Search

The city has always brought within itself the characteristics of the historical period in which it existed and of the population that inhabited it. In the last years new kind of cities were born, some of them are called green, some others digital and then some are the Smart Cities. The latter has the same features of the first two cities, but them are also committed into satisfying the expectations of its population and caring about citizens’ welfare first. The Smart Cities are the result of technological progress and the search for environmental sustainability. The city was born as a consequence, almost obvious, of the improvement of human skills: many nearby houses represented a possibility of bringing together resources and abilities in an almost uninhabited land. Small villages have become towns, cities and metropolitan cities in which all the technological discoveries were applied and made concrete in the services that these cities could then offer to their inhabitants. The cities, and its various existing types, up to the green cities and digital cities and finally the Smart Cities will be described, as the apex of the discoveries of the digital and sustainable people, who respects the environment in which they live, indeed, which regenerates the environment from past pollution. In these cities, people live within a virtual environment too. These cities are in continuous evolution, extremely rapid, in a competition to each other, made up of skills and technological discoveries, which contain within their borders innovative services for all of its inhabitants, and all its stakeholders. This paper discovers the way of the first inhabited centers towards Smart Cities.

A (NiMnCo)-Metal-Organic Framework and its oxidized and pyrolysed derivatives have been tested as electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Materials have been fully characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), powder X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric Analyses (TGA), Infrared (IR) spectroscopy and electrochemical properties have been determined in coin cells using lithium metal as the counter electrode. Studies have revealed specific capacities of 860 mAh g−1 and 800 mAh g−1 at 15 mA g−1 respectively for the MOF and the oxide (690 and 190 mAh g−1 after 50 cycles) whereas the corresponding pyrolysed compound has shown limited electrochemical performances. Ex situ XRD has been performed to highlight the evolution of the material structure during cycling. These results show that electrochemical storage is based on a conversion reaction.

The European flat oyster, Ostrea edulis, once formed extensive reef habitats throughout European seas and estuaries. These reefs are now largely functionally extinct, yet interest and support for their restoration is rapidly growing. A major bottleneck to scaling up oyster reef restoration is the lack of available oysters to supply the growing demand. This study aimed to identify the ten questions which, if answered, would increase the consistency and success in hatchery production of O. edulis for habitat restoration. Candidate questions were submitted by representatives from twelve commercial and research hatcheries across Europe. The list of 98 candidate questions were collaboratively discussed by experts from nine research hatcheries across eight countries in Europe, to identify the top ten questions via an iterative and open process. Questions were grouped into the following themes: conditioning and feeding, larval rearing, disease and water quality, hatchery protocol, genetics, and hatchery management. There were several overarching topics spanning these themes, including diet optimisation, maximising the effective population size, and developing the technical skillbase in order to increase hatchery production to meet the projected increase in demand for oyster seed for habitat restoration efforts. We anticipate this list will provide a starting point for collaborative research efforts across Europe, as well as assisting policy makers and funders in identifying key knowledge gaps.

This work explores the relationship between nutrition and health: specifically, it focuses attention on the aspect of longevity. From this point of view, the analysis is deepened through a Case Study Analysis that takes the case of Sardinia (Italy) as a reference. The Island is a privileged observation point since, as amply demonstrated in the literature it is one of the five rural areas geographically identified and referred to as Blu Zone, in which there is a lifestyle and a common environment that “explain” the longevity of the populations that inhabit them. The reasons certainly include nutrition: specifically, we refer to the Mediterranean Diet which, as brought into vogue by Keys, represents a fundamental dietary model for ensuring a correct state of health. UNESCO in 2010 included it among the intangible assets of humanity, as a culture that has its roots in the peasant economy and has a unique dimension in the world. Our goal is to highlight the correspondence between the Blu Zone of Sardinia and the concentration of the production and consumption of wine both Cannonau (red wine), as evidenced mainly by the scientific literature, and Vermentino (white wine) which represents the emblem of the viticultural economy of Sardinia. It is considered of particular importance in this historical moment, to focus attention on the health aspects of wine that can help promote a conscious consumption and to an extent corresponding to adequate dietary models and also favor the enotourist development of areas in which the correlation “wine and health”is clear.

The last Roman City on the eastern side of the Danubian Limes is Halmyris. It is a City-port which plays a primordially military role, situated at the link between the fluvial and the marine environment. The fortress is famous for its location at the foot of the legendary Peuce Island. Halmyris benefits from important natural resources from two environments with distinct characteristics: marine (Halmyris Bay) and freshwater (Danube Delta). When the city was founded, the St. George arm was the most important navigation artery of Danube. Therefore, the penetration upstream was monitored strictly by the City-port of Halmyris (customs). This study emphasizes on the existence of natural favorable premises for the city of Halmyris and it attempts to revitalize thematic tourism. The assessment of paleoenvironment evolution and present conservation stage has been achieved to improve the risk management plan.

The study of loess and loess-like deposits in Romania has developed considerably, over the years. C14 dating determined that the last three glaciations (Mindel, Riss, Würm) and, at least, two interglacial periods were recorded in the Dobrudja Plateau. Five other paleosol layers indicate the succession of the Quaternary interglacial stations. The loess of Dobrudja, is about 50 m in thickness. The term loess-scape is comprised of all the processes and forms specific to these deposits, which create a unique landscape, with local peculiarities. Natural and anthropic conditions created loessoid microforms (clastokarst) specific to the Dobrudja Plateau. The friability of loess-like deposits, the heavy rains, the lack of vegetation, the existence of a steep slope and of a low basic level, led to the development of a marginal (border) clastokarst on the western and northern side of the plateau (on the right of Danube bank). The aim of this study is to rename the microforms specific to loess-like deposits and to highlight new ones: solution clastic dolines, collapse clastic dolines, clastic resurgences (intermittent karst springs), piping clastic glacis, collapse clastic glacis, proluvial clastic glacis, clastic micro-waterfalls with clastic micro-cauldrons, clastokarstic curtains (drapes), and so on. Consequently, the loess-scape in the Dobrudja Plateau is distinct, just like the karstic, volcanic, glacial landscape, and so on. New clastokarstic microforms were highlighted and efforts were made to establish a proper terminology.

