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This article provides a conceptual discussion of the role of hope in promoting global citizenship education (GCED) and argues that a global perspective in education requires a hopeful imaginative ethos to lay the foundations for a new transformative pedagogy. After introducing UNESCO's recent report "Reimagining Our Futures Together," which addresses urgent global challenges and assigns a major role to a global perspective in education, the article discusses the meaning of GCED as a non-neutral transformative approach in education. While this report, as well as previous ones, has been criticised for its visionary over-idealism and lack of attention to the power dynamics governing education, it will be argued that hope has transformational power and can play a political role in education. The article will then highlight contrasting ideas in envisioning different images of the future promoted by international organisations that have a significant impact on global educational policies and the construction of the global discourse on education. Finally, drawing especially on the legacy of Freire's vision of critical education, radical hope is reviewed by comparing it with two related issues: utopia and optimism.

This research looked at the growing space that Global Citizenship Education (GCE) is gaining in educational policy worldwide, and at the role Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) played in GCE agenda setting and policy implementation. Based on a comparative policy analysis carried out in 10 European countries, the political agency of NGOs was explored, underlining opportunities, tensions, and challenges, especially in their contribution to national strategies to integrate GCE into national educational systems.

This paper provides a critical analysis of Freire's Italian reception and argues that reinventing Freire requires us to historicise and to contextualise his legacy, which in Italy makes sense in consonance with the already existing Italian popular education tradition. Based on the case study of his 1989 honorary degree at the University of Bologna, this article investigates Freire's influence in academia by comparing two generations of scholars and activists who have received Freire in different ways. Drawing on interviews to key informants who belong to two generations of educators influenced by Freire, this paper argues that the Italian Freire's renaissance is associated with the growing need for a generation of militant educators to find a theoretical framework to oppose the hegemony of both neo-liberal and neo-nationalist discourses in education. The reasons for Freire's reinvention in the academic sphere are investigated and the profile of the second generation of Freireans in Italy traced out, highlighting both continuities and tensions with the first one. Finally, the motives for Freire's success in today's Italy are presented in seven main theses, showing that many of them are made possible by virtue of the political, cultural and pedagogical background that made Freire's re-invention in an Italian context possible.

Fucoxanthin is the most abundant carotenoid found in marine brown algae that exhibits several healthy properties. Dietary fucoxanthin is metabolized in the intestine, plasma, and other tissues to various metabolites, including fucoxanthinol. In this regard, the contribution of fucoxanthinol to the healthy properties of its precursor, fucoxanthin, against pathogenetic events associated with neurodegenerative diseases remains unexplored. Here, we evaluated and compared the antioxidant and neuroprotective effects of the carotenoids fucoxanthin and fucoxanthinol in in vitro models of Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s (PD) disease. Neuronal SH-SY5Y cells were used to evaluate the antioxidant properties of the carotenoids against ABTS radical in the membrane and cytoplasm and oxidative stress elicited by tert-butyl hydroperoxide using the 2′,7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate probe. We also assessed the ability of the carotenoids to increase the glutathione (GSH) and activate the Nrf2/Keap1/ARE pathway using the monochlorobimane probe and western blotting method, respectively. The neuroprotective effects of the carotenoids against the neurotoxicity generated by oligomers of Beta-Amyloid (1–42) peptide (OAβ) and 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), which are neurotoxins of AD and PD, respectively, were finally evaluated in the same neuronal cells using the thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide assay. Both carotenoids could reach the cytoplasm, which explains the mainly free radical scavenging activity at this level. Notably, fucoxanthinol had higher and lower antioxidant activity than fucoxanthin at extracellular and cellular levels. Although studied carotenoids exerted the ability to activate the Nrf2/Keap1/ARE pathway, leading to an increase of intracellular GSH, our results suggested that the antioxidant activity of the carotenoids could be mainly attributed to their radical scavenging activity in neuronal membrane and cytoplasm, where they accumulate. Fucoxanthinol also shared similar neuroprotective effects as fucoxanthin against the neurotoxicity generated by OAβ and 6-OHDA, suggesting a potential neuroprotective contribution to the action of fucoxanthin administered as a food supplement in in vivo experimental models. These results encourage further research to evaluate the bioavailability of fucoxanthinol and other metabolites of fucoxanthin at the brain level to elucidate the dietary neuroprotective potential of fucoxanthin.

