Province Of Milan Research Articles

The Humanities in Jesuit Schools 1548–1773

Abstract The humanities were the most important part of Jesuit education. The Jesuit lower school taught grammar, humanities, and rhetoric to boys and young men in the Society of Jesus and it was free. The goal was to educate boys in the humanities so that they would become adult leaders who would make wise decisions for the common good. Most Jesuit schools were small. Enrollment information for classes in the province of Milan in 1661 offers an example. About seventy-five percent of students in Jesuit schools attended the lower school classes. The Ratio studiorum of 1599 prescribed a humanities curriculum that focused on Golden Age ancient authors especially Cicero and Virgil. However, Jesuit schools did not follow the Ratio studiorum strictly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They taught baroque Latin. They taught vernacular languages. They taught little Greek. But they retained the core of the Ratio studiorum.

Consumption Feedback and Water Saving: A Field Intervention Evaluation in the Metropolitan Area of Milan

This paper investigates whether informative feedback on consumption can nudge water saving. We launched a five-month online information campaign which involved around 1,000 households located in the province of Milan (Italy) with a smart meter. A group of households received monthly reports via email on their per capita daily average water consumption, including a social comparison component. The Intention to Treat (ITT) analysis shows that, compared to a benchmark group, the units exposed to the intervention reduced their per capita water consumption by around 6% (25.8 liters per day or 6.8 gallons). Being able to observe the email opening rate, we find that the ITT effect is mainly driven by complying units. Through an Instrumental Variable approach, we estimated a Local Average Treatment Effect equal to 54.9 liters per day of water saving. A further Regression Discontinuity Design analysis shows that different feedback on consumption class size differentially affected water saving at the margin. We also found that the additional water saving increased with the number of monthly reports, though it did not persist two months after the campaign expired.

One-year operation performance of a decentralised all-air HVAC system for a school room

Since the first COVID outbreak in 2020, schools have been considered a substantial issue with regard to the spread of the disease, as they represent indoor environments that are continuously occupied most of the time. Several studies have underscored the crucial role of mechanical ventilation systems in the fight against any pandemic caused by airborne pathogens. AiCARR, through its associated companies, donated a mechanical ventilation system to a public school in Rho, Milan province (IT). The primary objective of the installation was to enhance safety by diluting indoor contaminants, improving indoor air quality, and ensuring thermal comfort. During the course of the project, the focus included advancing energy efficiency and reducing operational and maintenance costs. This article presents the first year operational data recorded by the monitoring system that include outdoor and indoor air temperature, relative humidity, CO2 concentration and unit electric consumption.

Do natural catastrophic events and exceptional climatic conditions also affect parasites?

Parasites and parasitologists have always lived together in good and bad luck in a sort of forced marriage. In recent times bad luck certainly prevailed, because of increasing man-made emergencies such as wars, chemical disasters, but also because of natural disasters, amplified by climate change, that condition more and more parasite–host equilibrium. The symposium at the National Congress of the Italian Society for Parasitology, was a first occasion for Italian parasitologists to reason about ‘disaster parasitology’ and researchers’ responsibilities. Extreme weather events and their impacts on parasites’ epidemiology are illustrated, comparing disasters that recently occurred in Italy with literature data. In particular, the Sardinian Island was hit subsequently by fires and floods exacerbating the effects on ecosystems and parasite–host-relationships. Examples of Cryptosporidium outbreaks in man and Fasciola hepatica infections in various hosts after heavy rains are reviewed and effects of droughts on pasture borne parasites, such as gastro-intestinal nematodes of ruminants are discussed. Heavy rains may also cause dissemination of toxic substances released accidentally from chemical plants as happened e.g. in Milan province (IT) after the dioxin hazard. The overlapping effects of strictly man-made disasters with climate change dependent extreme weather events is further challenging the understanding of what are the consequences of disasters on ecosystems and parasite epidemiology.GIS applications combined with AI programs may help to face the complex challenges, allowing the collection and analysis of spatial/temporal data at whatever level desired. Examples illustrated in the article suggest their employment also in a more systematic, prevention-oriented manner.

