New Advances in NGS Technologies

In the next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods, a DNA molecule of an individual is broken down into many small fragments to make up the so-called sequencing library. These small fragments serve as a template for the synthesis of numerous complementary fragments (called reads). Every small piece of the original DNA is copied many times in a variable number of reads. Depending on the desired accuracy level, it is possible to set the system to achieve a certain level of coverage, i.e., a number of reads per fragment. A level of 30X coverage is already sufficient for the routine diagnosis of most of the Mendelian diseases. All the sequences are then transferred into a computer and aligned with a reference sequence available in the international databases. By this way, all sequences of reads can be recomposed as a fine puzzle to obtain the sequence of a single gene or whole genome. The NGS machines, available today, are very flexible devices. In fact, an NGS sequencer can be used for different types of applications: (1) whole-genome sequencing (WGS): analysis of the entire genome of an individual; (2) whole exome sequencing (WES): analysis of the entire coding genes of an individual; (3) targeted sequencing: analysis of a set of genes or a single gene; (4) transcriptome analysis: analysis of all the RNA produced by specific cells

Recent Trends and Economic Aspects in the Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) Sector

In recent decades, the global aquaculture sector has become more complex and dynamic due to several factors, such as strong demand at the retail level, diversification of farmed species, outsourcing of product processing, and synergies among producers, processors, and retailers. Globally, the fish food sector has become very important to meet the growing human demand for food. In 2020, 89% of fish production was used for direct human consumption (17% of the total protein consumed). Global fish consumption has increased (excluding algae) at an annual rate of 3% since 1960. In 2030, the total fish production is expected to reach 202 million tons (MT) and the aquaculture production 106 MT. The United Nations has estimated that, between now and 2030, the global demand for fish products will increase by at least 40 MT each year. This need cannot be satisfied by fishing alone, given that fishing practices have reached an intensity that is unsustainable, and that climate change and pollution are worsening the problems of marine ecosystems. European and Italian aquaculture is characterised by a diversification scenario in terms of production systems, technologies adopted, and species bred. According to an EU report, Italian aquaculture production has grown by 4% in the last five years (fourth place in Europe). In Italy, rainbow trout is the most widely farmed species. The production of rainbow trout contributes approximately 25.5% of the total value and 69.9% of the volume of farmed fish. Over the past ten years, trout production has increased by 8.5% overall with an average annual growth rate of 2.5%. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the economic situation of the rainbow trout production and consumption sectors in Italy using a supply chain approach. In particular, in this brief excursus, the main production trends and the economic and organisational relationships between the various companies and associations in the aquaculture sector are analysed

Subcooling with AC and adiabatic gas cooling for energy efficiency improvement: field tests and modelling of CO2 booster systems

In the last decade several plant configurations and components have been proposed to increase the efficiency of CO2 refrigeration systems. Among these, subcooling is considered a simple but effective solution, together with the employment of adiabatic cooling systems at the gas cooler. In this work, a fully instrumented CO2 booster plant installed in a supermarket is considered, to compare parallel compression, subcooling and adiabatic cooling. Subcooling is performed taking advantage of chilled water available from the HVAC system. The experimental data are used to validate a model for the comparison on a yearly basis. Parallel compression and subcooling show to be almost equivalent in terms of yearly energy use, while the adiabatic cooling system gives the best performance. Comparisons reveal that the subcooler cooling capacity should be chosen carefully to avoid oversizing, while the influence of the EER for the chiller appears quite small. Subcooling performed at the expense of an HVAC plant shows to be an interesting solution, while a great benefit was experienced with the employment of an adiabatic gas cooler

Canine Genetics and Genomics

In the past fifteen years, tremendous progress has been made in dog genomics. Several genetic aspects of cancer, heart disease, hip dysplasia, vision and hearing problems in dogs have been investigated and studied in detail. Genome-wide associative studies have made it possible to identify several genes associated with diseases, morphological and behavioral traits. The dog genome contains an extraordinary amount of genetic variability that distinguishes the different dog breeds. As a consequence of the selective programs, applied using stringent breed standards, each dog breed represents, today, a population isolated from the others. The availability of modern next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques and the identification of millions of single functional mutations (SNPs) has enabled us to obtain new and unknown detailed genomic data of the different breeds

