406 research outputs found
Twentieth-century Architecture and Conservation Management Planning. Experiences in Italy and in Brazil
No full textTwentieth-century Architecture and Conservation Management Planning. Experiences in Italy and in Brazil
No full textThe topic is a comparative discussion of the experiences developed on the topic of management and conservation of 20th-century architecture in Italy and Brazil with the support of the Getty Foundation in Los Angeles. Building upon the scholarly findings compiled by experts in the field, this book publication offers an analysis of the management and conservation plans developed in the two countries and attempts to evaluate their tangible effects on architectural conservation practices and institutional protective measures. Our aim is to contribute to the international debate on the protection of modern architecture catalysed by the Getty Foundation’s “Keeping it Modern” program between 2014 and 2020 by providing insights into the impact of this investment in human and financial resources in Italy and Brazil
Spoken into the void. Conservation management planning for the School of Mathematics at Rome’s University Campus (Gio Ponti,1935)
No full textThe School of Mathematics built within Rome’s university campus in 1935 is one of Gio Ponti’s masterpieces. Research and conservation planning for this building have made available a precise understanding of how to preserve the material authenticity of this piece of architecture. Yet, Sapienza’s governance appears more engaged with the constant discrepancy between available spaces and ever-growing functional demands required by academic activities rather than with the conservation of this valuable architecture. The Getty Foundation has offered an unrepeatable opportunity to develop research and to concentrate on the development of a strategic approach in order to continue using the building albeit yielding its cultural values and its conservation. But after the publication of the Conservation Management Plan, which could have been adopted as the starting point of a new approach to the preservation of the building, this has been subject to renovation and refurbishment, with replacement of finishes and of architectural elements that are affecting the overall material integrity. Conservation planning efforts and achievements appear to have been spoken into the void
Planned Conservation of 20th-century Architecture. Research in Italy and Brazil
No full textThis book deals with the planned conservation of modern architecture and proposes a comparative discussion between eight research programs recently completed in Italy and Brazil as part of the “Keeping It Modern” program by means of which the Getty Foundation supported the drafting of conservation management planning for major architectural masterpieces of the 20th-century worldwide, between 2014 and 2020. The scientific results of this program are maturing, and also resulting in publications promoted by universities and research centers involved by the Getty Foundation. Within this framework of initiatives, we dedicate this book to the comparison among research projects carried out in Italy and Brazil, starting from the distinctive characteristics that modern architecture has gained in the two countries and evaluating the impact that the Conservation Management Plans have on the cultural scenario of each country and on the corresponding protection systems. We asked the co-authors to reconsider the research experience faced within the KIM program, overcoming their description, and proposed to describe its specific reflection on the role that management plans play for 20th-century architecture and on how the outcomes of this experience have contributed to the debate on the protection of contemporary architecture. Finally, the book presents many transversal topics and highlights numerous similarities in approach between the two countries, but also profound differences in the way of understanding conservation of 20th century architectural heritage
A critical evaluation on MOH current treatments
No full textMigraine is the most frequent neurological disorder observed in clinical practice characterized by moderate to severe pain attacks associated with neurological, gastrointestinal, and dysautonomic symptoms. Each year, 2.5% of patients with episodic migraine develop chronic migraine (CM). CM is characterized by high frequency of the attacks that may result into chronic intake of abortive medications. Nearly, the 70% of CM patients referring to tertiary head centers show acute pain medications overuse that may lead to the development of medication overuse headache (MOH). The management of MOH requires three steps: (1) education, (2) withdrawal of the overuse drug and detoxification, and (3) re-prophylaxis. In the last years, several real-life prospective studies provided further evidence in clinical setting of the onabotulinumtoxinA 155-195 U efficacy for the headache prophylaxis in CM with MOH patients. There is a general agreement on two factors: (1) withdrawal of the overuse drug is condicio sine qua non to reverse the pattern to medium-low-frequency migraine, and (2) the focus of management needs to shift from acute treatment of pain to prevention of headache. CM patients close to developing MOH, patients with high-frequency episodic migraine, and those already abusing of drugs require special attention and should refer to tertiary headache centers. For all of them, a solution could be an "early treatment." Early should be their referral to a tertiary headache center, early should be the withdrawal of the overuse drug and a proper detoxification, and perhaps early should be the start of a preventative therapy
La città universitaria diventa patrimonio architettonico. Ricerche sulla Scuola di Matematica di Gio Ponti al confronto con casi di studio italiani e stranieri
No full textIl seminario scientifico internazionale ospitato il 23 e il 24 settembre in una delle grandi aule gradonate dell’edificio che ospitano l’insegnamento della Matematica fin dal 1936, è stato occasione per presentare i risultati della ricerca svolta da un gruppo di studiosi di Sapienza sulla quest'opera di Gio Ponti del 1935, collocata all'interno della città universitaria di Roma. Il lavoro è stato finanziato da The Getty Foundation nell’ambito del programma Keeping It Modern del 2018 e ha consentito - per la prima volta nella storia della città universitaria - di affrontare uno studio unitario e interdisciplinare su questo capolavoro dell’architettura del Novecento italiano, al fine di delineare un Piano di Conservazione Programmata che consenta di tutelare l’opera pur mantenendo inalterata la sua destinazione d’uso.
