Le immagini di città si devono confrontare con un organismo complesso che muta nel tempo, possono prendere forma sui fogli di carta o nello spazio digitale, ma anche diventare immagini mentali che ...popolano il nostro pensiero e condizionano la percezione che abbiamo della città stessa. Ogni immagine restituisce lo sguardo del suo Autore ed è accolta dallo sguardo dell’osservatore: così come il linguaggio grafico muta a seconda del contesto cui appartiene l’Autore, allo stesso modo muta la capacità di vedere le immagini. La realizzazione di una piattaforma digitale consente di valorizzare il patrimonio iconografico che appartiene a una città: visualizzando le immagini in una sequenza diacronica e sincronica se ne comprende il registro comunicativo e le si restituisce come parti di un racconto unitario. Si ipotizza che, attraverso la partecipazione degli utenti alla implementazione della piattaforma e alla sua interrogazione, sia possibile generare un inedito testo figurato composito della città che diventi una macchina per pensare alla maniera del Bilderatlas Mnemosyne. Gli utenti contribuiranno a scrivere un racconto, narrato simultaneamente da diversi punti di vista, che avrà come soggetto le trasformazioni urbane e l’evoluzione dell’immagine ideale che la città restituisce di sé. In questo modo, l’utente diventerà contemporaneamente Lettore e Scrittore della storia, sarà stimolato in nuove e originali associazioni mentali e con esse darà forma a nuovi racconti sulla città.
Ancora alla fine dell’Ottocento, Roma vantava
un gran numero di facciate decorate a graffito o
a chiaroscuro monocromo, che testimoniavano
della ricchezza compositiva e della varietà di que-
sti ...decori, eseguiti a partire dal Quattrocento. La
ricerca in corso, della quale si presentano i pri-
mi risultati è volta ad approfondire lo studio dei
caratteri formali e materiali delle facciate graffite romane, con l’obiettivo – tra gli altri – di arrivare a definire modi di riconoscimento e pratiche di
conservazione dei rivestimenti graffiti. La scheda-
tura delle facciate graffite e dipinte a Roma, nei
secoli XV-XVI, ha evidenziato la progressiva per-
dita dei caratteri materiali e dei valori figurativi
di tale patrimonio storico-artistico. Una sistema-
tica ricerca storica ha permesso di pervenire, me-
diante continui confronti, alla definizione di una
casistica di edifici tipo, su uno dei quali – la casa
graffita a vicolo del Governo Vecchio, 52 – è stato
condotto uno studio specifico che si è avvalso an-
che dei dati emersi dal rilevamento topografico e fotogrammetrico
Incontro Diego Maestri in un freddo pomeriggio invernale. Contrariamente al solito mi riceve nel suo studio, una sorta di Wunderkammer…, una stanza stipata fino in cima di libri e faldoni. Le ...meraviglie sono nascoste lì dentro. Quadri appoggiati alle librerie, un tavolo da disegno in orizzontale, sul quale sono collocati altri libri e un rotolo di una meravigliosa carta cinese. Il tavolo da disegno: la maggior parte di noi lo ha regalato, o lo tiene in cantina, in attesa chissà di cosa. In questa stanza, non particolarmente grande, il tavolo è lì, perché viene usato. Iniziamo la nostra conversazione sul disegno. Quello, in senso stretto, non professionale, non architettonico e non didattico. Quello che ogni architetto fa per propria soddisfazione. Ci ho messo un po’ a convincerlo a rilasciare questa intervista, ma alla fine ci sono riuscita. Chi conosce bene Diego Maestri sa che è una persona schiva, discreta, che non ama parlare di sé e mostrare i suoi lavori, ma ho insistito, perché sapevo che da questa conversazione sarebbero emersi tanti aspetti del disegno, e di una particolare dimensione del disegno, che credo sia importante trasmettere ai nostri giovani. Primo fra tutti l’importanza di acquisire la capacità di vedere, di andare oltre il primo sguardo istintivo, prendersi tempo per comprendere, cogliere le peculiarità e le differenze tra i luoghi, le cose, le persone. Capacità che si affinano con la pratica continua del disegno, che è strumento di conoscenza e ci aiuta a fermare le sensazioni, le impressioni, indipendentemente dagli strumenti a disposizione. È stato molto difficile selezionare quali lavori mostrare tra gli oltre 1000 che ho visto. I disegni, come Maestri stesso dirà all’inizio di questa conversazione, sono personali, e per questo lo ringrazio per aver condiviso immagini che parlano di momenti importanti della sua vita e rivelano i sentimenti che li hanno mossi. Da essi emerge come l’affinare il senso della vista possa amplificare la nostra percezione nei confronti di tutti gli aspetti del reale. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20365/disegnarecon.21.2018.dw
Abstract
This paper shows the experimental activities carried out by a joint research group on the case study of the Basilica di San Nicola in Carcere in Rome, concerning the integration of different ...3D reconstruction technologies in the Cultural Heritage domain. Dataset obtained from laser scanner and photogrammetry, were processed on a remote platform based on the powerful ENEA computational infrastructure, in order to analyse the dense clouds, to compare them and to improve the quality of the data. This paper also shows the efforts to upgrade this platform and the optimisation of the processes.
