Energy Scheduling and Performance Evaluation of an e-Vehicle Charging Station

This paper proposes an energy management system (EMS) for a photovoltaic (PV) grid-connected charging station with a battery energy storage system (BESS). The main objective of this EMS is to manage the energy delivered to the electric vehicle (EV), considering the price and (Formula presented.) emissions due to the grid’s connection. Thus, we present a multi-objective two-stage optimization to reduce the impact of the charging station on the environment, as well as the costs. The first stage of the optimization provides an energy schedule, taking into account the PV forecast, the hourly grid’s (Formula presented.) emissions factor, the electricity price, and the initial state of charge of the BESS. The output from this first stage corresponds to the maximum power permitted to be delivered to the EV by the grid. Then, the second stage of the optimization is based on model predictive control that looks to manage the energy flow from the grid, the PV, and the BESS. The proposed EMS is validated using an actual PV/BESS charging station located at the University of Trieste, Italy. Then, this paper presents an analysis of the performance of the charging station under the new EMS considering three main aspects, economic, environmental, and energy, for one month of data. The results show that due to the proposed optimization, the new energy profile guarantees a reduction of 32% in emissions and 29% in energy costs

THU0618-HPR PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES IN RHEUMATIC DISEASE: A NURSING LED CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Background:Nursing management in Rheumatic Diseases (RD) is focused on global patient care. Starting from basic knowledge of diagnostic and therapeutic management, nurses can assess the impact of RD on patients' quality of life not only at the physical level, but also at the psychological, social, and emotional levels.Objectives:To evaluate psycosocial changes in RD patients through nursing-led Patient-Reported OutcomesMethods:We performed a cross-sectional study of 100 RD patients compared with 100 healthy volunteers matched for age, sex and BMI. Specialist nurses invited patients and volunteers to complete questionnaires on quality of life through seven domains (anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbance, pain interference, physical functions and satisfaction with participation in social roles) of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS).Results:Among 100 RD patients, 52 (52%) had a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis; 17 (17%) had a diagnosis of axial spondylorthritis (Ankylosing Spondylitis and Psoriatic Artritis); 25 (25%) had connectivitis (i.e. Lupus, Systemic Sclerosis, Sjögren Syndrome), and finally 6 (6%) had vasculitis. Median disease duration was 7±5 years. Just under half (43%) of RD patients had active disease measured by specific disease activity index. As shown in table 1, no significant difference highlight between the two groups with regard to anthropompetric and demographic characteristics. We found that patients report significantly greater psychosocial changes than healthy controls. More specifically, as shown in figure 1A, mean T score for anxiety, depression, fatigue and sleep disturbances were significantly higher in the RD patients than in healthy controls (56 ± 9 vs 48 ± 8 p<0.001; 52 ± 9 vs 46 ± 8 p <0.001; 58 ± 8vs 48 ± 8 p <0.001; 52 ± 10 vs 44 ± 8 p <0.001) respectively. Moreover, also in the social dimension in terms of pain interference, physical functions and satisfaction with participation in social roles, patients showed a median T score worse than healthy controls (Fig.1B).Table 1Patients(N=100)Healthy(N=100)pDemographic and AnthropometricAge (years)52.5±1151±18nsGender n male (%)43 (43)47 (47)nsBMI (Kg/m2)25.1±427.8±4nsSmoke n (%)52 (52)46 (46)nsMarital Status n not married (%)42(42)41 (41)nsOccupation n yes (%)31 (31)35 (35)nsEducation level n degree (%)54 (54)64 (64)nsRheumatoid Arthritis52 (52)-Axial Spondylorthritis17 (17)-Connectivitis25 (25)-Vasculitis6 (6)-Disease duration (years)7.1±5.18-Disease Activity n yes (%)43 (43)-Medications n (% patients)-NSAID7 (7)-Steroids26 (26)-Biological Treatment54 (54)-Methotrexate34 (34)-Continuous variables are shown as mean ± standard deviation. Categorical variables are presented as number and proportion. The overall p-value was calculated by the Mann–Whitney non-parametric test for independent samples and by Chi-square test as appropriateFigure 1.Median T Score stratified by study group. Data are shown as mean and standard deviation. The overall p-value wascalculated by the Mann–Whitney non-parametric test for independent samples.Conclusion:This exploratory study highlights the need to adopt validated questionnaires in clinical practice, and demonstrates that PROMIS is a valid, objective, and standardized instrument that can help nursing staff to better define the consequences of the disease in a patient's daily life.References:[1]Minnock P, McKee G, Kelly A, et al. Nursing sensitive outcomes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic literature review.Int. J. Nurs. Stud., 77 (2017), pp. 115-129[2]Bartlett SJ, Orbai AM, Duncan T, et al. Reliability and validity of selected PROMIS measures in people with rheumatoid arthritis. PloS One. 2015Disclosure of Interests:None declare

Facing metal stress by multiple strategies: morphophysiological responses of cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.) grown in hydroponics

The contamination of environments by heavy metals has become an urgent issue causing undesirable accumulations and severe damages to agricultural crops, especially cadmium and lead which are among the most widespread and dangerous metal pollutants worldwide. The selection of proper species is a crucial step in many plant-based restoration approaches; therefore, the aim of the present work was to check for early morphophysiological responsive traits in three cultivars of Cynara cardunculus (Sardo, Siciliano, and Spagnolo), helping to select the best performing cultivar for phytoremediation. For all three tested cultivars, our results indicate that cardoon displays some morphophysiological traits to face Cd and Pb pollution, particularly at the root morphology level, element uptake ability, and photosynthetic pigment content. Other traits show instead a cultivar-specific behavior; in fact, stomata plasticity, photosynthetic pattern, and antioxidant power provide different responses, but only Spagnolo cv. achieves a successful strategy attaining a real resilience to metal stress. The capacity of Spagnolo plants to modify leaf structural and physiological traits under heavy metal contamination to maintain high photosynthetic efficiency should be considered an elective trait for its use in contaminated environments

