Archeologia dei confini nella Sardegna medievale: appunti per una nuova proposta di cartografia geopolitica (XII-XIV secolo)

Lo studio dei limiti amministrativi della Sardegna giudicale necessita di un importante lavoro di ricerca e di nuovi contributi che possano fornire ulteriori apporti indirizzati alla ricostruzione dell'evoluzione dei molteplici confini esistenti, nel passato, tra i territori di pertinenza delle diverse istituzioni operanti nell'isola durante il medioevo sardo. In questo contributo sono presentate 13 nuove carte riguardanti la Sardegna in un periodo compreso tra la prima metà del XII secolo e il 1323. Le carte sono state realizzate attraverso un metodo che ha tenuto conto di fonti e studi riguardanti i principali fatti storici avvenuti nell'epoca presa in esame. Queste hanno lo scopo di proporre un primo passo verso la costruzione di una cartografia, puntuale e aggiornata, del tessuto politico e amministrativo giudicale che possa fornire un punto di vista aggiuntivo nella lettura geopolitica della Sardegna medievale e stimolare la nascita di forme di costruzione partecipata e apportativa che possano innestare, nella base generale fornita, opere di maggior dettaglio

Le attività di Vestigia (Il Laboratorio di Didattica e Comunicazione dei Beni Culturali dell’Università di Cagliari) nel 2017: Il Trentapiedi dei Monumenti a Sant’Avendrace.

[ultima revisione Gennaio 2018

Archeologia dei confini nella Sardegna medievale: appunti per una nuova proposta di cartografia geopolitica (XII-XIV secolo)

Lo studio dei limiti amministrativi della Sardegna giudicale necessita di un importante lavoro di ricerca e di nuovi contributi che possano fornire ulteriori apporti indirizzati alla ricostruzione dell'evoluzione dei molteplici confini esistenti, nel passato, tra i territori di pertinenza delle diverse istituzioni operanti nell'isola durante il medioevo sardo. In questo contributo sono presentate 13 nuove carte riguardanti la Sardegna in un periodo compreso tra la prima metà del XII secolo e il 1323. Le carte sono state realizzate attraverso un metodo che ha tenuto conto di fonti e studi riguardanti i principali fatti storici avvenuti nell'epoca presa in esame. Queste hanno lo scopo di proporre un primo passo verso la costruzione di una cartografia, puntuale e aggiornata, del tessuto politico e amministrativo giudicale che possa fornire un punto di vista aggiuntivo nella lettura geopolitica della Sardegna medievale e stimolare la nascita di forme di costruzione partecipata e apportativa che possano innestare, nella base generale fornita, opere di maggior dettaglio. [ultima revisione Dicembre 2021

Impact assessment of an intelligent central tire inflation system for passenger cars

Tire inflation pressure affects vehicle energetic balance, as well as road safety. These issues are particularly critical due to the low attention paid by the drivers to tire maintenance. Tire pressure monitoring systems are used to alert the drivers in case of low pressure, but higher benefits could be obtained through a completely autonomous on-board system capable of setting the optimal tire pressure according to current working conditions and of automatically inflate or deflate tires. Basing on computer simulations on fuel economy of a reference mid-size diesel passenger car, and referring to statistical data on vehicle use, the potentialities of such a device is evaluated on an annual mission. The results are then extended to the whole European fleet to provide an estimation of the potential benefits that could be obtained through massive adoption of this solution. The impact is evaluated through an economical evaluation of: fuel savings, reduction of social cost of carbon emissions, increase of tire life and reduction of costs related to crashes produced by improper tire pressure

Living on Oral Anticoagulants: Duke Anticoagulation Satisfaction Scale Results

Background: Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are widely used in patients with atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism. The lack of the need for laboratory monitoring and a better safety than vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) has probably changed the quality of life of patients on these oral anticoagulants. This was a real-life prospective observational cohort study. The aim was to evaluate if a long-term treatment with DOACs could offer a better quality of life than VKAs. Moreover, age, gender, education level, time in therapeutic range for VKAs, taking medication once or twice a day for DOACs, the total daily number of medications and thrombotic and bleeding complications were considered as variables probably associated with the quality of life of these patients. Methods: Between January and December 2021, the Duke Anticoagulation Satisfaction Scale (DASS) 25-items was administered as an interview to patients on either VKAs or DOACs therapy. During the follow-up period, all of the patients were closely monitored to evaluate possible bleeding and thrombotic events. Results: The analysis included 300 outpatients treated with VKAs and 254 treated with DOACs. In general, the quality of life was better in patients taking DOACs (DASS total score: DOACs = 44.7, 42.9-46.5 vs. VKAs = 51, 49.2-52.8, p < 0.0001) as the daily-life limitations, hassles and burdens and the psychological impact were less important than in patients on VKAs therapy. Conclusions: VKAs negatively influence the daily-life of the patients in terms of both less satisfaction and time-consuming tasks. DOACs confer a better quality of life even if some concerns emerge from not knowing how their therapy is working

Detection of serum antibodies cross-reacting with <i>Mycobacterium avium</i> subspecies <i>paratuberculosis</i> and beta-cell antigen zinc transporter 8 homologous peptides in patients with high-risk proliferative diabetic retinopathy

