Food justice and sustainability: a new revolution

AbstractUrban agriculture has become one of the fastest growing types of agriculture in the United States. Establishing more localized food systems, with the aim of achieving social justice goals, has become an important strategy for developing sustainable urban food systems that try to alleviate food insecurity. Two main approaches address food security: the environmental approach seeks to establish a sustainable food system, and the social justice approach aims to eliminate poverty. These two approaches correspond to the two main dimensions of food security: the production and supply of an adequate quality and quantity of food, and the ability of people to access food.I will document the history of the Urban Farmers, a grassroots organization in Lafayette, California, which endeavoured to address both issues of poverty and sustainability in a community-development approach to food security. Its project emphasizes making the food system local and fostering the development of community

Public Preferences for Land uses’ changes - valuing urban regeneration projects at the Venice Arsenale

This paper discusses the results of a conjoint analysis study developed to assess alternative land uses for an important part of the city of Venice: its Arsenal. Aim of the study is to illustrate the potential of stated preferences techniques for placing a value on redevelopment and reuse alternatives for an underutilized site with high historical, cultural and architectural significance. Very few studies have used conjoint choice to assess public preferences for alternative land uses in an ex-ante framework, i.e. masterplans. For our study, we wanted to concentrate on a “city of art,” where the relationship between cultural heritage resources management and city development is more critical. Venice was an obvious choice for the national and international relevance of its heritage. The Arsenale is one of the few places in Venice that has the potential for a real transformation of its uses, with important impacts on both residents and visitors. Moreover, the Arsenale plays a strong symbolic role: it was the place where the strength and power of the Serenissima was built. The City Council of Venice has recently deliberated that the Arsenale is an inalienable heritage of the city of Venice. In recent years, the importance of the Arsenale has resulted in a heated debate on its possible new uses. Many architectural proposals have been submitted through international competitions. These proposals—whether submitted in the past or currently under consideration—have shown that there may be a conflict between different possible land uses and the transformation allowed by the existing architectural structures. We surveyed individuals in Venice asking respondents to engage in conjoint choice tasks, gathering 168 usable observations. Members of the general public were intercepted at the Multimedia Library at Palazzo Querini Stampalia/FEEM and asked to indicate which choice they preferrd among hypothetical—but realistic—redevelopment projects of the Arsenale historic site. Each project was described by a vector of attributes, such as land use, use of basins and waterways, architectural features, access, employment implied by the reuse, and cost. The responses to these choice tasks was used to infer the rate at which respondents trade off land uses, aesthetic features, and costs, and hence to derive the value of marginal changes in the attributes, and the value of a proposed policy package. The Venice Arsenale is owned by the Italian government and is currently used by the Italian Navy. The Arsenale site accounts for about 15 percent of the area of the city of Venice (about 45 hectares), and is located in the Castello district. Tradition has it that doge Ordefalo Falier founded the Arsenale—a shipbuilding yard—in 1104. In 1340 the “Darsena Nuova” was created, which marked the birth of the Arsenal Nuovo and of the Corderie building. Further expansion started in 1473, covering an area of 26 hectares. This phase lasted more than 100 years, resulting in the construction of the New Corderie building, among others, in 1591. In its heyday, the Arsenale employed roughly 20,000 workers in an assembly-line fashion and produced one ship a day. The Arsenale, after the navy largely withdrew from the complex over 40 years ago, suffered from abandonment and under use. The Arsenale is, therefore, one of the few places in Venice that has the potential for a real transformation of its uses. In this paper we investigate how the development of the Arsenale site, involving alternative land uses, may influence the welfare of the residents of the historical city center of Venice. Starting from the evidence of our survey in Venice, the paper broaden its scope to discuss ways of improving the management of cultural heritage cities, focusing on new forms of involvement and public participation based on public preferences’ elicitation. We debate the issues related to city governance and the need for an appropriate level of democratic participation. An integrated approach, capable of bridging the practice of economic valuation, urban design, conservation of the built environment, and decision-making support systems is here analysed.

Using Surveys to Compare the Public’s and Decisionmakers’ Preferences for Urban Regeneration: The Venice Arsenale

In this paper, we illustrate how surveys can be used to elicit the preferences of the public and of policymakers and city officials for regeneration projects at urban sites. Our methodology uses rating exercises, coupled with conjoint-choice stated preferences for the general public and with ranking exercises for the public officials and other stakeholders, and is then applied to investigate alternative reuses of the Venice Arsenale, Italy, and their economic, environmental and social impacts. One interesting feature of the conjoint choice questions for members of the public is that the responses to these questions can be used to estimate the social benefits of regeneration projects, i.e., how much people are willing to pay for these urban transformations. Another advantage of our approach is that it can be used seek and foster broader public participation into urban decisionmaking processes.Land Use, Decision-Making, Cleanup, Sustainable Development, Local Economic Development, Choice Experiments

CoQ10 and vitamin A supplementation support voice rehabilitation. A double-blind, randomized, controlled, three-period cross-over pilot study

