The EU’s olive oil diplomacy: Italian fears and prospects for Tunisia

On 10 March, the European Parliament voted in favor of a measure allowing Tunisia to export yearly 35,000 tons of olive oil tax-free in the European Union, for two years. That is, Tunisia will be allowed to export to the EU 70,000 tons of olive oil between 2016 and 2017 with no further duties. The decision has attracted much criticism from associations of local farmers, especially in Italy. The Italian Minister of Agricultural Policies, Maurizio Martina, spoke against the decision, because it would damage the Italian olive oil sector. The controversy prompts us to reflect on the policy options the European Union has towards the Southern Mediterranean countries. Furthermore, it shows how much gap there exists at national level between political slogans – even the most populist ones – and concrete action(s)

Towards an integrated approach for red mud valorisation: a focus on titanium

AbstractIn this work red mud, a highly alkaline waste product generated during alumina production process, was valorised as a source of valuable metals and as an adsorbent material. A hydrometallurgical process was developed in order to recover titanium from red mud. By a leaching step with hydrochloric acid followed by ammonia precipitation and a further purification step by solvent extraction with Cyanex 301 using toluene as a solvent, quantitative recovery of titanium with a high purity level (> 95%) was achieved. Red mud adsorption properties were also tested for metal removal from aqueous solutions. The results showed the red mud potential in applications such as environmental remediation. The adsorption order was found to be: iron > lead > copper > manganese, zinc. Red mud can be thus potentially valorised both as a source of secondary titanium and as an adsorbent material, according to the principles of Circular Economy which promote waste reduction and the preservation of natural resources

Migraine patients with and without neck pain:Differences in clinical characteristics, sensitization, musculoskeletal impairments, and psychological burden

Aims: This study aims to assess differences in clinical characteristics across healthy controls and migraine patients with (MNP) and without (MwoNP) neck pain.Method: This study assessed: headache frequency; headache disability index (HDI); central sensitization inventory (CSI); Hospital Anxiety (HADS-A) and Depression (HADS-D) scale; active range of motion (AROM); flexion rotation test (FRT); activation pressure score (APS); number of active/latent myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) in head/neck muscles; number of positive cervical vertebral segments (C1/C2) who reproduce migraine pain; wind-up ratio (WUR); mechanical pain threshold (MPT) and static pressure pain threshold (sPPT) over the trigeminal area; sPPT and dynamic PPT (dPPT) over the cervical area; sPPTs and MPT over the hand.Results: Compared to controls, MNP had: worse CSI, HADS-A, and HADS-D (all, p < 0.002); reduced AROM (flexion, extension, left lateral-flexion, and right-rotation), FRT, APS, and a higher number of MTrPs and positive cervical vertebral segments (all, p < 0.020); reduced trigeminal MPT and sPPT, cervical sPPT and dPPT, hand MPT and sPPT (all, p < 0.006). Compared to controls, MwoNP had: worse CSI, and HADS-A (all, p < 0.002); reduced AROM (flexion, and left lateral-flexion), FRT, APS, and a higher number of MTrPs and positive cervical vertebral segments (all, p < 0.017); reduced trigeminal MPT and cervical dPPT (all, p < 0.007). Compared to MwoNP, MNP had higher headache frequency, worse HDI and CSI (all, p < 0.006); reduced AROM (flexion, and right rotation) (all, p < 0.037); reduced cervical dPPT (all, p < 0.002).Conclusion: MNP had worse headache characteristics, more pronounced cervical musculoskeletal impairments, enhanced signs and symptoms related to sensitization, and worse psychological burden compared to MwoNP

Fine-needle aspiration accuracy in the diagnosis of primary epithelioid angiosarcoma of the adrenal gland: a case report and review of the literature

Primary epithelioid angiosarcoma of the adrenal gland is extremely rare. Only 37 cases have been reported in the scientific literature.Here we describe the case of a 55-year-old woman affected by metastatic angiosarcoma in the right adrenal gland, who died few days after the histological diagnosis made by fine-needle aspiration (FNA). This is the second case of primary epithelioid angiosarcoma diagnosed by FNA among scientific articles published in English in PubMed. Microscopically, the tumor showed a predominant epithelioid differentiation, thus making the diagnostic process more difficult than usual. Immunohistochemical examination revealed positive reactivity for cytokeratin, CD31, and CD34. The literature shows that epithelioid adrenal angiosarcoma has poor clinical outcome, especially when metastatic at presentation

Underwater intervention robotics: An outline of the Italian national project Maris

The Italian national project MARIS (Marine Robotics for Interventions) pursues the strategic objective of studying, developing, and integrating technologies and methodologies to enable the development of autonomous underwater robotic systems employable for intervention activities. These activities are becoming progressively more typical for the underwater offshore industry, for search-and-rescue operations, and for underwater scientific missions. Within such an ambitious objective, the project consortium also intends to demonstrate the achievable operational capabilities at a proof-of-concept level by integrating the results with prototype experimental systems

LIME -- a gas TPC prototype for directional Dark Matter search for the CYGNO experiment

The CYGNO experiment aims at the development of a large gaseous TPC with GEM-based amplification and an optical readout by means of PMTs and scientific CMOS cameras for 3D tracking down to O(keV) energies, for the directional detection of rare events such as low mass Dark Matter and solar neutrino interactions. The largest prototype built so far towards the realisation of the CYGNO experiment demonstrator is the 50 L active volume LIME, with 4 PMTs and a single sCMOS imaging a 33$\times$33 cm\textsuperscript{2} area for 50 cm drift, that has been installed in underground Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in February 2022. We will illustrate LIME performances as evaluated overground in Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati by means of radioactive X-ray sources, and in particular the detector stability, energy response and energy resolution. We will discuss the MC simulation developed to reproduce the detector response and show the comparison with actual data. We will furthermore examine the background simulation worked out for LIME underground data taking and illustrate the foreseen expected measurement and results in terms of natural and materials intrinsic radioactivity characterisation and measurement of the LNGS underground natural neutron flux. The results that will be obtained by underground LIME installation will be paramount in the optimisation of the CYGNO demonstrator, since this is foreseen to be composed by multiple modules with the same LIME dimensions and characteristics