Thermographic Imaging in Cultural Heritage: A Short Review

Over the recent period, there has been an increasing interest in the use of pulsed infrared thermography (PT) for the non-destructive evaluation of Cultural Heritage (CH). Unlike other techniques that are commonly employed in the same field, PT enables the depth-resolved detection of different kinds of subsurface features, thus providing helpful information for both scholars and restorers. Due to this reason, several research activities are currently underway to further improve the PT effectiveness. In this manuscript, the specific use of PT for the analysis of three different types of CH, namely documentary materials, panel paintings–marquetery, and mosaics, will be reviewed. In the latter case, i.e., mosaics, passive thermography combined with ground penetrating radar (GPR) and digital microscopy (DM) have also been deepened, considering their suitability in the open field. Such items have been selected because they are characterized by quite distinct physical and structural properties and, therefore, different PT (and, in some cases, verification) approaches have been employed for their investigations

Portable automated radio-frequency scanner for non-destructive testing of carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer composites

A portable automated scanner for non-destructive testing of carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites has been developed. Measurement head has been equipped with an array of newly developed radio-frequency (RF) inductive sensors mounted on a flexible arm, which allows the measurement of curved CFRP samples. The scanner is also equipped with vacuum sucks providing mechanical stability. RF sensors operate in a frequency range spanning from 10 up to 300 MHz, where the largest sensitivity to defects buried below the front CFRP surface is expected. Unlike to ultrasonic testing, which will be used for reference, the proposed technique does not require additional couplants. Moreover, negligible cost and high repeatability of inductive sensors allows developing large scanning arrays, thus, substantially speeding up the measurements of large surfaces. The objective will be to present the results of an extensive measurement campaign undertaken for both planar and curved large CFRP samples, pointing out major achievements and potential challenges that still have to be addressed

Increasing vegetable intakes: rationale and systematic review of published interventions

Purpose While the health benefits of a high fruit and vegetable consumption are well known and considerable work has attempted to improve intakes, increasing evidence also recognises a distinction between fruit and vegetables, both in their impacts on health and in consumption patterns. Increasing work suggests health benefits from a high consumption specifically of vegetables, yet intakes remain low, and barriers to increasing intakes are prevalent making intervention difficult. A systematic review was undertaken to identify from the published literature all studies reporting an intervention to increase intakes of vegetables as a distinct food group. Methods Databases—PubMed, PsychInfo and Medline—were searched over all years of records until April 2015 using pre-specified terms. Results Our searches identified 77 studies, detailing 140 interventions, of which 133 (81 %) interventions were conducted in children. Interventions aimed to use or change hedonic factors, such as taste, liking and familiarity (n = 72), use or change environmental factors (n = 39), use or change cognitive factors (n = 19), or a combination of strategies (n = 10). Increased vegetable acceptance, selection and/or consumption were reported to some degree in 116 (83 %) interventions, but the majority of effects seem small and inconsistent. Conclusions Greater percent success is currently found from environmental, educational and multi-component interventions, but publication bias is likely, and long-term effects and cost-effectiveness are rarely considered. A focus on long-term benefits and sustained behaviour change is required. Certain population groups are also noticeably absent from the current list of tried interventions

CPM Is a Useful Cell Surface Marker to Isolate Expandable Bi-Potential Liver Progenitor Cells Derived from Human iPS Cells

To develop a culture system for large-scale production of mature hepatocytes, liver progenitor cells (LPCs) with a high proliferation potential would be advantageous. We have found that carboxypeptidase M (CPM) is highly expressed in embryonic LPCs, hepatoblasts, while its expression is decreased along with hepatic maturation. Consistently, CPM expression was transiently induced during hepatic specification from human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). CPM+ cells isolated from differentiated hiPSCs at the immature hepatocyte stage proliferated extensively in vitro and expressed a set of genes that were typical of hepatoblasts. Moreover, the CPM+ cells exhibited a mature hepatocyte phenotype after induction of hepatic maturation and also underwent cholangiocytic differentiation in a three-dimensional culture system. These results indicated that hiPSC-derived CPM+ cells share the characteristics of LPCs, with the potential to proliferate and differentiate bi-directionally. Thus, CPM is a useful marker for isolating hiPSC-derived LPCs, which allows development of a large-scale culture system for producing hepatocytes and cholangiocytes

A Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Management Plan Is Effective in Reducing the Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence

Background: Obesity in childhood and adolescence represents a major health problem of our century. In Greece, 30-35% of children and adolescents are overweight or obese. Objective and Hypotheses: To investigate the effectiveness of a comprehensive multidisciplinary personalized management plan at reducing the prevalence of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence. Patients and Methods: One thousand (n = 1,000) children and adolescents aged 2-18 years (mean age ± SD: 10.09 ± 2.86 years; 520 females, 480 males) were studied prospectively. Subjects were classified as obese (n = 579, 57.9%), overweight (n = 295, 29.5%) or having a normal body mass index (BMI) (n = 126, 12.6%) according to the International Obesity Task Force cutoff points. All subjects were evaluated by a multidisciplinary team at frequent intervals, received personalized advice on diet and exercise and were studied prospectively for 1 year. Detailed clinical evaluation and laboratory investigations were performed at the beginning and at the end of the study. Results: At initial evaluation, 57.9% of subjects were obese, 29.5% overweight and 12.6% of normal BMI. Indices of cardiometabolic disease were higher in obese than in overweight and normal-BMI subjects. Following 1 year of multidisciplinary management interventions, the prevalence of obesity decreased by 16.8%, the prevalence of normal BMI increased by 8.2%, and all cardiometabolic indices improved significantly. Conclusions: A personalized multidisciplinary management plan is effective at reducing the prevalence of obesity in childhood and adolescence. © 2020 S. Karger AG. All rights reserved