Reversibility and Durability as Potential Indicators for Circular Building Technologies

According to the Circularity Gap Report 2020, a mere 8.6% of the global economy was circular in 2019. The Global Status Report 2018 declares that building construction and operations accounted for 36% of global final energy use and 39% of energy–related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The Paris Agreement demands that the building and construction sector decarbonizes globally by 2050. This requires strategies that minimize the environmental impact of buildings and practices extending the lifecycle of their constituents within a circular resource flow. To ensure that effective measures are applied, a suitable method is needed to assess compliance in materials, processes, and design strategies within circular economy principles. The study’s assumption is that synthetic and reliable indicators for that purpose could be based on reversibility and durability features. The paper provides an overview of building design issues within the circular economy perspective, highlighting the difficulty in finding circular technologies which are suitable to enhance buildings’ service life while closing material loops. The results identify reversibility and durability as potential indicators for assessing circular building technologies. The next research stage aims to further develop the rating of circularity requirements for both building technologies and entire buildings

Potential of shrimp waste meal and insect exuviae as sustainable sources of chitin for fish feeds.

Aquaculture is one of the world’s fastest growing food-producing sectors, providing more than half of all fish consumed globally for human nutrition. However, to maintain such growth and meet the increasing demand for aquatic food, sustainable raw materials for fish feeds are needed. In this regard, insects represent one of the most promising alternatives to fish meal (FM) protein source for use in aquafeeds. In addition to protein, insects contain bioactive compounds, such as chitin, which is a natural polysaccharide abundantly present in the pupal exuviae of some insects. Studies have shown that dietary chitin or its derivate chitosan acts as a prebiotic thus modulating the gut microbial communities of fish. Accordingly, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of two waste products rich in chitin, i.e., shrimp head meal (SHM), and insect (Hermetia illucens) pupal exuviae on the gut microbiota of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Three isoproteic, isolipidic, and isoenergetic diets containing either FM, SHD, or a combination of FM and 1.6% of pupal exuviae meal (PEM) were tested through a 91-day feeding trial. At the end of the experiment, no differences in final mean body weight, specific growth rate, and feed conversion ratio values were observed between fish experimental groups. Mortality was <1% and it did not correlate with diet for the entire duration of the trial. However, a modulatory effect of dietary pupal exuviae on fish gut microbiota was detected. Indeed, gut bacterial species richness improved by including insect exuviae. In particular, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria phyla, mainly represented by Bacillus, Facklamia, Brevibacterium, and Corynebacterium genera, were enriched in trout receiving pupal exuviae. These genera are chitinolytic and shortchain fatty acids (SCFAs)-producing bacteria. SCFAs production was confirmed by gas chromatography analysis, which detected the highest amount of butyrate in feces of trout fed with pupal exuviae meal. Functional inference analysis of intestinal microbiota using PICRUST metagenome prediction tool, showed differences in response to diet. In particular, eleven pathways were significantly different between control fish (FM) and fish fed the PEM diet, whereas twenty functional traits were significantly different between the FM and SHM fish groups. Overall, our data confirmed that chitin from insect’s pupal exuviae represents a promising functional ingredient, better than SHM, for positively modulating gut microbiota communities of rainbow trout

Effect of metabolic and antioxidant supplementation on sperm parameters in oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia, with and without varicocele: a double-blind placebo-controlled study

Since sperm require high energy levels to perform their specialised function, it is vital that essential nutrients are available for spermatozoa when they develop, capacitate and acquire motility. However, they are vulnerable to a lack of energy and excess amounts of reactive oxygen species, which can impair sperm function, lead to immotility, acrosomal reaction impairment, DNA fragmentation and cell death. This monocentric, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial investigated the effect of 6 months of supplementation with l-carnitine, acetyl-l-carnitine and other micronutrients on sperm quality in 104 subjects with oligo- and/or astheno- and/or teratozoospermia with or without varicocele. In 94 patients who completed the study, sperm concentration was significantly increased in supplemented patients compared to the placebo (p =.0186). Total sperm count also increased significantly (p =.0117) in the supplemented group as compared to the placebo group. Both, progressive and total motility were higher in supplemented patients (p =.0088 and p =.0120, respectively). Although pregnancy rate was not an endpoint of the study, of the 12 pregnancies that occurred during the follow-up, 10 were reported in the supplementation group. In general, all these changes were more evident in varicocele patients. In conclusion, supplementation with metabolic and antioxidant compounds could be efficacious when included in strategies to improve fertility

Intestinal microbial communities of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) may be improved by feeding a Hermetia illucens meal/low-fishmeal diet.

With demands and reliance on aquaculture still growing, there are various challenges to allow sustainable growth and the shift from fishmeal (FM) to other protein sources in aquafeed formulations is one of the most important. In this regard, interest in the use of insect meal (IM) in aquafeeds has grown rapidly. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to assess the effects of dietary IM from Hermetia illucens (Hi) larvae included in a low-FM diet on gut microbial communities of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), in terms of both composition and function of microbiome. A feeding trial was conducted using 192 trout of about 100-g mean initial weight. Fish were fed in quadruplicate (4 tanks/diet) for 131 days with two diets: the control (Ctrl) contained 20% of FM as well as other protein sources, whereas the Hi diet contained 15% of Hi larvae meal to replace 50% of the FM contained in the Ctrl diet. High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene was used to identify the major feed and gut bacterial taxa, whereas Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) analysis was performed on gut bacterial genomes to identify the major active biological pathways. The inclusion of IM led to an increase in Firmicutes, mainly represented by Bacilli class and to a drastic reduction of Proteobacteria. Beneficial genera, such as Lactobacillus and Bacillus, were enriched in the gut of fish fed with the Hi diet, whereas the number of bacteria assigned to the pathogenic Aeromonas genus was drastically reduced in the same fish group. The metagenome functional data provided evidence that dietary IM inclusion can shape the metabolic activity of trout gut microbiota. In particular, intestinal microbiome of fish fed with IM may have the capacity to improve dietary carbohydrate utilization. Therefore, H. illucens meal is a promising protein source for trout nutrition, able to modulate gut microbial community by increasing the abundance of some bacteria taxa that are likely to play a key role in fish health

A geomorphological approach to the estimation of landslide hazards and risks in Umbria, Central Italy

International audienceWe present a geomorphological method to evaluate landslide hazard and risk. The method is based on the recognition of existing and past landslides, on the scrutiny of the local geological and morphological setting, and on the study of site-specific and historical information on past landslide events. For each study area a multi-temporal landslide inventory map has been prepared through the interpretation of various sets of stereoscopic aerial photographs taken over the period 1941?1999, field mapping carried out in the years 2000 and 2001, and the critical review of site-specific investigations completed to solve local instability problems. The multi-temporal landslide map portrays the distribution of the existing and past landslides and their observed changes over a period of about 60 years. Changes in the distribution and pattern of landslides allow one to infer the possible evolution of slopes, the most probable type of failures, and their expected frequency of occurrence and intensity. This information is used to evaluate landslide hazard, and to estimate the associated risk. The methodology is not straightforward and requires experienced geomorphologists, trained in the recognition and analysis of slope processes. Levels of landslide hazard and risk are expressed using an index that conveys, in a simple and compact format, information on the landslide frequency, the landslide intensity, and the likely damage caused by the expected failure. The methodology was tested in 79 towns, villages, and individual dwellings in the Umbria Region of central Italy

A first assessment of genetic variability in the longhorn beetle Rosalia alpina (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) from the Italian Apennines

The Rosalia longicorn (Rosalia alpina) is a strictly protected saproxylic beetle, widely distributed in Central and Southern Europe and mainly associated with ancient beech forests. To improve knowledge about the conservation status of R. alpina in Italy, available molecular markers (microsatellites and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I(COI)) were tested for the first time on Italian populations. The study was performed in four sampling sites distributed in two areas placed in Northern (“Foreste Casentinesi” National Park) and Central Apennines (“Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise” National Park) where populational data about Rosalia longicorn were collected in the framework of the European LIFE MIPP Project. The genetic relationship among Apennine and Central/South-eastern European populations was explored by a comparison with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data from literature. Microsatellite markers were only partially informative when applied to R. alpina Italian individuals, although providing some preliminary indication on an extensive gene flow among populations from the Apennines and local ongoing processes of genetic erosion. Genetic data are consistent with previous ecological data suggesting that the maintenance of variability in this species could be related to both habitat continuity and preservation of large senescent or standing dead trees in forests. Finally, a peculiar origin of the Apennine populations of R. alpina from a putative “Glacial Refugium” in Italy was inferred through COI data. The high genetic distance scored among the analysed populations and those from Central and South-eastern Europe indicates that the R. alpina deme from Apennine Mountains might represent a relevant conservation unit in Europe. Further genetic analyses will allow assessing other possible conservation units of R. alpina and, thus, defining large-scale conservation strategies to protect this endangered longhorn beetle in Europe

A new proposal: A digital flow for the construction of a haas-inspired rapid maxillary expander (HIRME)

Maxillary expansion is a common orthodontic treatment used for the correction of posterior crossbite resulting from reduced maxillary width. Transverse maxillomandibular discrepancies are a major cause of several malocclusions and may be corrected in dierent manners; in particular, the rapid maxillary expansion (RME) performed in the early mixed dentition has now become a routine procedure in orthodontic practice. The aim of this study is to propose a procedure that reduces the patient cooperation as well as the lab work required in preparing a customized Haas-inspired rapid maxillary expander (HIRME) that can be anchored to deciduous teeth and can be utilized in mixed dentition with tubes on the molars and hooks and brackets on the canines. This article thus presents an expander that is completely digitally developed, from the first moment of taking the impression with an optical scanner to the final solidification phase by the use of a 3D printer. This digital flow takes place in a CAD environment and it starts with the creation of the appliance on the optical impression; this design is then exported as an stl extension and is sent to the print service to obtain a solid model of the device through a laser sintering process. This "rough" device goes through a post-processing procedure; finally, a commercial expansion screw is laser-welded. This expander has all the advantages of a cast-metal Haas-type RME that rests on deciduous teeth; moreover, it has the characteristic of being developed with a completely digitized and individualized process, for the mouth of the young patient, as well as being made completely of cobalt-chrome, thus ensuring greater adaptability and stability in the patient's mouth