6-(7-Nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazol-4-ylthio)hexanol, a specific glutathione S-transferase inhibitor, overcomes the multidrug resistance (MDR)-associated protein 1-mediated MDR in small cell lung cancer

In the present work, we have investigated the antitumor activity of 6-(7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazol-4-ylthio)hexanol (NBDHEX) on aggressive small cell lung cancer. NBDHEX not only is cytotoxic toward the parental small cell lung cancer H69 cell line (LC50 of 2.3 +/- 0.6 mu mol/L) but also overcomes the multidrug resistance of its variant, H69AR, which overexpresses the ATP-binding cassette transporter multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 (MRP1; LC50 of 4.5 +/- 0.9 mu mol/L). Drug efflux experiments, done in the presence of a specific inhibitor of MRP1, confirmed that NBDHEX is not a substrate for this export pump. Interestingly, NBDHEX triggers two different types of cell death: a caspase-dependent apoptosis in the H69AR cells and a necrotic phenotype in the parental H69 cells. The apoptotic pathway triggered by NBDHEX in H69AR cells is associated with c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase and c-Jun activation, whereas glutathione oxidation and activation of p38(MAPK) is observed in the NBDHEX-treated H69 cells. In contrast to the parental cells, the higher propensity to die through apoptosis of the H69AR cell line may be related to the lower expression of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2. Therefore, down-regulation of a factor crucial for cell survival makes H69AR cells more sensitive to the cytotoxic action of NBDHEX, which is not a MRP1 substrate. We have previously shown that NBDHEX is cytotoxic toward P-glycoprotein-overexpressing tumor cell lines. Therefore, NBDHEX seems a very promising compound in the search for new molecules able to overcome the ATP-binding cassette family of proteins, one of the major mechanisms of multidrug resistance in cancer cells

Probabilistic analysis of the response of plates subjected to near-field blast loading

Accurate prediction of the response of structures subjected to close proximity blast loads is a pressing engineering concern; the landscape of global terror has shifted away from large and indiscriminate bombings towards much smaller and more targeted attacks (e.g. against critical infrastructure and/or transport). In such close-proximity blast events (in the so-called ‘nearfield’), interaction between the expanding detonation products and air shock gives rise to complex hydrodynamic features which introduce localised variations in the pressure field. The resultant loading (typically defined in terms of specific impulse since loading durations act on timescales considerably shorter than structural response) is therefore highly uncertain, and even nominally identical experiments produce loading distributions with a high degree of local variability. Current predictive approaches either grossly simplify or neglect entirely the inherent ‘fuzziness’ of nearfield blast loading, to the extent where it is currently unknown what effect this has on structural response, how sensitive plate structures are to uncertainties in loading distribution, and how this varies with plate properties and loading condition (e.g. charge mass and stand-off distance). This paper presents a numerical study aimed at answering these questions, where specific impulse distributions are probabilistically simulated with varying degrees of localised variations and mapped onto a range of different plates. This work aims to shed light on the fundamentally stochastic nature of close-proximity blast, with a view to implementing the findings in fast running engineering models for prediction of plate response under near-field blast loading

Targeting GSTP1-1 induces JNK activation and leads to apoptosis in cisplatin-sensitive and -resistant human osteosarcoma cell lines

The effect of the glutathione transferase P1-1 (GSTP1-1) targeting has been investigated in both sensitive (U-2OS) and cisplatin-resistant (U-2OS/CDDP4μg) human osteosarcoma cell lines. Despite the different enzyme’s content, inhibition of GSTP1-1 by 6-(7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazol-4-ylthio)hexanol (NBDHEX) causes the activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and apoptosis in both cell lines. However, different time courses of JNK activation and cell responses are observed. Whereas in the U-2OS/CDDP4μg cell line drug treatment results in an early increase of caspase activity and secondary necrosis, in the U-2OS cells it mainly causes cell cycle arrest followed by apoptosis. Thereafter, we detailed the action mechanism of NBDHEX in the U-2OS cell line. We report evidence of the interaction between GSTP1-1 and the TNF receptor associated factor 2 (TRAF2) and we demonstrate that NBDHEX is able to dissociate the GSTP1-1:TRAF2 complex. This restores the TRAF2:ASK1 signaling, thereby leading to the simultaneous and prolonged activation of JNK and p38. These mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) mediate different effects: JNK is crucial for apoptosis, whereas p38 causes an increase in the p21 level and a concomitant cell cycle arrest. Our study shows that GSTP1-1 plays an important regulatory role in TRAF signaling of osteosarcoma and discloses new features of the action mechanism of NBDHEX that suggest potentially practical consequences of these finding