L’evento si è articolato in due giornate: alla presentazione dell’esperienza di ricerca svolta in Sapienza, ha fatto seguito il confronto con altri casi di studio di conservazione, tutela e restauro di edifici e complessi novecenteschi dedicati alla formazione universitaria, in Italia e all’estero. Si è voluto infatti restituire un quadro complessivo degli studi sull’argomento, rivelativo dell’attenzione che gli specialisti e il pubblico più ampio prestano oggi al patrimonio architettonico universitario.
Fra i contributi, sono trattate altre due opere di Ponti: l’edificio del Rettorato e il ‘Liviano’ dell’Università di Padova disegnati negli anni Trenta (Marta Nezzo e Giuliana Tomasella) e l’Edificio Trifoglio per il Politecnico di Milano, progettato alla fine degli anni Cinquanta (Emilio Faroldi), ma anche la sede della Bocconi a Milano, disegnata da Giuseppe Pagano negli stessi anni in cui lavorava all’Istituto di Fisica per la città Universitaria di Roma (Barbara Galli), e i Collegi Universitari disegnati da Giancarlo De Carlo, per Urbino quale formidabile esperimento di edilizia universitaria di fine anni Sessanta (Davide Del Curto).
Di sicuro interesse appaiono poi i casi di studio internazionali, con l’inedito caso del campus della Nanzan University in Giappone che propone un inaspettato approccio conservativo (Pietro Vecchi), all’Edificio della Facoltà di Architettura dell’Università di San Paolo in Brasile quale esempio di architettura modernista su cui si è purtroppo intervenuti prima che un finanziamento di Getty Foundation consentisse di acquisire una sufficiente conoscenza scientifica dello stato di fatto (Beatriz Mugayar Kühl, Silvio Oksman), e prosegue col rutilante caso delle Scuole Nazionali d’Arte di Cuba dove la conservazione del manufatto diventa un processo integrato con la vita della collettività, come nel caso dei campus universitari centro e sudamericani di Caracas (Carmen Daly) e di Città del Messico (Juan Ignacio Del Cueto Ruiz-Funes). Quest’ultimi insegnano come, nonostante la crisi economica, politica e sociale che investe questi paesi, la collettività possa ritrovare coesione e spirito d’iniziativa proprio a fronte del proprio patrimonio architettonico, agendo a favore della sua tutela
Keeping it modern. Il Piano di Conservazione e Gestione per l’architettura del Ventesimo secolo
No full textThis paper deals with the application of the Conservation Management Plan (CMP) to 20th-century architecture. The author discusses how the CMP is a means to merge preservation and building man- agement when dealing with 20th-century buildings, which are characterized by a number of specific fragilities (building material, compliance with building regulation, users’ perception, value assessment, etc.). The path towards the drafting of a CMP is also a way to build consensus about this kind of her- itage, since the legal framework of protection is still uncertain for modern architecture. The Urbino University Collegi (designed by Giancarlo De Carlo, 1963-82) and the National Schools of Art of Havana (designed by Ricardo Porro, Roberto Gottardi, Vittorio Garatti, 1961-64) are presented as case studies and comparatively discussed. A CMP has been prepared for both cases, thanks to funding from the Getty Foundation, within the framework of the Keeping It Modern initiative. The conclu- sions focus upon the role of private funding for research in the field of architectural preservation
Correlation between circular-RNAs contained in extracellular vesicles with BRCA status in ovarian cancer cells
No full textIntroduction: Ovarian cancer (OC) is a common malignancy with highmortality. Highlighting the mechanisms of OC progression and discovery of new biomarkersmay improve OC diagnosis and therapy.OC is often caused by germ-line mutations in BRCA1 genes. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of novel non-coding RNAs that undergoe back-splicing and form a covalently closed loop. circRNAs have regulative roles in cancer. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are natural intercellular shuttles for circRNAs. Our study aims to correlate circRNAs shuttled by OC-EVs with BRCA mutational status.
