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Copyright of Valori e Valutazioni is the property of Societa Italiana di Estimo e Valutazione (SIEV) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A kind of hierarchical ZSM‐5 submicron sphere composed of zeolite nanocrystals was one‐pot synthesized with polydiene dimethyl ammonium chloride as template. X‐ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show that the hierarchical ZSM‐5 submicron spheres have good crystallinity. N2 adsorption‐desorption isotherm and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images indicate that the hierarchical ZSM‐5 submicron spheres have both micropores and mesopores. The results show that the hierarchical ZSM‐5 submicron spheres are formed by stacking nanocrystals, exhibits high crystallinity, microporous, mesoporous structures and higher catalytic activity in the catalytic cracking of 1, 3, 5‐triisopropylbenzene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Parent of origin-specific allelic expression of imprinted genes is epigenetically controlled. In cancer, imprinted genes undergo both genomic and epigenomic alterations, including frequent copy number changes. We investigated whether copy number loss or gain of imprinted genes in cancer cell lines is associated with response to chemotherapy treatment. Results: We analyzed 198 human imprinted genes including protein-coding genes and noncoding RNA genes using data from tumor cell lines from the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia and Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer datasets. We examined whether copy number of the imprinted genes in 35 different genome locations was associated with response to cancer drug treatment. We also analyzed associations of pretreatment expression and DNA methylation of imprinted genes with drug response. Higher copy number of BLCAP, GNAS, NNAT, GNAS-AS1, HM13, MIR296, MIR298, and PSIMCT-1 in the chromosomal region 20q11-q13.32 was associated with resistance to multiple antitumor agents. Increased expression of BLCAP and HM13 was also associated with drug resistance, whereas higher methylation of gene regions of BLCAP, NNAT, SGK2, and GNAS was associated with drug sensitivity. While expression and methylation of imprinted genes in several other chromosomal regions was also associated with drug response and many imprinted genes in different chromosomal locations showed a considerable copy number variation, only imprinted genes at 20q11-q13.32 had a consistent association of their copy number with drug response. Copy number values among the imprinted genes in the 20q11-q13.32 region were strongly correlated. They were also correlated with the copy number of cancer-related non-imprinted genes MYBL2, AURKA, and ZNF217 in that chromosomal region. Expression of genes at 20q11-q13.32 was associated with ex vivo drug response in primary tumor samples from the Beat AML 1.0 acute myeloid leukemia patient cohort. Association of the increased copy number of the 20q11-q13.32 region with drug resistance may be complex and could involve multiple genes. Conclusions: Copy number of imprinted and non-imprinted genes in the chromosomal region 20q11-q13.32 was associated with cancer drug resistance. The genes in this chromosomal region may have a modulating effect on tumor response to chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When assessing political violence and terrorism in recent Western European history, the case of Italy stands out. The 1970s—the anni di piombo or "lead years"—saw an incredible level of political violence, leading certain observers to openly speak about terrorist violence. However, violence continued to a lesser extent even in the 1980s. This article deals with leftist political violence in that period and argues that Maoism was one of its triggers/inspirations. The Italian case stands out also because these high levels of leftist political violence were not linked to nationalist grievances, as was the case in Ireland (IRA) or the Basque Country (ETA). Maoism pushed many on the Italian revolutionary Left to take up arms against the bourgeois state. They did not take Mao's proclamations of violence and revolution ("power comes from the barrel of the gun") abstractly. As China opposed Soviet peaceful coexistence on an international level, the Italian revolutionary Left opposed it on a national ground. The pervasiveness of this Maoist call to arms in Italy can be seen looking at the example of the "new" Red Brigades at the turn of the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay gives an overview of the Italian publishing industry with regard to Vietnamese perspectives on the Vietnam War. It argues that in Italy the memory of the war still carries both the mark of Hollywood’s influence and of the wartime sympathies for the Vietnamese communists’ cause. The author advocates the translation of more recent scholarly works that question old assumptions about the war and its aftermath. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rivista di Teologia dell'Evangelizzazione is the property of Centro Editoriale Dehoniano and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Ephemerides Iuris Canonici is the property of Marcianum Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This essay finds its goal in the analysis, through the direct source of the precious and numerous documents preserved in the Laureati Briganti archive, all yet to be investigated, of the history of Italian art in the light of the vision and contribution of Luisa Laureati, collector, art expert, essayist and, above all, director for about forty years of the Galleria dell'Oca in Rome (1965-2008). By following the latter's work and life path - in which situations, places, exhibition events, artists, critics and dealers intersect - a climate that marked the Roman and, more generally, the Italian art scene is accurately reconstructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cittadinanza Europea is the property of FrancoAngeli srl and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

