L'impiego delle relazioni età-valore nella stima sintetica dei vigneti

The knowledge of relations elapsing between the market value and the characteristics of the orchards can favour the resort through data market approach. In order to implement enquires have been carried out, over a period of 25 years, to define their explicit relationships. The researches have been carried out in the Castelli Romani (Velletri) and, through interviews, the statements of operators, experts of the market, data have been collected. The answers have allowed the construction of one scale of merit points and the identification of the relation between market value and age of the vineyards of the Castelli Romani. The validity (and the confidence limit) has been shown of real estate appraisal with “cost amortized” proposed by Gallerani. The opportunity (and the confidence limit) has been studied also to implement appraisal process for unitary values. However this attempt wasn’t successful

:DRHOP, A Platform Proposal for Online Charity

This short paper describes :DRHOP , a project proposal based on the idea of an \u201copen interface\u201d that aims to aggregate different types of \u201cservices\u201d and to build around them a community of users who, without changing their usual online (and offline) habits, collect a wallet of drops, a sort of virtual currency that can be donated for charity purposes. The architecture of the system is introduced together with the present version of a proof of concept, currently implemented in the context of online advertising. :DRHOP is still in its initial design phase and important issues like trust, security, and privacy - that are fundamental for the success of a proposal like this - are only partially sketched. Nevertheless, we think the idea is worth to carry on as witnessed by some similar projects, which are also briefly introduced in the paper, showing the interest of the Internet community for online charity experiences

Serum BDNF Levels Are Reduced in Patients with Disorders of Consciousness and Are Not Modified by Verticalization with Robot-Assisted Lower-Limb Training

Little is known about plastic changes occurring in the brains of patients with severe disorders of consciousness (DOCs) caused by acute brain injuries at rest and during rehabilitative treatment. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophin involved in neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity whose production is powerfully modulated by physical exercise. In this study, we compared serum BDNF levels in 18 patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) and in a minimally conscious state (MCS) with those in 16 sex- and age-matched healthy controls. In 12 patients, serum BDNF levels before and after verticalization with ErigoPro robot-assisted lower-limb training were compared. Serum BDNF levels were significantly lower in patients (median, 1141 pg/ml; 25th and 75th percentiles, 1016 and 1704 pg/ml) than in controls (median, 2450 pg/ml; 25th and 75th percentiles, 2100 and 2875 pg/ml; p<0.001). BDNF levels measured before and after verticalization with robot-assisted lower-limb training did not change (p=0.5). Moreover, BDNF levels did not differ between patients with UWS and MCS (p=0.2), or between patients with traumatic and nontraumatic brain injuries (p=0.6). BDNF level correlated positively with the time since brain injury (p=0.025). In conclusion, serum BDNF levels are reduced in patients with UWS and MCS and cannot be improved by verticalization associated with passive lower-limb training. Additional studies are needed to better understand the mechanisms underlying BDNF reduction in patients with DOCs and to determine the best rehabilitative strategies to promote restorative plastic changes in these patients

The androgen receptor—lncRNASAT1-AKT-p15 axis mediates androgen-induced cellular senescence in prostate cancer cells

The bipolar androgen therapy (BAT) to treat prostate cancer (PCa) includes cycles of supraphysiological androgen levels (SAL) under androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT). We showed previously that SAL induces cellular senescence in androgen-sensitive PCa cells and in ex vivo-treated patient PCa tumor samples. Here, we analyzed the underlying molecular pathway and reveal that SAL induces cellular senescence in both, castration-sensitive (CSPC) LNCaP and castration-resistant PCa (CRPC) C4-2 cells through the cell cycle inhibitor p1

Silver-sensitized erbium-doped ion-exchanged sol-gel waveguides

Ag- and Er-doped glass films have been synthesized with a combined sol\u2013gel and ion-exchange route. The intro- duction of silver as erbium sensitizer in the film was obtained by ion exchanging Er-doped SiO2\u2013Al2O3\u2013Na2O sol\u2013gel films. The films were subsequently annealed under controlled atmo- sphere to induce the migration and aggregation of the metal ions. Films showed different Er3+ photoluminescence behav- iors depending on silver concentration and aggregation state. The interaction between erbium ions and Ag centers has been investigated and enhancement of the excitation cross section due to the silver sensitizing effect has been demonstrated. The developed synthesis also allowed the realization of erbium- doped channel waveguides by a selective Na\u2013Ag ion-exchange process

Antithetic hTERT Regulation by Androgens in Prostate Cancer Cells: hTERT Inhibition Is Mediated by the ING1 and ING2 Tumor Suppressors

The human telomerase is a key factor during tumorigenesis in prostate cancer (PCa). The androgen receptor (AR) is a key drug target controlling PCa growth and regulates hTERT expression, but is described to either inhibit or to activate. Here, we reveal that androgens repress and activate hTERT expression in a concentration-dependent manner. Physiological low androgen levels activate, while, notably, supraphysiological androgen levels (SAL), used in bipolar androgen therapy (BAT), repress hTERT expression. We confirmed the SAL-mediated gene repression of hTERT in PCa cell lines, native human PCa samples derived from patients treated ex vivo, as well as in cancer spheroids derived from androgen-dependent or castration resistant PCa (CRPC) cells. Interestingly, chromatin immuno-precipitation (ChIP) combined with functional assays revealed a positive (pARE) and a negative androgen response element (nARE). The nARE was narrowed down to 63 bp in the hTERT core promoter region. AR and tumor suppressors, inhibitor of growth 1 and 2 (ING1 and ING2, respectively), are androgen-dependently recruited. Mechanistically, knockdown indicates that ING1 and ING2 mediate AR-regulated transrepression. Thus, our data suggest an oppositional, biphasic function of AR to control the hTERT expression, while the inhibition of hTERT by androgens is mediated by the AR co-repressors ING1 and ING2