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The article presents the outcomes of a monitoring campaign and a survey performed in a~school building in Tirana. Included in the Bilateral Agreement between the National Research Council of Italy and the Ministry of Education and Sport of the Republic of Albania, the research is based on environmental analysis, collection of data from monitoring of environmental variables and students' feedback. The monitoring of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) was carried out with a~nearable Environmental Monitoring System (nEMoS) for IEQ purposes, designed and developed by ITC-CNR based on the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) philosophy. The proliferation of the maker movement philosophy has promoted the diffusion of DIY-based technologies. The spread of this movement is observed outside schools but there is a growing interest among educators to introduce this philosophy in the students' education, approaching to STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics) in a different and more stimulating way. The application of two nEMoS devices in two classrooms (in different locations) aroused the curiosity of students, bringing them closer to the world of technology with a practical example. It also increased their awareness about the overall IEQ conditions in the classrooms where they spend a considerable part of their lives.

Since its introduction in 2010, the nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) concept has known a large diffusion in European countries. Albania, an aspiring candidate country to join the European Union EU, is paving the way towards its introduction by transposing EU directives in the fields of energy efficiency into the national legislation. Most of the national building stock includes buildings with low thermal and energy performance but with high refurbishment potential, too. The country can become an important contributor in the EU decarbonization strategy due to the high percentage of electricity produced by hydropower stations, making it one of the least carbon-intensity countries in the electricity production point of view. The article focuses on the evaluation of the energy performance of an existing school located in Tirana and the potentialities to reach the nZEB target, analysing both the suitable technological solutions and the energy market situation. The Primary Energy Factors PEF for the local electricity market are estimated referring to statistical data and in comparison, with neighbouring countries, Italy and Greece, in order to investigate the potential of the achievement of the nZEB target in Albania.

The article describes the outcomes of the monitoring campaign carried out in an educational building nearby Tirana, capital of Albania. Performed under the bilateral agreement between the National Research Council of Italy and the Ministry of Education and Sport of the Republic of Albania, the study proposes a combined approach for the assessment of the IEQ, not limiting only in the collection of objective data through the environmental monitoring of indoor variables but it also includes the subjective perception of indoor environment by the students through the compilation of a specific questionnaire. The classrooms were also modelled using a parametric model combining the functionalities of Honeybee plugin with OpenStudio and Radiance. The results are illustrated by maps of the indoor microclimate and illuminance with spatial resolution of 0.5 meters and one-hour temporal resolution step. Aggregated index and environmental data derived from models are compared to those monitored with nEMoS. This hybrid method overcomes the drawback caused by a low resolution of the monitoring steps and allows the comparison of the objective and subjective perception of the considered environmental factors, as well as the identification of discrepancies in terms of objective evidence and subjective perception related to the considered environmental factors.

The quality of the indoor environment, in terms of thermal, lighting, air and acoustic quality, grouped in the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) concept, plays a key role in occupants’ wellbeing and satisfaction. Only in recent years IEQ has been investigated as a whole. Today, IEQ occupies the same place of energy efficiency in the design of buildings, especially those with high performance level as the Zero-Energy Buildings (ZEB). The research deals with an experimental campaign during the cooling season carried out in a ZEB laboratory that involved 100 participants aimed at evaluating the IEQ and the indoor environments (e.g. thermal and air quality). The test consists in a survey, during which each participant is required to answer a questionnaire about how he feels the indoor environment. The experimental campaign was completed with a monitoring activity aimed at detecting the main environmental variables that can affect the participants’ answers. Collected data were treated with regression techniques to highlight possible relationships between them. The results show how in a building with high levels of energy performances the air quality plays a key role on occupants’ evaluation.

Personal Thermal Comfort models differ from the steady-state methods because they consider personal user feedback as target value. Today, the availability of integrated “smart” devices following the concept of the Internet of Things and Machine Learning (ML) techniques allows developing frameworks reaching optimized indoor thermal comfort conditions. The article investigates the potential of such approach through an experimental campaign in a test cell, involving 25 participants in a Real (R) and Virtual (VR) scenario, aiming at evaluating the effect of external stimuli on personal thermal perception, such as the variation of colours and images of the environment. A dataset with environmental parameters, biometric data and the perceived comfort feedbacks of the participants is defined and managed with ML algorithms in order to identify the most suitable one and the most influential variables that can be used to predict the Personal Thermal Comfort Perception (PTCP). The results identify the Extra Trees classifier as the best algorithm. In both R and VR scenario a different group of variables allows predicting PTCP with high accuracy.

