a smartphone application for supporting the data collection and analysis of the cultural heritage damaged during natural disasters

The adverse impacts of natural disasters on lives and livelihoods, as well as regional and local economies, are increasingly evident, and losses to both tangible and intangible cultural heritage due to these disasters pay an important role in the total amount. In fact, damages to sites, structures and artifacts of cultural and historical value, as well as impacts to cultural tourism and the financial resources, produce a strong competitive disadvantage on local communities. Emergency decision making, based on awareness of the suffered damages, can play a crucial role in the attempts of improving resilience of the strategic elements; however, this process typically requires a fast overview on large territories. In this work, we propose a novel framework for obtaining an agile solution to quickly collect and analyze picture galleries and information provided by both internal staff and citizens through commercially available mobile devices. This solution virtually generates a network of information sources during emergency time (e.g., a seismic sequence), and allows to produce a situation map in GIS environment, hence supporting the health status analysis of cultural heritage over time. This paper presents the prototype system composed of: (1) a smartphone application for the acquisition of new information and the examination of existing one; (2) a web-service for exchanging data with databases; and (3) a local service that makes use of a proper piece of software for obtaining a 3D reconstruction from new picture galleries. The proposed system results in a scalable, exportable and modular tool useful during the emergency and for preserving memories of local communities

Increased FGF23 serum level is associated with unstable carotid plaque in type 2 diabetic subjects with internal carotid stenosis.

BACKGROUND: The object of this study was to investigate the potential role of FGF23 on plaque stability in type 2 diabetic patients with internal carotid artery stenosis. METHODS: In this retrospective observational study, we analyzed FGF23 serum level in 361 type 2 diabetic patients with internal carotid artery stenosis undergoing carotid endarterectomy and in 598 diabetic controls without carotid atherosclerosis. RESULTS: We found that FGF23 median serum levels was significantly higher in patients than in diabetic controls [67.7 (59.5-77.8) pg/mL and 43.89 (37.5-50.4), P < 0.001] and was significantly and independently associated with unstable plaque in patients with internal carotid artery stenosis [OR, 5,71 (95% CI, 2.09-15.29]. CONCLUSIONS: We have found, for the first time, that FGF23 could be associated with unstable plaque in type 2 diabetic patients with internal carotid artery stenosis

Association of kidney disease measures with risk of renal function worsening in patients with type 1 diabetes

Background: Albuminuria has been classically considered a marker of kidney damage progression in diabetic patients and it is routinely assessed to monitor kidney function. However, the role of a mild GFR reduction on the development of stage 653 CKD has been less explored in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic role of kidney disease measures, namely albuminuria and reduced GFR, on the development of stage 653 CKD in a large cohort of patients affected by T1DM. Methods: A total of 4284 patients affected by T1DM followed-up at 76 diabetes centers participating to the Italian Association of Clinical Diabetologists (Associazione Medici Diabetologi, AMD) initiative constitutes the study population. Urinary albumin excretion (ACR) and estimated GFR (eGFR) were retrieved and analyzed. The incidence of stage 653 CKD (eGFR &lt; 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) or eGFR reduction &gt; 30% from baseline was evaluated. Results: The mean estimated GFR was 98 \ub1 17 mL/min/1.73m2 and the proportion of patients with albuminuria was 15.3% (n = 654) at baseline. About 8% (n = 337) of patients developed one of the two renal endpoints during the 4-year follow-up period. Age, albuminuria (micro or macro) and baseline eGFR &lt; 90 ml/min/m2 were independent risk factors for stage 653 CKD and renal function worsening. When compared to patients with eGFR &gt; 90 ml/min/1.73m2 and normoalbuminuria, those with albuminuria at baseline had a 1.69 greater risk of reaching stage 3 CKD, while patients with mild eGFR reduction (i.e. eGFR between 90 and 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) show a 3.81 greater risk that rose to 8.24 for those patients with albuminuria and mild eGFR reduction at baseline. Conclusions: Albuminuria and eGFR reduction represent independent risk factors for incident stage 653 CKD in T1DM patients. The simultaneous occurrence of reduced eGFR and albuminuria have a synergistic effect on renal function worsening

