Healthy urban food

Food is a territorial system that is closely linked to public health, social equity, and land policies. Eating habits are at the root of both incidence of cardiovascular disease and the phenomenon of malnutrition. Food often entails social inequity and is acquiring, directly and indirectly, ever greater relevance in the tools of territorial governance. The Cities2030 project is being developed and financed by the European Horizon 2020 programme. The methodology agreed upon by the partners envisages the involvement of all interest groups and actors within the food system arena through the installation of urban Policy and Living Labs. The University Iuav of Venice is involved in the development of two labs in the Veneto region: one in the city of Vicenza, the other in the Venice lagoon. Working in these two labs will make it possible to reflect on two food systems which are very different even though they are geographically close

Respuesta hidrológica del Bañado de Maldonado en la planicie costera del Río de la Plata: eventos extremos de abril de 2013

On April 2, 2013 unprecedented flash floods due to extreme rainfalls (approximately 400 mm in a few hours) occurred in La Plata and its surroundings causing loss of human live and great socioeconomic harm. The southeastern part of La Plata was an important flooded area. The lack of hydrological data at regional scale represents a significant constraint to the water management planning. This work aims to evaluate the hydrological response to the extreme precipitation events. Herein, we analyzed the satellite images acquired on April 5 (ASTER), April 9 (SPOT5), April 13 (Landsat7) and May 21, 2013 (SPOT5) and the topographical setting of the coastal plain. We suggest that the quantification of the evolution of the stored water in the low flooded areas of coastal plain is an indirect way to know the response of the coastal plain to the extreme precipitation events

Trichoderma: Evaluation of Its Degrading Abilities for the Bioremediation of Hydrocarbon Complex Mixtures

Hydrocarbons can have very harmful effects on organisms and the environment, and conventional techniques for their removal are expensive and require the use of chemicals and long-term actions. Trichoderma is an ascomycete genus known to be active on different recalcitrant substrates, since it can produce a set of nonspecific extracellular enzymes generally involved in the degradation of lignin. However, the literature concerning the use of Trichoderma to degrade hydrocarbons is still limited. In this work we aimed to investigate the ability of Trichoderma to exploit used engine oil as its sole carbon source for prospective bioremediation of contaminated substrates. Four different strains belonging to Trichoderma asperellum and Trichoderma harzianum species were tested. The fungi were inoculated in direct contact with used engine oil, and after 45 days the samples were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The results showed that all strains (except Trichoderma asperellum F1020) significantly changed the oil composition, decreasing the aromatic fraction in favor of the aliphatic one. T. harzianum F26, especially, showed a significant reduction of the BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and the three xylene isomers) and alkylbenzenes fraction and an increase in short-chain aliphatics C1–C20. Enzymatic tests for laccase and peroxidase were also carried out, demonstrating that every strain seems to express a different mode of actio

Pensare come una laguna. Verso un contratto di area umida per la laguna nord di Venezia

Il progetto Interreg Italia-Croazia CREW - Coordinated Wetland Management in Italy-Croatia cross-border region, si pone come obiettivo principale la tutela della biodiversità delle aree umide costiere nella regione adriatica tra Italia e Croazia, attraverso lo sviluppo di strumenti innovativi di governance partecipata, quale il Contratto di Area Umida. l’Università Iuav di Venezia, leader partner del progetto, ha scelto di occuparsi della Laguna di Venezia, area umida di grande rilevanza storica, culturale, economica ed ambientale a livello europeo e mediterraneo. Promuovendo la centralità dei soggetti territoriali (amministrazioni locali, comunità, associazioni e singoli) ma anche dei soggetti ‘diversamente animati’ (flora e fauna), il Contratto per la Laguna nord di Venezia si propone di affrontare la gestione delle aree umide superando i confini amministrativi e guardando agli ecosistemi nel loro complesso

Quantitative comparison of the protein corona of nanoparticles with different matrices

