A neo-liberal housing policy? Convergence and divergence between Italian local housing policy and European trends

24th AESOP Annual Conference, Finland, 7 - 10 July 2010 Anchor Paper Track 11 Housing and Regeneration Policies HOUSING AND REGENERATION POLICIE

Reflecting critically on Turin's Strategic Planning Experience

Strategic planning experiences have been widespread across many European countries in the past decades and have been the subject of many articles and essays. In Italy these experiences occurred later than in other countries. Actually, the first well-known strategic planning experience in Italy was developed in Turin at the end of the 1990s. Thus, Turin could be an interesting case to study, because it can been looked at as a paradigmatic case from different points of view, perhaps not only related to the Italian situation: the point of view of economic and social changes, the point of view of spatial transformations, the point of view of the undertaken policies and also the point of view of the innovative government processes that have been developed in the last ten years. At the end of the last decade this sort of innovative turn seemed to be over; a new cycle in the economy as well as in the strategy for looking at the future and in the policies and politics that will govern the city and its metropolitan area may be about to start. This paper describes the changes that took place and tries to reflect critically on the results of the strategic planning process that was developed during the last decade as an answer to these changes, underlining especially the weak points of the experience, which could be at the base of the current situation to

Crisis and change, What future for research and teaching in planning and architecture

The words crisis and change can be used as key words to describe the current situation both in Italy and in Spain. They will be used to talk about the problems and prospects of teaching and research, especially in the field of urbanism and architecture. Some examples of the relationship between the two concepts in the current situation in our countries, and in European countries in general, will be given and their influence on teaching and research will be discussed

A neo-liberal housing policy? Convergence and divergence between Italian local housing policy and European trends

24th AESOP Annual Conference, Finland, 7 – 10 July 2010 Anchor Paper Track 11 Housing and Regeneration Policies HOUSING AND REGENERATION POLICIE

EVIDENCE AND METHODS FROM AN EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE ABOUT AREA- BASED URBAN REGENERATION

Abstract EVIDENCE AND METHODS FROM AN EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE ABOUT AREA- BASED URBAN REGENERATION Cristiana Rossignolo and Silvia Saccomani This paper refers to an education experience developed within the BA in Territorial, Urban, Landscape and Environmental Planning of Politecnico di Torino (Italy). Actually, all the study organisation of both the BA and the Master with the same title, which the BA graduates can attend, are strongly inspired by the goal to make students aware of the inter and trans-disciplinary nature of Planning, and of the necessity for a planner to cooperate with different experts and different stakeholders. Interdisciplinary Studios are one of the means used to reach this educational goal. In these Studios students have to develop proposals/plans/designs/policies for future interventions. The specific experience this paper deals with is a Studio about themes such as urban regeneration, local and sustainable development with a place-based approach. It proposes to groups of students a sort of simulation: they are asked to behave as a team to which the public administration gave the task to produce a proposal in order to participate in a real regional tender for the allocation of European funds to a regeneration programme dealing with a neighborhood in the city periphery. The programme must include and integrate physical, economic, social and cultural actions, with a special attention to sustainable urban development goals and participation processes needs and thus asks for the contributions of different teachers who interact during the Studio development. The methodology of this Studio has proved to be efficient and meaningful for either the student's awareness of the importance of interdisciplinary in real spatial planning tasks and their ability to face these tasks in a almost professional ways

The Union between Structural and Practical Identifiability Makes Strength in Reducing Oncological Model Complexity: A Case Study

Mathematical models are increasingly proposed to describe tumor's dynamic response to treatments with the aims of improving their efficacy. The most widely used are nonlinear ODE models, whose identification is often difficult due to experimental limitations. We focus on the issue of parameter estimation in model-based oncological studies. Given their complexity, many of these models are unidentifiable having an infinite number of parameter solutions. These equivalently describe experimental data but are associated with different dynamic evolution of unmeasurable variables. We propose a joint use of two different identifiability methodologies, structural identifiability and practical identifiability, which are traditionally regarded as disjoint. This new methodology provides the number of parameter solutions, the analytic relations between the unidentifiable parameters useful to reduce model complexity, a ranking between parameters revealing the most reliable estimates, and a way to disentangle the various causes of nonidentifiability. It is implementable by using available differential algebra software and statistical packages. This methodology can constitute a powerful tool for the oncologist to discover the behavior of inaccessible variables of clinical interest and to correctly address the experimental design. A complex model to study "in vivo" antitumor activity of interleukin-21 on tumor eradication in different cancers in mice is illustrated

