A smart algorithm to optimally manage the charging strategy of the Home to Vehicle (H2V) and Vehicle to Home (V2H) technologies in an off-grid home powered by renewable sources

The reduction of electrical energy needs in buildings is accompanied by the use of hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) for the production of energy on-site to be used for appliances and lighting and also for mobility through electric vehicle (EV) charging. With reference to this framework, the paper compared the tradition Home to Vehicle (H2V) technology with the Vehicle to Home (V2H) technology in HRES for residential users. The HRES consists of a photovoltaic (PV) generator, a wind generator, an electrical storage system and a charging station for an EV, in a stand-alone context. V2H technology provides for the use of the EV as an emergency energy source if the generation and storage systems are unable to guarantee the satisfaction of the residential load. Considering an off-grid single-family user located in the Sila National Park (Calabria, Italy), two enhanced EV charging strategies were investigated that both foresee the possibility of EV charging at night and an additional extra charge during the day to reduce the load demand and the produced HRES excess energy, which must be dissipated in an off-grid context. The two charging strategies differ in the choice of whether or not to carry out nocturnal charging depending on the EV state of charge. For this purpose, an algorithm is proposed that can optimally manage both enhanced EV charging strategies for both H2V and V2H technologies. The dynamic simulations of the HRES operation were carried out through TRNSYS, for the dynamic simulation of the PV and wind systems, which is coupled with MATLAB to dynamically simulate the residential battery and the H2V and V2H technologies. Starting from the hourly results obtained, weekly and yearly energy analyses were carried out for two different residential storage system sizes to identify in which conditions V2H and charging strategies provide beneficial effects in terms of energy missing to satisfy the load and overall energy required by the load

Effectiveness of mRNA Vaccine Booster against SARS-CoV-2 Infection and COVID-19 in the Adult Population during the First Three Months of the Omicron Wave in Sicily

Background: In Italy, the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine booster dose started on 27 September 2021, supported by clinical trials corroborating its efficacy. Given the paucity of real-world effectiveness data, this study aims to estimate the vaccine effectiveness of the booster dose against SARS-CoV-2 infection, severe disease, and death in the adult Sicilian population. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was carried out from 1 January to 31 March 2022 and included all residents in Sicily aged >= 18 years without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and with a complete mRNA vaccine primary cycle. The cohort was split into two groups (booster and primary cycle) matched by age, gender, vaccine type, and month of completion of the primary vaccination cycle. Results: 913,382 subjects were observed in the study: 456,690 (50%) were vaccinated with two doses and 456,692 (50%) with three doses. There were 43,299 cases of SARS-CoV-2 among the two-doses vaccinees (9.5%) and 10,262 (2.2%) among the three-doses counterpart. Vaccine effectiveness in the booster cohort was 76.5% and 74.4% against SARS-CoV-2 infection, 85.7% and 79.7% against severe disease, and 84.1% and 73.1% against intubation or death, for BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273, respectively. Conclusions: This study confirmed the remarkable efficacy profile of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine booster dose against infection, severe disease, and death attributable to the virus. Overall, the results of this study provide important real-world data to support the continued roll-out of the COVID-19 booster dose and have the potential to inform public health policy and guide decisions on vaccination strategies in countries around the world

6MWT performance correlates with peripheral neuropathy but not with cardiac involvement in patients with hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (hATTR)

