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Abstract In view of the health concerns associated with high sugar intake, this study investigates methods to enhance sweetness perception in chocolate without increasing its sugar content. Using additive manufacturing, chocolate structures were created from masses with varying sugar and fat compositions, where hazelnut oil served as a partial cocoa butter replacement. The study found that while variations in sugar content minimally affected the physical properties of the chocolate masses, hazelnut oil significantly modified melting behavior and consumption time. Chocolate masses with higher hazelnut oil content but similar sugar content exhibited a 24% increase in sweetness perception, likely due to accelerated tastant (i.e., sucrose) release into saliva. Multiphase structures, designated as layered, cube-in-cube, and sandwich structures, exhibited less sensory differences compared to the homogeneous control. Nonetheless, structures with hazelnut oil-rich outer layers resulted in an 11% increase in sweetness perception, even without sugar gradients. This suggests that tastant release plays a more critical role than structural complexity in modifying sweetness perception. This research highlights the efficacy of simpler multiphase structures, such as sandwich designs, which offer sensory enhancements comparable to those of more complex designs but with reduced manufacturing effort, thus providing viable options for industrial-scale production.

ObjectiveRecent work has shown that people with common epilepsies have characteristic patterns of cortical thinning, and that these changes may be progressive over time. Leveraging a large multicenter cross-sectional cohort, we investigated whether regional morphometric changes occur in a sequential manner, and whether these changes in people with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy and hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS) correlate with clinical features.MethodsWe extracted regional measures of cortical thickness, surface area, and subcortical brain volumes from T1-weighted (T1W) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans collected by the ENIGMA-Epilepsy consortium, comprising 804 people with MTLE-HS and 1625 healthy controls from 25 centers. Features with a moderate case-control effect size (Cohen d ≥ .5) were used to train an event-based model (EBM), which estimates a sequence of disease-specific biomarker changes from cross-sectional data and assigns a biomarker-based fine-grained disease stage to individual patients. We tested for associations between EBM disease stage and duration of epilepsy, age at onset, and antiseizure medicine (ASM) resistance.ResultsIn MTLE-HS, decrease in ipsilateral hippocampal volume along with increased asymmetry in hippocampal volume was followed by reduced thickness in neocortical regions, reduction in ipsilateral thalamus volume, and finally, increase in ipsilateral lateral ventricle volume. EBM stage was correlated with duration of illness (Spearman ρ = .293, p = 7.03 × 10-16 ), age at onset (ρ = -.18, p = 9.82 × 10-7 ), and ASM resistance (area under the curve = .59, p = .043, Mann-Whitney U test). However, associations were driven by cases assigned to EBM Stage 0, which represents MTLE-HS with mild or nondetectable abnormality on T1W MRI.SignificanceFrom cross-sectional MRI, we reconstructed a disease progression model that highlights a sequence of MRI changes that aligns with previous longitudinal studies. This model could be used to stage MTLE-HS subjects in other cohorts and help establish connections between imaging-based progression staging and clinical features.

Temporal lobe epilepsy, a common drug-resistant epilepsy in adults, is primarily a limbic network disorder associated with predominant unilateral hippocampal pathology. Structural MRI has provided an in vivo window into whole-brain grey matter structural alterations in temporal lobe epilepsy relative to controls, by either mapping (i) atypical inter-hemispheric asymmetry; or (ii) regional atrophy. However, similarities and differences of both atypical asymmetry and regional atrophy measures have not been systematically investigated. Here, we addressed this gap using the multisite ENIGMA-Epilepsy dataset comprising MRI brain morphological measures in 732 temporal lobe epilepsy patients and 1418 healthy controls. We compared spatial distributions of grey matter asymmetry and atrophy in temporal lobe epilepsy, contextualized their topographies relative to spatial gradients in cortical microstructure and functional connectivity calculated using 207 healthy controls obtained from Human Connectome Project and an independent dataset containing 23 temporal lobe epilepsy patients and 53 healthy controls and examined clinical associations using machine learning. We identified a marked divergence in the spatial distribution of atypical inter-hemispheric asymmetry and regional atrophy mapping. The former revealed a temporo-limbic disease signature while the latter showed diffuse and bilateral patterns. Our findings were robust across individual sites and patients. Cortical atrophy was significantly correlated with disease duration and age at seizure onset, while degrees of asymmetry did not show a significant relationship to these clinical variables. Our findings highlight that the mapping of atypical inter-hemispheric asymmetry and regional atrophy tap into two complementary aspects of temporal lobe epilepsy-related pathology, with the former revealing primary substrates in ipsilateral limbic circuits and the latter capturing bilateral disease effects. These findings refine our notion of the neuropathology of temporal lobe epilepsy and may inform future discovery and validation of complementary MRI biomarkers in temporal lobe epilepsy.

