A proposito della riforma fondiaria. Per una storia sociale del Metapontino (1950-59)

ItL’articolo propone una rilettura del ruolo svolto dalla riforma fondiaria ai fini delle modificazioni del territorio e del tessuto sociale di un’area periferica del Mezzogiorno continentale, il Metapontino (la costa jonica lucana), grazie all’utilizzo di una tipologia di fonte inedita e particolarmente suggestiva. Si tratta delle domande Assegnazioni Terreni (dat), presentate da lavoratori agricoli del Materano a partire dal 1951, custodite nell’archivio dell’Agenzia Lucana di Sviluppo e Innovazione in Agricoltura (Alsia) di Matera. Le dat consentono di entrare nel vissuto dei singoli richiedenti e delle loro famiglie per indagare la dimensione socio-economico di una realtà che verrà radicalmente trasformata dal massiccio intervento statale e per riflettere su un contesto comunitario basato su meccanismi di lenta ma progressiva inclusione e integrazione. La ricerca restituisce, negli esiti, una straordinaria mappatura di ordine sociale, economico, esistenziale che consente di cogliere ed evidenziare gli effetti, le dinamiche e gli andamenti nella dislocazione di un inedito ordine territoriale e allo stesso tempo di rivedere e ridiscutere osservazioni e giudizi sollevati e più volte ribaditi nel dibattito storiografico sulla riforma fondiaria, soprattutto relativamente ad alcuni aspetti definiti “fallimentari” che di fatto non trovano verifiche e riscontri nel Metapontino.The article proposes a review on the role played by the land reform in altering the territory and the social fabric of a marginal area of the continental Mezzogiorno, the Metapontine area (the Ionian coast of Basilicata), thanks to the adoption of an innovative and fairly appealing type of sources. The sources are the applications for the granting of agricultural land submitted by agricultural workers of the Matera province as of 1951, stored in the archive of the Lucanian Agency for Agricultural development and Innovation of Matera. The dates allow to enter into the daily life of individual applicants and of their families, investigating into the social and economic dimension of a reality that will be radically changed by the massive state intervention, and reflecting upon a community context based on slow but progressive inclusion and integration. The research leads to an extraordinary social, economic and existential mapping that allows to understand and highlight the effects, dynamics and trends in the relocation of an unprecedented territorial order. At the same time, the study enables to rethink and discuss again views and opinions raised and reiterated more than once within the historiography debate on the land reform, especially with regards to certain aspects defined as “disastrous” that do not find proofs and validations in the Metapontine area

A proposito della riforma fondiaria. Per una storia sociale del Metapontino (1950-59)

ItL’articolo propone una rilettura del ruolo svolto dalla riforma fondiaria ai fini delle modificazioni del territorio e del tessuto sociale di un’area periferica del Mezzogiorno continentale, il Metapontino (la costa jonica lucana), grazie all’utilizzo di una tipologia di fonte inedita e particolarmente suggestiva. Si tratta delle domande Assegnazioni Terreni (dat), presentate da lavoratori agricoli del Materano a partire dal 1951, custodite nell’archivio dell’Agenzia Lucana di Sviluppo e Innovazione in Agricoltura (Alsia) di Matera. Le dat consentono di entrare nel vissuto dei singoli richiedenti e delle loro famiglie per indagare la dimensione socio-economico di una realtà che verrà radicalmente trasformata dal massiccio intervento statale e per riflettere su un contesto comunitario basato su meccanismi di lenta ma progressiva inclusione e integrazione. La ricerca restituisce, negli esiti, una straordinaria mappatura di ordine sociale, economico, esistenziale che consente di cogliere ed evidenziare gli effetti, le dinamiche e gli andamenti nella dislocazione di un inedito ordine territoriale e allo stesso tempo di rivedere e ridiscutere osservazioni e giudizi sollevati e più volte ribaditi nel dibattito storiografico sulla riforma fondiaria, soprattutto relativamente ad alcuni aspetti definiti “fallimentari” che di fatto non trovano verifiche e riscontri nel Metapontino.The article proposes a review on the role played by the land reform in altering the territory and the social fabric of a marginal area of the continental Mezzogiorno, the Metapontine area (the Ionian coast of Basilicata), thanks to the adoption of an innovative and fairly appealing type of sources. The sources are the applications for the granting of agricultural land submitted by agricultural workers of the Matera province as of 1951, stored in the archive of the Lucanian Agency for Agricultural development and Innovation of Matera. The dates allow to enter into the daily life of individual applicants and of their families, investigating into the social and economic dimension of a reality that will be radically changed by the massive state intervention, and reflecting upon a community context based on slow but progressive inclusion and integration. The research leads to an extraordinary social, economic and existential mapping that allows to understand and highlight the effects, dynamics and trends in the relocation of an unprecedented territorial order. At the same time, the study enables to rethink and discuss again views and opinions raised and reiterated more than once within the historiography debate on the land reform, especially with regards to certain aspects defined as “disastrous” that do not find proofs and validations in the Metapontine area

