Chapter Il racconto dei luoghi: indagini storico-rappresentative della facciata della chiesa di san Matteo a Scicli

The 43rd UID conference, held in Genova, takes up the theme of ‘Dialogues’ as practice and debate on many fundamental topics in our social life, especially in these complex and not yet resolved times. The city of Genova offers the opportunity to ponder on the value of comparison and on the possibilities for the community, naturally focused on the aspects that concern us, as professors, researchers, disseminators of knowledge, or on all the possibile meanings of the discipline of representation and its dialogue with ‘others’, which we have broadly catalogued in three macro areas: History, Semiotics, Science / Technology. Therefore, “dialogue” as a profitable exchange based on a common language, without which it is impossible to comprehend and understand one another; and the graphic sign that connotes the conference is the precise transcription of this concept: the title ‘translated’ into signs, derived from the visual alphabet designed for the visual identity of the UID since 2017. There are many topics which refer to three macro sessions: - Witnessing (signs and history) - Communicating (signs and semiotics) - Experimenting (signs and sciences) Thanks to the different points of view, an exceptional resource of our disciplinary area, we want to try to outline the prevailing theoretical-operational synergies, the collaborative lines of an instrumental nature, the recent updates of the repertoires of images that attest and nourish the relations among representation, history, semiotics, sciences

The Cultural Duality between Coastal Fortifications and the Sea

[EN] Sicily’s coasts are studded with fortifications, a few which are still intact and serve as a testimony of the island’s thousand year old history. Their original function of defence and control was closely linked to aspects of formality and strategic positioning in the Mediterranean. For this reason, they once constituted strong holds on the territory and represented important elements of symbolic connotations. They have been transformed through the centuries, by man’s actions as well as natural occurrences, and have therefore lost their original significance. Regardless of this fact, they are still capable of giving a strong sense of identity to the topos and of recognition to the collective imagination. The fortifications’ emerging masses seem tightly linked to the cliff and the sweeping expanse of the sea which have the duty, still today, of evoking the identifying character of the area. The grandeur of the fortified walls speaks to the vastness of the sea and the depths of the abysses. The material and chromatic aspects of the stones, in contrast with the transparency of the water, tend to melt, taking on qualities of agility and sculptural composition. These aspects take on an identity of their own to the point of affecting the surfaces of the walls, highlighting the more rugged and uneven edges while softening those that are smoother. The three castles of Syracuse, Catania, and Aci are clear examples of unique systems that are environmentally integrated and interrelated with each other because of their peculiarity.Taibi, G.; Valenti, R.; Liuzzo, M.; Patanè, T. (2020). The Cultural Duality between Coastal Fortifications and the Sea. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1001-1008. https://doi.org/10.4995/FORTMED2020.2020.11531OCS1001100

A Digital representation of Euryalus fortress: a historical interpretive study

[EN] It is clear that concepts and cognitive processes aimed at putting forward fortified systems in their relation with the territory and with the surrounding landscape, establish inextricably interwoven “interests” and a consequent osmotic hysteresis between their emergence and disappearance into the deepest part of the earth. The logic behind the defensive structures of Euryalus fortress is particularly interesting. The fortress designed during the Greek period and located on the top of Epipolae hill, represented a strategic fortification for the city’s defence. Therefore, it is reasonable to think about a sequence of emerging or disappearing empty spaces; a semantic vacuum to be filled with logical-subjective interpretations pertaining to those who visit the place. The conceptual framework provides knowledge and documentation meant as indispensable supporting instruments to understand Dionysius I and Archimedes’ thoughts where the integration of people and environment forms the basis of the close iterative connection among nature, artifice and landscape. The research takes this direction implementing innovative technological systems trying to go beyond in order to achieve virtual reconstruction processes, even if partial, of the fortress. Survey, thus, can be applied as an instrument for the knowledge of historical heritage which once converted into digital heritage is a support for the reconstruction of lost ancient scenarios. Actually, the implementation of innovative systems allows an easy-to-use data viewing which supports the interpretive phase, the archiving, consultation and dissemination of survey products. In particular, the survey of the fortress with integrated methodologies (both instrumental and photogrammetric) provides not only a fundamental basis for the documentation of the fortress conditions but also provides a basis for the collection of reconstructive hypotheses formulated by researchers who have been involved with the structure so far. Interactions among archaeology, history, geomorphology and technology make history and a past renowned glory come alive with the common spirit of coming up to a strong synergy between the past and the future destiny of the place.Valenti, R.; Giuliano, S.; Paternò, E. (2020). Una rappresentazione digitale del castello Eurialo per l’indagine storico-interpretativa. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 487-494. https://doi.org/10.4995/FORTMED2020.2020.11526OCS48749

Anti-Invasive Activity of Bovine Lactoferrin against Listeria monocytogenes.

We have investigated the possible role of bovine lactoferrin in protecting the intestinal epithelium from bacterial infections, using as an in vitro model enterocyte-like cell lines HT-39 and Caco-2 infected with a food-borne pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes . When infection occurred in the presence of 1 mg/ml of bovine lactoferrin, in the form of apolactoferrin or iron- or manganese-saturated forms, the adhesion of bacteria to eukaryotk cells was unaffected, but the number of internalized bacteria was reduced by 42- to 125-fold. The possibility of a toxic effect of lactoferrin was excluded, because bovine lactoferrin was used at nonbactericidal and noncytotoxic concentrations

Calcium-Sensing Receptor and Aquaporin 2 Interplay in Hypercalciuria-Associated Renal Concentrating Defect in Humans. An In Vivo and In Vitro Study