Background: Longitudinal EEG recorded by implanted devices is critical for understanding and managing epilepsy. Recent research reports patient-specific, multi-day cycles in device-detected epileptiform events that coincide with increased likelihood of clinical seizures. Understanding these cycles could elucidate mechanisms generating seizures and advance drug and neurostimulation therapies. Objective/hypothesis: We hypothesize that seizure-correlated cycles are present in background neural activity, independent of interictal epileptiform spikes, and that neurostimulation may temporarily interrupt these cycles. Methods: We analyzed regularly-recorded seizure-free data epochs from 20 patients implanted with a responsive neurostimulation (RNS) device for at least 1.5 years, to explore the relationship between cycles in device-detected interictal epileptiform activity (dIEA), clinician-validated interictal spikes, background EEG features, and neurostimulation. Results: Background EEG features tracked the cycle phase of dIEA in all patients (AUC: 0.63 [0.56–0.67]) with a greater effect size compared to clinically annotated spike rate alone (AUC: 0.55 [0.53–0.61], p

Abstract Recent work has demonstrated that the relationship between structural and functional connectivity varies regionally across the human brain, with reduced coupling emerging along the sensory-association cortical hierarchy. The biological underpinnings driving this expression, however, remain largely unknown. Here, we postulate that intracortical myelination and excitation-inhibition (EI) balance mediate the heterogeneous expression of structure-function coupling (SFC) and its temporal variance across the cortical hierarchy. We employ atlas- and voxel-based connectivity approaches to analyze neuroimaging data acquired from two groups of healthy participants. Our findings are consistent across six complementary processing pipelines: 1) SFC and its temporal variance respectively decrease and increase across the unimodal-transmodal and granular-agranular gradients; 2) increased myelination and lower EI-ratio are associated with more rigid SFC and restricted moment-to-moment SFC fluctuations; 3) a gradual shift from EI-ratio to myelination as the principal predictor of SFC occurs when traversing from granular to agranular cortical regions. Collectively, our work delivers a framework to conceptualize structure-function relationships in the human brain, paving the way for an improved understanding of how demyelination and/or EI-imbalances induce reorganization in brain disorders.

Epilepsy is associated with genetic risk factors and cortico-subcortical network alterations, but associations between neurobiological mechanisms and macroscale connectomics remain unclear. This multisite ENIGMA-Epilepsy study examined whole-brain structural covariance networks in patients with epilepsy and related findings to postmortem epilepsy risk gene expression patterns. Brain network analysis included 578 adults with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), 288 adults with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE), and 1328 healthy controls from 18 centres worldwide. Graph theoretical analysis of structural covariance networks revealed increased clustering and path length in orbitofrontal and temporal regions in TLE, suggesting a shift towards network regularization. Conversely, people with IGE showed decreased clustering and path length in fronto-temporo-parietal cortices, indicating a random network configuration. Syndrome-specific topological alterations reflected expression patterns of risk genes for hippocampal sclerosis in TLE and for generalized epilepsy in IGE. These imaging-transcriptomic signatures could potentially guide diagnosis or tailor therapeutic approaches to specific epilepsy syndromes.

