La progettazione dei dirigibili: quadro normativo e regolamenti di volo di riferimento

Studio del quadro normativo relativo a progettazione e successiva certificazione dei dirigibili e della normativa di volo per gli enti di gestione del traffico aereo previsti per questi mezzi, allo scopo di fornire al progettista alcune indicazioni utili ad una successiva certificazione e alle operazioni all'interno dei diversi spazi aerei

The Moringin/α-CD pretreatment induces neuroprotection in an in vitro model of Alzheimer’s disease: a transcriptomic study

9openInternationalBothAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and represents the most common form of senile dementia. Autophagy and mitophagy are cellular processes that play a key role in the aggregation of β-amyloid (Aβ) and tau phosphorylation. As a consequence, impairment of these processes leads to the progression of AD. Thus, interest is growing in the search for new natural compounds, such as Moringin (MOR), with neuroprotective, anti-amyloidogenic, antioxidative, and anti-inflammatory properties that could be used for AD prevention. However, MOR appears to be poorly soluble and stable in water. To increase its solubility MOR was conjugated with α-cyclodextrin (MOR/α-CD). In this work, it was evaluated if MOR/α-CD pretreatment was able to exert neuroprotective effects in an AD in vitro model through the evaluation of the transcriptional profile by next-generation sequencing (NGS). To induce the AD model, retinoic acid-differentiated SH-SY5Y cells were exposed to Aβ1-42. The MOR/α-CD pretreatment reduced the expression of the genes which encode proteins involved in senescence, autophagy, and mitophagy processes. Additionally, MOR/α-CD was able to induce neuronal remodeling modulating the axon guidance, principally downregulating the Slit/Robo signaling pathway. Noteworthy, MOR/α-CD, modulating these important pathways, may induce neuronal protection against Aβ1-42 toxicity as demonstrated also by the reduction of cleaved caspase 3. These data indicated that MOR/α-CD could attenuate the progression of the disease and promote neuronal repairopenSilvestro, Serena; Chiricosta, Luigi; Gugliandolo, Agnese; Iori, Renato; Rollin, Patrick; Perenzoni, Daniele; Mattivi, Fulvio; Bramanti, Placido; Mazzon, EmanuelaSilvestro, S.; Chiricosta, L.; Gugliandolo, A.; Iori, R.; Rollin, P.; Perenzoni, D.; Mattivi, F.; Bramanti, P.; Mazzon, E

Combined effects of salinity changes and salicylic acid exposure in Mytilus galloprovincialis

Pharmaceuticals and Personal care products (PPCPs) are frequently released into several marine matrices, representing significant environmental and ecotoxicological risks. Among the widest spread PPCPs in aquatic systems is Salicylic acid (SA), with known negative effects on marine and freshwater species. Nevertheless, the toxicity resulting from these emerging pollutants, including SA, together with climate change has still received little attention up to date. Among climate change related factors salinity is one that most affects aquatic organisms. To better understand the combined impacts of SA and salinity, the present study evaluated the biochemical alterations induced in Mytilus galloprovincialis mussels exposed to SA and different salinity levels, acting individually and in combination. The effects observed clearly highlighted that cellular damages were mainly observed at higher salinity (35), with no additive or synergistic effects derived from the combined presence of SA. Higher antioxidant capacity of mussels in the presence of SA may prevent increased LPO levels in comparison to uncontaminated mussels. Nevertheless, in the presence of SA mussels revealed loss of redox balance, regardless of the salinity level. Furthermore, mussels exposed to SA at control salinity showed increased metabolic capacity which decreased when exposed to salinities 25 and 35. These findings may indicate the protective capacity of mussels towards higher stressful conditions, with lower energy reserves expenditure when in the presence of SA and salinities out of their optimal range. Although limited cellular damages were observed, changes on mussel's redox balance, antioxidant mechanisms and metabolism derived from the combined exposure to SA and salinity changes may compromise mussel's growth and reproduction. Overall, the present study highlights the need to investigate the impacts induced by pollutants under present and future climate change scenarios, towards a more realistic environmental risk assessment.publishe

Toxic impacts induced by Sodium lauryl sulfate in Mytilus galloprovincialis

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are continuously dispersed into the environment, as a result of human and veterinary use, reaching aquatic coastal systems and inhabiting organisms. However, information regarding to toxic effects of these compounds towards marine invertebrates is still scarce, especially in what regards to metabolic capacity and oxidative status alterations induced in bivalves after chronic exposure. In the present study, the toxic impacts of Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), an anionic surfactant widely used as an emulsifying cleaning agent in household and cosmetics, were evaluated in the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis, after exposure for 28 days to different concentrations (0.0; 0.5; 1.0; 2.0 and 4.0 mg/L). For this, effects on mussels respitation rate, metabolic capacity and oxidative status were evaluated. The obtained results indicate a significant decrease on mussel's respiration rate after exposure to different SLS concentrations, an alteration that was accompanied by a decrease of bioconcentration factor along the increasing exposure gradient, especially at the highest exposure concentration. Nonetheless, the amount of SLS accumulated in organisms originated alterations in mussel's metabolic performance, with higher metabolic capacity up to 2.0 mg/L followed by a decrease at the highest tested concentration (4.0 mg/L). Mussels exposed to SLS revealed limited antioxidant defense mecanhisms but cellular damage was only observed at the highest exposure concentration (4.0 mg/L). In fact, up to 2.0 mg/L of SLS limited toxic impacts were observed, namely in terms of oxidative stress and redox balance. However, since mussel's respiration rate was greatly affected by the presence of SLS, the present study may highlight the potential threat of SLS towards marine bivalves, limiting their filtration capacity and, thus, affecting their global physiological development (including growth and reproduction) and ultimely their biochemical performance (afecting their defense capacity towards stressful conditons).publishe

