Does counseling increase sustained benefit of HAART among prison inmates after release to the community?

The lack of sustained effectiveness of HAART after release to the community of HIV-infected inmates treated in prison was well demonstrated by Springer et al. in a recent article. This disappointing result occurred even though all of the patients scheduled for release were referred for transitional case management services to a community-based organization and were provided with a 2-week supply of medications, a medical appointment with an HIV care provider, emergency housing and food, and assistance with other identified unmet needs

A distributed software environment for collaborative web computing

Poster in the proceedingsThis paper describes an extensible core software element of a distributed, peer-to-peer system, which provides several facilities in order to help the implementation of collaborative, Web-based, distributed information storing and retrieval applications based on a decentralized P2P model. Moreover, after an architectural introduction of the core distributed software module, the Core Node, this paper describes a real application, named DART Node, based on it and designed and implemented within the DART (Distributed Agent-based Retrieval Tools) project, which carries out the idea of the design and implementation of a distributed, semantic and collaborative Web search engine, including mobile devices integration use cases.

Building the Web of Things with WS-BPEL and Visual Tags. Web of Things using Service-oriented Architecture standards

The Web of things is an emerging scenario in which everyday objects are connected to the Internet and can answer to HTTP queries with structured data. This paper presents a system that allows users to build networks of everyday objects using visual tags as proximity technology. The system backend is based on Service-oriented Architecture languages and tools for the runtime composition of “things” establishing connections we call hyperpipes.357-36

A multi modal interface for a visually impaired pupils educational environment

The aim of this paper is to describe a multi modal user interface integrated within an architecture allowing visually impaired pupils and sighted people to work on the same station. This architecture is developed to face the problem of the inclusion of visually impaired pupils in mainstream education. The system is able to display the same original multi-media content converted in different ways on screen, Braille terminal and vocal synthesizers. It accepts various interactions from keyboard, Braille bar and mouse. Both blind and sighted users can manage the same tools, cooperate together on the same content, and thus perform the same activities. Blind pupils may be assisted by sighted teachers or tutors that don’t know how to read Braille characters

Designing peer-to-peer systems for business-to-business environments

Conference held in Firenze, Italy, 30 November -2 December 2005This paper describes the design of a peer-to-peer system integrated in a larger framework for the automatic content production, formatting, distribution and delivery over multiple platforms called AXMEDIS (E.U. IST-2-511299). One of the goals of the project is the reduction of costs and, among the others, the adoption of a collaborative environment based on a virtual database as an abstraction of a multitude of objects shared in a large network of content producers/distributors/aggregators. The peculiar properties of this system are the automation of P2P related operations, the professional query user interface based on Dublin Core and available rights of target objects, and the preemptive exclusion of uncertified participants.219-22

Itv as a community-to-community collaborative system

Web-forums and Instant Messengers provide a unique opportunity for the users to create and support spontaneous communities. However, such systems tend to focus on the one-to-one and one-to-many approaches. Community-to- Community interaction, described as two groups of people which communicate by means of a network, is still missing. This work describes early implementation of an interactive television (iTV) chat system, which dynamically creates chat rooms where users can discuss, share their TV experience and access web resources.337-33

Apricot melanoidins prevent oxidative endothelial cell death by counteracting mitochondrial oxidation and membrane depolarization

The cardiovascular benefits associated with diets rich in fruit and vegetables are thought to be due to phytochemicals contained in fresh plant material. However, whether processed plant foods provide the same benefits as unprocessed ones is an open question. Melanoidins from heat-processed apricots were isolated and their presence confirmed by colorimetric analysis and browning index. Oxidative injury of endothelial cells (ECs) is the key step for the onset and progression of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), therefore the potential protective effect of apricot melanoidins on hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative mitochondrial damage and cell death was explored in human ECs. The redox state of cytoplasmic and mitochondrial compartments was detected by using the redox-sensitive, fluorescent protein (roGFP), while the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) was assessed with the fluorescent dye, JC-1. ECs exposure to hydrogen peroxide, dose-dependently induced mitochondrial and cytoplasmic oxidation. Additionally detected hydrogen peroxide-induced phenomena were MMP dissipation and ECs death. Pretreatment of ECs with apricot melanoidins, significantly counteracted and ultimately abolished hydrogen peroxide-induced intracellular oxidation, mitochondrial depolarization and cell death. In this regard, our current results clearly indicate that melanoidins derived from heat-processed apricots, protect human ECs against oxidative stress