Abstract Brain structure deteriorates with aging and predisposes an individual to more severe language impairments (aphasia) after a stroke. However, the underlying mechanisms of this relation are not well understood. Here we use an approach to model brain network properties outside the stroke lesion, network controllability, to investigate relations among individualized structural brain connections, brain age, and aphasia severity in 93 participants with chronic post-stroke aphasia. Controlling for the stroke lesion size, we observe that lower average controllability of the posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) mediates the relation between advanced brain aging and aphasia severity. Lower controllability of the left posterior STG signifies that activity in the left posterior STG is less likely to yield a response in other brain regions due to the topological properties of the structural brain networks. These results indicate that advanced brain aging among individuals with post-stroke aphasia is associated with disruption of dynamic properties of a critical language-related area, the STG, which contributes to worse aphasic symptoms. Because brain aging is variable among individuals with aphasia, our results provide further insight into the mechanisms underlying the variance in clinical trajectories in post-stroke aphasia.

Neuroimaging techniques applied to a variety of organisms-from zebrafish, to rodents to humans-can offer valuable insights into neuronal network properties and their dysfunction in epilepsy. A wide range of imaging methods used to monitor neuronal circuits and networks during evoked seizures in animal models and advances in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) applied to patients with epilepsy were discussed during the XIV Workshop on Neurobiology of Epilepsy (XIV WONOEP) organized in 2017 by the Neurobiology Commission of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE). We review the growing number of technological approaches developed, as well as the current state of knowledge gained from studies applying these advanced imaging approaches to epilepsy research.

Epilepsy is a brain network disorder with associated genetic risk factors. Here, the authors show that spatial patterns of transcriptomic vulnerability co-vary with structural brain network alterations in focal and generalized epilepsy.

COVID-19-associated invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) is common and is associated with poor outcomes in critically ill patients. This prospective observational study aimed to explore the association between CAPA development and the incidence and prognosis of cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation in critically ill COVID-19 patients. We included all consecutive critically ill adult patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection who were admitted to three COVID-19 intensive care units (ICUs) in an Italian hospital from 25 February 2020 to 8 May 2022. A standardized procedure was employed for early detection of CAPA. Risk factors associated with CAPA and CMV reactivation and the association between CMV recurrence and mortality were estimated using adjusted Cox proportional hazard regression models. CAPA occurred in 96 patients (16.6%) of the 579 patients analyzed. Among the CAPA population, 40 (41.7%) patients developed CMV blood reactivation with a median time of 18 days (IQR 7–27). The CAPA+CMV group did not exhibit a significantly higher 90-day mortality rate (62.5% vs. 48.2%) than the CAPA alone group (p = 0.166). The CAPA+CMV group had a longer ICU stay, fewer ventilation-free days, and a higher rate of secondary bacterial infections than the control group of CAPA alone. In the CAPA population, prior immunosuppression was the only independent risk factor for CMV reactivation (HR 2.33, 95% C.I. 1.21–4.48, p = 0.011). In critically ill COVID-19 patients, CMV reactivation is common in those with a previous CAPA diagnosis. Basal immunosuppression before COVID-19 appeared to be the primary independent variable affecting CMV reactivation in patients with CAPA. Furthermore, the association of CAPA+CMV versus CAPA alone appears to impact ICU length of stay and secondary bacterial infections but not mortality.

