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Indagini antropologiche e paleopatologiche di un sito archeologico: San Biagio in Citiglio.
No full textThe present PhD thesis focuses on the site of the church of San Biagio in Cittiglio (Va). This work is part of a project started in 2006 in collaboration between the Research Center of Osteoarchaeology and Paleopathology of the University of Insubria and the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Lombardy.
This site is particularly interesting because it covers a very wide chronological range from the eleventh to the seventeenth century and due to the presence of numerous infantile remains. The study is based on a work of systematic integration between anthropological investigation and archaeological investigation to arrive at a definition of the socio-demographic dynamics of the area. In fact, anthropological analysis has been useful not only to reconstruct the biological history of the individual, but also to contribute to the reconstruction of the past of an entire community. The skeletal material was analyzed according to standard methods for identification, paying attention to the taphonomic aspects with reference to the study of burials and to the paleopathological and traumatological aspects important for defining the internal organization of the community
Homo Patiens. A socio-philosophical concept. The restitution of "alienation" as a theoretical benchmark for socio-critical approaches. How the transcendental aspects of suffering hint to its progressive potential.
No full textThe aim of this work is to place suffering at the center of socio-critical considerations. It initially starts with the criticism of the concept of alienation which can be found in a long tradition within social and political philosophy. The orientation towards concrete experiences of suffering allows conclusions on the current and concrete socio-cultural limits of human formability and adaptability. On the one hand, the reference to suffering ensures that the real human being is indeed at the center of such investigations and no abstraction, which helps avoid overly idealistic speculations. On the other hand, suffering shows up at the nodal point of bio-psycho-sociocultural dimensions and has to be interpreted in this specific interconnectedness. So, putting suffering at the center of socio-philosophical contemplations requires an approach which questions and investigates suffering soberly. Trough the philosophical elaboration of eight different aspects of suffering a multilayered focus on this phenomenon shall be provided which aims to highlight the transcendental and productive sides of suffering. Therefore, suffering is read as a symptom that refers to something hidden and that reveals a certain truth which can provide guidance for social change
L’infermiere come agente morale della professione, la sensibilità etica e i valori professionali
Full text linkThe purpose of this thesis is aimed to answer to the question: nurse's ethical sensitivity today is consistent with the definition of nurse as moral agent of the profession? In order to answer, nurses will be defined as moral agent of the profession through the revision of most representive ethical currents in bioethics (Principialism, ethics of virtues, ethics of natural law and ethics of respect for people) motivating so his ethical/deontological involvement within the intellectual professions and the health system; we will proceed to identify which values underlie the profession and form the foundation for the professional moral agent, starting from those explained in the UN declaration in 1948 and researching them in the most representative codes of ethics, Italy, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, International Council of Nurses. The concepts that define the professionals, caring, advocacy, accountability and cooperation, will be a useful basis, together with the compassion defined as a qualifying component, to help to define the moral agent. Then the Nurses Professional Values Scale-R (NPVS) questionnaire, of the American colleagues Darlene Weis and Mary Jane Schank, will be administered to a representative sample of professionals in order to identify the ethical sensitivity of the same today; in the conclusions will be compared the data collected through the questionnaire with the definition of nurse as moral agent of the profession
A new methodological approach in the diagnosis of extra-medullary lymphomas: the role of classical and molecular cytogenetics.
Full text linkLymphomas are a group of heterogeneous malignant neoplasms involving B, T and NK lymphocytes. Their localization is predominantly lymph node, but frequently they can diffuse to the bone marrow. Cytogenetic analysis, required for a correct diagnosis, prognosis and therapy is harder when the lymphoma is extra-medullary: in these cases Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) analysis is commonly applied, performed on interphase nuclei coming from sections of lymph node tissue. However, this method has some limitations: 1) it is based on the use of locus specific probes and it provides targeted information; 2) the outcome of FISH investigations is strongly conditioned by the correct processing of the biopsy sample and by the presence of a sufficient amount of neoplastic cells.
The aim of this work is trying to optimize the tissue taken by lymph node biopsy in a patient with suspected extra-medullary lymphoma, producing cell cultures added with a specific combination of B-cell mitogen named DSP30 with Interleukin 2, the same used in the BM cultures. On this "enriched" and correctly processed sample, we performed a complete analysis of the karyotype that, in some cases, allowed to identify additional chromosomal alterations comparing to those highlighted by FISH analysis.
