O povo deve fazer arquitetura. La dimensione collettiva dei progetti paulisti di Lina Bo Bardi

Il testo è incentrato sul ruolo sociale dell'architettura di Lina Bo Bardi, in rapporto anche a quella della Scuola di San Paolo in Brasile. Tra i progetti realizzati nella capitale paulista, sono in particolare due quelli vicini all’impostazione della Scuola Paulista e che meglio riflettono alcuni aspetti centrali dell'architettura della progettista di origine italiana: il Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) e il Centro de Lazer SESC-Pompéia. In queste opere si celebra lo spazio collettivo: esse raggiungono infatti il massimo della bellezza quando sono pienamente vissute dalla comunità. Quella della Bardi è un’architettura che pone al centro della composizione l’individuo, senza distinzione di età e classe sociale: nei suoi schizzi non mancano mai persone o addirittura bambini; il fine ultimo è realizzare opere che possano esprimere pienamente le esigenze del popolo e da quest’ultimo essere vissute quotidianamente. Nell’aspetto umano dell’opera della Bardi, più che in quello architettonico, risiede la vicinanza alla Scuola Paulista

Agopuntura comunitaria. Una strategia abitativa per Vila Nova Esperança

I numerosi programmi di slum upgrading in atto nello Stato di São Paulo perseguono l’integrazione socio-spaziale attraverso la rigenerazione delle realtà informali, per far sì che gli abitanti possano avere accesso a beni e servizi primari e raggiungere così, in maniera reale, standard di vita cittadini. Tali interventi sono diversificati: risentono del luogo, della storia della comunità, della sua permanenza nell’area, della presenza o assenza di zone di rischio. Tra le tante strategie percorribili, il nostro contributo intende presentare un’ipotesi di intervento per insediamenti informali. Si tratta di un progetto sperimentale per abitazioni unifamiliari verificato in Vila Nova Esperança, piccola favela ricadente in parte nel Comune di São Paulo e in parte in quello di Taboão da Serra, e per la quale attualmente non sono previsti interventi di rigenerazione. Lo studio, condotto attraverso sopralluoghi e interviste ai favelados, ha consentito una mappatura dell’area, alla luce degli obiettivi della ricerca. Il fine è stato quello di definire un progetto di abitazioni di base minima, la cui realizzazione potesse avvenire in tempo breve, prevedendo al contempo anche un’espansione programmata tanto dell’impianto quanto del sistema-casa. La caratteristica principale della strategia proposta è infatti la volontà di fornire una possibile metodologia di intervento a lungo termine, potenzialmente capace di incidere gradualmente sull’assetto della comunità. L’elaborazione si basa sulla volontà di conservare la ricchezza sociale riscontrata nella comunità, incidendo sulle condizioni di vita e di convivenza attraverso il progetto dell’abitare quale motore per attivare il miglioramento e contribuire allo sviluppo dell’area. Così, partendo da considerazioni urbano-architettoniche ampie ed articolate, si è ragionato sulle modalità di recupero e riconfigurazione degli spazi aperti. Mentre il progetto di architettura, calato nel tessuto consolidato del caso di studio, ha parallelamente previsto la definizione di luoghi a carattere collettivo destinati ad accrescere la coesione comunitaria già riscontrata nella favela

Plankton food-webs: to what extent can they be simplified?

