The role of the microvascular network structure on diffusion and consumption of anticancer drugs

We investigate the impact of microvascular geometry on the transport of drugs in solid tumors, focusing on the diffusion and consumption phenomena. We embrace recent advances in the asymptotic homogenization literature starting from a double Darcy—double advection-diffusion-reaction system of partial differential equations that is obtained exploiting the sharp length separation between the intercapillary distance and the average tumor size. The geometric information on the microvascular network is encoded into effective hydraulic conductivities and diffusivities, which are numerically computed by solving periodic cell problems on appropriate microscale representative cells. The coefficients are then injected into the macroscale equations, and these are solved for an isolated, vascularized spherical tumor. We consider the effect of vascular tortuosity on the transport of anticancer molecules, focusing on Vinblastine and Doxorubicin dynamics, which are considered as a tracer and as a highly interacting molecule, respectively. The computational model is able to quantify the treatment performance through the analysis of the interstitial drug concentration and the quantity of drug metabolized in the tumor. Our results show that both drug advection and diffusion are dramatically impaired by increasing geometrical complexity of the microvasculature, leading to nonoptimal absorption and delivery of therapeutic agents. However, this effect apparently has a minor role whenever the dynamics are mostly driven by metabolic reactions in the tumor interstitium, eg, for highly interacting molecules. In the latter case, anticancer therapies that aim at regularizing the microvasculature might not play a major role, and different strategies are to be developed

TWIN PREGNANCY AND THE BUILDING OF MOTHER-TWIN RELATIONSHIP

L’esperienza di aspettare e di essere genitore di due gemelli è innegabilmente diversa rispetto alla gravidanza alla genitorialità nel caso di un singolo bambino. La nascita gemellare è associata a conseguenze mediche, sanitarie, socio-emotive, psicologiche e dello sviluppo. Lo scopo di questo lavoro è stato quello di aggiungere conoscenze rispetto agli aspetti unici legati alla gravidanza gemellare e alla genitorialità. Ho esaminato il modo in cui le future mamme vivono la loro gravidanza e come le madri sperimentano l’essere genitori di due gemelli e come queste interagiscono con i loro bambini nel periodo post-partum. Per studiare meglio l'esperienza di aspettare e di essere madre di due gemelli, i risultati sono stati confrontati con la letteratura esistente e sono stati utilizzati diversi progetti di ricerca. È stata valutata la validità e le proprietà psicometriche della versione italiana del Baby Care Questionnaire; è stato valutato se l'esperienza unica di un gemello in attesa potesse influenzare negativamente l'attaccamento prenatale; è stato esplorato l'impatto della nascita gemellare sull'interazione madre-figlio nel primo periodo post-partum. Questa tesi ha stabilito che le madri di gemelli hanno esigenze particolari e affrontano sfide uniche. Le madri di gemelli sembrano essere meno adattate dal punto di vista psicologico alla loro gravidanza in termini di basso livello di attaccamento prenatale. Anche la costruzione di una relazione stretta e positiva potrebbe essere più difficile nel caso dei gemelli.The experience of expecting and parenting twins is undeniably different from that of a singleton pregnancy and parenthood. Twin births are associated with medical, health care, socio-emotional, psychological and developmental consequences. The aim of this work was to add knowledge concerning the unique aspects of expecting and parenting twins. I examined the way the mothers-to-be live their pregnancy as well as how mothers experience parenting twins and interact with their babies in the post-partum period. To better investigate the unique experience of expecting and parenting twins, results were compared with the existing literature and different research design were used. It was evaluated the validity and the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Baby Care Questionnaire; it was investigated if the unique experience of expecting twin may adversely affect prenatal attachment; it was explored the impact of twin birth on mother-child interaction in the early post-partum period. This thesis established that mothers of twins have unique needs and face unique challenges. Mothers of twins seems to be less psychological adjusted to their pregnancy in terms of lower level of prenatal attachment. Also the building of a close and positive relationship could be more difficult in the case of twins

