Social Housing Policies and Best Practice Review for Retrofit Action - Case Studies from Parma (IT)

The paper aims at investigating the most suitable Energy Saving Measures –ESMs– for the retrofitting of Social Housing Stock –SHS– in Europe. A global awareness has been increasing, as well as education and training among architects and building sectors employees, in order to identify tailored financing schemes and advanced integrated retrofitting solutions. Several European financed programmes have been tested so far and the results are here summarized and deeply investigated in order to increase the energy performance of social housing buildings, to improve knowledge of problems associated with the retrofitting of these households, in order to provide the most appropriate solutions to be applied. Afterward, the best practices selected have been applied to some study cases in Italy, to demonstrate that the large variety of SH programmes in Europe can seriously be used, promoting the best practises’ application. A lot of theoretical and analytical work has been carried out by many European projects in the last decade, defining different approaches according to typologies of social housing buildings, focusing on national or regional regulation, on existing typologies and building techniques, on retrofitting solutions, on energy saving strategies and other managing approaches and energy saving devices. Due to the high participation of social housing organisations –SHO– and related European financed programmes, this academic research is focused on the most effective ESMs in order to encompass a large variety of needs and related solutions, even though some of them are still on course and other ones have already been completed. This research clearly demonstrates the valuable contribution these kinds of programme have in exchanging and sharing of knowledge and experience in the field of retrofit of Social Housing building across Europe, in order to primary improve the energy performance of the existing building stock and the quality of life of their inhabitants

Mixing of two miscible liquids in T-shaped microdevices

Numerical simulations were performed to study the flow fields and mixing characteristics of liquid flows converging in a T-shaped micromixer, when the two inlet fluids are both water or water and ethanol. We showed that at smaller Reynolds number, Re < 100, mixing is controlled by transverse diffusion, and therefore by the residence times of each fluids. Accordingly, mixing ethanol and water is slightly easier than mixing water with water, due to the fact that, as ethanol is slightly more viscous than water and therefore it is slower, the residence time of water-ethanol mixtures is larger than that of the water-water case. On the other hand, at larger Reynolds number, mixing water and ethanol may take considerably longer, as the onset of engulfment is retarded and occurs at larger Reynolds number, namely increasing from Re ≅ 140 in the water-water case to Re ≅ 230 in the water-ethanol case. This is due to the fact that a water-ethanol mixture has a viscosity that is up to almost three times larger than that of water; therefore, at the confluence of the T-mixer, the water and the ethanol streams are separated by a quite viscous layer of a water-ethanol mixture, that hampers any vortex formation, thus retarding mixing

The impact of 10-valent and 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines on hospitalization for pneumonia in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed at summarizing available data on the impact of PCV10 and PCV13 in reducing the incidence of CAP hospitalizations in children aged Methods A systematic search of the literature was conducted. We included time-series analyses and before-after studies, reporting the incidence of hospitalization for pneumonia in the periods before and after the introduction of PCV10 or PCV13 into the immunization program. Pooled estimates of Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR) were calculated by using a random-effects meta-analytic model. Results were stratified according to age-groups ( Results A total of 1533 potentially relevant articles were identified. Of these, 12 articles were included in the analysis. In children aged In children aged 24–59 months, the meta-analysis showed a reduction of 9% (95%CI: 5–14%, p-value High heterogeneity was detected among studies evaluating the hospitalization rate for clinically and radiologically confirmed pneumonia. Conclusions The results of this study revealed a significant impact of PCV10 and PCV13 in reducing the hospitalizations for pneumonia, particularly in children age

Impatto della pertosse nella popolazione e strategie di prevenzione vaccinale

L'impatto epidemiologico della pertosse ha subito variazioni rilevanti soprattutto in et\ue0 pedia-trica, in seguito alla disponibilit\ue0 di vaccini cellulari altamente efficaci e alla successiva dif-fusione di preparati acellulari, caratterizzati da un migliore profilo di tollerabilit\ue0 e formulati in combinazione con altre componenti antigeniche. Cionondimeno, la pertosse rappresenta tutt\u2019oggi un\u2019importante causa di morbosit\ue0 e mortalit\ue0 nei neonati non ancora vaccinati o che non hanno completato il ciclo primario, e che possono essere infettati dai contatti suscettibili. Le coperture vaccinali sub-ottimali, la progressiva riduzione della protezione immunitaria conferita sia dall\u2019infezione naturale sia dalla vaccinazione e la mancata effettuazione dei richiami vaccinali contribuiscono, infatti, a rendere gli adolescenti e gli adulti le fonti princi-pali di trasmissione dell'infezione ai neonati. Strategie di prevenzione integrate e indirizzate a tutti i target coinvolti nella trasmissione dell'infezione (i.e. soggetti in et\ue0 pediatrica, ado-lescente e adulta, le donne in gravidanza, e gli operatori sanitari) rappresentano, pertanto, uno strumento chiave per il controllo della pertosse

