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Housing modifications for heat adaptation, thermal comfort and malaria vector control in rural African settlements
No full textThe rapid increase in global temperatures coupled with persistent malaria
transmission presents substantial health burdens in sub-Saharan Africa.
Here this randomized pilot field study assessed the feasibility of sustainable
housing modifications via passive cooling approaches and vector
proofing. Forty houses were randomly allocated to four arms: cool-roof,
cross-ventilation, mat-ceiling or control. Doors, windows and eaves of the
intervention houses (not control) were screened for malaria mosquito
vectors. Indoor temperature and humidity were monitored continuously to
assess Heat Index (HI), predicted mean value and psychrometric charts. The
HI in cool-roof houses was the lowest (daytime −3.3 °C, P < 0.001; nighttime
−2.4 °C, P < 0.01). Mat-ceiling houses lowered daytime HI but increased
nighttime HI compared to control. No differences in HI were observed
for cross-ventilation houses. Screening reduced the number of female
Anopheles funestus mosquitoes by 77% and the number of Culex mosquitoes
by 58% compared to control houses. Eighty-five percent of the households
expressed willingness to use their resources for housing intervention.
Cool-roofs combined with vector proofing is an effective, practical and
sustainable housing modification for heat adaptation and for reducing
indoor mosquito numbers in rural African households
Legittimazione ad agire di un beneficiario per la nomina del trustee: un’ipotesi peculiare di trust societario (Trib. Venezia, 12 aprile 2024)
No full textLa pronuncia, già esaminata in questa Rivista sul tema della tipicità dei
procedimenti di volontaria giurisdizione, consente ora un ulteriore
approfondimento sull’applicazione dello strumento in campo
imprenditoriale.
Mentre infatti l’imprenditore disponente è solito dotare il trust di
partecipazioni societarie a favore dei componenti della propria
famiglia, il trust analizzato viene istituito da una società a favore dei
propri soci per esigenze e interessi diversi dal classico “mantenimento
del tenore di vita” dei beneciari, tipico dei trust familiari.
Lo strumento evidenzia un problema di operatività a causa della sua
poco chiara individuazione, in particolare, dei beneciari.The ruling, already examined in this Review about the typical nature of
voluntary jurisdiction proceedings, now allows for further analysis of the
application of this instrument in the business eld.
While the settlor entrepreneur usually endows the trust with company
shares in favour of members of the family, the trust analysed is established
by a company in favour of its shareholders for needs and interests other
than the classic “maintenance of the standard of living” of the beneciaries,
typical of family trusts.
The instrument highlights an operational problem due to the clear
identication specically of the beneciaries
Functional physiological, psychological, and biochemical reactivity to socially evaluated cold pressor test in hereditary angioedema patients (FRoSEn)
No full textIntroduction: Stressful physical or psychological events can trigger acute swelling attacks in patients with Hereditary Angioedema due to C1 Inhibitor deficiency (HAE-C1INH), although the stress–disease relationship remains unclear. The Socially Evaluated Cold Pressor Test (SECPT) reliably induces acute stress under controlled conditions. This study aimed to compare perceived stress, inflammatory markers, and cardiovascular responses to SECPT between HAE-C1INH patients and healthy controls (HC).
Methods: Twenty HAE-C1INH patients (9 males, 44 ± 14 years) and age and sex matched HC underwent a 3-minute SECPT. Participants completed questionnaires assessing anxiety and depression (HADS), pain catastrophizing (PCS), and subjective stress (0–100 scale) before and after SECPT. Heart rate (HR) and arterial pressure (AP) were recorded. Blood samples for inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-1ß, TNF-α) were collected at baseline, and 10 and 40 minutes after SECPT.
Results: Compared to HC, patients showed higher baseline HADS-A (7.3 ± 4.5 vs 4.7 ± 2.7), overall PCS (19.7 ± 12.6 vs 12.9 ± 8.7), and perceived stress during SECPT (60.6 ± 34.3 vs 34.6 ± 23.8). IL-6 levels were higher at baseline and 10 minutes post-test (2.63 ± 1.21 vs 1.84 ± 0.87; 2.78 ± 1.20 vs 1.91 ± 0.79 pg/ml), as were TNF-α levels across all phases (4.19 ± 1.38 vs 3.26 ± 1.55; 4.09 ± 1.39 vs 3.40 ± 1.48; 4.09 ± 1.28 vs 3.20 ± 1.57) while IL-1 ß remained unchanged. HR and AP variations were similar between groups.
