Basal ganglia stroke due to mild head trauma in pediatric age - clinical and therapeutic management: a case report and 10 year literature review

Ischemia of the basal ganglia as an immediate consequence of minor head injury in children is rare (< 2% of all ischemic stroke in childhood) and is due to vasospasm of the lenticulostriate arteries. The clinical history of these lesions is particularly favourable because they are usually small, and also because the facial-brachial-crural hemiparesis typical of this pathology usually regresses after a period ranging from several weeks to several months, despite the persistence of an ischemic area on MRI. This is due to the well known neuronal plasticity of the CNS, in particular, of the primary motor cortex. The most effective therapeutic approach appears to be the conservative one, although the best treatment regimen is still not well defined

Alcune storie di biotecnologia

Questo saggio intende delineare una storia delle biotecnologie, una conoscenza per molti aspetti antica che tuttavia negli ultimi decenni del Secolo Ventesimo ha vissuto un incredibile sviluppo scientifico, intersecando ambiti differenti e culturalmente distanti, da quello etico e bioetico a quello tecnico e tecnologico. L’articolo è introdotto da una breve ricognizione tesa a collocare le biotecnologie all’interno del concetto di “natura” per poi affrontare, seguendo un criterio cronologico, un’analisi delle tappe più importanti che ne hanno contraddistinto la storia. Una parte considerevole di questo lavoro è stata dedicata agli avvenimenti che hanno scandito il successo delle biotecnologie nel settore farmaceutico

Activity of Tagetes minuta Linnaeus (Asteraceae) essential oil against L3 Anisakis larvae type 1

Abstract Objective To evaluate in vitro effects of Tagetes minuta L. essential oil (TEO) on L3 Anisakis larvae type 1. Methods In order to evaluate the potential use of Tagetes minuta essential oil against L3 Anisakis larvae three different media were tested: 1) a saline solution (SS); 2) an industrial marinating solution (MS); 3) sunflower seeds oil (SO). For each media and concentrations of TEO (0.1%, 0.5%, 1.0% and 5.0% v/v), 20 parasites were introduced into plastic Petri dishes (diameter 90 mm) and maintained at room temperature. As controls, larvae were maintained without TEO under identical experimental conditions in SS, MS and SO. A total of 900 larvae were tested. The normalized mean viability, LT100, LT50 and the percentage of inactivation at 24 h were calculated. Results In vitro tests revealed a complete inactivation of parasites in saline solution after 2 h with 5% and 1% of TEO. In marinating solution, a complete inactivation of parasites was observed after 4 h at all concentrations used. A slower activity for all TEO concentration was reported in SO. Conclusions The results obtained, showing a strong activity against Anisakis larvae, confirm TEO as a larvicidal agent in the treatment of human anisakidosis and in the industrial marinating process

Tracciare un’edizione critica digitale. L’esperienza del progetto PhiBor

Over time, Digital Humanities have increasingly proven a powerful link between humanities and computer science. However, the internal debate within DH still leaves out the role that Project Management should play in defining models, methodologies and tools which are used in humanistic research. Despite the recognition of the important role of the project by scolars in the field, the project management is often ignored. This article aims to bring to light its contribution by taking into account each of the issues, starting from the experience of the PhiBor project. Managing the PhiBor project has highlighted some of the benefits resulting from project management techniques. These include activitiy tracking which can lead to the development of humanistic research and, in particular, the creation of a scholarly digital edition. These benefits concern both the definition of methodologies to be followed and the identification of variables and critical issues that influence the research.Le Digital Humanities hanno maturato con il tempo una forte consapevolezza del ruolo che in esse gioca il rapporto tra discipline umanistiche e ricerca informatica. Il dibattito interno all’ambito delle DH, però, ancora trascura il ruolo che dovrebbe avere il Project Mangement nella definizione di modelli, metodologie e strumenti utilizzati nelle ricerche umanistiche. Una simile mancanza si manifesta nonostante da più parti si sottolinei la centralità della dimensione del progetto che le caratterizza. Questo articolo vuole portare un proprio contributo alla riflessione su questi temi e lo fa a partire dall’esperienza del progetto PhiBor. La gestione del progetto ha messo in rilievo i benefici che alcune tecniche di project management, come il tracciamento delle attività, possono portare allo sviluppo della ricerca umanistica e, in particolare, alla creazione di un’edizione critica digitale. Tali benefici si riversano sia sulla definizione delle metodologie da seguire sia sull’individuazione di variabili e criticità che influenzano il lavoro di ricerca

CEED: a Cooperative Web-Based Editor for Critical Editions

In this paper some of the results of the ERC Advanced Project PhiBor project are presented. PhiBor\u2019s main objectives are to produce a comprehensive inventory of manuscripts of Avicenna\u2019s Il\u101hiyy\u101t, his main work on metaphysics, and to create on their basis a TEI P5 compliant digital critical edition. In order to permit scholars with little or no technical skills to produce a digital edition, we are developing CEED: a web-based critical edition editor. The main goal of CEED is to provide a user-friendly editor that lets scholars perform their work without requiring the acquisition of technical skills. The editor produces TEI P5 digital editions by leveraging the well known word processor approach. CEED environment is also meant to ease cooperation between scholars, since a project can be shared by several different contributor

Interactive simulation of realistic flexible and tearable membrane using virtual reality and haptic force-feedback interface

The paper deals with the description of a methodology for addressing the real-time simulation of a soft membrane that can be deformed and torn by the interactive two-way action of the user. The methodology makes use of the combination of an efficient real-time solver, a haptic interface with force feedback and it is implemented in a virtual reality environment in order to achieve a very high level of immersion. The elastic properties of the membrane and the corresponding haptic feedback are modelled using an accurate structural model based on a flexible-rigid (f-rigid) multibody model. Thef-rigid approach is a trade-off between the accuracy of a full finite element model and the computational efficiency of a multibody model able to be solved using high efficiency sequential impulse solver. Thef-rigid model is verified by dedicated experimental tests about nonlinear deformation and rupture. The proposed methodology can be the base of the development of interactive training environments, ergonomic and usability studies and for the assessment and optimization of product design

Between Harmonization and Peculiarities of the Scientific Domains: Digitizing the epigraphic heritage of pre-Islamic Arabia in the project DASI

DASI is an ERC-Advanced Grant project aimed at digitizing the pre-Islamic inscriptions from Arabia and fostering best practices for the digitization of the epigraphic heritage related to Semitic languages. This paper describes the content model, the standards chosen, and exemplifies the vocabularies in view of a possible harmonization of data pertaining to the specific domain. The architecture of the system and the tools for encoding and retrieving textual content are also illustrated

Between harmonization and peculiarities of scientific domains : Digitizing the epigraphic heritage of pre-Islamic Arabia in the project DASI

DASI is an ERC-Advanced Grant project aimed at digitizing the pre-Islamic inscriptions from Arabia and fostering best practices for the digitiza-tion of the epigraphic heritage related to Semitic languages. This paper de-scribes the content model, the standards chosen, and exemplifies the vocabu-laries in view of a possible harmonization of data pertaining to the specific domain. The architecture of the system and the tools for encoding and retrieving textual content are also illustrate

Is Still Arabia at the margins of digital Epigraphy? Challenges in the digitization of the pre-Islamic inscriptions in the project DASI

DASI - Digital Archive for the Study of pre-Islamic Arabian Inscriptions, is an ERC Advanced Grant project (2011-2016) of the University of Pisa, in collaboration with Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, that aims at getting the Whole corpus of ancient Arabian inscriptions inventoried and digitized, to enhance historic and cultural knowledge of Ancient Arabia and strengthen the linguistic study of texts