Plankton is a hugely diverse community including both unicellular and multicellular organisms, whose individual dimensions span over seven orders of magnitude. Plankton is a fundamental part of biogeochemical cycles and food-webs in aquatic systems. While knowledge has progressively accumulated at the level of single species and single trophic processes, the overwhelming biological diversity of plankton interactions is insufficiently known and a coherent and unifying trophic framework is virtually lacking. We performed an extensive review of the plankton literature to provide a compilation of data suitable for implementing food-web models including plankton trophic processes at high taxonomic resolution. We identified the components of the plankton community at the Long Term Ecological Research Station MareChiara in the Gulf of Naples. These components represented the sixty-three nodes of a plankton food-web. To each node we attributed biomass and vital rates, i.e. production, consumption, assimilation rates and ratio between autotrophy and heterotrophy in mixotrophic protists. Biomasses and rates values were defined for two opposite system's conditions; relatively eutrophic and oligotrophic states. We finally identified 817 possible trophic links within the web and provided each of them with a relative weight, in order to define a diet-matrix, valid for both trophic states, which included all consumers, fromn anoflagellates to carnivorous plankton. Vital rates for plankton resulted, as expected, very wide; this strongly contrasts with the narrow ranges considered in plankton system models implemented so far. Moreover, the amount and variety of trophic links highlighted by our review is largely excluded by state-of-the-art biogeochemical and food-web models for aquatic systems. Plankton models could potentially benefit from the integration of the trophic diversity outlined in this paper: first, by using more realistic rates; second, by better defining trophic roles of consumers in the planktonic web. We suggest that most trophic habits present in planktonic organisms must be contemplated in new generation plankton models.</p

EATING DISORDERS: THE ROLE OF CHILDHOOD TRAUMA AND THE EMOTION DYSREGULATION

Background: The present retrospective case-control study is aimed at evaluating the presence of childhood traumatic factors and the difficulty in regulating emotions, within a sample of patients with eating disorders compared to the group of healthy controls. Subjects and methods: We included 65 people assessed for eating disorders, 40 patients and 25 healthy controls, who were given two tests: the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) to investigate the presence of traumatic events and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) to assess the emotional regulation. Results: People with eating disorders showed higher average scores, and therefore greater severity than the control group, in all the domains explored, both considering traumatic experiences and emotional dysregulation. The domain emotional neglect showed the closest correlation with eating disorders (average scoring 15.9 vs 9.9 of healthy controls), followed by emotional abuse (12.2 vs 7.8), physical neglect (8.2 vs 6.6), physical abuse (8.3 vs 6.6) and sexual abuse (7.2 vs 5.6). In the same way, the emotional dysregulation was greater among people with eating disorder than healty controls, concerning every items explored by DERS, as clarity (average scoring 14.8 vs 11.4), awareness (17.1 vs 11.7), goals (16.3 vs 12.9), strategy (22.0 vs 14.7), non acceptance (17.4 vs 12.1) and impulse (16.5 vs 11.4). Conclusions: Childhood traumatic experiences and emotional dysregulation result significantly higher in people with eating disorders than healthy controls

Seismic performance of bridges during the 2016 Central Italy earthquakes

This paper focuses on the structural performance of existing masonry and reinforced concrete bridges which were surveyed in the aftermath of the 2016 Central Italy earthquakes. Typical bridge vulnerabilities are first reviewed, as they provide a reference for the response of the bridges that were damaged by the 2016 earthquake swarm. Case studies are then discussed and preliminary numerical analyses are carried out to interpret the observed failure modes. In general, all surveyed masonry bridges experienced some extent of damage, particularly when built with poor-quality materials and subjected to geotechnical-induced effects. However, they offered a robust response in terms of collapse prevention. The majority of existing reinforced concrete bridges, although designed primarily for gravity loads, exhibited acceptable performance; however, local damage due to the poor maintenance of the structural systems was observed, which affected primarily the non-structural components of the bridges

