Improvement of Mechanical Properties of Soft Soils by Use of a Pre-Loading Embankment

A preloading embankment, and its foundation soil, have been closely monitored in the Po river delta (Italy). After showing that the complete consolidation of the peaty and clayey soil has taken place, the shear strength increase measured with various tests has been considered and analyzed

Non-Isothermal sloshing for space applications: from a ground-based experimental characterisation to microgravity conditions

Liquid cryogenic propellants are at the forefront of space propulsion due to their optimal trade-off between performance and weight (Sutton et al. 2017). As a result, investigations on the sloshing dynamics of such fuels have been carried out since the early 1960s. Sloshing, defined as the movement of the free liquid surface within a reservoir (Abramson, 1966), induces two types of undesirable effects: (a) displacement of fuel tank’s centre of mass, which disturbs the stability and manoeuvrability of the spacecraft; (b) thermal mixing between the pressurised ullage and subcooled liquid, which can generate large fluctuations in the tank pressure, leading to structural instabilities and thrust oscillations in the propulsive system. [...]This work is supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) in the framework of the project number 4000129315/19/NL/MG. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the “Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (F.R.S.-FNRS)” for the FRIA grant supporting the PhD of Mr Marques.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Kawasaki disease in infants less than one year of age : An Italian cohort from a single center

Background and aims Few data are currently available for Kawasaki disease (KD) below 12 months especially in Caucasians. This study aims to analyze clinical and laboratory features of KD among an Italian cohort of infants. Methods A retrospective chart review of KD children aged less than 1 year at time of disease onset between January 2008-December 2017 was performed. Clinical data, laboratory parameters, instrumental findings, treatment and outcome were collected in a customized database. Results Among 113 KD patients, 32 (28.3%) were younger than 1 year. Nineteen patients aged below 6 months, and three below 3 months. The median age was 5.7 +/- 2.7 months. The mean time to diagnosis was 7 +/- 3 days and was longer in the incomplete forms (8 +/- 4 vs 6 +/- 1 days). Conjunctival injection was present in 26 patients (81.2%); rash in 25 (78.1%); extremity changes in 18 (56.2%); mucosal changes in 13 (40.6%,) and lymphadenopathy only in 7 (21.8%). Mucosal changes were the least common features in incomplete forms (18.2%). Twenty-two patients (68.7%) had incomplete KD. Nineteen (59.4%) had cardiac involvement, of whom 13 (59.0%) had incomplete form. ESR, PCR and platelet values were higher in complete KD; especially, ESR resulted significantly higher in complete forms (80 +/- 25.7 mm/h vs 50 +/- 28.6 mm/h; p = 0.01). Conversely, AST level was statistically significant higher in patients with incomplete forms (95.4 +/- 132.7 UI/L vs 29.8 +/- 13.2 UI/L; p = 0.03). All patients received IVIG. Response was reported in 26/32 patients; 6 cases needed a second dose of IVIG and one required a dose of anakinra. Conclusion In our cohort, incomplete disease was commonly found, resulting in delayed diagnoses and poor cardiac prognosis. Infants with incomplete KD seem to have a more severe disease and a greater predilection for coronary involvement than those with complete KD. AST was significantly higher in incomplete forms, thus AST levels might be a new finding in incomplete forms' diagnosis. Eventually, we highlight a higher resistance to IVIG treatment. To our knowledge this is the first study involving an Italian cohort of patients with KD below 12 months

The landscape of cognitive impairment in superoxide dismutase 1-amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Although mutations in the superoxide dismutase 1 gene account for only a minority of total amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases, the discovery of this gene has been crucial for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis research. Since the identification of superoxide dismutase 1 in 1993, the field of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis genetics has considerably widened, improving our understanding of the diverse pathogenic basis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In this review, we focus on cognitive impairment in superoxide dismutase 1-amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients. Literature has mostly reported that cognition remains intact in superoxide dismutase 1-amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients, but recent reports highlight frontal lobe function frailty in patients carrying different superoxide dismutase 1-amyotrophic lateral sclerosis mutations. We thoroughly reviewed all the various mutations reported in the literature to contribute to a comprehensive database of superoxide dismutase 1-amyotrophic lateral sclerosis genotype-phenotype correlation. Such a resource could ultimately improve our mechanistic understanding of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, enabling a more robust assessment of how the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis phenotype responds to different variants across genes, which is important for the therapeutic strategy targeting genetic mutations. Cognition in superoxide dismutase 1-amyotrophic lateral sclerosis deserves further longitudinal research since this peculiar frailty in patients with similar mutations can be conditioned by external factors, including environment and other unidentified agents including modifier genes