Dagli emblemi araldici al brand universitario

L’uso di simboli identificativi, che contraddistingue le organizzazioni più antiche, costituisce da sempre un tratto pregnante della cultura e comunicazione universitarie. Sul piano visivo, l’identità degli atenei è espressa da emblemi araldici e, in misura crescente, veri e propri brand che aggiornano e semplificano i segni della tradizione. In continuità con i principali studi internazionali sul tema, il contributo presenta i risultati di un’indagine sul simbolismo visivo delle università italiane. La ricerca ha preso in esame la visual identity degli atenei, statali e non , per analizzarne stili ed elementi caratterizzanti: in particolare, le componenti figurative e verbali del marchio istituzionale; il richiamo al territorio e ai simboli della tradizione; il restyling dell’iconografia storica e le strategie identitarie privilegiate dalle università di recente fondazione

Implementing Circular Economy in Universities. Successful Practices at Politecnico di Torino (Italy)

The circular economy (CE) concept reported a growing interest as an operationalizing framework, able to support the implementation of sustainable production and consumption, resource use and waste prevention broader concepts. Even if CE is different from waste management, it has traditionally been associated with waste reduction, recycling improvement, and minimization of environmental impacts in cities and territories. Additionally, CE could be a driver for the achievement of multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). On the other side, universities are recognized as key actors in the transition towards sustainable development at the territorial level. Given the use of CE as a possible change paradigm to decouple economic growth from associated environmental impacts, this paper aims at highlighting some of the main successful practices put forwards by an Italian university, Politecnico di Torino, in implementing CE principles.Keyword: Circular Economy, University Sustainability, waste managemen

COURSE AND OUTCOME OF TREATMENT RESISTANT DEPRESSION: A ONE-YEAR NATURALISTIC FOLLOW-UP

Most recent epidemiological studies point out that depression is one of the most common diseases among general population and it is recognized as a major public health problem. The primary goal of depression treatment consists of the complete resolution of symptoms and thus in the total healing. Clinical experience and literature data indicate that, with current treatments, only a small percentage of patients achieves a full symptom remission. The results of the STAR*D, which focused on the effectiveness of treatments, showed that one-third of depressed patients will never reach complete recovery even after multiple drug trials 5. . From these data emerges that treatment resistance is quite common among patients with Major Depressive Disorders and accounts for an important part of human suffering and social burden caused by depression 6-7 . In the present study we examined a sample of depressed inpatients during a one-year naturalistic follow-up. The aims of the study were: 1) to investigate the demographic and clinical characteristics associated with Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD); 2) to evaluate the prospective course and outcome of illness over a one-year naturalistic follow-up; 3) to compare the clinical and demographic variables of treatment-resistant patients with a group of patients matched by sex and diagnosis, who adequately responded to the drug treatment A consecutive series of subjects, aged 18-70 years, hospitalized in our centre, with a Major Unipolar or Bipolar Depression diagnosis recruited from January 2008 to January 2009 were included in the analysis (TRd: Treatment resistant depressives) . Patients with a primary diagnosis of Unipolar MDD or BPD; stage I of Thase & Rush criteria for resistance to treatment and a baseline Montgomery-Asberg Depression Scale (MADRS) 149 score > 21 were included in the study and were enrolled in the 12 months naturalistic follow up . Afterwards, we screened a sample of 47 outpatients matched by sex with the same inclusion and exclusion criteria, except that of treatment resistance, in fact they began antidepressant treatment not later than two months before with positive response.(Rd: Responder depressives) In our study TRD population is mainly composed by middle aged female, married, with high level of education. TRD patients report a personal history of treatment resistance and personal and familiar history of suicide attempts. A bipolar diathesis may represent an important clinical characteristics of TRD patients, too. Treatment resistance appears mainly related to melancholic episodes, duration of the current episode, number of previous depressive episodes and hospitalizations, and suicide risk. Somatic comorbidity (specifically cardiovascular diseases), Axis I disorder comorbidity, particularly anxiety disorders (Panic Disorder) may be highly frequent in TRD population. During the follow up year the majority of the TRD patients examined (63.8%) have a remission and about 20% of the sample have a recovery. Although TRD is a common clinical occurrence, a greater consensus is required regarding the definition and the operational criteria for staging response and resistance to antidepressant treatments. Predictive factors must be identified to recognize patients who are more likely to respond to antidepressant trials. Pharmacogenomic studies are also needed to assist in identifying biological predictive factors

A new freeware raycasting tool combined with fluorescent coating to allow for object visibility

Abstract Time resolved PIV encompassing moving and/or deformable objects interfering with the light source requires the employment of dynamic masking (DM). A few DM techniques have been recently developed, mainly in microfluidics and multiphase flows fields. Most of them require ad-hoc design of the experimental setup, and may spoil the accuracy of the resulting PIV analysis. A new DM technique is here presented which envisages, along with a dedicated masking algorithm, the employment of fluorescent coating to allow for accurate tracking of the object. We show results from measurements obtained through a validated PIV setup demonstrating the need to include a DM step even for objects featuring limited displacements. We compare the proposed algorithm with both a no-masking and a static masking solution. In the framework of developing low cost, flexible and accurate PIV setups, the proposed algorithm is made available through a freeware application able to generate masks to be used by an existing, freeware PIV analysis package. Graphic abstrac

The Role of Nearly-zero Energy Buildings in the Definition of Post- Carbon Cities

Nowadays about 50% of global population lives in cities, responsible for about 70% of GHG emissions and by 2030 the urbanization rate will increase to over 75%. The paper discusses new emerging concept of “Post-Carbon” City, in which the “vision” consists in the opportunity of breaking the carbon-dependent system of urban areas. It provides inspiration to re-think urban re-development patterns. In this new vision buildings and occupant behaviour role and need for new comprehensive planning tools are investigated. The paper deals with a project that is undergoing study and represents a picture of the current situation related to “Post-Carbon” City topic

Is there a role for ivabradine beyond its conventional use

Summary Results of recent clinical trials in patients with stable angina and chronic heart failure have successfully demonstrated a beneficial role of use of ivabradine in addition to the conventional therapy. Based on the results of these trials, the aim of our review was to give an overview of the literature about the use of ivabradine in clinical settings outside its usual purpose

Solubility and Transdermal Permeation Properties of a Dehydroepiandrosterone Cyclodextrin Complex from Hydrophilic and Lipophilic Vehicles

The permeation ability of a compound is due principally to its concentration in the vehicle and to its aptitude to cross the stratum corneum of the skin. In this work ex-vivo permeation studies on newly developed formulations containing dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) were carried out to investigate vehicles that increase drug permeation through the skin. To enhance the solubility of DHEA, its complex form with alpha-cyclodextrin was used. In addition, the two forms (pure drug and complex form) were introduced in hydrophilic (water), lipophilic (paraffin oil), and microemulsion vehicles to evaluate the synergic effect of cyclodextrins and microemulsion vehicles on solubility and permeation. From the results, DHEA solubility is notably conditioned by the type of the vehicle used: the highest solubilities (both for pure and complex drug forms) were obtained with microemulsion, followed by paraffin oil and water. Moreover, in all the studied vehicles, the c-DHEA was more soluble than DHEA. Permeation profile fluxes showed very interesting differences. That reflect the varying drug forms (pure drug and complex form), vehicles used, and drug concentrations in the vehicles. The major flux was obtained in complex of DHEA with alpha-cyclodextrins in the microemulsion vehicle. Therefore, this type of vehicle and drug form would be very useful in the development of a topical formulation containing DHEA