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The need for long-term ecological research in subterranean environments
No full textSubterranean habitats, those found beneath the surface of nonmarine environments such as caves, aquifers, and other underground voids, are more widespread and ecologically significant than often assumed. These environments are functionally linked to the adjacent surface ecosystems, sharing hydrological, geochemical, and biological connections. Despite their global distribution and ecological importance, subterranean habitats remain among the least-explored and least-understood ecosystems. However, the scientific neglect of these environments is not limited to species inventories or basic ecological descriptions. This note highlights the near-complete absence of long-term ecological research (LTER) conducted on subterranean ecosystems. While LTER programmes are increasingly recognized as essential for understanding ecosystem dynamics, biodiversity trends, and the impacts of environmental change in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine systems, this kind of study appears to be extremely rare in subterranean environments. The lack of reference long-term studies hinders our ability to detect and interpret temporal changes in community composition, species interactions, and evolutionary processes within these unique environments. Nevertheless, there are compelling scientific reasons to promote the development of long-term ecological research in subterranean ecosystems. In fact, these simplified and relatively buffered habitats offer unique opportunities to study community interactions and adaptations under relatively stable climatic conditions. Furthermore, subterranean environments may serve as natural laboratories for investigating evolutionary processes such as ecological adaptation, morphological convergence, speciation and gene flow, especially when compared to the more variable surface environments with which they are functionally linked
'My Name is Sonrie, and I Come from Afar!' - Co-Designing a Social Robot for Multicultural Early Education
No full textPrevalence and Determinants of Workplace Violence Against Nurses in the Italian Home Care Settings: A Cross-Sectional Multicentre Study
No full textAims: To describe the prevalence and determinants of workplace violence against nurses in the Italian home care setting. Design: Secondary cross-sectional analysis of data from the multicentre study AIDOMUS-IT. Methods: Nurses employed in home care services provided by Italian Local Health Authorities were interviewed using a variety of instruments. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was performed to model the risk of workplace violence against nurses in the last 12 months. Variables related to violence were selected among sociodemographic characteristics (such as age and gender), work-related factors (including years of experience, team composition, overtime working, previous experience in mental health care, burnout) and organisational elements (including leadership and support, workload, staffing and resources adequacy, and time to reach the patients' homes). Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) were used to present the results. Results: A total of 3949 nurses participated in the study and 20.49% of them reported to have experienced an episode of violence in the last 12 months. Determinants of higher risk of violence episodes were younger age (aOR = 1.02, p = 0.002), higher workload (aOR = 1.01, p = 0.002), working in a multiprofessional team (aOR = 1.24, p = 0.018), perception of inadequate managerial leadership and support (aOR = 1.38, p = 0.003), and higher burnout levels (aOR = 1.01, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The prevalence of workplace violence against Italian home care nurses is high. Several modifiable determinants were found to be associated with a higher risk of violence, which can potentially be mitigated with tailored interventions. Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care: Effective preventive strategies must be developed to lessen workplace violence against nurses in the home care setting. These strategies should focus on strengthening nursing managers' leadership and support skills, enhancing team-building strategies, avoiding inadequate workload, monitoring nurses' burnout, estimating optimum staffing levels, and assigning advanced-career nurses to home care services. These measures are imperative to guarantee the quality and safety of home care organisations and to attain favourable outcomes in the provision of care. Impact: This study aimed to explore the prevalence and determinants of workplace violence against nurses in the Italian home care settings. We found that out of the 3949 nurses surveyed, 20% of the sample reported one episode of violence during the last 12 months. Determinants of this violence included younger age, higher workload and burnout, being in a multiprofessional team, and perception of lack of leadership and support by the nurse manager. The results of this study can be used to tailor interventions aimed at mitigating the risk factors of violence, particularly those that can be modified (e.g., workload, burnout, and leadership). Reporting Method: The study adhered to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines. Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution
Triphenyl-phosphonium (TPP)-Based Nanovesicles Induce ROS Increase, Eradicate MDR Melanoma and Neuroblastoma Cells, While Exerting Low Toxicity Towards Red Blood Cells (RBCs), Human Not Tumorigenic Cells and Mice Primary Cell Cultures
No full textNeuroblastoma (NB) and metastatic cutaneous melanoma (MCM) are a severe children malignant solid tumour and the most aggressive skin cancer existing respectively, with low survival rate and poor prognosis, due to therapy-induced secondary tumorigenesis and emerging multidrug-resistance (MDR). Recently, we obtained in water self-forming TPP-based bola amphiphilic nanovesicles (BANs), deriving by the quaternary phosphonium salt, 1,1-(1,12-dodecanediyl)-bis-[1,1,1]-triphenyl phosphonium di-bromide (BPPB), synthesized by reacting 1,12-dibromo-dodecane with triphenylphosphine in ethanol, refluxing for 48 h (Alfei et al. 2024a).
