Development of a molecular method for the rapid screening and identification of the three functionally relevant polymorphisms in the human TAS2R38 receptor gene in studies of sensitivity to the bitter taste of PROP

The objective of this work was to develop a rapid screening method to identify the three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the TAS2R38 gene, with the aim of providing a significant contribution to studies designed to assess sensitivity to the bitter taste of 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP). Specifically, the objective of this study was to characterize the TAS2R38 gene haplotypes in a group of 60 subjects with variable sensitivity to PROP and preliminarily genotyped for the rs2274333 allele (A/G) of carbonic anhydrase isoform VI gene (CA6). The molecular characterization of the TAS2R38 gene was conducted using the PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique after creating artificial restriction sites upstream or downstream of the SNPs, as none of the three polymorphisms contributes to the formation of a restriction site for a specific endonuclease. The results indicate that the method described in this paper could be a valid and simple experimental strategy to identify genetic differences related to taste sensitivity to bitter taste, and could be applied as a nutrigenetics test in studies aimed at understanding people’s eating behaviors

Self-Propagating High-Temperature Synthesis Reactions for ISRU and ISFR Applications

In the framework of ISRU (In-Situ Resource Utilization) and ISFR (In-Situ Fabrication and Repair) applications, a novel recently patented process based on the occurrence of Self-propagating High temperature Synthesis (SHS) reactions potentially exploitable for the in-situ fabrication of construction materials in Lunar and Martian environments is described in this work. Specifically, the SHS process involves thermite reactions type between Lunar or Martian regolith simulants and aluminum as reducing agent. To overcome the fact that the original content of ilmenite (FeTiO3) and ferric oxide (Fe2O3) on Moon and Mars soils, respectively, is not enough to make the SHS process possible, suitable amounts of these species have to be added to the starting mixtures. The dependence of the most important processing parameters, particularly the composition of the starting mixture, evacuation level, and gravity conditions, on SHS process behaviour and product characteristics is specifically examined for the case of Lunar regolith. All the obtained findings allows us to conclude that the optimized results obtained under terrestrial conditions are valid for in-situ applications in Lunar environment. In particular, parabolic flight experiments evidenced that neither SHS process dynamics nor product characteristics are significantly influenced in both Lunar and Martian systems when passing from Earth to low gravity conditions. Finally, the complete scheme involving all stages required for the fabrication of physical assets to be used as protection against solar rays, solar wind and meteoroids, etc., is reported.</p

Fabrication of Fully Dense UHTC by Combining SHS and SPS

The combination of the Self-propagating High-temperature Synthesis (SHS) technique and the Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) technology is adopted in this work for the fabrication of fully dense MB2-SiC and MB2-MC-SiC (M = Zr, Hf, Ta) Ultra High Temperature Ceramics (UHTCs). Specifically, Zr, Hf or Ta, B4C, Si, and graphite reactants are first converted to the desired composites by SHS. For the case of the lowexothermic Ta-based compositions, a preliminary 20 min ball milling treatment of the starting reactants is required to activate the corresponding synthesis reactions. When the resulting powders are then subjected to consolidation by SPS, it is found that products with relative densities greater than 96% can be obtained for all systems investigated within 30 min of total processing time, when setting the dwell temperature to 1800 °C and the mechanical pressure to 20 MPa. Hardness, fracture toughness, and oxidation resistance characteristics of the resulting dense UHTCs are comparable to, or superior than, those relative to similar products synthesized by alternative, less rapid, processing routes. Moreover, it is found that the ternary composites display relatively low resistance to oxidation as a consequence of the lower SiC content in the composite, in comparison with the binary systems, as well as to the presence of transition metal carbides. Indeed, although the latter ones are potentially able to increase mechanical and resistance to ablation properties, they tend to oxidize rapidly to form MO2 and COx, so that the resulting porosity make the material bulk more sensitive to oxidation.</p

Investigation on Self-Admitted Technical Debt in Open-Source Blockchain Projects

Technical debt refers to decisions made during the design and development of software that postpone the resolution of technical problems or the enhancement of the software's features to a later date. If not properly managed, technical debt can put long-term software quality and maintainability at risk. Self-admitted technical debt is defined as the addition of specific comments to source code as a result of conscious and deliberate decisions to accumulate technical debt. In this paper, we will look at the presence of self-admitted technical debt in open-source blockchain projects, which are characterized by the use of a relatively novel technology and the need to generate trust. The self-admitted technical debt was analyzed using NLP techniques for the classification of comments extracted from the source code of ten projects chosen based on capitalization and popularity. The analysis of self-admitted technical debt in blockchain projects was compared with the results of previous non-blockchain open-source project analyses. The findings show that self-admitted design technical debt outnumbers requirement technical debt in blockchain projects. The analysis discovered that some projects had a low percentage of self-admitted technical debt in the comments but a high percentage of source code files with debt. In addition, self-admitted technical debt is on average more prevalent in blockchain projects and more equally distributed than in reference Java projects.If not managed, the relatively high presence of detected technical debt in blockchain projects could represent a threat to the needed trust between the blockchain system and the users. Blockchain projects development teams could benefit from self-admitted technical debt detection for targeted technical debt management

