A look at the COVID-19 pandemic: the Italian case

The paper examines the complex, multidisciplinary and multidimensional scope of the coronavirus pandemic, focusing on its intertwined implications for international, supranational and domestic laws. The global reach of the phenomenon has highlighted limits and structural gaps at all levels of government in human society, raising questions to which rulers will have to give precise answers

Advertising city. L'arte di svelare lo spazio urbano

La tesi indaga il ruolo della pubblicità outdoor nella città storica europea, un campo di “limite” inedito o poco esplorato, offrendo una nuova interpretazione della prassi ormai diffusa della sponsorizzazione dei beni monumentali da parte dei privati. Colmando una lacuna della letteratura esistente dove il ruolo della pubblicità nella pratica architettonica è generalmente studiato dal punto di vista delle grandi metropoli e solo raramente in relazione alla monumentalità della città storica, “Advertising city. L’arte di svelare lo spazio urbano” fornisce un contributo al tema pubblicità in ambito disciplinare affrontando la questione delle trasformazioni dello spazio urbano ad opera dello strumento pubblicitario. La ricostruzione del quadro teorico-concettuale avviene ripercorrendo il mutuo scambio tra pubblicità-arte-architettura nella storia delle città attraverso la selezione, rilettura e sistematizzazione unitaria di esempi paradigmatici eterogenei, tratti dal campo pubblicitario, artistico e architettonico, che restituiscono un ampio e inedito quadro di riferimento sul rapporto “architettura-pubblicità” e sul “potenziale dell’effimero” nella costruzione dell’urbano. Alla pubblicità vengono riconosciute alcune potenzialità latenti che si fondano sulla tecnica comune a quella artistica, dello “straniamento”; a partire dalla condizione di “frattura” operata dall'affissione pubblicitaria nelle scene urbane viene esplorata la possibilità di rileggere il processo machiavellico di sponsorizzazione come strumento prefigurativo di nuovi assetti architettonici di spazi e parti di città. Le sperimentazioni condotte a Napoli, Milano e Atene, casi emblematici nell’ambito delle città storiche europee, dei diversi approcci ai meccanismi e alle pratiche di sponsorizzazione messi in campo in relazione al rapporto Monumento-Pubblicità muovono alla costruzione dell’ipotesi della ricerca. La logica sistemica di Monumentando Napoli, il mutuo legame arte pubblicità messo in scena da In Alto, arte sui ponteggi a Milano, la logica negazionista di Atene che annunciando il No del Kas alla sfilata di Gucci sull’Acropoli rilancia mediaticamente il Brand Partenone, evidenziano gli esiti di tecniche pubblicitarie efficaci dal punto di vista della disciplina architettonica. Dimostrando che attraverso le potenzialità mediatiche stranianti dell’effimero è possibile restituire visibilità a monumenti marginalizzati, creare nuove scenografie conferendo eccezionalità a ciò che appare ordinario, determinare associazioni inedite in spazi consolidati attraverso itinerari sottesi alle logiche mediatiche, alle strategie di marketing e visibilità, l’impacchettamento dei monumenti ad opera dei ponteggi, inevitabile conseguenza dell’organizzazione tecnica e pratica dei cantieri, viene riletto come “installazione” e come metodo di astrazione delle forme del monumento, che può mettere in luce lati inediti dell’oggetto occultato. La tesi sovverte il punto di vista che tende a considerare l’effimero come orpello inquinante la purezza dell’architettura reinterpretandolo come potenziale strumento di sperimentazione di logiche compositive altre che, oltre al reperimento di fondi necessari per il restauro dei monumenti, consenta di rivelare significati e relazioni spaziali inedite di un patrimonio culturale che necessita di essere riscoperto e rivitalizzato. Come l’arte, la pubblicità viene ridefinita da un ruolo conoscitivo sperimentale in grado di manipolare e costruire sull’esistente effimere composizioni urbane finalizzate a ri-contestualizzare e ridefinire, in senso “rossiano”, un rinnovato ruolo attivo significante per il monumento marginalizzato e dimenticato. La tesi perviene all’individuazione di alcune categorie operative e tecniche architettoniche che aprono la strada a nuove sperimentazioni architettoniche (di lettura o costruzione) sulla città storica contemporanea, in grado di veicolare, attraverso il progetto, la condizione di straniamento prodotta dall’apparato effimero pubblicitario. “Quattro modi del comporre il nascondere per mostrare” vengono così definiti: “Il Monumento nobilitato: occultare per riscattare”, “Il Monumento sostituito: occultare per esporre”, “Il Monumento trasformato: s-montare per allestire”, “Il Monumento percorso: (1+2+3)xn volte”

