Innovative experiences in teaching conservation. Involving communities’ interests on preservationtopics by fast investigations and social media dissemination

Since 2019, the authors carried out a didactical experience trough the Preservation Studio workshop in the historical center of Vimercate, a town in the north east area of Milan, implementing a convention agreement between the Municipality and the Atheneum. The convention was arranged in order to set the relationship between the three academic courses of the Politecnico di Milano and the administration of Vimercate, supporting the teaching staff by providing ac- cessibility to various services and some public properties located in the city-cen- ter. Thanks to this kind of agreement, the courses could be supported in their activities by document centers, public associations and the members of the local community, while the teaching staff offered a constant sharing of the main activ- ities by social media and periodical disseminations through public lectures. After maturing several years of didactical workshops on the main buildings of the his- torical center of Vimercate, this paper shows the results collected with the stu- dios: the active class strategies, the on-site survey campaigns, the evolution of the results observed by year after year inspections, ND testing activities and local community involvement. The impact coming from the researches developed by the preservation classes and specific in depth studies realized by graduation thesis showed an increasing participation of the community to the topics connected to the city center: from conservation policies to future uses, historical buildings reached the attention of the people through the development of a new sensibility and perception of new values associated to the local architectural heritage

THE MENSIOCHRONOLOGY ANALYSIS SUPPORTED BY NEW ADVANCED SURVEY TECHNIQUES: FIELD TESTS IN MILANESE AREA

Mensiochronology of brickwork, even in areas where reference curves have been constructed and well tested, requires precise measurements and a representative amount of data due to the many factors affecting the reliability of the measurements, such as the defects caused by the time and the environment that changed the geometry of the bricks (deformation or lack of material along the edges), as well as the operators’ skills. Sometimes, the number of measurable bricks is limited in a wall, or in a stratigraphic unit. Furthermore, if a scaffolding is not available, the analysis is concentrated only on the lower courses of the bricks, being not possible to directly measure the bricks of the higher levels. In order to implement the number of bricks taken into account for this study, a comparison from direct measurements and indirect measurements is here proposed.The aim of this paper is to explore the applications of photogrammetry for undertaking brick measurements for chronological dating: its advantage and drawbacks. Using high-resolution digital rectified pictures, the masonry texture of some well-documented building prospects was scaled into vector graphic software for recording the measures of the bricks. The results presented here by the authors are an attempt for validating this method for future applications. In detail, three case studies are analysed in the historic centre of Vimercate (Italy) testing the effectiveness of the presented method on dated buildings that display diverse features, including the presence of reused bricks, possibly coming from dismantled pre-existing structures. The results proved that the proposed geomatics method entails an accuracy that does not affect the usability of data for the investigation of buildings and the material culture inbuilt.</p

Impact of social determinants on antiretroviral therapy access and outcomes entering the era of universal treatment for people living with HIV in Italy

Background: Social determinants are known to be a driving force of health inequalities, even in high income countries. Aim of our study was to determine if these factors can limit antiretroviral therapy (ART) access, outcome and retention in care of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Italy. Methods: All ART naïve HIV+ patients (pts) of Italian nationality enrolled in the ICONA Cohort from 2002 to 2016 were included. The association of socio-demographic characteristics (age, sex, risk factor for HIV infection, educational level, occupational status and residency area) with time to: ART initiation (from the first positive anti-HIV test), ART regimen discontinuation, and first HIV-RNA &lt; 50 cp/mL, were evaluated by Cox regression analysis, Kaplan Meier method and log-rank test. Results: A total of 8023 HIV+ pts (82% males, median age at first pos anti-HIV test 36 years, IQR: 29-44) were included: 6214 (77.5%) started ART during the study period. Women, people who inject drugs (PWID) and residents in Southern Italy presented the lowest levels of education and the highest rate of unemployment compared to other groups. Females, pts aged &gt; 50 yrs., unemployed vs employed, and people with lower educational levels presented the lowest CD4 count at ART initiation compared to other groups. The overall median time to ART initiation was 0.6 years (yrs) (IQR 0.1-3.7), with a significant decrease over time [2002-2006 = 3.3 yrs. (0.2-9.4); 2007-2011 = 1.0 yrs. (0.1-3.9); 2012-2016 = 0.2 yrs. (0.1-2.1), p &lt; 0.001]. By multivariate analysis, females (p &lt; 0.01) and PWID (p &lt; 0.001), presented a longer time to ART initiation, while older people (p &lt; 0.001), people with higher educational levels (p &lt; 0.001), unemployed (p = 0.02) and students (p &lt; 0.001) were more likely to initiate ART. Moreover, PWID, unemployed vs stable employed, and pts. with lower educational levels showed a lower 1-year probability of achieving HIV-RNA suppression, while females, older patients, men who have sex with men (MSM), unemployed had higher 1-year risk of first-line ART discontinuation. Conclusions: Despite median time to ART start decreased from 2002 to 2016, socio-demographic factors still contribute to disparities in ART initiation, outcome and durability

