Mechanical-physical experimental tests on lime mortars and bricks reinforced with hemp

Hemp is an agricultural product used for various applications. In the Civil Engineering field, only a limited use of this natural material, called the “green pig” since exploitation of all its constituent parts is allowed, has been done. For this reason, in the paper an experimental activity on lime mortars and bricks reinforced with hemp components has been performed. Compression and bending tests have been carried out on specimens manufactured with hemp shives and fibres, respectively. The achieved results have shown that hemp products change the failure modes from brittle to ductile, leaving basically unaltered the strength capacity of reinforced specimens with respect to unreinforced ones

Effect of storage conditions on seed germination of eigTyrrhenian endemic vascular plant species of conservation interest

The conservation of endemic and endangered plant species is of great interest to the scientific and research community. In this frame, seed banks play a crucial role when biodiversity preservation and climate change are considered. The study of seed viability and germination during storage conditions provides basic and useful information to ensure successful ex situ conservation. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether storage time and conditions (i.e., base collection at -25°C and active collection at +5°C) affect seed germination in the long term. For these purposes, eight Tyrrhenian endemic vascular plant species (mostly endangered) with orthodox seeds were studied: Brassica insularis, Centranthus amazonum, Dianthus morisianus, Digitalis purpurea var. gyspergerae, Ferula arrigonii, Helicodiceros muscivorus, Iberis integerrima and Verbascum plantagineum. These species were stored in the Sardinian Germplasm Bank (BG-SAR) at -25°C and at +5°C for a time ranging from 2 to 12 years. Germination tests were carried out following the optimal conditions reported in the literature for each species. The results showed, in general terms, the high seed germination capacity of all species stored at both conditions; regarding the time of seed storage, germination in some tested species (such as B. insularis and C. amazonum) slightly decreased over time. We argued that seed dehydration, low seed moisture content during storage and the use of hermetic glass containers can be considered key factors for long-term conservation of these orthodox seeds. In conclusion, this study showed that the conservation of these endemic species is ensured by seed bank storage, according to the general assumption that seed longevity depends on seed lot quality, on well-sealed storage containers and conditions before and during storage

Delayed diagnosis of coeliac disease increases cancer risk

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The Association of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy with Metabolic Syndrome is Dependent on Body Mass Index in Hypertensive Overweight or Obese Patients

Overweight (Ow) and obesity (Ob) influence blood pressure (BP) and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). It is unclear whether the presence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) independently affects echocardiographic parameters in hypertension.380 Ow/Ob essential hypertensive patients (age ≤ 65 years) presenting for referred BP control-related problems. MetS was defined according to NCEP III/ATP with AHA modifications and LVH as LVM/h(2.7) ≥ 49.2 g/m(2.7) in males and ≥ 46.7 g/m(2.7) in females. Treatment intensity score (TIS) was used to control for BP treatment as previously reported.Hypertensive patients with MetS had significantly higher BMI, systolic and mean BP, interventricular septum and relative wall thickness and lower ejection fraction than those without MetS. LVM/h(2.7) was significantly higher in MetS patients (59.14 ± 14.97 vs. 55.33 ± 14.69 g/m(2.7); p = 0.022). Hypertensive patients with MetS had a 2.3-fold higher risk to have LVH/h(2.7) after adjustment for age, SBP and TIS (OR 2.34; 95%CI 1.40-3.92; p = 0.001), but MetS lost its independent relationship with LVH when BMI was included in the model.In Ow/Ob hypertensive patients MetS maintains its role of risk factor for LVH independently of age, SBP, and TIS, resulting in a useful predictor of target organ damage in clinical practice. However, MetS loses its independent relationship when BMI is taken into account, suggesting that the effects on MetS on LV parameters are mainly driven by the degree of adiposity

Predictive Power Estimation Algorithm (PPEA) - A New Algorithm to Reduce Overfitting for Genomic Biomarker Discovery

