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Natural collagenic skeleton of marine sponges in pharmaceutics: innovative biomaterial for topical drug delivery
No full textThe growing interest in the use of recyclable and biodegradable natural materials has become a relevant topic in pharmaceutics. In this work, we suggest the use and valorization of natural horny skeleton of marine sponges (Porifera, Dictyoceratida) as bio-based dressing for topical drug delivery. Biomaterial characterization focusing on morpho-functional traits, swelling behavior, fluid uptake performances, glycosaminoglycans content and composition and microbiological quality assessment was carried out to investigate the collagenic skeleton properties. After grinding and sieving processes, l-cysteine hydrochloride-loaded formulations were designed in form of powder or polymeric film by testing various drug concentrations and different drying parameters. Drug content, SEM analyses and in vitro permeation studies were performed to test the suitability of skeleton-based formulations. To this respect, drying time and temperature are key parameters for skeleton-mediated drug crystallization. Consequently, this behavior seems to influence drug loading and permeation profiles of formulations. The high percentages of drug are found after absorption into sponge powder and in vitro permeation studies demonstrate that cysteine is released more slowly than the pure drug within 1 h. Such a system is attractive because it combines the known healing properties of cysteine with the advantageous potentials of the collagen/proteoglycan network, which can act as biocompatible carrier able to absorb the excess of the wound exudate while releasing the drug. Furthermore, due to its glycosaminoglycans content, natural sponge skeletal scaffold might act as bioactive-biomimetic carrier regulating the wound healing processes
Le Concessioni demaniali marittime ad uso turistico-ricreativo alla luce dei principi dell'Unione Europea
Get PDFIl contributo affronta le problematiche in tema di concessioni demaniali marittime alla luce della normativa europea e, in particolare, della direttive Bolkestein.
La prima parte della tesi è dedicata alla trattazione dei principi fondamentali che regolano la disciplina sul demanio.
La seconda parte, invece, analizza la normativa concernente l'utilizzo del demanio marittimo.
L'ultimo capitolo, infine, si sofferma sulla applicabilità della direttiva Bolkestein alle concessioni demaniali marittime e sullo sforzo del legislatore italiano di conformare la disciplina italiana a quella comunitaria
Influenza e immaginario della danza nell'educazione di genere e nella narrativa dal XVII al XIX secolo
Get PDFThis research project proposes to analyse the effects that dance has had on
women’s lives and development as well as on the study of the fantasy of dance
within fiction between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The project is divided into three parts.
The first of the three chapters, Dance in women’s lives and education, takes into
consideration the role of dance as a privileged path in the physical,
psychological and educational training of women, as well as a means of
acquiring proper etiquette, thus preparing women for marriage.
A different discourse concentrates on the debutante ball, an event of strong
social, symbolic and anthropological significance which additionally acted as a
rite of passage. The focus of the research then shifts on to the presence of dance
in the first fifty years of the twentieth century, with regards to fantasy and dance
practice during Fascism.
The second chapter, Identity and gender roles in dance, tackles issues such as
gender differences between male dance and female dance. Ultimately, the
research centres on the study of the relationship between dance and pain.
The third and final chapter is titled The fantasy of Dance in nineteenth century
Fiction. In this part of the thesis, several dance periodicals which were printed in
Italy between the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth
century have been reviewed, which revealed significant supporting material on
European horseback dancing between the two centuries
Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in alcohol use disorder patients: effects on dopamine transporter availability and alcohol intake
No full textRepetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may affect neuro-adaptations associated with alcohol use disorder (AUD), potentially influencing craving and alcohol intake. We investigated alcohol intake and dopamine transporter (DAT) availability by Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) in the striatum of AUD patients before and after deep rTMS. Fourteen patients underwent baseline clinical and SPECT assessment. Eleven out of fourteen patients were randomized into two groups for the REAL (n.5) or SHAM (n.6) treatment. Clinical and SPECT evaluations were then carried out after four weeks of rTMS sessions (T1). At baseline, AUD patients showed higher striatal DAT availability than healthy control subjects (HC). Patients receiving the REAL stimulation revealed a reduction in DAT availability at T1, whereas the SHAM-treated group did not. In addition, patients receiving the REAL stimulation had a decrease in alcohol intake. The results of this longitudinal pilot study may suggest a modulatory effect of deep rTMS on dopaminergic terminals and a potential clinical efficacy in reducing alcohol intake in AUD patients. Further investigations are required to confirm these preliminary data
Le Geografie dell'Innovazione: startup creative per lo sviluppo socio-economico dei territori. Una lettura critica.