Abstract Hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (hATTR) is a life-threatening multisystemic disease with sensory-motor peripheral neuropathy, cardiomyopathy and dysautonomia. Although the six-minute walk test (6MWT) is one of the most popular clinical tests to assess functional exercise capacity in cardiopulmonary and neuromuscular diseases, little is known about 6MWT in evaluating hATTR patients. A prospective single-center pilot study was performed in twenty hATTR patients, comparing 6MWT with widely used outcome measures. After 18 months, fourteen patients were re-evaluated. 6MWT performance was highly related with familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy stage and polyneuropathy disability score, and with CMT examination score, neuropathy impairment score-lower limbs and Kumamoto score. There was no correlation with compound autonomic dysfunction test, modified body mass index and numerous indices of heart dysfunction. After 18 months, familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy stage and polyneuropathy disability score systems were not able to reveal any significant change, whereas all other outcome measures significantly worsened. Among the outcome measures monitoring the neuropathic disturbances, neuropathy impairment score-lower limbs showed the highest responsiveness to change (adjusted effect size: 0.79), followed by CMT examination score (0.67), Kumamoto scale (0.65), 6MWT (0.62). 10MWT showed a very small value (0.21). Compound autonomic dysfunction test had a large value (0.91) whereas modified body mass index a small/moderate value (0.49). 6MWT is a simple and sensitive tool to monitor neuropathic involvement but not cardiac dysfunction in hATTR course

Very early onset of ATTRE89Q amyloidosis in a homozygous patient

Case Presentarion: Hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis is a progressive, fatal disease that generally involves the peripheral nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, and the heart. It is autosomal dominant with different penetrance depending on the mutation and the genetic background. Many other missense mutations of the TTR gene may cause the disease. Being an overall rare disease is very rare to observe the condition of homozygosity. In particular, cases of homozygosity have been described in patients with ATTRV30M and ATTRV122I amyloidosis. In the former, the phenotype does not seem to be aggravated, having an age of onset and disease course that does not appear to differ from those of heterozygotes, while in the latter, the onset appears to be earlier. Conclusion: We report the first case of ATTRE89Q amyloidosis in a patient that was homozygous for the E89Q mutation in the TTR gene. The clinical phenotype resulted in the earlier disease onset reported in this form of amyloidosis, suggesting that the homozygous condition may be prognostically negative

Compositional study and antioxidant potential of Ipomoea hederacea Jacq. and Lepidium sativum L. seeds

The present investigation has been carried out to find the proximate composition, amino acids, metal contents, oil composition as well as the antioxidant capacity of the seeds of Ipomoea hederacea Jacq. and Lepidium sativum L. Proximate composition indicated a great difference in oil (14.09\ub10.66, 28.03\ub11.05) and fibre (16.55\ub10.31, 6.75\ub11.20) contents for I. hederacea and L. sativum, respectively. Fatty acid profile indicated that oleic acid (19.50 \ub1 0.37, 30.50 \ub1 0.16) and linoleic acid (52.09 \ub1 0.48, 8.60 \ub1 0.38) are major fatty acids. \u3b3-Tocopheol and alfa-tocopheol (28.70 \ub1 0.14, 111.56 \ub1 0.37) were the most abundant in the seed oil of I. hederacea and L. sativum, respectively. Results of antioxidant assays like TEAC, FRAP and TRAP indicated that L. sativum has much greater antioxidant potential than I. hederacea

Attitude to Co-Administration of Influenza and COVID-19 Vaccines among Pregnant Women Exploring the Health Action Process Approach Model

: Respiratory tract diseases caused by influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 can represent a serious threat to the health of pregnant women. Immunological remodulation for fetus tolerance and physiological changes in the gestational chamber expose both mother and child to fearful complications and a high risk of hospitalization. Vaccines to protect pregnant women from influenza and COVID-19 are strongly recommended and vaccine co-administration could be advantageous to increase coverage of both vaccines. The attitude to accept both vaccines is affected by several factors: social, cultural, and cognitive-behavioral. In Palermo, Italy, during the 2021-2022 influenza season, a cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate pregnant women's intention to adhere to co-administration of influenza and COVID-19 vaccines. The determinants of vaccination attitude were investigated through the administration of a questionnaire and the Health Action Process Approach theory was adopted to explore the cognitive behavioral aspects. Overall, 120 pregnant women were enrolled; mean age 32 years, 98.2% (n = 118) of Italian nationality and 25.2% (n = 30) with obstetric or pathological conditions of pregnancy at risk. Factors significantly associated with the attitude to co-administration of influenza and COVID-19 vaccines among pregnant women were: high level of education (OR = 13.96; p < 0.001), positive outcome expectations (OR = 2.84; p < 0.001), and self-efficacy (OR = 3.1; p < 0.001). Effective strategies to promote the co-administration of the influenza vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine should be based on the communication of the benefits and positive outcomes of vaccine co-administration and on the adequate information of pregnant women