Background: Anterior temporal lobe resection (ATLR) is a successful treatment for medically-refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). In the language-dominant hemisphere, 30%- 50% of individuals experience a naming decline which can impact upon daily life. Measures of structural networks are associated with language performance pre-operatively. It is unclear if analysis of network measures may predict post-operative decline. Methods: White matter fibre tractography was performed on preoperative diffusion MRI of 44 left lateralised and left resection individuals with TLE to reconstruct the preoperative structural network. Resection masks, drawn on co-registered pre- and post-operative T1-weighted MRI scans, were used as exclusion regions on pre-operative tractography to estimate the post-operative network. Changes in graph theory metrics, cortical strength, betweenness centrality, and clustering coefficient were generated by comparing the estimated pre- and post-operative networks. These were thresholded based on the presence of the connection in each patient, ranging from 75% to 100% in steps of 5%. The average graph theory metric across thresholds was taken.We incorporated leave-one-out cross-validation with smoothly clipped absolute deviation (SCAD) least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) feature selection and a support vector classifier to assess graph theory metrics on picture naming decline. Picture naming was assessed via the Graded Naming Test preoperatively and at 3 and 12 months post-operatively and the outcome was classified using the reliable change index (RCI) to identify clinically significant decline. The best feature combination and model was selected using the area under the curve (AUC). The sensitivity, specificity and F1-score were also reported. Permutation testing was performed to assess the machine learning model and selected regions difference significance. Results: A combination of clinical and graph theory metrics were able to classify outcome of picture naming at 3 months with an AUC of 0.84. At 12 months, change in strength to cortical regions was best able to correctly classify outcome with an AUC of 0.86. Longitudinal analysis revealed that betweenness centrality was the best metric to identify patients who declined at 3 months, who will then continue to experience decline from 3 to 12 months. Both models were significantly higher AUC values than a random classifier. Conclusion: Our results suggest that inferred changes of network integrity were able to correctly classify picture naming decline after ATLR. These measures may be used to prospectively to identify patients who are at risk of picture naming decline after surgery and could potentially be utilised to assist tailoring the resection in order to prevent this decline.

Background and Motivation: Functional gradients have been used to study differences in connectivity between healthy and diseased brain states, however this work has largely focused on the cortex. Because the subcortex plays a key role in seizure initiation in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), subcortical functional-connectivity gradients may help further elucidate differences between healthy brains and TLE, as well as differences between left (L)-TLE and right (R)-TLE. Methods: In this work, we calculated subcortical functional-connectivity gradients (SFGs) from resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) by measuring the similarity in connectivity profiles of subcortical voxels to cortical gray matter voxels. We performed this analysis in 24 R-TLE patients and 31 L-TLE patients (who were otherwise matched for age, gender, disease specific characteristics, and other clinical variables), and 16 controls. To measure differences in SFGs between L-TLE and R-TLE, we quantified deviations in the average functional gradient distributions, as well as their variance, across subcortical structures. Results: We found an expansion, measured by increased variance, in the principal SFG of TLE relative to controls. When comparing the gradient across subcortical structures between L-TLE and R-TLE, we found that abnormalities in the ipsilateral hippocampal gradient distributions were significantly different between L-TLE and R-TLE. Conclusion: Our results suggest that expansion of the SFG is characteristic of TLE. Subcortical functional gradient differences exist between left and right TLE and are driven by connectivity changes in the hippocampus ipsilateral to the seizure onset zone.

Guanine-based purines (GBPs) exert numerous biological effects at the central nervous system through putative membrane receptors, the existence of which is still elusive. To shed light on this question, we screened orphan and poorly characterized G protein-coupled receptors (GPRs), selecting those that showed a high purinoreceptor similarity and were expressed in glioma cells, where GBPs exerted a powerful antiproliferative effect. Of the GPRs chosen, only the silencing of GPR23, also known as lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) 4 receptor, counteracted GBP-induced growth inhibition in U87 cells. Guanine (GUA) was the most potent compound behind the GPR23-mediated effect, acting as the endpoint effector of GBP antiproliferative effects. Accordingly, cells stably expressing GPR23 showed increased sensitivity to GUA. Furthermore, while GPR23 expression was low in a hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl-transferase (HGPRT)-mutated melanoma cell line showing poor sensitivity to GBPs, and in HGPRT-silenced glioma cells, GPR23-induced expression in both cell types rescued GUA-mediated cell growth inhibition. Finally, binding experiments using [3H]-GUA and U87 cell membranes revealed the existence of a selective GUA binding (KD = 29.44 ± 4.07 nM; Bmax 1.007 ± 0.035 pmol/mg prot) likely to GPR23. Overall, these data suggest GPR23 involvement in modulating responses to GUA in tumor cell lines, although further research needs to verify whether this receptor mediates other GUA effects.

