Progetto di adeguamento del palazzetto dello sport di Collesalvetti nell'ambito del Piano di Eliminazione delle Barriere Architettoniche

Redazione del Piano di Eliminazione delle Barriere Archittettoniche del comune di Collesalvetti e progetto di adeguamento e accessibilità del palazzetto dello sport di Collesalvett

Nuove tecniche diagnostiche non distruttive applicate allo studio di ponti

Le metodologie di prospezione non distruttive hanno di recente trovato una grande applicazione in molti settori dell’ingegneria civile per alcune principali ragioni. Risultano infatti molto più economiche se applicate su grande scala, assai più affidabili, operativamente più rapide e le misure, assistite da calcolatori, sono di semplice esecuzione. Inoltre, a parità di costi o tempi di implementazione, risultano di gran lunga più significative poiché in genere non sono puntuali ma rappresentano aree o volumi di estensione rilevante. Le tecnologie non distruttive di moderna concezione si stanno affermando, inoltre, come uno standard nell’ambito del monitoraggio delle sovrastrutture stradali, aeroportuali e ferroviarie. Le caratteristiche vantaggiose dei metodi non distruttivi possono rappresentare e rappresentano già in alcuni casi delle prospettive interessanti nella programmazione ed attuazione degli interventi manutentori in regime di ordinarietà e straordinarietà. La presente tesi si propone di studiare alcune di queste metodologie ed infine di applicarle allo studio di ponti proprio per metterne in evidenza la loro utilità nel campo dell’ingegneria civile

Motricità ed Autismo: studio dei pattern motori in bambini prescolari mediante PDMS (Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-2)

Sebbene nei Disturbi dello Spettro Autistico non siano riportati gravi disturbi del movimento, la letteratura riporta concordemente ritardi dell’acquisizione delle tappe motorie fondamentali, ipotonia muscolare, cammino sulle punte, difficoltà di pianificazione motoria e di esecuzione prassica e un generale deficit nelle abilità grosso e fino motorie. Un recente dibattito scientifico discute l’epoca d’esordio e la relazione tra l’entità del difetto motorio e le principali variabili cliniche dell’Autismo. Attraverso l’uso del Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-2 ( PDMS-2), uno strumento di misura clinica del livello di sviluppo motorio, sono stati esaminati i profili motori di 35 individui prescolari maschi affetti da Disturbo dello Spettro Autistico. Il livello di sviluppo motorio dei soggetti esaminati si colloca al di sotto di quanto atteso per l’età confermando un generale ritardo delle competenze grosso e fino-motorie nei DSA prescolari particolarmente pronunciato a carico delle abilità di locomozione e di afferramento dell’oggetto. Le performance motorie dei partecipanti sono significativamente correlate alle performance cognitive, all’età cronologica e alla gravità dell’autismo intesa come modello di comportamento, interessi e attività ristretti e ripetitivi. Inoltre, emerge una significativa correlazione tra livello di sviluppo motorio e competenze di autonomia personale e sociale

THE ITALIAN NETWORK FOR EARLY DETECTION OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND NATIONAL POLICIES

Background: Well-structured monitoring system is crucial to identify interventions for children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDD). Subjects and methods: The NIDA Network enrolled more than 760 at risk for NDD and typically developing infants to detect early signs of NDD. Results: The NIDA Network was born in some Italian regions to engage clinical centers in a research project. It is increasingly turning out to be a national monitoring project well integrated in the Italian National Health System policies. Conclusions: The NIDA Network activities are finalized at diagnosis and interventions to improve quality of life of children with NDD and their families

Early behavioral markers for neurodevelopmental disorders in the first 3 years of life: An overview of systematic reviews

Being able to recognize red flags for neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) is crucial to provide timely intervention programs. This work aims to support - within a scientific framework - the construction of an instrument capable to early detect all spectrum of NDD and explore all areas of development, detect failures in typical developmental pathways and point out atypical signs at all ages. This overview of reviews provides evidence for differences in children later diagnosed with NDD compared to typically developing peers such as delays in motor, language development and temperament in the first three years of age, repetitive/stereotyped behaviors, atypicalities/delays in play, object use, attention, visual, sensory processing and social engagement in the first and second year, and difficulties in feeding and sleeping in the first year. These behaviors must be carefully observed as potential red flags for NDD. However, data of the systematic reviews are not yet useful to develop an evidence-based clinical screening. It urges to increase efforts in producing systematic reviews on early behavioral markers for each NDD. Trial registration:CRD42019137731. (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=137731)