Land use classification from Sentinel-2 imagery

[EN] Sentinel-2 (S2), a new ESA satellite for Earth observation, accounts with 13 bands which provide high-quality radiometric images with an excellent spatial resolution (10 and 20 m) ideal for classification purposes. In this paper, two objectives have been addressed: to determine the best classification method for S2, and to quantify its improve-ment with respect to the SPOT operational mission. To do so, four classifiers (LDA, RF, Decision Trees, K-NN) have been selected and applied to two different agricultural areas located in Valencia (Spain) and Buenos Aires (Argentina). All classifiers were tested using, on the one hand, all the S2 bands and, on the other hand, only selecting those bands from S2 closer to the four bands from SPOT. In all the cases, between 10%-50% of samples were used to train the classifier while remaining the rest for validation. As a result, a land use map was generated from the best classifier, according to the Kappa index, providing scientifically relevant information such as the area of each land use class.[ES] Sentinel-2 (S2) es un nuevo satélite de la ESA que cuenta con 13 bandas proporcionando imágenes de alta calidad radiométrica y excelente resolución espacial (10 y 20 m) ideal para trabajos de clasificación. En este trabajo se han abordado dos objetivos: determinar el mejor método de clasificación con S2, y cuantificar su mejora respecto a otras misiones operativas, como SPOT. Para ello se han seleccionado cuatro clasificadores (LDA, RF, Árboles de decisión, K-NN) que se han aplicado en dos zonas agrarias: una en la huerta de Valencia (España) y otra en la región de Buenos Aires (Argentina). Se han probado todos los clasificadores usando, por una parte, todas las bandas de S2, y por otra usando sólo las cuatro que coinciden con SPOT. En todos los casos se han aplicando porcentajes entre el 10 y el 50% de datos de entrenamiento y usado el resto de datos como validación. Como resultado se ha generado un mapa de usos del suelo a partir del mejor clasificador, basándose en el índice Kappa, proporcionando información científicamente relevante como es el área ocupada por cada una de las clases.Borràs, J.; Delegido, J.; Pezzola, A.; Pereira, M.; Morassi, G.; Camps-Valls, G. (2017). Clasificación de usos del suelo a partir de imágenes Sentinel-2. Revista de Teledetección. (48):55-66. doi:10.4995/raet.2017.7133.SWORD556648Breiman, L. (2001). Machine Learning, 45(1), 5-32. doi:10.1023/a:1010933404324Cohen, J. (1960). A Coefficient of Agreement for Nominal Scales. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20(1), 37-46. doi:10.1177/001316446002000104Comber, A., Fisher, P., & Wadsworth, R. (2005). You know what land cover is but does anyone else?…an investigation into semantic and ontological confusion. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 26(1), 223-228. doi:10.1080/0143116042000274032Delegido, J., Verrelst, J., Alonso, L., & Moreno, J. (2011). Evaluation of Sentinel-2 Red-Edge Bands for Empirical Estimation of Green LAI and Chlorophyll Content. Sensors, 11(7), 7063-7081. doi:10.3390/s110707063Gislason, P. O., Benediktsson, J. A., & Sveinsson, J. R. (2006). Random Forests for land cover classification. Pattern Recognition Letters, 27(4), 294-300. doi:10.1016/j.patrec.2005.08.011Hastie, T., Tibshirani, R., & Friedman, J. (2009). The Elements of Statistical Learning. Springer Series in Statistics. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-84858-7Immitzer, M., Atzberger, C., & Koukal, T. (2012). Tree Species Classification with Random Forest Using Very High Spatial Resolution 8-Band WorldView-2 Satellite Data. Remote Sensing, 4(9), 2661-2693. doi:10.3390/rs4092661Landis, J. R., & Koch, G. G. (1977). The Measurement of Observer Agreement for Categorical Data. Biometrics, 33(1), 159. doi:10.2307/2529310Mena, A.J. 2014. Procesamiento de imágenes satelitales multiespectrales. Proyecto final de carrera, Facultad de Informática, Universidad del País Vasco.Quinlan, J.R. 1993. Programs for Machine Learning. 1st ed. San Mateo, CA, Morgan.Rees, G. 2005. The Remote Sensing Data Book. Cambridge University Press, 262 pp.Rodríguez-Galiano, V., Chica-Rivas, M. 2012. Clasificación de imágenes de satélite mediante software libre: Nuevas tendencias en algoritmos de Inteligencia artificial. Departamento de Geodinámica, Universidad de Granada

