196,130 research outputs found
An ABC of Citizenship, vol. 2
No full textE' il primo di due fascicoli monografici che raccoglie i lavori e le intuizioni nate anche in sinergia con alcune associazioni del territorio pugliese: creare degli Abbecedari della cittadinanza, legati a grappoli di eventi, capaci di coinvolgere territori, scuole e in generale agenzie educative. L'esperienza ha a sua volta sollecitato docenti e ricercatori universitari italiani e stranieri, che hanno inviato i loro contributi. La molteplicità di materiale e l'interesse del percorso teorico-pratico ci ha appunto convinto a dividere quanto giunto in redazione in due fascicoli, che raccolgono saggi legati a 21 sezioni, una per ogni lettera dell'alfabeto di questo ideale abbecedario comunitario: dalla A di amicizia alla Z di Zero povertà. Con contributi anche di tipo internazionale: B. Weber, W. Kohan, E. Cejva
Community-based
No full textThis issue of Logoi has at least three roots and three reasons. The first one is to start a reflection on the so-called Community-based participatory research (CBPR). This dossier is opened by a paper of Meredith Minkler (University of Berkeley) who is one of the founders of the method CBPR and of reflection on it.
This scenario is also linked to the two articles that we present in the section called Research Communities and ABCs, papers which on the one hand refer to the CBPR, but on the other side cross in particular another of our interests: the Abc method. In fact, Logoi is a partner of the research project called An ABC of Democratic Citizenship. “Community-Based Participatory Research” through Sciences & Humanities (University of Bari). The project is presented in this section. While another focus is on Latin America. You can read the contribution of Adriana Fresquet (Río
de Janeiro), Abecedarios audiovisuais comunitarios: de Perú para el mundo.
Let’s come to the third root/reason of this issue: the need to reflect, in many ways and with many languages, on the theme of community.
We therefore have some essays that either starting from some knowledge, disciplines, languages even extra-philosophical, or focusing on authors and specific themes, address the issue-community: Interdisciplinary issues (Simona Cohen - Tel-Aviv; et alii) and Particular issue
EFFETTI STIMOLANTI DA DANTROLENE SODICO SU ORGANI E MUSCOLATURA LISCIA.
No full textThe effects of sodium dantrolene (DaNa), a calcium antagonist specifically acting on skeletal muscles, were evaluated on the spontaneous contractions of ileum, uterine horns and longitudinal strips of esophageal smooth muscle, in vitro. DaNa (1.81 to 15 μg/ml) caused a reversible dose-related increase of the spontaneous contractions of the three organs. DaNa (15 μg/ml) caused a 60±3% increase of the ileum spontaneous tone, and caused a 57±3% increase in the frequency of the spontaneous contractions of the uterus. The stimulatory effect of DaNa on the uterine musculature was not antagonized by atropine, methysergide or indomethacin. In the esophagus the maximum increase of the spontaneous tone and contractions (65±2%) was due to 3.7 μg/ml perfusion of DaNa. This effect was antagonized by nifedipin
Heart rate estimation from ballistocardiogram signals processing via low-cost telemedicine architectures: a comparative performance evaluation
No full textMedical devices (MDs) have been designed for monitoring the parameters of patients in many sectors. Nonetheless, despite being high-performing and reliable, they often turn out to be expensive and intrusive. In addition, MDs are almost exclusively used in controlled, hospital-based environments. Paving a path of technological innovation in the clinical field, a very active line of research is currently dealing with the possibility to rely on non-medical-graded low-cost devices, to develop unattended telemedicine (TM) solutions aimed at non-invasively gathering data, signals, and images. In this article, a TM solution is proposed for monitoring the heart rate (HR) of patients during sleep. A remote patient monitoring system (RPMS) featuring a smart belt equipped with pressure sensors for ballistocardiogram (BCG) signals sampling was deployed. A field trial was then conducted over a 2-month period on 24 volunteers, who also agreed to wear a finger pulse oximeter capable of producing a photoplethysmography (PPG) signal as the gold standard, to examine the feasibility of the solution via the estimation of HR values from the collected BCG signals. For this purpose, two of the highest-performing approaches for HR estimation from BCG signals, one algorithmic and the other based on a convolutional neural network (CNN), were retrieved from the literature and updated for a TM-related use case. Finally, HR estimation performances were assessed in terms of patient-wise mean absolute error (MAE). Results retrieved from the literature (controlled environment) outperformed those achieved in the experimentation (TM environment) by 29% (MAE = 4.24 vs. 5.46, algorithmic approach) and 52% (MAE = 2.32 vs. 3.54, CNN-based approach), respectively. Nonetheless, a low packet loss ratio, restrained elaboration time of the collected biomedical big data, low-cost deployment, and positive feedback from the users, demonstrate the robustness, reliability, and applicability of the proposed TM solution. In light of this, further steps will be planned to fulfill new targets, such as evaluation of respiratory rate (RR), and pattern assessment of the movement of the participants overnight