Based on the obtained results, we believe that we have developed an ideal protocol to improve the cytogenetic analysis of lymphomas, including the different types of cell culture, the use of an appropriate mitogen and the analyses made by conventional and molecular cytogenetics. Our methodological approach, moreover, allows storing cells suspension, bioptical and histological samples, that can be used also later to perform molecular genetic investigations
Artificial vs biological meshes: can in vitro cellular responses predict the outcome in patients?
Full text linkSynthetic and biological matrices for abdominal wall repair have been developed and commercialized in recent years. Biological meshes have been proposed as an alternative when synthetic implants are not indicated, as in the case of contaminated surgical field and may present fewer complications such as chronic pain and visceral adhesions after hernia repair. However, their use is still debated, due to high cost to benefit ratio. Moreover, knowledge of the molecular pathways activated in the different types of cells by their use is still lacking.
This study aimed to investigate the molecular processes activated by fibroblasts during their interaction with different types of biological and synthetic matrices, comparing the fibroblast-matrix interactions morphologically, monitoring cell proliferation and the expression of genes involved in the deposition and reabsorption of collagen, as well as some cytokines and markers of differentiation into myofibroblasts.
We found that fibroblasts grew differently on the different biological meshes. Few fibroblasts grew on the synthetic mesh, impairing gene expression analysis. Fibroblasts on biological meshes induced specific metalloproteinases and reduced expression of collagen genes compared to control cells. Expression of markers for myofibroblast differentiation was also reduced. We found limited differences in gene expression programs among the different biological meshes
Aspetti etici del trattamento delle malformazioni cranio-facciali.
Full text linkWhen treating dento-facial deformities, the attention has always been put on the technical aspects of the various interventions instead of the ethical aspects, given the fact that dealing with children the primary worry is providing them with the best cure and the fastest path to a normalization of their deformities.
Nonetheless, surgical and dental procedures do modify the aesthetics of the patient, thus you need to take into account also the ethical aspects of such treatments.
Our aim has been to identify the outstanding ethical issues regarding the treatment of dento-facial deformities and to evaluate the perception of some peculiar aspects of the treatment by submitting a questionnaire to both the children and the parents.
Facial aesthetics represent a psychological issue for most people, and our research confirms it; in particular parents are concerned about the social consequences related to an uncertain facial aesthetic.
The crucial point, as always when treating children, is to pursue the best interest for them, leaving aside those concerns typical of the adults
Towards the Extremely Large Telescopes era in exoplanetary science: simulation tools, instrumental optimization and design for high resolution spectroscopy. The cases of ESPRESSO and ELT-HIRES.
No full textIn this thesis I present my PhD activities concerning the development of simulation tools both for ground-based high resolution spectrograph design, ESPRESSO and ELT-HIRES, and for scientific investigations in the field of exoplanetary high-dispersion transmission spectroscopy. In the ESPRESSO (the Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets Super Stable Observations) project, the instrument modeling through ray-tracing bsoftware and ad-hoc developed sensivity analysis tool were fruitfully used for component optimization and alignment verification. In the framework of the ELT-HIRES (the HIgh REsolution Spectrograph for the ELT) project, an End-to-End simulator and a parametric paraxial model of the spectrograph were developed with the purpose to evaluate the different effects which can affect the final instrument performances, since they directly influence the scientific data observational performances. The synthetic echellogram (raw frame) produced and successfully processed by the CRIRES+ instrument data reduction pipeline are presented, thus probing the full chain feasibility and consistency of the system. Large telescopes allowing very high contrast, could also imply the possibility to detect the light emitted from background sources and/or from gravitationally bounded companion of exoplanetary system, which could act as signal contamination. A transmission spactra simulator, a tool aimed at generating synthetic spectra, was developed and used to show that the maximum contamination occurs for background stars of G-to-M type, even though for high resolution spectra with a 4m class telescope this contamination seems to not introduce obvious shifts or line broadening in the exoplanet atmospheric features
Manipulation experiments for the assessment and monitoring of climate change impacts on vegetation of alpine and polar ecosystems.
No full textThis thesis focused on the impacts of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems of alpine (Central Italian Alps) and Polar (Maritime Antarctica) tundra habitats, two of the three areas of the world where had been recorded the greatest air temperature warming since 1950.
