UrbanDig Project: sport practices and artistic interventions for co-creating urban space

The 'UrbanDig Project' has been created by the non-for-profit organisation Ohi Paizoume, based in Athens, Greece. Behind the project lies the motivation to tackle the need for civic engagement and interaction with the urban space (either open/public spaces or private buildings), while suggesting that this cannot be a sterilized process but an ongoing, continuously unfinished “reporting from the front” of the (un-)measurable, the (in-)visible, the (un-)real. The organisation puts at the heart of its work the creation of site-specific content that forms the foundation of community programs researching the cultural capital of a neighbourhood, bringing people from various ages, backgrounds and disciplines (including arts and sport) together. Although primarily an arts-based practice, sport is among the key methodological tools used in the research and civic engagement process, while there is a strong sports-related component in the site specific performances that take place at the end of each project as a means of celebration of the collective effort and the creation of new/ enhanced narratives for each neighbourhood’s storytelling. In this paper we aim to elaborate how sport and arts can sharply intervene and contribute to co-producing urban space and wellbeing. To illustrate these points, we are using the example of Urban Dig Project, Xouthou Street, an intervention in the urban space of Greece

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES IN PANDEMIC TIMES: PRELIMINARY UNDERSTANDINGS

The paper focuses on cultural and creative industries in the Covid-19 times, trying to represent the main challenges the sector is facing in an overall framework of understanding. The research is based on a meta-analysis of secondary data and information collected throughout an external online desk research in the period from the end of March 2020 and the end of August 2020, with the aim to offer a review of the main issues affecting the survival of the sector, as they emerge from the scientific community debate and from the point of view of most International networks operating in the cultural and creative sectors across Europe

Nasal inflammation in sleep apnoea patients using CPAP and effect of heated humidification

Nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) can cause undesirable nasal symptoms, such as congestion to obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) patients, whose symptoms can be attenuated by the addition of heated humidification. However, neither the nature of nasal symptoms nor the effect of heated humidification on nasal pathophysiology and pathology are convincingly known. 20 patients with OSA on nasal CPAP who exhibited symptomatic nasal obstruction were randomised to receive either 3 weeks of CPAP treatment with heated humidification or 3 weeks of CPAP treatment with sham-heated humidification, followed by 3 weeks of the opposite treatment, respectively. Nasal symptom score, nasal resistance, nasal lavage interleukin-6, interleukin-12 and tumour necrosis factor-alpha and nasal mucosa histopathology were assessed at baseline and after each treatment arm. Heated humidification in comparison with sham-heated humidification was associated with decrease in nasal symptomatology, resistance and lavage cytokines, and attenuation of inflammatory cell infiltration and fibrosis of the nasal mucosa. In conclusion, nasal obstruction of OSA patients on CPAP treatment is inflammatory in origin and the addition of heated humidification decreases nasal resistance and mucosal inflammation

Protective role of oral antioxidant supplementation in ocular surface of diabetic patients

Aim: To investigate the effect of vitamin C and E supplementation in the levels of nitrite, nitric oxide (NO) related metabolite, and ocular surface parameters in diabetic patients. Methods: 50 patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus were given vitamin C (1000 mg/day) and vitamin E (400 IU/day) supplementation for 10 days. Nitrite levels in tears were measured by photometric determination before and after vitamin supplementation. Tear function parameters (Schirmer test I, BUT, ocular ferning test) and brush cytology analysis of the conjunctival epithelium were also evaluated. Results: Nitrite levels were found to be significantly reduced (p<0.05) after 10 days of vitamin C and E supplementation, improved values for Schirmer test, BUT test, and ocular ferning test were also found. Goblet cell density and grading of squamous metaplasia showed a significant improvement. Conclusions: Oxidative stress and free radical production are elevated in diabetes mellitus. Antioxidants, such as vitamin C and vitamin E, probably have an important role in reducing the oxidative damage produced by nitric oxide and other free radicals and improving the ocular surface milieu

Tiotropium bromide exerts anti-inflammatory effects during resistive breathing, an experimental model of severe airway obstruction