Remarks on ISRU and ISFR Technologies for Manned Missions on Moon and Mars

Space colonization and exploitation of extra-terrestrial natural resources could help humanity in facing various Earth problems. In this regard, production of energy and materials starting from Moon and Mars natural resources as well as the transportation of humans in space could be considered the long term remedy to issues such as overpopulation, depletion of fossil fuels, climate change as well as reduction of available natural resources. Along theses lines, two recently filed patents related to use of novel technologies for the in situ exploitation of natural resources available on Moon and Mars have been developed

Mindfulness, age and gender as protective factors against psychological distress during COVID-19 pandemic

Objective: Mindfulness disposition is associated with various psychological factors and prevents emotional distress in chronic diseases. In the present study, we analyzed the key role of mindfulness dispositions in protecting the individual against psychological distress consequent to COVID-19 social distancing and quarantining. Methods: An online survey was launched on March 13, 2020, with 6,412 responses by April 6, 2020. Socio-demographic information, exposure to the pandemic, and quarantining were assessed together with psychological distress and mindfulness disposition. Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed to study the influence of predictive factors on psychological distress and quality of life in Italian responders during the early days of lockdown. Pearson correlations were calculated to study the relationship between mindfulness and psychiatric symptoms. Results: Multivariate linear regression run on socio-demographics, COVID-19-related variables, and mindfulness disposition as moderators of overall psychological distress showed that mindfulness was the best predictor of psychological distress (β = −0.504; p &lt; 0.0001). High negative correlations were found between mindfulness disposition and the overall Global Severity Index (r = −0.637; p &lt; 0.0001), while moderate to high associations were found between mindfulness and all SCL-90 sub-scales. Discussion: Findings showed that high dispositional mindfulness enhances well-being and helps in dealing with stressful situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Mindfulness-based mental training could represent an effective intervention to stem post-traumatic psychopathological beginnings and prevent the onset of chronic mental disorders

Physical Assets by SHS in the Framework of ISRU and ISFR Paradigms for Human Space Missions on the Moon

In this work a brief overview of the most important technologies for space exploration, with particular emphasis on the Moon missions, is presented. It is shown that the focus has been on the technologies to extract consumables (O2, H2O, N2) for human life-support replenishment. The fact that the exploitation of extraterrestrial resources to obtain the desired materials during each ongoing mission, which has been the subject of several investigations since the sixties of the last century, is discussed. The paradigms ISRU (In Situ Resources Utilization) and ISFR (In Situ Fabrication and Repair) are then introduced. In particular, one of the most important process for the production of oxygen, i.e. the reduction of ilmenite by hydrogen is analyzed. In addition, the current iteration of the roadmap which identifies two feasible pathways for human missions after ISS (International Space Station) is addressed. Next, the fabrication of Lunar physical assets is taken into account, while focusing particularly on those processes where combustion-like reactions are exploited. The main results recently obtained in the literature in this regards are also summarized. In particular, the choice of the reducing agent and the influence of the most important processing parameters (composition of the starting mixture, gas pressure level, and gravity conditions) are examined in a systematic manner

Retrospective analyses of psychological distress and defense style among cancer patients

Objective: Psychological distress is common in cancer patients during the diagnostic phase. Research demonstrated that anxiety, depression and defense mechanisms may influence physical and psychological well-being in patients with malignant tumors. The present retrospective study investigated the associations between clinical and psychological characteristics of cancer patients waiting for the diagnosis, focusing on metastatic cancer (MC) and breast cancer (BC). Methods: Patients with a new diagnosis of cancer referring to a Clinical Oncology Unit in Central Italy were interviewed during the 2017 for psychological assessment. Double-blind information about anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, defense style, and cancer diagnosis were available for the 567 patients included in this study. T-test, chi-squared and regression analyses were performed to detect associations between psychological variables and the presence of metastasis (MC) in the whole sample and in the subgroup of breast cancer (BC) patients. Results: Female gender and younger age were associated with anxiety, depres-sion, and maladaptive defense style. A significant positive relationship was found between presence of metastasis and symptoms of anxiety. Depression resulted significantly more frequent in BC, while there was a trend close to statistical significance in MC. Immature defense style was widely used by BC women, with a score close to statistical significance. Conclusions: This retrospective study provided empirical evidence of the relationship between psychological functioning and clinical characteristics of cancer. In line with previous research, our findings confirmed the peculiar psychological functioning of BC patients. Further investigations are needed to understand how the diagnosis of cancer may influence the individual psychological functioning and vice versa