Med/Architecture: the Typological evolution of Paradoxical Buildings

“The challenge for all of us is to look back at history but envision the path ahead. There seems to be no question that our future depends on this vision” (Guenther, Vittori, 2008). This sentence summarizes the revolution that is happening in the world of healthcare architecture since few years. The development of the design of new hospital buildings is growing as well as the interest for the specific field. Flexibility, adaptability, cost effectiveness, standardization are just some of the criteria to which a new hospital nowadays has to respond. However, the architectonical research with the development of new plans for large hospitals is still prerogative of the northern European countries. In the southern countries of Europe the attention for this sector is still too much neglected and the solutions obsolete. Moreover, in this field often the architectonical solutions are the expression of political choices. In the Contemporary Age hospitals became complex bulwarks of science and medical technology. The era of designing them as techno-buildings has finished and Architecture is moving towards patient-oriented solutions, looking back at old and simpler typologies. However hospitals still remain paradoxical buildings. They have to be small in order to be more human and large and general for cost effectiveness. They have to be more open in their spatial layout, but also safe in order to avoid the spread of infections. They have to contain a high number of facilities and at the same time decentralize secondary departments in order to reduce the costs. This paper aims at analyzing some of the architectonical trends on going in hospital architecture, by looking back at the historical evolution of their typologies

Maratea - Community Centre

katedra: KAR

The Reality of BIM Implementation in European Design Practice

Engaging in the BIM experience as a whole is much harder than is usually believed. Adopting a BIM approach, encompasses a change of management policy within the structure of the practices involved in the process. Having a clear organisational structure supports the efficiency of the communication. It affects its success. Very little research has been conducted on effective BIM implementation. This paper established the nature of BIM implementation. Eleven crucial issues worldwide provide the basis for the statistically controlled survey conducted across some of the biggest North-western European architectural practices, known to be BIM advocates and operating in the healthcare industry. The level of BIM implementation, based on eleven independent variables and their single implementation, proves to be below the level stated by the companies observed. The acronym BIM should not be synonymous with marketing campaigns. The outcomes of the study, presented in this paper, provide an opportunity to critically reflect on the requirements needed to reach an efficient level of implementation of the BIM platform in architectural practices. A clear organisational structure of the design team with a BIM manager that only acts as a coordinator among the overall design team, as well as the different external stakeholders involved in the BIM platform is highly recommended

The Reality of BIM Implementation in European Design Practice

Engaging in the BIM experience as a whole is much harder than is usually believed. Adopting a BIM approach, encompasses a change of management policy within the structure of the practices involved in the process. Having a clear organisational structure supports the efficiency of the communication. It affects its success. Very little research has been conducted on effective BIM implementation. This paper established the nature of BIM implementation. Eleven crucial issues worldwide provide the basis for the statistically controlled survey conducted across some of the biggest North-western European architectural practices, known to be BIM advocates and operating in the healthcare industry. The level of BIM implementation, based on eleven independent variables and their single implementation, proves to be below the level stated by the companies observed. The acronym BIM should not be synonymous with marketing campaigns. The outcomes of the study, presented in this paper, provide an opportunity to critically reflect on the requirements needed to reach an efficient level of implementation of the BIM platform in architectural practices. A clear organisational structure of the design team with a BIM manager that only acts as a coordinator among the overall design team, as well as the different external stakeholders involved in the BIM platform is highly recommended

Resveratrol inhibits Epstein Barr Virus lytic cycle in Burkitt's lymphoma cells by affecting multiple molecular targets

Resveratrol (RV), a polyphenolic natural product present in many plants and fruits, exhibits anti-inflammatory, cardio-protective and anti-proliferative properties. Moreover, RV affects a wide variety of viruses including members of the Herpesviridae family, retroviruses, influenza A virus and polyomavirus by altering cellular pathways that affect viral replication itself. Epstein Barr Virus (EBV), the causative agent of infectious mononucleosis, is associated with different proliferative diseases in which it establishes a latent and/or a lytic infection. In this study, we examined the antiviral activity of RV against the EBV replicative cycle and investigated the molecular targets possibly involved. In a cellular context that allows in vitro EBV activation and lytic cycle progression through mechanisms closely resembling those that in vivo initiate and enable productive infection, we found that RV inhibited EBV lytic genes expression and the production of viral particles in a dose-dependent manner. We demonstrated that RV inhibited protein synthesis, decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, and suppressed the EBV-induced activation of the redox-sensitive transcription factors NF-kB and AP-1. Further insights into the signaling pathways and molecular targets modulated by RV may provide the basis for exploiting the antiviral activity of this natural product on EBV replication. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

EFFECT OF ESTROGEN REPLACEMENT ON BONE METABOLISM AND CYTOKINES IN SURGICAL MENOPAUSE

The effect of oestrogen replacement on bone metabolism and serum cytokine levels (IL1,IL6) was investigated in surgical menopause. The study included 40 female subjects; 10 healthy premenopausal women underwent total hysterectomy without oophorectomy. Thirty healthy premenopausal women underwent total hysterectomy with bilateral oophorectomy. They were randomly divided into 3 groups of 10 subjects. The first group received natural estradiol (0,05 mg/ day) for 6 months; the second group received natural estradiol (0,05 mg/day) and medroxyprogesteron acetate (10 mg/day) for 6 months, the third group received no therapy. Calcium-phosphorus metabolism, inflammatory indices, serum IL1 and IL6 levels were tested before and 6 months after surgery in all patients. A significant increase in serum alkaline phosphatase, urinary cross-links, serum PTH and IL1-IL6 was observed in the untreated women with total hysterectomy and oophorectomy. No significant variation in any of the parameters considered was observed in patients treated with oestrogen, in those treated with oestrogens and medroxyprogesteron nor in patients without oophorectomy. These results in human ''in vivo'' confirm that ovarian steroids play an important role in regulating the production of IL1 and IL6 which could regulate bone resorption