86,836 research outputs found
Toward a tomographic analysis of the cross-correlation between planck cmb lensing and h-atlas galaxies
No full textINAF PRIN; ASI/INAF [2014-024-R.0]; INFN-INDARK initiative; Spanish MINECOBianchini, F., Lapi, A., Calabrese, M., Bielewicz, P., Gonzalez-Nuevo, J., Baccigalupi, C., Danese, L., Zotti, G.D., Bourne, N., Cooray, A., Dunne, L., Eales, S., Valiante, E
Fragilities and Resources of Depopulated Villages in Cadore: Reactivation Initiatives and their Impact on Architectural Heritage
No full textThe role of heritage communities in local development processes through the reuse of architectural heritage. Some examples in Italian rural areas.
No full textOver the last three decades, various initiatives promoted by the European Union concerning the involvement and empowerment of communities in recognising and creating cultural values have flourished. They include, for instance, the Faro Convention, programs for ecomuseums and community mapping, and have contributed to giving voice to bottom-up initiatives for enhancing not only so-called monumental architecture but also "ordinary" architecture and built and vernacular cultural heritage. In general, this approach has also contributed to focusing attention on the importance of local communities in local development processes. In Italy, the so-called inner areas are often characterised by ordinary and vernacular heritage related to rural or manufacturing activities. In these small villages, some local communities, also thanks to the Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas, recognised the reuse of part of the vernacular local built heritage as a strength for the community itself and the broader context. Some cases have demonstrated that valorisation of architectural heritage is possible without creating tourism-related facilities only (hotels, museums, etc.) but also creating services needed by "local" users that facilitate the everyday life of the place. In this perspective, attention should also be focused on heritage education and the intergenerational transmission of knowledge, which should involve the entire community at different levels, starting from experiences already in place in similar contexts. In this sense, a community can be intended as a broad concept, a constantly evolving process that includes the resident citizens and a broader network related to a specific territory. Through analyses of case studies, this contribution aims to propose reflections on the role of heritage community experiences in empowering vernacular architectural heritage and its wider context
Gastric epithelial dysplasia: a prospective multicenter follow-up study from the Interdisciplinary Group on Gastric Epithelial Dysplasia
No full textTo assess the evolution of gastric epithelial dysplasia (GED), a prospective multicenter study was based on a protocol of repeated endoscopies and biopsies. To date, 134 cases (0.4% of all patients endoscopically examined in the same period) have been diagnosed as having GED and 80 of those have had an "adequate" follow-up (at least three endoscopies). Mean follow-up time was 18 months. Gastric epithelial dysplasia was mild in 59% of cases, moderate in 25%, and severe in 10%. Six percent of the patients had lesions that were "indefinite for dysplasia." Chronic atrophic gastritis (40%), gastric ulcer (32%), gastrectomy (10%), and polyps (9%) were the most frequently associated lesions. The term "regression" was adopted for GED no longer detectable during follow-up and the term "progression" was used when more severe changes or cancer was detected. Mild GED regressed in 66% of cases, persisted in 15%, and progressed in 19% (three cases to moderate, one to severe, and five to cancer). Moderate GED regressed in 30% of patients, persisted in 30%, and progressed in 40% (one to severe GED and seven to cancer). Severe GED regressed in 12.5% of patients, persisted in 12.5%, and progressed to cancer in 75%. Of the five patients with lesions indefinite for dysplasia, two had no dysplastic changes at follow-up and three had cancer diagnosed. Ten of 21 cases of cancer (48%) were at the early stage. The diagnosis was reached within the first year of follow-up in 14 cases and after 1 year in seven (13 to 39 months). Fifteen of 21 cases of cancer were diagnosed in gastric ulcer patients. In conclusion, GED is an infrequent finding and its biologically neoplastic significance is confirmed by the results of the follow-up study: (1) in its mild form, it tends to regress but adequate subsequent check-ups are mandatory as it may associate with or evolve as cancer; (2) patients with moderate GED require strict follow-up since the lesion shows a higher cancer risk; (3) surgery is indicated for severe GED because gastric cancer develops in 75% of cases; and (4) patients with lesions indefinite for dysplasia should immediately undergo repeat endoscopy and biopsy. Such an approach allows gastric cancer to be detected at an early stage in a much higher percentage of cases than may be expected