Fire severity estimation in southern of the Buenos Aires province, Argentina, using Sentinel-2 and its comparison with Landsat-8

[EN] Assessment of rural fire severity is fundamental to evaluate fire damages and to analyze recovery processes in a low-cost and efficient way. Burnt areas covering shrubs and grasslands were estimated in more than 30,000 km2 in Argentina from December 2016 to January 2017. The study area presented in this work is located in the South of the Buenos Aires province, and it covers a semiarid area with the presence of xerophilous shrubs and grasslands. This is one of the most abundant ecosystem in Central and Southern Argentina. Field campaigns were carried out over the area affected by the fire in order to georreference the burnt plots and characterized the fire severity in 5 levels. The objective of this work is to analyze the feasibility of new satellites Sentinel-2 for fire studies, as well as provide a comparison to Landsat-8 derived results, because this mission has been one of the most used in it. Pre-fire and postfire Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 imagery were used to analyze different band combinations to compute a Normalized Difference Spectral Index (NDSI), as well as the difference of this index before and after the fire (dNDSI). Results show a significant correlation (R2 =0.72 and estimation error of 0.77) between dNDSI derived from Sentinel-2 and the severity levels obtained in the field campaign using bands 8a and 12 (NIR and SWIR), the same bands as used in the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR). Moreover, results derived from Sentinel-2 are better than results derived from Landsat-8 (R2 =0.63 and estimation error of 0.92). Furthermore, it is observed that the correlation is improved when Sentinel-2 bands 6 and 5 (located in the Red-Edge region) are considered (R2 =0.74 and estimation error of 0.76). An inverse correlation has been observed between the recovery of vegetation four months after the fire and the fire severity level.[ES] Conocer la severidad de los incendios rurales es imprescindible para evaluar daños y analizar los procesos de recuperación en forma económica y eficaz. Entre diciembre de 2016 y enero de 2017 se quemaron más de 30.000 km2 de arbustos y pastizales en Argentina. El incendio estudiado en este trabajo, localizado en el sur de la provincia de Buenos Aires, corresponde a una zona semiárida con predominio de arbustales xerófilos y pastizales, siendo este ecosistema muy abundante en la zona centro y sur de Argentina. A partir de campañas de campo en el área afectada por este incendio, se georreferenciaron zonas quemadas y se caracterizó la severidad del fuego en 5 niveles. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la potencialidad de los nuevos satélites Sentinel-2 para el estudio de incendios, comparándolo con Landsat-8, pues esta misión ha sido una de las más usadas en ello. A partir de imágenes Sentinel-2 y Landsat-8 antes y después del incendio, se han analizado todas las posibles combinaciones de bandas de ambos satélites en índices espectrales de diferencia normalizada (NDSI), así como la diferencia de esos valores antes y después del incendio (dNDSI). Los resultados muestran una significativa correlación (R2 =0,72 y error de estimación de 0,77) del dNDSI obtenido con Sentinel-2 con los niveles de severidad obtenidos en la campaña de campo usando las bandas 8a y 12 (del NIR y del SWIR), que coinciden con las bandas del Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) mejorando respecto a Landsat-8 (R2 =0,63 y error de estimación de 0,92). Además se observa que la correlación mejora todavía más usando las bandas 6 y 5 de Sentinel-2 localizadas en la región del Red-Edge (R2 =0,74 y error de estimación de 0,76). Se ha observado una correlación inversa entre la recuperación de la vegetación cuatro meses después del incendio y el nivel de severidad del incendio.Delegido, J.; Pezzola, A.; Casella, A.; Winschel, C.; Urrego, EP.; Jimenez, JC.; Soria, G.... (2018). Estimación del grado de severidad de incendios en el sur de la provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, usando Sentinel-2 y su comparación con Landsat-8. Revista de Teledetección. (51):47-60. doi:10.4995/raet.2018.8934SWORD476051Botella-Martínez, M. A., Fernández-Manso, A. 2017. Study of