Greenspace Justice in Vienna: A Research through Design Approach

Urban greenspaces (UGS) help cities and their population cope with the consequences of climate change and have a vital positive effect on people’s health and well-being. Public greenspaces are therefore an essential component of urban infrastructure. The City of Vienna offers a high proportion of public greenspaces. However, these are not evenly distributed and not necessarily accessible or affordable for all citizens. To achieve greenspace justice, it is crucial to provide equal access and usability that meets people’s needs. The present work contributes to the debate by including issues of equity and justice in the context of public greenspaces. A Research through Design (RtD) approach is used to design and sketch out an ideal situation for the provision of public greenspace. The requisite measures are then developed to achieve these ideal conditions. In this paper, we present the first methodological steps in an unconventional approach to creating new perspectives on existing policy and planning frameworks and developing innovative strategies to improve greenspace justice in cities

Initiation of Pancreatic Cancer: The Interplay of Hyperglycemia and Macrophages Promotes the Acquisition of Malignancy-Associated Properties in Pancreatic Ductal Epithelial Cells

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is still one of the most aggressive solid malignancies with a poor prognosis. Obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are two major risk factors linked to the development and progression of PDAC, both often characterized by high blood glucose levels. Macrophages represent the main immune cell population in PDAC contributing to PDAC development. It has already been shown that pancreatic ductal epithelial cells (PDEC) undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) when exposed to hyperglycemia or macrophages. Thus, this study aimed to investigate whether concomitant exposure to hyperglycemia and macrophages aggravates EMT-associated alterations in PDEC. Exposure to macrophages and elevated glucose levels (25 mM glucose) impacted gene expression of EMT inducers such as IL-6 and TNF-α as well as EMT transcription factors in benign (H6c7-pBp) and premalignant (H6c7-kras) PDEC. Most strikingly, exposure to hyperglycemic coculture with macrophages promoted downregulation of the epithelial marker E-cadherin, which was associated with an elevated migratory potential of PDEC. While blocking IL-6 activity by tocilizumab only partially reverted the EMT phenotype in H6c7-kras cells, neutralization of TNF-α by etanercept was able to clearly impair EMT-associated properties in premalignant PDEC. Altogether, the current study attributes a role to a T2DM-related hyperglycemic, inflammatory micromilieu in the acquisition of malignancy-associated alterations in premalignant PDEC, thus providing new insights on how metabolic diseases might promote PDAC initiation

Il contratto di apprendistato nel D.lgs. 81/2015 = The apprenticeship contract in Legislative Decree 81/2015. WP C.S.D.L.E. “Massimo D’Antona”.IT – 286/2015

Part III of the Legislative Decree 15 June 2015, n. 81 is dedicated to the apprenticeship contract,, and repealing Legislative Decree no. 167 of 2011. This paper has an introduction of new points of reform of the apprenticeship contract that remains, according to a scheme already proven for over a decade, divided into categories, depending on the purpose of the training that each pursues, but with a connotation of employment is not insignificant. It then offers the reader an analysis of the legislation and, after taking into account the European routes (§ 2), the areas of general discipline and common application (§ 3), will analyze the different types of training (§§4 , 5,6), highlighting early on the close connection between two of the three types of apprenticeship to the paths of the education system and their revival by the legislature, than, the apprenticeship "professionalizzante".The evaluation and the impact of this latest reform require the right time to observe trends in apprenticeship recruitment, especially for those types less used today and the subject of comment in §§ 4 and 6, but also those on which the Legislature has invested more in terms of change, rationalization and support. The hope is that the benefits of regulation and incentives "dual" apprenticeship provide more youth employment levels in our country

Chitosan nanoparticles as antigen vehicles to induce effective tumor specific T cell responses

Cancer vaccinations sensitize the immune system to recognize tumor-specific antigens de novo or boosting preexisting immune responses. Dendritic cells (DCs) are regarded as the most potent antigen presenting cells (APCs) for induction of (cancer) antigen-specific CD8+ T cell responses. Chitosan nanoparticles (CNPs) used as delivery vehicle have been shown to improve anti-tumor responses. This study aimed at exploring the potential of CNPs as antigen delivery system by assessing activation and expansion of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells by DCs and subsequent T cell-mediated lysis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells. As model antigen the ovalbumin-derived peptide SIINFEKL was chosen. Using imaging cytometry, intracellular uptake of FITC-labelled CNPs of three different sizes and qualities (90/10, 90/20 and 90/50) was demonstrated in DCs and in pro- and anti-inflammatory macrophages to different extents. While larger particles (90/50) impaired survival of all APCs, small CNPs (90/10) were not toxic for DCs. Internalization of SIINFEKL-loaded but not empty 90/10-CNPs promoted a pro-inflammatory phenotype of DCs indicated by elevated expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Treatment of murine DC2.4 cells with SIINFEKL-loaded 90/10-CNPs led to a marked MHC-related presentation of SIINFEKL and enabled DC2.4 cells to potently activate SIINFEKL-specific CD8+ OT-1 T cells finally leading to effective lysis of the PDAC cell line Panc-OVA. Overall, our study supports the suitability of CNPs as antigen vehicle to induce potent anti-tumor immune responses by activation and expansion of tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T cells