This article provides a conceptual analysis of the two domains of global citizenship education and adult education and learning, along with their similarities and differences. It begins by unpacking the ambiguous and contested concept of global citizenship education and proposing a critical vision of it, within a global social justice framework. Against this backdrop, the article argues for re-conceptualizing adult education and learning as global citizenship education, instead of considering the latter to be one of the key issues of the former. Their structural link is grounded in their common epistemological nature. The domains are interlocked to the extent that both (1) promote active citizenship skills, (2) strive towards equality and social justice on a global level and (3) adopt a values-based approach and promote transformative learning. In conclusion, an original 'Four-dimensions approach to adult education and learning as global citizenship education' conceptual model is advanced potentially to inform policymakers, practitioners and researchers. The model is made up of four basic components of adult education and learning as global citizenship education, namely: aims and scope (what for), contents and skills (what), processes and pedagogies (how), actors and learning environments (who).

Since the early 1990s, there has been a paradigm shift in human development theory due to a slow but steady increase in the attention paid to the concepts of quality of life, wellbeing and happiness. Accordingly, some scientists have questioned the validity of Gross Domestic Product as a tool to explain the wealth and development of nations, and several institutions and scholars have started to provide new policies and indexes to measure both subjective and collective wellbeing. These include, among others, the so-called Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi report, the OECD's Better Life Initiative, the Quality of Life in Europe and the United Nations' World Happiness Index. At the moment, a comprehensive and critical historical review of this trend is still missing, as well as its impact on education systems. In this paper, we first review the historical development of what has been called the 'Quality of Life movement' (QoL movement) and the major trends and indexes currently available for measuring the quality of life and wellbeing. We then present some education policy initiatives as examples of the attempt to implement QoL discourse into education systems. We conclude by outlining critical theoretical considerations of how the QoL movement could impact future education policies and systems.

It has been shown that quantum mechanics in its orthodox interpretation violates four different formulations of causality principle endowed with empirical meaning. The present work aims to highlight how even a realistic non-standard interpretation of the theory conflicts with causality in its Cartesian formulation of the principle of the non-inferiority of causes over effects. Such an interpretation, which attributes some form of weak physical reality to the wave function (called empty wave, regarded as a zero-energy wave-like phenomenon), is a sort of precursor of the more recent so-called wavefunction realism. We also discuss a more radical realistic interpretation according to which physical properties can also be assigned to non-metaphysical relative nothing, seen as the simple absence of a particle such as a photon, but not of its corresponding state (no-photon), which is considered real. By interpreting the wave function collapse as a consequence of an interaction with empty waves or of a detection of the no-photon, we will highlight how more real physical effects can derive from lower causes, including relative nothing. Finally, we will show how these interpretations, while violating Cartesian causality in its two variants, do not seem to affect the validity of the principle of a rational explanation that nothing can derive from (absolute) nothing, which does not seem satisfied by the orthodox interpretation., Author(s): Gino Tarozzi [sup.1], Giovanni Macchia [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.12711.34, 0000 0001 2369 7670, Department of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, , Urbino, Italy (2) [...]

This article, derived from a larger EU-funded empirical research project, draws on a comparative analysis of pioneering global citizenship education (GCE) inservice primary teacher education programmes, as theorized and practised in four European countries, to explore how higher education institutions (HEIs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and participating teachers shape the development of content-based, competence-based and values-based approaches to teacher education. With reference to the multiple-site case study in Ireland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy, this article argues that, through investment, structural and institutional support and professional teacher education expertise, HEIs are, alongside NGOs and in-service teachers, pivotal actors in the collaborative development of GCE teacher education. The article concludes that successful collaborations can foster teacher agency through transformative, values-based approaches to GCE teacher education.

This contribution investigates the educational implications of responsible tourism with a view to promoting transformative education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship. After a brief overview of the theoretical and historical framework of the notion of transformative education in relation to Global Citizenship Education and education for Sustainable Development, this paper highlights the contribution of responsible tourism as an informal education practice. Some examples of transnational educational tourism for Global Citizenship Education are then provided and analysed. Particular attention is paid to the case of international volunteer tourism (also defined as “voluntourism”), highlighting its opportunities and limitations. The conclusion describes some of the pedagogic preconditions that help educational tourism to contribute to learning global citizenship, depending on the type of education, tourism and global citizenship activated in designing educational tourism programmes.

Over the last decade, there has been a growing consensus, including in Italy, that it makes sense to provide an objectively measurable empirical basis for educational policies and practices in order to escape from the uncertainty of practices based on individual experience or subjective values. The quantification of the social sphere, the “metric society” (Mau, 2019), and data-driven models of governance have led not only to “learnification”, a culture of performativity and standardised testing as the dominant model (Biesta, 2010), but also to a loss of future-oriented visions as these latter are overwhelmed by statistical models of anticipation. The main aim of this paper is to critique the post-positivist epistemological assumptions of so-called Evidence Based Education as well as the neoliberal organisational models whose indiscriminate application to professionals in education robs these roles of professionalism. Secondly, based on the recent UNESCO report on the “Futures of Education”, it intends to discuss the dimension of the future as a key direction of meaning for educational policies and practices, held up as an alternative to anticipatory governance models (Robertson, 2022).

Abstract Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is characterized by a broad phenotypic spectrum regarding symptoms, progression, and molecular features. Current sporadic CJD (sCJD) classification recognizes six main clinical-pathological phenotypes. This work investigates the molecular basis of the phenotypic heterogeneity of prion diseases through a multi-omics analysis of the two most common sCJD subtypes: MM1 and VV2. We performed DNA target sequencing on 118 genes on a cohort of 48 CJD patients and full exome RNA sequencing on post-mortem frontal cortex tissue on a subset of this cohort. DNA target sequencing identified multiple potential genetic contributors to the disease onset and phenotype, both in terms of coding, damaging-predicted variants, and enriched groups of SNPs in the whole cohort and the two subtypes. The results highlight a different functional impairment, with VV2 associated with higher impairment of the pathways related to dopamine secretion, regulation of calcium release and GABA signaling, showing some similarities with Parkinson’s disease both on a genomic and a transcriptomic level. MM1 showed a gene expression profile with several traits shared with different neurodegenerative, without an apparent distinctive characteristic or similarities with a specific disease. In addition, integrating genomic and transcriptomic data led to the discovery of several sites of ADAR-mediated RNA editing events, confirming and expanding previous findings in animal models. On the transcriptomic level, this work represents the first application of RNA sequencing on CJD human brain samples. Here, a good clusterization of the transcriptomic profiles of the two subtypes was achieved, together with the finding of several differently impaired pathways between the two subtypes. The results add to the understanding of the molecular features associated with sporadic CJD and its most common subtypes, revealing strain-specific genetic signatures and functional similarities between VV2 and Parkinson’s disease and providing preliminary evidence of RNA editing modifications in human sCJD.

According to recommendations of the UN Secretary General's Global Education First Initiative, countries and regions require a number of structural changes if they are to implement educational policies and practice based on global citizenship education, and to promote respect and responsibility across cultures. In this paper, we present the first results of a three-year project to compare existing educational policies, strategies and school curricula in ten European Union (EU) countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Spain, Portugal, UK) to ascertain the current level of such structural changes. Through a comparative policy analysis, we investigated whether, to what extent, and how global citizenship education is integrated within primary school curricula. The article focuses on national governmental agencies--specifically two main bodies in each country, the ministries of foreign affairs and education--and their political discourses. We argue that the gap between the two traditions, with separate approaches, purposes, concepts and bureaucracies, represents a strategic political challenge for the introduction of global citizenship education in primary schools.

Teucrium chamaedrys L. is a typical European–Mediterranean species of the genus Teucrium. Among the phenolic compounds belonging to phenylethanoid glycosides (PGs), teucrioside (TS) is only found in this species, and it was previously demonstrated to be produced by in vitro-elicited cell cultures at levels higher than those found in leaves. However, T. chamaedrys cell suspension extracts (Cell-Ex) and pure TS have not been investigated yet for any biological effects. In this study, we evaluated the antioxidant and anti-melanogenesis activity of both Cell-Ex and TS in B16-F10 mouse melanoma cells. The results showed that Cell-Ex inhibited the reactive oxygen species formation evoked in B16-F10 cells by tert-butyl hydroperoxide and 5 J/cm2 of UVA, as well as the melanin increase stimulated by α-MSH or 20 J/cm2 of UVA. In parallel, a TS concentration equivalent to that present in Cell-Ex recorded the same biological effect profile, suggesting the main contribution of TS to the antioxidant and anti-melanogenic properties of Cell-Ex. Both Cell-Ex and TS also modulated the melanogenesis pathway through their ability to inhibit the tyrosinase activity both in a cell-free system and in B16-F10 cells stimulated by α-MSH. These results support the potential cosmeceutical use of Cell-Ex for protection against photooxidative damage and hyperpigmentation.

Abstract The ability to detect and characterize bacteria within a biological sample is crucial for the monitoring of infections and epidemics, as well as for the study of human health and its relationship with commensal microorganisms. To this aim, a commonly used technique is the 16S rRNA gene targeted sequencing. PCR-amplified 16S sequences derived from the sample of interest are usually clustered into the so-called Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) based on pairwise similarities. Then, representative OTU sequences are compared with reference (human-made) databases to derive their phylogeny and taxonomic classification. Here, we propose a new reference-free approach to define the phylogenetic distance between bacteria based on protein domains, which are the evolving units of proteins. We extract the protein domain profiles of 3368 bacterial genomes and we use an ecological approach to model their Relative Species Abundance distribution. Based on the model parameters, we then derive a new measurement of phylogenetic distance. Finally, we show that such model-based distance is capable of detecting differences between bacteria in cases in which the 16S rRNA-based method fails, providing a possibly complementary approach , which is particularly promising for the analysis of bacterial populations measured by shotgun sequencing.

Hematological malignancies are a diverse group of cancers developing in the peripheral blood, the bone marrow or the lymphatic system. Due to their heterogeneity, the identification of novel and advanced molecular signatures is essential for enhancing their characterization and facilitate its translation to new pharmaceutical solutions and eventually to clinical applications. In this study, we collected publicly available microarray data for more than five thousand subjects, across thirteen hematological malignancies. Using PANDA to estimate gene regulatory networks (GRNs), we performed hierarchical clustering and network analysis to explore transcription factor (TF) interactions and their implications on biological pathways. Our findings reveal distinct clustering patterns among leukemias and lymphomas, with notable differences in gene and TF expression profiles. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) identified 57 significantly enriched KEGG pathways, highlighting both common and unique biological processes across HMs. We also identified potential drug targets within these pathways, emphasizing the role of TFs such as CEBPB and NFE2L1 in disease pathophysiology. Our comprehensive analysis enhances the understanding of the molecular landscape of HMs and suggests new avenues for targeted therapeutic strategies. These findings also motivate the adoption of regulatory networks, combined with modern biotechnological possibilities, for insightful pan-cancer exploratory studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection can be associated with oral mucosal diseases, including oral candidiasis and HPV infection, which are putative indicators of the immune status. Aim and Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was aimed at assessing the prevalence of HIV-related oral mucosal lesions in a cohort of Italian HIV+ patients regularly attending the Clinics of Infectious Diseases. Results: One hundred seventy-seven (n = 177) patients were enrolled and 30 (16.9%) of them showed HIV-related diseases of the oral mucosa. They were mainly found in male patients over 35 years old, undergoing Combination Antiretroviral Therapy (cART), and with CD4+ count < 500/µL. Oral candidiasis was the most common HIV-related oral lesion. No significant correlations could be detected between the prevalence of HPV infection and other clinical parameters (lymphocyte count, cART treatment and viral load). Conclusions: HIV-related oral mucosal diseases can correlate with immunosuppression. Early diagnosis and management of oral lesions in HIV+ patients should be part of the regular follow-up, from a multidisciplinary perspective of collaboration between oral medicine and infectious disease specialists, in an attempt to reduce morbidity due to oral lesions and modulate antiretroviral therapy according to the patient’s immune status.

Osteoradionecrosis (ORN) is a serious long-term complication of head and neck radiotherapy (RT), which is often triggered by dental extractions. It results from avascular aseptic necrosis due to irradiated bone damage. ORN is challenging to treat and can lead to severe complications. Furthermore, ORN causes pain and distress, significantly reducing the patient’s quality of life. There is currently no established preventive strategy. This narrative review aims to provide an update for the clinicians on the risk of ORN associated with oral surgery in head and neck RT patients, with a focus on the timing suitable for the oral surgery and possible ORN preventive treatments. An electronic search of articles was performed by consulting the PubMed database. Intervention and observational studies were included. A multidisciplinary approach to the patient is highly recommended to mitigate the risk of RT complications. A dental visit before commencing RT is highly advised to minimize the need for future dental extractions after irradiation, and thus the risk of ORN. Post-RT preventive strategies, in case of dento-alveolar surgery, have been proposed and include antibiotics, hyperbaric oxygen (HBO), and the combined use of pentoxifylline and tocopherol (“PENTO protocol”), but currently there is a lack of established standards of care. Some limitations in the use of HBO involve the low availability of HBO facilities, its high costs, and specific clinical contraindications; the PENTO protocol, on the other hand, although promising, lacks clinical trials to support its efficacy. Due to the enduring risk of ORN, removable prostheses are preferable to dental implants in these patients, as there is no consensus on the appropriate timing for their safe placement. Overall, established standards of care and high-quality evidence are lacking concerning both preventive strategies for ORN as well as the timing of the dental surgery. There is an urgent need to improve research for more efficacious clinical decision making.