Archivio istituzionale della ricerca - Università dell'Insubria
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Year-Round Activity Patterns of Badgers (Meles meles) and Mesocarnivore Communities in Urban and Sub-Urban Areas
Get PDFUrbanisation exerts profound effects on biodiversity, driving species extinctions while promoting behavioural adaptations in generalist taxa. The European badger (Meles meles) exemplifies such adaptability, exploiting anthropogenic resources and modifying activity rhythms. This study assessed badger activity within the Varese province in northern Italy, comparing an urban park and a sub-urban landscape. From August 2023 to August 2024, camera traps recorded badgers and sympatric mesocarnivores, including red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), domestic cats (Felis catus), and beech martens (Martes foina). Despite high activity overlap between sites (triangle = 0.87), the Mardia-Watson-Wheeler test revealed significant differences. Urban badgers displayed heightened nocturnality relative to sub-urban individuals, consistent with comparisons to nearby protected natural areas. This pattern indicates anthropogenic disturbance as a driver of temporal adjustment. Urban badgers are active from 18:00 to 07:00, whereas sub-urban badgers are active from 17:00 to 08:00. The later onset and earlier termination of urban activity suggest behavioural avoidance of human presence. Red foxes exhibited even greater nocturnality in urban settings, while domestic cats were primarily crepuscular and less frequently detected, particularly in sub-urban areas. Results underline the ecological plasticity of badgers, highlighting their capacity to accommodate urban pressures and providing city administrations with information to improve park management planning
From DBS to Noninvasive Neuromodulation: Ethical Solutions for MCI Treatment
No full textVenkatesh and colleagues (2025) explore the use of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for Mild Cognitive
Impairment (MCI), presenting it as a promising intervention amidst the limited efficacy of pharmacological
treatments. This commentary critically examines DBS’s ethical and clinical limitations for MCI
and argues for prioritizing safer, evidence-supported interventions such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and theta-burst stimulation (TBS)
Adaptation and mitigation of outdoor heat stress and building energy consumption during a heat wave in Nicosia, Cyprus
Get PDFCities in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East region face rising temperatures and intensifying heatwaves that are amplified by the urban heat island effect. These challenges pose significant threats to human health, agriculture, and the water-energy nexus, emphasizing the need for in-depth analysis and effective mitigation strategies at the urban scale. To address this need, we model the effects of seven interventions over 19 days, from July 23rd to August 10th, 2021, during a heatwave in Nicosia, Cyprus. We assess three key outcomes using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with the multilayer Building Energy Parameterization/Building Energy Model (BEP/BEM) scheme: 2m air temperature, outdoor heat stress, and air-conditioning energy use. Our results demonstrate that urban trees are the most effective single intervention, reducing energy consumption by approximately 46% and decreasing heat stress-degree hours by 20-25 h over the analyzed period. The combined implementation of cool roofs and urban trees proved to be the most effective overall, reducing energy consumption by over 50% and lowering 2m air temperatures by up to 1.2 degrees C during the day. A promising adaptive mitigation strategy emerged through the integration of photovoltaic panels and urban trees, which reduced heat stress while generating energy that significantly contributes to cooling demands. The efficacy of these interventions varied with urban geometry, with maximum benefits in areas characterized by medium building heights and densities. These findings offer guidance for developing urban climate resilience strategies in semi-arid regions, underscoring the importance of location-specific application of heat adaptation and mitigation measures
A reanalysis of event shape distributions in electron-positron annihilation
No full textTheoretical calculations for event shape observables are often determined by using the conventional scale setting; i.e. the procedure defined by setting the renormalization scale to the center-of-mass energy μr = s and evaluating theoretical uncertainties by varying the same scale μr in an arbitrary range. Both the event shape distributions and the extracted QCD coupling αs are plagued by the large renormalization scale uncertainties when using the conventional scale setting. The Principle of Maximum Conformality (PMC) provides a rigorous method to eliminate the renormalization scheme and scale ambiguities in perturbative QCD predictions. In this paper, we perform a detailed analysis of the event shape observables by applying the PMC method together with the use of the physical V -scheme. The PMC scales are not simple single-valued functions, but depend with continuity on the value of the unintegrated event shape variable. This reflects the virtuality of the underlying quark and gluon subprocess and yields to a physical behavior of the scale all over the entire range of each observable. Moreover, the PMC scales in the V -scheme exhibits a faster increase compared to the MS ̄ scheme, and a better convergence in the perturbative series can be obtained. Results obtained by the PMC method for the event shape variables, thrust (T), heavy jet mass ρ=MH2/s, wide jet broadening (BW), total jet broadening (BT), C-sparameter (C), are in agreement with the high precision experimental data, and for the case of the jet transition variable Y3, we obtain a first improvement in the results to some extent compared with the MS ̄ scheme
Evaluating the impact of COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 vaccination on TB infection testing in the context of TB elimination
No full textO B J E C T I V E S: The impact of COVID19 and SARSCoV2vaccination on interferongamma release assay (IGRA) indeterminate results is unclear. This minireview aims to examine whether COVID19 or SARSCoV2vaccination affects the accuracy of IGRAs by increasing the indeterminate rate. M E T H O D S: Nonsystematic literature review based on a PubMed search using specific keywords, including various combinations of ‘TB’, ‘quantiferon’, ‘indeterminate or negative results’ and ‘covid’ without any time limits. R E S U L T S: A systematic review found an overall pooled effect size (equivalent to the indeterminate results) of 0.26(95% confidence: 0.205—0.32) for QuantiFERON TB Plus (QFTTB) with a mean true effect size of 0.26 (95% prediction interval: 0.11—0.5), and other studies confirmed the link with disease severity. SARSCoV2 vaccination does not affect IGRA interpretation. C O N C L U S I O N S: The use of IGRAs is not significantly affected by the COVID19 pandemic or vaccinations, except in a small number of severe cases observed during the pandemic’s peak. IGRAs’ reliability remains consistent with their prepandemic performance