Weight of risk factors for mortality and short-term mortality displacement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: We conducted a population-based cohort study to estimate mortality before, during and after the COVID-19 peak and to compare mortality in 2020 with rates reported in previous years, with a view to helping decision makers to apply containment measures for high-risk groups. Methods: All deaths were collected between 2015 and 2020 from municipal registry database. In 2020, weeks 1-26 were stratified in three periods: before, during and after the COVID mortality peak. The Poisson Generalized Linear regression Model showed the “harvesting effect”. Three logistic regressions for 8 dependent variables (age and comorbidities) and a t-test of  differences described all-cause mortality risk factors in 2019 and 2020 and differences between COVID and non-COVID patients. Results: A total of 47,876 deaths were collected. All-cause deaths increased by 38.5% during the COVID peak and decreased by 18% during the post-peak period in comparison with the average registered during the control period (2015-19), with significant mortality displacement in 2020. Except for chronic renal injuries in subjects aged 45-64 years, diabetes and chronic cardiovascular diseases in those aged 65-84 years, and neuropathies in those aged >84 years, the weight of comorbidities in deaths was similar or lower in COVID subjects than in non-COVID subjects. Discussions: Surprisingly, the weight of comorbidities in death, compared to weight in non-COVID subjects allows you to highlight some surprising results such as COPD, IBD and Cancer. The excess mortality that we observed in the entire period were modest in comparison with initial estimates during the peak, owing to the mild influenza season and the harvesting effect starting from the second half of May.   &nbsp

The Reverse Transcription Inhibitor Abacavir Shows Anticancer Activity in Prostate Cancer Cell Lines

Background: Transposable Elements (TEs) comprise nearly 45% of the entire genome and are part of sophisticated regulatory network systems that control developmental processes in normal and pathological conditions. The retroviral/ retrotransposon gene machinery consists mainly of Long Interspersed Nuclear Elements (LINEs-1) and Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs) that code for their own endogenous reverse transcriptase (RT). Interestingly, RT is typically expressed at high levels in cancer cells. Recent studies report that RT inhibition by non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) induces growth arrest and cell differentiation in vitro and antagonizes growth of human tumors in animal model. In the present study we analyze the anticancer activity of Abacavir (ABC), a nucleoside reverse transcription inhibitor (NRTI), on PC3 and LNCaP prostate cancer cell lines. Principal Findings: ABC significantly reduces cell growth, migration and invasion processes, considerably slows S phase progression, induces senescence and cell death in prostate cancer cells. Consistent with these observations, microarray analysis on PC3 cells shows that ABC induces specific and dose-dependent changes in gene expression, involving multiple cellular pathways. Notably, by quantitative Real-Time PCR we found that LINE-1 ORF1 and ORF2 mRNA levels were significantly up-regulated by ABC treatment. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate the potential of ABC as anticancer agent able to induce antiproliferative activity and trigger senescence in prostate cancer cells. Noteworthy, we show that ABC elicits up-regulation of LINE-1 expression, suggesting the involvement of these elements in the observed cellular modifications

The Effect of Human Milk on Modulating the Quality of Growth in Preterm Infants

Introduction: Human milk is the optimal nutrition for preterm infants. When the mother's own milk is unavailable, donor human milk is recommended as an alternative for preterm infants. The association among early nutrition, body composition and the future risk of disease has recently attracted much interest. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of human milk on the body composition of preterm infants.Materials and Methods: Very low birth weight infants (VLBW: birth weight <1,500 g) with a gestational age (GA) between 26 and 34 weeks were included. Clinical data, anthropometric measurements and nutritional intake in terms of the volume of human milk were extracted from computerized medical charts. The human milk intake was expressed as a percentage of target fortified donor human milk and/or target fortified fresh mother's milk, compared with the total volume of milk intake during the hospital stay. All included infants underwent anthropometric measurements and body composition analysis (expressed as fat-free mass percentage) at term corrected age (CA) by air-displacement plethysmography. A comparison between infants fed human milk at <50% (group 1) and infants fed human milk at ≥50% of the total volume of milk intake (group 2) was conducted. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to explore the modulating effect of fortified human milk on fat-free mass at term CA.Results: Seventy-three VLBW infants were included in the study. The mean weight and GA at birth were 1,248 ± 198 g and 30.2 ± 2.0 weeks, respectively. No differences were found regarding anthropometric measurements at birth, at discharge and at term CA between the two groups. The mean fortified human milk intake was 34.9 ± 12.5 and 80.9 ± 15.5% in groups 1 and 2, respectively (p < 0.001).A multiple regression analysis corrected for sex and birth weight demonstrated that intake of ≥50% fortified human milk was associated with a higher fat-free mass percentage at term CA than intake of <50% fortified human milk.Conclusion: The use of target fortified human milk modulated growth and improved growth quality in vulnerable preterm infants. Thus, the use of donor human milk should be encouraged when fresh mother's milk is insufficient or not available

