High power ultrasound treatments of red young wines: Effect on anthocyanins and phenolic stability indices

Polyphenols, especially anthocyanins, play an important role on red wine sensory qualities and their evolution during storage. High Power Ultrasound (HPU) has been recognized as one of the most promising technologies which can be applied in winemaking processes for several purposes, and it is recently officially approved for crushed grapes treatments. The effect of ultrasound amplitude (41 and 81%) and treatment time (1, 3, and 5 min) has been studied on anthocyanins, flavan-3-ols, tannins, polymerized pigments, HCl index, and the color intensity of two finished red young wines. Anthocyanins and phenols compounds were not degraded with an increase in amplitude and sonication time, and the chromatic properties of the selected wines were preserved. Amplitude and ultrasound time were also evaluated considering their effect on evolution of anthocyanin content and phenolic stability indices during the first thirty days of storage. The higher level of amplitude (81%) induced a higher percentage decrease in tannins, 15% and 40% after 15 and 30 days of storage, respectively, compared to untreated wine which did not show a significant change during storage. HPU shows a possible chemical effect on the evolution of some analytical indices during bottling maturation, but their effectiveness could be strictly linked with the initial phenolic profile and ratios between polyphenol classes

Biological phosphorus and nitrogen removal in a full scale sequencing batch reactor treating piggery wastewater

Research activities carried out at ENEA during the last few years allowed the development of a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) that is able to remove biologically organic waste, nitrogen and phosphorus and that was shown to be particularly suited to obtaining low effluent nutrient concentrations even starting from concentrated wastes. Research on optimisation of time cycles and on process modelling, allowed an advanced comprehension of reactor behaviour and the development of a process able to obtain more than 98% removal of nitrogen, phosphorus and COD, and therefore almost capable of matching effluent standards with a sole biological process. On the basis of laboratory results and process modelling, a full scale SBR plant has been designed and realised. This plant, in ten months of operation, is achieving even better results compared to the laboratory ones

Cardiac function and microsphere blood flow distribution in the brain-dead dog

The mechanisms for the deterioration of the brain-dead organ donor are not clearly defined. We measured myocardial blood flow and function during the 4 hours after the induction of brain death in dogs. Brain death was induced by elevating and maintaining intracranial pressure above systolic arterial pressure and effectively stopping central nervous system blood flow. Multiorgan blood flow and systemic arteriovenous shunting were measured using radioactive microspheres. The mean arterial pressure was found to decrease markedly with the induction of brain death. The initial changes in mean arterial pressure were attributed to a decrease of systemic vascular resistance, with the more terminal changes due to a decrease in cardiac index. There was a marked decrease of left ventricular dP/dt with the induction of brain death and a gradual decrease of stroke volume despite no change in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure. The microsphere calculated blood flows to the left ventricle and septum of the myocardium were significantly lower at the 1- and 4-hour time points relative to control. However, the coronary sinus oxygen extraction ratio was not statistically different from control at 4 hours. Systemic arteriovenous shunts increased after the induction of brain death but remained below 10%. We conclude that despite brain death-induced hypotension, there is little evidence to suggest that marked myocardial hypoxic ischemic changes initiated the deterioration in this model.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29990/1/0000357.pd

Ageing test of the ATLAS RPCs at X5-GIF

An ageing test of three ATLAS production RPC stations is in course at X5-GIF, the CERN irradiation facility. The chamber efficiencies are monitored using cosmic rays triggered by a scintillator hodoscope. Higher statistics measurements are made when the X5 muon beam is available. We report here the measurements of the efficiency versus operating voltage at different source intensities, up to a maximum counting rate of about 700Hz/cm^2. We describe the performance of the chambers during the test up to an overall ageing of 4 ATLAS equivalent years corresponding to an integrated charge of 0.12C/cm^2, including a safety factor of 5.Comment: 4 pages. Presented at the VII Workshop on Resistive Plate Chambers and Related Detectors; Clermont-Ferrand October 20th-22nd, 200

Preliminary results on the long term operation of RPCs with eco-friendly gas mixtures under irradiation at the CERN Gamma Irradiation Facility

Since 2019 a collaboration between researchers from various institutes and experiments (i.e. ATLAS, CMS, ALICE, LHCb/SHiP and the CERN EP-DT group), has been operating several RPCs with diverse electronics, gas gap thicknesses and detector layouts at the CERN Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF++). The studies aim at assessing the performance of RPCs when filled with new eco-friendly gas mixtures in avalanche mode and in view of evaluating possible ageing effects after long high background irradiation periods, e.g. High-Luminosity LHC phase. This challenging research is also part of a task of the European AidaInnova project. A promising eco-friendly gas identified for RPC operation is the tetrafluoruropropene (C$_{3}$H$_{2}$F$_{4}$, commercially known as HFO-1234ze) that has been studied at the CERN GIF++ in combination with different percentages of CO$_2$. Between the end of 2021 and 2022 several beam tests have been carried out to establish the performance of RPCs operated with such mixtures before starting the irradiation campaign for the ageing study. Results of these tests for different RPCs layouts and different gas mixtures, under increasing background rates are presented here, together with the preliminary outcome of the detector ageing tests