Consumption feedback and water saving: An experiment in the metropolitan area of Milan

This paper questions whether informative feedback on consumption can nudge water saving behavioral change. For this purpose, we launched a five-month online information campaign which involved equipping around 1,000 households located in the province of Milan (Italy) with a smart meter. Treated households received monthly reports via email on their per capita daily average water consumption, which included a social comparison component (consumption class size). The difference-in-differences analysis showed that, compared to the control group, treated units reduced their daily per capita water consumption by more than 10 % (22 liters or 5.8 gallons). This additional water saving increased with the number of monthly reports, though it did not persist two months after the campaign expired. The impact of the campaign was heterogeneous across consumption classes, while a Regression Discontinuity Design analysis showed that different feedback on consumption class size differentially affected water saving at the margin. Finally, being able to observe the email opening rate, we complemented the ITT analysis by developing a Per Protocol (PP) analysis, where non-adherent units were excluded from the treated group. Both ITT and PP provide consistent conclusions, thus augmenting the level of confidence in the study results.

Self-Declared Physical Activity Levels and Self-Reported Physical Fitness in a Sample of Italian Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Only 20% of children worldwide reach the suggested physical activity (PA) levels, and the COVID-19 restrictions seemed to have worsened this situation. In addition, physical fitness (PF) is a crucial marker of health and combined with PA could predict future health status. The aim of this study was to compare reported PA and PF levels in a sample of Italian adolescents. We administered the International PA Questionnaire and International Fitness Enjoyment Scale to 208 adolescents aged 16.0 ± 1.5 (N = 166 females, 16 ± 2.0 years) recruited from a high school in the province of Milan (Italy). The majority of the subjects were “Minimally active” but reported adequate PF levels. In particular, subjects who reported a “Very good” PF perception, had a lower PA level. The misperception of reported PA and PF from our sample could reduce the future PA level in adolescents and lead to a negative spiral of disengagement in PA. These findings should lead to more attention on and improvements to PA promotion in the adolescent population after the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

MULTI-CRITERIA ANALYSIS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF TEMPORARY REUSE OF SPACES

Abstract. Urban change has always marked the way of rethinking cities, bringing continuous studies aimed at urban regeneration. In contrast to traditional approaches, centered on the duality of demolition and construction, the temporary reuse of spaces addresses the issue of urban transformation with a multi-criteria approach involving the participation of community representatives.Analytic-hierarchical methods are support systems based on multiple criteria able to process a large number of different factors. Analytic-Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a specific instance of the general methods by means of which weights and quantities of an element, respect to the category taken into consideration, are assigned.The multi-criteria fuzzy criterion, applied in a study-case to three different alternatives (hypotheses) of reusing industrial ex-spaces abandoned in a municipality of the Milan province (Italy,) allows one to select the best alternatives in all cases in which many selection choices (spaces typology, required functions, benefits, timing) are possible and the optimal choice can be achieved by analyzing the different scopes of each criterion and sub-criterion as well as the relevant weights. Criteria are mutually compared in terms of the global objective while the alternatives are compared as function of the criterion. As outcome of this operative sequence the most sustainable solution, among the three different alternatives of the temporary re-use of the urban spaces addressed in the study-case, measures the relative priority of the alternatives existing at the lower level with respect to the achievement of the main objective and it is implemented according to the lowest economic cost.

