NEMO-SN1 Abyssal Cabled Observatory in the Western Ionian Sea

The NEutrinoMediterranean Observatory—Submarine Network 1 (NEMO-SN1) seafloor observatory is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, Western Ionian Sea, off Eastern Sicily (Southern Italy) at 2100-m water depth, 25 km from the harbor of the city of Catania. It is a prototype of a cabled deep-sea multiparameter observatory and the first one operating with real-time data transmission in Europe since 2005. NEMO-SN1 is also the first-established node of the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatory (EMSO), one of the incoming European large-scale research infrastructures included in the Roadmap of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) since 2006. EMSO will specifically address long-term monitoring of environmental processes related to marine ecosystems, marine mammals, climate change, and geohazards

The categories collapse, knowledge is mobile: dislocations between Design and Anthropology

Con la consapevolezza che l’agire umano si compie all’interno di sistemi complessi e che anzi, gli uomini stessi sono sistemi complessi, gli apparati della conoscenza e le strutture disciplinari si trovano a confrontarsi con problemi nuovi che costringono ad abbandonare le consapevolezze consolidate e le teorie mono- litiche. Ne emerge una “anti-disciplina” metodologica che attraversa i concetti e i paradigmi disciplinari, per interpretare una realtà in continuo movimento e in cui le differenze possono assumere un valore per l’evoluzione dei saperi stessi. In questo periodo constatiamo il collasso delle categorie storiche, delle scale operative, come dei saperi disciplinari di una conoscenza che si rivela sempre più mobile e veloce, il design sviluppa un modo ibrido di indagare la realtà e di guardare al di fuori di sé stesso. Il saggio tiene insieme le riflessioni di due design researchers ed un antropologo della comunicazione in un tentativo sperimentale di sfidare la logica lineare del saggio disciplinare, per evidenziare le componenti dissonanti e i diversi costrutti interpretativi, in una logica di spaesamento epistemologico. Il funerale Bialetti racconta questo corto circuito in cui prodotto, produttore e performance comunicativa si uniscono tra organico e inorganico. Se da una parte l’antropologo costruisce il progetto di ricerca sul campo come un processo di design e si concentra sulla realtà artificiale che emerge al di là delle persone, unendo creativamente meta-fe- ticismo e progetto nel concetto di fisiognomica, dall’altra il design si inserisce nelle trame sociali e culturali con le forme artificiali che si estendono alla funzione del servizio e del processo, sviluppando un territorio di conoscenza aperto. La moltiplicazione dei prodotti contemporanei, che includono caratteristiche materiali e sociali complesse, implica una sfida ai saperi “scalari” sviluppati nella storia attraverso le diverse scale operative: ad ognuno un ambito, dal più piccolo al più grande. Il progetto assume su di sé il ruolo strategico di gestione della complessità, concentrandosi sull’affinamento dei processi e degli apparati strumentali della conoscenza che, come avviene per il design thinking, vengono adottati in ambiti e settori molto distanti.With the awareness that human action takes place within complex systems and that indeed women and men are complex systems themselves, the apparatuses of knowledge and disciplinary struc- tures find themselves facing new problems that force them to leave the consolidated awareness and the monolithic theories. The result is a methodological “anti-discipline” that crosses disciplinary concepts and paradigms, to translate a constantly changing reality and in which differences can take on a value for the evolution of knowledge itself. If on the one hand we see the collapse of historical categories, operational scales, as well as the disciplinary knowledge that appears increasingly mobile and fast, design develops a hybrid way of investigating reality and looking outside of itself. The following essay brings together the reflections of two design researchers and a communication anthropologist in an experimental attempt to challenge the linear logic of disciplinary writing, in order to highlight the dissonant factors and the different interpretative constructs, in a logic of epistemological disorientation. The Bialetti funeral tells of such short circuit in which product, producer and communicative performance come together between the organic and the inorganic domain. While on the one hand, the anthropolo- gist constructs the field research project as a design process and he focuses on the artificial reality that emerges beyond people, crea- tively combining meta-fetishism and design through the concept of physiognomy, on the other hand design fits into the social and cultural plots with artificial forms that extend to the function of service and process, developing an open field of knowledge. The multiplication of contemporary products, which include complex material and social features, implies a challenge to the “scalar” knowledge developed in history through the different operational scales: to each one a field, from the smallest to the largest. The project takes the strategic role of managing complexity, focusing on the innovation of processes and instrumental equip- ment, to knowledge which, as is the case of design thinking, are adopted in disparate fields and sectors

