4,557 research outputs found
Impact of diet and nutraceutical supplementation on inflammation in elderly people. Results from the RISTOMED study, an open-label randomized control trial.
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Eating habits may influence the life span and the quality of ageing process by modulating inflammation. The RISTOMED project was developed to provide a personalized and balanced diet, enriched with or without nutraceutical compounds, to decrease and prevent inflammageing, oxidative stress and gut microbiota alteration in healthy elderly people. This paper focused on the effect on inflammation and metabolism markers after 56 days of RISTOMED diet alone or supplementation with three nutraceutical compounds.
METHODS:A cohort of 125 healthy elderly subjects was recruited and randomized into 4 arms (Arm A, RISTOMED diet; Arm B, RISTOMED diet plus VSL#3 probiotic blend; Arm C, RISTOMED diet plus AISA d-Limonene; Arm D, RISTOMED diet plus Argan oil). Inflammatory and metabolism parameters as well as the ratio between Clostridium cluster IV and Bifidobacteria (CL/B) were collected before and after 56 days of dietary intervention, and their evolution compared among the arms. Moreover, participants were subdivided according to their baseline inflammatory parameters (erythrocytes sedimentation rate (ESR), C-Reactive Protein, fibrinogen, Tumor Necrosis Factor-alfa (TNF-α), and Interleukin 6) in two clusters with low or medium-high level of inflammation. The evolution of the measured parameters was then examined separately in each cluster.
RESULTS:Overall, RISTOMED diet alone or with each nutraceutical supplementation significantly decreased ESR. RISTOMED diet supplemented with d-Limonene resulted in a decrease in fibrinogen, glucose, insulin levels and HOMA-IR. The most beneficial effects were observed in subjects with a medium-high inflammatory status who received RISTOMED diet with AISA d-Limonene supplementation. Moreover, RISTOMED diet associated with VSL#3 probiotic blend induced a decrease in the CL/B ratio.
CONCLUSIONS:Overall, this study emphasizes the beneficial anti-inflammageing effect of RISTOMED diet supplemented with nutraceuticals to control the inflammatory status of elderly individuals
A minimal Beta Beam with high-Q ions to address CP violation in the leptonic sector
In this paper we consider a Beta Beam setup that tries to leverage at most
existing European facilities: i.e. a setup that takes advantage of facilities
at CERN to boost high-Q ions (8Li and 8B) aiming at a far detector located at L
= 732 Km in the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory. The average neutrino energy
for 8Li and 8B ions boosted at \gamma ~ 100 is in the range E_\nu = [1,2] GeV,
high enough to use a large iron detector of the MINOS type at the far site. We
perform, then, a study of the neutrino and antineutrino fluxes needed to
measure a CP-violating phase delta in a significant part of the parameter
space. In particular, for theta_13 > 3 deg, if an antineutrino flux of 3 10^19
useful 8Li decays per year is achievable, we find that delta can be measured in
60% of the parameter space with 6 10^18 useful 8B decays per year.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, added references and corrected typo
Preliminary results from a simulation of quenched QCD with overlap fermions on a large lattice
We simulate quenched QCD with the overlap Dirac operator. We work with the
Wilson gauge action at beta=6 on an 18^3x64 lattice. We calculate quark
propagators for a single source point and quark mass ranging from am_q=0.03 to
0.75. We present here preliminary results based on the propagators for 60 gauge
field configurations.Comment: Lattice2003(chiral); 9 latex pages (espcrc2.sty), 13 figures. Based
on talks given by C.H., L.L. and C.R. at 21st International Symposium on
Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2003), Tsubuka, Japan, 15-19 July 2003.
