449 research outputs found
Il tutor sociologico nell'elearning: le figure professionali dell'elearning
No full textLa tipicità di un umano che nelle società complesse, meglio attualmente definite come ipercomplesse, ha conservato soltanto nella definizione di tale termine l'escusività costitutiva della sua propria natura, risolta in un affinamento funzionale delle capacità prestazionali sovente prive di adeguata riflessività e criticità esige il ripensamento sull'adeguatezza degli schemi attuali di pensiero. La proiezione di una nuova società deve essere attuata mediante l'utilizzo delle nuove teconologie, l'e-learning sicuramente è uno delgi strumenti vincenti a tale sfida
Regulation of {ERAP}1 and {ERAP}2 genes and their disfunction in human cancer
No full textThe endoplasmic reticulum (ER) aminopeptidases ERAP1 and ERAP2 are two multifunctional enzymes playing an important role in the biological processes requiring trimming of substrates, including the generation of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I binding peptides. In the absence of ERAP enzymes, the cells exhibit a different pool of peptides on their surface which can promote both NK and CD8+ T cell-mediated immune responses. The expression of ERAP1 and ERAP2 is frequently altered in tumors, as compared to their normal counterparts, but how this affects tumor growth and anti-tumor immune responses has been little investigated. This review will provide an overview of current knowledge on transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulations of ERAP enzymes, and will discuss the contribution of recent studies to our understanding of ERAP1 and ERAP2 role in cancer immunity
Methylprednisolone infusion for life-threatening H1N1-virus infection
No full textBackground: During winter 2009 we treated with prolonged corticosteroid infusion eight consecutive patients affected by H1N1-virus infection and severe pneumonia. The most severe patient was a previously healthy 30-year-old man admitted to hospital because of bilateral pneumonia and severe acute respiratory failure. Method: H1N1-virus infection was detected by broncho-alveolar lavage performed on day 1. After some days following admission the patient was still in a life-threatening state, not responding to oseltamivir, protective mechanical ventilation and veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Results: The addition of methylprednisolone infusion at a stress dose (1 mg/kg/24 h) as rescue therapy significantly and rapidly improved the clinical condition. Weaning from ECMO and invasive mechanical ventilation was possible within a relatively few days. Conclusion: According to the literature reports more than 34% of H1N1-virus severe infections were treated with corticosteroids. This report and our experience may suggest a possible life-saving use of corticosteroids at a stress dose in severely ill patients with an H1N1-virus infection that is not responding to the most advanced treatments
I Can See Clearly Now! Exploring the Interplay Between Sport Modality and Visual Search Skill, Visual Working Memory and Reasoning.
No full textThe ability to select and recall information is an essential cognitive function relevant to roughly every situation in our daily lives (Brand & Schiebener, 2013).
The present investigation sought to further understanding of the influence of sport modality (i.e., open- and closed-skill sports) on different aspects of cognitive function such as visual search ability, visual working memory, and reasoning.
Given the several cognitive demands imposed by open- and closed-skill sports, it appears reasonable to hypothesize that cognitive function may vary as a function of sport modality (Gu et al., 2019).
Thirty-seven open-skill athletes (Mage = 27.30, SD =7.49 years), 32 closed-skill athletes (Mage = 29.97, SD = 9.73 years) and 26 non- athletes (Mage = 29.04, SD = 8.25 years) were recruited.
Open-skill athletes came from different sport disciplines (e.g., basketball and tennis) and closed-skill athletes came from sports such as running, and swimming.
Participants’ visual search abilities, visual working memory (Corsi Span -Backwards), and reasoning abilities (Cognitive Reflection Task) were investigated and the PsyToolkit platform was used to create and administer the tasks (Stoet, 2010; Stoet, 2017).
Only visual search abilities were superior in open-skill athletes when compared to both closed-skill athletes and non-athletes.
Furthermore, the findings revealed nonsignificant differences between closed-skills athletes and non-athletes for all tasks.