Algoritmos primais-duais de ponto fixo aplicados ao problema Ridge Regression

In this work we propose algorithms for solving a fixed-point general primal-dual formulation applied to the Ridge Regression problem. We study the primal formulation for regularized least squares problems, especially L2-norm, named Ridge Regression and then describe convex duality for that class of problems. Our strategy was to consider together primal and dual formulations and minimize the duality gap between them. We established the primal-dual fixed point algorithm, named SRP and a reformulation for this method, the main contribution of the thesis, which was more efficient and robust, called acc-SRP method or accelerated version of the SRP method. The theoretical study of the algorithms was done through the analysis of the spectral properties of the associated iteration matrices. We proved the linear convergence of algorithms and some numerical examples comparing two variants for each algorithm proposed were presented. We also showed that our best method, acc-SRP, has excellent numerical performance for solving very ill-conditioned problems, when compared to the conjugate gradient method, which makes it computationally more attractive.Neste trabalho propomos algoritmos para resolver uma formulação primal-dual geral de ponto fixo aplicada ao problema de Ridge Regression. Estudamos a formulação primal para problemas de quadrados mínimos regularizado, em especial na norma L2, nomeados Ridge Regression e descrevemos a dualidade convexa para essa classe de problemas. Nossa estratégia foi considerar as formulações primal e dual conjuntamente, e minimizar o gap de dualidade entre elas. Estabelecemos o algoritmo de ponto fixo primal-dual, nomeado SRP e uma reformulação para esse método, contribuição principal da tese, a qual mostrou-se mais eficaz e robusta, designada por método acc-SRP, ou versão acelerada do método SRP. O estudo teórico dos algoritmos foi feito por meio da análise de propriedades espectrais das matrizes de iteração associadas. Provamos a convergência linear dos algoritmos e apresentamos alguns exemplos numéricos comparando duas variantes para cada algoritmo proposto. Mostramos também que o nosso melhor método, acc-SRP, possui excelente desempenho numérico na resolução de problemas muito mal-condicionados quando comparado ao Método de Gradientes Conjugados, o que o torna computacionalmente mais atraente

Clinical-Genetic Features Influencing Disability in Spastic Paraplegia Type 4: A Cross-sectional Study by the Italian DAISY Network

Background and objectives: Hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSPs) are a group of inherited rare neurologic disorders characterized by length-dependent degeneration of the corticospinal tracts and dorsal columns, whose prominent clinical feature is represented by spastic gait. Spastic paraplegia type 4 (SPG4, SPAST-HSP) is the most common form. We present both clinical and molecular findings of a large cohort of patients, with the aim of (1) defining the clinical spectrum of SPAST-HSP in Italy; (2) describing their molecular features; and (3) assessing genotype-phenotype correlations to identify features associated with worse disability. Methods: A cross-sectional retrospective study with molecular and clinical data collected in an anonymized database was performed. Results: A total of 723 Italian patients with SPAST-HSP (58% men) from 316 families, with a median age at onset of 35 years, were included. Penetrance was 97.8%, with men showing higher Spastic Paraplegia Rating Scale (SPRS) scores (19.67 ± 12.58 vs 16.15 ± 12.61, p = 0.009). In 26.6% of patients with SPAST-HSP, we observed a complicated phenotype, mainly including intellectual disability (8%), polyneuropathy (6.7%), and cognitive decline (6.5%). Late-onset cases seemed to progress more rapidly, and patients with a longer disease course displayed a more severe neurologic disability, with higher SPATAX (3.61 ± 1.46 vs 2.71 ± 1.20, p < 0.001) and SPRS scores (22.63 ± 11.81 vs 12.40 ± 8.83, p < 0.001). Overall, 186 different variants in the SPAST gene were recorded, of which 48 were novel. Patients with SPAST-HSP harboring missense variants displayed intellectual disability (14.5% vs 4.4%, p < 0.001) more frequently, whereas patients with truncating variants presented more commonly cognitive decline (9.7% vs 2.6%, p = 0.001), cerebral atrophy (11.2% vs 3.4%, p = 0.003), lower limb spasticity (61.5% vs 44.5%), urinary symptoms (50.0% vs 31.3%, p < 0.001), and sensorimotor polyneuropathy (11.1% vs 1.1%, p < 0.001). Increasing disease duration (DD) and abnormal motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were also associated with increased likelihood of worse disability (SPATAX score>3). Discussion: The SPAST-HSP phenotypic spectrum in Italian patients confirms a predominantly pure form of HSP with mild-to-moderate disability in 75% of cases, and slight prevalence of men, who appeared more severely affected. Early-onset cases with intellectual disability were more frequent among patients carrying missense SPAST variants, whereas patients with truncating variants showed a more complicated disease. Both longer DD and altered MEPs are associated with worse disability