EATING DISORDERS: THE ROLE OF CHILDHOOD TRAUMA AND THE EMOTION DYSREGULATION

Background: The present retrospective case-control study is aimed at evaluating the presence of childhood traumatic factors and the difficulty in regulating emotions, within a sample of patients with eating disorders compared to the group of healthy controls. Subjects and methods: We included 65 people assessed for eating disorders, 40 patients and 25 healthy controls, who were given two tests: the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) to investigate the presence of traumatic events and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) to assess the emotional regulation. Results: People with eating disorders showed higher average scores, and therefore greater severity than the control group, in all the domains explored, both considering traumatic experiences and emotional dysregulation. The domain emotional neglect showed the closest correlation with eating disorders (average scoring 15.9 vs 9.9 of healthy controls), followed by emotional abuse (12.2 vs 7.8), physical neglect (8.2 vs 6.6), physical abuse (8.3 vs 6.6) and sexual abuse (7.2 vs 5.6). In the same way, the emotional dysregulation was greater among people with eating disorder than healty controls, concerning every items explored by DERS, as clarity (average scoring 14.8 vs 11.4), awareness (17.1 vs 11.7), goals (16.3 vs 12.9), strategy (22.0 vs 14.7), non acceptance (17.4 vs 12.1) and impulse (16.5 vs 11.4). Conclusions: Childhood traumatic experiences and emotional dysregulation result significantly higher in people with eating disorders than healthy controls

The gene transformer-2 of Anastrepha fruit flies (Diptera, Tephritidae) and its evolution in insects

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In the tephritids <it>Ceratitis</it>, <it>Bactrocera </it>and <it>Anastrepha</it>, the gene <it>transformer </it>provides the memory device for sex determination via its auto-regulation; only in females is functional Tra protein produced. To date, the isolation and characterisation of the gene <it>transformer-2 </it>in the tephritids has only been undertaken in <it>Ceratitis</it>, and it has been shown that its function is required for the female-specific splicing of <it>doublesex </it>and <it>transformer </it>pre-mRNA. It therefore participates in <it>transformer </it>auto-regulatory function. In this work, the characterisation of this gene in eleven tephritid species belonging to the less extensively analysed genus <it>Anastrepha </it>was undertaken in order to throw light on the evolution of <it>transformer-2</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The gene <it>transformer-2 </it>produces a protein of 249 amino acids in both sexes, which shows the features of the SR protein family. No significant partially spliced mRNA isoform specific to the male germ line was detected, unlike in <it>Drosophila</it>. It is transcribed in both sexes during development and in adult life, in both the soma and germ line. The injection of <it>Anastrepha transformer-2 </it>dsRNA into <it>Anastrepha </it>embryos caused a change in the splicing pattern of the endogenous <it>transformer </it>and <it>doublesex </it>pre-mRNA of XX females from the female to the male mode. Consequently, these XX females were transformed into pseudomales. The comparison of the eleven <it>Anastrepha </it>Transformer-2 proteins among themselves, and with the Transformer-2 proteins of other insects, suggests the existence of negative selection acting at the protein level to maintain Transformer-2 structural features.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results indicate that <it>transformer-2 </it>is required for sex determination in <it>Anastrepha </it>through its participation in the female-specific splicing of <it>transformer </it>and <it>doublesex </it>pre-mRNAs. It is therefore needed for the auto-regulation of the gene <it>transformer</it>. Thus, the <it>transformer/transfomer-2 > doublesex </it>elements at the bottom of the cascade, and their relationships, probably represent the ancestral state (which still exists in the Tephritidae, Calliphoridae and Muscidae lineages) of the extant cascade found in the Drosophilidae lineage (in which <it>tra </it>is just another component of the sex determination gene cascade regulated by <it>Sex-lethal</it>). In the phylogenetic lineage that gave rise to the drosophilids, evolution co-opted for <it>Sex-lethal</it>, modified it, and converted it into the key gene controlling sex determination.</p

Biocompatible superparamagnetic core-shell nanoparticles for potential use in hyperthermia-enabled drug release and as an enhanced contrast agent