Random and Block Copolymers of Isotactic Polypropylene with Higher α-Olefins: The Role of the Chain Topology on the Side-Chains Confined Crystallization
No full textSamples of isotactic propylene-1-octadecene (iPP-co-C18) random copolymers and of diblock copolymers (BCPs) of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) linked to a propylene-1-octadecene block (P-co-C18), iPP-b-P(P-co-C18) with tuned block length and different comonomer content (up to 24 mol %) have been prepared using two different organometallic Hf-based catalysts. Both catalysts ensure good activity, high comonomer incorporation preserving high molecular weight, and a living behavior with the Cs-symmetric pyridylamido-Hf dimethyl complex. The influence of the copolymer topology with random and block architecture on the crystallization behavior and, specifically, the crystallization of side-chains has been analyzed. In random copolymers iPP-co-C18, the main-chains crystallize in the α form and in a mesophase of iPP, whereas at low temperature, the side-chains of the C18 co-units crystallize forming PE-like crystals. The crystallization of the lateral chains is surprisingly observed even in the sample with low C18 concentration and low branches’ frequency, where the randomly placed branches are highly spaced. This indicates that these random copolymers show unexpected nanophase separation between iPP chains and alkyl side-chains, with aggregation of side-chains that facilitates their crystallization even at low branches’ frequency. In the iPP-b-P(P-co-C18) BCPs, the iPP blocks crystallize in the common α form and the side-chains of the C18 co-units in the P(P-co-C18) block crystallize at low temperature, forming polyethylene-like crystals. The confined crystallization at low temperature of side-chains of the C18 co-units is driven by both phase separation of the dissimilar blocks (further driven by iPP crystallization) as well as by phase separation induced by the local incompatibility inside the P(P-co-C18) block between main-chain and C18 side-chains. This cooperative mechanism further facilitates the crystallization of the C18 side-chains compared to random copolymers and provides indirect evidence of microphase separation in these systems. We have demonstrated that branches are intriguingly segregated in nanodomains, favoring crystallization after self-aggregation, and can crystallize in random copolymers with a perfectly uniform and random distribution of C18 co-units even at very low comonomer content, therefore, even for low frequency of branching, when randomly placed branches are highly spaced
Targeting protein inactivation through an oligomerization chain reaction
No full textA general strategy for inactivation of target proteins is presented, which we have termed "oligomerization chain reaction." This technique is based on the fusion of the self-associating coiled-coil (CC) domain of the nuclear factor promyelocytic leukemia (PML) to target proteins that are able to self-associate naturally. Oligomerization through the CC region of promyelocytic leukemia, and through the natural self-associating domain, triggers the oligomerization chain reaction, leading to formation of large molecular weight complexes and functional inactivation of the target. As a test case, we have chosen the oncosuppressor p53, naturally occurring as a tetramer. Fusion of the CC to p53 leads to formation of stable high molecular weight complexes - as shown by size exclusion chromatography - to which wild-type p53 is recruited with high efficiency. CC-p53 chimeras delocalize wild-type p53 to the cytoplasm and inhibit its transcriptional regulatory properties, resulting in a loss of p53 function. We propose that this strategy may be of general application to self-associating factors and represent a complementary approach to currently used functional inactivation-based strategies
Antitumor agents 7. Synthesis, antiproliferative activity and molecular modeling of new L-lysine-conjugated pyridophenoxazinones as potent DNA-binding ligands and topoisomerase IIa inhibitors
No full textA series of L-lysine-conjugated pyridophenoxazinones 2e5 and 2′-5′ were designed and synthesized fordeveloping compounds with multimodal anticancer potentialities. All compounds inhibited the proliferation of a panel of human liquid and solid neoplastic cell lines. 2 and 5 were the most active compounds with IC50 values in the submicromolar range. UVevis, 1H NMR, unwinding, and docking experiments demonstrated that they intercalate between the middle 50-GC-30 base pairs with the carboxamide side chain lying into major groove. Charge-transfer contribution to the complex stability, evaluated by ab initio calculations, was found to correlate with cytotoxicity. Relaxation and cleavage assays showed that 2 and 5 selectively target Topo IIa over Topo IIb and stimulate the formation of covalent Topo IIeDNA complexes, functioning as poisons. Moreover, compound 5 induced DNA damage and arrested MCF-7 cells at the G2/M phase. Altogether, the work provides interesting structure-activity relationships in the pyridophenoxazinone-L-lysine conjugate series and identifies 5 as a promising candidate for further in vivo evaluation
Dr. Duane M. Jackson, Morehouse College, July 2011
No full textThis video is a conversation with Dr. Duane M. Jackson. Dr. Jackson talks about his paper, "Recall and the Serial Position Effect: The Role of Primacy and Recency on Accounting Students' Performance." Jackie Daniel, AUC Woodruff Library, is the interviewer
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