Toxicogenomics promises to aid in predicting adverse effects, understanding the mechanisms of drug action or toxicity, and uncovering unexpected or secondary pharmacology. However, modeling adverse effects using high dimensional and high noise genomic data is prone to over-fitting. Models constructed from such data sets often consist of a large number of genes with no obvious functional relevance to the biological effect the model intends to predict that can make it challenging to interpret the modeling results. To address these issues, we developed a novel algorithm, Predictive Power Estimation Algorithm (PPEA), which estimates the predictive power of each individual transcript through an iterative two-way bootstrapping procedure. By repeatedly enforcing that the sample number is larger than the transcript number, in each iteration of modeling and testing, PPEA reduces the potential risk of overfitting. We show with three different cases studies that: (1) PPEA can quickly derive a reliable rank order of predictive power of individual transcripts in a relatively small number of iterations, (2) the top ranked transcripts tend to be functionally related to the phenotype they are intended to predict, (3) using only the most predictive top ranked transcripts greatly facilitates development of multiplex assay such as qRT-PCR as a biomarker, and (4) more importantly, we were able to demonstrate that a small number of genes identified from the top-ranked transcripts are highly predictive of phenotype as their expression changes distinguished adverse from nonadverse effects of compounds in completely independent tests. Thus, we believe that the PPEA model effectively addresses the over-fitting problem and can be used to facilitate genomic biomarker discovery for predictive toxicology and drug responses

Promoting Sustainable Development Through Culturale Heritage

Taking into account the changes from the industrialized 20th to the new sustainable socio-economic orientation of the 21st century many city council members, organization managers and so on, have begun to “look around” and surprisingly “have discovered” what has been, from time immemorial, right before their eyes: a huge cultural heritage of immense value that was waiting only to be appreciated! In such a situation the main question pertains to the comprehension of the beliefs, behaviour, skills and maybe tools that may help human beings, organizations and countries deal with the fascinating challenges of this new era: start development by taking intangible assets, like culture and identity. How can the culture and identity heritage generate sustainable socio-economic development? This paper has the aim to present an example which may make this new challenge welcome. More exactly, the purposes are: to describe and to analyze a project being carried out at the same time in Sardinia (Italy) and in La Libertad (Peru) setting up a survey to find out the people’s perceptions. The methodology used is storytelling. The interest for the research considered here, is connected with a predominant number of studies that analyze culture’s contribution to the regeneration of large areas, or large cities. With this paper we fill this gap considering the experience of two villages, one in Sardinia and the other in La Libertad, that with audacity, creativity and hard work, make the tacit knowledge clearly mixed in their culture and expressed in their identity. The contribution of this research is to add a piece of knowledge in the puzzle of characteristics that must be chosen to build sustainable socio-economic development in two rural areas where only cultural heritage is abundant. Taking into account the fact that a large proportion of the world needs to discover what is necessary to start up economic development, and that each part of the world is rich in cultural heritages, we hypothesize that this “model” may be replicated (this is a future step of this research). The reason is connected with the specificity of the basic resource of the project presented: culture and its connected knowledge is an unlimited resource. The real challenge is to understand that culture and identity are true resources even if not tangibles. How is it possible that people living in little villages make this challenge true? In which way are they acting? What is the meaning of their international partnership

Promoting Sustainable Development through Cultural Heritage

Taking into account the changes from the industrialized 20th to the new sustainable socio-economic orientation of the 21st century many city council members, organization managers and so on, have begun to “look around” and surprisingly “have discovered” what has been, from time immemorial, right before their eyes: a huge cultural heritage of immense value that was waiting only to be appreciated! In such a situation the main question pertains to the comprehension of the beliefs, behaviour, skills and maybe tools that may help human beings, organizations and countries deal with the fascinating challenges of this new era: start development by taking intangible assets, like culture and identity. How can the culture and identity heritage generate sustainable socio-economic development? This paper has the aim to present an example which may make this new challenge welcome. More exactly, the purposes are: to describe and to analyze a project being carried out at the same time in Sardinia (Italy) and in La Libertad (Peru) setting up a survey to find out the people’s perceptions. The methodology used is storytelling. The interest for the research considered here, is connected with a predominant number of studies that analyze culture’s contribution to the regeneration of large areas, or large cities. With this paper we fill this gap considering the experience of two villages, one in Sardinia and the other in La Libertad, that with audacity, creativity and hard work, make the tacit knowledge clearly mixed in their culture and expressed in their identity. The contribution of this research is to add a piece of knowledge in the puzzle of characteristics that must be chosen to build sustainable socio-economic development in two rural areas where only cultural heritage is abundant. Taking into account the fact that a large proportion of the world needs to discover what is necessary to start up economic development, and that each part of the world is rich in cultural heritages, we hypothesize that this “model” may be replicated (this is a future step of this research). The reason is connected with the specificity of the basic resource of the project presented: culture and its connected knowledge is an unlimited resource. The real challenge is to understand that culture and identity are true resources even if not tangibles. How is it possible that people living in little villages make this challenge true? In which way are they acting? What is the meaning of their international partnership