Discussion: HAE-C1INH patients exhibited heightened perceived stress response to SECPT, and elevated baseline inflammation, despite comparable cardiovascular reactivity. These findings highlight a complex psychophysiological–inflammatory interplay in acute stress responses, suggesting the need to integrate psychological and biological frameworks in understanding HAE-C1INH triggers.
Clinical trials code: NCT06414252
Useg-PanoDepth:Unified 360° Depth Estimation for Indoor and Outdoor Scenes with Semantic Assistance
No full textIn complex 360∘ scenes, depth estimation is challenging for small objects and the depth of object boundaries, which cannot be effectively solved with existing works. 360∘ depth estimation is unable to produce uniform depth estimate findings in both indoor and outdoor settings due to the datasets. In this paper, the Useg-PanoDepth and PanoDepth dataset is proposed to improve the above problems effectively. The Diagonal-aware Attention Module (DAM) effectively estimates small objects in complex scenes. Enhanced Boundary Module (EBM), for enhancing boundary information,can also effectively solve the problem of depth unification of indoor and outdoor scenes. Extensive experiments on our constructed PanoDepth dataset, Useg-PanoDepth achieves SOTA results. The Relative accuracy (delta <1.25) reaches 87.82%. Following is the link to the source code at https://github.com/xjh6/Useg-PanoDepth
Hyaluronic acid-based nanoparticles for pulmonary delivery of poorly soluble drugs
No full textThe delivery of poorly soluble drugs poses significant challenges in pharmacotherapy, particularly for corticosteroids. This study investigates the development of hyaluronic acid-based nanoparticles to enhance the solubility and bioavailability of dexamethasone. Hyaluronic acid-dexamethasone formulations, (HAm 15–30 kDa and HAl 750–1000 kDa), were produced as stable powders to be resuspended. We characterized the nanoparticles formed after resuspension by laser-light and X-ray scattering. Nanoparticles showed nanometric size, good stability, a core-shell arrangement, and muco-inert properties. We evaluated the interaction of nanoparticles with lung surfactant models, by nebulization of formulations on DPPC Langmuir monolayers to mimic their effects on alveolar interfaces when administered via nebulization. They showed good biocompatibility and enhanced anti-inflammatory response, as assessed by pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α release in LPS-stimulated macrophages. The favorable structural and biopharmaceutical characteristics of HA-based formulations can be exploited to improve the delivery of poorly soluble drugs to the lungs by inhalation
Unlabeled Multimodal Datasets for Robust Emotion Recognition
No full textDespite the vast literature on emotion recognition, intra- and inter-subject variability and emotional cultural differences are still outstanding challenges that limit the state-of-the-art model’s generalization ability and robustness to out-of-training distribution data. We argue that potential solution to these problems could be based on the use of unlabeled large-scale datasets available online, in particular those providing multi-modal streams, whose availability is increasing. The aim of this work is to explore the use of multi-modal large datasets, with both EEG and Eye-tracking data streams, to increase the robustness of an emotion recognition downstream task. Three data sets on different scales, with data from different numbers of subjects (117, 47, and 16 subjects) for different pretext tasks (gaze estimation, attention type recognition, and emotion recognition), were used for self-supervised pretraining of a deep learning model and compared with the performance obtained under fully supervised training with a small emotion recognition dataset, SEED-IV (15 subjects). The use of unlabeled multimodal datasets has shown promising results to improve emotion recognition robustness using Eye-related data, although further research is needed to fully benefit from the unprecedented amount of data available in the near future
The Reforms of the Economic and Monetary Union During the Euro Crisis: The Ordoliberalisation of the European Economic Governance?
