On the limits of industrial premixed combustion simulation

This work analyses the simulation potential of two premixed turbulent combustion models based on different combustion mechanism concepts: the Eddy Dissipation Concept based on the volume combustion mechanism, and the Turbulent Flame-speed Closure based on the thickened-wrinkled amelets combustion mechanism. Ability of simulating numerically a standard experimental test case (premixed methane-air combustion in a plane channel at high flow velocity) and the influence of flow parameters variation on the combustion process have been tested. The paper shows that the flamelets model describes the standard experimental data more accurately. Furthermore, comparisons of the two models results obtained varying combustion flow parameters show the presence of quantitatively, and in one case even qualitatively different trends. These results are explained, and potentialities and limits of these models are discussed from an industrial premixed burner applications standpoint

Mitochondrial DNA lineages of Italian Giara and Sarcidano horses

Giara and Sarcidano are 2 of the 15 extant native Italian horse breeds with limited dispersal capability that originated from a larger number of individuals. The 2 breeds live in two distinct isolated locations on the island of Sardinia. To determine the genetic structure and evolutionary history of these 2 Sardinian breeds, the first hypervariable segment of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was sequenced and analyzed in 40 Giara and Sarcidano horses and compared with publicly available mtDNA data from 43 Old World breeds. Four different analyses, including genetic distance, analysis of molecular variance, haplotype sharing, and clustering methods, were used to study the genetic relationships between the Sardinian and other horse breeds. The analyses yielded similar results, and the FST values indicated that a high percentage of the total genetic variation was explained by between-breed differences. Consistent with their distinct phenotypes and geographic isolation, the two Sardinian breeds were shown to consist of 2 distinct gene pools that had no gene flow between them. Giara horses were clearly separated from the other breeds examined and showed traces of ancient separation from horses of other breeds that share the same mitochondrial lineage. On the other hand, the data from the Sarcidano horses fit well with variation among breeds from the Iberian Peninsula and North-West Europe: genetic relationships among Sarcidano and the other breeds are consistent with the documented history of this breed

Numerical simulation of premixed combustion flows: a comparative study

In this work four different commercial and research CFD codes have been compared for the simulation of two combustion test cases. The aim was to get an overview of the capabilities of these different tools to simulate combustion flows in premixed regimes. Codes tested were Fluent, CFX, StarCD and Tanit. Three combustion models have been applied, namely the Eddy Break Up, the Eddy Dissipation Model and the Turbulent Flame Closure, the turbulence model used being the standard k-epsilon. Numerical results have been found to fairly fit experiments and helped to show some drawbacks of combustion models. In its theoretically correct range of applicability the TFC model has been found to give the better agreement with experiments

Investigation of the clinical utility of two potential pro-oncogenic genes in prostate cancer and breast cancer

The Identification of novel and specific biomarkers is crucial to diagnosis, and prognosis, in patients with prostate and breast cancer. Because cancer therapies have side effects in patients, discovering and potentially targeting specific biomarkers could promote the use of personalised approach for a more effective treatment. Firstly, we have focused on the development of a monoclonal antibody-drug-based therapy, targeting prostate cancer stem cells (PCSCs), using a monoclonal antibody (mAb) previously generated in our laboratory against human endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR). PCSCs were isolated using lentivirus expressing the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) under NANOG-promoter generating two populations NANOG-EGFP+ and NANOG-EGFP- and analysed for EPCR expression. No significant difference was observed in the expression of EPCR between NANOG-EGFP+ and NANOGEGFP- cell populations. A lack of conclusive correlation was observed between EPCR deficient cells with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers, cancer stem cells (CSCs), and stem cell markers. Finally, Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) was used to look at the tissue expression in normal and tumour tissue, showing high expression of EPCR in endothelial cells. Finally, based tissue expression profiling, EPCR is not a suitable candidate for antibody targeting as it would lead to off-target effects in multiple tissues, therefore no further experiments were designed using EPCR as a target biomarker. Following this, a feasible study on the effect of Sperm-Associated Antigen 5 (SPAG5) chemoresistance and cancer progression in prostate and breast cancer was performed. The transcriptome and proteome of SPAG5 deficient were investigated in triple-negative breast cancer (TBC) MDA-MB-231 and androgenindependent prostate cancer DU145 cell lines, by RNA-sequencing and mass spectrometry (MS) analysis. Transcriptome was performed and a total of 2,201 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in MDA-MB-231 SPAG5 deficient cells, while 907 DEGs DU145 SPAG5 deficient cells, versus control empty vector pLKO.1 cells, were identified. No significant differences in the cell cycle were observed in Doxorubicin and Epirubicin treatment DU145 and MDA-MB-231 SPAG5 deficient cells versus controls. A list of the most statistically significant genes upregulated and downregulated was taken forward for verification for common and unique pathways, through free available online resources such as METASCAPE, and Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway and Gene Ontology (GO). Using StatsPro free online sources proteomics analysis generated 230 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in MDA-MB- 231 SPAG5 deficient cells and 65 DEPs DU145 SPAG5 deficient versus control cells. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network using Cytoscape has been conducted for enrichment KEGG analysis. Cross-over data from MS and RNAseq upregulated and downregulated genes in MDA-MB-231 and DU145 SPAG5 deficient were compared to in silico data from cBioPortal tool. Interestingly, positive correlation was observed in genes involved in cell cycle, but also in genes involved in catalyse and biosynthesis of cholesterol. Collectively those data offer a wider insight into the association of SPAG5 in cancer progression and its potential role not only in pathways involved in cell cycle but also how in lipid metabolism in cancer

Strong existence and uniqueness of the stationary distribution for a stochastic inviscid dyadic model

We consider an inviscid stochastically forced dyadic model, where the additive noise acts only on the first component. We prove that a strong solution for this problem exists and is unique by means of uniform energy estimates. Moreover, we exploit these results to establish strong existence and uniqueness of the stationary distribution

Italian adaptation of the MOQ-T as a fast screening instrument based on teachers' ratings for identifying developmental coordination disorder symptoms

The present study was designed to collect data on the Italian adaptation of the Motor Observation Questionnaire for Teachers (MOQ-T, Schoemaker, Flapper, Reinders-Messelink, & De Kloet, 2008). We provide data for 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grades, in some cases distinguishing males from females. On the basis of the present and previous evidence (Giofrè et al., 2014) the MOQ-T appears a valid and a fast screening instrument for detecting developmental coordination disorders (DCD) symptoms (on the basis of teachers' ratings) in children and can be very important as a first step in the process for diagnosing DCD

POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF COLOSTRUM IN GASTROINTESTINAL DISEASES

This paper reviews the composition of colostrum and the potebntial preventive and therapeutic use of this "first milk" for treating various gastrointestinal disorders in humans. Colostrum is a complex biological liquid that is rich in antimicrobial peptides, immune-regulanting compounds and growth factors than the subsequent mature milk. The main functions of colostrum are to provide essential nutritional components, strenghten the natural defense system, modulate immune response, balance intestinal microbiota and enhance the growth and repair of several tissues. several studies and clinical trials carried out both in vitro and in vivo on humans and animals suggest the clinical benefits of bovine colostrum (BC) supplementation in gastro-intestinal diseases. Despite the encouraging results, there are no contraindications regarding high dose levels and few side effects of clinical relevance have been reported. In conclusion, in the near future, colostrum-based supplementations may be play a role to synthetic drugs in the prevention and treatment of various gastrointestinal disorders