Kinetics of Circulating Plasma Cell-Free DNA in Paediatric Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma

Levels of plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) of a large series of children with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) were evaluated and analyzed at diagnosis and during chemotherapy treatment in relation with clinical characteristics. CfDNA levels in cHL patients were significantly higher compared with controls (p=0.002). CfDNA at diagnosis was correlated with presence of B symptoms (p=0.027) and high erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p=0.049). We found that the increasing of plasma cfDNA after first chemotherapy cycle seems to be associated with a worse prognosis (p=0.049). Levels of plasma cfDNA might constitute an interesting non-invasive tool in cHL patients' management

Hb Vila Real [beta36(C2)Pro®His] in Italy: characterization of the amino acid substitution and the DNA mutation

A rare high oxygen affinity hemoglobin variant was identified in a 22-year-old male patient from Napoli (Naples, Italy) affected by erythrocytosis. A detailed structural characterization of the variant hemoglobin was carried out, both at the protein and DNA levels essentially by mass spectrometric procedures and allele-specific amplification techniques. The amino acid substitution was determined by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometric analysis of the tryptic digest as β36(C2)Pro → His; the corresponding DNA mutation was identified as C → A at the second position of codon 36 of the β chain (CCT → CAT). These variations identified the presence of Hb Vila Real, described only once before in a Portuguese woman. Haplotype analysis of DNA polymorphisms showed that the β-globin gene of Hb Vila Real was associated with haplotype I

The fate of the Volturno delta (northern Campania, Italy) among geological history and human influence

The present geomorphology of the Volturno River delta system (northern Campania, southern Italy) is largely a product of complex, long-lived relationships between geological evolution and human impacts. This presentation describes the evolution of the alluvial and coastal plain from the Holocene to the present time. The study was based on stratigraphic well log data analysis, cartographic sources from the last 150 years, bathymetric data acquired in 1887 and in 1987 and compared to extract seafloor changes in the delta offshore (Ruberti et al., 2022). The basis for the Holocene reconstruction was provided by the top of the Campania Grey Tuff (CGT) relief map, which evidences the incised valley excavation following the LGM sea level drop. The CGT is the product of a huge pyroclastic eruption of the Campi Flegrei volcanic district, occurred 39 ky BP, and thus represents both a major marker for the reconstruction of the subsurface stratigraphic record and a sturdy morphologic substrate engraved by river incision associated with the sea level fall that accompanied the last glacial period. The lowstand, transgressive and aggradation/highstand stacking of the Holocene facies were displayed. The present landscape appears largely inherited by the past MIS5 and LGM landscapes. A progressive increment of anthropic forcing took place after 2000 yr BP but the strongest modifications of the landscape occurred since the end of the XVII century. Until that time the landscape was largely covered by marshes and ponds. Human interventions started during the Spanish vice-Kingdom, at the end of the XVI century, when reclamation works were carried out with the aim to drain most of the marshy areas. The availability of reclaimed lands resulted in an intensive land transformation and the loss of most coastal wetland coupled with coastal erosion. Progradation of the delta ended during the early-middle XIX century. A peak of major alterations of the deltaic environment, and retreat of the coastline was attained between the 1960s and the 1990s. It is evident that the transformations of the landscape that have taken place over the last millennium are largely caused by anthropogenic impacts (i.e., reclamation, development of drainage network, land use changes). The sediment input of the river to the Tyrrhenian Sea sharply decreased, thus resulting in a dramatic change of the deltaic morphology and significant coastal land loss. The coastal zone, considered as a dissipative-type shoreline, evolved to an irreversible non-dissipative inshore profile characterized by mean erosional rates of 5 m/yr along the beaches and 24 m/yr on the delta mouth. The river delta changed from a cuspate, wave-dominate delta to arcuate and eventually delta-estuary type

The Holocene Evolution of the Volturno Coastal Plain (Northern Campania, Southern Italy): Implications for the Understanding of Subsidence Patterns

In the Mediterranean area, several alluvial coastal plains, developed after the Holocene transgression, are affected by subsidence. The Volturno alluvial‐coastal plain, along the eastern Tyrrhenian Sea (southern Italy) is characterized by subsidence rates determined through InSAR data analysis and ranging between 0 and <−20 mm/yr in an area of about 750 kmq across the Volturno River. Inside this area, the pattern of subsidence shows sites with apparently anomalous localized subsidence. To understand the driving mechanisms of this process, a lithostratigraphic reconstruction was provided focusing on the spatial distribution of the horizons considered weak by a geotechnical point of view; then, the subsidence map was overlain spatially with geological data in a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment. The spatial analysis highlighted the major ground deformation occurring within the outer boundary of the incised paleo‐valley, corresponding to the Holocene alluvial/transitional filling that overlies a compaction‐free Pleistocene basement. Inside this general trend, differential compaction was detected corresponding to the thick occurrence of clay and peat deposits, suggesting that the subsidence rate registered in the plain are due in part to the consolidation of primary settlements of soft and compressible soils that characterize the subsoil of these areas, and in large part to the secondary consolidation settlements

Individui, tecnologie, società: la trasformazione digitale nell’era COVID-19. Intervista a Derrick de Kerckhove

L’emergenza COVID-19 ha reso evidente la portata della sfida contemporanea, che intreccia temi di carattere culturale, ambientale, politico, sociale, economico, tecnologico, legale. Sul piano pratico della gestione delle attività quotidiane, la risposta al distanziamento sociale imposto dalla crisi ha visto schierare l’arma – non sempre ben affinata – del digitale, che ha ulteriormente mostrato tali intersezioni e diverse contraddizioni. La crisi planetaria in atto ha reso evidente, in una prima fase e con immediatezza, l’esigenza di disporre di infrastrutture adeguate a colmare le distanze. Parallelamente, essa ha portato l’attenzione sulla necessità di curare gli effetti delle tecnologie sugli individui, sulle organizzazioni, sulle relazioni. A partire da tale premessa, l’intervista con Derrick de Kerckhove approfondisce alcuni temi che riconducono all’esigenza di affrontare la questione digitale come questione sociale nella sua complessità, intrecciando in essa il punto di vista sull’educazione e sull’esperienza della Didattica a Distanza