post-fire severity in the Valencia region comparing the NBR, RdNBR and RBR indexes derived from Landsat 8 images. Revista de Teledetección, 49, 33-47. https://doi.org/10.4995/raet.2017.7095Bran, D., Cecchi, G., Gaitan, J., Ayesa, J., Lopez, C. 2007. Efecto de la severidad de quemado sobre la regeneración de la vegetación en el Monte Austral. Revista Ecología Austral, 17(1), 123-132.Cabrera, A. 1951. Territorios fitogeográficos de la República Argentina. Boletín de la Sociedad Argentina de Botánica. IV, N° 1 - 2.Casas, R., Irurtia, C., Michelena, R. 1978. Desmonte y habilitación de tierras para la producción agropecuaria en La República Argentina. Suelos, 157. Buenos Aires, Argentina.Cecchi, G. A., Krofpl, A.I., Kugler, N. et al., 2006. Principales gramíneas forrajeras perennes del monte. EEA Valle Inferior Convenio INTA - provincia de Río Negro.Chuvieco, E. 2002. Teledetección Ambiental. Ed. Ariel Ciencia, Barcelona, España.Chuvieco, E., Riaño, D., Danson, F. M., Martin, P. 2006. Use of a radiative transfer model to simulate the postfire spectral response to burn severity. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111(G4). https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JG000143.Cocke, A. E., Fulé, P. Z., Crouse, J. E. 2005. Comparison of burn severity assessments using Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio and ground data. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 14(2), 189-198. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF04010Delegido, J., Verrelst, J., Meza, C. M., Rivera, J. P. Alonso, L., Moreno, J. 2013. A red-edge spectral index for remote sensing estimation of green LAI over Agroecosystems. European Journal Agronomy, 46, 42-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2012.12.001Delegido, J., Meza, C.M., Pasqualotto, N., Moreno, J. 2016. Influencia del ángulo de observación en la estimación del índice de área foliar (LAI) mediante imágenes PROBA/CHRIS. Revista de Teledetección, 46, 45-55. https://doi.org/10.4995/raet.2016.4612Delegido, J., Pezzola, A., Casella, A., Winschel, C., Urrego, E. P., Jiménez-Muñoz, J. C., Soria, G., Sobrino, J. A., Moreno, J. 2017. Potencialidad de índices de severidad de incendios utilizando Sentinel2 y su análisis comparativo con Landsat8 para la cartografía en los incendios rurales en el Sur de la provincia de Buenos Aires (Argentina) 2016- 2017. XVII Congreso de la Asociación Española de Teledetección. Murcia, 3 al 7 octubre 2017.De Santis, A., Chuvieco, E. 2007. Burn severity estimation from remotely sensed data: Performance of simulation versus empirical models. 2006. Remote Sensing of Environment, 108, 422-435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2006.11.022Diaz-Delgado, R., Lloret, F., Folliott, P. F. 2003. Influence of fire severity on plant regeneration by means of remote sensing imagery. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 24, 1751-1763. https://doi.org/10.1080/01431160210144732ESA. 2017. ESA's Sentinel Satellites. Available online: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_ Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-2/Facts_and_figures (acceso el 31 de marzo de 2017)Escuin, S., Navarro, R., Fernandez, P. 2008. Fire severity assessment by using NBR (Normalized Burn Ratio) and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) derived from LANDSAT TM/ETM images. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 29(4), 1053-1073. https://doi.org/10.1080/01431160701281072Fernández-Manso, A., Fernández-Manso, O., Quintano, C. 2016. SENTINEL-2A red-edge spectral indices suitability for discrimination burn severity. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 50, 170-175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2016.03.005Fernández-Manso, A., Fernández-Manso, O., Quintano, C., Marcos, E., Calvo, L. 2017. Utilización de las imágenes Sentinel-2 para cartografía de área quemada. Congreso AET, Murcia 3-7 Octubre 2017.Ghermandi, L., Gonzalez, S., Lescano, M., Oddi, F. 2013. Effects of fire severity on early recovery of Patagonian steppes. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 22, 1155-1062. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF12198González, S. 2002. El Banco de semillas como estrategia de regeneración postfuego en un pastizal del Noroeste de la Patagonia. Tesis de Licenciatura, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, S.C. de Bariloche, Argentina.González, S. 2011. Estrategias de regeneración postfuego en pastizales del noroeste patagónico: un enfoque experimental, PhD thesis, Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche, Argentina.González-Alonso, F., Merino-De-Miguel, S., RoldánZamarrón, A., García-Gigorro, S., Cuevas, J. M. 2007. MERIS Full Resolution data for mapping level-of-damage caused by forest fires: the Valencia de Alcántara event in August 2003. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 28:3-4, 797-809. https://doi.org/10.1080/01431160600979115Key, C. H., Benson, N. 2005. Landscape assessment: ground measure of severity, the Composite Burn Index; and remote sensing of severity, the Normalized Burn Ratio. En FIREMON: Fire Effects Monitoring and Inventory System. Lutes, Duncan C.; Keane, Robert E.; Caratti, John F.; Key, Carl H.; Benson, Nathan C.; Sutherland, Steve; Gangi, Larry J. 2006. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS -GTR-164-CD. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research StationKröpfl, A., Cecchi, G., Villasuso, N., Rossio, E., Pelotto, J. 2005. Manual de especies silvestres del monte Rionegrino. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Valle Inferior - Centro Universitario Regional Zona Atlántica (UNC). Ediciones INTA, Argentina.Lamberto, S. 1987. Vegetación natural. En: Evaluación expeditiva del recurso suelo y uso y cobertura de la tierra en el sur de la provincia de Buenos Aires. Informe técnico N° 28. Secretaria de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Hilario Ascasubi. Bahía Blanca, Argentina.López-García, M. J., Caselles, V. 1991. Mapping burns and natural reforestation using Thematic Mapper data. Geocarto International, 1, 31-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/10106049109354290Martínez, S., Chuvieco, E., Aguado, I., Salas, J. 2017. Burn severity and regeneration in large forest fires: an analysis from Landsat time series. Revista de Teledetección, 49, 17-32. https://doi.org/10.4995/raet.2017.7182Montorio, R., Pérez, F., García, A., Vlassova, L., de la Riva, J. R. 2014. La severidad del fuego: Revisión de conceptos, métodos y efectos ambientales. En: José Arnáez, Penélope González-Sampériz, Teodoro Lasanta y Blas L. Valero Garcés (eds.). Geoecología, cambio ambiental y paisaje: homenaje al profesor José María García Ruiz. Logroño: Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (CSIC): Universidad de La Rioja, España.NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 2017. https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/landsat-datacontinuity-mission/Navarro, G., Caballero, I., Silva, G., Parra, P., Vázquez, A., Caldeira, R. 2017. Evaluation of forest fire on Madeira Island using Sentinel-2A MSI imagery. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 58, 97-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2017.02.003Nicora, M. G. 2014. Actividad eléctrica atmosférica en Sudamérica. Tesis Doctoral. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas La Plata, Buenos Aires.Quintano, C., Fernández-Manso, A., FernándezManso, O. 2018. Combination of Landsat and Sentinel-2 MSI data for initial assessing of burn severity. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 64, 221-225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2017.09.014Roldán-Zamarrón, A., Merino-de-Miguel, S., GonzálezAlonso, F., García-Gigorro, S., Cuevas, J. M. 2006. Minas de Riotinto (south Spain) forest fire: Burned area assessment and fire severity mapping using Landsat 5-TM, Envisat-MERIS, and Terra-MODIS postfire images. Journal Geophysical Research, 111, G04S11. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JG000136Van Der Werf, G. R., Randerson, J. T., Giglio, L., Van Leeuwen, T. T., Chen, Y., Rogers, B. M., Mu, M., Van Marle, M.J.E., Morton, D.C., Collatz, G.J., Yokelson, R.J., Kasibhatla, P. S. 2017. Global fire emissions estimates during 1997- 2016. Earth System Science Data, 9(2), 697-720. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-697-2017Vanzolini, J., Pezzola, A., Iurman, D., Vasicek J., Cantamutto, M. 2017. Reporte de la recorrida en las áreas afectadas por fuego en Villarino y Patagones. Informe técnico. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria INTA Hilario Ascasubi. Argentina

