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The New Frontier in Small-Cell Lung Cancer: Can Atezolizumab Ensure Enduring Stability?
Get PDFSmall-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive malignancy with poor prognosis despite initial responsiveness to chemotherapy. Platinum-based chemotherapy with etoposide has long been the standard first-line treatment, but recent advances in immunotherapy have improved outcomes. Phase III trials, including IMpower133 and CASPIAN, demonstrated that adding immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as atezolizumab and durvalumab, to chemotherapy significantly enhances overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). This case report describes a 76-year-old former smoker diagnosed with extensive-stage SCLC (ES-SCLC) following the detection of a left lower lung mass. The patient underwent combination therapy with carboplatin, etoposide, and atezolizumab, followed by maintenance atezolizumab. The patient demonstrated a sustained response to treatment, with significant tumor regression and no evidence of disease progression. Despite advanced age and comorbidities, treatment was well-tolerated, with no severe adverse events. Serial imaging over 24 months confirmed sustained disease stability, with regression of mediastinal lymphadenopathy and no new lesions. This case highlights the potential for prolonged disease control in select SCLC patients treated with chemo-immunotherapy. The absence of significant toxicities underscores the feasibility of immunotherapy even in elderly patients with comorbidities. These findings support the role of atezolizumab as a key component of ES-SCLC treatment and suggest the need for further research on predictors of durable response
Study on 2007–2021 Drought Trends in Basilicata Region Based on the AMSU-Based Soil Wetness Index
No full textSoil moisture (SM) plays a fundamental role in the water cycle and is an important variable for all processes occurring at the lithosphere–atmosphere interface, which are strongly affected by climate change. Among the different fields of application, accurate SM measurements are becoming more relevant for all studies related to extreme event (e.g., floods, droughts, and landslides) mitigation and assessment. In this study, data acquired by the advanced microwave sounding unit (AMSU) onboard the European Meteorological Operational Satellite Program (MetOP) satellites were used for the first time to extract information on the variability of SM by implementing the original soil wetness index (SWI). Long-term monthly SWI time series collected for the Basilicata region (southern Italy) were analyzed for drought assessment during the period 2007–2021. The accuracy of the SWI product was tested through a comparison with SM products derived by the Advanced SCATterometer (ASCAT) over the 2013–2016 period, while the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) was used to assess the relevance of the long-term achievements in terms of drought analysis. The results indicate a satisfactory accuracy of the SWI, with the mean correlation coefficient values with ASCAT higher than 0.7 and a mean normalized root mean square error less than 0.155. A negative trend in SWI during the 15-year period was found using both the original and deseasonalized series (linear and Sen’s slope ~−0.00525), confirmed by SPEI (linear and Sen’s slope ~−0.00293), suggesting the occurrence of a marginal long-term dry phase in the region. Although further investigations are needed to better assess the intensity and main causes of the phenomena, this result indicates the contribution that satellite data/products can offer in supporting drought assessment
Ri-creazioni contemporanee
No full textIl XX secolo è stato un secolo di radicali cambiamenti sociali, economici e culturali segnati dal progresso scientifico e tecnologico e dalla produzione su scala industriale di nuovi materiali e beni di consumo. In questo mutato contesto, le città hanno avuto una rapida espansione urbana e una forte crescita demografica, diventando nodi strategici dei nuovi modelli di produzione e consumo del benessere della società industriale basati sull’economia lineare che produce rifiuti e inquinamento ambientale. L’economia lineare è anche nota con la formula prendi-produci-usa-getta dalla sequenza delle operazioni di estrazione di materie prime e di combustibili fossili come fonti di energia, di produzione e uso di prodotti e di abbandono a fine vita come rifiuti.
Dopo il boom economico degli anni Cinquanta e Sessanta e la prima crisi energetica degli anni Settanta, gli effetti negativi sull’ambiente e sulla qualità della vita sono diventati sempre più evidenti riaccendendo l’attenzione sul tema della sostenibilità dello sviluppo e sull’urgenza di una transizione
ecologica verso i modelli dell’economia circolare che sono
in grado di autorigenerarsi come i cicli naturali e durare per
un tempo illimitato con risorse limitate. Le città da luoghi del benessere si sono rapidamente trasformate in ecosistemi vulnerabili su cui occorre intervenire prioritariamente con azioni strategiche per il controllo del cambiamento climatico
e per il raggiungimento dei 17 obiettivi dell’Agenda 2030 delle Nazioni Unite che con una visione olistica focalizzano l’attenzione sulle sfide ambientali, economiche e sociali dello
sviluppo sostenibile. Con il Green Deal l’Unione Europea si è impegnata a raggiungere la neutralità climatica nel 2050 con un modello di economia competitiva in grado di contrastare il degrado ambientale e di garantire le stesse opportunità di crescita e di sviluppo a ogni individuo e ogni luogo.
