Analisi cluster delle caratteristiche socio-economiche dei comuni dell'Emilia-Romagna: un confronto tra comuni dentro e fuori dal cratere del sisma

The socio-economic features of the area hit by the 2012 earthquake in Emilia-Romagna (Italy) represents a first step in building a more comprehensive framework, which could help in better interpreting earthquake effects in both short and medium period. Actually, this analysis falls under that broader field of research, which is aimed at providing counterfactual evaluations of both natural disasters’ impacts and the adoption of public policies to support reconstruction. This paper moves from the idea that those municipalities, which lie close to the epicentre of 2012 Emilia-Romagna earthquake, are not particularly homogenous in terms of socio-economic features. Analysing those major differences is a key element in order to assess the way human activities and other specific economic features at municipality level may either increase or limit the effects of an earthquake. Firstly, this paper tackles the problem of properly identifying the boundaries of the area directly hit by the 2012 earthquake. Indeed, different acts have provided different definitions of those boundaries. Eventually, a cluster analysis has been performed covering all municipalities in Emilia-Romagna, according to a set of demographic and economic variables, available at municipality level. This analysis highlights the existence of different typologies of municipalities, even in the area hit by the earthquake. In particular, these results are of particular interest, allowing further assessments on the effects of the earthquake. Actually, according to cluster analysis results, specific counterfactual examples (not hit by the earthquake) will be identified

Revisiting the role of GSK3, a modulator of innate immunity, in idiopathic inclusion body myositis

Idiopathic or sporadic inclusion body myositis (IBM) is the leading age-related (onset > 50 years of age) autoimmune muscular pathology, resulting in significant debilitation in affected individuals. Once viewed as primarily a degenerative disorder, it is now evident that much like several other neuro-muscular degenerative disorders, IBM has a major autoinflammatory component resulting in chronic inflammation-induced muscle destruction. Thus, IBM is now considered primarily an inflammatory pathology. To date, there is no effective treatment for sporadic inclusion body myositis, and little is understood about the pathology at the molecular level, which would offer the best hopes of at least slowing down the degenerative process. Among the previously examined potential molecular players in IBM is glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3, whose role in promoting TAU phosphorylation and inclusion bodies in Alzheimer’s disease is well known. This review looks to re-examine the role of GSK3 in IBM, not strictly as a promoter of TAU and Abeta inclusions, but as a novel player in the innate immune system, discussing some of the recent roles discovered for this well-studied kinase in inflammatory-mediated pathology

From the dual function lead AP2238 to AP2469, a multi-target-directed ligand for the treatment of Alzheimer\u2019s disease

The development of drugs with different pharmacological properties appears to be an innovative therapeutic approach for Alzheimer\u2019s disease. In this article, we describe a simple structural modification of AP2238, a first dual function lead, in particular the introduction of the catechol moiety performed in order to search for multi-target ligands. The new compound AP2469 retains antiacetylcholinesterase (AChE) and beta-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme (BACE)1 activities compared to the reference, and is also able to inhibit Ab42 self aggregation, Ab42 oligomer-binding to cell membrane and subsequently reactive oxygen species formation in both neuronal and microglial cells. The ability of AP2469 to interfere with Ab42 oligomer-binding to neuron and microglial cell membrane gives this molecule both neuroprotective and antiinflammatory properties. These findings, together with its strong chain-breaking antioxidant performance, make AP2469 a potential drug able to modify the course of the diseas

Impact of woody encroachment on soil organic carbon and nitrogen in abandoned agricultural lands along a rainfall gradient in Italy

Land use changes represent one of the most important components of global environmental change andhave a strong influence on carbon cycling. As a consequence of changes in economy during the last century, areas of marginal agriculture have been abandoned leading to secondary successions. The encroachment of woody plants into grasslands, pastures and croplands is generally thought to increase the carbon stored in these ecosystems even though there are evidences for a decrease in soil carbon stocks after land use change. In this paper, we investigate the effects of woody plant invasion on soil carbon and nitrogen stocks along a precipitation gradient (200–2,500 mm) using original data from paired experiment in Italian Alps and Sicily and data from literature (Guo and Gifford Glob Change Biol 8(4):345–360, 2002). We found a clear negative relationship (-0.05% C mm-1) between changes in soil organic carbon and precipitation explaining 70% of the variation in soil Cstocks after recolonization: dry sites gain carbon (up to? 67%) while wet sites lose carbon (up to -45%). In our data set, there seem to be two threshold values for soil carbon accumulation: the first one is 900 mm of mean annual rainfall, which separates the negative from the positive ratio values; the second one is 750 mm, which divides the positive values in two groups of sites. Most interestingly, this threshold of 750 mm corresponds exactly to a bioclimatic threshold: sites with\750 mm mean annual rainfall is classified as thermo-mediterranean sites, while the ones [750 mm are classified as mesomediterranean sites. This suggests that apart from rainfall also temperature values have an important influence on soil carbon accumulation after abandonment. Moreover, our results confirmed that the correlation between rainfall and trend in soil organic carbon may be related to nitrogen dynamics: carbon losses may occur only if there is a substantial decrease in soil nitrogen stock which occurs in wetter sites probably because of the higher leaching

Sensitivity of snow models to the accuracy of meteorological forcings in mountain environments