The alpine site is located at the Stelvio Pass where since the 2014 in-situ manipulation experiments started to assess the possible future responses of tundra vegetation to changes of: a) air and soil warming, b) water availability and soil moisture, c) snow-depth and snowmelt time.
The PhD project confirmed and assessed the influence of these manipulation experiments, on environmental data, vegetation composition and structure and plant phenology, stressing how responses to the environmental drivers had species-specific differences, but also with influences from plant communities, species ecology and local conditions (topography).
The Antarctic site is located at Signy Island (northern maritime Antarctica) where were installed manipulation experiments, comparable to those set up in the Alps, those will allow to compare in the next years the biotic and abiotic responses of different polar and alpine tundra ecosystems. The assessment of any vegetation changes was not possible, because of the logistical constrain and of the short period of manipulation (2 years); however, were presented the experiment design and the preliminary environmental data after the first year of deployment.
Finally, through a paleo-climate investigation, that involved the analyses of organic sediment and moribund mosses collected at Rothera Point (southern maritime Antarctica), evidences were provided on how the climate system changed through time
La moneta di ghiaccio. Il ruolo delle monete complementari: misura anticiclica o strumento di rifondazione del processo di circolazione – il caso delle BCC in Bergamasca
Full text linkThe research deepens the nature and functions of money in a monetary production economy by addressing monetary issues held to be of minor importance by the contemporary mainstream. After defining the functions institutionally attributed to money, the research analyzes the theoretical contributions of Proudhon, Gesell and Keynes in order to emphasize how, according to these authors, money plays an essential role for the explanation of the instability of the economic system in which we actually live. The projects for the re-foundation of money thus developed by Proudhon, Gesell and Keynes are all characterized by the necessity of reserving to money the sole function of means of payment and exchange. To this end, money should be transformed into ‘ice money’, that is, a kind of money that, like goods, is subject to a process of temporal deterioration affecting its nominal value through demurrage, so as to prevent its hoarding. The transformation of money into ‘ice money’ represents the necessary, although not sufficient, condition to trigger a virtuous dynamic process towards full employment, while favoring the downsizing of capital income up to its progressive elimination. Inspired by these projects for the re-foundation of money, the experiences of Banca WIR and SARDEX.net analyzed in this work are characterized by the realization of multilateral clearing houses for commercial credits allowing to apply to local realities the plans originally conceived by the authors mentioned above to re-build the national and international process of circulation of goods and capitals. The ultimate goal of the research was to verify the efficacy of such multilateral clearing houses with respect to the urgencies currently expressed by cooperative credit banks in terms of the recovery of their profitability, which was compromised by the deterioration of credits, and in terms of the reaffirmation of their mutualistic purpose with regard to the local economic reality as a fundamental distinctive character compared to commercial banks. The research also contains a specific study devoted to the economic reality of the province of Bergamo, in which the phenomenon of cooperative credit banking has its roots. Within this context, and with the third sector acting as a flywheel, the multilateral clearing house for commercial credits is able to express its full potential not only as an anti-cyclical tool benefitting the local economy, but also as a more ambitious structural re-foundation tool of the process of circulation of the real economic system
The role of the homeobox gene family Otx in an ischemia/reperfusion damage in the enteric nervous system.
No full textThe homeobox gene family Otx encodes for transcription factors involved in the induction and morphogenesis of the neuroectoderm. Intestinal ischemia is an acute and rarely chronic clinical condition caused by the unbalance between intestinal oxygen supply and the metabolic tissue demand. After the remove of its cause, tissue re-oxygenation causes a series of biochemical and cellular mechanisms that amplify tissue damage. During intestinal I/R, nitric oxide can be both cryoprotective and cytotoxic based on the type of NOS involved in its synthesis. During this PhD project we have firstly studied the involvement of the Otx genes in a rat model of ischemia/reperfusion. Subsequently we replicated in vitro an I/R damage through the OGD procedure on a human neuroblastoma cell line previously treated with ATRA to induce its differentiation towards a neuronal-like phenotype. The data presented in this project clearly indicate the existence of an interplay between myenteric nitrergic pathways and Otx transcription factors that could sustain the development of motor alterations induced by NO after an I/R injury, with OTX1 and iNOS more related to the effects of I/R on the glial cells performing a cytotoxic effect while OTX2 and nNOS linked to the consequences on neuronal cells and developing a cytoprotective role