Network Based Educational Environment: How Libraries and Librarians Become Organizers of Knowledge Access and Resources

In this paper we will highlight some important issues which will influence the redefinition of roles and duties of libraries and librarians in a networked based educational environment. Although librarians will also keep their traditional roles of faculty support services as well as reference service and research assistance, we identify the participation in the instructional design process, the support in the evaluation, development and use of a proper authoring system and the customization of information access, as being the domains where libraries and librarians should mainly involve themselves in the next future and make profit of their expertise in information and knowledge organization in order to properly and effectively support the institutions in the use of Information Technology in education

Local cone approximations in mathematical programming

We show how to use intensively local cone approximations to obtain results in some fields of optimization theory as optimality conditions, constraint qualifications, mean value theorems and error bound

2-D spatial distribution of rainfall rate through combined use of radar reflectivity and rain gauge data

International audienceThis paper describes and comments the results obtained applying a data processing method to a joint set of radar and a rain gauge data for estimating the 2-D rainfall field at ground averaged over a given observation time T and over a radar coverage area that includes a rain gauge network. The estimate of the rainfall field is based on the processing of a data set composed by rain gauge and horizontal reflectivity radar data gathered during a rainfall phenomenon. The procedure has been tested on an experimental data set collected in Tuscany in 1999

Effect of a cognitive training program on the platelet app ratio in patients with alzheimer’s disease

In patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), synaptic plasticity seems to be involved in cognitive improvement induced by cognitive training. The platelet amyloid precursor protein (APP) ratio (APPr), i.e., the ratio between two APP isoforms, may be a useful peripheral biomarker to investigate synaptic plasticity pathways. This study evaluates the changes in neuropsychological/cognitive performance and APPr induced by cognitive training in AD patients participating in the “My Mind Project”. Neuropsychological/cognitive variables and APPr were evaluated in the trained group (n = 28) before a two-month experimental protocol, immediately after its termination at follow-up 1 (FU1), after 6 months at follow-up 2 (FU2), and after 24 months at follow-up 3 (FU3). The control group (n = 31) received general psychoeducational training for two months. Some memory and attention parameters were significantly improved in trained vs. control patients at FU1 and FU2 compared to baseline (∆ values). At FU3, APPr and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores decreased in trained patients. ∆ APPr correlated significantly with the ∆ scores of (i) MMSE at FU1, (ii) the prose memory test at FU2, and (iii) Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), the semantic word fluency test, Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), and the attentive matrices test at FU3. Our data demonstrate that the platelet APPr correlates with key clinical variables, thereby proving that it may be a reliable biomarker of brain function in AD patients

Hydrometallurgical Molybdenum Recovery from Spent Catalyst Using Tartaric Acid Derived from Agrifood Waste

In this study, a green and sustainable hydrometallurgical process, based on soft acid derived from agrifood waste as a byproduct, is used to recover molybdenum from selective spent oxidation catalysts for formaldehyde production. Tartaric acid recovered from winery waste is used as a leaching and chelating agent. The spent catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy. The last term was also used to study the leaching efficiency. Under optimized conditions, a molybdenum recovery of 87.36% +/- 2.94 wt % was achieved: 1.3 M tartaric acid, 75 g/L solid-liquid ratio, and 60 min at 25 degrees C. Moreover, the leaching kinetics were also investigated using the shrinking core model, which is correlated to each step of the leaching process, including chemical reaction, product layer diffusion, and film diffusion control. The step that exhibits the best agreement with the experimental kinetic data is considered as the rate-controlling step. The proposed hydrometallurgical process was found to be simple, efficient, and environmentally friendly. Using agrifood wastes, it becomes possible to process industrial waste to recover and reintegrate expensive metals for an efficient circular economy

Abiraterone acetate in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer after chemotherapy. A retrospective “Real Life” analysis of activity and safety

Abiraterone acetate (AA) is a potent, selective androge (CYP17) biosynthesis inhibitor, which showed to improve overall survival (HR = 0.646) in mCRPC patients progressing after docetaxel. In this retrospective analysis we assessed the safety and efficacy of AA in patients affected with mCRPC progressing after chemotherapy, treated in the normal clinical practice, in several Italian Oncologic Units, after the approval of the drug from the Italian Drug Agency (AIFA)

Immunoproteasomes largely replace constitutive proteasomes during an antiviral and antibacterial immune response in the liver

The proteasome is critically involved in the production of MHC class I-restricted T cell epitopes. Proteasome activity and epitope production are altered by IFN-gamma treatment, which leads to a gradual replacement of constitutive proteasomes by immunoproteasomes in vitro. However, a quantitative analysis of changes in the steady state subunit composition of proteasomes during an immune response against viruses or bacteria in vivo has not been reported. Here we show that the infection of mice with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus or Listeria monocytogenes leads to an almost complete replacement of constitutive proteasomes by immunoproteasomes in the liver within 7 days. Proteasome replacements were markedly reduced in IFN-gamma(-/-) mice, but were only slightly affected in IFN-alphaR(-/-) and perforin(-/-) mice. The proteasome regulator PA28alpha/beta was up-regulated, whereas PA28gamma was reduced in the liver of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus-infected mice. Proteasome replacements in the liver strongly altered proteasome activity and were unexpected to this extent, since an in vivo half-life of 12 days had been previously assigned to constitutive proteasomes in the liver. Our results suggest that during the peak phase of viral and bacterial elimination the antiviral cytotoxic T lymphocyte response is directed mainly to immunoproteasome-dependent T cell epitopes, which would be a novel parameter for the design of vaccines