Economic and environmental sustainability dimensions of a fashion supply chain: A quantitative model

Paper aim: The paper presents a model to assess the economic and the environmental sustainability dimensions of a fashion supply chain and tests it on a company. Originality: The gap intended to fill is the lack of models in this context having this purpose, and, in general, the necessity to develop models and metrics allowing to quantitatively assess the economic and environmental dimensions of supply chains. Research method: The fashion supply chain has been divided into five processes. Hence, an analytic model was developed by considering the total costs incurring in each process (economic evaluation), and the annual kilograms of CO2 emitted (environmental perspective). The model was then applied to a case study. Data was obtained from interviews with the management. Main findings: Results show that from the economic perspective supply impacts the most, while from the environmental one the most polluting activity is production. Implications for theory and practice: The model is easy to apply and to understand and allows to identify the activities in the supply chain where the majority of costs/emissions are generated. It is therefore expected to be useful for undertaking operational decisions aimed at decreasing the economic or environmental impact of a fashion supply chain

A model for assessing economic and environmental sustainability dimensions of a fashion supply chain and a case study

Due to the recent attention gained by sustainability issues in the context of supply chains, the aim of this study is to present a model developed under Microsoft Excel™ for the assessment of the economic and environmental dimensions of a fashion supply chain, sector that deserves particular attention being one of the most polluting in the world. The assessment of the economic dimension is made through the evaluation of the total cost incurred in each process of the supply chain, while the environmental aspect is evaluated in terms of the carbon dioxide emissions generated. Specifically, in this paper the modelling of the warehouse function is detailed. To test the effectiveness of the model a case study is carried out on a fashion company based in the North of Italy; the key results are reported in the manuscript, showing where the majority of costs and emissions are generated. Information obtained from this tool can support the company's management in their operational decisions and show where to focus their attention to enhance the economic and environmental sustainability

Oncological safety of stromal vascular fraction enriched fat grafting in two-stage breast reconstruction after nipple sparing mastectomy: long-term results of a prospective study

OBJECTIVE: Autologous fat transfer (AFT) is commonly used to treat implant palpability and prevent fibrosis and thinning in mastectomy skin flaps. A major limit to this procedure is volume retention over time, leading to the introduction of fat enrichment with stromal vascular fraction (SVF+AFT). Oncological concerns have been raised over the injection of an increased concentration of progenitors cells (ASCs) in the SVF. The aim of the study is to evaluate the long-term cancer recurrence risk of SVF+AFT cases compared to AFT, in patients undergoing Nipple Sparing Mastectomy (NSM). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective study was designed to compare three groups of patients undergoing NSM followed by SVF+AFT, AFT or none (control group), after a two-stage breast reconstruction. Patients were strictly followed-up for at least 5-years from the second stage reconstructive procedure. Loco-regional and systemic recurrence rate were evaluated over time as the primary outcome. Logistic regression was used to investigate which factors were associated with recurrence events and independent variables of interest were: surgical technique, age above 50 years old, lympho-vascular invasion, oncological stage, adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy, adjuvant radiotherapy and adjuvant hormone therapy. RESULTS: 41 women were included in G1 (SVF+AFT), 64 in G2 (AFT), and 64 in G3 (control group). Loco-regional recurrence rate was 2.4% for G1, 4.7% for G2, and 1.6% for G3. Systemic recurrence was 7.3%, 3.1%, and 3.1%, respectively. Among the variables included, there were no significant risk factors influencing a recurrence event, either loco-regional or systemic. In particular, SVF+AFT (G1) did not increase the oncological recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that both centrifuged and SVF-enhanced fat transfer have a similar safety level in comparison to patients who did not undergo fat grafting in breast reconstruction after NSM

INTEGRAL/RossiXTE high-energy observation of a state transition of GX 339-4

On 2004 August 15, we observed a fast (shorter than 10 hours) state transition in the bright black-hole transient GX 339-4 simultaneously with RossiXTE and INTEGRAL. This transition was evident both in timing and spectral properties. Combining the data from PCA, HEXTE and IBIS, we obtained good quality broad-band (3-200 keV) energy spectra before and after the transition. These spectra indicate that the hard component steepened. Also, the high-energy cutoff that was present at ~70 keV before the transition was not detected after the transition. This is the first time that an accurate determination of the broad-band spectrum across such a transition has been measured on a short time scale. It shows that, although some spectral parameters do not change abruptly through the transition, the high-energy cutoff increases/disappears rather fast. These results constitute a benchmark on which to test theoretical models for the production of the hard component in these systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (9 pages, 6 figures

Synthetic Crysotile Nano-Crystals as a Reference Standard to Investigate Surface-Induce Serum Albumin Structural Modifications

Geoinspired synthetic chrysotile, which represents an ideal asbestos reference standard, has been utilized to investigate homomolecular exchange of bovine serum albumin (BSA), the major plasma protein, between the adsorbed and dissolved state at the interface between asbestos fibers and biological medium. FTIR spectroscopy has been used to quantify BSA structural modifications due to surface adhesion on chrysotile fibers as a function of the surface coating extent. Circular dichroism spectroscopy has been used to investigate the adsorption/desorption equilibrium through analysis of the BSA structural perturbations after protein desorption from chrysotile surface. Data results show clearly that in the solid state BSA modifications are driven by surface interaction with the substrate, following a bimodal adsorption evidenced by two different binding constants. On the other hand, BSA desorbed in solution is able to rearrange, in the lack of substrate, although keeping irreversible modifications with respect to the native species. The lack of regaining its native structure certainly affects albumin interaction with biological environment. The present investigation on the stoichiometric synthetic geoinspired chrysotile nanocrystals is the first approach toward a deeper attempt to use standard synthetic chrysotile reference samples in mimicking the behavior of asbestos fibers and allows to better understand their interaction with a biological environment