Rare among rare: phenotypes of uncommon CMT genotypes

(1) Background: Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is the most frequent form of inherited chronic motor and sensory polyneuropathy. Over 100 CMT causative genes have been identified. Previous reports found PMP22, GJB1, MPZ, and MFN2 as the most frequently involved genes. Other genes, such as BSCL2, MORC2, HINT1, LITAF, GARS, and autosomal dominant GDAP1 are responsible for only a minority of CMT cases. (2) Methods: we present here our records of CMT patients harboring a mutation in one of these rare genes (BSCL2, MORC2, HINT1, LITAF, GARS, autosomal dominant GDAP1). We studied 17 patients from 8 unrelated families. All subjects underwent neurologic evaluation and genetic testing by next-generation sequencing on an Ion Torrent PGM (Thermo Fischer) with a 44-gene custom panel. (3) Results: the following variants were found: BSCL2 c.263A > G p.Asn88Ser (eight subjects), MORC2 c.1503A > T p.Gln501His (one subject), HINT1 c.110G > C p.Arg37Pro (one subject), LITAF c.404C > G p.Pro135Arg (two subjects), GARS c.1660G > A p.Asp554Asn (three subjects), GDAP1 c.374G > A p.Arg125Gln (two subjects). (4) Expanding the spectrum of CMT phenotypes is of high relevance, especially for less common variants that have a higher risk of remaining undiagnosed. The necessity of reaching a genetic definition for most patients is great, potentially making them eligible for future experimentations

Neurobiological Dysfunctional Substrates for the Self-Medication Hypothesis in Adult Individuals with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Cocaine Use Disorder:A Fluorine-18-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Study

Objectives: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adulthood shows high co-occurrence rates with cocaine use disorder (CoUD). The self-medication hypothesis (SMH) provides a theoretical explanation for this comorbidity. This study investigates the neurobiological mechanisms that could support SMH in adult patients with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder with cocaine use disorder (ADHD–CoUD).Materials and Methods: We included 19 ADHD–CoUD patients (84.2% male; age: 32.11 years [7.18]) and 16 CoUD patients (68.7% male; age: 36.63 years [8.12]). All subjects underwent a fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET) brain scan. We tested brain metabolism differences between ADHD–CoUD and CoUD patients using voxel-based and regions of interest (ROIs)-based analyses. The correlation between dependence/abstinence duration and regional brain metabolism was also assessed in the two groups. Lastly, we investigated the integrity of brain metabolic connectivity of mesocorticolimbic and nigrostriatal dopaminergic systems, and large-scale brain networks involved in ADHD and addictions.Results: The voxel-wise and ROIs-based approaches showed that ADHD–CoUD patients had a lower metabolism in the thalamus and increased metabolism in the amygdala and parahippocampus, bilaterally, than CoUD subjects and healthy controls (HCs). Metabolism in the thalamus negatively correlated with years of dependence in ADHD–CoUD patients. Moreover, connectivity analyses revealed that ADHD–CoUD patients had a more preserved metabolic connectivity than CoUD patients in the dopaminergic networks and large-scale networks involved in self-regulation mechanisms of attention and behaviors (i.e., anterior default mode network [ADMN], executive network [ECN], and anterior salience network [aSAN]).Conclusions: We demonstrated distinct neuropathological substrates underlying substance-use behaviors in ADHD–CoUD and CoUD patients. Furthermore, we provided neurobiological evidence in support of SMH, demonstrating that ADHD–CoUD patients might experience short-term advantages of cocaine assumption (i.e., compensation of dopaminergic deficiency and related cognitive-behavioral deficits).</p