L’organizzazione territoriale delle province minoritiche dell’Italia settentrionale nella prima metà del Duecento

The contribution intends to focus on the subdivision of the provinces of the Friars Minor in northern Italy during the first half of the thirteenth century. Originally, the whole territory north of Tuscia between the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and the Alps constituted a single province (called Romagna or Lombardy). Pope Gregory IX’s letter Quo elongati (28th September 1230) marked the beginning of a new phase for the Order of Friars Minor, which led to an increase in pastoral and ecclesiastical activities and, within a short time, as regards territorial organisation, to the division of northern Italy into four provinces: Marca Trevigiana, province of Genoa, province of Milan, province of Romagna (or Bologna). A careful examination of the papal letters addressed to the Friars Minor of northern Italy, together with a comparison with other documentary sources, allows us to offer new considerations regarding this fluid phase, also in the terminology of the tasks undertaken by the friars. This is a fundamental moment in the history of the Order, in which it is important to take into consideration the mobility of the Friars Minor, in particular that of the provincial ministers, and the scholastic organisation.

LCA of Zero Valent Iron Nanoparticles Encapsulated in Algal Biomass for Polishing Treated Effluents

Abstract Research data produced within the CARIPLO IMAP and Perform Water 2030 projects were processed using the SimaPro software to carry out the Life Cycle Assessment according to ISO 14040-44 of an innovative process of treated effluents’ polishing. The study aims to evaluate the integration of a microalgae culture as a side-stream process into the baseline layout of a wastewater treatment plant to remove nitrogen from the supernatant of sludge centrifugation from an environmental perspective. In particular, the investigated system focuses on using the algal biomass produced as an organic matrix for encapsulating zero-valent iron nanoparticles to be used for the final refinement of the effluent. Zero-valent iron (ZVI) is a reactive metal and an effective reducing agent. It can be used to remove organic and inorganic pollutants (e.g., chlorinated organics, pharmaceuticals, metals, textile dyestuffs). The encapsulation of ZVI by hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) in a carbonaceous matrix allows for overcoming the problems related to its lack of stability, easy aggregation, and difficulty in separating the ZVI nanoparticles from the treated solution. The case study refers to Bresso wastewater treatment plant (Milan province, Northern Italy). The environmental performances of the study were assessed following the Life Cycle Impact Assessment methods IMPACT 2002+. According to the results, the new process integration does not affect the environmental performance of the WWTP, still implying a significant improvement in the removal of metals and micropollutants. In fact, due to the ability of ZVI nanoparticles to remove organic and inorganic pollutants, the outflowing load will be significantly reduced, which will improve the environmental performance of the entire Bresso wastewater treatment plant.

Incidence of PTSD and generalized anxiety symptoms during the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak: an exploratory study of a large sample of the Italian population

BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, between March and May 2020, in Italy, people were asked to shelter in place and most had to put their life on hold, while news of the spread of the virus constantly were broadcasted. The change in habits and the potential exposure to a dangerous virus can be categorized as a catastrophic event, which are usually traumatic and therefore have psychological consequences for the people involved.ObjectiveAssuming the COVID-19 pandemic as a possible traumatic event, this study aims to explore the contingent behavioural and psychological impact of COVID-19 spread and related lockdown on the Italian general population, through measuring anxiety and post-traumatic stress symptoms .MethodsAn ad hoc-survey was set up for the this exploratory research, including the standardized Italian versions of the Impact of Event Scale Revised (IES-R) and the Generalized Anxiety Scale (GAD-7), and ad hoc items concerning behavioural reactions due to the pandemic spread and related mass quarantine. Participants were recruited across convenient web-based and mobile app channels using a snowball sampling technique. Data was collected from March 25th to May 1st, 2020.ParticipantsOne-thousand one hundred and ninety-five individuals (851 women and 342 men) completed 60% or more of the survey and were considered for analyses. Mean age was 40 years (s.d. = 14.948). Participants resided in 78 Italian provinces (out of 107 territorial divisions), with 25.7% residing in the Milan province and 9.2% from the Monza and Brianza provinces, closest to the epicentre of the Italian outbreak.ResultsDuring the worst months of the first wave of the Pandemic, the Italian population suffered high level of distress (GAD-7 m = 6.89, s.d. = 5.08; IER-R mean score = 27.86, s.d. 17.46), respectively indicating mild presence of anxiety symptoms, and high levels of PTSD symptoms. Gender seems to be a discriminating variable with women scoring significantly higher than man, both for anxiety symptoms (H (1) = 82.91, p < .001) and all dimensions of PTSD symptoms (intrusion H (1) = 71.23, p < .001, avoidance H (1) = 61.28, p < .001), and hyperarousal (H (1) = 67.348, p < .001). People from Generations Y and Z show to be at higher risk of developing PTSD (V = .746, F (3,1041) =1017.19, p = .001) and GAD symptoms (F (3,1041) = 5.113, p = .002) than older generations.ConclusionsGender and generation appeared to be the most consistent risk factor for higher levels of generalized anxiety and PTSD symptoms in the current pandemic. Other variables – such as information seeking behaviours, parental and marriage status, chronic conditions – yielded less consistent evidence. Results indicate the need of including psychological interventions as a standard tool during the emergency management of a catastrophic events such as a pandemic.

Strategy to reduce adverse health outcomes in subjects highly vulnerable to COVID-19: results from a population-based study in Northern Italy

ObjectivesThis study describes a new strategy to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on the elderly and other clinically vulnerable subjects, where general practitioners (GPs) play an active role in managing...

Indicators of guideline-concordant care in lung cancer defined with a modified Delphi method and piloted in a cohort of over 5,800 cases

BackgroundTo identify indicators of guideline-concordant care in lung cancer, to implement such indicators with cancer registry data linked to health databases, and to pilot them in a cohort of patients from the cancer registry of the Milan Province.MethodsThirty-four indicators were selected by revision of main guidelines by cancer epidemiologists, and then evaluated by a multidisciplinary panel of clinicians involved in lung cancer care and working on the pathway of lung cancer diagnosis and treatment in the Lombardy region, Italy. With a modified Delphi method, they assessed for each indicator the content validity as a quality measure of the care pathway, the degree of modifiability from the health professional, and the relevance to the health professional. Feasibility was assessed using the cancer registry and the routine health records of the Lombardy region. Feasible indicators were then calculated in the cohort of lung cancer patients diagnosed in 2007–2012 derived from the cancer registry of the Milan Province. Criterion validity was assessed reviewing clinical records of a random sample of 114 patients (threshold for acceptable discordance ≤20%). Finally, reliability was evaluated at the provider level.ResultsInitially, 34 indicators were proposed for evaluation in the first Delphi round. Of the finally 22 selected indicators, 3 were not feasible because the required information was actually not available. The remaining 19 were calculated on the pilot cohort. After assessment of criterion validity (3 eliminated), 16 indicators were retained in the final set and evaluated for reliability.ConclusionThe developed and piloted set of indicators is now available to implement and monitor, over time, quality initiatives for lung cancer care in the studied health system.

Deprivation at local level: Practical problems and policy implications for the province of Milan

AbstractComposite indicators are often used to assess the structure of urban deprivation to promote sustainable development. However, the refined spatial scale of analysis poses problems related to data availability. In this paper, we define a spatial deprivation index in the province of Milan, using both census data and areal interpolation. Disaggregation methods are applied to obtain variables at lower spatial level, and a geographically weighted principal component analysis is applied to measure socio‐economic deprivation at local level. Components of deprivation are investigated in their spatial structure and some policy implications deriving from the application of a spatial approach are discussed.

Early predictors of clinical outcomes of COVID-19 outbreak in Milan, Italy

BackgroundNational health-system hospitals of Lombardy faced a heavy burden of admissions for acute respiratory distress syndromes associated with coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Data on patients of European origin affected by COVID-19 are limited. MethodsAll consecutive patients aged ≥18 years, coming from North-East of Milan's province and admitted at San Raffaele Hospital with COVID-19, between February 25th and March 24th, were reported, all patients were followed for at least one month. Clinical and radiological features at admission and predictors of clinical outcomes were evaluated. ResultsOf the 500 patients admitted to the Emergency Unit, 410 patients were hospitalized and analyzed: median age was 65 (IQR 56–75) years, and the majority of patients were males (72.9%). Median (IQR) days from COVID-19 symptoms onset was 8 (5–11) days. At hospital admission, fever (≥ 37.5 °C) was present in 67.5% of patients. Median oxygen saturation (SpO2) was 93% (range 60–99), with median PaO2/FiO2 ratio, 267 (IQR 184–314). Median Radiographic Assessment of Lung Edema (RALE) score was 9 (IQR 4–16). More than half of the patients (56.3%) had comorbidities, with hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes and chronic kidney failure being the most common. The probability of overall survival at day 28 was 66%. Multivariable analysis showed older age, coronary artery disease, cancer, low lymphocyte count and high RALE score as factors independently associated with an increased risk of mortality. ConclusionIn a large cohort of COVID-19 patients of European origin, main risk factors for mortality were older age, comorbidities, low lymphocyte count and high RALE.

Prevalence of Caries and Associated Risk Factors in a Representative Group of Preschool Children from an Urban Area with High Income in Milan Province, Italy.

The present survey provides a quantitative assessment of caries prevalence, covering a group of 3–5 year-old children from an urban area generally with a high income in the province of Milan, and a comparison of the obtained results with the data presented by the W.H.O. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the period from March to September 2018 to investigate the prevalence of caries in a sample of 160 children (82 females and 78 males). The absence/presence of caries was defined as a dependent variable. Factors concerning lifestyle, diet, oral habits, oral hygiene, the presence and type of malocclusion and mouth breathing attitude were considered as risk factors. Data were analyzed by Chi-square (χ2) and regression tests using SPSS (version 25.0) software. In total, 84.38% of children (135 out of 160) showed no caries. A regression analysis demonstrated that children who had already received an early first dental visit were mostly those already affected by caries. Furthermore, children who had four meals daily or more were less exposed to the risk of developing caries compared to those who had only 1–3 meals daily. The caries prevalence of preschool children from urban areas with a high income in Milan province is relatively close to that considered acceptable by the W.H.O. in its proposed goals for the year 2020. Therefore, it can be concluded from the obtained results that there is a possibility for further improvement in preventing caries growth at its initial stage: it is necessary for the number of meals daily consumed by children to be controlled by parents, and conducting a dental visit early in childhood must not be neglected.

Oral Hygiene in a Sample of Children/Adolescents Living in Family-Homes from the Province of Milan (Italy): A Pilot Study.

Objective: This pilot study is a prospective controlled clinical trial, designed to evaluate the short-term clinical results (the plaque index) of an educational/motivational program for home oral hygiene, directed to children and adolescents who live in family-homes. Methods: The setting of the project was the province of Milan (Italy), where two family-homes were selected. The study group included 26 children (16 females and 10 males) aged between 7 and 15 years, of Italian nationality, from the family-home communities. The control group included 26 children (15 females and 11 males, aged between 7 and 15 years) of Italian nationality, matched for age and gender distribution with the study group, that were not in a socially disadvantaged condition. Collection of the plaque index (PI) was performed at t0. Then, all basic oral hygiene instructions were given to all children/adolescents and their educators. Education and motivation were repeated in the same way after 4–7 weeks (T1), and after 10–12 weeks (T2). The PI was taken also at T1 and T2. Results: An improvement in the PI was generally found in both groups, but there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups over time. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed a statistically significant effect of time [F (1, 52) = 90.73, p < 0.001], regardless of the assignment group, in consequence of which the plaque index presented a moderate and significant improvement. Conclusion: The present data confirm the validity of the educational/motivational program to improve oral hygiene in children/adolescents, regardless of the assignment group.

