmental, human health and socio-economic effects of cement powders: The multicriteria analysis as decisional methodology

The attention to sustainability-related issues has grown fast in recent decades. The experience gained with these themes reveals the importance of considering this topic in the construction industry, which represents an important sector throughout the world. This work consists on conducting a multicriteria analysis of four cement powders, with the objective of calculating and analysing the environmental, human health and socio-economic effects of their production processes. The economic, technical, environmental and safety performances of the examined powders result from official, both internal and public, documents prepared by the producers. The Analytic Hierarchy Process permitted to consider several indicators (i.e., environmental, human health related and socio-economic parameters) and to conduct comprehensive and unbiased analyses which gave the best, most sustainable cement powder. As assumed in this study, the contribution of each considered parameter to the overall sustainability has a different incidence, therefore the procedure could be used to support on-going sustainability efforts under different conditions. The results also prove that it is not appropriate to regard only one parameter to identify the ‘best’ cement powder, but several impact categories should be considered and analysed if there is an interest for pursuing different, often conflicting interests

The cost of context repair: Presupposition accomodation

In the present experiment, the processing costs and time-course of presupposition accommodation were studied, as compared to presupposition satisfaction and independently of the presupposition trigger in use. Two main results emerged from the data collected. First, presupposition accommodation requires greater processing costs than satisfaction, reflecting a process of context repair where both a linking and an updating process are needed. Second, presupposition accommodation takes places immediately just as the trigger becomes available and proceeds incrementally during the sentence processing. This result suggests that presuppositions are processed on-line and that, independently of the type of trigger in use, they are accommodated before the asserted content is computed

The development of presupposition: Pre-schoolers' understanding of regret and too

Little is known about presuppositional skills in pre-school years. Developmental research has mostly focused on children’s understanding of too and evidence is mixed: some studies show that the comprehension of too is not adult-like at least until school age, while more recent findings suggest that even pre-schoolers can interpret too-sentences in more age-appropriate tasks. Importantly, no study has tested directly, within the same experiment, pre-schoolers’ presupposition understanding in satisfaction versus accommodation, nor with respect to other trigger types. Yet, it is well known that adults’ processing of a presupposition is costlier when accommodation is required and that the type of trigger influences the processing demands. Therefore, both the trigger type and the contextual availability of a presupposition might influence young children’s comprehension. We tested this with a story completion task that assessed 3–5-year-olds’ comprehension of presuppositions activated by either regret or too in contexts that either satisfied the presupposition or required accommodation. Results reveal that pre-schoolers overall exhibit an understanding of presupposition. Crucially, this starkly improves between the age of 3 and 5 and the developmental trajectory depends on both context and trigger type: understanding the presupposition of regret seems easier than that of too for younger children, and less difficulties emerge when the context satisfies the presupposition. Thus, the development of presupposition comprehension in pre-schoolers depends both on the type of trigger and the contextual availability of the presupposition – satisfied versus requiring failure repair

Testing the Causal Theory of Reference

Theories of reference are a crucial research topic in analytic philosophy. Since the publication of Kripke\u2019s Naming and Necessity, most philosophers have endorsed the causal/historical theory of reference. The goal of this paper is twofold: (i) to discuss a method for testing experimentally the causal theory of ref- erence for proper names by investigating linguistic usage and (ii) to present the results from two exper- iments conducted with that method. Data collected in our experiments confirm the causal theory of reference for people proper names and for geographical proper names. A secondary but interesting result is that the semantic domain affects reference assignment: while with people proper names speakers tend to assign the semantic reference, with geographical proper names they are prompted to assign the speak- er\u2019s reference

Rituximab suppresses disease activity after natalizumab withdrawal: an exploratory study

Background Natalizumab is highly effective in reducing multiple sclerosis disease activity; however it carries a risk of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, that represents the main reason of drug discontinuation. After natalizumab withdrawal, reactivation of disease is soon observed and, until now, it is not known which treatment strategy should be followed after natalizumab discontinuation. Aim of this study is to evaluate rituximab efficacy in controlling disease activity after natalizumab withdrawal

The energy sensor AMPK regulates Hedgehog signaling in human cells through a unique Gli1 metabolic checkpoint