Molecular mechanisms of vascular senescence and calcification
Get PDFVascular aging increases the cardiovascular disease risk, including vascular calcification (VC). A key event in VC is the vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) trans-differentiation into an osteogenic phenotype, which is facilitated by senescence. High Mobility Group Box-1 (HMGB1) plays a role in senescence and the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), but its involvement in vascular aging and calcification remains unclear. Preliminary results from our lab showed that aortas from old mice had significantly lower HMGB1 protein levels compared with young animals. Senescent human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) displayed reduced HMGB1 expression and no protein translocation. HASMCs silenced for HMGB1 (shB1/HASMCs) had larger nuclei and lower proliferation compared to control cells (shCTR/HASMCs). Herein, we found that shB1/HASMCs had elevated p21 levels and senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity, and showed an anti-inflammatory SASP profile, with reduced IL-6, IL-1β, IL-8, and MCP-1 compared with shCTR/HASMCs. HMGB1 silencing also modulated the release of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins involved in tissue mineralization and increased the expression of osteoblastic inducers. These observations were confirmed comparing aortas from Hmgb1+/+/Hmgb1+/- mice. Furthermore, shB1/HASMCs grown in hyperphosphatemic conditions exhibited enhanced calcification and lower inflammation than control cells and, transcriptomics revealed changes in biomineralization, cell fate commitment, immune response, and tissue migration pathways. Aortas from Hmgb1+/- mice treated with Vitamin D showed increased calcification and diminished IL-6 compared with Hmgb1+/+ mice. Finally, HMGB1 content was found lower in aortas isolated from older healthy individuals and chronic kidney disease patients, and HMGB1 levels negatively correlated with calcium content in abdominal aortic aneurysms patients. Our findings demonstrate that nuclear HMGB1 downregulation during vascular aging promotes senescence, an anti-inflammatory SASP, ECM disruption and the expression of calcification modulators that promote VSMCs osteoblastic trans-differentation and eventually VC. Also, HMGB1 loss may serve as a VSMC senescence and calcification marker.Vascular aging increases the cardiovascular disease risk, including vascular calcification (VC). A key event in VC is the vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) trans-differentiation into an osteogenic phenotype, which is facilitated by senescence. High Mobility Group Box-1 (HMGB1) plays a role in senescence and the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), but its involvement in vascular aging and calcification remains unclear. Preliminary results from our lab showed that aortas from old mice had significantly lower HMGB1 protein levels compared with young animals. Senescent human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) displayed reduced HMGB1 expression and no protein translocation. HASMCs silenced for HMGB1 (shB1/HASMCs) had larger nuclei and lower proliferation compared to control cells (shCTR/HASMCs). Herein, we found that shB1/HASMCs had elevated p21 levels and senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity, and showed an anti-inflammatory SASP profile, with reduced IL-6, IL-1β, IL-8, and MCP-1 compared with shCTR/HASMCs. HMGB1 silencing also modulated the release of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins involved in tissue mineralization and increased the expression of osteoblastic inducers. These observations were confirmed comparing aortas from Hmgb1+/+/Hmgb1+/- mice. Furthermore, shB1/HASMCs grown in hyperphosphatemic conditions exhibited enhanced calcification and lower inflammation than control cells and, transcriptomics revealed changes in biomineralization, cell fate commitment, immune response, and tissue migration pathways. Aortas from Hmgb1+/- mice treated with Vitamin D showed increased calcification and diminished IL-6 compared with Hmgb1+/+ mice. Finally, HMGB1 content was found lower in aortas isolated from older healthy individuals and chronic kidney disease patients, and HMGB1 levels negatively correlated with calcium content in abdominal aortic aneurysms patients. Our findings demonstrate that nuclear HMGB1 downregulation during vascular aging promotes senescence, an anti-inflammatory SASP, ECM disruption and the expression of calcification modulators that promote VSMCs osteoblastic trans-differentation and eventually VC. Also, HMGB1 loss may serve as a VSMC senescence and calcification marker
The “Irradiance Effect” Plays a Crucial Role in the Photosensitization of Escherichia coli by Blue Light
Get PDFAntimicrobial Blue Light (aBL) can be used to control the growth of pathogens in several applicative fields, from sanitization of inert surfaces to human skin treatment and from industry to food. Though the mechanism of action is still unknown, it has been hypothesized that specific wavelengths can activate potential endogenous photosensitizers in microbial cytoplasm and/or envelope. In turn, this photooxidative stress could induce inactivation of macromolecules resulting in bacterial killing. In this work, we investigated the effect of radiometric parameters of light at 410 nm on Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655, a strain rather tolerant to blue light irradiation. Interestingly, by changing the radiometric parameters of aBL protocol, different rates of killing were observed. Irradiation at 100 J/cm2 caused a variable antimicrobial effect depending on the irradiance values. We observed an "irradiance effect": namely, at higher irradiance values, the inhibitory effect is reduced. On the other hand, at increasing fluences the bactericidal rate increases. In addition, the shift from continuous to pulsed light could enhance the antimicrobial activity of protocols using higher irradiance values. Taken together, these results underline the importance of defining radiometric parameters to ensure the efficacy of aBL treatments and emphasize the importance of further research into the aBL mechanism