Clinical evidence of efficacy of red yeast rice and berberine in a large controlled study versus diet

Efficacy of a new patented proprietary combination of natural nutraceuticals (PN) containing natural hypolipidemic as red yeast, policosanol and berberine was tested in a large study on dyslipidemic patients in clinical practice. A parallel, controlled, randomized, multicenter study was designed. After 2 weeks on a stable dietary regimen, the patients were randomized to PN 1 tablet/day associated with diet (PN + D) or diet alone (D) for 16 weeks. Entry criteria were: Tot-Chol >200 mg/dL or LDL-Chol >150 mg/dL without a clear indication for statins, or plasma triglycerides >150 mg/dL. Lipid pattern and CV parameters were evaluated at baseline and monthly. 1,751 patients were enrolled in 248 Italian units, 933 patients on PN + D and 818 on D. The baseline lipid values were: Tot-Chol 255.4 versus 243.1 mg/dL, LDL-Chol 170.1 versus 162.2 mg/dL, HDL-Chol 50.0 versus 48.8 mg/dL, and TG 190.5 versus 184.4 mg/dL. PN constantly and significantly improved lipid parameters versus D group: at 16 weeks −19.1 versus −9.4% for Tot-Chol (p < 0.001), −23.5 versus −10.8% for LDL-Chol (p < 0.001), +11.6 versus +4.0% for HDL-Chol (p < 0.001), −17.9 versus −11.3% for TG (p < 0.001). In conclusions, PN plus diet allows an effective improvement of blood lipids with a significant reduction of global CV risk, suggesting a role for PN in CHD prevention

Very Early PSA Response to Abiraterone in mCRPC Patients: A Novel Prognostic Factor Predicting Overall Survival

BACKGROUND Abiraterone Acetate (AA) is approved for the treatment of mCRPC after failure of androgen deprivation therapy in whom chemotherapy is not yet clinically indicated and for treatment of mCRPC progressed during or after docetaxel-based chemotherapy regimen. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of early PSA decline for detection of therapy success or failure in mCRPC patients treated with AA in post chemotherapy setting.PATIENTS AND METHODS We retrospectively evaluated 87 patients with mCRPC treated with AA. Serum PSA levels were evaluated after 15, 90 days and then monthly. The PSA flare phenomenon was evaluated, according to a confirmation value at least one week apart. The primary endpoint was to demonstrate that an early PSA decline correlates with a longer progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). The secondary endpoind was to demonstrate a correlation between better outcome and demographic and clinical patient characteristics.RESULTS We have collected data of 87 patients between Sep 2011 and Sep 2014. Early PSA response (≥ 50% from baseline at 15 days) was found in 56% evaluated patients and confirmed in 29 patients after 90 days. The median progression free survival (PFS) was 5,5 months (4,6-6,5) and the median overall survival (OS) was 17,1 months (8,8-25,2). In early responders patients (PSA RR ≥ 50% at 15 days), we found a significant statistical advantage in terms of PFS at 1 year, HR 0.28, 95%CI 0.12-0.65, p=0.003, and OS, HR 0.21 95% CI 0.06-0.72, p=0.01. The results in PFS at 1 years and OS reached statistical significance also in the evaluation at 90 days.CONCLUSION A significant proportion (78.6%) of patients achieved a rapid response in terms of PSA decline. Early PSA RR (≥ 50% at 15 days after start of AA) can provide clinically meaningful information and can be considered a surrogate of longer PFS and OS

Il Futuro della Cybersecurity in Italia: Ambiti Progettuali Strategici

Il presente volume nasce come continuazione del precedente, con l’obiettivo di delineare un insieme di ambiti progettuali e di azioni che la comunità nazionale della ricerca ritiene essenziali a complemento e a supporto di quelli previsti nel DPCM Gentiloni in materia di sicurezza cibernetica, pubblicato nel febbraio del 2017. La lettura non richiede particolari conoscenze tecniche; il testo è fruibile da chiunque utilizzi strumenti informatici o navighi in rete. Nel volume vengono considerati molteplici aspetti della cybersecurity, che vanno dalla definizione di infrastrutture e centri necessari a organizzare la difesa alle azioni e alle tecnologie da sviluppare per essere protetti al meglio, dall’individuazione delle principali tecnologie da difendere alla proposta di un insieme di azioni orizzontali per la formazione, la sensibilizzazione e la gestione dei rischi. Gli ambiti progettuali e le azioni, che noi speriamo possano svilupparsi nei prossimi anni in Italia, sono poi accompagnate da una serie di raccomandazioni agli organi preposti per affrontare al meglio, e da Paese consapevole, la sfida della trasformazione digitale. Le raccomandazioni non intendono essere esaustive, ma vanno a toccare dei punti che riteniamo essenziali per una corretta implementazione di una politica di sicurezza cibernetica a livello nazionale. Politica che, per sua natura, dovrà necessariamente essere dinamica e in continua evoluzione in base ai cambiamenti tecnologici, normativi, sociali e geopolitici. All’interno del volume, sono riportati dei riquadri con sfondo violetto o grigio; i primi sono usati nel capitolo introduttivo e nelle conclusioni per mettere in evidenza alcuni concetti ritenuti importanti, i secondi sono usati negli altri capitoli per spiegare il significato di alcuni termini tecnici comunemente utilizzati dagli addetti ai lavori. In conclusione, ringraziamo tutti i colleghi che hanno contribuito a questo volume: un gruppo di oltre 120 ricercatori, provenienti da circa 40 tra Enti di Ricerca e Università, unico per numerosità ed eccellenza, che rappresenta il meglio della ricerca in Italia nel settore della cybersecurity. Un grazie speciale va a Gabriella Caramagno e ad Angela Miola che hanno contribuito a tutte le fasi di produzione del libro. Tra i ringraziamenti ci fa piacere aggiungere il supporto ottenuto dai partecipanti al progetto FILIERASICURA