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of an adjuvant therapy (CoQ10 in its watersoluble form and vitamin A) in supporting voice rehabilitation in a large group of patients with muscle tension dysphonia (MTD). Study Design: Twelve-week, double-blind, randomized, controlled, three-period crossover pilot study. The primary endpoint was the change in the Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI) over the 12-week study period. Secondary endpoints were the changes in the subcomponents of DSI, including MPT, F0-high, I-low, and jitter. Exploratory endpoints were the changes in the Shimmer and in Voice Handicap Index (VHI). Methods: Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to two counter-balanced arms. Group A (ADJ-PLA) patients were administered QTer 300 mg and Vit A acetate 500.000 Ul/g 1 mg twice daily for a 4-week intervention period, followed by a 4-week period of wash-out, and then were submitted to a last 4-week period of placebo. Patients in Group B (PLB-ADJ) were given the treatment period in reverse order. Both groups received a 45-min voice therapy in a group format once a day for 4 weeks during the first and the second active periods. The therapy was held during the wash-out period. Results: The analysis of main time effect indicated a trend toward recovery of vocal function regardless of group assignment. A significant time by group effect was found on DSI [F = 3.4 (2.5, 80.5), p = 0.03], F0-high [F = 4.5 (2.6, 82.9), p = 0.008] and Shimmer [F = 3.6 (1.5, 46.9), p = 0.048], under CoQ10 and Vit A treatment, with a small effect size. There was no significant time by group effect on the other study measures, namely MPT, I-low, VHI. Conclusions: A trend toward recovery of vocal function was observed in all the patients, likely due to voice rehabilitation. The improvement of DSI was greater under CoQ10 and Vitamin treatment, indicating a more pronounced improvement of vocal quality under adjuvant therapy. The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Policlinico Umberto I Hospital, Rome, Italy Rif. 3069/13.02.2014

Heavy metal accumulation capacity of Axinella damicornis (Esper, 1794) (Porifera, Demospongiae): a tool for bioremediation of polluted seawaters

A wide range of contaminants are continuously introduced into the aquatic environment and among these, heavy metals con- stitute one of the most dangerous groups because of their persistent nature, toxicity, tendency to accumulate in organisms and more still, they are non-degradable. Marine organisms such as sponges represent target species for the monitoring of heavy metal contamination due their filtering activity. This study aims to evaluate the retention capacity of lead and cadmium by the sponge Axinella damicornis under laboratory conditions. The sponges were exposed for 144 h to seawaters artificially polluted with lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) separately and with a mixture of the two metals. The final goal of the experiments was to evaluate the met- al uptake in the sponge body and efficiency of the sponge in removing the metals from seawater. In particular, the highest values of metal concentration in the sponges were recorded for Pb: this metal was found to be 6 times and 9 times more concentrated than Cd, respectively in the case of exposure to the single metal and to the combination of both metals. The metal concentrations found, especially for Pb, were much higher in A. damicornis than in other organisms investigated in the sea. Remarkable signs of stress and necrosis were recorded in the specimens when exposed to the combination of Pb and Cd, evidencing a synergistic effect of the metals mixture. This study paves adds knowledge on the contamination effects by heavy metals on the marine organisms and on the contribution from A. damicornis as efficient tool for bioremediation of polluted seawaters

Pigmented Nodular Basal Cell Carcinomas in Differential Diagnosis with Nodular Melanomas: Confocal Microscopy as a Reliable Tool for In Vivo Histologic Diagnosis

Nodular basal cell carcinoma, especially when pigmented, can be in differential diagnosis with nodular melanomas, clinically and dermoscopically. Reflectance confocal microscopy is a relatively new imaging technique that permits to evaluate in vivo skin tumors with a nearly histological resolution. Here, we present four cases of challenging nodular lesions where confocal microscopy was able to clarify the diagnosis

Perhexiline maleate enhances antitumor efficacy of cisplatin in neuroblastoma by inducing over-expression of NDM29 ncRNA

High Risk Neuroblastoma (HR-NB) is a pediatric cancer characterized by high malignancy and remarkable cell heterogeneity within the tumour nodules. In a recent study, we demonstrated that in vitro and in vivo over-expression of the non-coding RNA NDM29 (neuroblastoma differentiation marker 29) induces NB cell differentiation, dramatically reducing their malignancy. Among gene expression changes, differentiated phenotype induced by NDM29 is characterized by decrease of the expression of ABC transporters responsible for anticancer drug resistance. Thus, the pharmacological induction of NDM29, in principle, might represent a possible novel strategy to increase cytotoxic drug responses. In this work, we identify a small molecule able to induce the expression of NDM29 in NB cells, conferring to malignant cells increased susceptibility to cisplatin cytotoxic effects. We demonstrate that the pharmacological induction of NDM29 expression in vivo enhances the antitumoral effects of chemotherapy specifically on tumour initiating/cancer stem cells sub-population, usually refractory to therapies and responsible for tumour relapse. In summary, we suggest a novel therapeutical approach possibly useful to treat very aggressive NB cases with poor prognosis. This novel pharmacological strategy aims to promote differentiation of "stem-like" cells to render them more susceptible to the killing action of cytotoxic anticancer drugs

Recensioni

Paolo Torresan, Intelligenze e didattica delle lingue di Mario Polito;Renate N. Caine, Geoffrey Caine, Carol L. McClintic, Karl J. Klimek, Brain/Mind Learning Principles in Action: The Fieldbook for Making Connections, Teaching, and the Human Brain di Giuseppe Longo;Claude Dubar, La socialisation. Construction des identités sociales et professionelles di Elena Zambianchi;Marc Jeannerod, Motor Cognition. What actions tell the self di Patrizia Tortella;Massimo Baldacci, La dimensione emozionale del curricolo.L’educazione affettiva razionale nella scuola di Cristiano Chiuss

Recensioni

Paolo Torresan, Intelligenze e didattica delle lingue di Mario Polito; Renate N. Caine, Geoffrey Caine, Carol L. McClintic, Karl J. Klimek, Brain/Mind Learning Principles in Action: The Fieldbook for Making Connections, Teaching, and the Human Brain di Giuseppe Longo; Claude Dubar, La socialisation. Construction des identités sociales et professionelles di Elena Zambianchi; Marc Jeannerod, Motor Cognition. What actions tell the self di Patrizia Tortella; Massimo Baldacci, La dimensione emozionale del curricolo. L’educazione affettiva razionale nella scuola di Cristiano Chiuss