L'ultima Soglia. Sull'evoluzione del concetto di morte nell'ordinamento italiano

Il presente scritto ripercorre le tappe che hanno condotto all’accoglimento in Italia del concetto di morte, riformulato in termini neurologici. Lo scopo del contributo è quello di dare conto, sia dell’evoluzione che il concetto medesimo ha subito a partire dall’oramai noto Rapporto di Harvard e sia delle implicazioni che il medesimo comporta sul piano giuridico ed anche etico. Da ultimo, si è cercato di richiamare alcune delle più importanti voci critiche che sullo stesso si sono sollevat

Development and validation of a composite disease activity score for juvenile dermatomyositis

Objective. To develop the first composite disease activity score for juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) and provide preliminary evidence of its validity. Methods. The Juvenile DermatoMyositis Activity Index (JDMAI) is composed of four items: physician\u2019s global assessment of overall disease activity; parent\u2019s/child\u2019s global assessment of child\u2019s wellbeing; measurement of muscle strength; and assessment of skin disease activity. The score of the JDMAI is the arithmetic sum of the scores of each individual component. Six preliminary versions of the JDMAI were tested, which differed in the tools used to assess the third and fourth items. Validation procedures were conducted using three large multinational patient samples including a total of 627 patients. Furthermore, a preliminary longitudinal validation was conducted on 57 patients enrolled at disease onset or at a follow-up visit in standard clinical care. Results. The JDMAI was found to possess face and content validity, good construct validity, satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach\u2019s alpha = 0.58-0.89), fair responsiveness to clinically important change (standardized response mean = 0.82-3.12 among patients improved) and strong capacity to discriminate patients judged as being in the state of inactive disease or low, moderate or high disease activity by the physician (P<0.001) or whose parents were satisfied or not satisfied with the course of their child\u2019s illness (P<0.001). Similar results were obtained in the sample of patients prospectively enrolled for the aim of the study. Overall, the six versions of the JDMAI showed similar metrological performances in validation analyses. Conclusion. The JDMAI was found to possess good measurement properties in a large population of patients with a wide range of disease activity, and is, therefore, suitable for use in both clinical and research settings. The final version of the JDMAI will be selected after its large-scale prospective validation

Focus on soluble salts transport phenomena: the study cases of Leonardo mural paintings at Sala delle Asse (Milan)

The program of investigations on “Sala delle Asse”, which hosts a monochrome landscape attributed to Leonardo, in the Sforza Castle in Milan recently concluded the first step. Results of the analytical tests for the characterization of materials and their damages showed the high diffusion and concentration of nitrates and sulphates on the surface of the monochrome at the edge with the restoration mortars, on the right side of the north-western wall. On the base of the scientific literature and laboratory tests, the researchers identified a threshold of RH above which deliquescence of salts could easily occur. Microclimatic monitoring results informed that during the most humid days in spring, summer and fall, RH trespasses this threshold, with a frequency of about 30 events/year. After an accurate analysis of air temperature (T °C) and relative humidity (RH) resulted that the exterior changes especially affect the interior climate at some summer conditions as middle-high speed of wind and, especially, its direction due to some cracks and holes in the north western exterior wall of the hall

Morte e diritto. Riflessioni sulla fine della vita dell'uomo postmoderno

The research focuses on the relationship between death and law, with particular reference to the legal definition of death introduced by Law 578/1993 and the legal and ethical philosophical implications connected to it. In fact it appears that by shifting from a cardiovascular to a neurologic criterion of death, the legislator made a clear ideological choice according to which the most significant element that connotes a person is the encephalic element (more or less extensively considered). With this regard, on the first part of the essay, I retraced the path that led to the affirmation of the concept of brain death and its acceptance in the Italian legal system, focusing also on the three different meanings in which said concept can be interpreted. The research aims to verify if the legal definition of death provided by the legislator in 1993 should still be considered “valid” or if, de facto, it was replaced by the recent jurisprudence that, on the so-called borderline cases relates the concept of death only to the high-brain death concept. The second part focuses on the analysis of the case law in order to highlight the divergences between the jurisprudence and the choice made by the legislator. In this regard, I tried to show how the consideration of the person, that undoubtedly must be considered essential, risks to become only a façon de parler, when it is downsized to the pure ability to show some functions, in particular the volition and the consciousness governed by the upper part of the encephalon. I believe that the loss of an holistic view of the human being typical of modernity, that the definition of death in neurological terms helped to stir up, risks to lead to an empiricists and reductionist attitude in which the person, instead of being the target of the protection, results excluded by such protection each time it could not be still considered as a person, being it deprived of said functions or even impaired. Therefore, in the last part of the essay the matter is analyzed from a philosophical point of view in order to verify which is the anthropological conception underlying the different thesis and the implications deriving from each of them. In order to do so, I utilized three figures that I believe can be considered emblematic of the debate past and present: Hans Jonas, Peter Singer and Robert Spaemann