The Cathedral of Florence is one of the largest churches in the world and is known for one of the most famous domes ever, which characterizes the skyline of the city. The dimensions of the building mean that the dimensions of the roof are equally large and so are the wooden structures that support it. The roof of the cathedral is organized on two levels: the roof of the large central nave and, at a lower level, those of the two lateral naves. The purpose of this paper is the identification of the wood species of which the structures are made. The sampling method of the 408 samples that have been identified is then described, the methods followed to reach a reliable identification and finally the results. The timbers most represented among the structural elements are those of silver fir, chestnut and elm. Other timbers are then found in the other components less directly linked to the main structural parts that make up the trusses. The paper then discusses the technological implications on the use of those woods within the wooden covering structures of the cathedral and the main sources of timber that the builders had available, in particular the Casentino forests that the Municipality of Florence had donated to the structure that managed the construction of the cathedral (Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore—OPA). OPA still exists today and is responsible for the maintenance of the cathedral and other annexed buildings.

The article contributes to the understanding of contemporary urban commons by developing a renewed analytical framework which approaches them as dynamic configurations. By investigating different types of urban commons in Italy, the article disentangles the notion of urban commons along two axes that take into account their relationship with both local institutions and the surrounding environment. The combination of these two axes produces four possible configurations that allow to grasp the complexity of urban commons, accounting for their multifaceted and at times controversial nature. Moreover, this article identifies three functions that urban commons can perform in the contemporary European cities: as resilient spaces, as reclaimed spaces incorporated into capitalistic models of urban development, or contentious and transformative spaces that combine social reproduction with anti-capitalistic politics. The article is based on qualitative research and participant observation grounded on extensive fieldwork in various urban commons across Italy between 2016 and 2019.

Abstract Background Peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis are biofilm-related diseases causing major concern in oral implantology, requiring complex anti-infective procedures or implant removal. Microbial biosurfactants emerged as new anti-biofilm agents for coating implantable devices preserving biocompatibility. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of rhamnolipid biosurfactant R89 (R89BS) to reduce Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm formation on titanium. Methods R89BS was physically adsorbed on titanium discs (TDs). Cytotoxicity of coated TDs was evaluated on normal lung fibroblasts (MRC5) using a lactate dehydrogenase assay. The ability of coated TDs to inhibit biofilm formation was evaluated by quantifying biofilm biomass and cell metabolic activity, at different time-points, with respect to uncoated controls. A qualitative analysis of sessile bacteria was also performed by scanning electron microscopy. Results R89BS-coated discs showed no cytotoxic effects. TDs coated with 4 mg/mL R89BS inhibited the biofilm biomass of S. aureus by 99%, 47% and 7% and of S. epidermidis by 54%, 29%, and 10% at 24, 48 and 72 h respectively. A significant reduction of the biofilm metabolic activity was also documented. The same coating applied on three commercial implant surfaces resulted in a biomass inhibition higher than 90% for S. aureus, and up to 78% for S. epidermidis at 24 h. Conclusions R89BS-coating was effective in reducing Staphylococcus biofilm formation at the titanium implant surface. The anti-biofilm action can be obtained on several different commercially available implant surfaces, independently of their surface morphology.

Spatially ordered arrangements of spherical colloids are known to exhibit structural colours. The intensity and brilliance of these structural colours typically improve with colloidal monodispersity, low concentrations of point and line defects and with increasing refractive index contrast between the colloids and the embedding medium. Here we show that suspensions of charge stabilised, fluorinated latex particles with low refractive-index contrast to their aqueous background form Wigner crystals with FCC symmetry for volume fractions between 13 and 40%. In reflection they exhibit both strong, almost angle-independent structural colours and sharp, more brilliant Bragg peaks despite the particle polydispersity and bimodal distribution. Simultaneously, these suspensions appear transparent in transmission. Furthermore, binary AB, A2B and A13B type mixtures of these fluorinated and similarly sized polystyrene particles appeared predominantly white but with clear Bragg peaks indicating a CsCl-like BCC structure and more complex crystals. We characterised the suspensions using a combination of reflectivity measurements and small-angle x-ray scattering, complemented by reflectivity modelling.