Dimitrios Toumpanakis,1,2 Konstantinos Loverdos,1,2 Vassiliki Tzouda,1,2 Vyronia Vassilakopoulou,1,2 Eleni Litsiou,1,2 Christina Magkou,3 Vassiliki Karavana,1,2 Michael Pieper,4 Theodoros Vassilakopoulos1,2 1First Critical Care Department, Pulmonary Unit, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Evangelismos General Hospital, 2George P. Livanos and Marianthi Simou Laboratories, Thorax Foundation, 3Department of Pathology, Evangelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece; 4Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG Div. Research Germany, Biberach, Germany Introduction: Resistive breathing (RB), a hallmark of obstructive airway diseases, is characterized by strenuous contractions of the inspiratory muscles that impose increased mechanical stress on the lung. RB is shown to induce pulmonary inflammation in previous healthy animals. Tiotropium bromide, an anticholinergic bronchodilator, is also shown to exert anti-inflammatory effects. The effect of tiotropium on RB-induced pulmonary inflammation is unknown.Methods: Adult rats were anesthetized, tracheostomized and breathed spontaneously through a two-way non-rebreathing valve. Resistances were connected to the inspiratory and/or expiratory port, to produce inspiratory resistive breathing (IRB) of 40% or 50% Pi/Pi,max (40% and 50% IRB), expiratory resistive breathing (ERB) of 60% Pe/Pe,max (60% ERB) or combined resistive breathing (CRB) of both 40% Pi/Pi,max and 60% Pe/Pe,max (40%/60% CRB). Tiotropium aerosol was inhaled prior to RB. After 6 h of RB, mechanical parameters of the respiratory system were measured and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed. IL-1β and IL-6 protein levels were measured in lung tissue. Lung injury was estimated histologically.Results: In all, 40% and 50% IRB increased macrophage and neutrophil counts in BAL and raised IL-1β and IL-6 lung levels, tissue elasticity, BAL total protein levels and lung injury score. Tiotropium attenuated BAL neutrophil number, IL-1β, IL-6 levels and lung injury score increase at both 40% and 50% IRB. The increase in macrophage count and protein in BAL was only reversed at 40% IRB, while tissue elasticity was not affected. In all, 60% ERB raised BAL neutrophil count and total protein and reduced macrophage count. IL-1β and IL-6 levels and lung injury score were increased. Tiotropium attenuated these alterations, except for the decrease in macrophage count and the increase in total protein level. In all, 40%/60% CRB increased macrophage and neutrophil count in BAL, IL-1β and IL-6 levels, tissue elasticity, total protein in BAL and histological injury score. Tiotropium attenuated the aforementioned alterations.Conclusion: Tiotropium inhalation attenuates RB-induced pulmonary inflammation. Keywords: resistive breathing, inflammation, tiotropium bromid

Increased STAT1 signaling in endocrine-resistant breast cancer

Funding: China Scholarship Council, University of Edinburgh, Scottish Funding Council and Breakthrough Breast Cancer.Proteomic profiling of the estrogen/tamoxifen-sensitive MCF-7 cell line and its partially sensitive (MCF-7/LCC1) and fully resistant (MCF-7/LCC9) variants was performed to identify modifiers of endocrine sensitivity in breast cancer. Analysis of the expression of 120 paired phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated epitopes in key oncogenic and tumor suppressor pathways revealed that STAT1 and several phosphorylated epitopes (phospho-STAT1(Tyr701) and phospho-STAT3(Ser727)) were differentially expressed between endocrine resistant and parental controls, confirmed by qRT-PCR and western blotting. The STAT1 inhibitor EGCG was a more effective inhibitor of the endocrine resistant MCF-7/LCC1 and MCF-7/LCC9 lines than parental MCF-7 cells, while STAT3 inhibitors Stattic and WP1066 were equally effective in endocrine-resistant and parental lines. The effects of the STAT inhibitors were additive, rather than synergistic, when tested in combination with tamoxifen in vitro. Expression of STAT1 and STAT3 were measured by quantitative immunofluorescence in invasive breast cancers and matched lymph nodes. When lymph node expression was compared to its paired primary breast cancer expression, there was greater expression of cytoplasmic STAT1 (∼3.1 fold), phospho-STAT3(Ser727) (∼1.8 fold), and STAT5 (∼1.5 fold) and nuclear phospho-STAT3(Ser727) (∼1.5 fold) in the nodes. Expression levels of STAT1 and STAT3 transcript were analysed in 550 breast cancers from publicly available gene expression datasets (GSE2990, GSE12093, GSE6532). When treatment with tamoxifen was considered, STAT1 gene expression was nearly predictive of distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS, log-rank p = 0.067), while STAT3 gene expression was predictive of DMFS (log-rank p<0.0001). Analysis of STAT1 and STAT3 protein expression in a series of 546 breast cancers also indicated that high expression of STAT3 protein was associated with improved survival (DMFS, p = 0.006). These results suggest that STAT signaling is important in endocrine resistance, and that STAT inhibitors may represent potential therapies in breast cancer, even in the resistant setting.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe