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Background Heart transplanted patients are mainly monitored with invasive diagnostic techniques for detecting cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV). However coronary CT angiography (CCTA) is a new promising tool that brings clinical and economical benefits. Objectives primary aim: demonstrate the non-inferiority of CCTA in comparison to invasive coronary angiography (ICA), in terms of radiation and contrast dose, costs, in-hospital stay and complications. Other aims: analyse in the subgroup of patients undergoing CCTA the role of immunological and non-immunological risk factors and the role of pericoronary-fat-attenuation-index (pFAI) in predicting CAV. Methods Between March 2021 and May 2022, 179 consecutive heart transplanted patients underwent either CCTA (78 patients) or ICA (101 patients) based on medical preference to study CAV. The 78 patients who underwent CCTA were also divided in patients with no previous CAV (npCAV, previous ISHLTV=0) and patients with previous CAV (pCAV, ISHLTV≤1). CAV progression was considered if there was any progression in ISHLTV. Results CCTA delivered lower radiation doses in comparison with ICA (3,52 mSV [1.46-7.23] versus 10,8 mSV [8.8-20.3]; p=0.03) and required also less in-hospital stay (0.5 ± 0,2 hours versus 23.7 ± 12.31 hours; p-70.1HU) did not show a statistically significance in the progression of CAV (p=NS). Conclusions CCTA is superior to ICA in terms of radiation and contrast dose, costs and in-hospital stay. TNF was the only independent predictor related with the progression of CAV. PFAI, didn't reach statistically significance probably due to the small sample size. Further studies are necessary to understand the role of pFAI in this subset of patients.

A large part of the Italian territory is characterized by a spatial organization structured in small towns, with natural and cultural resources, vast material and immaterial heritage, and economic potential. All features often mirrored by a limited accessibility to essential services (transportation, health, and education systems), depopulation and high building vulnerability and inefficiency. The aim of this paper is to propose a methodology for the systemic definition of intervention strategies for building recovery and valorization, as part of a more complex strategy of inner areas’ revitalization, to be achieved in accordance with the cultural landscape, local construction techniques and materials, and the specific characteristics of considered buildings. The chosen case study has been the small town of Conza della Campania, whose historic center was almost destroyed by the 1980’s Irpinia earthquake; although abandoned since, the damaged building stock still preserves acknowledged architectural and constructive qualities, and the area has many potentials linked to its natural and productive vocations. Applying the methodology, seismic and energy retrofitting strategies resulted in the definition of adaptive abacuses describing the most efficient interventions for each considered building, derived by detailed analysis related to their construction techniques, architectural features, historical evolution, and artistic/cultural values. In terms of urban regeneration, these abacuses, as basis for seismic and energy building recovery, act as adaptive tools to support the definition of compatible operational choices and ensure the development of sustainable strategies leading to holistic results.

BackgroundDistinct contributions by functional or structural alterations of coronary microcirculation in heart transplantation (HT) and their prognostic role have not been fully elucidated. We aimed to identify the mechanisms of coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) in HT and their prognostic implications.Methods134 patients, surviving at least 5 years after HT, without evidence of angiographic vasculopathy or symptoms/signs of rejection were included. 50 healthy volunteers served as controls. All underwent the assessment of rest and hyperemic coronary diastolic peak flow velocity (DPVr and DPVh) and coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR) and its inherent companion that is based on the adjusted quadratic mean: CCFVR = √{(DPVr)2 + (DPVh)2}. Additionally, basal and hyperemic coronary microvascular resistance (BMR and HMR) were estimated.ResultsBased on CFVR and DPVh, HT patients can be assigned to four endotypes: endotype 1, discordant with preserved CFVR (3.1 ± 0.4); endotype 2, concordant with preserved CFVR (3.4 ± 0.5); endotype 3, concordant with impaired CFVR (1.8 ± 0.3) and endotype 4, discordant with impaired CFVR (2.0 ± 0.2). Intriguingly, endotype 1 showed lower DPVr (p < 0.0001) and lower DPVh (p < 0.0001) than controls with lower CFVR (p < 0.0001) and lower CCFVR (p < 0.0001) than controls. Moreover, both BMR and HMR were higher in endotype 1 than in controls (p = 0.001 and p < 0.0001, respectively), suggesting structural microvascular remodeling. Conversely, endotype 2 was comparable to controls. A 13/32 (41%) patients in endotype 1 died in a follow up of 28 years and mortality rate was comparable to endotype 3 (14/31, 45%). However, CCFVR was < 80 cm/s in all 13 deaths of endotype 1 (characterized by preserved CFVR). At multivariable analysis, CMD, DPVh < 75 cm/s and CCFVR < 80 cm/s were independent predictors of mortality. The inclusion of CCFVR < 80 cm/s to models with clinical indicators of mortality better predicted survival, compared to only adding CMD or DPVh < 75 cm/s (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.03, respectively).ConclusionA normal CFVR could hide detection of microvasculopathy with high flow resistance and low flow velocities at rest. This microvasculopathy seems to be secondary to factors unrelated to HT (less rejections and more often diabetes). The combined use of CFVR and CCFVR provides more complete clinical and prognostic information on coronary microvasculopathy in HT.

The Stanford Integrated Psychosocial Assessment for Transplantation (SIPAT) is a comprehensive instrument developed to accurately assess the main pretransplant psychosocial risk factors that may impact transplant outcomes.As neither established assessment procedures nor standardized tools designed to perform pretransplant psychosocial evaluation are currently available in Italy, the present study was designed to develop and preliminarily validate the Italian version of the SIPAT.First, our team developed the Italian version of the SIPAT, following standard forward-back translation procedures. Then, the Italian version of the SIPAT was retrospectively and blindly applied to 118 randomly selected transplant cases (40 heart, 40 lung, and 38 liver) by 2 independent examiners. Information about the patients' final transplant listing recommendation (i.e., listing vs. deferral) was independently collected from the respective transplant teams.The inter-rater reliability of the Italian version of the SIPAT scores was substantial (Cohen's kappa = 0.77; P 0.001). Moreover, the predictive value of the SIPAT ratings on the final transplant listing recommendation (i.e., listing vs. deferral) for each examiner was significant (both P 0.05).Current findings suggest that SIPAT is a promising and reliable instrument in its Italian version. Given these excellent psychometric characteristics, the use of the SIPAT as part of the pretransplant psychosocial evaluation in Italian medical settings is highly encouraged.

Dans un contexte de transformation et d’évolution du tissu sociolinguistique, la Vallée d’Aoste, région située au nord-ouest de l’Italie, cherche de privilégier son caractère à la fois francophone qu’italophone sur la scène nationale et internationale depuis son annexion au territoire italien.Le Statut spécial accordé en 1948 accompagne la Vallée d’Aoste dans son processus de défense et rayonnement de sa mosaïque linguistique qui est le résultat d’une longue période historique très particulière. En effet, bien que la région soit reconnue comme bilingue (italien-français), son panorama linguistique est beaucoup plus riche. Son répertoire linguistique est caractérisé par la cohabitation de la langue de Molière et celle de Dante mais aussi du francoprovençal et des autres variétés dialectales minoritaires. La politique linguistique et culturelle de la Vallée d’Aoste mais aussi son bilinguisme (portant sur les assises juridiques de son Statut spécial d’autonomie) constitue un phénomène multidimensionnel qui influence la dimension éducative, sociale mais aussi politique.Un certain nombre de mesure cherche à promouvoir et à renforcer les initiatives et les engagements valdôtains au sein de l’espace francophone tout en montrant son attachement à la langue française et aux valeurs francophones. Plus précisément, le français peut être considéré comme un instrument d’action pour la Région autonome Vallée d’Aoste, à la fois un monument du patrimoine valdôtain mais aussi une « barrière » linguistique tout en considérant les données collectées lors des observations directes sur le terrain.Pour bien étudier et analyser le cas d’étude valdôtain, il sera important de mentionner la fonction informative mais aussi symbolique du répertoire linguistique dans son territoire mais aussi à l’égard de la francophonie et de l’espace européen. L’illustration de la vérité linguistique valdôtaine représentera un point essentiel pour cette recherche.

Sediments play a fundamental role in the aquatic environment, so that the presence of contaminants poses severe concern for the possible negative effects on both environmental and human health. Sediment remediation is thus necessary to reduce pollutant concentrations and several techniques have been studied so far. A novel approach for sediment remediation is the use of Advanced Oxidation Processes, which include ultrasound (US). This paper focuses on the study of the ultrasonic effects for the simultaneous reduction of both organic and inorganic contaminants from sediments. To this end, the US technology was investigated as a stand-alone treatment as well as in combination with an electro-kinetic (EK) process, known to be effective in the removal of heavy metals from soil and sediments. The US remediation resulted in higher organic compound degradation, with an average 88% removal, but promising desorption yields (47-84%) were achieved for heavy metals as well. The combined EK/US process was found to be particularly effective for lead. Experimental outcomes highlighted the potential of the ultrasonic technology for the remediation of contaminated sediments and addressed some considerations for the possible scale-up.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a well-established post-cardiac surgery complication. Orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT) represents a peculiar condition where surgical thoracic veins isolation and autonomic denervation occur. This study aims at investigating AF incidence in OHT in order to define its risk factors and to evaluate its prognostic impact. Methods: 278 patients affected by OHT were recruited in our Cardiac Surgery Unit and retrospectively analyzed, using clinical, surgical and instrumental data. Results: The patients cohort showed 45 post-operative (16.5%) and 20 late AF cases (7.2%). Only paroxysmal AF episodes were observed. Elderly donors and acute rejection resulted as risk factors in patients with post-operative AF episodes, who presented higher all-cause mortality at 11 years post-OHT (p

Three different advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) were applied to investigate the removal of emerging contaminants (ECs) i.e. sulfamethoxazole (SMX), diclofenac (DCF) and carbamazepine (CBZ) in synthetically prepared solutions. The degradation of these substances was carried out by ozonation, sonolysis and photocatalytic oxidation, as well as by different combinations of these processes. The objectives of this work were to evaluate the removal efficiency in each AOP and to assess the performance variation of sonolysis in combination with other AOPs. The best performances were achieved by sonocatalysis, which resulted in the removal of the selected pharmaceuticals in the range between 37% and 47%. Under similar experimental conditions, the removal of the selected ECs by single compounds by ozonation was slightly lower than the removal of respective compounds in the mixture. Moreover, pseudo first-order removal rate constants of photocatalytic mineralization were determined as 9.33×10-2, 4.90×10-3, 1.06×10-2 min-1 for SMX, DCF and CBZ, respectively.

Tabla de contenidos: Sobre la cartografía sonora de las lenguas / María Amalia García Jurado. Teaching English rhythm / Judy B. Gilbert. The Vowel Hexagon / Mark Hancock. Estudio fonopragmático de los marcadores discursivos: propuesta metodológica y / Antonio Hidalgo Navarro. De otras lenguas. Selecciones rioplatenses para el tratamiento de las importaciones léxicas y el remedo de la interferencia / Yolanda Hipperdinger. Sobre los efectos del desarrollo fonético-fonológico de L2 en el sistema de lengua materna: una discusión a partir de datos de VOT / Ubiratã Kickhöfel Alves. El modelo Métrico-Autosegmental y la Teoría de la Relevancia en el español rioplatense / Leopoldo Omar Labastía. Acento extranjero en la formación del docente de inglés: un estudio experimental / Pedro Luis Luchini. Contextos fónicos y valores pragmáticos del alargamiento segmental en el habla coloquial / Laura Andreau, Adriana Caldiz, María Virginia Gnecco. Confluencia entre pistas perceptivas y configuraciones prosódicas del marcador discursivo "entonces" en posición intercláusulas / Claudia Borzi, Mónica Trípodi, María Amalia García Jurado. Puntos de vista evidenciales y su materialización a través de la prosodia / Adriana Caldiz. Pronunciación y tecnología: percepciones de los alumnos sobre el uso de un entorno virtual de aprendizaje / Martín Salvador Capell, María Josefina Díaz, Noelia Hubert. Phonostyle du discours politique français: analyse d'un discours / Alexis Capristo. Interlengua de aprendientes de italiano de la Facultad de Lenguas (UNC): estudio de aspectos fonéticos y fonológicos / Beatriz Blanco, Patricia Deane, Silvana Marchiaro. La percepción de la /s/ aspirada en posición implosiva de estudiantes de español como lengua extranjera en Pacific University, Oregon, EE.UU. / Lucía Fraiese. Construyendo opinión en la conversación casual: configuración genérica y realizaciones fonológicas / Miriam Patricia Germani, María Florencia Torrijo Somacal, Pamela Cargnelutti. Testing perception of stretched out features and their role in perceptual metathesis / Analía Gutiérrez. Más allá del texto: Territorialidad fonológica en la voz de Shylock / Verónica Rafaelli. Cambios en la trayectoria formántica de las vocales del español rioplatense / Sofía Romanelli, Andrea Menegotto. La evaluación entre pares en el aprendizaje de la pronunciación en lengua / Evangelina Aguirre Sotelo, Andrea Canavosio, M. Josefina Díaz. Listening comprehension issues in English Phonetics and Phonology 1 students / María Eugenia Andreani. Buenas prácticas en fonética y fonología: Integración de contenidos en actividades de video / Claudia Patricia Cosentino. A aquisição da fluência na oralidade do português, dos alunos avançados do Professorado de Português, da "Universidad Nacional de Misiones" / Francisco Leonardo De Almeida Neto. Potenciando las experiencias de aprendizaje en Fonología y Dicción I a través de material de estudio aumentado / Ma. Griselda Di Luzio, Julieta Picco, Letizia Russo. Enfoque metodológico de la enseñanza de la fonética en los profesorados / Maria Cecilia Frattin. El dictado y la transcripción fonéticos como recursos didácticos en la enseñanza de la oralidad en el nivel superior / María Virginia Gnecco, Teresa Tomatti. Pronunciación en el canto en español y aisthesis / Mariano Nicolás Guzmán, Favio Shifres, Raúl Carranza. Fonética inglesa y actuación: la construcción del personaje / Marisol Hernández. Comprehensive Sexual Education in the English pronunciation classroom / Luciana Aimé Huarte Cavassa, Robertina Navalesi. La relación percepción-producción de los fonemas vocálicos del inglés /æ, ?, ??/ en la habilidad de habla / Andrea Leceta. ICT aided steps in the learning of segmental phonetics / Daniela L. Martino. Desmistificando la Fonética Acústica / Mariano Pablo Mazzeo. Assimilação regressiva de nasalidade, efeito articulatório de ressonância nasal produzida pelo segmento palatal [?] em posição tônica / Maria de Fátima Nunes de França Fenoglio, Rosanne Maria Nascimento de Souza, Luiz Roos. El uso de las TIC y la producción de remezclas audiovisuales como contextos significativos para la integración eficaz de la pronunciación en la enseñanza de idiomas en la educación terciaria / María Dolores Orta González, Cristian Andrés Cardozo, Rafael Raspanti. The Use of Voicethread and Genial.ly as a Source of Interactive Material and Infographics for Pronunciation Practice and Phonemic Dictation / María Dolores Orta González, Cristian Andrés Cardozo, Rafael Raspanti. ¿Qué percibimos cuando evaluamos la pronunciación? Acerca de los factores considerados relevantes por los evaluadores en el examen CELU / Ana M.J. Pacagnini. Intonation in metadiscoursal elements of an oral pedagogical / Ricardo Javier Palma, Clarisa Silvana Cañizares. ¿Pueden sólo Los Beatles cantar en inglés? Hacia una revisión de los conceptos de EFL y EIL dentro de la cátedra de Fonética y Fonología Inglesas 1 de FaHCE, UNLP / Mariana Palmieri, Libertad Ruiz Arcodia. Propuesta didáctica en el laboratorio de lenguas para el nivel superior / Silvia Peralta.

BACKGROUND Identification of heart transplant (HTx) rejection currently relies on immunohistology and immunohistochemistry. We aimed to identify specific sets of microRNAs (miRNAs) to characterize acute cellular rejection (ACR), antibody-mediated rejection (pAMR), and mixed rejection (MR) in monitoring formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs) in HTx patients. METHODS In this study we selected 33 adult HTx patients. For each, we chose the first positive EMB for study of each type of rejection. The next-generation sequencing (NGS) IonProton technique and reverse transcript quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis were performed on FFPE EMBs. Using logistic regression analysis we created unique miRNA signatures as predictive models of each rejection. In situ PCR was carried out on the same EMBs. RESULTS We obtained >2,257 mature miRNAs from all the EMBs. The 3 types of rejection showed a different miRNA profile for each group. The logistic regression model formed by miRNAs 208a, 126-5p, and 135a-5p identified MR; that formed by miRNAs 27b-3p, 29b-3p, and 199a-3p identified ACR; and that formed by miRNAs 208a, 29b-3p, 135a-5p, and 144-3p identified pAMR. The expression of miRNAs on tissue, through in situ PCR, showed different expressions of the same miRNA in different rejections. miRNA 126-5p was expressed in endothelial cells in ACR but in cardiomyocytes in pAMR. In ACR, miRNA 29b-3p was significantly overexpressed and detected in fibroblasts, whereas in pAMR it was underexpressed and detected only in cardiomyocytes. CONCLUSIONS miRNA profiling on FFPE EMBs differentiates the 3 types of rejection. Localization of expression of miRNAs on tissue showed different expression of the same miRNA for different cells, suggesting different roles of the same miRNA in different rejections.