Therapeutic and Metagenomic Potential of the Biomolecular Therapies against Periodontitis and the Oral Microbiome: Current Evidence and Future Perspectives

The principles of periodontal therapy are based on the control of microbial pathogens and host factors that contribute to biofilm dysbiosis, with the aim of modulating the progression of periodontitis and periodontal tissue destruction. It is currently known how differently each individual responds to periodontal treatment, depending on both the bacterial subtypes that make up the dysbiotic biofilm and interindividual variations in the host inflammatory response. This has allowed the current variety of approaches for the management of periodontitis to be updated by defining the goals of target strategies, which consist of reducing the periodontopathogenic microbial flora and/or modulating the host-mediated response. Therefore, this review aims to update the current variety of approaches for the management of periodontitis based on recent target therapies. Recently, encouraging results have been obtained from several studies exploring the effects of some targeted therapies in the medium- and long-term. Among the most promising target therapies analyzed and explored in this review include: cell-based periodontal regeneration, mediators against bone resorption, emdogain (EMD), platelet-rich plasma, and growth factors. The reviewed evidence supports the hypothesis that the therapeutic combination of epigenetic modifications of periodontal tissues, interacting with the dysbiotic biofilm, is a key step in significantly reducing the development and progression of disease in periodontal patients and improving the therapeutic response of periodontal patients. However, although studies indicate promising results, these need to be further expanded and studied to truly realize the benefits that targeted therapies could bring in the treatment of periodontitis

Virological rebound in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients with or without residual viraemia: results from an extended follow-up

AbstractHuman immunodeficiency virus (HIV) -infected patients with HIV RNA loads of < 50 copies/mL were followed-up for a median (interquartile range) of 30.8 (11.7–32.9) months to study the effect of residual viraemia (RV) on virological rebound (VR). At baseline, 446 (60.3%) patients had undetectable HIV RNA (group A) and 293 (39.7%) had RV (1–49 HIV RNA copies/mL, group B) by kinetic PCR. VR occurred in 4 (0.9%) patients in group A and in 12 (4.1%) patients in group B (p 0.007). Time to VR was shorter among patients of group B (Log-rank test: p 0.003). However, the proportion of VR was extremely low also among patients with RV

Salt content of prepacked cereal-based products and their potential contribution to salt intake of the Italian adult population: Results from a simulation study

Background and aims: High sodium intake is one of the main risk factors for noncommunicable diseases, and its consumption should be reduced. This study aimed to simulate changes in the daily salt intake of the Italian adult population based on consumption scenarios of prepacked cereal-based foods sold in Italy. Methods and results: Information on food packages was retrieved from 2893 cereal-based products. Potential changes in salt intake were simulated based on food consumption scenarios that consider the daily consumption of cereal-based products suggested in the Italian Dietary Guidelines and their current daily consumption by Italian adults. The highest salt content was retrieved in bread (median, 25th–75th percentile: 1.3, 1.1–1.4 g/100 g) and bread substitutes (1.8, 1.0–2.2 g/100 g). If the suggested daily amounts were consumed, bread would contribute to 44% of the 5 g salt/day target, whereas bread substitutes, breakfast cereals, biscuits and sweet snacks would marginally contribute (1–2%). Compared to bread with median salt content, a −44% and +10% salt intake would be observed if products within the first and the last quartile of salt content were chosen, respectively. However, considering the actual intake of Italian consumers, bread would cover 25% and bread substitutes 7% of the daily salt target. Conclusion: Food labels have a pivotal role and efforts are required to encourage consumers to use them to make healthy choices. Moreover, these results may contribute to setting sodium benchmarks in cereal-based products and encourage the food industry to reduce the salt content in the products

Cerebrospinal fluid analysis for HIV replication and biomarkers of immune activation and neurodegeneration in long-term atazanavir/ritonavir monotherapy treated patients

Background: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) viral escape is a concern in ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitors monotherapy. The aim was to assess HIV-RNA, biomarkers of immune activation and neurodegeneration, and atazanavir concentrations in CSF of patients on successful long-term atazanavir/ritonavir (ATV/r) monotherapy. Methods: This is a substudy of the multicentric, randomized, open-label, noninferiority trial monotherapy once a day with atazanavir/ritonavir (NCT01511809), comparing the ongoing ATV/r along with 2 nucleoside retrotranscriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) regimen to a simplified ATV/r monotherapy. Patients with plasma HIV-RNA < 50 copies/mL after at least 96 study weeks were eligible. We assessed HIV-RNA, soluble (s)CD14, sCD163, CCL2, CXCL10, interleukin-6, and YKL40 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; neopterin, tryptophan, kynurenine, and neurofilament by immunoassays; and ATV concentrations by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry in paired plasma and CSF samples. Variables were compared with Wilcoxon rank-sum or Fisher exact test, as appropriate. Results: HIV-RNA was detected in the CSF of 1/11 patients on ATV/r monotherapy (114 copies/mL), without neurological symptoms, who was successfully reintensified with his previous 2NRTIs, and in none of the 12 patients on ATV/r + 2NRTIs. CSF biomarkers and ATV concentrations did not differ between the 2 arms. Conclusions: CSF escape was uncommon in patients on long-term ATV/r monotherapy and was controlled with reintensification