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Nel 2002 Paolo Marconi fu incaricato dalla Provincia Emiliano-Romagnola dei Frati Minori Conventuali di redigere il progetto di restauro della chiesa di san Francesco del Prato a Parma, un esempio rilevante di architettura gotica emiliana del XIII secolo. L’edificio rientra in una tipologia specialistica con schema basilicale a tre navate, di notevole estensione planimetrica. Il progetto prevedeva il ritorno alla funzione originaria ed il ripristino dello “stato normale” fortemente rimaneggiato dalla trasformazione a sede carceraria avvenuta in epoca napoleonica, senza però occultare completamente i segni delle manomissioni successive. Ora, a distanza di quasi quindici anni dall’approvazione del progetto da parte degli organi di tutela (2004), rientrato il monumento nelle disponibilità del Demanio che ne ha ceduto l’uso alla Diocesi di Parma, i lavori hanno preso avvio, dopo una revisione complessiva del progetto, essendo nel frattempo cambiata la normativa sismica, avvenuti due terremoti molto severi, e cambiate alcune esigenze della committenza. L’intervento di miglioramento sismico è il risultato di un percorso progettuale e di analisi iniziato con un accurato rilievo critico, passato attraverso una attenta ricognizione della struttura e arricchito dalla ricostruzione delle complesse vicende costruttive. Il complesso si presentava fortemente alterato nella configurazione pertanto il progetto è stato elaborato con una visione globale delle problematiche strutturali, passando in rassegna l’intero organismo edilizio per definire interventi a livello fondale, di ricostituzione delle strutture d’elevazione e di consolidamento delle coperture lignee, con lo scopo di ripristinare l’assetto originario nel rispetto delle esigenze di sicurezza, tutela e conservazione del bene architettonico. In 2002 Paolo Marconi was commissioned to restore the church of San Francesco del Prato in Parma, a relevant example of 13th century Emilian Gothic architecture. The project envisaged a return to the original function and the restoration of the "normal state", greatly altered by the transformation to a prison in the Napoleonic era, without however erasing the signs of tampering. Almost fifteen years have passed since the project was approved and today, once the monument is back in the availability of the Diocese of Parma, the works have finally started after the project has been updated to the new seismic regulations and to the changed needs of the commissioner. The project is the result of an accurate critical survey, the examination of the complex construction events and of a meticulous recognition of the structure. The seismic improvement project made use of a global assessment of the entire organism, also examined in relation to the interaction with the individual parts. The indispensable interventions were thus defined: the foundations, the reconstitution of the elevation structures, the structural restoration of the wooden roofs. The aim was to restore the original structure in compliance with the needs of security, protection and conservation of the architectural asset.

Streptococcus pyogenes strains inducibly resistant (iMLS phenotype) to macrolide, lincosamide, and streptogramin B (MLS) antibiotics can be subdivided into three phenotypes: iMLS-A, iMLS-B, and iMLS-C. This study focused on inducibly erythromycin-resistant S. pyogenes strains of the iMLS-B and iMLS-C types, which are very similar and virtually indistinguishable in a number of phenotypic and genotypic features but differ clearly in their degree of resistance to MLS antibiotics (high in the iMLS-B type and low in the iMLS-C type). As expected, the iMLS-B and iMLS-C test strains had the erm (A) methylase gene; the iMLS-A and the constitutively resistant (cMLS) isolates had the erm (B) methylase gene; and a control M isolate had the mef (A) efflux gene. mre (A) and msr (A), i.e., other macrolide efflux genes described in gram-positive cocci, were not detected in any test strain. With a radiolabeled erythromycin method for determination of the intracellular accumulation of the drug in the absence or presence of an efflux pump inhibitor, active efflux of erythromycin was observed in the iMLS-B isolates as well as in the M isolate, whereas no efflux was demonstrated in the iMLS-C isolates. By the triple-disk (erythromycin plus clindamycin and josamycin) test, performed both in normal test medium and in the same medium supplemented with the efflux pump inhibitor, under the latter conditions iMLS-B and iMLS-C strains were no longer distinguishable, all exhibiting an iMLS-C phenotype. In conjugation experiments with an iMLS-B isolate as the donor and a Rif r Fus r derivative of an iMLS-C isolate as the recipient, transconjugants which shared the iMLS-B type of the donor under all respects, including the presence of an efflux pump, were obtained. These results indicate the existence of a novel, transferable efflux system, not associated with mef (A) or with other known macrolide efflux genes, that is peculiar to iMLS-B strains. Whereas the low-level resistance of iMLS-C strains to MLS antibiotics is apparently due to erm (A)-encoded methylase activity, the high-level resistance of iMLS-B strains appears to depend on the same methylase activity plus the new efflux system.