Digital Libraries and Educational Resources: the AquaRing Semantic Approach

Large amounts of scientific digital contents are nowadays held by scientific institutions which collect, pro- duce and store information valuable for dissemination, work, study and research. In this context, the development of the web and of learning technologies has brought new opportunities for teachers and learners to retrieve and share pedagogical objects. This paper introduces the use of a se- mantic approach developed within the EC funded AquaR- ing project with the aim of improving access to the vast amount of digital content concerning the aquatic environ- ment and its resources, as well as supporting enhanced edu- cation and informal learning in this specific domain. In or- der to achieve these goals, a semantic framework and an educational ontology were developed and implemented. Both were used to support the indexing of learning re- sources and to provide several educational services to end- users (especially children, students, parents and teachers). Index Terms—Digital Libraries, Learning Objects, Ontolo- gies, Semantic Web

Making the Communication of CCS more "human"

CCS communication has proven a tough challenge, particularly for the difficulty in raising interest for the technology, which is still unknown to the majority of the population, and for the complexity of conveying information about its potential for reducing emissions. In this paper we present a research based effort for bringing CCS nearer to people, through visual material developed taking into account emotional needs related to the technology. The production of a short introductory film on CCS is illustrated and its testing with a sample of 700 high school students

Post-surgical scar assessment in rehabilitation: a systematic review

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A case of cardiotoxicity following intramuscular injection of tropicamide and phenylephrine ophthalmic solution in a drug-addicted young woman

We report the case of a 40-year-old woman with a history of an opioid use disorder who presented to our emergency department complaining of palpitations, chest pain, and headache after the intramuscular injection of an ophthalmic solution containing tropicamide and phenylephrine (Visumidriatic Phenylephrine® 100 mg/mL + 5 mg/mL, Visufarma S.p.A., Italy) a few hours earlier for a voluntary purpose. She developed cardiac toxicity with hypertension, tachycardia, and high levels of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I, which required continuous cardiac monitoring for 48 hours with complete resolution of the cardiac damage without complications. Based on the current literature, this is the first reported case of cardiotoxicity induced by an ophthalmic solution of tropicamide and phenylephrine used intramuscularly for voluntary purposes

A case of vocal cord dysfunction in the emergency department

We describe the case of a 78-year-old woman admitted to our emergency department for an acute onset of severe dyspnoea with inspiratory wheezing-like sounds. She denied fever, cough, voice change and pain. She referred a similar but less severe episode occurred spontaneously one year before, with complete resolution in few minutes without sequelae. On examination upper airway obstruction was firstly excluded. She was initially treated as having asthma, without response. Parenteral high dose corticosteroids and antihistamines provided no benefit. Point-of-care-ultrasound resulted normal. Flexible laryngoscopy during the episode showed paradoxical vocal cord movement with adduction during both inspiration and expiration. This demonstrated that her dyspnoea was from Vocal Cord Dysfunction (VCD). VCD completely solved after administration of intravenous benzodiazepines

Cholesterol-loaded nanoparticles ameliorate synaptic and cognitive function in Huntington's disease mice

Brain cholesterol biosynthesis and cholesterol levels are reduced in mouse models of Huntington's disease (HD), suggesting that locally synthesized, newly formed cholesterol is less available to neurons. This may be detrimental for neuronal function, especially given that locally synthesized cholesterol is implicated in synapse integrity and remodeling. Here, we used biodegradable and biocompatible polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) modified with glycopeptides (g7) and loaded with cholesterol (g7-NPs-Chol), which per se is not blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeable, to obtain high-rate cholesterol delivery into the brain after intraperitoneal injection in HD mice. We report that g7-NPs, in contrast to unmodified NPs, efficiently crossed the BBB and localized in glial and neuronal cells in different brain regions. We also found that repeated systemic delivery of g7-NPs-Chol rescued synaptic and cognitive dysfunction and partially improved global activity in HD mice. These results demonstrate that cholesterol supplementation to the HD brain reverses functional alterations associated with HD and highlight the potential of this new drug-administration route to the diseased brain