Increase of plasma IL-9 and decrease of plasma IL-5, IL-7, and IFN-γ in patients with chronic heart failure

BACKGROUND: Several cytokines are associated with the development and/or progression of chronic heart failure (CHF). Our aim was to look more closely at the cytokine networks involved in CHF, and to assess whether disease etiology affects cytokine expression. The study population was comprised of a) 69 patients with stable CHF, New York Heart Association (NYHA) II/IV classes, secondary to ischaemic (ICM) and non ischaemic dilated (NIDCM) cardiomyopathy and b) 16 control subjects. We analyzed and compared the plasma levels of 27 pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators, in the study population and assessed for any possible correlation with echocardiographic parameters and disease duration. METHODS: 27 cytokines and growth factors were analyzed in the plasma of ICM- (n = 42) and NIDCM (n = 27) NYHA class II-IV patients vs age- and gender-matched controls (n = 16) by a beadbased multiplex immunoassay. Statistical analysis was performed by ANOVA followed by Tukey post-hoc test for multiple comparison. RESULTS: Macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1\u3b2, Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), interleukin (IL)-9, Monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1, and IL-8 plasma levels were increased in both ICM and NIDCM groups vs controls. In contrast, IL-7, IL-5, and Interferon (IFN)-\u3b3 were decreased in both ICM and NIDCM groups as compared to controls. Plasma IL-6 and IL-1 \u3b2 were increased in ICM and decreased in NIDCM, vs controls, respectively.IL-9 levels inversely correlated, in ICM patients, with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) while IL-5 plasma levels inversely correlated with disease duration, in NYHA III/IV ICM patients.This is the first time that both an increase of plasma IL-9, and a decrease of plasma IL-5, IL-7 and IFN-\u3b3 have been reported in ICM as well as in NIDCM groups, vs controls. Interestingly, such cytokines are part of a network of genes whose expression levels change during chronic heart failure. The altered expression levels of MIP-1 \u3b2, VEGF, MCP-1, IL-1 \u3b2, IL-6, and IL-8, found in this study, are in keeping with previous reports. CONCLUSIONS: The increase of plasma IL-9, and the decrease of plasma IL-5, IL-7 and IFN-\u3b3 in ICM as well as in NIDCM groups vs controls may contribute to get further insights into the inflammatory pathways involved in CHF

Immersive Virtual Reality to Improve Walking Abilities in Cerebral Palsy: A Pilot Study

Immersive virtual reality (IVR) offers new possibilities to perform treatments in an ecological and interactive environment with multimodal online feedbacks. Sixteen school-aged children (mean age 11 ± 2.4 years) with Bilateral CP—diplegia, attending mainstream schools were recruited for a pilot study in a pre–post treatment experimental design. The intervention was focused on walking competences and endurance and performed by the Gait Real-time Analysis Interactive Lab (GRAIL), an innovative treadmill platform based on IVR. The participants underwent eighteen therapy sessions in 4 weeks. Functional evaluations, instrumental measures including GAIT analysis and parental questionnaire were utilized to assess the treatment effects. Walking pattern (stride length left and right side, respectively p = 0.001 and 0.003; walking speed p = 0.001), endurance (6MWT, p = 0.026), gross motor abilities (GMFM-88, p = 0.041) and most kinematic and kinetic parameters significantly improved after the intervention. The changes were mainly predicted by age and cognitive abilities. The effect could have been due to the possibility of IVR to foster integration of motor/perceptual competences beyond the training of the walking ability, giving a chance of improvement also to older and already treated children

Metabolic and Genetic Screening of Electromagnetic Hypersensitive Subjects as a Feasible Tool for Diagnostics and Intervention