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) and core-shell type nanoparticles, consisting of SPIONs coated with mesoporous silica and/or lipid, were synthesized and tested for their potential theranostic applications in drug delivery, magnetic hyperthermia and as a contrast agent. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) confirmed the size of bare and coated SPIONs was in the range of 5-20 nm and 100-200 nm respectively. The superparamagnetic nature of all the prepared nanomaterials as indicated by Vibrating Sample Magnetometry (VSM) and their heating properties under an AC field confirm their potential for hyperthermia applications. Scanning Column Magnetometry (SCM) data showed that extrusion of bare-SPION (b-SPION) dispersions through a 100 nm polycarbonate membrane significantly improved the dispersion stability of the sample. No sedimentation was apparent after 18 hours compared to a pre-extrusion estimate of 43% settled at the bottom of the tube over the same time. Lipid coating also enhanced dispersion stability. Transversal relaxation time (T2) measurements for the nanoparticles, using a bench-top relaxometer, displayed a significantly lower value of 46 ms, with a narrow relaxation time distribution, for lipid silica coated SPIONs (Lip-SiSPIONs) as compared to that of 1316 ms for the b-SPIONs. Entrapment efficiency of the anticancer drug, Doxorubicin (DOX) for Lip-SPIONs was observed to be 35% which increased to 58% for Lip-SiSPIONs. Moreover, in-vitro cytotoxicity studies against human breast adenocarcinoma, MCF-7 cells showed that % cell viability increased from 57% for bSPIONs to 82% for Lip-SPIONs and to 87% for Lip-SiSPIONs. This suggests that silica and lipid coatings improve the biocompatibility of bSPIONs significantly and enhance the suitability of these particles as drug carriers. Hence, the magnetic nanomaterials prepared in this work have potential theranostic properties as a drug carrier for hyperthermia cancer therapy and also offer enhancement of contrast agent efficacy and a route to a significant increase in dispersion stability

Patient-specific Monte Carlo-based organ dose estimates in spiral CT via optical 3D body scanning and adaptation of a voxelized phantom dataset: proof-of-principle

: Objective. We present a method for personalized organ dose estimates obtained before the CT exam, via 3D optical body scanning and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations.Approach. A voxelized phantom is derived by adapting a reference phantom to the body size and shape measured with a portable 3D optical scanner, which returns the 3D silhouette of the patient. This was used as an external rigid envelope for incorporating a tailored version of the internal body anatomy derived from a phantom dataset (National Cancer Institute, NIH, USA) matched for gender, age, weight, and height. The proof-of-principle was conducted on adult head phantoms. The Geant4 MC code provided estimates of the organ doses from 3D absorbed dose maps in voxelized body phantom.Main results. We applied this approach for head CT scanning using an anthropomorphic voxelized head phantom derived from 3D optical scans of mannequins. We compared the estimates of head organ doses with those provided by the NCICT3.0 software (NCI, NIH, USA). Head organ doses differed up to 38% using the proposed personalized estimate and MC code, with respect to corresponding estimates calculated for the standard (non-personalized) reference head phantom. Preliminary application of the MC code to chest CT scans is shown. Real-time pre-exam personalized CT dosimetry is envisaged with adoption of a GPU-based fast MC code.Significance. The developed procedure for personalized organ dose estimates before the CT exam, introduces a new approach for realistic description of size and shape of patients via voxelized phantoms specific for each patient

Analisi della risposta strutturale di alcuni ponti durante il terremoto del Centro Italia

La presente memoria analizza la risposta strutturale dei ponti in muratura ed in c.a. durante la sequenza sismica registrata nel Centro Italia. Dopo una breve discussione delle caratteristiche principali della sequenza sismica registrata nel 2016-2017, vengono esaminati in particolare i diversi meccanismi di collasso osservati e la prestazione sismica di alcune delle più significative infrastrutture viarie presenti nell’area del cratere ed essenziali per le operazioni di soccorso. Dai sopralluoghi effettuati e dall’esame della risposta strutturale si può asserire che gran parte dei danni rilevati sono attribuibili principalmente a fenomeni di degrado dovuti alla scarsa manutenzione, nonché a stati pregressi di danneggiamento