Purpose: MAP3865c, a Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) cell membrane protein, has a relevant sequence homology with zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8), a beta-cell membrane protein involved in Zn++ transportation. Recently, antibodies recognizing MAP3865c epitopes have been shown to cross-react with ZnT8 in type 1 diabetes patients. The purpose of this study was to detect antibodies against MAP3865c peptides in patients with high-risk proliferative diabetic retinopathy and speculate on whether they may somehow be involved in the pathogenesis of this severe retinal disorder. Methods: Blood samples were obtained from 62 type 1 and 80 type 2 diabetes patients with high-risk proliferative diabetic retinopathy and 81 healthy controls. Antibodies against 6 highly immunogenic MAP3865c peptides were detected by indirect ELISA. Results: Type 1 diabetes patients had significantly higher rates of positive antibodies than controls. Conversely, no statistically significant differences were found between type 2 diabetes patients and controls. After categorization of type 1 diabetes patients into two groups, one with positive, the other with negative antibodies, we found that they had similar mean visual acuity (&#8764;0.6) and identical rates of vitreous hemorrhage (28.6%). Conversely, Hashimoto's thyroiditis prevalence was 4/13 (30.7%) in the positive antibody group and 1/49 (2%) in the negative antibody group, a statistically significant difference (P = 0.016). Conclusions: This study confirmed that type 1 diabetes patients have significantly higher rates of positive antibodies against MAP/ZnT8 peptides, but failed to find a correlation between the presence of these antibodies and the severity degree of high-risk proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The significantly higher prevalence of Hashimoto's disease among type 1 diabetes patients with positive antibodies might suggest a possible common environmental trigger for these conditions

Heterogeneity of Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS) as Characterized by Brain Perfusion Techniques. Towards New Ways of Syndrome Characterization

Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS) syndrome is an autoimmune condition that affects the way that blood cells in humans bind together. Though the cause of APS is unclear, researchers believe that many factors have an impact on developing this pathological condition. Phospholipids (PLs) play numerous central roles in biological systems, and processes of biological systems regulation act through the liberation of a vast amount of different signalling molecules, which are also involved in the modulation of cell proliferation, inflammation, oxidative stress, neurotransmission and many other processes.A global landmark, holistic, is required to evaluate different phenotypes in APS. All thecriteria validated for the APS diagnosislead to an extremely heterogeneous landmark of the pathology and related to several manifestations in different systems. Heterogeneity also characterizes the SPECT acquisition of the patients and it is connected to several neurological and underestimates symptoms of the pathology. We present some examples to highlight the connection between heterogeneity in SPECT and APS markers of pathology indicating the needs to approach to the Syndrome in a holistic way. At the end of the paper we suggested the multidisciplinary approach that we are tuning for our analysis, approach based on Imaging, Metabolomic and Clinical evaluation, including mental health test for a neuropsychiatric characterization of the pathology

A novel synthetic approach of cerium oxide nanoparticles with improved biomedical activity

Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CNPs) are novel synthetic antioxidant agents proposed for treating oxidative stress-related diseases. The synthesis of high-quality CNPs for biomedical applications remains a challenging task. A major concern for a safe use of CNPs as pharmacological agents is their tendency to agglomerate. Herein we present a simple direct precipitation approach, exploiting ethylene glycol as synthesis co-factor, to synthesize at room temperature nanocrystalline sub-10 nm CNPs, followed by a surface silanization approach to improve nanoparticle dispersibility in biological fluids. CNPs were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H-1-NMR) spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and zeta potential measurements. CNP redox activity was studied in abiotic systems using electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements, and in vitro on human cell models. In-situ silanization improved CNP colloidal stability, in comparison with non-functionalized particles, and allowed at the same time improving their original biological activity, yielding thus functionalized CNPs suitable for biomedical applications

Insights into NdIII to YbIII Energy Transfer and Its Implications in Luminescence Thermometry

This work challenges the conventional approach of using NdIII 4F3/2 lifetime changes for evaluating the experimental NdIII → YbIII energy transfer rate and efficiency. Using near-infrared (NIR) emitting Nd:Yb mixed-metal coordination polymers (CPs), synthesized via solvent-free thermal grinding, we demonstrate that the NdIII [2H11/2 → 4I15/2] → YbIII [2F7/2 → 2F5/2] pathway, previously overlooked, dominates energy transfer due to superior energy resonance and J-level selection rule compatibility. This finding upends the conventional focus on the NdIII [4F3/2 → 4I11/2] → YbIII [2F7/2 → 2F5/2] transition pathway. We characterized Nd0.890Yb0.110(BTC)(H2O)6 as a promising cryogenic NIR thermometry system and employed our novel energy transfer understanding to perform simulations, yielding theoretical thermometric parameters and sensitivities for diverse Nd:Yb ratios. Strikingly, experimental thermometric data closely matched the theoretical predictions, validating our revised model. This novel perspective on NdIII → YbIII energy transfer holds general applicability for the NdIII/YbIII pair, unveiling an important spectroscopic feature with broad implications for energy transfer-driven materials design

The Silent Epidemic of Diabetic Ketoacidosis at Diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes in Children and Adolescents in Italy During the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020

To compare the frequency of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) at diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 with the frequency of DKA during 2017-2019