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Four generations of jewellery artisans. A family business that has gone through more than a century of history affirming its philosophy, its inalienable creed: jewellery as an ornament of the body, the highest expression of the intimate feminine self and its way of expressing itself.

The coupling of excitons with atomic vibrations plays a pivotal role on the nonequilibrium optical properties of layered semiconductors. However, how exciton-phonon coupling manifests in the time and energy domains is still an open debate between experiment and theory. By means of time-resolved broadband optical reflectivity combined with ab initio calculations of a bismuth tri-iodide single crystal, we set the spectral fingerprints for the optical detection of exciton-phonon coupling in layered semiconductors. Our joint experimental and theoretical effort allows us to unravel the impact of exciton-phonon coupling by microscopically relating the photoinduced coherent energy modulation of the excitonic resonance to coherent optical phonons. This enables us to track the extent of the photoinduced atomic displacement in real space. Our findings represent a step forward on the road to coherent manipulation of the excitonic properties on ultrafast timescales.

This paper summarises the results of an experimental campaign carried out at SIET on the ELSMOR facility built in 2022 to validate a decay heat removal system for the E-SMR. Based on the passive mechanisms of natural circulation, the system aims to dissipate the reactor decay heat to a water pool, using two heat exchangers: a plate-type one coupling the primary side to the secondary side, and a vertical tube one coupling the secondary side to the water pool. Such a system is considered to be the most effective passive system, capable of safely managing the SMR accident and accidental situations, and achieving long-term decay heat removal without the need for electricity or external inputs. A description of the primary and secondary loops of the plant is given, together with the installed instrumentation and data acquisition system. In addition, the paper summarises the tests performed in terms of test procedures, test type and associated objectives, test matrix, test results, achievements, and open issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The management of rectal cancer is multimodal and involves a multidisciplinary team of cancer specialists with expertise in medical oncology, surgical oncology, radiation oncology and radiology. It is crucial for highly specialized centers to collaborate via networks that aim to maintain uniformity in every aspect of treatment and rigorously gather patients’ data, from the first clinical evaluation to the last follow-up visit. The Advanced International Mini-Invasive Surgery (AIMS) academy clinical research network aims to create a rectal cancer registry. This will prospectively collect the data of patients operated on for non-metastatic rectal cancer in high volume colorectal surgical units through a well design pre-fashioned database for non-metastatic rectal cancer, in order to take all multidisciplinary aspects into consideration. Methods/Design: The protocol describes a multicenter prospective observational cohort study, investigating demographics, frailty, cancer-related features, surgical and radiological parameters, and oncological outcomes among patients with non-metastatic rectal cancer who are candidates for surgery with curative intent. Patients enrolled in the present registry will be followed up for 5 years after surgery. Discussion: Standardization and centralization of data collection for neoplastic diseases is a virtuous process for patient care. The creation of a register will allow the control of the quality of treatments provided and permit prospective and retrospective studies to be carried out on complete and reliable high quality data. Establishing data collection in a prospective and systematic fashion is the only possibility to preserve the enormous resource that each patient represents.

Background/Aims: A high surface-to-volume ratio and a spectrin membrane-skeleton (MS) confer to the mammalian red blood cells (RBCs) their characteristic deformability, mechanical strength and structural stability. During their 120 days of circulatory life in humans, RBCs decrease in size, while remaining biconcave disks, owing to a coordinated decrease in membrane surface area and cell water. It is generally believed that part of the membrane is lost with the shedding of spectrin-free vesicles of the same type that can be obtained in vitro by different treatments. If this were true, an excess of MS would arise in old RBCs, with respect to the lipid bilayer. Aim of this paper was to investigate this aspect. Methods: Quantification of spectrin by electrophoretic methods was carried out in RBCs of different age. Results: Spectrin decreases, on a per cell basis, with RBC ageing. On the other hand, the membrane raft protein marker flotillin-2, while decreasing in the membrane of old cells, was found to be strongly depleted in the membrane of in vitro-induced vesicles. Conclusion: Part of the membrane-skeleton is probably lost together with part of the lipid bilayer in a balanced way. These findings point to a mechanism for the in vivo release of membrane that is different from that which is known to occur in vitro.

Background: The management of rectal cancer is multimodal and involves a multidisciplinary team of cancer specialists with expertise in medical oncology, surgical oncology, radiation oncology and radiology. It is crucial for highly specialized centers to collaborate via networks that aim to maintain uniformity in every aspect of treatment and rigorously gather patients’ data, from the first clinical evaluation to the last follow-up visit. The Advanced International Mini-Invasive Surgery (AIMS) academy clinical research network aims to create a rectal cancer registry. This will prospectively collect the data of patients operated on for non-metastatic rectal cancer in high volume colorectal surgical units through a well design pre-fashioned database for non-metastatic rectal cancer, in order to take all multidisciplinary aspects into consideration. Methods/Design: The protocol describes a multicenter prospective observational cohort study, investigating demographics, frailty, cancer-related features, surgical and radiological parameters, and oncological outcomes among patients with non-metastatic rectal cancer who are candidates for surgery with curative intent. Patients enrolled in the present registry will be followed up for 5 years after surgery. Discussion: Standardization and centralization of data collection for neoplastic diseases is a virtuous process for patient care. The creation of a register will allow the control of the quality of treatments provided and permit prospective and retrospective studies to be carried out on complete and reliable high quality data. Establishing data collection in a prospective and systematic fashion is the only possibility to preserve the enormous resource that each patient represents.