Time--Splitting Schemes and Measure Source Terms for a Quasilinear Relaxing System

Several singular limits are investigated in the context of a $2 \times 2$ system arising for instance in the modeling of chromatographic processes. In particular, we focus on the case where the relaxation term and a $L^2$ projection operator are concentrated on a discrete lattice by means of Dirac measures. This formulation allows to study more easily some time-splitting numerical schemes

Short-segment jejunal carcinoma mimicking multiple lesions of the small bowel at capsule endoscopy

n/

Changes in the pyruvic acid content correlates with phenotype traits in onion clones

Consumer demand is oriented toward onion cultivars with lower pungency, and the pyruvic acid content of onions is highly correlated with their pungency. Therefore, breeding programmes might be based on the pyruvic acid content of the parental bulbs. The present study was performed using 97 onion clones with the aim of correlating the pyruvic acid levels with phenotype traits in the different genotypes used in breeding programmes. The onion bulbs were provided from the breeding company with blind labels, and four bulbs were individually analysed for each clone. A comparison between the spectrophotometric and HPLC determination of pyruvic acid was also carried out and showed an excellent linear regression with an R 2 = 0.951. The pyruvic acid was studied in correlation with tunic colours, pungency and precocity, and the highest correlation coefficient was found for red skinned onions. The lowest pyruvate content was found in white onions, with 6.5 \u3bcmol g -1 FW, whereas higher values (8.4-8.5 \u3bcmol g -1 FW) were observed in yellow and red onions. The chemical analyses were compared with panel taste assessments. The results confirmed that the pungency and pyruvic acid content were positively and significantly correlated (P<0.0001),even when the coefficient resulted in a relatively low value (r = 0.515). The precocity trait was associated with pyruvate content: precocious onions, in particular, showed lower pungency

miRNA-guided reprogramming of glucose and glutamine metabolism and its impact on cell adhesion/migration during solid tumor progression

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs about 22 nucleotides in length that regulate the expression of target genes post-transcriptionally, and are highly involved in cancer progression. They are able to impact a variety of cell processes such as proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation and can consequently control tumor initiation, tumor progression and metastasis formation. miRNAs can regulate, at the same time, metabolic gene expression which, in turn, influences relevant traits of malignancy such as cell adhesion, migration and invasion. Since the interaction between metabolism and adhesion or cell movement has not, to date, been well understood, in this review, we will specifically focus on miRNA alterations that can interfere with some metabolic processes leading to the modulation of cancer cell movement. In addition, we will analyze the signaling pathways connecting metabolism and adhesion/migration, alterations that often affect cancer cell dissemination and metastasis formation

AUSF Italy: the national organization of Italian students in Forestry

n/

Typhoon at CommsNet13: Experimental experience on AUV navigation and localization

This paper presents two acoustic-based techniques for Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) navigation within an underwater network of fixed sensors. The proposed algorithms exploit the positioning measurements provided by an Ultra-Short Base Line (USBL) transducer on-board the vehicle to aid the navigation task. In the considered framework the acoustic measurements are embedded in the communication network scheme, causing time-varying delays in ranging with the fixed nodes. The results presented are obtained with post-processing elaborations of the raw experimental data collected during the CommsNet13 campaign, organized and scientifically led by the NATO Science and Technology Organization Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE). The experiment involved several research institutions and included among its objectives the evaluation of on-board acoustic USBL systems for navigation and localization of AUVs. The ISME groups of the Universities of Florence and Pisa jointly participated to the experiment with one Typhoon class vehicle. This is a 300 m depth rated AUV with acoustic communication capabilities originally developed by the two groups for archaeological search in the framework of the THESAURUS project. The CommsNet13 Typhoon, equipped with an acoustic modem/USBL head, navigated within the fixed nodes acoustic network deployed by CMRE. This allows the comparison between inertial navigation, acoustic self-localization and ground truth represented by GPS signals (when the vehicle was at the surface)

Surgical site infection after caesarean section. Space for post-discharge surveillance improvements and reliable comparisons

Surgical site infections (SSI) after caesarean section (CS) represent a substantial health system concern. Surveying SSI has been associated with a reduction in SSI incidence. We report the findings of three (2008, 2011 and 2013) regional active SSI surveillances after CS in community hospital of the Latium region determining the incidence of SSI. Each CS was surveyed for SSI occurrence by trained staff up to 30 post-operative days, and association of SSI with relevant characteristics was assessed using binomial logistic regression. A total of 3,685 CS were included in the study. A complete 30 day post-operation follow-up was achieved in over 94% of procedures. Overall 145 SSI were observed (3.9% cumulative incidence) of which 131 (90.3%) were superficial and 14 (9.7%) complex (deep or organ/space) SSI; overall 129 SSI (of which 89.9% superficial) were diagnosed post-discharge. Only higher NNIS score was significantly associated with SSI occurrence in the regression analysis. Our work provides the first regional data on CS-associated SSI incidence, highlighting the need for a post-discharge surveillance which should assure 30 days post-operation to not miss data on complex SSI, as well as being less labour intensive