Childhood trauma and glucose metabolism in patients with first-episode psychosis

Although the associations between first-episode psychosis (FEP) and metabolic abnormalities on one side, and childhood trauma (CT) and risk of developing psychosis on the other are both well established, evidence on the relationship between CT and metabolic dysregulation in terms of abnormal glucose metabolism is very limited. We tested whether, already at illness onset, FEP patients with a history of CT show dysregulation of a broad range of glucose metabolism markers. In particular, in 148 FEP patients we evaluated serum concentrations of c-peptide, insulin, plasminogen-activator-inhibitor–1 (PAI-1), resistin, visfatin, glucagon, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), gastric-inhibitor-peptide (GIP), leptin, and ghrelin. We also assessed CT with the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire, and stressful life events (SLEs) with a semi-structured interview. Psychopathology, cannabis and tobacco habits, Body Mass Index (BMI) were recorded. Serum concentrations of markers were analyzed from peripheral blood. Ninety-five patients (56 % males, mean age 29.5) reported CT. Multivariate models showed that CT is associated only with the concentrations of c-peptide and insulin after adjusting for age, sex, BMI and SLEs. FEP patients who had experienced CT showed higher c-peptide and insulin serum concentrations. Our study reports that CT might be associated with the metabolic abnormalities in the first stage of psychosis, suggesting that a thorough anamnestic evaluation at psychosis onset that would include the history of CT could be helpful for clinicians in order to implement early programmes of healthy lifestyle education and to guide choice of therapeutic interventions for trauma

Le concessioni di lavori e di servizi (Cap. VII)

Il contributo concerne la disciplina delle concessioni di lavori e servizi contenuta nel nuovo codice dei contratti (d.lgs. n. 50 del 2016) alla luce della direttiva n. 2014/23/UE. In particolare si è approfondito l'oggetto e l'ambito di applicazione delle concessioni, le procedure di aggiudicazione e di affidamento delle concessioni , il subappalto e la possibilità di modificare i contratti in corso, il riparto di giurisdizione.This contribution relates to the rules on works concessions and services contained in the new contract code (Legislative Decree No 50 of 2016) in the light of Directive No. 2014/23 / EU. In particular, the scope of the concessions, the procedures for the award and the granting of concessions, the subcontracting and the possibility of modifying existing contracts, the division of jurisdiction, have been examined

Identification of an inflammation-associated psychosis onset subgroup by applying unsupervised machine learning to whole-blood expression levels of immune gene transcripts

Nowadays, the lack of quantitative criteria to resolve the diagnostic heterogeneity of psychotic onsets limits the development of safer and more effective treatments. Therefore, the hypothesis to integrate multimodal data to uncover biological subtypes of psychosis has risen [1,2]. Here we explored the existence of subgroups of patients affected by first episode psychosis (FEP) with a possible immunopathogenic basis.To do this, we designed a computational model that use unsupervised machine learning to cluster a sample of 127 FEP patients and 117 healthy controls (HC), based on the peripheral blood concentrations of 12 immune gene transcripts which demonstrated to classify with high accuracy between FEP patients and healthy subjects in a previous study [3]. To validate the model, we applied a resampling strategy based on the half-splitting of the total sample. Further, we tested the correlation between the subgroups and clinical, neuropsychological and brain structural variables.In both the discovery and validation samples, the model identified a FEP cluster characterized by the high expression of inflammatory and immune-activating genes (IL1b, CCR7 and IL12a) and of a single immune counterregulatory gene (CCR3)[4] and a further cluster consisting of equal number of FEP and HC subjects, which did not show a relative over or under expression of any immune marker (balanced subgroup). Also, none of the subgroups were related to specific symptoms dimensions or longitudinal diagnosis. FEP patients included in the balanced immune subgroup showed a reduced left hippocampal volume and a left supramarginal and lateroccipital cortexes’ thinning. These correlations seem to support an opposite pattern in the correspondent brain area of the inflammatory subgroup [5].Our results demonstrated the existence of a FEP patients’ subgroup that present a prominent activation of the inflammatory response. This evidence may pave the way to sample stratification in future trials aiming to develop personalized diagnostic tools and therapies targeting specific immunopathogenic pathways of psychosis onsets

A machine learning approach on whole blood immunomarkers to identify an inflammation-associated psychosis onset subgroup.

Psychosis onset is a transdiagnostic event that leads to a range of psychiatric disorders, which are currently diagnosed through clinical observation. The integration of multimodal biological data could reveal different subtypes of psychosis onset to target for the personalization of care. In this study, we tested the existence of subgroups of patients affected by first-episode psychosis (FEP) with a possible immunopathogenic basis. To do this, we designed a data-driven unsupervised machine learning model to cluster a sample of 127 FEP patients and 117 healthy controls (HC), based on the peripheral blood expression levels of 12 psychosis-related immune gene transcripts. To validate the model, we applied a resampling strategy based on the half-splitting of the total sample with random allocation of the cases. Further, we performed a post-hoc univariate analysis to verify the clinical, cognitive, and structural brain correlates of the subgroups identified. The model identified and validated two distinct clusters: 1) a FEP cluster characterized by the high expression of inflammatory and immune-activating genes (IL1B, CCR7, IL12A and CXCR3); 2) a cluster consisting of an equal number of FEP and HC subjects, which did not show a relative over or under expression of any immune marker (balanced subgroup). None of the subgroups was related to specific symptoms dimensions or longitudinal diagnosis of affective vs non-affective psychosis. FEP patients included in the balanced immune subgroup showed a thinning of the left supramarginal and superiorfrontal cortex (FDR-adjusted p-values < 0.05). Our results demonstrated the existence of a FEP patients' subgroup identified by a multivariate pattern of immunomarkers involved in inflammatory activation. This evidence may pave the way to sample stratification in clinical studies aiming to develop diagnostic tools and therapies targeting specific immunopathogenic pathways of psychosis

NEMO-SN1 (Western Ionian Sea, off Eastern Sicily): Example of architecture of a cabled observatory

NEMO-SN1, located in the central Mediterranean Sea, Western Ionian Sea, off Eastern Sicily Island (Southern Italy) at 2100 m water depth, 25 km from the harbour of the city of Catania, is a prototype of a cabled deep-sea multiparameter observatory and the first operating with real-time data transmission in Europe since 2005. NEMO-SN1 is also the first-established node of EMSO (European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatory, http://emso-eu.org), one of the incoming European large-scale research infrastructure included since 2006 in the Roadmap of the ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures, http://cordis.europa.eu/esfri/roadmap.htm), which will specifically address long-term monitoring of environmental processes related to Marine Ecosystems, Climate Change and Geo-hazards. NEMO-SN1 has been deployed and developed over the last decade thanks to Italian resources and to the EC project ESONET-NoE (European Seas Observatory NETwork Network of Excellence, 20072011) that funded the LIDO-DM (Listening to the Deep Ocean Demonstration Mission) and a technological interoperability test (http://www.esonet-emso.org/ esonet-noe/). NEMO-SN1 is performing geophysical and environmental long-term monitoring by acquiring seismological, geomagnetic, gravimetric, accelerometric, physico-oceanographic, hydro-acoustic, bio-acoustic measurements specifically related to earthquakes and tsunamis generation and ambient noise characterisation in term of marine mammal sounds, environmental and anthropogenic sources. A further main feature of NEMO-SN1 is to be an important test-site for the construction of KM3NeT (Kilometre-Cube Underwater Neutrino Telescope, http://www.km3net.org/), another large-scale research infrastructure included in the ESFRI Roadmap constituted by a large volume neutrino telescope. The description of the observatory and the most recent data acquired will be presented and framed in the general objectives of EMSO. © 2011 IEEE