Repitition in references corrected and one reference adde
Micro- and Nanopatterned Silk Substrates for Antifouling Applications
A major problem of current biomedical implants is the bacterial colonization and subsequent biofilm formation, which seriously affects their functioning and can lead to serious post-surgical complications. Intensive efforts have been directed toward the development of novel technologies that can prevent bacterial colonization while requiring minimal antibiotics doses. To this end, biocompatible materials with intrinsic antifouling capabilities are in high demand. Silk fibroin, widely employed in biotechnology, represents an interesting candidate. Here, we employ a soft-lithography approach to realize micro- and nanostructured silk fibroin substrates, with different geometries. We show that patterned silk film substrates support mammal cells (HEK-293) adhesion and proliferation, and at the same time, they intrinsically display remarkable antifouling properties. We employ Escherichia coli as representative Gram-negative bacteria, and we observe an up to 66% decrease in the number of bacteria that adhere to patterned silk surfaces as compared to control, flat silk samples. The mechanism leading to the inhibition of biofilm formation critically depends on the microstructure geometry, involving both a steric and a hydrophobic effect. We also couple silk fibroin patterned films to a biocompatible, optically responsive organic semiconductor, and we verify that the antifouling properties are very well preserved. The technology described here is of interest for the next generation of biomedical implants, involving the use of materials with enhanced antibacterial capability, easy processability, high biocompatibility, and prompt availability for coupling with photoimaging and photodetection techniques
Quenched -parameter with the Wilson and Clover actions at
We present results for the Kaon parameter from a sample of
configurations using the Wilson action and configurations using the
Clover action, on a lattice at . A slight
improvement of the chiral behaviour of is observed due to the Clover
action. We have also compared the results for obtained from two different
procedures for the boosting of the coupling constant . We observe a strong
dependence of on the prescription adopted for in the Wilson case,
contrary to the results of the Clover case which are almost unaffected by the
choice of . Combining some recently obtained non perturbative estimates for
the renormalisation constants with our Clover matrix element, we observe a
significant improvement in the chiral behaviour of .Comment: 3 pages, Latex, Postscript file with figures available at
ftp://hpteo.roma1.infn.it/pub/preprints/lat94/donini ; to appear in Lattice
'94, Nucl. Phys. (Proc.Suppl.
Adherence and Constancy in LIME-RS Explanations for Recommendation
Explainable Recommendation has attracted a lot of attention due to a renewed interest in explainable artificial intelligence. In
particular, post-hoc approaches have proved to be the most easily applicable ones to increasingly complex recommendation
models, which are then treated as black boxes. The most recent literature has shown that for post-hoc explanations based
on local surrogate models, there are problems related to the robustness of the approach itself. This consideration becomes
even more relevant in human-related tasks like recommendation. The explanation also has the arduous task of enhancing
increasingly relevant aspects of user experience such as transparency or trustworthiness. This paper aims to show how
the characteristics of a classical post-hoc model based on surrogates is strongly model-dependent and does not prove to be
accountable for the explanations generatedThe authors acknowledge partial support of PID2019-108965GB-I00, PONARS01_00876BIO-D,CasadelleTecnologie
mergenti della CittĂ di Matera, PONARS01_00821FLET4.0, PIAServiziLocali2.0,H2020Passapartout-Grantn. 101016956, PIAERP4.0,andIPZS-PRJ4_IA_NORMATIV
Precision on leptonic mixing parameters at future neutrino oscillation experiments
We perform a comparison of the different future neutrino oscillation
experiments based on the achievable precision in the determination of the
fundamental parameters theta_{13} and the CP phase, delta, assuming that
theta_{13} is in the range indicated by the recent Daya Bay measurement. We
study the non-trivial dependence of the error on delta on its true value. When
matter effects are small, the largest error is found at the points where CP
violation is maximal, and the smallest at the CP conserving points. The
situation is different when matter effects are sizable. As a result of this
effect, the comparison of the physics reach of different experiments on the
basis of the CP discovery potential, as usually done, can be misleading. We
have compared various proposed super-beam, beta-beam and neutrino factory
setups on the basis of the relative precision of theta_{13} and the error on
delta. Neutrino factories, both high-energy or low-energy, outperform
alternative beam technologies. An ultimate precision on theta_{13} below 3% and
an error on delta of < 7^{\circ} at 1 sigma (1 d.o.f.) can be obtained at a
neutrino factory.Comment: Minor changes, matches version accepted in JHEP. 30 pages, 9 figure
Chiral behaviour of the lattice -parameter with the Wilson and Clover Actions at
We present results for the kaon -parameter from a sample of
configurations using the Wilson action and configurations using the
SW-Clover action, on a lattice at . We compare
results obtained by renormalizing the relevant operator with different
``boosted" values of the strong coupling constant . In the case of
the SW-Clover action, we also use the operator renormalized non-perturbatively.