A biphasic role of nuclear transcription factor (NF)-kappaB in the islet beta-cell apoptosis induced by interleukin (IL)-1beta
No full textA spatiotemporal object-oriented data model for landslides (LOOM)
No full textLOOM (landslide object-oriented model) is here presented as a data structure for landslide inventories based on the object-oriented paradigm. It aims at the effective storage, in a single dataset, of the complex spatial and temporal relations between landslides recorded and mapped in an area and at their manipulation. Spatial relations are handled through a hierarchical classification based on topological rules and two levels of aggregation are defined: (i) landslide complexes, grouping spatially connected landslides of the same type, and (ii) landslide systems, merging landslides of any type sharing a spatial connection. For the aggregation procedure, a minimal functional interaction between landslide objects has been defined as a spatial overlap between objects. Temporal characterization of landslides is achieved by assigning to each object an exact date or a time range for its occurrence, integrating both the time frame and the event-based approaches. The sum of spatial integrity and temporal characterization ensures the storage of vertical relations between landslides, so that the superimposition of events can be easily retrieved querying the temporal dataset. The here proposed methodology for landslides inventorying has been tested on selected case studies in the Cilento UNESCO Global Geopark (Italy). We demonstrate that the proposed LOOM model avoids data fragmentation or redundancy and topological inconsistency between the digital data and the real-world features. This application revealed to be powerful for the reconstruction of the gravity-induced deformation history of hillslopes, thus for the prediction of their evolution
Molecular cloning of VIP and distribution of VIP/VPACR system in the testis of Podarcis sicula
No full textUsing molecular, biochemical, and cytological tools, we studied the nucleotide and the deduced amino acid sequence of PHI/VIP and the distribution of VIP/VPAC receptor system in the testis of the Italian wall lizard Podarcis sicula to evaluate the involvement of such a neuropeptide in the spermatogenesis control. We demonstrated that (1) Podarcis sicula VIP had a high identity with other vertebrate VIP sequences, (2) differently from mammals, VIP was synthesized directly in the testis, and (3) VIP and its receptor VPAC2 were widely distributed in germ and somatic cells, while the VPAC1R had a distribution limited to Leydig cells. Our results demonstrated that in Podarcis sicula the VIP sequence is highly preserved and that this neuropeptide is involved in lizard spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis. J. Exp. Zool. 321A: 334-347, 2014
A biphasic role of nuclear transcription factor (NF)-kB in the islet beta-cell apoptosis induced by interleukin (IL)-1beta
No full textIL-1 beta is an important mediator in the pathogenesis of type I diabetes both in vivo and in vitro and it has been shown to induce islet beta-cell apoptosis. Most of the IL-1 beta effects seem to be mediated by NF-kappa B transcription factor activation, but its role in the induction of islet beta-cell apoptosis has not yet been clarified. Taking advantage of the protease inhibitor TPCK (N-tosyl-L-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone), which specifically inhibits the nuclear transcription factor NF-kappa B activation, we studied the role of NF-kappa B in the rIL-1 beta treated rat pancreatic islets. Our results show that TPCK blocked rlL-1 beta-mediated early increase of MnSOD activity and beta-cell defence/repair protein expression, suggesting a protective role for NF-kappa B at the beginning of IL-1 beta treatment; but, in a second phase, NF-kappa B induces a sustained decrease of specific beta-cell proteins like insulin, GLUT-2 and PDX-1 with a concomitant increase of aspecific proteins and iNOS transcription. The appearance of iNOS expression correlates with increased levels of nitrite + nitrate levels and appearance of mitochondrial damage detected either at morphological and biochemical level. After 36 h of IL-1 beta treatment islet beta-cells begin to undergo apoptosis. Since IL-1 beta induction of apoptosis is completely prevented by TCPK treatment, this finding underscores the central role of NF-kappa B in this process. Thus, our results clearly indicate that NF-kappa B regulates MnSOD genes expression and MnSOD activity, which protects islet beta-cells by IL-1 beta damage. Furthermore, when the IL-1 beta stress impairs islet beta-cell function, NF-kappa B activation regulates the entrance of islet beta-cell into the cell death program
Gastric epithelial dysplasia in the natural history of gastric cancer: a multicenter prospective follow-up study. Interdisciplinary Group on Gastric Epithelial Dysplasia.
No full textBackground/Aims: Because the precancerous significance of gastric epithelial dysplasia (GED) is still under debate, this study attempts to ascertain whether a prospective follow-up of GED can contribute to clarifying its clinical and pathological relationships with gastric cancer (GC). Methods: One hundred twelve patients with mild (Gi), moderate (G2), and severe (G3) GED or diagnosed as indefinite for dysplasia were prospectively followed up with a standardized endoscopic and bioptic protocol. Results: Evaluation of GED outcome refers only to 93 patients with a follow-up period longer than 12 months. Regression of dysplasia was documented in 36%, 27%, and 0% of G1, G2, and G3 GED cases, respectively. Progression to more severe dysplasia or evolution into GC was detected in 21%, 33%, and 57% of G1, G2, and G3 GED cases, respectively. Evolution into GC was documented for all grades of dysplasia and correlated significantly with high-grade atrophic gastritis. A high prevalence of early GC (86.9%) was also observed. Conclusions: GED is a preinvasive lesion, and carcinomatous evolution increases proportionally with its histological grade. Bioptical follow-up is mandatory for all histological grades of GED and significantly increases the likelihood of GC being detected in its early stages
GASTRIC EPITHELIAL DYSPLASIA - A PROSPECTIVE MULTICENTER FOLLOW-UP-STUDY FROM THE INTERDISCIPLINARY-GROUP-ON-GASTRIC- EPITHELIAL-DYSPLASIA
No full textTo assess the evolution of gastric epithelial dysplasia (GED), a prospective multicenter study was based on a protocol of repeated endoscopies and biopsies. To date, 134 cases (0.4% of all patients endoscopically examined in the same period) have been diagnosed as having GED and 80 of those have had an "adequate" follow-up (at least three endoscopies). Mean follow-up time was 18 months. Gastric epithelial dysplasia was mild in 59% of cases, moderate in 25%, and severe in 10%. Six percent of the patients had lesions that were "indefinite for dysplasia." Chronic atrophic gastritis (40%), gastric ulcer (32%), gastrectomy (10%), and polyps (9%) were the most frequently associated lesions. The term "regression" was adopted for GED no longer detectable during follow-up and the term "progression" was used when more severe changes or cancer was detected. Mild GED regressed in 66% of cases, persisted in 15%, and progressed in 19% (three cases to moderate, one to severe, and five to cancer). Moderate GED regressed in 30% of patients, persisted in 30%, and progressed in 40% (one to severe GED and seven to cancer). Severe GED regressed in 12.5% of patients, persisted in 12.5%, and progressed to cancer in 75%. Of the five patients with lesions indefinite for dysplasia, two had no dysplastic changes at follow-up and three had cancer diagnosed. Ten of 21 cases of cancer (48%) were at the early stage. The diagnosis was reached within the first year of follow-up in 14 cases and after 1 year in seven (13 to 39 months). Fifteen of 21 cases of cancer were diagnosed in gastric ulcer patients. In conclusion, GED is an infrequent finding and its biologically neoplastic significance is confirmed by the results of the follow-up study: (1) in its mild form, it tends to regress but adequate subsequent check-ups are mandatory as it may associate with or evolve as cancer; (2) patients with moderate GED require strict follow-up since the lesion shows a higher cancer risk; (3) surgery is indicated for severe GED because gastric cancer develops in 75% of cases; and (4) patients with lesions indefinite for dysplasia should immediately undergo repeat endoscopy and biopsy. Such an approach allows gastric cancer to be detected at an early stage in a much higher percentage of cases than may be expected.
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