The use of D-chiro-inositol in clinical practice

OBJECTIVE: D-chiro-Inositol has been widely used in clinical practice to induce ovulation in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Only recent evidence established that this molecule acts through two different mechanisms, with potentially different outcomes. On the one hand, under a metabolic perspective, D-chiro-Inositol improves insulin signaling, thus restoring physiological insulin levels in resistant subjects. On the other hand, at a cellular level, it downregulates the expression of steroidogenic enzyme aromatase, which is responsible for the conversion of androgens to estrogens. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed current literature in different databases, searching for D-chiro-Inositol in relation with one of the following keywords: myo-inositol, PCOS, infertility, insulin resistance, aromatase, androgen and inositol, testosterone, estrogen and inositol, estradiol, hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, fat tissue, estrogens and cancer, anovulation, uterine myoma, endometriosis, endometrial hyperplasia. RESULTS: D-Chiro-Inositol treatment may be helpful in restoring physiological hormonal levels in various clinical disorders. However, D-Chiro-Inositol intervention should be carefully designed to avoid possible undesired side effects stemming from its multiple mechanisms of action. CONCLUSIONS: We evaluated the optimal D Chiro-Inositol administration for different pathologies, defining dosages and timing. Even though further studies are required to validate our preliminary results, this paper is primarily intended to guide researchers through some of the pathways of D-Chiro-Inositol

Contamination Assessment and Temporal Evolution of Nitrates in the Shallow Aquifer of the Metauro River Plain (Adriatic Sea, Italy) after Remediation Actions

Over the last decades, groundwater resources at global level have suffered a significant deterioration due to nitrate pollution, mainly related to the input of agricultural fertilizers, manure, sewage, and untreated urban and industrial effluents. The most impacted waters are those forming surface and shallow reservoirs, which usually play a key role in supplying waters to civil, agricultural, and industrial activities. The terminal portion of the Metauro River plain, located in central Italy along the Adriatic Sea coastline, hosts a strategic phreatic aquifer that, along with the surface water of the Metauro River, supplies water to the local population (i.e., about 60,000 people). This shallow coastal aquifer experiences a long-lasting story of nitrate contamination since the 1970s when the increase in the use of agricultural fertilizers contributed to very high levels of pollution (NO3- > 100 mg/L). This fact prompted the local authorities to carry out remediation actions that involve a pumping system to inject the NO3--poor waters from the Metauro River course directly into the shallow aquifer. The present work was aimed at defining the contamination of nitrates in this important water resource. The main geochemical characteristics and the temporal evolution of NO3- concentrations (between 2009 and 2020), in the shallow coastal aquifer of the Metauro River plain, were analyzed by means of classical geochemical analyses and multivariate methods accounting for the compositional nature of the data, to assess the efficiency of the in-situ remediation over time

Instantons and special geometry

We survey and discuss constructions of instantons on non-compact complete manifolds of special holonomy from the viewpoint of evolution equations and give several explicit examples

Sloshing ROMs for fluid-structure interactions in aerospace applications

This paper proposes Reduced-Order Models (ROMs) based on data provided by CFD codes, for the study of sloshing-integrated systems including the effects of the tank flexibility. A commercial CFD code addressed to sloshing analyses is employed to generate data set to be used for the ROM synthesis. The developed sloshing ROM, based on a Linearized Frequency Domain (LFD) approach, uses an Input/Output system identification technique from CFD transient simulations to construct an unsteady Generalized Sloshing Force (GSF) transfer function matrix in analogy with the Generalized Aerodynamic Force (GAF) matrix used to model the aircraft external unsteady aerodynamics for dynamic aeroelastic analyses. The obtained transfer function data are suitably fitted via rational polynomial form in the frequency sub-domain so achieving a state-space form for the sloshing ROM. The obtained finite state reduction has been suitable developed for applying it in aeronautical and space applications for perspective integrated (stability and response) analyses and design

A SPH simulation of the sloshing phenomenon inside fuel tanks of the aircraft wings

The wings of large civil passenger aircrafts, which are designed to withstand the loads occurring from atmospheric gusts and turbulence to landing impacts, still demand further research. This goal will be achieved through investigating the damping effect of sloshing on the dynamics of flexible wing-like structures carrying liquid via the development of experimental setups complemented by numerical models. The aim of this work is to analyze the effect of sloshing in reducing the design loads on aircraft structures using SPH as the main numerical tool. The first step of this research was performed inside the Airbus Protospace Lab in Filton (UK), where a scaled model of the problem was tested. The wing is represented by a cantilever with a liquid tank attached at its tip. The behaviour of the system once deformed and released and the accelerations at the free end of the beam were registered for different configurations. In this work, a numerical model of a fully coupled fluid-structure interaction problem is developed. In order to understand and analyse the damping mechanisms, the structure is modelled through beam theory and solved by two different methods: a mass-spring-damper system and modal analysis. For the fluid, the δ-LES-SPH model is used, which has been implemented for the boundary integrals methodology in order to simulate complex geometries. A set of cases are simulated in order to reproduce trends noticed in the experiments, including different inner tank configurations , for the two beam models tested. SPH as numerical tool demonstrates that the presence of liquid in tanks attached to flexible structures introduces a damping effect

Sloshing wing dynamics-2nd year project overview

The SLOshing Wing Dynamics (SLOWD) project aims to investigate the modelling of fuel sloshing physics to reduce the design loads on aircraft structures. This goal will be achieved through investigating the damping effect of sloshing on the dynamics of flexible wing-like structures carrying liquid (fuel) via the development of experimental set-ups complemented by novel numerical and analytical tools. The primary focus of the project is the application of modelling capabilities to the wing design of large civil passenger aircraft (subject to EASA CS-25 type certification), which are designed to withstand the loads occurring from atmospheric gusts, turbulence and landing impacts. The timeframe of the project is three years, starting in September 2019. This paper reviews the current progress that has been made and outlines goals for the rest of the project