Ökosystemdienstleistungen von Stadtbäumen in urban-industriellen Stadtlandschaften ‒ Analyse, Bewertung und Kartierung mit Baumkatastern

Urban tree cadastres are important data bases for analysis and evaluation of biodiversity and ecosystem services of city trees. However, to validate the data for those issues, some parameters must be supplemented by ground surveys. Evaluations on biodiversity fall short if they are limited to the analysis of species richness. The present approach is geared towards meeting these requirements in the context of increasing the functionality of urban ecosystems and demonstrates operational applications for assessment and valuation of city trees

Mapping Habitat Quality in the Lombardy Region, Italy

This paper reports a case study which examines the how mapping ecosystem services can be used to identify areas of significant natural value to be protected or restored. We mapped habitat quality in Lombardy (northwest Italy) using the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoff) model. Model outputs were used to approximate the spatial distribution of ecological quality across the region provided a framework to support the implementation of the Lombardy Regional Landscape Plan. This resulted in a proposal for introduction of new protected areas in the updated Landscape Plan, while other areas were proposed to be removed

Performance‐Based Planning to Reduce Flooding Vulnerability. Insights from the Case of Turin (North‐West Italy)

Climate change is impacting urban areas with greater frequency and exposing continental cities located on floodplains to extreme short-duration rainfall events (cloudbursts). This scenario requires the development of site-specific flooding vulnerability mitigation strategies that improve local knowledge of flood-prone areas at the urban scale and supersede the traditional hazard approach based on the classification of riverine buffers with a predicted return-period. Moreover, decision-makers need to adopt performance-based strategies for contrasting climate changes and increasing the resilience of territories based on spatially explicit vulnerability assessment. The research develops and tests the recent Flooding Risk Mitigation model of InVEST (Integrated Evaluation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-off) created by the Natural Capital Project where cloudburst vulnerability is the result of interaction between land use and soil hydrological conductivity. It is based on the assumption that during cloudburst events all saturated soils have the potential for flooding which creates water streams regardless of the distance to rivers or channels, causing damage and in the worst cases victims among the population. The output of the model gives the run-off retention index evaluated in the catchment area of Turin (Italy) and its neighbourhoods. We evaluated the output to gain specific insight on potential land use adaptation strategies. The index is the first experimental GIS biophysical assessment developed in this area and it can prove useful in the revision process of the General Town Plan underway

L’analisi del microclima urbano a supporto della valutazione delle trasformazioni urbane. Primi esiti di una ricerca per migliorare la vivibilità della città di Milano

più intensi e frequenti rendendo le città e i territori contemporanei più fragili e vulnerabili. Tali effetti hanno un’incidenza maggiore nei contesti fortemente urbanizzati dove le componenti ecosistemiche risultano più compromesse o degradate; inoltre il crescente aumento della popolazione che vive nelle città espone sempre più persone a condizioni di stress e disagio con ripercussioni sul benessere della collettività e la vivibilità urbana. L’incremento delle temperature nelle aree urbane, e la conseguente insorgenza del fenomeno dell’isola di calore, dovuto a un elevato livello di impermeabilizzazione del suolo e a una ridotta disponibilità di aree verdi e corsi/specchi d’acqua, è uno dei principali impatti derivanti dal cambiamento climatico che affliggono le aree urbane con importanti conseguenze sul comfort termico e sulla salute dei cittadini. La riduzione e mitigazione degli impatti dell’isola di calore rappresenta uno dei Servizi Ecosistemici di maggiore importanza nella pianificazione urbana per la definizione di parametri e criteri di progettazione (anche di tipo Nature-based), sia per le aree di nuova trasformazione che per la città esistente, volti al miglioramento delle performance urbane. Il presente contributo propone una riflessione a partire dalla mappatura e valutazione del servizio ecosistemico di Urban Cooling a cui associare un’analisi morfologica della città di Milano con l’obiettivo di verificare quali siano i parametri urbanistici maggiormente performanti nel mitigare l’isola di calore e quindi da considerare nella progettazione degli spazi pubblici

Experimental priming of encephalitogenic Th1/Th17 cells requires pertussis toxin-driven IL-1 beta production by myeloid cells

CD4(+) Th17 are heterogeneous in terms of cytokine production and capacity to initiate autoimmune diseases, such as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Here we demonstrate that experimental priming of encephalitogenic Th cells expressing ROR gamma t and T-bet and producing IL-17A, IFN-gamma and GM-CSF but not IL-10 (Th1/Th17), is dependent on the presence of pertussis toxin (PTX) at the time of immunization. PTX induces early production of IL-1 beta by CD11b(+)CCR2(+)Gr1(+) myeloid cells, which are rapidly recruited to antigen-draining lymph nodes. PTX-induced generation of Th1/Th17 cells is impaired in IL-1 beta- and ASC-deficient mice and in mice in which myeloid cells are depleted or fail to migrate to lymph nodes and requires expression of IL-1R1 and MyD88 on both T cells and non-T cells. Collectively, these data shed light on the enigmatic function of PTX in EAE induction and suggest that inflammatory monocytes and microbial infection can influence differentiation of pathogenic Th1/Th17 cells in autoimmune diseases through production of IL-1 beta

Adrenocortical incidentalomas and bone: from molecular insights to clinical perspectives.