Management of nonvalvular atrial fibrillation: A comprehensive approach

Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia in clinical practice, may coexist with conditions common to both cardiovascular and noncardiovascular diseases and is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. Atrial fibrillation is often asymptomatic and diagnosed only when it has caused a potentially serious complication, such as an ischemic stroke. When atrial fibrillation has been identified, 2 objectives have to be addressed - the antiarrhythmic therapy based on rate control or rhythm control, and prevention of thromboembolism. A rhythm or rate control strategy can be chosen indifferently because they have comparable efficacy for the outcome measure of mortality, but the antithrombotic therapy is ever mandatory. The risk of stroke increases cumulatively with increasing age, previous transient ischemic attack or stroke, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, impaired left ventricular function and heart failure. Warfarin reduces the risk of stroke by about two thirds; and aspirin, by about one fifth, but its use must be weighted with the risk of bleeding. The risk of anticoagulant-associated hemorrhage increases with age, the presence of serious concomitant diseases, with poorly controlled hypertension and poorly controlled anticoagulation

Management of nonvalvular atrial fibrillation : A comprehensive approach

Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia in clinical practice, may coexist with conditions common to both cardiovascular and noncardiovascular diseases and is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. Atrial fibrillation is often asymptomatic and diagnosed only when it has caused a potentially serious complication, such as an ischemic stroke. When atrial fibrillation has been identified, 2 objectives have to be addressed - the antiarrhythmic therapy based on rate control or rhythm control, and prevention of thromboembolism. A rhythm or rate control strategy can be chosen indifferently because they have comparable efficacy for the outcome measure of mortality, but the antithrombotic therapy is ever mandatory. The risk of stroke increases cumulatively with increasing age, previous transient ischemic attack or stroke, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, impaired left ventricular function and heart failure. Warfarin reduces the risk of stroke by about two thirds; and aspirin, by about one fifth, but its use must be weighted with the risk of bleeding. The risk of anticoagulant-associated hemorrhage increases with age, the presence of serious concomitant diseases, with poorly controlled hypertension and poorly controlled anticoagulation

Un modello agli automi cellulari macroscopici per la modellazione dei fenomeni di moton e trasporto nei mezzi porosi

Dottorato di Ricerca in Ingegneria Idraulica per l'Ambiente ed il Territorio, XX Ciclo,a.a. 2008Università della Calabri

Guidelines for validation and verification of groundwater mathematical studies (GULLIVER): a case study

The goal of this work is to define a set of guidelines for “validating" mathematical models that are to be used in real-world problems of subsurface flow and contaminant transport. Groundwater models today are being used to study increasingly complex problems involving large temporal and spatial scales and with many uncertainties inherent in the data and in the models themselves. It becomes important therefore to establish procedures and benchmark tests with which to assess a given model's adequacy for simulating a specific groundwater problem. In the GULLIVER project we propose to create a public library of phenomenological schemes (PS), each one satisfactorily solved by an established model. A user with a specific application and model at hand can select the PS that most closely corresponds to his application, and corroborate his model against the established solution. The user's model is considered validated when the two numerical solutions match according to specified criteria. In this paper we describe this methodology and present its application to a 2D saturated flow and transport test case based on data from a field study site in Calabria, Italy.281-29

Are the available experimental models of type 2 diabetes appropriate for a gender perspective?

Several experimental models have so far been developed to improve our knowledge of the pathogenetic mechanisms of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D), to determine the possible pharmacological targets of this disease and to better evaluate diabetes-associated complications, e.g. the cardiovascular disease. In particular, the study of T2D gained the attention of several groups working with different animal species: rodents, cats or pigs, as well as other non-human primate species. Each of these species provided useful and different clues. However, T2D has to be considered as a gender-associated disease: sex differences play in fact a key role in the onset as well as in the progression of the disease and a higher mortality for cardiovascular diseases is detected in diabetic women with respect to men. The results obtained from all the available animal models appear to only partially address this issue so that the search for more precise information in this respect appears to be mandatory. In this review we summarize these concepts and literature in the field and propose a reappraisal of the various animal models for a study of T2D that would take into consideration a gender perspective

Biological Activity of Spartium junceum L. (Fabaceae) Aromatic Water

In this study, antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of Spartium junceum L. aromatic water (SJAW), ob- tained by vacuum process distillation, were investigated. Antimicrobial activity of SJAW was evaluated against fungal organisms, Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria using agar-well diffusion method. Moreover, the ability of SJAW to sensitize Staphyloccus aureus to antibiotics was also evaluated. The antioxidant activity was examined by 2,2’-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity assay and the cytotoxic activity of SJAW main components was tested on melanoma RPMI 7932 and normal keratinocytes NCTC 2544 cell lines using the trypan blue method. The preparation did not show antibacterial activity against tested microorganisms and was unable, at tested concentrations/conditions, to sensitize Staphylococcus aureus to antibiotics clindamycin (2 μg) and tetracycline (30 μg). On the contrary SJAW possesses an appreciable antioxidant and cytotoxic activity suggesting its potential use for phar- maceutical applications