Growing numbers of “electromagnetic hypersensitive” (EHS) people worldwide self-report severely disabling, multiorgan, non-specific symptoms when exposed to low-dose electromagnetic radiations, often associated with symptoms of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) and/or other environmental “sensitivity-related illnesses” (SRI). This cluster of chronic inflammatory disorders still lacks validated pathogenetic mechanism, diagnostic biomarkers, and management guidelines. We hypothesized that SRI, not being merely psychogenic, may share organic determinants of impaired detoxification of common physic-chemical stressors. Based on our previous MCS studies, we tested a panel of 12 metabolic blood redox-related parameters and of selected drug-metabolizing-enzyme gene polymorphisms, on 153 EHS, 147 MCS, and 132 control Italians, confirming MCS altered (P<0.05–0.0001) glutathione-(GSH), GSH-peroxidase/S-transferase, and catalase erythrocyte activities. We first described comparable—though milder—metabolic pro-oxidant/proinflammatory alterations in EHS with distinctively increased plasma coenzyme-Q10 oxidation ratio. Severe depletion of erythrocyte membrane polyunsaturated fatty acids with increased ω6/ω3 ratio was confirmed in MCS, but not in EHS. We also identified significantly (P=0.003) altered distribution-versus-control of the CYP2C19*1/*2 SNP variants in EHS, and a 9.7-fold increased risk (OR: 95% C.I.=1.3–74.5) of developing EHS for the haplotype (null)GSTT1 + (null)GSTM1 variants. Altogether, results on MCS and EHS strengthen our proposal to adopt this blood metabolic/genetic biomarkers’ panel as suitable diagnostic tool for SRI

Immersive virtual reality platform for cerebral palsy rehabilitation

The Gait Real-time Analysis Interactive Lab (GRAIL) is an innovative platform based on immersive Virtual Reality (VR), providing amazing scenarios where the subjects are asked to walk or change their load and posture to get points and conclude exergames. The system captures in real-time the kinematic and kinetic of the motion and gives multi sensorial feedbacks (audio, video, or proprioceptive) to the subject. The GRAIL system has been recently used for the rehabilitation of walking abilities in the developmental age. In this study, 11 children suffering from bilateral cerebral palsy (CP) underwent a 20-session treatment with the GRAIL plus 20 sessions of physical therapy; gross motor abilities and the 3D gait analysis were selected as outcome measures. Significant improvements in the kinematic and kinetics of the walking were observed: the walking speed, the maximum power at the ankle during flexo-extension, the knee flexion at the initial contact are only some of the parameters that improved after the training

A Novel Approach to Left Ventricular Filling Pressure Assessment: The Role of Hemodynamic Forces Analysis

16Background: Diastolic function in patients with heart failure is usually impaired, resulting in increased left ventricular (LV) filling pressures, whose gold standard assessment is right heart catheterization (RHC). Hemodynamic force (HDF) analysis is a novel echocardiographic tool, providing an original approach to cardiac function assessment through the speckle-tracking technology. The aim of our study was to evaluate the use of HDFs, both alone and included in a new predictive model, as a potential novel diagnostic tool of the diastolic function.Methods: HDF analysis was retrospectively performed in 67 patients enrolled in the "Right1 study." All patients underwent RHC and echocardiography up to 2 h apart. Increased LV filling pressure (ILFP) was defined as pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) >= 15 mmHg.Results: Out of 67 patients, 33 (49.2%) showed ILFP at RHC. Diastolic longitudinal force (DLF), the mean amplitude of longitudinal forces during diastole, was associated with the presence of ILFP (OR = 0.84 [0.70; 0.99], p = 0.046). The PCWP prediction score we built including DLF, ejection fraction, left atrial enlargement, and e' septal showed an AUC of 0.83 [0.76-0.89], with an optimal internal validation. When applied to our population, the score showed a sensitivity of 72.7% and a specificity of 85.3%, which became 66.7 and 94.4%, respectively, when applied to patients classified with "indeterminate diastolic function" according to the current recommendations.Conclusion: HDF analysis could be an additional useful tool in diastolic function assessment. A scoring system including HDFs might improve echocardiographic accuracy in estimating LV filling pressures. Further carefully designed studies could be useful to clarify the additional value of this new technology.openopenAirale, Lorenzo; Vallelonga, Fabrizio; Forni, Tommaso; Leone, Dario; Magnino, Corrado; Avenatti, Eleonora; Iannaccone, Andrea; Astarita, Anna; Mingrone, Giulia; Cesareo, Marco; Giordana, Carlo; Omedè, Pierluigi; Moretti, Claudio; Veglio, Franco; Pedrizzetti, Gianni; Milan, AlbertoAirale, Lorenzo; Vallelonga, Fabrizio; Forni, Tommaso; Leone, Dario; Magnino, Corrado; Avenatti, Eleonora; Iannaccone, Andrea; Astarita, Anna; Mingrone, Giulia; Cesareo, Marco; Giordana, Carlo; Omedè, Pierluigi; Moretti, Claudio; Veglio, Franco; Pedrizzetti, Gianni; Milan, Albert