The Union between Structural and Practical Identifiability Makes Strength in Reducing Oncological Model Complexity: A Case Study

Mathematical models are increasingly proposed to describe tumor’s dynamic response to treatments with the aims of improving their efficacy. The most widely used are nonlinear ODE models, whose identification is often difficult due to experimental limitations. We focus on the issue of parameter estimation in model-based oncological studies. Given their complexity, many of these models are unidentifiable having an infinite number of parameter solutions. These equivalently describe experimental data but are associated with different dynamic evolution of unmeasurable variables. We propose a joint use of two different identifiability methodologies, structural identifiability and practical identifiability, which are traditionally regarded as disjoint. This new methodology provides the number of parameter solutions, the analytic relations between the unidentifiable parameters useful to reduce model complexity, a ranking between parameters revealing the most reliable estimates, and a way to disentangle the various causes of nonidentifiability. It is implementable by using available differential algebra software and statistical packages. This methodology can constitute a powerful tool for the oncologist to discover the behavior of inaccessible variables of clinical interest and to correctly address the experimental design. A complex model to study “in vivo” antitumor activity of interleukin-21 on tumor eradication in different cancers in mice is illustrated

Obesity and vasomotor symptoms according to the menopause rating scale

Orientador: Lúcia Helena Simões da Costa PaivaDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências MédicasResumo: OBJETIVOS: Avaliar a associação entre sintomas vasomotores e obesidade em mulheres climatéricas. MÉTODOS: Foi realizado um estudo de corte transversal de base populacional com 749 mulheres entre 45 e 60 anos residentes na região metropolitana de Campinas que foram submetidas a uma entrevista domiciliar. Os domicílios foram selecionados através de setores censitários de acordo com dados do IBGE. A variável dependente foi a intensidade dos sintomas menopausais avaliada através do questionário Menopause Rating Scale (MRS). As variáveis independentes foram as características sociodemográficas, clínicas e obesidade avaliada através do índice de massa corporal (IMC) classificada em três categorias: IMC 30 kg/m2. A análise foi realizada através do teste do qui-quadrado, T de Student e analise de regressão múltipla. RESULTADOS: A média de idade da população estudada foi de 52,5 (± 4,4 DP) anos. Com relação ao estado menopausal 16% estavam na pré-menopausa, 16% na perimenopausa e 68% na pós-menopausa. Não houve diferença significativa na maioria das características clínicas e sociodemográficas entre os grupos de IMC. As mulheres obesas apresentaram menor frequência de atividade física (p=0,019), maior prevalência de hipertensão (p 30 kg/m2) (p 30 kg/m2. Analysis was carried out by the chi-square test, Student¿s T-test and multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: The mean age of the population studied was 52.5 (± 4.4 SD) years. Concerning menopausal status, 16% of women were premenopausal, 16% were perimenopausal and 68% were postmenopausal. There was no significant difference in the majority of clinical and sociodemographic characteristics between BMI groups. Obese women practiced less physical activity (p=0.019), had a higher prevalence of hypertension (p 30 kg/m2) (p<0.0001). There was no significant difference in any of the psychological MRS symptoms. Multiple regression analysis showed that factors associated with hot flash scores were a higher BMI, presence of urinary urgency and vaginal dryness. CONCLUSION: Menopausal symptoms, such as vasomotor, joint and urinary symptoms are related to obesity. Hot flashes were associated with a higher BMI, urinary urgency and vaginal dryness. Understanding this relationship may contribute to the elaboration of healthcare strategies aimed at minimizing the impact of obesity on several health aspects of the climacteric womanMestradoFisiopatologia GinecológicaMestre em Ciências da Saúde2011/14526-9FAPES

LIVER STIFFNESS EVALUATION USING ACOUSTIC RADIATION FORCE IMPULSE ELASTOGRAPHY IN PEDIATRIC AND ADULT PATIENTS WITH CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE

Background: Hepatic complications are common in patients with congenital heart disease as a consequence of the primary cardiac defect or as a result of surgical palliation (e.g. Fontan procedure). Liver involvement represents a significant challenge and an adequate hepatic surveillance is fundamental. Liver biopsy represents the gold standard for diagnosis and staging of hepatic fibrosis but it’s an invasive procedure not suitable for a routine setting. Acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastography is a recently developed technique that allows to assess hepatic stiffness in a non-invasive and reproducible way. The usefulness of ARFI imaging has been described in adult Fontan patients but only few studies have been reported in the pediatric Fontan population and no one in CHD others than Fontan. Aim: The aims of this study were to assess liver stiffness, using ElastPQTM acoustic radiation force impulse elastography, in pediatric and adult patients with CHD, to compare liver stiffness values with healthy controls and to analyze possible associations between ARFI values and clinical, biochemical, cardiac and hepatic parameters. Materials and methods: Pediatric and adult patients that underwent heart surgery for CHD and were followed at the Cardiology Unit of the “Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata” of Verona between October 2018 and October 2020 were prospectively enrolled. Controls subjects without any liver or cardiac disease matched for age and sex to the case group were also included. The latest laboratory tests and echocardiogram available were collected. Liver ultrasound and ARFI measurement of liver stiffness were performed by a specifically trained single expert radiologist using the Philips Healtcare® ultrasound with ElastPQTM software. Results: A total of 50 subjects were enrolled for the study: 20 Fontan patients (13 males, median age at ARFI 8.4 years), 13 non-Fontan (9 males, median age at ARFI 4.8 years) and 17 controls (6 males, median age at ARFI 10 years). The median values of ARFI elastography were significantly higher in patients with CHDs (Fontan and non-Fontan patients) compared to control subjects (p&lt;0.01). Patients with morphological right ventricle overload showed significantly higher results (p=0.02). The cut-off of 5.7 kPa at elastography was used to discriminate between normal liver and liver with signs of congestion or fibrosis. All controls subjects showed ARFI values &lt;5.7 kPa whereas only 25% of Fontan patients and 46% of non-Fontan were below that threshold. Liver stiffness values were positively correlated with time from surgery and age at liver evaluation (p&lt;0.01). The number of platelets and white blood cells were inversely related to liver stiffness measurements (p=0.04 and p=0.05 respectively). The AST to platelet ratio index positively correlated with ARFI elastography results (p&lt;0.03). No significant correlations between ARFI results and other biochemical or cardiac parameters were found. Conclusions: Our data showed that the median values of liver stiffness measured with ElastPQTM pSWE were significantly higher in patients with CHDs compared to control subjects and, in particular, in those with morphological right ventricle overload. Liver stiffness values were also correlated with time from surgery and age at liver evaluation. The number of platelets and white blood cells were inversely related to liver stiffness measurements supporting the need of a screening for portal hypertension and splenomegaly in these patients. The AST to platelet ratio index was also correlated to ARFI elastography results suggesting that liver stiffness may reflect the evolution of liver fibrosis. In conclusion, our study demonstrated, for the first time in literature, that acoustic radiation force impulse elastography (pSWE) with ElastPQTM software can be a useful tool to assess liver stiffness in patients with Fontan circulation and other congenital heart disease

Un'esperienza comune, il corso di studi in Pianificazione territoriale, urbanistica e paesaggistico-ambientale

“Una risposta alla nuova domanda sociale”, questa era la descrizione iniziale con cui il Corso veniva proposto alla discussione della Facoltà per l’attivazione (Di.Ter 2001), una domanda sociale e istituzionale che richiedeva tecnici con una formazione nuova. Di questa formazione nuova Roberto Gambino, nelle diverse occasioni in cui ne ha avuto l’opportunità, sottolineava molti aspetti. Prima di tutto la necessaria forte caratterizzazione multidisciplinare ed interdisciplinare, poi la necessità di acquisire capacità e strumenti nuovi, come quelli offerti dagli sviluppi tecnologici, in particolare nel campo delle analisi urbane e territoriali. Questa formazione doveva avere un’attenzione particolare ai temi di carattere ambientale - diventati nel frattempo temi centrali per le trasformazioni territoriali - ed anche fornire specifiche abilità in termini di rappresentazione delle realtà urbane, territoriali e del paesaggio