Sulbactam/ampicillin appears to be effective in the treatment of gynecologic and intra-abdominal infections, and infections of skin and skin structures. However, until more data is available from well-controlled, comparative studies, it is difficult to determine the most appropriate place of sulbactam/ampicillin in the therapy of these and other infections. Sulbactam/ampicillin is similar to other agents in the prophylaxis of infectious complications secondary to gastrointestinal and gynecologic surgery, and may have a role in surgical prophylaxis as it is well tolerated by most patients and is cost-effective. Indeed, the discovery of sulbactam provides us with yet another useful compound. Additional study is clearly needed so as to best use sulbactam to its fullest advantage.

Naloxone hydrochloride, a synthetic N-allyl derivative of oxymorphone, is an effective agent for the reversal of the cardiovascular and respiratory depression associated with narcotic and possibly some non-narcotic overdoses. It is essentially a pure narcotic antagonist, is relatively safe, and is a useful diagnostic and therapeutic agent. Due to naloxone's pharmacokinetic profile, a continuous infusion protocol is recommended when prolonged narcotic antagonist effects are required. The complex pharmacodynamics of naloxone, specifically relating to endorphin receptor sites, focus its potential use in a variety of clinical situations as continuing research illustrates the association of endogenous opioid compounds with various disease states.

The chemistry, spectrum of activity, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, adverse effects, and dosage and administration of pentamidine are reviewed, and the role of the drug in treating Pneumocystis carinii infections in immunocompromised patients is discussed. Pentamidine isethionate, an aromatic diamidine compound, is active against certain protozoan organisms. Used extensively in the tropics in the treatment of Trypanosoma and Leishmania infections, its value in the management of Pneumocystis carinii infections has been demonstrated in infected immunosuppressed children and adults. Recently, interest in pentamidine has increased with the rising number of patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) who have P. carinii pneumonia. Pentamidine's mechanism of action and pharmacokinetic profile are not completely understood. Pentamidine is distributed extensively after i.v. or i.m. administration, with a volume of distribution of 3 L/kg. Appreciable quantities of pentamidine concentrate in the urine, and drug levels are detectable for up to six to eight weeks after cessation of therapy. After aerosol administration, the drug is almost exclusively recovered from the lung, with little extrapulmonary distribution. Available data suggest that approximately 50% of patients who receive the drug by the i.v. or i.m. route will experience some drug toxicity (local pain, sterile abscesses at the intramuscular injection site, hypoglycemia, hypotension, or azotemia), while adverse effects after aerosol therapy include bronchial irritation but little systemic toxicity. Regardless of the route of administration, pentamidine has emerged as a mainstay of therapy in the management of P. carinii pneumonitis in AIDS patients, especially in those who are allergic to the sulfa component of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole.

The etiology, pathogenesis, transmission and communicability, diagnosis, and management of infectious diarrhea are reviewed. Infectious diarrhea is common in both industrialized and unindustrialized areas of the world. Better understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis and identification of "new" enteric pathogens has resulted in the use of a variety of drugs to relieve symptoms or to effect a clinical cure. Both host and microbial virulence factors are key in the acquisition of diarrheal illness. Host factors such as extreme age, a dysfunctional gastrointestinal tract, or underlying immunodeficiency enhance the risk of illness after ingestion of a pathogen or its toxins. Microbial virulence factors (the pathogen's ability to invade or produce enterotoxins, neurotoxins, or cytotoxins) characterize the type of illness manifested and the symptom complex (e.g., acute watery diarrhea versus chronic dysentery). Supportive care is indicated in the majority of cases of infectious enteritis, and rehydration is considered the mainstay of therapy in any diarrheal illness accompanied by dehydration. Antimicrobial therapy is beneficial in the treatment of severe diarrhea caused by Shigella, Campylobacter spp., Vibrio cholerae, Escherichia coli, and Clostridium difficile. Infectious diarrhea is common but is often self-limited and of short duration. Therapy frequently consists of symptomatic relief and fluid replacement.