2016 - 2017, Sediments play a fundamental role in the aquatic environment, especially for their interaction with the aquatic life. However, in the last decades, due to the increasing anthropic activities, a large amount of contaminants were released into the environment, as well as in the water bodies. The sediments, due to their characteristics, tend to adsorb the polluting compounds becoming a potential sink of contaminants. Among the several hazardous compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) and heavy metals represent the contaminants most frequently detected onto sediments. These compounds are classified as “known” or “probable” human carcinogen by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The presence of hazardous compounds in the sediments constitutes a concern, not only for the possible negative effects on the environment and human health, but also for the technical-economical aspects related to their management. Indeed, contaminated sediments need a proper management and their free disposal in the aquatic system is not allowed. It was estimated that in Europe about 200 million cubic meters of sediments are dredged every year. These dredging activities are necessary not only for remediation purposes, but also to maintain adequate depth of navigation in the water bodies. Once removed, the traditional management options for the sediments include landfill and confined aquatic disposal, which are among the most used solutions. Nevertheless, these options are not sustainable under both an economic and an environmental point of view. The sediment reuse could be an effective alternative, but their adequate treatment is fundamental in order to avoid the possible release of hazardous compounds into the environment and the resulting adverse effects. In scientific literature different remediation technologies were proposed for treatment of contaminated soil. Few attempts have been also provide to adapt some of these techniques to polluted sediments. However, due to the specific characteristics of the sediments, including the prevalent fine grain size fraction, the technologies used for soil remediation are not always suitable for sediment treatment. Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs), which are widely used for the wastewater treatment, were also applied for the treatment of other environmental matrices thanks to their technology flexibility. Among AOPs, ultrasound (US) has raised growing interest in the scientific community, as an environmental friendly technology holding several advantages over conventional treatment solutions. In the field of wastewater treatment, US has been studied in order to promote either the partial degradation of organic compounds before biological process or the mineralization of the same kind of contaminants. Few research experiences also focused on US application to solid matrices, with the main aim of desorbing inorganic compounds. In polluted sediments, both organic and inorganic contaminants are simultaneously present and this aspect represents a major challenge in the choice of a remediation technology that could be effective for each kind of polluting compound. In this regard, the application of US can promote both the contaminant desorption from the solid particles and the degradation of the dissolved organic compounds. Therefore, aim of this work was in the study of the advanced technology effectiveness for the remediation of contaminated sediments. For this purpose, the experimental activity was divided in two main parts: - the first one focused on the study of US treatment effectiveness in promoting the reduction of both organic and inorganic contamination in a single stage; - the second part, performed on the basis of the results of the previous phase, was devoted to the assessment of the US effectiveness as treatment prior to another main remediation technique. In particular, US was implemented as pretreatment for electrokinetic (EK) processes. The first step was conducted at the laboratory of the Sanitary Environmental Engineering Division (SEED) of Salerno University. During this step both sonication frequency and treatment time were varied to investigate their effect on the removal yields of organic (B[]A and B[]P) as well as inorganic (Cd, Pb and Zn) contaminants. Experimental results demonstrated that the application of ultrasonic waves led to an overall reduction of the contaminant concentration. The best performances were achieved for the organic compounds, with high removal efficiencies reached after few minutes of treatment. Heavy metals showed removal yields almost constant in all experiments, despite the sonication frequency as well as the treatment time. The desorption of inorganic compounds was variable for each compound and the best results were obtained for Cd and Zn compared to Pb. In order to improve the heavy metal desorption by US, two different processing solutions, namely citric acid and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), were tested as sonication medium. Both solutions determined an improvement in the desorption yields. However, the best performances were achieved with the citric acid, at a sonication frequency of 130 kHz. As previously noted, the variation of the treatment time was observed to be not significant, thus a long US treatment is not justified. In this regard, the process optimisation was pursued by reducing the treatment time. To this end, further tests were performed using a citric acid solution at 130 kHz and 2,5 min of sonication. An slight decrease in desorption percentage, was observed for each metal. Nevertheless, the desorption yields were satisfactory, with percentages always more than 75%. The second part of the work was performed at the laboratory of the Bioengineering and Sustainable Processes (BIOSUV) group at the University of Vigo (Spain). In order to evaluate the effectiveness of US as pre-treatment, this technology was applied before the electrokinetic process (EK). To this end, the combined process (US+EK) was compared with the remediation performances provided by the EK alone. Referring to the Cd and Zn, the results demonstrated a comparable desorption efficiency, close to the complete removal, for both EK process alone and US+EK. For Pb, instead, the use of US pre-treatment was able to improve the its desorption promoted a synergetic effect. The results obtained from the experimental activity proved that US technology could be a promising alternative for the reduction of both organic compounds and heavy metals from contaminated sediments. The studied process was observed to be very versatile, providing interesting performances as either stand-alone treatment or in combination with other remediation technologies. [edited by author], XXX ciclo