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Schedatura e metadatazione dei contenuti delle carte inerenti il corso del torrente Parma nel fondo archivistico Amministrazione Fabbriche, Acque e Strade dell'Archivio di Stato di Parma

The toxicity and efficacy of intrathecal liposomal cytarabine (LC) were evaluated in children with central nervous system (CNS) relapsed/refractory acute leukemia/lymphoma. Thirty patients (male:female ratio 21:9; median age 9.4 years) with CNS relapsed/resistant disease were treated with intrathecal LC at dosages adjusted for age. Twenty-seven (90%) patients simultaneously received systemic chemotherapy, including concurrent high-dose cytarabine or methotrexate in 21 (70%) cases. Of 28 patients evaluable for response, 25 patients (89%) achieved CNS complete remission and three (11%) partial remission. The median number of intrathecal LC administrations per patient was 4. The cerebrospinal fluid was cleared after a median of 3 intrathecal LC administrations. Neurological toxicity ≥ grade 3 occurred in four (13%) patients. No permanent sequelae were observed. The median overall survival was 20.9 months and the 5-year probability of survival was 46%. These encouraging data suggest that intrathecal LC is well tolerated and effective in children with relapsed/refractory CNS leukemia/lymphoma.

We present a novel approach to computing Hamming distance and its kernelisation within Topological Quantum Computation. This approach is based on an encoding of two binary strings into a topological Hilbert space, whose inner product yields a natural Hamming distance kernel on the two strings. Kernelisation forges a link with the field of Machine Learning, particularly in relation to binary classifiers such as the Support Vector Machine (SVM). This makes our approach of potential interest to the quantum machine learning community.

Background: The Sound Training for Attention and Memory in Dementia (STAM-Dem) is a manualized music-based protocol designed to be used in the rehabilitation of cognitive functions in elderly patients with dementia (PWD). Method: This was a multicenter, single-blind, randomized, and controlled trial that involved 51 PWD. The objective was to test the STAM-Dem efficacy. Patients in the experimental group followed the STAM-Dem for 2 weekly sessions of 45 minutes for 12 weeks (in addition to standard care). Those in the control group continued with the normal “standard care” provided. Results: In the experimental group, the instruments immediate prose memory test (MPI), deferred prose memory test (MPD), attentional matrices, activities of daily living, Music Therapy Activity Scale (SVAM) and Geriatric Music Therapy Profile (GMP) increase significantly from pre to post-test ( P < .05). Conclusion: The protocol is feasible and data suggest that there was an effect on attentino (matrices) and prose memory skills (MPI and MPD). The effect size reveals a general improvement in the results of the experimental group.

An extensive literature has focused on the impact of new public management (NPM) oriented structural changes on academics’ practice and identity. These critical studies have been resolute in concluding that NPM inevitably leads to a degeneration of academics’ ethos and values. Drawing from the moral philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre, we argue that these previous analyses have overlooked the moral agency of the academics and their role in ‘moralizing’ and consequently shaping the ethical nature of their practices. The paper provides a new theoretical understanding of NPM-oriented reforms in light of the virtue ethics approach, thereby directing the attention to the moral character and moral agency of academics. Our analysis of interviews collected in the business department of a Danish university provides an example of how individuals have divergent ethical understandings of these structural changes and enact/resist pre-defined social roles in different ways. While in some cases the NPM agenda of the institutions has triggered internal moral conflict and a crisis of moral character, in other cases the new logic resonates with academics’ values and evaluative standards. Partially departing from the theoretical ground of MacIntyre (1981), we conclude that academics can play a crucial role in shaping the morality of NPM-oriented institutions and in transforming these settings into suitable contexts for the cultivation of virtues.