ATR-FTIR, NMR, UV, FIA-MS (ESI) and elemental analysis confirmed its structure. DLS analyses showed spherical vesicles of 45 nm, having positive ζ =f +18 mV (Alfei et al. 2024a). Extensively employed as drug delivery systems, no report existed on the per se cytotoxic activity of any BAN towards any cancer cell line, before our studies. Notably, BANs provided excellent outcomes, when tested on drug-sensitive and MDR MCM and HR-NB cells, as well as on non-tumorigenic human cells, mice primary cells and RBCs to assess their cytotoxicity and their biocompatibility, respectively (Alfei et al. 2024b; Alfei et al. 2024c; Alfei et al. 2025a; Alfei et al. 2025b). Specifically, experimented against PLX-sensitive BRAF mutants MCM cells (MeOV and MeTRAV), BANs showed a ROS-dependent cytotoxicity, displaying nanomolar IC50 of 49 (MeOV) and 171 nM (MeTRAV) and inducing a ROS production 16-fold higher than in the control (72h treatments). Conversely, BANs elicited low cytotoxicity against various non-tumorigenic human cells and RBCs, allowing selectivity index (SI) values of 5-19 (MRC-5, 72h), 8-11 (HepG2, 24h) and 87-229 (RBCs, 72h). Regardless of the acquired resistance, PLX-resistant MCM cells exposed to BANs provided nanomolar IC50 of 88 nM (PLX-R-MeOV, 48h) and 81 nM (PLX-R-MeTRAV, 72h), as well. ROS increase was 25- and 15-fold higher than in the control (MeOV and MeTRAV respectively), after 72h exposure. Anyway, a ROS-dependent cytotoxicity was established only in MeTRAV for 72h treatments. Forecasting a future development of BANs as topical device to treat skin MCM lesions, its biocompatibility was essayed on human keratinocytes (HaCaT), observing SI values up to 12. Furthermore, RBCs were exposed to BANs, high HC50 values were observed allowing SI = 16–173 and 4–192 (PLX-R MeOV and MeTRAV, respectively). Recently, BANs were tested against drug-sensitive HTLA 230 human stage-IV and MDR HTLA ER high-risk (HR)-NB cells, observing apoptotic death at IC50 of 0.4-0.9 and 1.20-1.35 μM, respectively, sustained by moderate ROS overproduction (ROS levels 5-6-fold higher than in the control). Here, by an analytical approach, a correlation study was carried out to verify if BANs cytotoxicity depended on their concentrations, exposure times and/or ROS overproduction and if ROS increase depended on BANs concentrations and/or time exposure. To better support the potential clinical development of BANs as a new therapeutic option to treat MDR HR-NB, their effects were tested on primary astrocytes and neurons. Appreciable and good tolerability was observed in neurons and astrocytes respectively, allowing SI values up to 24. Collectively, these in vitro results pave the way for future in vivo investigations using BANs and for the possible development of BANs as a novel therapeutic strategy to treat MDR MCM and HR-NB.
REFERENCE
Alfei, S. et al. 2024a. Synthesized Bis-Triphenyl Phosphonium-Based Nano Vesicles Have Potent and Selective Antibacterial Effects on Several Clinically Relevant Superbugs. Nanomaterials 14(16), p. 1351. doi: 10.3390/nano14161351.
Alfei, S. et al. 2024b. The Remarkable and Selective In Vitro Cytotoxicity of Synthesized Bola-Amphiphilic Nanovesicles on Etoposide-Sensitive and -Resistant Neuroblastoma Cells. Nanomaterials 14(18), p. 1505. doi: 10.3390/nano14181505.
Alfei, S. et al. 2025a. TPP-Based Nanovesicles Kill MDR Neuroblastoma Cells and Induce Moderate ROS Increase, While Exert Low Toxicity To-wards Primary Cell Cultures: an in Vitro Study . IJMS 26(16), p. 4991. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26114991.
Alfei, S., Torazza, C., Bacchetti, F., Signorello, M.G., Passalacqua, M., Domenicotti, C. and Marengo, B. 2025b. Tri-Phenyl-Phosphonium-Based Nano Vesicles: A New In Vitro Nanomolar-Active Weapon to Eradicate PLX-Resistant Melanoma Cells. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 26(7), p. 3227. doi: 10.3390/ijms26073227.
Alfei, S., Zuccari, G., Athanassopoulos, C.M., Domenicotti, C. and Marengo, B. 2024c. Strongly ROS-Correlated, Time-Dependent, and Selective Antiproliferative Effects of Synthesized Nano Vesicles on BRAF Mutant Melanoma Cells and Their Hyaluronic Acid-Based Hydrogel Formulation. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 25(18), p. 10071. doi: 10.3390/ijms251810071
Point of View in William Trevor’s Cheating at Canasta: A Stylistic Analysis
No full textThis article looks at the linguistic construction of point of view in William Trevor’s 2007 collection of short stories Cheating at Canasta. The analysis uses the methodology of stylistics and pragmatics to identify meaning-making strategies and the goals they pursue in constructing point of view. Particularly, the “modal grammar of point of view” devised by Paul Simpson in Language, Ideology and Point of View provides a model for connecting different text typologies based on narratorial positioning and modality with different representations of perspective in text and for identifying the linguistic strategies at work in Trevor’s short stories to construct character’s psychology
Immagini di danze (e di donne) nella stampa fascista: le pagine fotografiche di «Comoedia» (1926)
No full textClinical recommendations for early identification of patients with open-angle glaucoma at higher risk of low adherence to topical treatment: An Italian Delphi consensus
No full textPurpose: It is important for clinicians to identify patients with glaucoma at higher risk of poor adherence to topical therapy at an early stage to prescribe alternative treatments. An expert-based set of statements was developed to assist clinicians in the early identification of patients at high risk of low adherence and subsequent poorer clinical outcomes. Methods: A two-step strategy was used. First, statements were developed by a panel of experts using data from a literature search as a starting point. Second, we measured agreement with the statements in a representative group of ophthalmologists managing patients affected by glaucoma. Results: A total of 18 statements and consensus was reached for all. The available evidence and clinical experience have identified some subpopulations at high risk of poor adherence. These include young individuals with competing interests, being frequently away from home, multiple comorbidities and particularly when they affect joint function of the hands or cognitive abilities, being asymptomatic, and being poorly informed about the severity of the disease. The unavailability of caregivers and living alone seems to be relevant factors, particularly in older and more frail patients. Conclusion: Taken together our results allow us to profile patients with glaucoma who will be more likely to show poor adherence to topical treatments. Moreover, the consensus statements can be used to identify patients who are unsuitable for topical drops and who would benefit more from alternative treatments