•The Tivoli landscape is over-urbanized and widely scarred by travertine mining.•In this area, landscape recovery will be soon unavoidable.•Some natural resources and a huge cultural heritage are the ...key to landscape recovery.•Renaturation and an archeo-geo-thermal park are proposed for the future landscape.•A new geocultural framework is eventually proposed for land use.
The environmental recovery of quarried areas is increasingly a landscaping first-order issue in many countries and relevant lessons can be learned from each case history, depending upon factors such as the terrain nature and landscape consolidation over time. The case of the Tivoli travertine quarries near Rome (Acque Albule Basin, Italy) is addressed with a multidisciplinary approach and analytic data indicating sustainable and resilient future solutions. Geological data are analyzed to know the resources and natural hazards of this territory. Historical landscape analyses are next accomplished to know the cultural heritage and evolution of man-nature interactions. Eventually, the present land use and 3D landscape are considered to know the current setting. This territory is characterized by natural hazards including earthquakes, degassing, subsidence, and river flooding, and by resources such as abundant thermal waters. Historical analyses show the occurrence of a significant cultural heritage including two UNESCO world heritage sites. The present landscape is characterized by deep quarries and unplanned urbanization. The integration of geological data with historical information provides a new knowledge forming a geocultural database that must be taken into consideration for future planning. Based on these results, general landscape and urban guidelines are proposed for the future recovery of this intensively-quarried and -urbanized territory. The main lesson learned from the Tivoli case history is twofold: (1) the integration and feedback between multiple disciplines and professionals (architects and geologists) working together on environmental improvements and (2) the careful view of the past territory and meticulous analysis of existing buildings and urban landscapes are the key to sustainably interpret the future landscape. The main novelty of this lesson is the improvement of the concept of cultural landscape (UNESCO: http://whc.unesco.org/en/culturallandscape/) and its expansion toward geological issues and man-geology/nature interactions. In an urban-saturated territory that is also geologically-worn by human activities (e.g., Acque Albule Basin), restoring guidelines must comply with the partly-new concept of geocultural landscaping, which consists of a sustainable and resilient planning based on the study and understanding of natural-geological hazards, natural and cultural resources, and man-nature relationships over large spaces and long terms (4D). A general conceptual framework for geocultural landscaping is eventually proposed.
The volume, dedicated to the 44th International Conference of the Italian Union for Drawing, investigates the theme of ‘Transitions’, which particularly effectively represents our time and the ...current condition of the discipline of Drawing. The term, beyond its generic meaning of an intermediate stage in a process in which a condition changes from one state to another, has always been used in various fields, from music to geophysics. In fact, the disciplines of drawing have always been confronted with themes and issues relating to transitions from one condition to another. The history of representation tells us of transformations, even epochal ones, relating to ‘drawing’, with all that such transitions entail: suffice it to think of the evolution of forms of representation, of instrumental apparatuses, of the mutability of supports, of the analogical-digital transition underway, of the new modes of communication on platforms, of the hypertrophic offer of images also on the net that confirms Guy Debord’s intuitions relating to the new spectacularisation of society. Similarly, representation triggers transitions in the prefiguration and communication of design, the anticipation and foreshadowing of future events.The challenges posed by the digital pose open questions whose scope can only be glimpsed, such as the relationship between drawing and the act of modelling, and the construction of new paradigms of visual language and communication. ‘Transitions’, almost implicitly, points to possible futures, the evolution of technique and the search for new modes of expression; at the same time, however, it can suggest silences and reflections in a process of connection between history, theory, criticism and construction.
The widespread use of immunotherapy drugs in the oncological field has led to the spread of new toxicities compared to the more common chemotherapy treatments. This is because immunotherapy with ...anti-CTLA-4 (Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes-Associated Antigen 4), anti- PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibodies has become the standard-of-care in a growing number of indications. Any organ or tissue can be involved, but more commonly, side effects are reported regarding skin, colon, endocrine glands, liver, lung and kidney. Other less frequent, but more serious, adverse events are neurological and myocarditis.
We performed an electronic search on PUBMED of the literature concerning immunotherapy- related toxicities and their management in oncological patients from 2007 to 2020, with particular attention to the most recent publications.