BackgroundIn epilepsy, cognitive difficulties are common, partly a consequence of anti-seizure medications (ASM), and cognitive side-effects are often considered to be more disabling than seizures and significantly affect quality of life. Functional MRI during verbal fluency tasks demonstrated impaired frontal activation patterns and failed default mode network deactivation in people taking ASM with unfavourable cognitive profiles. The cognitive effect of ASMs given at different dosages in monotherapy, or in different combinations, remains to be determined.MethodsHere, we compared the effects of different drug loads on verbal fluency functional MRI (fMRI) in people (i) taking dual therapy of ASMs either considered to be associated with moderate (levetiracetam, lamotrigine, lacosamide, carbamazepine/oxcarbazepine, eslicarbazepine, valproic acid; n = 119, 56 females) or severe (topiramate, zonisamide) side-effects; n = 119, 56 females), (ii) taking moderate ASMs in either mono-, dual- or triple-therapy (60 subjects in each group), or (iii) taking different dosages of ASMs with moderate side-effect profiles (n = 180). “Drug load” was defined as a composite value of numbers and dosages of medications, normalised to account for the highest and lowest dose of each specific prescribed medication.ResultsIn people taking “moderate” ASMs (n = 119), we observed higher verbal-fluency related to left inferior frontal gyrus and right inferior parietal fMRI activations than in people taking “severe” ASMs (n = 119). Irrespective of the specific ASM, people on monotherapy (n = 60), showed greater frontal activations than people taking two (n = 60), or three ASMs (n = 60). People on two ASMs showed less default mode (precuneus) deactivation than those on monotherapy. In people treated with “moderate” ASMs (n = 180), increased drug load correlated with reduced activation of language-related regions and the right piriform cortex.ConclusionOur study delineates the effects of polytherapy and high doses of ASMs when given in monotherapy on the functional anatomy of language. Irrespective of the cognitive profile of individual ASMs, each additional ASM results in additional alterations of cognitive activation patterns. Selection of ASMs with moderate cognitive side effects, and low doses of ASMs when given in polytherapy, could reduce the cognitive effect.

Nano-sized particles functionalised with short single-stranded (ss)DNAs can act as detectors of complementary DNA strands. Here we consider tri-block-copolymer-based, self-assembling DNA-coated nanoparticles. The copolymers are chemically linked to the DNA strands via azide (N3) groups. The micelles aggregate when they are linked with complementary ssDNA. The advantage of such block-copolymer-based systems is that they are easy to make. Here we show that DNA functionalisation results in inter-micellar attraction, but that N3-groups that have not reacted with the DNA detector strands also change the phase behaviour of the tri-block polymer solution. We studied the triblock copolymer, Pluronic® F108, which forms spherical micelles in aqueous solutions upon heating. We find that the triblock chains ending with either an N3 or N3-DNA complex show a dramatic change in phase behaviour. In particular, the N3-functionalisation causes the chain ends to cluster below the critical micelle temperature (CMT) of pure F108, forming flower-micelles with the N3-groups at the core, while the PPO groups are exposed to the solvent. Above the CMT, we see an inversion with the PPO chains forming the micellar core, while the N3-groups are now aggregating on the periphery, inducing an attraction between the micelles. Our results demonstrate that, due to the two competing self-assembling mechanisms, the system can form transient hydrogels.

This article focuses on the similarities and the differences of three degenerations of the political system. The author proposes the cultural political approach to define and to sign the boundaries between clientelism and corruption, clientelism and criminality, corruption and criminality. Clientelism and criminality are into a political culture; corruption on the contrary is out of a culture.

Abstract Objective To develop language functional MRI (fMRI) methods that accurately predict postsurgical naming decline in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Methods Forty‐six patients with TLE (25 left) and 19 controls underwent two overt fMRI paradigms (auditory naming and picture naming, both with active baseline conditions) and one covert task (verbal fluency). Clinical naming performance was assessed preoperatively and 4 months following anterior temporal lobe resection. Preoperative fMRI activations were correlated with postoperative naming decline. Individual laterality indices (LI) were calculated for temporal (auditory and picture naming) and frontal regions (verbal fluency) and were considered as predictors of naming decline in multiple regression models, along with other clinical variables (age at onset of seizures, preoperative naming scores, hippocampal volume, age). Results In left TLE patients, activation of the left posterior inferior temporal gyrus during auditory naming and activation of left fusiform gyrus during picture naming were related to greater postoperative naming decline. Activation LI were the best individual predictors of naming decline in a multivariate regression model. For picture naming, an LI of higher than 0.34 gave 100% sensitivity and 92% specificity (positive predictive value (PPV) 91.6%). For auditory naming, a temporal lobe LI higher than 0.18 identified all patients with a clinically significant naming decline with 100% sensitivity and 58% specificity (PPV: 58.3%). No effect was seen for verbal fluency. Interpretation Auditory and picture naming fMRI are clinically applicable to predict postoperative naming decline after left temporal lobe resection in individual patients, with picture naming being more specific.