Effects of different moisture sorption curves on hygrothermal simulations of timber buildings

Building energy simulations are a key tool to design high performance buildings capable of facing the future challenges and to help reaching the emissions reduction targets. Currently, thermal properties of materials used in most building energy simulations are assumed to be constant and not dependent of moisture content and temperature. Heat and moisture dynamic transfer models allow to simulate building envelope performance considering thermal resistance reduction due to moisture effects. These models are generally considered more accurate than the heat transfer models and they could be used to simulate the heat transfer (increased by water vapour storage) and the moisture buffering effect on the indoor environment. For the simulation to be performed, hygrothermal material properties should be known as functions of moisture content. Nevertheless, hygrothermal material properties are rarely available and correlations from the literature have to be used. In this study, the moisture storage curves of CLT, OSB and two types of wood fibre insulation have been measured with a dynamic vapour sorption analyser. The other hygrothermal properties are estimated from values measured in previous studies or taken from the literature. The simulations of two small single room buildings in four Italian locations are performed with the software EnergyPlus, considering an ideal HVAC system, to calculate the heating and cooling needs of the building. The HAMT (heat and moisture transfer) module of EnergyPlus is used. With the results presented in this study, it is possible to evaluate how an approximated curve affects the results of a whole-building simulation in terms of wall average water content, indoor air relative humidity and heating/cooling loads

Simulation of multi-deck medium temperature display cabinets with the integration of CFD and cooling coil models

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Applied Energy. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2010 Elsevier B.V.In this paper, the model for the multi-deck medium temperature display cabinets is developed with the integration of CFD and cooling coil sub-models. The distributed method is used to develop the cooling coil model with the airside inputs from the outputs of the CFD model. Inversely, the airside outputs from the cooling coil model are used to update the boundary conditions of the CFD model. To validate this cabinet model, a multi-deck medium temperature display cabinet refrigerated with a secondary refrigerant cooling coil was selected as a prototype and mounted in an air conditioned chamber. Extensive tests were conducted at constant space air temperature and varied relative humilities. The cabinet model has been validated by comparing with the test results for the parameters of air at different locations of the flow path, and temperatures of refrigerant and food product, etc. The validated model is therefore used to explore and analyse the cabinet performance and control strategies at various operating and design conditions.DEFR

Targeted chitosan nanobubbles as a strategy to down-regulate microRNA-17 into B-cell lymphoma models

IntroductionMicroRNAs represent interesting targets for new therapies because their altered expression influences tumor development and progression. miR-17 is a prototype of onco-miRNA, known to be overexpressed in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL) with peculiar clinic-biological features. AntagomiR molecules have been largely studied to repress the regulatory functions of up-regulated onco-miRNAs, but their clinical use is mainly limited by their rapid degradation, kidney elimination and poor cellular uptake when injected as naked oligonucleotides.MethodsTo overcome these problems, we exploited CD20 targeted chitosan nanobubbles (NBs) for a preferential and safe delivery of antagomiR17 to B-NHL cells.ResultsPositively charged 400 nm-sized nanobubbles (NBs) represent a stable and effective nanoplatform for antagomiR encapsulation and specific release into B-NHL cells. NBs rapidly accumulated in tumor microenvironment, but only those conjugated with a targeting system (antiCD20 antibodies) were internalized into B-NHL cells, releasing antagomiR17 in the cytoplasm, both in vitro and in vivo. The result is the down-regulation of miR-17 level and the reduction in tumor burden in a human-mouse B-NHL model, without any documented side effects.DiscussionAnti-CD20 targeted NBs investigated in this study showed physico-chemical and stability properties suitable for antagomiR17 delivery in vivo and represent a useful nanoplatform to address B-cell malignancies or other cancers through the modification of their surface with specific targeting antibodies