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake in Figure 1. There is a typo in the word "osteoclastogenesis" and the word "activity" is missing in the same entity. It should be "osteoclastogenesis" instead of "osteoclestogenesis"

Prevalence of frailty in surgical older patients and its impact on assisted discharge

Background & aim. An increasing number of older persons is today undergoing emergency and elective surgical procedures. Frailty is a highly prevalent condition and a predictor of postoperative adverse outcomes. This study is aimed at measuring the prevalence of frailty among older persons awaiting for surgical procedures, and the activation of services supporting protected discharge from the hospital in individuals with high vulnerability to stressors. Methods. A prospective observational study was conducted in patients aged 65 years and older waiting for surgery. Frailty was measured using the criteria proposed by Robinson and colleagues. Length of stay and care services activated at the discharge recorded. Results. A total of 1,144 patients were recruited. Two-hundred and seventeen (19%) patients were defined as frail, and 395 (34.5%) were pre-frail. The average length of post-operative stay was 5 days. Only 39 (3.4%) patients received care plan assuring a protected discharge. Among these, 35 (89.7%) were frail, 4 (10.3%) pre-frail. The variable most strongly correlated with the activation of services supporting an assisted discharge was the dependence in activities of daily living (ρ = 0.27, p < 0.001). Conclusions. Frailty is a highly prevalent condition among persons undergoing emergency and elected surgery procedures. Nevertheless, services supporting assisted discharge on the territory are quite infrequently activated. An improved integration of care services bridging hospital and community is necessary and therefore a lack of continuity of health and social care. Further research should focus on the postoperative management of the frail elderly patient

Limited proteolysis of a disulfide-linked apoA-I dimer in reconstituted HDL.

The apolipoprotein A-I Milano (apoA-I M ) is a mo- lecular variant of apoA-I characterized by the Arg 173 → Cys substitution, leading to the formation of homodimers A-I M / A-I M. Upon interaction with palmitoyloleoylphosphatidyl- choline, A-I M /A-I M forms only two species of reconstituted HDL (rHDL) particles, with diameters of 7.8 and 12.5 nm. We used limited proteolysis to analyze the conformation of A-I M /A-I M in the two rHDL particles, in comparison with that of apoA-I in rHDL of similar size. ApoA-I in the small, 7.8-nm rHDL is degraded to a greater extent (50% after 6 h) than in the large rHDL ( � 10% degraded after 6 h). The pro- tease susceptibility of A-I M /A-I M in small and large rHDL is instead remarkably the same, with A-I M /A-I M being much more sensitive to proteolytic digestion (50% degraded after 10 min) than apoA-I. The identification of the proteolytic fragments by immunoblotting, N-terminal sequencing, and molecular mass determination, shows that the N-terminus of both proteins is resistant to proteolysis, with six cleavage sites located in the central and carboxy-terminal portions of the molecules. Cleavage in the middle of apoA-I occurs at dis- tinct sites in 7.8-nm (Lys 118 ) and 12.7-nm (Arg 123 ) rHDL, in- dicating a different conformation in small and large rHDL particles. The A-I M /A-I M instead adopts a unique and identi- cal conformation in small and large rHDL, with the carboxy- terminal portion of the molecule being remarkably more ac- cessible to the proteases than in apoA-I. This suggests the presence of a novel carboxy-terminal domain in A-I M /A-I M , not organized in a compact structure and not shared by wild-type apoA-I, which may account for the unique functional proper- ties of A-I M /A-I M. —Calabresi, L., G. Tedeschi, C. Treu, S. Ron- chi, D. Galbiati, S. Airoldi, C. R. Sirtori, Y. Marcel, and G. Franceschini. Limited proteolysis of a disulfide-linked apoA-I dimer in reconstituted HDL. J. Lipid Res. 2001. 42: 935-942

Experimental model for the study of the effects of platelet-rich plasma on the early phases of muscle healing

BACKGROUND: There is abundant evidence suggesting that growth factors may play a key role in the healing process, especially in the early stages of inflammation. Despite the reported clinical successes with the use of growth factors there is still a lack of knowledge on the biological mechanism underlying the activity of platelet-rich plasma during the process of muscle healing. The aim of this study was to analyse the early effects of platelet- rich plasma in an easily reproducible animal model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Wistar male adult rats (n =102) were used in this study. The muscle lesion was created with a scalpel in the flexor sublimis muscles. Platelet-rich plasma was applied immediately after surgery. Treated, untreated and contralateral muscles were analysed by morphological evaluation and western blot assay. RESULTS: Leucocyte infiltration was significantly greater in muscles treated with platelet-rich plasma than in both untreated and contralateral muscles. The latter showed greater leucocyte infiltration when compared to the untreated muscles. Platelet-rich plasma treatment also modified the cellular composition of the leucocyte infiltration leading to increased expression of CD3, CD8, CD19 and CD68 and to decreased CD4 antigen expression in both platelet-rich plasma treated and contralateral muscles. Blood vessel density and blood vessel diameters were not statistically significantly different between the three groups analysed. DISCUSSION: The results of this study showed that treatment with platelet-rich plasma magnified the physiological early inflammatory response following a muscle injury, modifying the pattern of cellular recruitment. Local platelet-rich plasma treatment may exert a direct or, more plausibly, indirect systemic effect on healing processes, at least in the earliest inflammatory phase