This article aims to explore the forms of collective actions that are emerging in new sectors of digital capitalism. In particular, it enquires into the mobilisation of food delivery workers that has been developing since 2016 in four Italian cities: Milan, Turin, Bologna and Florence. Despite the high level of precarisation and atomisation that characterise this subset of gig economy jobs, the so-called riders were able to organise into self-organised workers' collectives, which not only gave rise to many protest events, but also drew the attention of the institutions and the media. What are the conditions and the strategies that made this possible? And, more broadly, what does this case tell us about the possibility of labour activism in gig economy work? We argue that the high level of activation of food delivery workers is to be related to their capability to provide resources for reconstructing social ties among workers and, in turn, for translating them into political engagement and contentious action. This is realised through the combination of three factors that will be scrutinised in the paper. The analysis points out that although precarisation creates significant obstacles to organisation and mobilisation, collective action does actually take place also in the gig economy, in certain conditions.

We present a 1:10,000 scale map of the coseismic surface ruptures following the 26 December 2018 Mw 4.9 earthquake that struck the eastern flank of Mt. Etna volcano (southern Italy). Detailed rupture mapping is based on extensive field surveys in the epicentral region. Despite the small size of the event, we were able to document surface faulting for about 8 km along the trace of the NNW-trending active Fiandaca Fault, belonging to the Timpe tectonic system in the eastern flank of the volcano. The mapped ruptures are characterized in most cases by perceivable opening and by a dominant right-oblique sense of slip, with an average slip of about 0.09 m and a peak value of 0.35 m. It is also noteworthy that the ruptures vary significantly in their kinematic expression, denoting locally high degree of complexity of the surface faulting.

The role of the purinergic signal has been extensively investigated in many tissues and related organs, including the central and peripheral nervous systems as well as the gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, and immune systems. Less attention has been paid to the influence of purines in the oral cavity, which is the first part of the digestive apparatus and also acts as the body’s first antimicrobial barrier. In this review, evidence is provided of the presence and possible physiological role of the purinergic system in the different structures forming the oral cavity including teeth, tongue, hard palate, and soft palate with their annexes such as taste buds, salivary glands, and nervous fibers innervating the oral structures. We also report findings on the involvement of the purinergic signal in pathological conditions affecting the oral apparatus such as Sjögren’s syndrome or following irradiation for the treatment of head and neck cancer, and the use of experimental drugs interfering with the purine system to improve bone healing after damage. Further investigations are required to translate the results obtained so far into the clinical setting in order to pave the way for a wider application of purine-based treatments in oral diseases.

Background: Recent studies have shown that patients diagnosed with coronarivus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and also with previous cardiovascular diseases have a higher mortality due to worsening heart disease. At the same time, patients without previous cardiovascular disease may also have cardiac complications. The aim of this multicenter study was to assess high sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) in patients with COVID-19 and to evaluate the incidence of myocardial injury. Methods: In this multicenter study we enrolled 543 patients, 57.8% males, median age 63 years (range 18–99) from three selected hospitals: University Hospital Tor Vergata in Rome, Fondazione IRCCS Ca 'Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, in Milan, S Chiara Hospital in Trento. We measured hs-cTnT in all patients to assess myocardial injury and correlations with patient’s age, symptoms and disease course. Results: The data showed that, among the 543 patients studied, 257 patients (47.3%) had hs-cTnT values higher than the upper reference limit (URL) of 14 ng/L. Patients with high hs-cTnT had more frequently fever (p