Bladder‐sparing, combined‐modality approach for muscle‐invasive bladder cancer

AbstractBACKGROUND.The authors evaluated their long‐term experience with combined‐modality, conservative treatment in patients with muscle‐invasive bladder cancer.METHODS.In total, 121 patients with T2, T3, or T4 bladder cancer (mean age, 63 years; ratio of men to women, 3:1) underwent induction by transurethral resection (TUR) of the tumor and received 2 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy (RT) (n = 43 patients) or radiochemotherapy (RCT) (n = 78 patients). Six weeks after RT or RCT, responses were evaluated by restaging TUR. Patients who achieved a complete response (CR) were observed at regular intervals. In patients who had persistent or recurrent invasive tumor, further treatment was recommended.RESULTS.Local response evaluation by restaging TUR was possible in 119 patients, and 102 of those patients (85.7%) achieved a CR. After a median follow‐up of 66 months (range, 6–182 months), no local or distant disease recurrences were observed in 67 of 102 complete responders (65.7%), 17 of 102 complete responders (16.7%) experienced superficial local disease recurrence, and 18 of 102 complete responders (17.6%) had a muscle‐invasive relapse. The 5‐year tumor‐specific, overall, and bladder‐intact survival rates were 73.5%, 67.7%, and 51.2%, respectively. Treatment modality, tumor classification, and resection status after initial TUR had an impact on survival rates (P = .04, P = .02, and P = .02, respectively).CONCLUSIONS.The current results indicated that conservative combined treatment is a reasonable alternative to radical cystectomy in selected patients with muscle‐invasive bladder cancer. Cancer 2008. © 2007 American Cancer Society

Wildfire promotes the invasion of Robinia pseudoacacia in the unmanaged Mediterranean Castanea sativa coppice forests

In the Mediterranean region of southern Europe, Castanea sativa Mill. (Castanea) coppice stands are being invaded by non-native pioneer tree species due to recurrent coppicing and wildfire disturbances. There is a need to control the spread of non-native tree species in Castanea coppices due to their pivotal socio-economic role, however, to facilitate this, further research into invasive strategies and their interactions with disturbances is required. The non-native Robinia pseudoacacia L. (Robinia) has widely colonized the overaged and unmanaged Castanea coppice forests in Vesuvius National Park, which were disturbed by the low-severity fires in the summer of 2017. Here, we aimed to assess the functional traits conferring a competitive advantage to the Robinia over Castanea and the changes in spatial stand patterns driven by wildfire disturbance. To achieve this we assessed the spatial stem patterns, regeneration strategies, and conducted field-assessments and remote sensing of the spring leaf phenology of both Castanea and Robinia in five 300–600 m2 plots. After the 2017 wildfire, root suckers constituted 72% (±12) of the Robinia vegetative living sprouts and occurred up to a distance of 10 m from the adult parent trees under the canopy of the Castanea trees. NDVI-based estimates at the start of the growing season (sos) in Castanea occurred over a 7 day period, from DOY 118–124, increasing at a rate (rsp) of 0.10–0.16, in agreement with the field-based assessment of spring leaf phenology. In Robinia, the sos estimated at DOY 109 from the NDVI seasonal trajectory disagreed with the field-based observations, which started later than Castanea, after approximately DOY 133. Here, the high percentage cover (∼90%) of the understory species influenced NDVI-based estimates of Robinia leaf spring phenology. The results suggest that low-severity wildfires increased the invasiveness of Robinia, and that vegetative regeneration strategies, rather than earlier spring phenology, conferred a competitive advantage in the fire-disturbed Castanea coppice stands. The results thus suggest that appropriate management of invasive Robinia trees to conserve the continuous canopy cover of Castanea stands should guide nature-based solutions to control the spread of non-native tree species

Interaction of highly nonlinear solitary waves with linear elastic media

We study the interaction of highly nonlinear solitary waves in granular crystals, with an adjacent linear elastic medium. We investigate the effects of interface dynamics on the reflection of incident waves and on the formation of primary and secondary reflected waves. Experimental tests are performed to correlate the linear medium geometry, materials, and mass with the formation and propagation of the reflected waves. We compare the experimental results with theoretical analysis based on the long-wavelength approximation and with numerical predictions obtained from discrete particle models. Studying variations of the reflected wave's velocity and amplitude, we describe how the propagation of primary and secondary reflected waves responds sensitively to the states of the adjacent linear media. Experimental results are found to be in agreement with the theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. This preliminary study establishes the foundation for utilizing reflected solitary waves as novel information carriers in nondestructive evaluation of elastic material systems