Get PDFThis article examines the role of ordoliberal ideas in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) reforms adopted during the Euro crisis. Drawing on discursive institutionalism and morphological analysis, the study employs process-tracing and discourse analysis to reconstruct the reform process. The analysis primarily focuses on the public discourses of German leaders and the documents of the Van Rompuy Task Force. The article argues that ordoliberal ideas played a crucial role in the formation of the German government's preferences regarding the EMU reforms. Their impact was more limited in the reform process, where other actors were involved and Germany had to accept compromises. As a result, the reforms were more flexible than Germany would have preferred. However, to the extent that the reforms align with Germany's approach based on fiscal discipline and national responsibility, they reflect an ordoliberal rationality. In this sense, the reforms contributed to the incorporation and strengthening (albeit partial and incomplete) of the ordoliberal principles of fiscal discipline, national responsibility, competitiveness and Ordnungspolitik within the EMU rules during the crisis. These are the constitutive principles of competitive federalism, a model of European integration in which the role of supranational institutions is to enforce a regulatory framework that, by reducing their discretion in fiscal and monetary policy, exposes member states to market pressure and prompts them to adopt neoliberal policies to remain competitive with each other
Environmental Occurrence of Potentially Pathogenic Bacteria in the Equine Anesthetic Induction and Recovery Box: A Single-Center Study
No full textIn horses, surgical site infections (SSIs) are multifactorial complications influenced by patient-related, procedural, and environmental factors. While perioperative contamination has been extensively studied in the operating theater, the anesthetic induction and recovery environment has received limited attention. The aim of this study was to characterize bacterial contamination within an equine anesthetic induction and recovery stall and to evaluate its spatial and temporal distribution. Environmental samples were collected from four predefined locations within the stall at three time points: before patient admission, after recovery from general anesthesia, and after routine cleaning and disinfection. Samples were analyzed using standard aerobic culture techniques, and bacterial species were identified. Bacterial contamination was detected at all sampling locations and time points. Contamination increased significantly after recovery from general anesthesia and was most pronounced in areas associated with moisture retention, such as the groove between floor tiles. The bacterial species identified were predominantly opportunistic environmental organisms. No direct association between environmental contamination and surgical site infections could be established. However, the constant presence of potentially pathogenic bacteria indicates that the anesthetic induction and recovery stall represents a relevant component of the perioperative environment. These findings support the inclusion of the recovery area in infection control strategies aimed at reducing perioperative risk in equine surgical patient
Selective microbial enrichment by thermal treatments controls brass corrosion in methanation environments
No full textThis study investigates the effect of thermal treatments applied to a methanation inoculum on microbial community composition, surface morphology, and microbially induced corrosion of duplex brass (OT60, 40 wt% Zn), compared with sterile and untreated conditions. The treatments included: i) boiling for 120 min; ii) double autoclaving at 121 °C for 20 min; and iii) extended autoclaving at 121 °C for 60 min combined with 0.22 μm filtration and UV irradiation (sterile control). Electrochemical, chemical, and microbiological analyses were carried out to evaluate microbial modification and corrosion behavior during a 15-day exposure at 45 °C.
Each treatment generated distinct microbial fingerprints, resulting in markedly different corrosion responses. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy showed that the autoclaved condition exhibited the highest total resistance (42 kΩ·cm2 after 15 days), followed by the sterile (14 kΩ·cm2), boiled (6.5 kΩ·cm2), and biotic (3.8 kΩ·cm2) conditions. The autoclaved system was dominated by a biofilm enriched in spore-forming Bacilli (e.g., Caldalkalibacillus, Brevibacillus, Effusibacillus), which promoted the formation of a protective Cu2O/CuO-CaCO3 bilayer and limited metal release (Cu/Zn ratio: 0.79). In contrast, the both biotic and boiled systems, which biofilms were dominated by thermophilic genus Tepidiphilus, developed intermediate, less protective, Cu-Zn phosphate surface layers.
The sterile condition exhibited purely chemical corrosion, characterized by direct alloy dissolution (Cu = 5.8 ppm; Cu/Zn ratio: 7.25) and the formation of fragile, non-protective oxide and phosphate deposits. Overall, thermal treatments alone were insufficient for complete sterilization, while selective microbial enrichment through autoclaving effectively mitigated brass corrosion via biogenic carbonate precipitation