The European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) Endorses the Milan Charter on Urban Obesity

The Milan Charter on Urban Obesity highlights the challenges of urban environments as a battleground for human health, as cities are often organized to subvert public health goals, and promote rather than prevent the development of obesity and consequent non-communicable diseases. The Charter articulates ten principles which detail actions and strategies through which general practitioners, diverse medical specialists, related healthcare professionals, administrators and healthcare practice managers, policy actors - within health systems and at a national level - along with experts across disciplines, and citizens, can work in cooperation to meet this challenge and improve publichealth. The Charter urges the adoption of decisions that deliver the following: (i) policies which enable our cities to become healthier and less obesogenic, more supportive of well-being and less health-disruptive in general, and (ii) policies that fully support primary prevention strategies, that address social stigma, and that ensure fair access to treatment for people living with obesity. The Milan Charter on Urban Obesity aims to raise awareness of our shared responsibility for the health of all citizens, and focuses on addressing the health of people living with obesity - not only as a challenge in its own right, but a gateway to other major non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers

Assessing chemical mechanisms underlying the effects of sunflower pollen on a gut pathogen in bumble bees

Many pollinator species are declining due to a variety of interacting stressors including pathogens, sparking interest in understanding factors that could mitigate these outcomes. Diet can affect host-pathogen interactions by changing nutritional reserves or providing bioactive secondary chemicals. Recent work found that sunflower pollen (Helianthus annuus) dramatically reduced cell counts of the gut pathogen Crithidia bombi in bumble bee workers (Bombus impatiens), but the mechanism underlying this effect is unknown. Here we analyzed methanolic extracts of sunflower pollen by LC-MS and identified triscoumaroyl spermidines as the major secondary metabolite components, along with a flavonoid quercetin-3-O-hexoside and a quercetin-3-O-(6-O-malonyl)-hexoside. We then tested the effect of triscoumaroyl spermidine and rutin (as a proxy for quercetin glycosides) on Crithidia infection in B. impatiens, compared to buckwheat pollen (Fagopyrum esculentum) as a negative control and sunflower pollen as a positive control. In addition, we tested the effect of nine fatty acids from sunflower pollen individually and in combination using similar methods. Although sunflower pollen consistently reduced Crithidia relative to control pollen, none of the compounds we tested had significant effects. In addition, diet treatments did not affect mortality, or sucrose or pollen consumption. Thus, the mechanisms underlying the medicinal effect of sunflower are still unknown; future work could use bioactivity-guided fractionation to more efficiently target compounds of interest, and explore non-chemical mechanisms. Ultimately, identifying the mechanism underlying the effect of sunflower pollen on pathogens will open up new avenues for managing bee health

A phenomenological model for the description of unburned hydrocarbons emission in ultra-lean engines

The adoption of lean-burn concepts for internal combustion engines working with a homogenous air/fuel charge is under development as a path to simultaneously improve thermal efficiency, fuel consumption, nitric oxides, and carbon monoxide emissions. This technology may lead to a relevant emission of unburned hydrocarbons (uHC) compared to a stoichiometric engine. The uHC sources are various and the relative importance varies according to fuel characteristics, engine operating point, and some geometrical details of the combustion chamber. This concern becomes even more relevant in the case of engines supplied with natural gas since the methane has a global warming potential much greater than the other major pollutant emissions. In this work, a simulation model describing the main mechanisms for uHC formation is proposed. The model describes uHC production from crevices and flame wall quenching, also considering the post-oxidation. The uHC model is implemented in commercial software (GT-Power) under the form of “user routine”. It is validated with reference to two large bore engines, whose bores are 31 and 46 cm (engines named accordingly W31 and W46). Both engines are fueled with natural gas and operated with lean mixtures (λ > 2), but with different ignition modalities (pre-chamber device or dual fuel mode). The engines under study are preliminarily schematized in the 1D simulation tool. The consistency of 1D engine schematizations is verified against the experimental data of BMEP, air flow rate, and turbocharger rotational speed over a load sweep. Then, the uHC model is validated against the engine-out measurements. The averaged uHC predictions highlight an average error of 7% and 10 % for W31 and W46 engines, respectively. The uHC model reliability is evidenced by the lack of need for a case-dependent adjustment of its tuning constants, also in presence of relevant variations of both engine load and ring pack design

Development of a phenomenological model for the description of RCCI combustion in a dual-fuel marine internal combustion engine

