An Edge-Cloud based Reference Architecture to support cognitive solutions in Process Industry

Process Industry is one of the leading sectors of the world economy, characterized however by intense environmental impact, and very high-energy consumption. Despite a traditional low innovation pace in PI, in the recent years a strong push at worldwide level towards the dual objective of improving the efficiency of plants and the quality of products, significantly reducing the consumption of electricity and CO2 emissions has taken momentum. Digital Technologies (namely Smart Embedded Systems, IoT, Data, AI and Edge-to-Cloud Technologies) are enabling drivers for a Twin Digital-Green Transition, as well as foundations for human centric, safe, comfortable and inclusive workplaces. Currently, digital sensors in plants produce a large amount of data, which in most cases constitutes just a potential and not a real value for Process Industry, often locked-in in close proprietary systems and seldomly exploited. Digital technologies, with process modelling-simulation via digital twins, can build a bridge between the physical and the virtual worlds, bringing innovation with great efficiency and drastic reduction of waste. In accordance with the guidelines of Industrie 4.0 this work proposes a modular and scalable Reference Architecture, based on open source software, which can be implemented both in brownfield and greenfield scenarios. The ability to distribute processing between the edge, where the data have been created, and the cloud, where the greatest computational resources are available, facilitates the development of integrated digital solutions with cognitive capabilities. The reference architecture is being validated in the three pilot plants, paving the way to the development of integrated planning solutions, with scheduling and control of the plants, optimizing the efficiency and reliability of the supply chain, and balancing energy efficiency

Systematic versus on-demand early palliative care: results from a multicentre, randomised clinical trial

Background Early palliative care (EPC) in oncology has been shown to have a positive impact on clinical outcome, quality-of-care outcomes, and costs. However, the optimal way for activating EPC has yet to be defined. Methods This prospective, multicentre, randomised study was conducted on 207 outpatients with metastatic or locally advanced inoperable pancreatic cancer. Patients were randomised to receive ‘standard cancer care plus on-demand EPC’ (n = 100) or ‘standard cancer care plus systematic EPC’ (n = 107). Primary outcome was change in quality of life (QoL) evaluated through the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy – Hepatobiliary questionnaire between baseline (T0) and after 12 weeks (T1), in particular the integration of physical, functional, and Hepatic Cancer Subscale (HCS) combined in the Trial Outcome Index (TOI). Patient mood, survival, relatives' satisfaction with care, and indicators of aggressiveness of care were also evaluated. Findings The mean changes in TOI score and HCS score between T0 and T1 were −4.47 and −0.63, with a difference between groups of 3.83 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.10–7.57) (p = 0.041), and −2.23 and 0.28 (difference between groups of 2.51, 95% CI 0.40–4.61, p = 0.013), in favour of interventional group. QoL scores at T1 of TOI scale and HCS were 84.4 versus 78.1 (p = 0.022) and 52.0 versus 48.2 (p = 0.008), respectively, for interventional and standard arm. Until February 2016, 143 (76.9%) of the 186 evaluable patients had died. There was no difference in overall survival between treatment arms. Interpretations Systematic EPC in advanced pancreatic cancer patients significantly improved QoL with respect to on-demand EPC

Isoenzymatic forms in human cytidine deaminase produced by two natural varianys of human cytidine deaminase gene.

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Isoenzymatic forms of human cytidine deaminase

Cytidine deaminase (CDA) purified from human placenta revealed the presence of five isoenzymatic forms that differ only in their isoelectric point. Since human cytidine deaminase exists in two variants (CDA 1 and CDA 2) with a nonconservative amino acid substitution at codon 27, in this work we demonstrate that these two variants may combine together in vitro, giving five CDA isoforms as observed in vivo from human placenta. For this purpose, each of the two forms of CDA was purified close to homogeneity and dissociated into monomers in the presence of a small amount of sodium dodecyl sulfate as a dissociating agent. The monomers were mixed together and subjected to anion-exchange chromatography and to chromatofocusing analysis in order to visualize the formation of the five isoforms. Furthermore, for bothCDA1 andCDA2 some substrates and inhibitors of CDA were assayed, with the aim of demonstrating different kinetic behavior between the two natural variants

Purification and identification of alpha(s-1) and beta-caseins from asses milk

Recent clinical studies have demonstrated that feeding with asses milk is a safe and valid treatment for infants affected by protein intolerance to dairy cows milk . In fact, the composition of asses milk is similar to humans milk, especially concerning the lipid and protein fraction contents. In the present study αS1- and β-caseins were purified from asses milk by gel filtration chromatography followed by anion exchange chromatography on HPLC. The obtained caseins were characterized by SDS-PAGE and, after blotting on a PVDF membrane, were identified by N-terminal sequencing. Through chromatographic techniques it was possible to separate and identify αS1-caseins having the N-terminal sequence RPKLPHRXPE and molecular weights of 30.9 and 33.0 kDa, and β-caseins, having the N-terminal sequence REKEELNVS and molecular weights of 34.0 and 35.4 kDa. It was not possible to determine the presence of other types of caseins such as1- and κ-that have been found in mares milk