The residualisation of social housing sectors requires housing managers to intensify social management activities aimed at promoting tenants’ wellbeing and social cohesion. This paper discusses the implementation of such activities in the Italian public housing sector. It juxtaposes the vision conceptualised at the policy level with the daily activities of housing managers in practice on the ground and highlights the gaps between policy goals and realities of tenants’ involvement. While social management activities are expected to contribute to breaking the vicious circle of financial, technical, and social decline that has long affected public housing estates, the short timeframe of the planned interventions raises the question of the potential for structural change.
a1_Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have an increased risk of premature mortality, mainly due to cardiovascular causes. The association between hemodialysis and accelerated atherosclerosis has long been described. The ankle-brachial index (ABI) is a surrogate marker of atherosclerosis and recent studies indicate its utility as a predictor of future cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. The clinical implications of ABI cut-points are not well defined in patients with CKD. Echocardiography is the most widely used imaging method for cardiac evaluation. Structural and functional myocardial abnormalities are common in patients with CKD due to pressure and volume overload as well as non-hemodynamic factors associated with CKD. Our study aimed to identify markers of subclinical cardiovascular risk assessed using ABI and 2D and 3D echocardiographic parameters evaluating left ventricular (LV) structure and function in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) (patients undergoing dialysis), patients after kidney transplantation and non-ESRD patients (control). In ESRD, particularly in hemodialysis patients, changes in cardiac structure, rather than function, seems to be more pronounced. 3D echocardiography appears to be more sensitive than 2D echocardiography in the assessment of myocardial structure and function in CKD patients. Particularly 3D derived end-diastolic volume and 3D derived LV mass indexed for body surface appears to deteriorate in dialyzed and transplanted patients. In 2D echocardiography, myocardial mass represented by left ventricular mass/body surface area index (LVMI) appears to be a more sensitive marker of cardiac structural changes, compared to relative wall thickness (RWT), left ventricle and diastolic diameter index (LVEDDI) and left atrial volume index (LAVI)., a2_We observed a generally favorable impact of kidney transplantation on cardiac structure and function; however, the differences were non-significant. The improvement seems to be more pronounced in cardiac function parameters, peak early diastolic velocity/average peak early diastolic velocity of mitral valve annulus (E/e´), 3D left ventricle ejection fraction (LV EF) and global longitudinal strain (GLS). We conclude that ABI is not an appropriate screening test to determine the cardiovascular risk in patients with ESRD., Magdaléna Kovářová, Zuzana Žilinská, Ján Páleš, Zuzana Kužmová, Andrea Gažová, Juraj Smaha, Martin Kužma, Peter Jackuliak, Viera Štvrtinová, Ján Kyselovič, Juraj Payer., and Obsahuje bibliografii
In the marine ecological system, the prime role of water management and durability of an ecosystem is being played by the vegetation patches. The vegetation patches in open channels can significantly affect the flow velocity, discharge capacity and hinder energy fluxes, which ultimately helps in controlling catastrophic floods. In this study, the numerical simulation for turbulent flow properties, i.e. velocity distribution, Reynolds stresses and Turbulent Intensities (TI) near the circular vegetation patches with progressively increasing density, were performed using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code ANSYS FLUENT. For examination of the turbulent flow features in the presence of circular patches with variable densities, Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations, and Reynolds stress model (RSM) were employed. The numerical investigation was performed in the presence of in-line emergent and submerged patches having variable vegetation density in the downstream direction. Two of the cases were investigated with three circular patches having a clear gap to patch diameter ratio of La/D = 1 (where La is the clear spacing between the vegetation patches and D is the diameter of the circular patch), and the other two cases were analyzed with two patches having a clear gap ratio of La/D = 3. The case with a clear gap ratio (La/D = 3) showed 10.6% and 153% inflation in the magnitude of longitudinal velocity at the downstream of the sparse patch (aD = 0.8) and upstream of the dense patch (aD = 3.54), respectively (where aD is the flow blockage, in which “a” represents the patch frontal area and “D” represents the patch diameter). The velocity was reduced to 94% for emergent and 99% for submerged vegetation due to successive increase in vegetation density made by introducing a middle patch which reduced the clear gap ratio (La/D = 1). For La/D = 1, the longitudinal velocities at depth z = 15cm were increased by 319% than at depth z = 6cm at the downstream of the dense patch (aD = 3.54). Whereas it was observed to 365% higher in the case of La/D = 3. The magnitude of turbulent characteristics was observed 36% higher for submerged vegetation cases having a clear gap ratio of La/D = 1. The successive increase in the patch density reduced the Reynolds stresses, turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent intensities significantly within the gap region. The major reduction in the flow velocities and turbulent properties in the gaps provides a stable environment for aquatic ecosystems nourishment and fosters sediment deposition, and supports further vegetation growth.
In the rat model, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) known as a selective catecholaminergic neurotoxin used chiefly in modeling Parkinson's disease (PD). Continuous aerobic exercise and curcumin supplementations could play a vital role in neuroprotection. This study aimed to explore the neuroprotective roles of regular aerobic exercise and curcumin during PD. For this, rats were treated as follows for 8 consecutive weeks (5 d in a week): For this, animals were orally treated with curcumin (50 ml/kg) alone or in combination with aerobic exercise. Compared with a control group, induction of PD by 6-OHDA increased the amount of α-synuclein protein and malondialdehyde levels and decreased the number of substantia nigra neurons, total antioxidant capacity, and glutathione peroxidase activity in brain tissue. All these changes were abolished by the administration of curcumin with aerobic exercise treatments. Activity behavioral tests also confirmed the above-mentioned results by increasing the rod test time and the number of rotations due to apomorphine injection. Histopathology assays mimic the antioxidant activity and behavioral observations. Combined curcumin with aerobic exercise treatments is potentially an effective strategy for modifying the dopaminergic neuron dysfunction in 6-OHDA-induced rats modeling PD via dual inhibiting oxidative stress indices and regulating behavioral tasks.
The multicoloured Asian ladybird Harmonia axyridis is an invasive insect that can negatively influence biodiversity and human economy in invaded areas. According to the enemy release hypothesis, invasive alien species are often little affected by parasites and other enemies. We studied the prevalence of common parasites of insects infesting and infecting H. axyridis in NW Poland. A large sample of 2351 individuals was collected and divided into two groups: 1180 beetles were dissected and examined for the presence of eugregarines, nematodes and Laboulbeniales fungi, and 751 were checked for phoretic mites. Our results show that H. axyridis is indeed parasitized infrequently. The prevalence of eugregarines and nematodes was very low (1.5% and 0.4%, respectively). No specimens of Laboulbeniales or phoretic mites were found. Our study indicates that in NW Poland H. axyridis is rarely infested or infected by parasites. This paper reports for the first time the infection of H. axyridis by the eugregarine Gregarina barbarara., Kryzstof Dudek, Paweł Sienkiewicz, Dariusz J. Gwiazdowicz, Piotr Tryjanowski., and Obsahuje bibliografii