Hygienization performances of innovative sludge treatment solutions to assure safe land spreading

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Predictive Value of MR-proADM in the Risk Stratification and in the Adequate Care Setting of COVID-19 Patients Assessed at the Triage of the Emergency Department

In the past two pandemic years, Emergency Departments (ED) have been overrun with COVID-19-suspicious patients. Some data on the role played by laboratory biomarkers in the early risk stratification of COVID-19 patients have been recently published. The aim of this study is to assess the potential role of the new biomarker mid-regional proadrenomedullin (MR-proADM) in stratifying the in-hospital mortality risk of COVID-19 patients at the triage. A further goal of the present study is to evaluate whether MR-proADM together with other biochemical markers could play a key role in assessing the correct care level of these patients. Data from 321 consecutive patients admitted to the triage of the ED with a COVID-19 infection were analyzed. Epidemiological; demographic; clinical; laboratory; and outcome data were assessed. All the biomarkers analyzed showed an important role in predicting mortality. In particular, an increase of MR-proADM level at ED admission was independently associated with a threefold higher risk of IMV. MR-proADM showed greater ROC curves and AUC when compared to other laboratory biomarkers for the primary endpoint such as in-hospital mortality, except for CRP. This study shows that MR-proADM seems to be particularly effective for early predicting mortality and the need of ventilation in COVID-19 patients admitted to the ED

Quantitative image analysis for the characterization of microbial aggregates in biological wastewater treatment : a review

Quantitative image analysis techniques have gained an undeniable role in several fields of research during the last decade. In the field of biological wastewater treatment (WWT) processes, several computer applications have been developed for monitoring microbial entities, either as individual cells or in different types of aggregates. New descriptors have been defined that are more reliable, objective, and useful than the subjective and time-consuming parameters classically used to monitor biological WWT processes. Examples of this application include the objective prediction of filamentous bulking, known to be one of the most problematic phenomena occurring in activated sludge technology. It also demonstrated its usefulness in classifying protozoa and metazoa populations. In high-rate anaerobic processes, based on granular sludge, aggregation times and fragmentation phenomena could be detected during critical events, e.g., toxic and organic overloads. Currently, the major efforts and needs are in the development of quantitative image analysis techniques focusing on its application coupled with stained samples, either by classical or fluorescent-based techniques. The use of quantitative morphological parameters in process control and online applications is also being investigated. This work reviews the major advances of quantitative image analysis applied to biological WWT processes.The authors acknowledge the financial support to the project PTDC/EBB-EBI/103147/2008 and the grant SFRH/BPD/48962/2008 provided by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (Portugal)

Nutraceutical therapies for atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting large and medium arteries and is considered to be a major underlying cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although the development of pharmacotherapies to treat CVD has contributed to a decline in cardiac mortality in the past few decades, CVD is estimated to be the cause of one-third of deaths globally. Nutraceuticals are natural nutritional compounds that are beneficial for the prevention or treatment of disease and, therefore, are a possible therapeutic avenue for the treatment of atherosclerosis. The purpose of this Review is to highlight potential nutraceuticals for use as antiatherogenic therapies with evidence from in vitro and in vivo studies. Furthermore, the current evidence from observational and randomized clinical studies into the role of nutraceuticals in preventing atherosclerosis in humans will also be discussed

Network analysis of pension funds investments

In this paper, we analyze the Italian pension funds and their declared benchmarks, which are market indexes. Within this perspective, the amounts invested in accord to the declared benchmarks can be analyzed like as a portfolio of benchmarks. We aim at understanding whether the pension funds investments are in line with the optimal portfolios which can be built through the declared benchmarks. To achieve the results, we set up a portfolio optimization problem building two networks of pension funds: one based on the (Pearson) correlation, and the other measuring the tail correlation. For each network, we use the local clustering coefficients to describe the level of connectivity, and we insert it in the risk function. This approach allows us to consider the network measures directly in the portfolio optimization model. We compare the results with the classical Markowitz setting, and we find a new efficient frontier overperforming the Markowitz one. A comparison among the performances of pension funds and their declared portfolio of benchmarks is also reported

Stima di basi tecniche per assicurazioni LTC, malattie gravi e invalidità

L’Italia del futuro, in linea con trend che accomunano molti paesi occidentali, sarà composta da una proporzione di persone anziane decisamente maggiore rispetto a oggi: in base alle previsioni di istituti pubblici nazionali, i soggetti con età pari a 65 anni e più, attualmente intorno a un quinto della popolazione, rappresenteranno un terzo degli italiani nel 2060 e due terzi della popolazione in età attiva. Il numero di soggetti con età inferiore a 20 anni e almeno pari a 65 supererà quello dei soggetti in età attiva. Nello stesso orizzonte temporale la spesa pubblica per la non autosufficienza passerà dall’attuale 2 al 3,3% del prodotto interno lordo. Qual è il paese che dobbiamo aspettarci a seguito di questo sommovimento generazionale, definito da alcuni lo «tsunami d’argento» delle economie avanzate? Quali sono le sfide più importanti da affrontare

PHA storage from several substrates by different morphological types in an anoxic/aerobic SBR

An activated sludge was cultivated on a mixture of several soluble substrates (acetate, ethanol, glucose, glutamic acid, peptone, Tween 80, starch, yeast extract) in an anoxic/aerobic SBR. Highly dynamic conditions in the SBR (feast famine regime) caused fast removal of most COD in the anoxic phase (in particular acetate, ethanol, glutamic acid and glucose were totally removed) and relevant contribution of storage. In spite of that, filament abundance was always high, as is typical of bulking sludges. Filaments which developed in the reactor were characterized on a morphological basis and on the basis of their ability to grow and to store polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Three main filaments prevailed in the biocenosis, whose relative abundance was varyng with time: Nostocoida limicola II, (two different morphological types), Haliscomenobacter hydrossis and an unidentified one. It was found that maximum growth rate was higher for flocformers than for filaments on each of the tested substrates. Epifluorescence showed that storage ability was more widespread among flocformers than in the filaments. Only one type of Nostocoida limicola II was able to store PHAs. The obtained data show that aerobic growth on the little residual fraction of COD from the anoxic phase was enough to support high abundance of filamentous microorganisms