High-rate tests on Resistive Plate Chambers operated with eco-friendly gas mixtures

Results obtained by the RPC ECOgas@GIF++ Collaboration, using Resistive Plate Chambers operated with new, eco-friendly gas mixtures, based on Tetrafluoropropene and carbon dioxide, are shown and discussed in this paper. Tests aimed to assess the performance of this kind of detectors in high-irradiation conditions, analogous to the ones foreseen for the coming years at the Large Hadron Collider experiments, were performed, and demonstrate a performance basically similar to the one obtained with the gas mixtures currently in use, based on Tetrafluoroethane, which is being progressively phased out for its possible contribution to the greenhouse effect. Long term aging tests are also being carried out, with the goal to demonstrate the possibility of using these eco-friendly gas mixtures during the whole High Luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider.Comment: Submitted to European Physical Journal C on October 24, 2023, 15 pages, 14 figure

Regulation of Septin Dynamics by the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Lysine Acetyltransferase NuA4

In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the lysine acetyltransferase NuA4 has been linked to a host of cellular processes through the acetylation of histone and non-histone targets. To discover proteins regulated by NuA4-dependent acetylation, we performed genome-wide synthetic dosage lethal screens to identify genes whose overexpression is toxic to non-essential NuA4 deletion mutants. The resulting genetic network identified a novel link between NuA4 and septin proteins, a group of highly conserved GTP-binding proteins that function in cytokinesis. We show that acetyltransferase-deficient NuA4 mutants have defects in septin collar formation resulting in the development of elongated buds through the Swe1-dependent morphogenesis checkpoint. We have discovered multiple sites of acetylation on four of the five yeast mitotic septins, Cdc3, Cdc10, Cdc12 and Shs1, and determined that NuA4 can acetylate three of the four in vitro. In vivo we find that acetylation levels of both Shs1 and Cdc10 are reduced in a catalytically inactive esa1 mutant. Finally, we determine that cells expressing a Shs1 protein with decreased acetylation in vivo have defects in septin localization that are similar to those observed in NuA4 mutants. These findings provide the first evidence that yeast septin proteins are acetylated and that NuA4 impacts septin dynamics

Le acque superficiali negli Studi di Impatto Ambientale delle infrastrutture viarie

La presenza di un’infrastruttura stradale e il relativo traffico veicolare contribuiscono in maniera significativa all’inquinamento dell’ambiente idrico superficiale, sia diffuso che puntuale. Per un’infrastruttura, sia viaria che ferroviaria, quindi, assume particolare rilievo l’interazione dell’opera con la componente “acqua” superficiale e profonda, nei suoi aspetti qualitativi e quantitativi. Le infrastrutture di trasporto di una certa rilevanza sono soggette a Valutazione di Impatto Ambientale ai fini dell’inserimento dell’opera con il minor impatto possibile sulle diverse componenti ambientali. Un’indagine sugli Studi di Impatto Ambientale (SIA), prodotti per la procedura di Valutazione di Impatto Ambientale a livello nazionale, ha mostrato, come l’analisi degli aspetti ambientali di un progetto sulla componente idrica risulta spesso approssimativa o semplicemente accennata. L’articolo presenta i risultati di uno studio preliminare, e ancora in essere, volto ad indagare le ragioni di tale carenza e a proporre una soluzione, utilizzando una metodologia a supporto dell’esame della componente idrica negli Studi di Impatto Ambientale per le opere viarie. Si è cercato di individuare gli elementi utili da prendere in considerazione, nella stesura di uno Studio di Impatto Ambientale (SIA), relativamente ai seguenti aspetti: 1. applicazione delle normative vigenti relative alla tutela delle acque e all’uso sostenibile della risorsa idrica; 2. indagine sulle caratteristiche e i requisiti che contribuiscono a definire lo Stato di un corpo idrico superficiale per la definizione del quadro ambientale di riferimento; 3. ricognizione di metodi e strumenti a supporto dell’analisi degli impatti connessi con la realizzazione di un’opera, con specifico riferimento, laddove possibile, alla trattazione della componente idrica. In particolare, viene descritta una metodologia di semplice applicabilità per la valutazione della significatività degli impatti prodotti da un’opera viaria su un corpo idrico superficiale