Elena Campione,1 Evelin Jasmine Paternò,2 Gaetana Costanza,2,3 Laura Diluvio,1 Isabella Carboni,1 Daniele Marino,4 Cartesio Favalli,4 Sergio Chimenti,1 Luca Bianchi,1 Augusto Orlandi2,3 1Department of Dermatology, 2Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, 3Department of Anatomic Pathology, Policlinic Tor Vergata, 4Department of Microbiology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy Background: Distal and lateral onychomycoses are the most frequent forms of onychomycosis, causing subungual hyperkeratosis that usually limits local penetration of antimycotic drugs. Tazarotene exerts anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating activities toward both infective agents and damaged keratinocytes. Given the well-documented efficacy of tazarotene on hyperkeratotic nail psoriasis, we investigated its therapeutic use in onychomycosis. Patients and methods: We designed a preliminary open clinical trial in patients affected by distal and lateral subungual onychomycosis of the toenails and verified the fungistatic activity of tazarotene in vitro. Fifteen patients were treated with topical tazarotene 0.1% gel once per day for 12 weeks. Mycological cultures and potassium hydroxide stains of nail samples were performed at the beginning and at the end of the study. Treatment was considered effective when clinical healing and negative mycological culture were obtained. Onycholysis, nail bed discoloration, and subungual hyperkeratosis were measured using standardized methodologies and analyzed by means of Mann–Whitney test and analysis of variance. Fungistatic activity of tazarotene was evaluated by disk diffusion assay. Results: Six patients (40%) reached a mycological cure on target nail samples already after 4 weeks of treatment. Complete clinical healing and negative cultures were reached in all patients at week 12, with a significant improvement of all clinical parameters of the infected nails. Disk diffusion assay after 48 hours of incubation with tazarotene solution showed a central area of inhibition in all examined fungal cultures. Conclusion: Our results documented a good clinical outcome using topical tazarotene 0.1% gel in distal and lateral subungual onychomycosis and its fungistatic activity of tazarotene in vitro. The majority of patients appeared cured at a 6-month follow-up. The efficacy and safety of tazarotene must be confirmed on a larger number of patients, although already documented in nail psoriasis patients often affected by onychomycosis. Keywords: antiproliferative agent, retinoids, fungistatic activity

Monica Montepaone,1 Ennio Lubrano,2 Alessia Carboni,1 Antonio Spadaro1 1Unità Operativa Complessa di Reumatologia, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Specialità Mediche, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, 2Academic Rheumatology Unit, Department of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy Abstract: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory arthritis and considered to be a less severe condition than rheumatoid arthritis. PsA patients have been treated for a long time with a number of different agents, from non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to one or more disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. In the last decade, recognition of the central role of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) in the immunopathogenesis of many rheumatic diseases, including PsA, has led to the development of TNFα blockers. In PsA, these agents are uniquely efficacious in the treatment of different patterns of the disease, as well as slowing progression of erosive damage in the peripheral joints. However, a significant number of patients withdraw from therapy because of failure or poor tolerability. Among the novel therapeutic targets, interleukin (IL)-23/IL-12 has been investigated for the treatment of chronic inflammatory disease. In particular, ustekinumab is a human monoclonal antibody that prevents human IL-12 and IL-23 from binding to the IL-12Rβ1 receptor chain of IL-12 (IL-12Rβ1/β2) and IL-23 (IL-12Rβ1/23R) receptor complexes on the surface of natural killer cells and T-cells. Ustekinumab has been approved only for treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis, but also represents an interesting agent for treatment of PsA. Keywords: ustekinumab, psoriatic arthritis, psoriasis, interleukin-12, interleukin-23

Innovative eHealth technologies are becoming increasingly common worldwide, with researchers and policy makers advocating their scale-up within and across health care systems. However, examples of successful scale-up remain extremely rare. Although this issue is widely acknowledged, there is still only a limited understanding of why scaling up eHealth technologies is so challenging. This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of the complexities innovators encounter when attempting to scale up eHealth technologies and their strategies for addressing these complexities. We draw on different theoretical perspectives as well as the findings of an interview-based case study of a prominent remote patient monitoring (RPM) innovation in the Netherlands. Specifically, we create a cross-disciplinary theoretical framework bringing together 3 perspectives on scale-up: a structural perspective (focusing on structural barriers and facilitators), an ecological perspective (focusing on local complexities), and a critical perspective (focusing on mutual adaptation between innovation and setting). We then mobilize these perspectives to analyze how various stakeholders (n=14) experienced efforts to scale up RPM technology. We provide 2 key insights: (1) the complexities and strategies associated with local eHealth scale-up are disconnected from those that actors encounter at a broader level scale-up, and this translates into a simultaneous need for stability and malleability, which catches stakeholders in an impasse, and (2) pre-existing circumstances and associated path dependencies shape the complexities of the local context and facilitate or constrain opportunities for the scale-up of eHealth innovation. The 3 theoretical perspectives used in this article, with their diverging assumptions about innovation scale-up, should be viewed as complementary and highlight different aspects of the complexities perceived as playing an important role. Using these perspectives, we conclude that the level at which scale-up is envisaged and the pre-existing local circumstances (2 factors whose importance is often neglected) contribute to an impasse in the scale-up of eHealth innovation at the broader level of scale.

AbstractWe found that third-party apps such as Figure 1