In the Wilson case, we observe a strong dependence of on the prescription
adopted for , contrary to the results of the Clover case which are
almost unaffected by the choice of the coupling. We also find that the matrix
element of the operator renormalized non-perturbatively has a better chiral
behaviour. This gives us our best estimate of the renormalization group
invariant -parameter, .Comment: LaTeX, 17 pages, 3 postscript figures uuencode
Hierarchical TiN-Supported TsFDH Nanobiocatalyst for CO2 Reduction to Formate
The electrochemical reduction of CO2 to value-added products like formate represents a promising technology for the valorization of carbon dioxide. We propose a proof-of-concept bioelectrochemical system (BES) for the reduction of CO2 to formate. For the first time, our device employs a nanostructured titanium nitride (TiN) support for the immobilization of a formate dehydrogenase (FDH) enzyme. The hierarchical TiN nanostructured support exhibits high surface area and wide pore size distribution, achieving high catalytic loading, and is characterized by higher conductivity than other oxide-based supports employed for FDHs immobilization. We select the oxygen-tolerant FDH from Thiobacillus sp. KNK65MA (TsFDH) as enzymatic catalyst, which selectively reduces CO2 to formate. We identify an optimal TiN morphology for the enzyme immobilisation through enzymatic assay, reaching a catalyst loading of 59 mu g cm(-2) of specifically-adsorbed TsFDH and achieving a complete saturation of the anchoring sites available on the surface. We evaluate the electrochemical CO2 reduction performance of the TiN/TsFDH system, achieving a remarkable HCOO- Faradaic efficiency up to 76 %, a maximum formate yield of 44.1 mu mol mg(FDH)(-1) h(-1) and high stability. Our results show the technological feasibility of BES devices employing novel, nanostructured TiN-based supports, representing an important step in the optimization of these devices
Hierarchical TiN-Supported TsFDH Nanobiocatalyst for CO2 Reduction to Formate
The electrochemical reduction of CO2 to value-added products like formate represents a promising technology for the valorization of carbon dioxide. We propose a proof-of-concept bioelectrochemical system (BES) for the reduction of CO2 to formate. For the first time, our device employs a nanostructured titanium nitride (TiN) support for the immobilization of a formate dehydrogenase (FDH) enzyme. The hierarchical TiN nanostructured support exhibits high surface area and wide pore size distribution, achieving high catalytic loading, and is characterized by higher conductivity than other oxide-based supports employed for FDHs immobilization. We select the oxygen-tolerant FDH from Thiobacillus sp. KNK65MA (TsFDH) as enzymatic catalyst, which selectively reduces CO2 to formate. We identify an optimal TiN morphology for the enzyme immobilisation through enzymatic assay, reaching a catalyst loading of 59 ÎŒg cmâ2 of specifically-adsorbed TsFDH and achieving a complete saturation of the anchoring sites available on the surface. We evaluate the electrochemical CO2 reduction performance of the TiN/TsFDH system, achieving a remarkable HCOOâ Faradaic efficiency up to 76 %, a maximum formate yield of 44.1 ÎŒmol mgâ1FDH hâ1 and high stability. Our results show the technological feasibility of BES devices employing novel, nanostructured TiN-based supports, representing an important step in the optimization of these devices
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