One of the areas that the advent of the Internet has changed most profoundly is the relationship that human beings have with their past. Sources that would once have been barely accessible after a difficult and taxing search are now available to one and all, and can be compared to more traditional texts. The article sets out to show how knowledge of Mao's China and the Cultural Revolution in particular will benefit significantly from the immense pool of recordings and video clips available on the Internet. With the resources afforded by the Web, a brand–new way of linking up words and images, text and visual sources, has become possible, providing the study of history and memory with unexplored tracts of promising terrain. But the importance of this emerging material is not just to do with historical knowledge and methodology. Its main contribution is political: the persecutors and the victims of those years have spoken out, they have deposited their memories online, exercising a faculty that the Cultural Revolution and post–Maoist political institutions had denied them for decades. Through the bottom–up perspective that the Internet provides, the historical protagonists have been able to bear witness in potential perpetuity without needing the researcher's mediation. By speaking directly to the public, the witnesses cease to be merely pieces of the past. They are not just victims or perpetrators who condemn past deeds, but, as the actors who made and endured history, they can turn themselves from passive historical figures into active political agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: IgG4‐related sialadenitis (IgG4‐RS) is a chronic fibroinflammatory disease characterized by glandular fibrosis and hyposalivation. This study was undertaken to explore the role of cellular senescence in the pathogenesis of IgG4‐RS–related fibrosis. Methods: The expression of senescence markers and proinflammatory cytokines in the submandibular glands (SMGs) of IgG4‐RS patients (n = 18) and controls (n = 14) was determined by proteomics, real‐time polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting, and immunohistochemistry. After interleukin‐4 (IL‐4) treatment, high‐throughput RNA sequencing was performed to identify the differentially expressed genes in SMG‐C6 cells. A glandular fibrosis model was established by the intraglandular injection of IL‐4 into mouse SMGs (n = 8 per group). Results: Salivary acinar and ductal epithelial cells underwent senescence in IgG4‐RS patients, as indicated by the elevated activity of senescence‐associated β‐galactosidase, lipofuscin accumulation, enhanced expression of senescence markers (p53 and p16INK4A), and up‐regulation of senescence‐associated secretory phenotype factors. Moreover, there was a significant increase in IL‐4 levels in SMGs from IgG4‐RS patients (P < 0.01), which positively correlated with p16INK4A expression and the fibrosis score. Incubation with IL‐4 exacerbated salivary epithelial cell senescence by increasing the expression of p16INK4A through the reactive oxygen species (ROS)/p38 MAPK pathway. Supernatant collected from IL‐4–induced senescent SMG‐C6 cells enhanced fibroblast activation and matrix protein production (P < 0.05). Furthermore, injecting mice with IL‐4 promoted fibrosis and senescence phenotypes in SMGs in vivo. Conclusion: The cellular senescence induced by IL‐4 through the ROS/p38 MAPK‐p16INK4A pathway promotes fibrogenesis in IgG4‐RS. Our data suggest that cellular senescence could serve as a novel therapeutic target for treating IgG4‐RS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, water resources scarcity has become a severe issue that interferes with economic, social, and ecological development. As the most significant use of water resources in agriculture, irrigation plays a crucial role in ensuring agricultural production when rainfall is insufficient to maintain the growth of crops. In this paper, estimation of water resources in irrigation practices was carried out in Baoding since the area suffers from water scarcity, and the situation there is worsening, especially after the founding of Xiongan New District. This study aimed to evaluate the supply and demand balance of irrigation at the municipal and county levels through the climate information and crop pattern summarization in Baoding. Data provided by Agricultural Machinery Bureau was integrated with CLIMWAT 2.0 to compute crop water requirements, irrigation requirements, and irrigation schemes in CROPWAT 8.0. Results show that an estimated sum of 1881.3 mm annual crop water requirements comprising the vast majority of crops in agricultural production led to 1493.5 million m3 irrigation requirements, creating an irrigation deficit of 119.2 million m3. The greater cutdown on annual water supply compared to the irrigation requirements led to a consecutive exacerbation of annual irrigation deficits. Suggestions, including physical and political measures, were provided to improve the current situation in Baoding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Chinese Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics is the property of Xiangya Medical Periodical Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients receive frequent monitoring because ≥ 70% will have recurrent disease. However, screening is invasive, expensive, and associated with significant morbidity making bladder cancer the most expensive cancer to treat per capita. There is an urgent need to expand the understanding of markers related to recurrence and survival outcomes of NMIBC. Methods and results: We used the Illumina HumanMethylationEPIC array to