Increasingly stringent pollutant and CO2 emission standards require engine manufacturers to investigate innovative solutions. Among these techniques, low-temperature combustion (LTC) concepts have a large potential to simultaneously reduce NOx emissions and fuel consumption. A promising manner to realize LTC consists of adopting ultra-lean mixtures, where the combustion evolution is controlled by a proper spatial distribution of fuels with different chemical reactivities. In this context, depending on the proportion and stratification of the fuels, the heat release can primarily depend on chemistry progression, leading to a Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI) mode, or on flame propagation, locally initiated by a high reactivity fuel. In this work, the combustion characteristics of a large-bore research engine are experimentally investigated. Natural gas is supplied into the intake port, while light fuel oil (LFO) is directly injected in the cylinder. An experimental campaign is carried out including sweeps of engine load, air/fuel proportion, LFO amount, valve timing, and intake air temperature. Global engine operating parameters as well as cylinder pressure traces are recorded and analyzed. Based on the available experimental data, a phenomenological model handling both chemistries of fuels with different reactivities and flame propagation is developed and validated. The model is based on a multi-zone approach, where auto-ignition chemistry is solved by a tabulated method to preserve the computational effort. The proposed numerical approach shows the ability to simulate the experimental data with good accuracy, using a fixed tuning constant set. A dedicated correlation is built to reproduce the expected in-cylinder distribution of the directly injected liquid fuel. Global performance and combustion parameters are predicted with an average error below 5%. The model demonstrates to correctly describe the behavior of the tested engine under different operating conditions and to capture the physics behind such advanced combustion concepts

Computed tomography improves the diagnostic accuracy but not the interobserver reliability of the Boileau classification of proximal humerus fracture sequelae

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of computed tomography on the reliability of Boileau classification for proximal humerus fracture sequelae. Methods: A prospective study was designed using STARD guidelines. We included all patients diagnosed with proximal humerus fracture sequelae who underwent surgery at our institution between 2017 and 2021. Preoperative radiographs and computed tomography scans were reviewed by three independent observers. Intra- and inter-observer reliability and the diagnostic accuracy of radiographs and computed tomography scans in detecting chronic dislocation, nonunion, and severe greater tuberosity dislocation were assessed. Results: Fifty-two patients were included in the study. The overall interobserver agreement was low on both radiographs and computed tomography scans. On radiographic images, we found a sensitivity of 97%, 88.9%, and 84.1%, and a specificity of 58.3%, 40%, and 53.3% to detect chronic dislocation, nonunion, and greater tuberosity dislocation, respectively. On computed tomography scans we reported a sensitivity of 100%, 96.8%, and 93.7%, and a specificity of 91.7%, 86.7%, and 93.3% to detect chronic dislocation, nonunion, and greater tuberosity dislocation, respectively. Discussion: Computed tomography scan was more specific than radiographs in the assessment of proximal humerus fracture sequelae. However, even using a three-dimensional evaluation of the deformity, the Boileau classification had a poor interobserver reliability

Front-of-pack (FOP) labelling systems to improve the quality of nutrition information to prevent obesity: NutrInform Battery vs Nutri-Score

Abstract: Many systems for classifying food products to adequately predict lower all-cause morbidity and mortality have been proposed as front-of-pack (FOP) nutritional labels. Although the efforts and advances that these systems represent for public health must be appreciated, as scientists involved in nutrition research and belonging to diverse Italian nutrition scientific societies, we would like to draw stakeholders’ attention to the fact that some FOP labels risk being not correctly informative to consumers’ awareness of nutritional food quality. The European Commission has explicitly called for such a nutrition information system to be part of the European “strategy on nutrition, overweight and obesity-related issues” to “facilitate consumer understanding of the contribution or importance of the food to the energy and nutrient content of a diet”. Some European countries have adopted the popular French proposal Nutri-Score. However, many critical limits and inadequacies have been identified in this system. As an alternative, we endorse a new enriched informative label—the NutrInform Battery—promoted by the Italian Ministry of Health and deeply studied by the Center for Study and Research on Obesity, Milan University. Therefore, the present position paper limits comparing these two FOP nutritional labels, focusing on the evidence suggesting that the NutrInform Battery can help consumers better than the Nutri-Score system to understand nutritional information, potentially improving dietary choices. Level of evidence: II. Evidence was obtained from well-designed controlled trials without randomization