One mechanism proposed for reducing the risk of calcium renal stones is activation of the calcium-sensing receptor (CaR) on the apical membranes of collecting duct principal cells by high luminal calcium. This would reduce the abundance of aquaporin-2 (AQP2) and in turn the rate of water reabsorption. While evidence in cells and in hypercalciuric animal models supports this hypothesis, the relevance of the interplay between the CaR and AQP2 in humans is not clear. This paper reports for the first time a detailed correlation between urinary AQP2 excretion under acute vasopressin action (DDAVP treatment) in hypercalciuric subjects and in parallel analyzes AQP2-CaR crosstalk in a mouse collecting duct cell line (MCD4) expressing endogenous and functional CaR. In normocalciurics, DDAVP administration resulted in a significant increase in AQP2 excretion paralleled by an increase in urinary osmolality indicating a physiological response to DDAVP. In contrast, in hypercalciurics, baseline AQP2 excretion was high and did not significantly increase after DDAVP. Moreover DDAVP treatment was accompanied by a less pronounced increase in urinary osmolality. These data indicate reduced urinary concentrating ability in response to vasopressin in hypercalciurics. Consistent with these results, biotinylation experiments in MCD4 cells revealed that membrane AQP2 expression in unstimulated cells exposed to CaR agonists was higher than in control cells and did not increase significantly in response to short term exposure to forskolin (FK). Interestingly, we found that CaR activation by specific agonists reduced the increase in cAMP and prevented any reduction in Rho activity in response to FK, two crucial pathways for AQP2 translocation. These data support the hypothesis that CaR–AQP2 interplay represents an internal renal defense to mitigate the effects of hypercalciuria on the risk of calcium precipitation during antidiuresis. This mechanism and possibly reduced medulla tonicity may explain the lower concentrating ability observed in hypercalciuric patients

The relationship between subjective risk intelligence and courage with working performance : the potential mediating effect of workplace social courage

Background: There is a growing attention toward the construct of courage from a psychological point of view; recently, courage has been related with numerous positive individual behaviors and outcomes, such as coping strategies and subjective wellbeing, and an increasing number of studies explore the role of courage in the working and organizational environments. The present study is aimed to analyze the effect that individual courage—together with risk intelligence—and workplace social courage have on working performance; Methods: The participants are 961 Italian workers, balanced by gender; the measures used are: Courage, Subjective Risk Intelligence Scale, Workplace Social Courage Scale, and Performance Scale. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Models; Results: The results show the effect of subjective risk intelligence and courage on working performance, both directly and through the mediation of workplace social courage; Conclusions: Suggestions for further research and practical implications are discussed

Evasion of anti-growth signaling: a key step in tumorigenesis and potential target for treatment and prophylaxis by natural compounds

The evasion of anti-growth signaling is an important characteristic of cancer cells. In order to continue to proliferate, cancer cells must somehow uncouple themselves from the many signals that exist to slow down cell growth. Here, we define the anti-growth signaling process, and review several important pathways involved in growth signaling: p53, phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), retinoblastoma protein (Rb), Hippo, growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), AT-rich interactive domain 1A (ARID1A), Notch, insulin-like growth factor (IGF), and Krüppel-like factor 5 (KLF5) pathways. Aberrations in these processes in cancer cells involve mutations and thus the suppression of genes that prevent growth, as well as mutation and activation of genes involved in driving cell growth. Using these pathways as examples, we prioritize molecular targets that might be leveraged to promote anti-growth signaling in cancer cells. Interestingly, naturally-occurring phytochemicals found in human diets (either singly or as mixtures) may promote anti-growth signaling, and do so without the potentially adverse effects associated with synthetic chemicals. We review examples of naturally-occurring phytochemicals that may be applied to prevent cancer by antagonizing growth signaling, and propose one phytochemical for each pathway. These are: epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) for the Rb pathway, luteolin for p53, curcumin for PTEN, porphyrins for Hippo, genistein for GDF15, resveratrol for ARID1A, withaferin A for Notch and diguelin for the IGF1-receptor pathway. The coordination of anti-growth signaling and natural compound studies will provide insight into the future application of these compounds in the clinical setting

Prognostic value of copeptin and mid-regional proadrenomedullin in COVID-19-hospitalized patients.

BackgroundBiomarkers are used for diagnosis, risk stratification and medical decisions. Copeptin and mid-regional proadrenomedullin (MR-proADM) are markers of stress and endothelial function, respectively, which have been studied in pneumonia, sepsis and septic shock. This study aimed to assess whether copeptin and MR-proADM could predict coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in-hospital outcomes, that is multi-system complications, length of stay and mortality.MethodsCopeptin and MR-proADM were assessed at admission in 116 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Data were retrospectively extracted from an online database. The primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality. The secondary endpoints were in-hospital complications, the composite outcome 'death, or admission to intensive care unit, or in-hospital complications', and length of stay. The predictive power was expressed as area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUROC).ResultsCopeptin was increased in non-survivors (median 29.7 [interquartile range 13.0-106.2] pmol/L) compared to survivors (10.9 [5.9-25.3] pmol/L, p  25.3 pmol/L. MR-proADM differentiated survivors (0.8 [0.6-1.1] nmol/L) from non-survivors (1.5 [1.1-2.8] nmol/L, p  1.0 nmol/L. Copeptin and MR-proADM predicted sepsis (AUROC 0.95 and 0.96 respectively), acute kidney injury (0.87 and 0.90), the composite outcome (0.69 and 0.75) and length of stay (r = 0.42, p ConclusionsAdmission MR-proADM and copeptin may be implemented for early risk stratification in COVID-19-hospitalized patients to help identify those eligible for closer monitoring and care intensification