measure peripheral blood DNA methylation profiles of NMIBC patients (N = 603) enrolled in a population-based cohort study in New Hampshire and applied cell type deconvolution to estimate immune cell-type proportions. Using Cox proportional hazard models, we identified that increasing CD4T and CD8T cell proportions were associated with a statistically significant decreased hazard of tumor recurrence or death (CD4T: HR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.97–1.00; CD8T: HR = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.95–1.00), whereas increasing monocyte proportion and methylation-derived neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (mdNLR) were associated with the increased hazard of tumor recurrence or death (monocyte: HR = 1.04, 95% CI = 1.00–1.07; mdNLR: HR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.04–1.20). Then, using an epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) approach adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, BCG treatment status, and immune cell profiles, we identified 2528 CpGs associated with the hazard of tumor recurrence or death (P < 0.005). Among these CpGs, the 1572 were associated with an increased hazard and were significantly enriched in open sea regions; the 956 remaining CpGs were associated with a decreased hazard and were significantly enriched in enhancer regions and DNase hypersensitive sites. Conclusions: Our results expand on the knowledge of immune profiles and methylation alteration associated with NMIBC outcomes and represent a first step toward the development of DNA methylation-based biomarkers of tumor recurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Little is known about the presence of 3-epi-25 hydroxyvitamin D in maternal and neonatal circulation, the extent of its contribution to total 25 hydroxyvitamin D, or factors influencing its levels. Methods A total of 1502 and 1321 archived maternal and umbilical cord serum samples from the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome Study cohort from Hong Kong were assayed for 25(OH)D2, 25(OH)D3, and isomeric form of 25(OH)D3 (3-epi-25(OH)D3) by a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method. Results Vitamin D deficiency (total serum 25(OH)D level < 50 nmol/L) and severe vitamin D deficiency (total serum 25(OH)D level < 25 nmol/L) occurred in 590 (39.3%) and 25 (1.7%) mothers, respectively. 3-epi-25(OH)D3 could be detected in 94.5% of maternal and 92.1% of neonatal umbilical sera, with the highest 3-epi-25(OH)D3 levels contributing to 19.9% and 15.3% of the maternal and umbilical cord sera 25(OH)D3 levels, respectively. Pregnancy with a male fetus, ambient solar radiation, and maternal glycemia and 25(OH)D3 levels were independent factors associated with maternal 3-epi-25(OH)D3 level. Advanced maternal age, multiparity, maternal gestational weight gain below the Institute of Medicine recommendation, maternal glycemic status, and earlier gestational age at delivery were significantly associated with higher umbilical cord serum 3-epi-25(OH)D3. Conclusions 3-epi-25(OH)D3 accounted for a significant portion of total 25(OH)D in maternal and neonatal circulations. Further study is needed to determine the possible mechanism underlying this observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rivista di Politica is the property of Rubbettino Editore and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The international politics of the Italian communist party has been mainly investigated focusing the party’s entanglement with the Soviet Union, in a framework dominated by the East-West conflict. Since the 2000’s, the global dimension of Icp international politics has been underlined by historians. The focus on the place of Africa in Icp global relations is even more recent. The article contributes to this last field of research by an assessment of the Icp archival sources between the 1920s and the 1960s that are related to colonialism and decolonization in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

General George Catlett Marshall, a soldier and diplomat, went down in history as the US secretary of state and the author of the famous Marshall Plan. In the years 1945-1947, he conducted a mediation mission in China which ended in a total fiasco. It is usually indicated that the reason for such a catastrophic conclusion was the inability to reach a compromise on the part of the Nationalist and Communist parties. The article points out that the actual goal of the Marshall Mission was to avoid America's political and military entanglement in China. The Truman administration's attention was focused on Europe. Real support for the KMT - which might have changed the outcome of the civil war - was not considered at all. The purpose of Marshall Mission was to provide an excuse to withdraw. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper concerns the hypothetical crisis of the "populist moment" in Italy, with reference to the possible contradictions between the alleged populist nature of Lega and M5S and the participation of these two parties in the Draghi national unity government. The examined contradictions - some actual, others only apparent - concern the themes of Europeanism, the themes of the pluralism of democratic representation and the themes of the relationship with technocratic models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented on the innovative policy measures in order to make progress towards a more sustainable water management in the Global South. Topics discussed include how far individual access to safe water could be achieved in rural Tunisia purely based on the contributions of water consumers; the role of the off-grid water vendors in efficiently supplying water to poor households in more remote areas; and the factors affecting farmers' decision to sell water in Assam, India.