Early motor signs of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review

ADHD is a common neurodevelopmental disorder with onset of symptoms typically in early childhood. First signs of the disorder, including language delay, motor delay and temperament characteristics, may be evident as early as infancy. The present review describes published evidence about early motor signs of either children with later symptoms of ADHD or a later diagnosis of the disorder. Nine published cohort studies were included after a systematic search of related terms in PubMed and PsycInfo databases. Study eligibility criteria included: (1) report on early motor function or any motor-related signs; (2) the presence of a participants’ assessment by/at 12 months of age; (3) report of a later presence of ADHD symptoms. The limited number of reports included suggests an association between mild early neurological markers and later developmental coordination disorder and motor overflow movements. Unfortunately, due to their small sample sizes and focus on group reports rather than individuals, they have limited power to find strong associations. Early motor indicators of ADHD, if present, appear to be non-specific, and therefore not yet useful in clinical screening. Spontaneous motility seems to be a promising measure for early ADHD detection, although further studies with large cohorts are recommended to determine its clinical role in children at risk for ADHD

Benefits and challenges of a personal budget for people with mental health conditions or intellectual disability: A systematic review

Personal budgets (PBs) may improve the lives of people with mental health conditions and people with intellectual disability (ID). However, a clear definition of PB, benefits, and challenges is still faded. This work aims to systematically review evidence on PB use in mental health and ID contexts, from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective, and summarize the recent research on interventions, outcomes, and cost-effectiveness of PBs in beneficiaries with mental health conditions and/or ID. The present systematic review is an update of the existing literature analyzed since 2013. We performed a systematic search strategy of articles using the bibliographic databases PubMed and PsycINFO. Six blinded authors screened the works for inclusion/exclusion criteria, and two blinded authors extracted the data. We performed a formal narrative synthesis of the findings from the selected works. A total of 9,800 publications were screened, and 29 were included. Improvement in responsibility and awareness, quality of life, independent living, paid work, clinical, psychological, and social domains, and everyday aspects of the users' and their carers' life have been observed in people with mental health conditions and/or ID. However, the PBs need to be less stressful and burdensome in their management for users, carers, and professionals. In addition, more quantitative research is needed to inform PBs' policymakers

Effects of esomeprazole on healing of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-induced gastric ulcers in the presence of a continued NSAID treatment: characterization of molecular mechanisms

Proton pump inhibitors promote ulcer repair in nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-treated patients with ongoing NSAID-induced gastric toxicity, although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We examined the healing mechanisms of esomeprazole on NSAID-induced gastric ulcerations in the presence of a continued NSAID treatment. Ulcerations were induced in rats by oral indomethacin (6 mu mol/kg/day) for 14 days. Indomethacin administration was continued, alone or combined with equivalent acid inhibitory doses of esomeprazole (5 mu mol/kg/day), lansoprazole (15 mu mol/kg/day) or famotidine (20 mu mol/kg/day), for additional 7 days. Stomachs were then processed for: histomorphometric analysis of mucosal injury; mucosal levels of prostaglandin E-2 (PGE(2)) and malondialdehyde (MDA); expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), caspase-3, and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) (Western blot); expression of Ki-67 (immunohistochemistry). Indomethacin for 14 days elicited mucosal damage, reduced PGE(2) levels and increased MDA. After additional 7 days, indomethacin induced the following effects: further enhancement of mucosal damage and MDA content; decrease in PGE(2) levels; increase in COX-2 and activated caspase-3 expression; decrease in VEGF. PCNA and Ki-67 expression. In the presence of indomethacin, esomeprazole and lansoprazole were more effective than famotidine in promoting resolution of mucosal damage. Concomitantly, esomeprazole and lansoprazole, but not famotidine, restored PCNA and Ki-67 expression, and normalized MDA levels. Moreover, esomeprazole, lansoprazole and famotidine partly counteracted caspase-3 activation, without affecting VEGF expression. The healing activity of esomeprazole on indomethacin-induced gastric ulcerations can be ascribed to two mechanisms: (1) acid-dependent reduction of pro-apoptotic signalling; (2) acid-independent restoration of proliferating/repairing pathways. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Quantitative ultrastructural morphometry and gene expression of mTOR-related mitochondriogenesis within glioblastoma cells

In glioblastoma (GBM) cells, an impairment of mitochondrial activity along with autophagy suppression occurs. Autophagy suppression in GBM promotes stemness, invasion, and poor prognosis. The autophagy deficit seems to be due, at least in part, to an abnormal up-regulation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), which may be counteracted by pharmacological mTORC1 inhibition. Since autophagy activation is tightly bound to increased mitochondriogenesis, a defect in the synthesis of novel mitochondria is expected to occur in GBM cells. In an effort to measure a baseline deficit in mitochondria and promote mitochondriogenesis, the present study used two different GBM cell lines, both featuring mTOR hyperactivity. mTORC1 inhibition increases the expression of genes and proteins related to autophagy, mitophagy, and mitochondriogenesis. Autophagy activation was counted by RT-PCR of autophagy genes, LC3-immune-fluorescent puncta and immune-gold, as well as specific mitophagy-dependent BNIP3 stoichiometric increase in situ, within mitochondria. The activation of autophagy-related molecules and organelles after rapamycin exposure occurs concomitantly with progression of autophagosomes towards lysosomes. Remarkably, mitochondrial biogenesis and plasticity (increased mitochondrial number, integrity, and density as well as decreased mitochondrial area) was long-lasting for weeks following rapamycin withdrawal