To summarize the different types of immunotherapy-related toxicities, together with their incidence and diagnosis, and to simplify their management, especially in the emergency setting.
Usually, for grade I toxicities, it is not recommended to stop immunotherapy; for most of grade II toxicities, immunotherapy should be postponed to when toxicity will have regressed to grade I, considering the possibility of corticosteroid treatment for most toxicities. The majority of grade III and IV require administration of high-dose corticosteroid intravenous therapy and suspension of immunotherapy. Mortality related to immune checkpoint inhibitors' toxicity, occurring at a rate of 0.3-1.3%, is well below fatality rates due to other oncologic interventions and should not discourage the promising results so far reached by immunotherapy.
Severe manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and mortality have been associated with physiological alterations that provide insights into the pathogenesis of the disease. Moreover, ...factors that drive recovery from COVID-19 can be explored to identify correlates of protection. The cellular metabolism represents a potential target to improve survival upon severe disease, but the associations between the metabolism and the inflammatory response during COVID-19 are not well defined. We analyzed blood laboratorial parameters, cytokines, and metabolomes of 150 individuals with mild to severe disease, of which 33 progressed to a fatal outcome. A subset of 20 individuals was followed up after hospital discharge and recovery from acute disease. We used hierarchical community networks to integrate metabolomics profiles with cytokines and markers of inflammation, coagulation, and tissue damage. Infection by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) promotes significant alterations in the plasma metabolome, whose activity varies according to disease severity and correlates with oxygen saturation. Differential metabolism underlying death was marked by amino acids and related metabolites, such as glutamate, glutamyl-glutamate, and oxoproline, and lipids, including progesterone, phosphocholine, and lysophosphatidylcholines (lysoPCs). Individuals who recovered from severe disease displayed persistent alterations enriched for metabolism of purines and phosphatidylinositol phosphate and glycolysis. Recovery of mild disease was associated with vitamin E metabolism. Data integration shows that the metabolic response is a hub connecting other biological features during disease and recovery. Infection by SARS-CoV-2 induces concerted activity of metabolic and inflammatory responses that depend on disease severity and collectively predict clinical outcomes of COVID-19.
COVID-19 is characterized by diverse clinical outcomes that include asymptomatic to mild manifestations or severe disease and death. Infection by SARS-CoV-2 activates inflammatory and metabolic responses that drive protection or pathology. How inflammation and metabolism communicate during COVID-19 is not well defined. We used high-resolution mass spectrometry to investigate small biochemical compounds (<1,500 Da) in plasma of individuals with COVID-19 and controls. Age, sex, and comorbidities have a profound effect on the plasma metabolites of individuals with COVID-19, but we identified significant activity of pathways and metabolites related to amino acids, lipids, nucleotides, and vitamins determined by disease severity, survival outcome, and recovery. Furthermore, we identified metabolites associated with acute-phase proteins and coagulation factors, which collectively identify individuals with severe disease or individuals who died of severe COVID-19. Our study suggests that manipulating specific metabolic pathways can be explored to prevent hyperinflammation, organ dysfunction, and death.
Purpose
The aim of this study was to determine the performance of
18
F-FDG-PET/CT in patients with solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN), stratifying the risk according to the likelihood of pulmonary ...malignancy.
Methods
FDG-PET/CT of 502 patients, stratified for pre-test cancer risk, were retrospectively analyzed. FDG uptake in SPN was assessed by a 4-point scoring system and semiquantitative analysis using the ratio between SUVmax in SPN and SUVmean in mediastinal blood pool (BP) and between SUVmax in SPN and SUVmean in liver (L). Histopathology and/or follow-up data were used as standard of reference.
Results
SPN was malignant in 180 (36%) patients, benign in 175 (35%), and indeterminate in 147 (29%). The 355 patients with a definitive SPN nature (malignant or benign) were considered for the analysis. Considering FDG uptake ≥ 2, sensitivity, specificity, positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values, and accuracy were 85.6%, 85.7%, 86%, 85.2%, and 85.6% respectively. Sensitivity and PPV were higher (
P
< 0.05) in intermediate and high-risk patients, while specificity and NPV were higher (
P
< 0.05) in low-risk patients. On receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the cut-offs for better discrimination between benign and malignant SPN were 1.56 (sensitivity 81% and specificity 87%) and 1.12 (sensitivity 81% and specificity 86%) for SUVmax/SUVmeanBP and SUVmax/SUVmeanL respectively. In intermediate and high-risk patients, including the SUVmax/SUVmeanBP, the specificity shifted from 85% and 50% to 100%.
Conclusion
Visual FDG-PET/CT has an acceptable performance in patients with SPN, but accuracy improves when SUVratios are considered, particularly in patients with intermediate and high risk of malignancy.