The Ubiquitin Proteasome System in Hematological Malignancies: New Insight into Its Functional Role and Therapeutic Options

The ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) is the main cellular degradation machinery designed for controlling turnover of critical proteins involved in cancer pathogenesis, including hematological malignancies. UPS plays a functional role in regulating turnover of key proteins involved in cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and terminal differentiation. When deregulated, it leads to several disorders, including cancer. Several studies indicate that, in some subtypes of human hematological neoplasms such as multiple myeloma and Burkitt's lymphoma, abnormalities in the UPS made it an attractive therapeutic target due to pro-cancer activity. In this review, we discuss the aberrant role of UPS evaluating its impact in hematological malignancies. Finally, we also review the most promising therapeutic approaches to target UPS as powerful strategies to improve treatment of blood cancers

A Water Soluble 2-Phenyl-5-(pyridin-3-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole Based Probe: Antimicrobial Activity and Colorimetric/Fluorescence pH Response

The growing demand of responsive tools for biological and biomedical applications pushestowards new low-cost probes easy to synthesize and versatile. Current optical probes are theranostictools simultaneously responsive to biological parameters/analyte and therapeutically operating.Among the optical methods for pH monitoring, simple small organic molecules including multifunc-tional probes for simultaneous biological activity being highly desired by scientists and technicians.Here, we present a novel pH-responsive probe with a three-ring heteroaromatic pattern and a flexiblecationic chain. The novel molecule shows real-time naked-eye colorimetric and fluorescence responsein the slightly acidic pH range besides its excellent solubility both in the organic phase and in water.In addition, the small probe shows significant antibacterial activity, particularly againstEscherichia coli.Single-crystal X-ray study and density functional theory (DFT) calculations rationalize the moleculespectroscopic response. Finally, molecular dynamics (MD) elucidate the interactions between theprobe and a model cell membrane

How attention to faces and objects changes over time in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders: Preliminary evidence from an eye tracking study

Further understanding of the longitudinal changes in visual pattern of toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is needed. We examined twelve 19 to 33-month-old toddlers at their first diagnosis (mean age: 25.1 months) and after six months (mean age: 31.7 months) during two initiating joint attention (IJA) tasks using eye tracking. Results were compared with the performance of age-matched typically developing (TD) toddlers evaluated at a single time-point. Autistic toddlers showed longitudinal changes in the visual sensory processing of the IJA tasks, approaching TD performance with an improvement in the ability to disengage and to explore the global space. Findings suggest the use of eye tracking technology as an objective, non-intrusive, adjunctive tool to measure outcomes in toddlers with ASD

Cost Minimization Analysis of Radiofrequency Compared to Laser Thermal Ablation in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Over the last decade of years, minimally invasive techniques have been developed for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma and liver metastases. We sought to investigate the health costs associated with the management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma treated with radiofrequency vs laser thermal ablation and their clinical outcomes.METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of the ablations performed in two referral centers in southern Italy, from 2009 to 2013. Resource use was valued by year 2017 official prices, in €. Direct healthcare costs (drugs, visits, tests and hospitalizations) of different ablation techniques were compared. Total costs were analyzed from Italian NHS perspective.RESULTS: A total of 140 patients were identified. Baseline demographics and clinical outcomes of interest did not differ between the two groups. Patients treated with laser thermal ablation resulted in an expected annually cost savings of 258.9 € per patient, in one-year follow-up healthcare costs compared with radiofrequency. The largest components of annual medical expenditures were attributable to drugs, regardless of the type of ablative technique.CONCLUSIONS: The ablation using either laser thermal ablation or radiofrequency is equally effective. Laser thermal ablation would carry disposable cost savings as compared to radiofrequency. The costs associated with management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, treated with laser thermal ablation were lower than those treated with radiofrequency ablation