A DISTRIBUTED SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT FOR COLLABORATIVE WEB COMPUTING

Abstract: This paper describes an extensible core software element of a distributed, peer-to-peer system, which provides several facilities in order to help the implementation of collaborative, Web-based, distributed information storing and retrieval applications based on a decentralized P2P model. Moreover, after an architectural introduction of the core distributed software module, the Core Node, this paper describes a real application, named DART Node, based on it and designed and implemented within the DART (Distributed Agent-based Retrieval Tools) project, which carries out the idea of the design and implementation of a distributed, semantic and collaborative Web search engine, including mobile devices integration use cases

WILDFIRE PREVENTION IN NATURALISTIC AREAS: THE ROLE OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Negli ultimi dieci anni le regioni europee del bacino mediterraneo (Italia, Spagna, Portogallo, Francia e Grecia) hanno registrano una perdita media annua di circa 500000 ettari di territorio a causa degli incendi boschivi. Anche per le aree boscate della Sardegna il fenomeno degli incendi boschivi rappresenta una seria minaccia con importanti conseguenze non solo da un punto di vista ecologico, ma soprattutto per gli effetti sul sistema socioeconomico. Un elevato numero di ignizioni si verifica nelle aree a vegetazione erbacea che ricopre il cinquanta percento della superficie dell’isola. Fra queste, i pascoli e pascoli arborati, spesso adiacenti ad aree a macchia e ad aree a boschi di latifoglie, costituiscono una combinazione di biomasse combustibili vegetali le cui quantità possono avere degli effetti sul comportamento degli incendi, in particolare sulla propagazione verso le aree boscate adiacenti, caratterizzate spesso da rilevante interesse naturalistico. La protezione delle aree boschive rappresenta per la Regione Sardegna una delle priorità, anche al fine di una loro valorizzazione, funzionale all’ampliamento dell’offerta turistica sia attraverso l’allungamento della stagione turistica, sia attraverso l’ampliamento delle opportunità di fruizione dei beni naturali localizzati sia nelle aree costiere, sia soprattutto nelle aree interne. Gli obbiettivi principali del presente lavoro sono quelli di dimostrare come le moderne tecnologie basate sui sistemi informativi geografici siano un valido strumento per i) lo studio ed elaborazione di piani di prevenzione dagli incendi, finalizzati alla protezione di un’area a forte valenza naturalistica ubicata nel centro Sardegna, e ii) la valutazione dell’efficacia di pratiche silvo-pastorali nella riduzione del rischio di incendio e nella contemporanea promozione di uno sviluppo sostenibile del settore silvo-pastorale. Lo studio è stato condotto presso la foresta demaniale di Monte Pisanu, una delle principali aree boscate del centro Sardegna; all’interno di quest’area è presente la foresta di Sos Nibberos, recentemente dichiarata “monumento naturale” con un decreto della Regione Sardegna. Quest’area ha una estensione di 7 ettari ed è popolata da tassi millenari con fusto alto fino a 15 metri e diametro di 1 metro. Ampie aree forestali caratterizzate da coperture arboree non elevate sono destinate al pascolamento ovino e bovino controllato

Biological activities and nutraceutical potentials of water extracts from different parts of Cynomorium coccineum L. (Maltese Mushroom)

Maltese Mushroom (Cynomorium coccineum L.) is a non-photosynthetic plant that has been used in traditional medicine for many centuries. In this paper, water extracts from the whole plant, external layer and peeled plant were studied to determine the main components responsible for its biological activities, i.e., its antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-tyrosinase activities; its cytotoxicity against mouse melanoma B16F10 cells; and its pro-erectile activity in adult male rats. The results of electron transfer and hydrogen transfer assays showed that the antioxidant activity was mainly due to anthocyanins in the external layer, whereas the external layer and peeled plant extracts both inhibited the microbial growth of several Gram-positive strains. In contrast, the whole plant extract had the highest anti-tyrosinase activity and exhibited pro-erectile activity when administered subcutane-ously. Overall, this study elucidated which parts of Maltese Mushroom are responsible for its antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-tyrosinase activities and thus which extracts have potential for use in nutraceutical formulation