Get PDFThis work aims at evaluating from a critical perspective the socio-economic and territorial effects exerted by the ecosystem of new companies with high levels of innovation, creativity and technological assets, that is to say the creative startup which are widely regarded as players of entrepreneurial spirit and territorial innovation.
From the theoretical standpoint, the research is included in the frame of economic geography exploring patterns and diffusion of knowledge, innovation and creativity.
From the methodological point of view, the work scrutinises the localization factors, the patterns of clusterization and the relations between creative startups, urban milieux and local entrepreneurial ecosystem through a place-based case study: the Italian southern region Sicily, which represents a highly interesting case due to the recent emphasis on creativity and innovation as tools of development for the disadvantaged socio-economic regions.
Thus, in the first section the work deepens the theoretical and epistemological issues related to the concepts of knowledge, creativity, innovation as well ass their relations with economic and urban structures, ranging from the Creative City paradigm to the new mantra of Startup City. In the second section, the territorial dimension of innovation and creativity is explored at the European and national level and, finally, through the case study about Sicily
Grazia Deledda. Lettere ad Andrea Pirodda (1891-1899)
Get PDFThe materials presented here are only a small part of the materials traced and collect till now. They are 190 letters from Grazia Deledda to Andrea Pirodda.
We can see the change of a provincial young girl into the most translated Italian woman writer and read in 900s. Those letters reppresent a kind of diary about a period of vocational training that began from 1892 to the end of 1899 and also about the events, often painful, of her life.
Grazia begin to know better herself and use her experience on her characters into her novels. This way of writing gave her new life chances in comparison with her living environment and, throgh it, she has been able to achieve success and fame.
If the letter is a way of self-consciousness and affirmation, it can show the ethic, literary and theoretical evolution stages too. It’s a literary collection work to raise awareness on the importance of the letters as a better way to express herself and «her strong faith in life, in youth and in the future»
Ruolo dei parassitoidi autoctoni e di quello esotico introdotto nel controllo biologico del cinipide galligeno del castagno in Sardegna
Get PDFThe Asian chestnut gall wasp Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) (ACGW) is considered as a major pest of Castanea species worldwide. The classical biological control based on the release of the parasitoid Torymus sinensis Kamijo (Hymenoptera, Torymidae) is considered to be the only effective method of controlling D. kuriphilus.
The parasitism rates of native parasitoids species are typically low (2-10%), thus they cannot control chestnut gallwasp keeping its population below an economic threshold.
A multi-year monitoring of exotic and native parasitoids of this pest was carried out in Sardinia by collecting specimens inside the galls. At the same time D. kuriphilus infestation and T. sinensis settlement in some release sites has been monitored.
The data collected clearly indicate that D. kuriphilus is decreasing as demonstrated by the decrease of number of galls, infested shoots and number of cells per gall.
Until 2014, the density of T. sinensis has been extremely low in sites different from those of release reaching levels well below those relative to native parasitoids (between 40 and 50%). However, in two years since then T. sinensis became the dominant species in some sites parasitizing 99% of gall wasp cells.
