Building = Town: the urban project as the place of the architectural inter-scales.

To consider the Architecture as an inter-scale field and so the relationship between Building and Town as an architectural unique and inseparable system corresponds to a hypothesis of education aimed to be a sole process structured on the basis of the different scales. This discourse aims to question the themes, the methodical techniques and the pedagogical process as well as to reflect this thesis. The specific sample is the didactical approach developed in the courses of Architectural and Urban Project of the Department of Architecture of the Polytechnic in Bari (Italy), directed by the undersigned. It is an approach aimed to spread a Project Culture based on a consideration of the Architecture as “inter scale procedure”, intended to understand the general urban phenomena referring to the architectural form. This discourse will provide for a complete framework of this thesis, trying to insert the findings in the large international critical framework. The aim is to contribute to update the project culture in relationship with the transformation dynamic of the town; to make more and more coherent the relationship between the urban and the building scale; to set on the didactical instructive processes, that are able to give the student a method of critical analysis of the different scales. The main instruction fields are: the understanding of the processes binding Landscape / Town / Building; the study of the building types and of the tissues that validate them, their urban characteristics and architectural languages. The explanation will be based on the analysis of the didactical research carried on in Italian urban situations and in some cities of the Mediterranean Europe

Artificial Intelligence Predictive Models of Response to Cytotoxic Chemotherapy Alone or Combined to Targeted Therapy for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Simple Summary Metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) has high incidence and mortality. Nevertheless, innovative biomarkers have been developed for predicting the response to therapy. We have examined the ability of learning methods to build prognostic and predictive models to predict response to chemotherapy, alone or combined with targeted therapy in mCRC patients, by targeting specific narrative publications. After a literature search, 26 original articles met inclusion and exclusion criteria and were included in the study. We showed that all investigations conducted in this field provided generally promising results in predicting the response to therapy or toxic side-effects, using a meta-analytic approach. We found that radiomics and molecular biomarker signatures were able to discriminate response vs. non-response by correctly identifying up to 99% of mCRC patients who were responders and up to 100% of patients who were non-responders. Our study supports the use of computer science for developing personalized treatment decision processes for mCRC patients. Tailored treatments for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) have not yet completely evolved due to the variety in response to drugs. Therefore, artificial intelligence has been recently used to develop prognostic and predictive models of treatment response (either activity/efficacy or toxicity) to aid in clinical decision making. In this systematic review, we have examined the ability of learning methods to predict response to chemotherapy alone or combined with targeted therapy in mCRC patients by targeting specific narrative publications in Medline up to April 2022 to identify appropriate original scientific articles. After the literature search, 26 original articles met inclusion and exclusion criteria and were included in the study. Our results show that all investigations conducted on this field have provided generally promising results in predicting the response to therapy or toxic side-effects. By a meta-analytic approach we found that the overall weighted means of the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) were 0.90, 95% C.I. 0.80-0.95 and 0.83, 95% C.I. 0.74-0.89 in training and validation sets, respectively, indicating a good classification performance in discriminating response vs. non-response. The calculation of overall HR indicates that learning models have strong ability to predict improved survival. Lastly, the delta-radiomics and the 74 gene signatures were able to discriminate response vs. non-response by correctly identifying up to 99% of mCRC patients who were responders and up to 100% of patients who were non-responders. Specifically, when we evaluated the predictive models with tests reaching 80% sensitivity (SE) and 90% specificity (SP), the delta radiomics showed an SE of 99% and an SP of 94% in the training set and an SE of 85% and SP of 92 in the test set, whereas for the 74 gene signatures the SE was 97.6% and the SP 100% in the training set

Irinotecan or oxaliplatin: which is the first move for the mate?

The aim of the present review is to discuss the potential link between RAS, BRAF and microsatellite instability (MSI) mutational patterns and chemotherapeutic agent efficacy [Irinotecan (IRI) vs. Oxaliplatin (OXA)], and how this can potentially influence the choice of the chemotherapy backbone

Leptin and aging: Correlation with endocrine changes in male and female healthy adult populations of different body weights

Aging is associated with changes in plasma levels of several hormones. There are conflicting reports on whether circulating leptin levels change during aging, the possible explanation for which is that alterations in adiposity and body mass index (BMI) also occur. In this study we measured plasma leptin and other hormonal parameters known to influence leptin in 150 men and 320 women of a wide age (18-77 yr) and BMI (18.5-61.1 kg/m(2)) range. Subjects of each gender were separated into 2 groups of similar BMI, i.e. nonobese (BMT, 30), and treated separately. Statistical analysis was performed, treating each group of subjects as a whole population or divided into age groups (50 yr). BMI-adjusted leptin levels were progressively lower with increasing age in women, with a consistent fall after menopause (-21%; P < 0.001); in men, leptin levels also tended to be lower in subjects more than 50 yr of age, but the reduction was not significant. Multiple linear regression analysis, performed on subjects treated either as a whole population or divided into obese and nonobese, showed that in both genders BMI and age were independent contributors of leptin levels, and there was an inverse relationship between leptin and age in both obese (standardized coefficient beta = -0.25 in women and -0.23 in men; P < 0.01) and nonobese (-0.22 in women and - 0.20 in men; P < 0.05) subjects. The correlation of leptin and age with plasma levels of sex and thyroid hormones, GH, insulin-like growth factor I, PRL, and insulin was also evaluated. The variables that correlated with leptin were included in a multiple regression model that included BMI and age. Testosterone in men (-0.43 in nonobese and - 0.19 in obese; P < 0.05) and estradiol in women (0.22 in nonobese and 0.24 in obese; P < 0.05) were important contributors to leptin levels; also, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate in obese women (-0.16) and sex hormone-binding globulin in obese subjects of both genders (0.15 in women and 0.19 in men) were significant determinants in the model. However, none of the hormonal parameters abolished the negative correlation between leptin and age or the gender difference in leptin levels. In conclusion, our data show that in adult humans of different body weight;, serum leptin gradually declines during aging; leptin reduction is higher in women than in men, but it is independent hom BMI and other age-related endocrine changes

Grammatiche della forma per la città del nostro tempo

La ricerca del Gruppo Urbanformgrammars si focalizza sul rapporto tra architettura e città. Assumendo questo orizzonte problematico si è sviluppato nel Novecento il contributo più rilevante del pensiero architettonico italiano. Ad esso il gruppo si vuole riallacciare guardando al fenomeno della città contemporanea per riconoscere, insieme alla crisi della sua forma, le potenzialità che da essa derivano