PLLA Scaffold via TIPS for Bone Tissue Engineering

Tissue engineering offers a promising new approach to repair bone fractures, fractures that do not heal, and fractures due to bone tumors. In this work, two different approaches were tested in order to obtain Poly-L- Lactic Acid (PLLA) porous scaffolds via Thermally Induced Phase Separation (TIPS) for bone tissue engineering application. First, the possibility to produce a composite material, by incorporating Hydroxyapatite (HA) particles in a Poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) matrix was investigated. Two PLLA/HA weight ratios (70/30 and 50/50) were tested. The results showed that the presence of HA does not influence the phase separation process, i.e. the composite scaffolds microstructure is simi…

ThemeMountain: a SVG-based Visual Data Mining Tool

La scala di Carlo Giachery nel palazzo dei Ministeri a Palermo. Geometria ed esecuzione

La scala progettata da Carlo Giachery per il palazzo dei Ministeri di Palermo costituisce un prezioso esempio di stereotomia ottocentesca, mostrando una brillante personalizzazione dell'autore di scale in uso in ambiente francese e divulgate attraverso la trattatistica sulla costruzione in pietra.

Comparison of European ICU patients in 2012 (ICON) versus 2002 (SOAP)

Purpose: To evaluate differences in the characteristics and outcomes of intensive care unit (ICU) patients over time. Methods: We reviewed all epidemiological data, including comorbidities, types and severity of organ failure, interventions, lengths of stay and outcome, for patients from the Sepsis Occurrence in Acutely ill Patients (SOAP) study, an observational study conducted in European intensive care units in 2002, and the Intensive Care Over Nations (ICON) audit, a survey of intensive care unit patients conducted in 2012. Results: We compared the 3147 patients from the SOAP study with the 4852 patients from the ICON audit admitted to intensive care units in the same countries as those…