The internet of toys

With the rapid expansion in ‘smart’, interconnected toys, what is being done to regulate, for example, the data they generate? Giovanna Mascheroni looks into some of the hopes and concerns surrounding the internet of toys. Giovanna is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Università Cattolica, Milan and visiting fellow in the Department of Media and Communications at the LSE. She part of the EU Kids Online research team and of the COST Action DigiLitEY

Going online in the Asia Pacific region: challenges for parents

Giovanna Mascheroni summarises the findings from a workshop on policies and initatives for children’s safe internet use, held in September 2015, and outlines the challenges faced by parents in the Asia Pacific region. Giovanna is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Università Cattolica, Milan and visiting fellow in the Department of Media and Communications at the LSE. She part of the EU Kids Online research team and of the COST Action DigiLitEY

Musei complici, patrimoni condivisi, cittadinanze plurime

Il museo, tradizionalmente riconosciuto come luogo principe di conservazione, in questo intervento diviene protagonista dell’incontro con i suoi “pubblici”: quello già raggiunto, -come i ragazzi delle scuole-, e il “non pubblico”, costituito da adulti, ragazzi non impegnati in percorsi scolastici, e cittadini di altre culture. L’impegno di insegnanti ed educatori si dovrebbe indirizzare verso l’”educazione al patrimonio”, vista come valore formativo integrato nella vita quotidiana, che si compie nel corso della vita della persona

Without You

Photograph of Eddie Fisherhttps://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/cht-sheet-music/6834/thumbnail.jp

Dogs catch human yawns

This study is the first to demonstrate that human yawns are possibly contagious to domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Twenty-nine dogs observed a human yawning or making control mouth movements. Twenty-one dogs yawned when they observed a human yawning, but control mouth movements did not elicit yawning from any of them. The presence of contagious yawning in dogs suggests that this phenomenon is not specific to primate species and may indicate that dogs possess the capacity for a rudimentary form of empathy. Since yawning is known to modulate the levels of arousal, yawn contagion may help coordinate dog–human interaction and communication. Understanding the mechanism as well as the function of contagious yawning between humans and dogs requires more detailed investigation

Perpetual contact as a communicative affordance: opportunities, constraints, and emotions

This paper draws on qualitative data collected as a part of a comparative study on children and teenagers’ uses of smartphones in nine European countries to explore the meanings and emotions associated with the enhanced possibility of “full-time” contact with peers provided by smartphones. It argues that full-time access to peers—which interviewees identify as the main consequence of smartphones and instant messaging apps on their interactions with friends—is a communicative affordance, that is, a set of socially constructed opportunities and constraints that frame possibilities of action by giving rise to a diversity of communicative practices, as well as contradictory feelings among young people: intimacy, proximity, security as well as anxiety, exclusion and obligation. Understanding the perceptions and emotions around the affordance of “anywhere, anytime” accessibility, therefore, helps in untangling how communicative affordances are individually perceived but also, and more importantly, socially appropriated, negotiated, legitimised, and institutionalised

The mobile internet: access, use, opportunities and divides among European children

Based on data collected through the Net Children Go Mobile survey of approximately 3500 respondents aged 9–16 years in seven European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania and the United Kingdom), this article examines the diffusion of smartphones among children and contributes to existing research on mobile digital divides by investigating what influences the adoption of smartphones among children and whether going online from a smartphone is associated with specific usage patterns, thus bridging or widening usage gaps. The findings suggest the resilience of digital inequalities among children, showing how social inequalities intersect with divides in access and result in disparities in online activities, with children who benefit from a greater autonomy of use and a longer online experience also reaching the top of the ladder of opportunities

Twisted Toys exposes how children’s data are exploited and their rights systematically violated online

“Welcome to the World of Twisted ToysTM, a wonderland of excitement, experiences and exploitation. We pride ourselves on making toys that are addictive, risky and put you completely under our control”. The claim that welcomes users on the website is intentionally creepy: Twisted Toys is not the latest collection of digital gadgets for kids. Rather, it is a campaign launched by the 5Rights Foundation to expose the surveillance, exploitation and risks of the digital world for children. For www.parenting.digital, Giovanna Mascheroni and Andra Siibak discuss how poor design, aggressive marketing strategies, and greedy datafication compromise children’s online experiences, agency and rights