High-Risk Siblings without Autism: Insights from a Clinical and Eye-Tracking Study

Joint attention (JA)—the human ability to coordinate our attention with that of other people—is impaired in the early stage of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, little is known about the JA skills in the younger siblings of children with ASD who do not develop ASD at 36 months of age [high-risk (HR)-noASD]. In order to advance our understanding of this topic, a prospective multicenter observational study was conducted with three groups of toddlers (age range: 18–33 months): 17 with ASD, 19 with HR-noASD and 16 with typical development (TD). All subjects underwent a comprehensive clinical assessment and an eye-tracking experiment with pre-recorded stimuli in which the visual patterns during two tasks eliciting initiating joint attention (IJA) were measured. Specifically, fixations, transitions and alternating gaze were analyzed. Clinical evaluation revealed that HR-noASD subjects had lower non-verbal cognitive skills than TD children, while similar levels of restricted and repetitive behaviors and better social communication skills were detected in comparison with ASD children. Eye-tracking paradigms indicated that HR-noASD toddlers had visual patterns resembling TD in terms of target-object-to-face gaze alternations, while their looking behaviors were similar to ASD toddlers regarding not-target-object-to-face gaze alternations. This study indicated that high-risk, unaffected siblings displayed a shared profile of IJA-eye-tracking measures with both ASD patients and TD controls, providing new insights into the characterization of social attention in this group of toddlers

Phenotypic antimicrobial resistance profile of isolates causing clinical mastitis in dairy animals

Mastitis is the most frequent and costly disease of lactating animals and is associated with a significant reduction in milk yield, increased cost and culling. Early and specific antibiotic based treatment reduces the severity of the disease. Over the years the extensive use of antimicrobials has led to increase antimicrobial resistance. The present study was designed to investigate the prevalence of microorganisms responsible for mastitis and their antimicrobial resistance pattern. A total of 282 milk samples were collected from different animal species (sheep, cows and goats) with clinical mastitis. Antimicrobial resistance was evaluated for Streptococcus spp. and Staphylococcus spp. In cow samples Streptococcus spp. represented the most frequently isolated genus (33.84%), while Staphylococcus spp. was the most prevalent genus in sheep and goat samples (44.4 and 73.86%, respectively). Gentamicin and chloramphenicol were found to be the most effective drugs against the tested isolates, while the highest resistance rates were observed for amoxicillin, ampicillin, tetracycline, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole

CBX2 shapes chromatin accessibility promoting AML via p38 MAPK signaling pathway

Abstract Background: The dynamic epigenome and proteins specialized in the interpretation of epigenetic marks critically contribute to leukemic pathogenesis but also offer alternative therapeutic avenues. Targeting newly discovered chromatin readers involved in leukemogenesis may thus provide new anticancer strategies. Accumulating evidence suggests that the PRC1 complex member CBX2 is overexpressed in solid tumors and promotes cancer cell survival. However, its role in leukemia is still unclear. Methods: We exploited reverse genetic approaches to investigate the role of CBX2 in human leukemic cell lines and ex vivo samples. We also analyzed phenotypic effects following CBX2 silencing using cellular and molecular assays and related functional mechanisms by ATAC-seq and RNA-seq. We then performed bioinformatic analysis of ChIPseq data to explore the influence of histone modifications in CBX2-mediated open chromatin sites. Lastly, we used molecular assays to determine the contribution of CBX2-regulated pathways to leukemic phenotype. Results: We found CBX2 overexpressed in leukemia both in vitro and ex vivo samples compared to CD34+ cells. Decreased CBX2 RNA levels prompted a robust reduction in cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis. Similarly, sensitivity to CBX2 silencing was observed in primary acute myeloid leukemia samples. CBX2 suppression increased genome-wide chromatin accessibility followed by alteration of leukemic cell transcriptional programs, resulting in enrichment of cell death pathways and downregulation of survival genes. Intriguingly, CBX2 silencing induced epigenetic reprogramming at p38 MAPK-associated regulatory sites with consequent deregulation of gene expression. Conclusions: Our results identify CBX2 as a crucial player in leukemia progression and highlight a potential druggable CBX2-p38 MAPK network in AML

Identifying the science and technology dimensions of emerging public policy issues through horizon scanning

Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique [1]. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security.Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique [1]. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security