: Nanoparticles (NPs) are paving the way for improved treatments for difficult to treat diseases diseases; however, much is unknown about their fate in the body. One important factor is the interaction between NPs and blood proteins leading to the formation known as the "protein corona" (PC). The PC, consisting of the Hard (HC) and Soft Corona (SC), varies greatly based on the NP composition, size, and surface properties. This highlights the need for specific studies to differentiate the PC formation for each individual NP system. This work focused on comparing the HC and SC of three NPs with different matrix compositions: a) polymeric NPs based on poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA), b) hybrid NPs consisting of PLGA and Cholesterol, and c) lipidic NPs made only of Cholesterol. NPs were formulated and characterized for their physico-chemical characteristics and composition, and then were incubated in human plasma. In-depth purification, identification, and statistical analysis were then performed to identify the HC and SC components. Finally, similar investigations demonstrated whether the presence of a targeting ligand on the NP surface would affect the PC makeup. These results highlighted the different PC fingerprints of these NPs, which will be critical to better understand the biological influences of the PC and improve future NP designs

A genome editing approach to study cancer stem cells in human tumors

The analysis of stem cell hierarchies in human cancers has been hampered by the impossibility of identifying or tracking tumor cell populations in an intact environment. To overcome this limitation, we devised a strategy based on editing the genomes of patient-derived tumor organoids using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to integrate reporter cassettes at desired marker genes. As proof of concept, we engineered human colorectal cancer (CRC) organoids that carry EGFP and lineage-tracing cassettes knocked in the LGR5 locus. Analysis of LGR5-EGFP+ cells isolated from organoid-derived xenografts demonstrated that these cells express a gene program similar to that of normal intestinal stem cells and that they propagate the disease to recipient mice very efficiently. Lineage-tracing experiments showed that LGR5+ CRC cells self-renew and generate progeny over long time periods that undergo differentiation toward mucosecreting- and absorptive-like phenotypes. These genetic experiments confirm that human CRCs adopt a hierarchical organization reminiscent of that of the normal colonic epithelium. The strategy described herein may have broad applications to study cell heterogeneity in human tumors

The immune cell landscape of metastatic uveal melanoma correlates with overall survival

Uveal melanoma (UM) represents the most common primary intra-ocular malignancy in adults. Up to 50% of the patients develop distant metastases within 10\u2009years from diagnosis, with the liver as the most common site. Upon metastatization, life expectancy strongly reduces and immune checkpoint inhibitors that prove effective in cutaneous melanoma do not modify clinical outcome. To date, few studies have focused on deciphering the immunomodulatory features of metastatic UM microenvironment, and there are no prognostic models for clinical use. This highlights the urgent need to understand the delicate interplay between tumor and immune cells acting at the site of metastasis

Nanomedicine-based technologies and novel biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease from current to future challenges

Increasing life expectancy has led to an aging population, which has consequently increased the prevalence of dementia. Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia worldwide, is estimated to make up 50--80% of all cases. AD cases are expected to reach 131 million by 2050, and this increasing prevalence will critically burden economies and health systems in the next decades. There is currently no treatment that can stop or reverse disease progression. In addition, the late diagnosis of AD constitutes a major obstacle to effective disease management. Therefore, improved diagnostic tools and new treatments for AD are urgently needed. In this review, we investigate and describe both well-established and recently discovered AD biomarkers that could potentially be used to detect AD at early stages and allow the monitoring of disease progression. Proteins such as NfL, MMPs, p-tau217, YKL-40, SNAP-25, VCAM-1, and Ng BACE are some of the most promising biomarkers because of their successful use as diagnostic tools. In addition, we explore the most recent molecular strategies for an AD therapeutic approach and nanomedicine-based technologies, used to both target drugs to the brain and serve as devices for tracking disease progression diagnostic biomarkers. State-of-the-art nanoparticles, such as polymeric, lipid, and metal-based, are being widely investigated for their potential to improve the effectiveness of both conventional drugs and novel compounds for treating AD. The most recent studies on these nanodevices are deeply explained and discussed in this review.Authors acknowledge the support of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) Accion Estrategica en Salud, integrated in the Spanish National R+D+I Plan and financed by ISCIII Subdireccion General de Evaluacion and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER "Una manera de hacer Europa") grant PI17/01474 awarded to Merce Boada and grant PI19/00335 awarded to Marta Marquie; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SAF201784283-R); Biomedical Research Networking Centre in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED, CB06/05/0024); Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) for the strategic fund (UIDB/04469/2020) and European Regional Development Funds.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio