The specificity of B-cell response in multiple sclerosis

PhDOne of the pathological features of multiple sclerosis (MS) is the presence of a long lived chronic inflammation in the central nervous system (CNS) with presence of oligoclonal IgG and IgM bands (OCBs) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) derived from clonally expanded B cells. In my PhD I have tested the hypothesis that the intrathecal B cells response is antigen driven and screened putative candidate antigenic epitopes. Materials and methods: Brain tissues were supplied from The UK Multiple Sclerosis Tissue Bank. Total RNA was extracted from the brain tissues from 14 patients with MS after homogenization of the snap frozen blocks and cDNA obtained. VH and VL fragments were amplified from IgM and IgG and cloned in an in house vector to build a phage display single chain fragment variable (scFv) antibody library. The library was used to analyse the VH and VL usage, somatic mutation and clonal expansion in the MS brain and to select for scFv specific to putative autoantigens candidates. Results and discussion: Two libraries of VH only and VH plus VL gene segments from MS brain’s B cells were built. The sequences analysis has revealed a biased usage of VH and VL and evidence of clonal expansion thus supporting an antigen driven response. The auto-antigen candidates chosen for screening the libraries were the myelin basic protein (MBP)-proteolipid protein (PLP) fusion protein MP4 and specific binders were selected as highlighted with monoclonal phage ELISA. Conclusion: A MS disease specific phage display antibody library was built to facilitate the analysis of the disease specific V gene usage in the MS brain. Selection using this library has provided a proof of concept that this library is functional. The library will be used in the future to identify human antibody fragments against candidate autoantigens either for diagnostic or therapeutic applications

Measuring the neutrino mass from future wide galaxy cluster catalogues

We present forecast errors on a wide range of cosmological parameters obtained from a photometric cluster catalogue of a future wide-field Euclid-like survey. We focus in particular on the total neutrino mass as constrained by a combination of the galaxy cluster number counts and correlation function. For the latter we consider only the shape information and the Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO), while marginalising over the spectral amplitude and the redshift space distortions. In addition to the cosmological parameters of the standard LCDM+nu model we also consider a non-vanishing curvature, and two parameters describing a redshift evolution for the dark energy equation of state. For completeness, we also marginalise over a set of "nuisance" parameters, representing the uncertainties on the cluster mass determination. We find that combining cluster counts with power spectrum information greatly improves the constraining power of each probe taken individually, with errors on cosmological parameters being reduced by up to an order of magnitude. In particular, the best improvements are for the parameters defining the dynamical evolution of dark energy, where cluster counts break degeneracies. Moreover, the resulting error on neutrino mass is at the level of \sigma(M_\nu)\sim 0.9 eV, comparable with that derived from present Ly-alpha forest measurements and Cosmic Microwave background (CMB) data in the framework of a non-flat Universe. Further adopting Planck priors and reducing the number of free parameters to a LCDM+nu cosmology allows to place constraints on the total neutrino mass of \sigma(M_\nu) \sim 0.08 eV, close to the lower bound enforced by neutrino oscillation experiments. [abridged]Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, matches the JCAP accepted versio

La censura cinematografica nel cinema documentario. I "mondo movie" e il filone africano, alcuni casi di studio.

In the present essay, I will investigate the role of censorship in Italian Mondo films made in the 1960s and 1970s, such as Africa addio (1966, Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi), Africa segreta (1969, Angelo Castiglioni, Alfredo Castiglioni, Guido Guerrasio), Africa ama (1971, Angelo Castiglioni, Alfredo Castiglioni, Guido Guerrasio). In particular, I will focus my analysis on the works made by Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni with Guido Guerrasio. In addition to their relationship with censorship boards, their film – despite some similarities with Mondo genre – demonstrates the attempt to elaborate a different project in the subgenre dedicated to the African continent

Manuale di Chirurgia Generale

Dal continuo lavoro del corpo docenti dell’Accademia Italiana Medici Specializzandi (AIMS) nasce questa sesta edizione del Manuale di Chirurgia Generale - Sesta Edizione 2020. Si tratta di un testo specificamente pensato per la preparazione del laureato in Medicina e Chirurgia affinché possa affrontare efficacemente il nuovo Concorso delle Scuole di Specializzazione Mediche: è una risorsa schematica, sintetica e aggiornata in base alle più recenti linee guida che consente uno studio rapido della disciplina. La trattazione semplice ma, al tempo stesso, rigorosa, stimola la capacità di ragionamento clinico del giovane medico che ne affronta lo studio e rende quest’opera un strumento valido, unico nel suo genere e complementare alla preparazione del corso di preparazione AIMS. L’intera Opera è corredata da una grande varietà di immagini e schemi, pensati per facilitare la comprensione e la memorizzazione degli argomenti trattati

Manuale di Neurologia e Neurochirurgia

Dal continuo lavoro del corpo docenti dell’Accademia Italiana Medici Specializzandi (AIMS) nasce questa nuova edizione del manuale di Neurologia e Neurochirurgia - Settima Edizione 2021.Si tratta di un testo specificamente pensato per la preparazione del laureato in Medicina e Chirurgia affinché possa affrontare efficacemente il nuovo Concorso delle Scuole di Specializzazione Mediche: è una risorsa schematica, sintetica e aggiornata in base alle più recenti linee guida che consente uno studio rapido della disciplina.La trattazione semplice ma, al tempo stesso, rigorosa, stimola la capacità di ragionamento clinico del giovane medico che ne affronta lo studio e rende quest’opera un strumento valido, unico nel suo genere e complementare alla preparazione del corso di preparazione AIMS.L’intera Opera è corredata da una grande varietà di immagini e schemi, pensati per facilitare la comprensione e la memorizzazione degli argomenti trattati