The economic impact of moderate stage Alzheimer's disease in Italy: Evidence from the UP-TECH randomized trial

Background: There is consensus that dementia is the most burdensome disease for modern societies. Few cost-of-illness studies examined the complexity of Alzheimer's disease (AD) burden, considering at the same time health and social care, cash allowances, informal care, and out-of-pocket expenditure by families. Methods: This is a comprehensive cost-of-illness study based on the baseline data from a randomized controlled trial (UP-TECH) enrolling 438 patients with moderate AD and their primary caregiver living in the community. Results: The societal burden of AD, composed of public, patient, and informal care costs, was about �20,000/yr. Out of this, the cost borne by the public sector was �4,534/yr. The main driver of public cost was the national cash-for-care allowance (�2,324/yr), followed by drug prescriptions (�1,402/yr). Out-of-pocket expenditure predominantly concerned the cost of private care workers. The value of informal care peaked at �13,590/yr. Socioeconomic factors do not influence AD public cost, but do affect the level of out-of-pocket expenditure. Conclusion: The burden of AD reflects the structure of Italian welfare. The families predominantly manage AD patients. The public expenditure is mostly for drugs and cash-for-care benefits. From a State perspective in the short term, the advantage of these care arrangements is clear, compared to the cost of residential care. However, if caregivers are not adequately supported, savings may be soon offset by higher risk of caregiver morbidity and mortality produced by high burden and stress. The study has been registered on the website www.clinicaltrials.org (Trial Registration number: NCT01700556). Copyright � International Psychogeriatric Association 2015

Socioeconomic Predictors of the Employment of Migrant Care Workers by Italian Families Assisting Older Alzheimer's Disease Patients: Evidence from the Up-Tech Study

Background: The availability of family caregivers of older people is decreasing in Italy as the number of migrant care workers (MCWs) hired by families increases. There is little evidence on the influence of socioeconomic factors in the employment of MCWs. Method: We analyzed baseline data from 438 older people with moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD), and their family caregivers enrolled in the Up-Tech trial. We used bivariate analysis and multilevel regressions to investigate the association between independent variables - education, social class, and the availability of a care allowance - and three outcomes - employment of a MCW, hours of care provided by the primary family caregiver, and by the family network (primary and other family caregivers). Results: The availability of a care allowance and the educational level were independently associated with employing MCWs. A significant interaction between education and care allowance was found, suggesting that more educated families are more likely to spend the care allowance to hire a MCW. Discussion: Socioeconomic inequalities negatively influenced access both to private care and to care allowance, leading disadvantaged families to directly provide more assistance to AD patients. Care allowance entitlement needs to be reformed in Italy and in countries with similar long-term care and migration systems. � 2015 The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved

Non linear dynamic behaviour of a motorcycle forecarriage during braking

An experimental and numerical experience was carried out to investigate the nonlinear dynamic response of the forecarriage of a motorcycle, paying attention to a particular type of vibration that occurs during the braking. In fact, it was found that, in particular conditions of load on the handlebar, braking pressure, speed and temperature, the first flexural mode of the front fork is strongly excited. Thanks to the numerical model, solutions to these undesired vibrations were identified. Experimental tests were carried out modifying the design parameters of the motorcycles and of the braking system as suggested by the numerical model thus verifying that the purposed solutions were effective