T. sinensis is well established in all release sites but some differences were in density values between galls collected in spring-summer (diapausing larvae) and emergences from “winter” galls suggesting some mortality of overwintering larvae
Morphological study of the fetus in the first trimester of the pregnancy: gender differences
No full textOver the past decade, prenatal diagnosis has shifted rapidly from the second trimester into the first trimester. Althougt the nuchal-traslucency scan may detect a small proportion of fetal structural malformations, fetal anatomy is not routinely assessed until the fetal anatomical survey is performed in the second trimester between 18 and 22 weeks. The recent development of high-frequency transvaginal ultrasound transducer has led to vastly improved ultrasound resolution and improved visualization of fetal anatomy earlier in gestation.
OBJECTIVE: his study was designed to assess the accuracy of ultrasound anatomy screening before 14 weeks gestation in the population and highlight the differences between a female fetus and one male. Remember that the difference of the gonad, and sex determination, take place between 6 and 10 weeks, while the final phenotypic appearence will be taken only at 13-15 weeks.
METHODS: Retrospective review of anatomy ultrasound examination carried out between 11/15 gestation in the population. Early sonografic findings were compared with the 18/22 weeks anatomy ultrasound and postnatal results. Were enrolled 328 women with singleton pregnancies at low risk subjected to ultrasound in the first trimester between March 2014 and September 2016.
RESULTS: All 328 patients selectioned had a good echogenicity and the percentage of success in view of the bodies turns out to be high enough. Rate of visualization of the kidneys: 97%, Hands and feet: 100%; we note that the use of 3D techniques has allowed us to have a greater success in the head (100%), massive facial (100%), column (100%) and heart (87%). Thanks to the study of the angle of the genital tubercle was able to know the sex of the fetus early : there was a minimal error rate for sex determination. In the examination of the first trimester we detected 20 fetal malformation inclouding 12 cystis hygromas, 6 cardiac anomaly and 2 case of anencefaly.
CONCLUSION: The obtained results are encouraging and show high detection rate and good visualization of fetal organs already at the end of the first trimester of pregnancy and a good ability to discriminate gender differences between the fetuses
Itinerari culturali: profili giuridici
Get PDFThe cultural routes have a supranational comprehensive legislation and represent the cultural good more complete and heterogeneous: in fact, they are composed not only by a set of one or more material cultural goods and the landscape, but they are also expression of intangible cultural values and a “means” to promote the cultural exchange and the cultural diversity. This cultural heritage must be preserved through development policies and sustainable tourism, in order to maintain intact the cultural balance between environment, man and the same landscape. In this context, play an important role the supranational Organizations and their regulatory activities, but also the appropriate Institutions for the protection of cultural routes, which offer various conceptions of cultural routes and multiple safeguard instrument.
At national level, the legislations in terms of cultural heritage of Italy and Spain present common aspects. In terms of cultural routes, the reconstruction and comparison of the national disciplines, and those of their respective local self-government, makes it possible to highlight important aspects of legislative development and criticality.
The transnational cultural routes are now counted as a category of world cultural heritage. By virtue of the principles of European administrative law and of the supranational legislation, are proposed elements for a legal and administrative unitary configuration of this type of routes
Social Immunity in honeybee: behavioral, chemical and microbiological aspects
No full textSocial insects have evolved collective immune defense strategies to combat predators, parasites and pathogens, which constantly threaten the survival of the hive. Some of these defense systems are preventative and are intended to restrict the transmission of diseases within the nest, whereas others are activated in case of need, when pathogens and/or pests have already penetrated into the hive. The first subject of this thesis focuses on the predator–prey relationship between Apis mellifera ligustica and Vespula germanica by evaluating the effectiveness of attack and defense behaviors, as well as the actual damage and disturbance caused to the colonies under attack. Another topic of this thesis is the resin collection dynamics in Varroa destructor infested honeybee colonies. Comparative experiments involving hives with different mite infestation levels were conducted to assess propolis amount and quality within the hive. Finally, we investigated the variations in the immune-related gene expression levels and in the relative abundance of representative bacterial phylotypes of the core honeybee microbiota, in colonies infested by DWV carrying-Varroa mites in comparison with honeybees from non-infested colonies. In conclusion, our results are important for future development of more environmentally friendly management practices to improve bees survival