Methods: Human OC cell lines UWB1.289 (BRCA1-null), UWB1.289 + BRCA1 (BRCA1-restored) were cultured in RPMI/HUMEC medium (3% FBS); ES-2 (BRCA wild type) was cultured in McCoy’s 5A medium (10% FBS). EVs were isolated by ultracentrifugation from both UWB cell lines and characterized according to MISEV 2023. To analyse CircRNAs in UWB cells and EVs, RNA was extracted with a commercial kit, and complementary DNA was synthesized by reverse transcription. circRNA was evaluated using divergent primers by RT-qPCR with SYBR Green. GAPDH was used as a reference. Relative changes in circRNA expression were determined by the ΔΔCt method. The effects of UWB-EVs on ES-2 cell proliferation and migration were evaluated byMTS/CCK8 and wound healing assay, respectively.
Results: EVs were isolated from both UWB cell lines and characterized: they appear intact and rounded (TEM), with a
mean size ranging around 160–190 nm (NTA), and are positive for CD63, CD9, TSG-101 and negative for CNX (WB). A selection of circRNAs (CDR1AS, HIPK2, HIPK3, FAM120a, ITCH, AFF1, MUC16) was tested on cells and EVs in both UWB cell lines. Among these circRNAs, MUC16 and FAM120a were represented differently in UWB cells and EVs. Notably, UWB-EVs were able to modulate ES-2 proliferation and migration.
Summary/Conclusion: Multiple genes with germLine mutations have been implicated in hereditary OC. Our results indicate that, in OC cell lines, circRNAs contained in EVs could be linked to BRCA mutational status andOC progression. This study confirms the potential of circRNAs shuttled by EVs as biomarkers for OC diagnosis and therapeutic targets.
Funding: Project funded from Program PRIN 2022 under grant agreement N◦20224XB79P by the European Union, nextgeneration EU, PNRR, M.4-C2-1.1
Flame Front Propagation in an Optical GDI Engine under Stoichiometric and Lean Burn Conditions
No full textLean fueling of spark ignited (SI) engines is a valid method for increasing efficiency and reducing nitric oxide (NOx) emissions. Gasoline direct injection (GDI) allows better fuel economy with respect to the port-fuel injection configuration, through greater flexibility to load changes, reduced tendency to abnormal combustion, and reduction of pumping and heat losses. During homogenous charge operation with lean mixtures, flame development is prolonged and incomplete combustion can even occur, causing a decrease in stability and engine efficiency. On the other hand, charge stratification results in fuel impingement on the combustion chamber walls and high particle emissions. Therefore, lean operation requires a fundamentally new understanding of in-cylinder processes for developing the next generation of direct-injection (DI) SI engines. In this paper, combustion was investigated in an optically accessible DISI single cylinder research engine fueled with gasoline. Stoichiometric and lean operations were studied in detail through a combined thermodynamic and optical approach. The engine was operated at a fixed rotational speed (1000 rpm), with a wide open throttle, and at the start of the injection during the intake stroke. The excess air ratio was raised from 1 to values close to the flammability limit, and spark timing was adopted according to the maximum brake torque setting for each case. Cycle resolved digital imaging and spectroscopy were applied; the optical data were correlated to in-cylinder pressure traces and exhaust gas emission measurements. Flame front propagation speed, flame morphology parameters, and centroid motion were evaluated through image processing. Chemical kinetics were characterized based on spectroscopy data. Lean burn operation demonstrated increased flame distortion and center movement from the location of the spark plug compared to the stoichiometric case; engine stability decreased as the lean flammability limit was approached
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