Compassion-Oriented Mindfulness-Based Program and Health Professionals : A Single-Centered Pilot Study on Burnout

This pre-post, single-centered study evaluates the effects of a compassion-oriented mindfulness-based intervention on health professionals’ quality of life. The intervention was conducted in an Italian general hospital in the province of Milan. Between 2014 and 2015, thirty-four health professionals operating in the territorial psychiatric services followed an 18-week Compassion-Oriented Mindfulness-based Program. The program involved the practice of mindfulness meditation combined with a psycho-educational training. This pilot study analysed the impact of the intervention on mood, quality of life, and burnout-related characteristics. Outcome measures included the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire, and the Professional Quality of Life Scale. After the intervention, participants showed significantly decreased levels of depression, state anxiety, and emotional exhaustion. We found that an overall beneficial effect of the Compassion-Oriented Mindfulness-based Program existed in preventing burnout symptomatology. Non-evaluative and mindful attention was shown to improve stress resilience and coping strategies while simultaneously reducing worry and rumination. These results suggest that a compassion-oriented mindfulness program could prevent the development of anxiety and depression traits.

Mariticide in Milan between 1990 and 2017: A criminological and medico-legal analysis

Most murder victims in a romantic relationship are women but sometimes they will kill their husbands or partners (mariticide). This paper focuses on these rarer cases using a sample taken from the autopsy reports of the Department of Legal Medicine of the University of Milan whose territory includes the municipality of Milan and part of the province of Milan and Monza - approximately four million inhabitants.

GIS Analyses and Maps Creation of a Naturalistic Area: The Carengione Oasis

This paper describes the experience carried out with the aim to provide a technical and geo-referenced contribution to a project, submitted to the Common of Peschiera Borromeo in the Province of Milan in Lombardy. The promoter is a group of local associations; the aim is the valorisation and fruition of a green area, named Carengione Oasis. At first a GIS pre-analysis of the area has been performed to achieve a thorough knowledge of the area object of study. Then, a handheld GSP navigator has been employed to collect the data to be processed in a GIS software. This device choice has pros (a fast and very easy survey has been carried out) and cons (the acquired data have a precision of 3 to 5 meters). These data have been processed with the aid of the GIS software ArcMap release 10.4.1 by Esri. Also some free aerial images have been employed to edit features inaccessible on site. The achieved results are some thematic, metric and georeferenced maps and also a 3D virtual tour for a realistic visit of this area. They fulfil the project requirements. Anyway, due to their low precision, they have not been uploaded to enrich the official Lombardy cartography (DBTR); for this reason, part of them has been donated to the free data interchange OpenStreetMap. This work could be considered as a first step for future more precise surveys which would allow adding the acquired results to the DBTR; it has also been planned to create a story map describing the experience illustrated in this paper.

Cancer of the head and neck: a set of indicators based on register and administrative data.

Head and neck (H&N) tumours are a heterogeneous group of neoplasms with 5-year relative survival ranging from about 25% for the hypopharynx to 60% for the larynx in Europe. To improve survival rates, along with therapeutic improvements, it is important to standardise and optimise care received by patients with H&N tumours across different healthcare providers. To reach this goal, it is necessary to evaluate adherence to standards of received care at a population level. Published guidelines can serve as the basis to develop indicators, which can be computed from administrative health databases, measuring the adherence to specific recommendations at the individual level in unselected H&N cancer patients, identified from a population cancer register. We developed a set of indicators and calculated them in a cohort of 2007-2012 incident cases of H&N tumours in the cancer register of the Milan province (n = 1441 cases). The study cohort was mainly composed of men (77%) and patients older than 50 years (89%). Surgery was the most frequently employed treatment (66%). Ten percent of patients had no recorded treatment. Timing between cyto-histological assessment and first therapy for those having a recorded microscopic verification procedure was ≤ 60 days for 90.4% of patients undergoing surgery, 86.3% of those undergoing radiotherapy, and 90.7% of patients receiving chemotherapy. Eighty-three percent of patients underwent cyto-histological assessment in the 180 days before the first treatment. Evaluation by a pain therapist, opioid therapy or hospitalisation for palliative therapy in the 90 days before death was performed in 51% of patients who eventually died of cancer. This is the first Italian study defining and calculating quality indicators to monitor adherence to standards of care received by H&N cancer patients at a population level.