Characterisation of the sewage virome: comparison of NGS tools and occurrence of significant pathogens

NGS techniques are excellent tools to monitor and identify viral pathogens circulating among the population with some limitations that need to be overcome, especially in complex matrices. Sewage contains a high amount of other microorganisms that could interfere when trying to sequence viruses for which random PCR amplifications are needed before NGS. The selection of appropriate NGS tools is important for reliable identification of viral diversity among the population. We have compared different NGS methodologies (Untargeted Viral Metagenomics, Target Enrichment Sequencing and Amplicon Deep Sequencing) for the detection and characterisation of viruses in urban sewage, focusing on three important human pathogens: papillomaviruses, adenoviruses and enteroviruses. A full picture of excreted viruses was obtained by applying Untargeted Viral Metagenomics, which detected members of four different vertebrate viral families in addition to bacteriophages, plant viruses and viruses infecting other hosts. Target Enrichment Sequencing, using specific vertebrate viral probes, allowed the detection of up to eight families containing human viruses, with high variety of types within the families and with a high genome coverage. By applying Amplicon Deep Sequencing, the diversity of enteroviruses, adenoviruses and papillomaviruses observed was higher than when applying the other two strategies and this technique allowed the subtyping of an enterovirus A71 C1 strain related to a brainstem encephalitis outbreak occurring at the same time in the sampling area. From the data obtained, we concluded that the different strategies studied provided different levels of analysis: TES is the best strategy to obtain a broad picture of human viruses present in complex samples such as sewage. Other NGS strategies are useful for studying the virome of complex samples when also targeting viruses infecting plants, bacteria, invertebrates or fungi (Untargeted Viral Metagenomics) or when observing the variety within a sole viral family is the objective of the study (Amplicon Deep Sequencing)

Respiratory syncytial virus infection in infants and correlation with meteorological factors and air pollutants

BACKGROUND: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is the most important cause of severe respiratory infections in infants with seasonal epidemics. Environmental factors (temperature, humidity, air pollution) could influence RSV epidemics through their effects on virus activity and diffusion. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study on a paediatric population who referred to our Paediatric Emergency Unit in order to analyze the correlation between weekly incidence of RSV positive cases during winter season in Bologna and meteorological factors and air pollutants concentration. RESULTS: We observed a significant correlation between the incidence of RSV infections and the mean minimum temperature registered during the same week and the previous weeks. The weekly number of RSV positive cases was also correlated to the mean PM(10) concentration of the week before. CONCLUSIONS: RSV epidemic trend in Bologna (Italy) is related to the mean minimum temperature, and the mean PM(10) concentration

Does early object exploration support gesture and language development in extremely preterm infants and full-term infants?

Background: An increasing body of research on typically and atypically developing infants has shown that motor skills play an important role in language development. To date, however, the role of specific object exploration skills for early gesture and vocabulary development has not been investigated in extremely low gestational age infants (ELGA, GA < 28 weeks), who are at greater risk for motor and language delays than full-term (FT) infants. Purpose: This longitudinal study examined relations between 6-month active exploratory behaviors and 12- month word comprehension, gestures and vocal production, controlling for cognitive performance and neonatal condition (ELGA vs FT). Methods: Forty infants, 20 ELGA and 20 FT, and their mothers participated in the study. Mother-infant play interaction was video-recorded at 6 and 12 months. Oral and manual object exploration at 6 months and spontaneous gestures and vocal production at 12 months were coded. Word comprehension was evaluated with the Italian version of the MacArthur-Bates CDI parent questionnaire at 12 months. Cognitive performance was examined with the Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales at 6 months and the Bayley-III Scales at 12 months. Results: Regression analyses showed that after accounting for cognitive performance and neonatal condition, oral exploration was related to word comprehension, and manual exploration to gestures and vocal production in the overall sample. Conclusions: Cascading effects of specific object exploration skills on gestures and language comprehension and production in preterm infants and FT infants are discussed. Clinical implications for early assessment of and interventions involving object exploration skills, which may affect language development, are considered for the preterm population

Mosaicking thermal images of buildings

Nowadays several thermal cameras capture images based on a pinhole camera model. This paper shows how multiple images of flat-like objects or 3D bodies can be mapped and mosaicked with a mathematical formulation between image and object spaces. This work demonstrates that both geometric and radiometric parts need proper mathematical models that allow the user to obtain a global product (orthophotos or 3D models) where accurate and detailed photogrammetric models and thermal images are registered in order to combine geometry and thermal information