Convective heat transfer in circular and chevron impinging synthetic jets

An experimental investigation on the heat transfer enhancement achieved by impinging synthetic jets with vortex generators, in the form of chevron elements at the nozzle exit, is carried out. The heated thin foil heat transfer sensor is used in conjunction with the infrared thermography to measure the spatial distribution of the Nusselt number on the target plate. The heat transfer rates of impinging circular and chevron synthetic jets are compared under the same condition of cavity pressure. A parametric study on the effect of the dimensionless stroke length and the nozzle-to-plate distance on the heat transfer rates is carried out. For increasing dimensionless stroke length, at short nozzle-to-plate distances, the chevron synthetic jet reveals a star-shaped heat transfer pattern similar to that observed for an impinging continuous one. The results show that a chevron exit geometry can provide a significant heat transfer enhancement for relatively small nozzle-to-plate distances, up to a 20% increase with respect to the circular synthetic jet. At small dimensionless stroke lengths, such an enhancement is observed for a wide range of nozzle-to-plate distances

Effects of Chevron Exit on Impinging Synthetic Jets

The behaviour of a chevron syntethic jet in impinging configuration is experimentally investigated by using Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry at Reynolds number equals to 4500, dimensionless stroke length (i.e. nverse of Strouhal number) equals to 28 and at a nozzle-to-plate distance of 2 diameters. The effect of the presence of the impinging plate on the flow field organisation is discussed. The characterisation of the flow field evolution on the impingement plate is studied. Then, a complete three-dimensional reconstruction of the entire flow field at the phases, chosen by analysing the results obtained through the previous analysis, is carried out. Three phases are reconstructed corresponding to three synthetic jet conditions: approaching vortex, impinging vortex and flow developing on the plate. The chevron synthetic jet is characterised by two main features: the cross-shaped exit leads to the acceleration of the fluid, thus to a larger impinging velocity; second one, the presence of streamwise structures are responsible forthe generation of preferential paths along which the turbulent wall jet develops modelling the convecting primary coherent vortex structure in a hexagonal shape

On the flow organization of a chevron synthetic jet

In the present study, the flow fields generated by two synthetic jets with a chevron and a conventional circular nozzle exits are studied and compared. For both configurations, the devices are operated at the same input electrical power, thus leading to Reynolds and Strouhal numbers equal to 5600 and 0.115 (for the circular exit) and 6000 and 0.106 (for the chevron exit). Phase-locked stereoscopic particle image velocimetry measurements are used to reconstruct the three-dimensional coherent vortex structures. Time-averaged and phase-averaged mean and turbulent statistics are analysed and discussed. The flow field strongly depends on the exit geometry. In presence of the chevron exit, the conventional vortex ring issued through the circular nozzle exit, is replaced by a non-circular vortex ring with additional streamwise vortices. The mutual interaction between these structures prevents the axis-switching of the non-circular vortex ring during its convection. These streamwise vortices disappear convecting downstream and the vortex ring assumes a circular shape. Comparing the two configurations, the chevron exit generates a larger time-averaged streamwise velocity along the centreline but with lower turbulent kinetic energy intensity. Differences are also present between the notch and the apex planes of the chevron exit. In the notch plane, both the time-averaged axial velocity component profile in the spanwise direction and the shearlayer width are wider than in the apex plane. Furthermore, the presence of the streamwise vortices causes a flow motion towards the jet axis in the apex plane and an opposite motion in the notch plane

Impinging Single and Twin Circular Synthetic Jets Flow Field

The behavior of single and twin circular synthetic jets devices is experimentally investigated by using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) at a Reynolds number equal to 5,100 and a Strouhal number equal to 0.024. The twin synthetic jets are in phase opposition and different inter-axes distances (l) have been studied. Moreover, several nozzle-to-plate distances (H/D=2, 4, 6, 8 and 10) have been investigated. The twin synthetic jets show an interaction which causes higher time-averaged axial velocities and fluctuations than the single synthetic jet case and lower jet width. The time-averaged turbulent fluctuations show that both the single synthetic jet and the twin synthetic jets have a region characterized by low values of turbulence (potential core-like region). The evolution of the mean and statistics quantities have been described through phase-averaged measurements. High turbulence is observed along the shear layer emanated by the nozzle edge and in the vortex ring core. Also the saddle point behavior has been investigated