Accordingly, sport practice appears to be beneficial for some aspects of cognitive function. However, the present results must be interpreted with due caution, given that pre-existent differences in cognitive function could lead participants to become more successful in one sport than another
To use or not to use corticosteroids for pneumonia? A clinician's perspective
No full textThe use of corticosteroids in the management of pneumonia is still a controversial issue. The physicians in daily clinical practice often use corticosteroids in patients with pneumonia for different reasons all over the world. As an example of real life is the frequent use of corticosteroids to treat patients with pneumonia due to H1N1 pandemic influenza in spite of WHO' statements that clearly discouraged this therapy. In fact, the literature up to august 2012 reported a total of 6,650 patients with pneumonia due to H1N1 virus infection (of whom 2,515 were ICU patients): corticosteroids were used with various dose regimen in 2404 patients (37.8%). The attitude of international guidelines on pneumonia in using steroids do not help the clinician to clearly choice when and how to treat pneumonia with steroids. However, stress doses of corticosteroids are suggested by some major guidelines on community-acquired pneumonia in case of severe episodes with sepsis. To date, there are 10 randomised controlled trials assessing the effectiveness of corticosteroids for community-acquired pneumonia globally involving 1090 participants. Most of the trials adopted stress doses of glucorticoids for 4-7 days. The evidence from these trials taken separately is weak due to limitations of the studies themselves, but a Cochrane review and a systematic review found benefit using prolonged low doses of glucocorticoids in severe community-acquired pneumonia. Moreover, such a strategy decreases vasopressor dependency and appears to be safe. Nevertheless, larger trials with more patients and clinically important end-points were claimed to provide robust evidence. Finally, infection surveillance is critical in patients treated with corticosteroids, and to prevent the rebound phenomenon, the drug should be weaned slowly
Identification of GAD65 AA 114-122 reactive 'memory-like' NK cells in newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetic patients by HLA-class I pentamers
No full textAntibiotic Prescribing for Lower Respiratory Tract Infections and Community-Acquired Pneumonia: An Italian Pediatric Emergency Department’s Real-Life Experience
No full textBackground: Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) are among the most frequent reasons for referrals to the pediatric emergency department (PED). The aim of this study is to describe the management of antibiotic prescription in febrile children with LRTI or CAP admitted to a third-level PED and to investigate the different variables that can guide physicians in this decision-making. Methods: This is an observational, retrospective, monocentric study including patients < 14 years old who were presented to the PED for a febrile LRTI or CAP during the first six months of the year 2017. Demographic and clinical data, PED examinations, recommended therapy, and discharge modality were considered. Two multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed on patients with complete profiles to investigate the impact of demographic, laboratory, and clinical variables on antibiotic prescription and hospital admission. Results: This study included 584 patients with LRTI (n = 368) or CAP (n = 216). One hundred and sixty-eight individuals (28.7%) were admitted to the hospital. Lower age, higher heart rate, and lower SpO2 were associated with an increased risk of hospitalization. Antibiotics were prescribed to 495 (84.8%) patients. According to the multivariate logistic regression, the diagnosis and duration of fever were substantially linked with antibiotic prescription. Conclusions: The present study reports real-life data about our PED experience. A high rate of antibiotic prescription was noted. In the future, it is necessary to improve antibiotic stewardship programs to increase clinical adherence to guidelines
Integration of different MBSE approaches within the design of a control maintenance system applied to the aircraft fuel system
No full textThe design of a control maintenance system (CMs) deeply deals with the mission, the on-board systems interfaces and the identification of their behaviour in operation. This paper describes how the Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) was applied to an industrial test case to perform the functional design of an innovative CMs to be integrated with the aircraft fuel system (Fs). The impact of different approaches applied when modelling the two systems through the SysML on their integration was investigated. As the IBM Rational Rhapsody® tool was used, the Harmony® methodology was applied to the CMs, while a MBSE customized approach was implemented for the Fs, even to cope with some differences in coupling an avionic system to a physical one
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