Hedgehog signaling controls proliferation of cerebellar granule cell precursors (GCPs) and its aberrant activation is a leading cause of Medulloblastoma, the most frequent pediatric brain tumor. We show here that the energy sensor AMPK inhibits Hh signaling by phosphorylating a single residue of human Gli1 that is not conserved in other species.Studies with selective agonists and genetic deletion have revealed that AMPK activation inhibits canonical Hh signaling in human, but not in mouse cells. Indeed we show that AMPK phosphorylates Gli1 at the unique residue Ser408, which is conserved only in primates but not in other species. Once phosphorylated, Gli1 is targeted for proteasomal degradation. Notably, we show that selective AMPK activation inhibits Gli1-driven proliferation and that this effect is linked to Ser408 phosphorylation, which represents a key metabolic checkpoint for Hh signaling.Collectively, this data unveil a novel mechanism of inhibition of Gli1 function, which is exclusive for human cells and may be exploited for the treatment of Medulloblastoma or other Gli1 driven tumors

An Italian Study

The literature provides some evidence that the use of violent video games increases the risk for young people to develop aggressive cognitions and even behaviors. We aimed to verify whether exposure to violent video games is linked to problems of aggression in a sample of Italian children. Four questionnaires were administered to 346 children between 7 and 14 years of age, attending primary and secondary schools in Northern Italy. Variables measured were externalization, quality of interpersonal relationships, aggression, quality of coping strategies, and parental stress. Participants who preferred violent games showed higher scores for externalization and aggression. The use of violent video games and age were linked to higher levels of aggression, coping strategies, and the habitual video game weekly consumption of participants. Our data confirm the role of violent video games as risk factors for problems of aggressive behavior and of externalization in childhood and early adolescence

Hepatic Insulin Resistance in Hyperthyroid Rat Liver: Vitamin E Supplementation Highlights a Possible Role of ROS

Thyroid hormones are normally involved in glycaemic control, but their excess can lead to altered glucose metabolism and insulin resistance (IR). Since hyperthyroidism-linked increase in ROS results in tissue oxidative stress that is considered a hallmark of conditions leading to IR, it is conceivable a role of ROS in the onset of IR in hyperthyroidism. To verify this hypothesis, we evaluated the effects of vitamin E on thyroid hormone-induced oxidative damage, insulin resistance, and on gene expression of key molecules involved in IR in the rat liver. The factors involved in oxidative damage, namely the total content of ROS, the mitochondrial production of ROS, the activity of antioxidant enzymes, the in vitro susceptibility to oxidative stress, have been correlated to insulin resistance indices, such as insulin activation of hepatic Akt and plasma level of glucose, insulin and HOMA index. Our results indicate that increased levels of oxidative damage ROS content and production and susceptibility to oxidative damage, parallel increased fasting plasma level of glucose and insulin, reduced activation of Akt and increased activation of JNK. This last result suggests a role for JNK in the insulin resistance induced by hyperthyroidism. Furthermore, the variation of the genes Pparg, Ppara, Cd36 and Slc2a2 could explain, at least in part, the observed metabolic phenotypes. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Febrile rhabdomyolysis of unknown origin in refugees coming from West Africa through the Mediterranean

Abstract Objectives Cases of undiagnosed severe febrile rhabdomyolysis in refugees coming from West Africa, mainly from Nigeria, has been observed since May 2014. The aim of this study was to describe this phenomenon. Methods This was a multicentre retrospective observational study of cases of febrile rhabdomyolysis reported from May 2014 to December 2016 in 12 Italian centres. Results A total of 48 cases were observed, mainly in young males. The mean time interval between the day of departure from Libya and symptom onset was 26.2 days. An average 8.3 further days elapsed before medical care was sought. All patients were hospitalized with fever and very intense muscle aches. Creatine phosphokinase, aspartate aminotransferase, and lactate dehydrogenase values were abnormal in all cases. The rhabdomyolysis was ascribed to an infective agent in 16 (33.3%) cases. In the remaining cases, the aetiology was undefined. Four out of seven patients tested had sickle cell trait. No alcohol abuse or drug intake was reported, apart from a single reported case of khat ingestion. Conclusions The long incubation period does not support a mechanical cause of rhabdomyolysis. Furthermore, viral infections such as those caused by coxsackievirus are rarely associated with such a severe clinical presentation. It is hypothesized that other predisposing conditions like genetic factors, unknown infections, or unreported non-conventional remedies may be involved. Targeted surveillance of rhabdomyolysis cases is warranted