The present work, focusing on the theme of food production and consumption in urban areas, analyses the relationships among three factors: city, human well-being and ecosystems. A case study was carried out addressing the quantification of the potential of rooftop vegetable production in the city of Bologna (Italy) as related to its citizens’ needs. Besides the contribution to food security of the city, the potential benefits to urban biodiversity and ecosystem service provision were estimated. The methodology consisted of: 1) experimental trials of potential productivity of simplified soil- less systems in rooftop gardens (RTGs); 2) detection of all flat roofs and roof-terraces and quantification of the potential surfaces that could be converted into RTGs; 3) identification of the city’s vegetable requirements, based on population and diet data; 4) calculation of the proportion of vegetable require- ment that could be satisfied by local RTG production; 5) identification of other benefits (improvement of urban biodi- versity through the creation of green corridors and estimation of carbon sequestration) associated with the increased area of urban green infrastructure (GI). According to the present study, RTGs could provide more than 12,000 t year−1 vegeta- bles to Bologna, satisfying 77 % of the inhabitants’ require- ments. The study also advances hypotheses for the implementation of biodiversity roofs enabling the connection of biodiversity rich areas across and close to the city: these would form a network of green corridors of over 94 km length with a density of about 0.67 km km−2

The developments in the technologies based on the use of autologous adipose tissue attracted attention to minor depots as possible sampling areas. Some of those depots have never been studied in detail. The present study was performed on subcutaneous adipose depots sampled in different areas with the aim of explaining their morphology, particularly as far as regards stem niches. The results demonstrated that three different types of white adipose tissue (WAT) can be differentiated on the basis of structural and ultrastructural features: deposit WAT (dWAT), structural WAT (sWAT) and fibrous WAT (fWAT). dWAT can be found essentially in large fatty depots in the abdominal area (periumbilical). In the dWAT, cells are tightly packed and linked by a weak net of isolated collagen fibers. Collagenic components are very poor, cells are large and few blood vessels are present. The deep portion appears more fibrous then the superficial one. The microcirculation is formed by thin walled capillaries with rare stem niches. Reinforcement pericyte elements are rarely evident. The sWAT is more stromal; it is located in some areas in the limbs and in the hips. The stroma is fairly well represented, with a good vascularity and adequate staminality. Cells are wrapped by a basket of collagen fibers. The fatty depots of the knees and of the trochanteric areas have quite loose meshes. The fWAT has a noteworthy fibrous component and can be found in areas where a severe mechanic stress occurs. Adipocytes have an individual thick fibrous shell. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates evident differences among subcutaneous WAT deposits, thus suggesting that in regenerative procedures based on autologous adipose tissues the sampling area should not be randomly chosen, but it should be oriented by evidence based evaluations. The structural peculiarities of the sWAT, and particularly of its microcirculation, suggest that it could represent a privileged source for regenerative procedures based on autologous adipose tissues.

Background: To evaluate the effects of pet therapy on cognitive function, mood and perceived quality of life on elderly inpatients (mean age 84.7 years; 95.2% women) affected by dementia, depression and psychosis. Methods: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and 15-items Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) were administered to 10 patients (pet group) and 11 controls (control group) together with a self-perceived quality-of-life questionnaire, before and after a pet therapy intervention that lasted 6 weeks. MMSE and GDS mean scores were compared between and within groups by Student's t-test. Results: Both the pet group and control group improved on GDS and MMSE. Within the pet group, GDS symptoms decreased by 50% (from 5.9 to 2.7, P = 0.013), whereas mean MMSE score increased by 4.5 (P = 0.060). The between group comparison showed a positive effect of pet therapy intervention on GDS (P = 0.070). Most of the participants reported an improvement of their perceived quality of life. Conclusions: Pet therapy is efficient in improving depressive symptoms and cognitive function in residents of long-term care facilities with mental illness.

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