Synergistic Actions of Hematopoietic and Mesenchymal Stem/Progenitor Cells in Vascularizing Bioengineered Tissues

Poor angiogenesis is a major road block for tissue repair. The regeneration of virtually all tissues is limited by angiogenesis, given the diffusion of nutrients, oxygen, and waste products is limited to a few hundred micrometers. We postulated that co-transplantation of hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells improves angiogenesis of tissue repair and hence the outcome of regeneration. In this study, we tested this hypothesis by using bone as a model whose regeneration is impaired unless it is vascularized. Hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSCs) and mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells (MSCs) were isolated from each of three healthy human bone marrow samples and reconstituted in a porous scaffold. MSCs were seeded in micropores of 3D calcium phosphate (CP) scaffolds, followed by infusion of gel-suspended CD34+ hematopoietic cells. Co-transplantation of CD34+ HSCs and CD34− MSCs in microporous CP scaffolds subcutaneously in the dorsum of immunocompromized mice yielded vascularized tissue. The average vascular number of co-transplanted CD34+ and MSC scaffolds was substantially greater than MSC transplantation alone. Human osteocalcin was expressed in the micropores of CP scaffolds and was significantly increased upon co-transplantation of MSCs and CD34+ cells. Human nuclear staining revealed the engraftment of transplanted human cells in vascular endothelium upon co-transplantation of MSCs and CD34+ cells. Based on additional in vitro results of endothelial differentiation of CD34+ cells by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), we adsorbed VEGF with co-transplanted CD34+ and MSCs in the microporous CP scaffolds in vivo, and discovered that vascular number and diameter further increased, likely owing to the promotion of endothelial differentiation of CD34+ cells by VEGF. Together, co-transplantation of hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells may improve the regeneration of vascular dependent tissues such as bone, adipose, muscle and dermal grafts, and may have implications in the regeneration of internal organs

Analysis of two-color photoelectron spectroscopy for attosecond metrology at seeded free-electron lasers

The generation of attosecond pulse trains at free-electron lasers opens new opportunities in ultrafast science, as it gives access, for the first time, to reproducible, programmable, extreme ultraviolet (XUV) waveforms with high intensity. In this work, we present a detailed analysis of the theoretical model underlying the temporal characterization of the attosecond pulse trains recently generated at the free-electron laser FERMI. In particular, the validity of the approximations used for the correlated analysis of the photoelectron spectra generated in the two-color photoionization experiments are thoroughly discussed. The ranges of validity of the assumptions, in connection with the main experimental parameters, are derived

Cell‐ and Gene‐Based Therapeutic Strategies for Periodontal Regenerative Medicine

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142086/1/jper1223.pd

Bioactive Electrospun Scaffolds Delivering Growth Factors and Genes for Tissue Engineering Applications

A biomaterial scaffold is one of the key factors for successful tissue engineering. In recent years, an increasing tendency has been observed toward the combination of scaffolds and biomolecules, e.g. growth factors and therapeutic genes, to achieve bioactive scaffolds, which not only provide physical support but also express biological signals to modulate tissue regeneration. Huge efforts have been made on the exploration of strategies to prepare bioactive scaffolds. Within the past five years, electrospun scaffolds have gained an exponentially increasing popularity in this area because of their ultrathin fiber diameter and large surface-volume ratio, which is favored for biomolecule delivery. This paper reviews current techniques that can be used to prepare bioactive electrospun scaffolds, including physical adsorption, blend electrospinning, coaxial electrospinning, and covalent immobilization. In addition, this paper also analyzes the existing challenges (i.e., protein instability, low gene transfection efficiency, and difficulties in accurate kinetics prediction) to achieve biomolecule release from electrospun scaffolds, which necessitate further research to fully exploit the biomedical applications of these bioactive scaffolds