Snow models are usually evaluated at sites providing high-quality meteorological data, so that the uncertainty in the meteorological input data can be neglected when assessing model performances. However, high-quality input data are rarely available in mountain areas and, in practical applications, the meteorological forcing used to drive snow models is typically derived from spatial interpolation of the available in situ data or from reanalyses, whose accuracy can be considerably lower. In order to fully characterize the performances of a snow model, the model sensitivity to errors in the input data should be quantified. In this study we test the ability of six snow models to reproduce snow water equivalent, snow density and snow depth when they are forced by meteorological input data with gradually lower accuracy. The SNOWPACK, GEOTOP, HTESSEL, UTOPIA, SMASH and S3M snow models are forced, first, with high-quality measurements performed at the experimental site of Torgnon, located at 2160ma.s.l. in the Italian Alps (control run). Then, the models are forced by data at gradually lower temporal and/or spatial resolution, obtained by (i) sampling the original Torgnon 30 min time series at 3, 6, and 12 h, (ii) spatially interpolating neighbouring in situ station measurements and (iii) extracting information from GLDAS, ERA5 and ERA-Interim reanalyses at the grid point closest to the Torgnon site. Since the selected models are characterized by different degrees of complexity, from highly sophisticated multi-layer snow models to simple, empirical, single-layer snow schemes, we also discuss the results of these experiments in relation to the model complexity. The results show that, when forced by accurate 30 min resolution weather station data, the single-layer, intermediatecomplexity snow models HTESSEL and UTOPIA provide similar skills to the more sophisticated multi-layer model SNOWPACK, and these three models show better agreement with observations and more robust performances over different seasons compared to the lower-complexity models SMASH and S3M. All models forced by 3-hourly data provide similar skills to the control run, while the use of 6- A nd 12-hourly temporal resolution forcings may lead to a reduction in model performances if the incoming shortwave radiation is not properly represented. The SMASH model generally shows low sensitivity to the temporal degradation of the input data. Spatially interpolated data from neighbouring stations and reanalyses are found to be adequate forcings, provided that temperature and precipitation variables are not affected by large biases over the considered period. However, a simple bias-adjustment technique applied to ERA-Interim temperatures allowed all models to achieve similar performances to the control run. Regardless of their complexity, all models show weaknesses in the representation of the snow density

Delayed diagnosis of coeliac disease increases cancer risk

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Descriptors of Posidonia oceanica meadows: Use and application

The conservation of the coastal marine environment requires the possession of information that enables the global quality of the environment to be evaluated reliably and relatively quickly. The use of biological indicators is often an appropriate method. Seagrasses in general, and Posidonia oceanica meadows in particular, are considered to be appropriate for biomonitoring because of their wide distribution, reasonable size, sedentary habit, easy collection and abundance and sensitivity to modifications of littoral zone. Reasoned management, on the scale of the whole Mediterranean basin, requires standardized methods of study, to be applied by both researchers and administrators, enabling comparable results to be obtained. This paper synthesises the existing methods applied to monitor P. oceanica meadows, identifies the most suitable techniques and suggests future research directions. From the results of a questionnaire, distributed to all the identified laboratories working on this topic, a list of the most commonly used descriptors was drawn up, together with the related research techniques (e.g. standardization, interest and limits, valuation of the results). It seems that the techniques used to study meadows are rather similar, but rarely identical, even though the various teams often refer to previously published works. This paper shows the interest of a practical guide that describes, in a standardized way, the most useful techniques enabling P. oceanica meadows to be used as an environmental descriptor. Indeed, it constitutes the first stage in the process. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

History and Applications of Dust Devil Studies

Studies of dust devils, and their impact on society, are reviewed. Dust devils have been noted since antiquity, and have been documented in many countries, as well as on the planet Mars. As time-variable vortex entities, they have become a cultural motif. Three major stimuli of dust devil research are identified, nuclear testing, terrestrial climate studies, and perhaps most significantly, Mars research. Dust devils present an occasional safety hazard to light structures and have caused several deaths

In triple negative breast tumor cells, PLC-β2 promotes the conversion of CD133high to CD133low phenotype and reduces the CD133-related invasiveness.

Background: Beyond its possible correlation with stemness of tumor cells, CD133/prominin1 is considered an important marker in breast cancer, since it correlates with tumor size, metastasis and clinical stage of triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC), to date the highest risk breast neoplasia. Methods: To study the correlation between the levels of CD133 expression and the biology of breast-derived cells, CD133low and CD133high cell subpopulations isolated from triple negative MDA-MB-231 cells were compared in terms of malignant properties and protein expression. Results: High expression of CD133 characterizes cells with larger adhesion area, lower proliferation rate and reduced migration speed, indicative of a less undifferentiated phenotype. Conversely, when compared with CD133low cells, CD133high cells show higher invasive capability and increased expression of proteins involved in metastasis and drug-resistance of breast tumors. Among the signalling proteins examined, PLC-β2 expression inversely correlates with the levels of CD133 and has a role in inducing the CD133high cells to CD133low cells conversion, suggesting that, in TNBC cells, the de-regulation of this PLC isoform is responsible of the switch from an early to a mature tumoral phenotype also by reducing the expression of CD133. Conclusions: Since CD133 plays a role in determining the invasiveness of CD133 high cells, it may constitute an attractive target to reduce the metastatic potential of TNBC. In addition, our data showing that the forced up-regulation of PLC-β2 counteracts the invasiveness of CD133-positive MDA-MB-231 cells might contribute to identify unexplored key steps responsible for the TNBC high malignancy, to be considered for potential therapeutic strategies