Una finestra sulla vita nel buio. Didattica e divulgazione allo Speleovivarium

Il museo “Speleovivarium” raccoglie e custodisce testimonianze vive del sottosuolo carsico con finalità divulgative, didattiche, di studio e di ricerca, in particolare sul comportamento degli straordinari esseri che popolano le tenebre. Esso si trova in una galleria dalle condizioni climatiche ed ambientali simili ad una cavità carsica; è stato ideato da Erwin Pichl e creato nell’ambito della Società Adriatica di Speleologia nel 1990, con l’obiettivo di promuovere e divulgare le conoscenze del mondo sotterraneo, per il più ampio rispetto della natura dei sottosuoli carsici e non.The “Speleovivarium” museum collects and preserves living witnesses of the Karst underground, for diffusion, teaching, study and research purposes, particularly focusing on the behaviour of the extraordinary creatures that live in the darkness. The museum is located in a cave resembling the climatic and environment conditions of a Karst cavity; it was designed by Erwin Pichl and created by the Adriatic Speleological Society in 1990, with the aim of promoting and sharing knowledge of the subterranean world and develop greater respect for underground nature in the Karst and non-Karst areas

Effects on Folsomia candida Willem, 1902 of products resulting from anaerobic digestion of biomass tested at different soil pH

In recent years, it has become increasingly important to reduce the production and impact of wastes on the environment, and to save and restore natural resources. A way of disposing industrial, agro-industrial and urban wastes is their treatment by anaerobic digestion, with the production of biogas and residual organic material. The latter is commonly called digestate and can be used in agriculture as fertilizer, soil improver or adsorbent material, but only scarce or no evaluations of its biological effects on soil organisms are presently available. The aim of the present research was to study the effects of digestate, when added to soils with different pH values, on the survival and reproduction of the collembolan Folsomia candida. The digestate investigated in this study was obtained from agro-industrial wastes mixed with biological sludge. We exposed springtails to two different concentrations of digestate (2.5%; 5%) in two artificial soils with pH values of 6 and 4.5. The addition of digestate resulted in an increase of experimental-soil pH values, depending on the concentration and original pH value of the artificial soil used. The negative effects of digestate detected on the survival and reproduction of F. candida was mainly attributed to pH values > 6. The high pH value, however, does not explain by itself the strong decrease in number of juveniles in the experimental soil when the highest concentration of digestate was combined with the highest pH value reached: in this case it is possible to assume a combined effect of pH and other digestate characteristics such as nitrogen content and salinity, currently under study

The maize (Zea mays) b-32 protein shows RIP activity in yeast cells

Ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) are either single-chain (type 1) or two-chain (type 2) toxins. They are toxic to eukaryotic cells by cleaving a N-glycosidic bond in an extremely conserved loop located in the 28S RNA. This releases a specific adenine and inactivates the ribosome, ultimately inhibiting protein synthesis. Plant RIPs have been intensely investigated because of their projected antiviral, antifungal and insecticidal activity. RIPs also have biomedical applications as the toxic mojety of immunotoxins. Given their biotechnological potentials, it is strategic to develop platforms to rapidly evaluate the activity of recombinant RIPs. This investigation fills this need in that it reports that the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a model system to assess the impact of genetic manipulations on the functionality of a recombinant Zea mays RIP named b-32

Cloning and Characterization of Mouse UBPy, a Deubiquitinating Enzyme That Interacts with the Ras Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor CDC25Mm/Ras-GRF1

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A Low-Dose CT-Based Radiomic Model to Improve Characterization and Screening Recall Intervals of Indeterminate Prevalent Pulmonary Nodules.

Lung cancer (LC) is currently one of the main causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) of the chest has been proven effective in secondary prevention (i.e., early detection) of LC by several trials. In this work, we investigated the potential impact of radiomics on indeterminate prevalent pulmonary nodule (PN) characterization and risk stratification in subjects undergoing LDCT-based LC screening. As a proof-of-concept for radiomic analyses, the first aim of our study was to assess whether indeterminate PNs could be automatically classified by an LDCT radiomic classifier as solid or sub-solid (first-level classification), and in particular for sub-solid lesions, as non-solid versus part-solid (second-level classification). The second aim of the study was to assess whether an LCDT radiomic classifier could automatically predict PN risk of malignancy, and thus optimize LDCT recall timing in screening programs. Model performance was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), accuracy, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, sensitivity, and specificity. The experimental results showed that an LDCT radiomic machine learning classifier can achieve excellent performance for characterization of screen-detected PNs (mean AUC of 0.89 ± 0.02 and 0.80 ± 0.18 on the blinded test dataset for the first-level and second-level classifiers, respectively), providing quantitative information to support clinical management. Our study showed that a radiomic classifier could be used to optimize LDCT recall for indeterminate PNs. According to the performance of such a classifier on the blinded test dataset, within the first 6 months, 46% of the malignant PNs and 38% of the benign ones were identified, improving early detection of LC by doubling the current detection rate of malignant nodules from 23% to 46% at a low cost of false positives. In conclusion, we showed the high potential of LDCT-based radiomics for improving the characterization and optimizing screening recall intervals of indeterminate PNs

A retrospective multicentric observational study of trastuzumab emtansine in HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer: A real-world experience

We addressed trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) efficacy in HER2+ metastatic breast cancer patients treated in real-world practice, and its activity in pertuzumab-pretreated patients. We conducted a retrospective, observational study involving 23 cancer centres, and 250 patients. Survival data were analyzed by Kaplan Meier curves and log rank test. Factors testing significant in univariate analysis were tested in multivariate models. Median follow-up was 15 months and median T-DM1 treatment-length 4 months. Response rate was 41.6%, clinical benefit 60.9%. Median progression-free and median overall survival were 6 and 20 months, respectively. Overall, no differences emerged by pertuzumab pretreatment, with median progression-free and median overall survival of 4 and 17 months in pertuzumab-pretreated (p=0.13), and 6 and 22 months in pertuzumab-na\uc3\uafve patients (p=0.27). Patients who received second-line T-DM1 had median progression-free and median overall survival of 3 and 12 months (p=0.0001) if pertuzumab-pretreated, and 8 and 26 months if pertuzumab-na\uc3\uafve (p=0.06). In contrast, in third-line and beyond, median progression-free and median overall survival were 16 and 18 months in pertuzumab-pretreated (p=0.05) and 6 and 17 months in pertuzumab-na\uc3\uafve patients (p=0.30). In multivariate analysis, lower ECOG performance status was associated with progression-free survival benefit (p < 0.0001), while overall survival was positively affected by lower ECOG PS (p < 0.0001), absence of brain metastases (p 0.05), and clinical benefit (p < 0.0001). Our results are comparable with those from randomized trials. Further studies are warranted to confirm and interpret our data on apparently lower T-DM1 efficacy when given as second-line treatment after pertuzumab, and on the optimal sequence order

Benefits from service bundling in destination branding: the role of trust in enhancing cooperation among operators in the hospitality industry

Service bundling helps tourism organizations develop competitiveness. Cooperation within destinations builds service bundles and positively impacts image. This paper aims to shed light on the role of trust in cooperation among tourism operators in place branding strategy and investigates the impact of perceived benefits achievable through service bundling on hoteliers’ orientation to networking, that is, willingness to cooperate with restaurants, theme parks, spas, and so on. A survey of 164 hoteliers finds that trust in other tourism operators mediates the impact of perceived relational benefits on networking orientation. Operators’ innovativeness mediates the relationship between perceived economic benefits and networking orientatio

Employability skills for future marketing professionals

This study investigates how digital transformation has disrupted the marketing career path by analysing the most in-demand marketing skills and identifying opportunities for future marketing professionals. Through a content analysis of job advertisements and a cross-country survey of marketing professionals, the study proposes a framework defining the skillset required of marketing professionals to start and move forward in their career. The study identifies five employability skill categories and 29 skills and capabilities. The relevance of such categories is also analysed across lowly and highly digitalised firms. This research contributes to the debate on the employability of new graduates and provides useful directions to universities, tertiary education institutions, and companies to support the marketing talents of the future

The employability of marketing graduates in the era of digitalisation and globalisation

Disruptions and challenges generated by increasing levels of digitalisation and globalisation are having a profound impact on the labour market and on career opportunities available to marketing graduates. This new paradigm crosses different industries and traditional marketing professions and stimulates the debate around the job readiness and employability of graduates. This study provides insights into the nature of this phenomenon by comparing firms requirements to the education programs offered by Italian universities at post-graduate level. By exploring the topic of marketing graduate employability, this study provides key recommendations for universities to be at the forefront of producing graduates equipped with the right skillset to start their career in the marketing function