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing in a combined screening approach to individuate pulmonary arterial hypertension in systemic sclerosis

Objectives The DETECT algorithm has been developed to identify SSc patients at risk for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) yielding high sensitivity but low specificity, and positive predictive value. We tested whether cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) could improve the performance of the DETECT screening strategy. Methods Consecutive SSc patients over a 30-month period were screened with the DETECT algorithm and positive subjects were referred for CPET before the execution of right-heart catheterization. The predictive performance of CPET on top of DETECT was evaluated and internally validated via bootstrap replicates. Results Out of 314 patients, 96 satisfied the DETECT application criteria and 54 were positive. PAH was ascertained in 17 (31.5%) and pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension in 23 (42.6%) patients. Within CPET variables, the slope of the minute ventilation to carbon dioxide production relationship (VE/VCO2 slope) had the best performance to predict PAH at right-heart catheterization [median (interquartile range) of specificity 0.778 (0.714\u20130.846), positive predictive value 0.636 (0.556\u20130.750)]; exploratory analysis on pre-capillary yielded a specificity of 0.714 (0.636\u20130.8) and positive predictive value of 0.714 (0.636\u20130.8). Conclusion In association with the DETECT algorithm, CPET may be considered as a useful tool in the workup of SSc-related pulmonary hypertension. The sequential determination of the VE/VCO2 slope in DETECT-positive subjects may reduce the number of unnecessary invasive procedures without any loss in the capability to capture PAH. This strategy had also a remarkable performance in highlighting the presence of pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension

Hamiltonian submanifolds of regular polytopes

We investigate polyhedral $2k$-manifolds as subcomplexes of the boundary complex of a regular polytope. We call such a subcomplex {\it $k$-Hamiltonian} if it contains the full $k$-skeleton of the polytope. Since the case of the cube is well known and since the case of a simplex was also previously studied (these are so-called {\it super-neighborly triangulations}) we focus on the case of the cross polytope and the sporadic regular 4-polytopes. By our results the existence of 1-Hamiltonian surfaces is now decided for all regular polytopes. Furthermore we investigate 2-Hamiltonian 4-manifolds in the $d$-dimensional cross polytope. These are the "regular cases" satisfying equality in Sparla's inequality. In particular, we present a new example with 16 vertices which is highly symmetric with an automorphism group of order 128. Topologically it is homeomorphic to a connected sum of 7 copies of $S^2 \times S^2$. By this example all regular cases of $n$ vertices with $n < 20$ or, equivalently, all cases of regular $d$-polytopes with $d\leq 9$ are now decided.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figure

Isolation and characterization of cardiac mesenchymal stromal cells from endomyocardial bioptic samples of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy patients

A normal adult heart is composed of several different cell types, among which cardiac mesenchymal stromal cells represent an abundant population. The isolation of these cells offers the possibility of studying their involvement in cardiac diseases, and, in addition, provides a useful primary cell model to investigate biological mechanisms. Here, the method for the isolation of C-MSC from arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy patients\u2019 bioptic samples is described. The endomyocardial biopsy sampling is guided in the right ventricular areas adjacent to the scar visualized by electro-anatomical mapping. The digestion of the biopsies in collagenase and their plating on a plastic dish in culture medium to allow C-MSC growth is described. The isolated cells can be expanded in culture for several passages. To confirm their mesenchymal phenotype, the description of immuno-phenotypical characterization is provided. C-MSC are able to differentiate into several cell types like adipocytes, chondrocytes, and osteoblasts: in the context of ACM, characterized by adipocyte deposits in patients\u2019 hearts, the protocols for the adipogenic differentiation of C-MSC and the characterization of lipid droplet accumulation are described

Determination of Maltitol, Isomaltitol, and Lactitol by High-pH Anion-Exchange Chromatography with Pulsed Amperometric Detection

Disaccharide alditols (DAs) such as maltitol, isomaltitol, and lactitol are increasingly being employed in food industry by virtue of their low hydroscopicity, high stability, and good bulking properties. Still, these compounds are reduced-calorie sweeteners, so they are successfully employed in many dietetic foods, like candies, chocolates, baked products, ice creams, and beverages. Here we describe the determination of maltitol, isomaltitol, and lactitol, along with other common carbohydrates, in some foodstuffs such as toffees, biscuits, creams, sponge cakes, chocolates, roasted malt, and chicory leaves. Separations were accomplished by high-pH anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC) with pulsed amperometric detection using 40 mM NaOH + 1 mM Ba(CH 3 COO) 2 as the mobile phase. The optimal detection potential (E DET ) +0.10 V) was established in voltammetric experiments carried out in batch and flowing stream solutions. Under optimized conditions there was no need for both postcolumn addition of strong bases to the eluent and, even more important, column regeneration between runs. A pellicular column with a relatively low ion-exchange capacity was adopted, which allows a rapid separation of sorbitol, isomaltitol, lactitol, maltitol, glucose, fructose, sucrose, and lactose. The presence in the alkaline mobile phase of barium ions improved selectivity and reproducibility besides shorter analysis times as well. Limits of detection were on the order of 10-20 pmol injected. The contents of DAs and other free sugars in some dietetic foods were evaluated by calibration graphs