Il raggiungimento di questo ambizioso obiettivo richiede una rivoluzione culturale che scardini preconcetti strumentali e infondati, riequilibri le iniquità tra cittadini e luoghi e trasformi nuovamente le città in laboratori di costruzione di un futuro migliore con la sperimentazione di innovazioni tecnologiche e di nuovi materiali ecologici e sostenibili
Dal confine al confino. Irredentismo slavo, antifascismo di frontiera e provvedimenti di polizia (1926-1943)
No full textRepeatability of Selected Parameters Related to Stallion Sperm Quality and Cryotolerance
No full textThis study evaluated the repeatability of selected sperm parameters in Salernitano stallions housed on the same farm. Semen was collected weekly for four weeks, and sperm kinetics, mitochondrial activity, and oxidative/nitrosative status were assessed before and after freezing the sperm with HF-20 and INRA Freeze. Pre-freezing, significant individual variability was observed, with low repeatability for semen volume (r = 0.32), total motility (r = 0.38), curvilinear velocity (r = 0.32), and lipoperoxidation (r = 0.36). Post-thaw, sperm frozen with INRA Freeze showed significant inter-stallion differences and low-to-moderate repeatability across kinematic parameters, mitochondrial membrane potential, nitric oxide, and lipoperoxidation, whereas those frozen with HF-20 showed repeatability only for progressive motility and intracellular H2O2. An assessment of freezability revealed significant inter-stallion variability and low-to-moderate repeatability for most kinematic traits in sperm frozen with INRA Freeze. Age influenced specific parameters in both fresh and frozen–thawed semen. Kinematic traits were strongly intercorrelated and associated with mitochondrial activity, as well as with lipoperoxidation, the latter being significantly related to H2O2 and nitric oxide levels. Although the overall post-thaw differences between extenders were not statistically significant, INRA Freeze enabled clearer discrimination among stallions. The generally low-to-moderate repeatability observed in this study suggests that extender choice can influence cryopreservation outcomes, and supports the need for tailored protocols
Developing a taxonomy framework for assessing human capital provision: A case study of Southern Italian municipalities
No full textThe decline of rural areas emerges as a central aspect of European and national policies. Decline manifests itself in distinct forms, resulting from the interaction among exogenous and local factors. Understanding the different socio-economic trends and tangible and intangible conditions of rural areas, defined as the intra-rural divide, is central to the definition of priorities of public policies. Within this framework, the proposed study focuses on the notion of Territorial Capital (TC) with a particular focus on Human Capital (HC) as a conceptual frame for investigating the intra-rural divide. Different unsupervised learning methods have been employed to identify clusters of similar administrative units in terms of HC provision using a set of 12 input indicators, enabling a deeper understanding of the intra-rural divide. The study area consists of six southern Italian regions, specifically chosen due to their pronounced disparities. The present work contributes to the discipline of regional and urban studies by developing a novel taxonomy framework specifically for assessing HC disparities at a detailed local level, thereby making the concept of the intra-rural divide measurable and analyzable and enabling the definition of targeted policies respondent to individual areas’ needs
Carlo Levi e l’antropologia in Italia negli anni del secondo dopoguerra
No full textFrom the immediate post-World War II period to the 1960s,
Southern Italy was mainly taken as a synonym for an archaic rural world,
which was regarded as static and backward in terms of its economic and social
structures, and was studied as an anthropological category by means of a process
involving the essentialization of certain of its characteristics. Within this
framework, Basilicata (or rather Lucania, i.e., the name of the region that most
frequently recurred in the literature and the cultural and scientific debate of
that period) became a founding space for the epistemological renewal of Italian
anthropology. This was due to its being a space that was both mythical
and real: the sign of an archaic and isolated society and of a rural condition
that was literarily portrayed as almost suspended in time and space, but also
the symbol of a desire for redemption and human and social emancipation. It
is fairly well established that the genesis of this Othering process can largely
be traced back to the suggestions brought about by the publication of Carlo
Levi’s Christ Stopped at Eboli, a book that induced more than one scholar to
choose southern Italy as their research area on the basis of its archaic characteristics
and apparent exoticism. However, Christ Stopped at Eboli, a memorial
narration, an anthropological novel almost, also seems to fully respond to the
ethnographic writing feature of taking up the word on behalf of others, thus
proposing itself as a model for ethnographic fieldwork aimed at conveying, in
narrative form and with the tools of literary discourse, a life experience: at
providing the opportunity to gaze into another world through a representation
where the domains of the social and the symbolic, of the economic and the
magical, of politics and everyday needs, of science and traditional knowledge
are all harmoniously connected
Between water and stone—computational sonic analysis of anthropogenic transformations: the case of the Grabiglioni in Matera
No full textThis project investigates a historical water channel, Grabiglione Barisano in Matera, as
both an infrastructural artefact and an aural site of memory. Once central to the hydraulic system of
the city, the channel now lies invisible beneath the urban surface, yet continues to shape the cultural
imagination of the Sassi. This research combines hydromorphological data, GIS analysis, and inter
active sound technologies to reframe the Grabiglione as a living archive of ecological processes and
human interventions. At its methodological core lies the use of sonification, which renders hidden
transformations of the urban environment perceptible through sound. Parameters derived from hy
drological modelling, such as the lowest stream points, the collector intake elevation, and runoff
thresholds, are translated into sonic features via a Max MSP patch that triggers AI-generated samples
produced through img-to-audio algorithms trained on both historical and contemporary images of the
site. The resulting system produces sound events that reflect both the historical function and the con
temporary disappearance of the Grabiglione, enabling experiences that are simultaneously analytical
and affective. This process is executed through site-specific installations, soundwalks, and listening
sessions with local communities. These participatory practices create opportunities for reflection on
ecological fragility, cultural memory, and the politics of water management. Expected outcomes in
clude the development of immersive installations, new insights into listening as a spatial analysis
tool, and the construction of an “emotional cartography” that links sound, space, and memory. Ulti
mately, this work positions sonification not only as an artistic medium but also as a critical research
method capable of bridging technical analysis and embodied knowledge within the discourse on
“New Ecologies.
