SMART SOP ARCHITECTURES AND POWER CONTROL MANAGEMENTS BETWEEN LIGHT DC RAILWAY AND LV DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

This paper presents different architectures of smart soft open points to interface electrified DC railways and low voltage power distribution networks. Both networks have similar objectives of power losses reduction, preserve network stability even with a high penetration of renewable energy sources, and accommodate new energy sectors such as electric vehicles and energy storage systems. The proposed smart soft open points will enable a flexible inter-exchange of electrical power between the two networks in order to achieve these challenging objectives. Different power management control approaches are provided in this paper according to the traffic conditions on the railway network as well as the power and voltage conditions of the distribution network

NNLO Logarithmic Expansions and Precise Determinations of the Neutral Currents near the Z Resonance at the LHC: The Drell-Yan case

We present a comparative study of the invariant mass and rapidity distributions in Drell-Yan lepton pair production, with particular emphasis on the role played by the QCD evolution. We focus our study around the Z resonance ($50 <Q < 200$ GeV) and perform a general analysis of the factorization/renormalization scale dependence of the cross sections, with the two scales included both in the evolution and in the hard scatterings. We also present the variations of the cross sections due to the errors on the parton distributions (pdf's) and an analysis of the corresponding $K$-factors. Predictions from several sets of pdf's, evolved by MRST and Alekhin are compared with those generated using \textsc{Candia}, a NNLO evolution program that implements the theory of the logarithmic expansions, developed in a previous work. These expansions allow to select truncated solutions of varying accuracy using the method of the $x$-space iterates. The evolved parton distributions are in good agreement with other approaches. The study can be generalized for high precision searches of extra neutral gauge interactions at the LHC.Comment: 75 pages,30 figures, 30 table

VIRULENCE FACTORS AND ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE OF ESCHERICHIA COLI ST131 IN COMMUNITY-ONSET HEALTHCARE-ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS IN SICILY, ITALY

Escherichia coli ST131 is an emerging resistant agent recently called \u201csuperbug\u201d in England. This strain is responsible of community-acquired urinary tract infections and nowadays showing increasing resistance to antibiotics like fluoroquinolones and cephalosporins. Survey of virulent bacterial clone is relevant to control its spreading in community. We aim to assess the circulation of resistant clones Escherichia coli ST131 outside of the hospital to prompt control of outbreak in our geographical area. We selected 105 E. coli resistant isolates from community-acquired urinary infections and performed a multiplex PCR to evaluate if they belonged to the ST131 type. We investigated their set of virulence factors; in particular, kpsMII, papA, sfaS, focG, iutA, papC, hlyD and afa genes, and finally, we evaluated beta lactamases genes and quinolone resistance determinants. E. coli ST 131 clone was present in 66.6% of our isolates and showed positivity to a wide range of resistance genes, in particular blaCTX-M-15 among beta lactamases and plasmid-related quinolone resistance genes (qnrA, qnrS and aac (6\u2019)-Ib-cr). Moreover, 81% of the strains showed positivity to at least one of the virulence factor genes. Our results suggested a high presence of E. coli ST131 in community. We suggest antibiotic stewardship for outpatient clinicians and facilities to contain the spread of \u201csuperbug\u201d agents

Blood-Flow-Restriction-Training-Induced Hormonal Response is not Associated with Gains in Muscle Size and Strength

The aim of this study was to determine whether increases in post-exercise endocrine response to low-load resistance exercise with blood flow restriction and high-load resistance exercise would have association with increases in muscle size and strength after an 8-week training period. Twenty-nine untrained men were randomly allocated into three groups: low-load resistance exercise with (LL-BFR) or without blood flow restriction (LL), and high-load resistance exercise (HL). Participants from LL-BFR and LL groups performed leg extension exercise at 20% of one repetition maximum (1RM), four sets of 15 repetitions and the HL group performed four sets of eight repetitions at 80% 1RM. Before the first training session, growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), testosterone, cortisol, and lactate concentration were measured at rest and 15 min after the exercise. Quadriceps CSA and 1RM knee extension were assessed at baseline and after an 8-week training period. GH increased 15 min after exercise in the LL-BFR (p = 0.032) and HL (p \u3c 0.001) groups, with GH concentration in the HL group being higher than in the LL group (p = 0.010). There was a time effect for a decrease in testosterone (p = 0.042) and an increase in cortisol (p = 0.005), while IGF-1 remained unchanged (p = 0.346). Both muscle size and strength were increased after training in LL-BFR and HL groups, however, these changes were not associated with the acute post-exercise hormone levels (p \u3e 0.05). Our data suggest that other mechanisms than the acute post-exercise increase in systemic hormones induced by LL-BFR and HL produce changes in muscle size and strength

Criteria for the use of omics-based predictors in clinical trials.

The US National Cancer Institute (NCI), in collaboration with scientists representing multiple areas of expertise relevant to 'omics'-based test development, has developed a checklist of criteria that can be used to determine the readiness of omics-based tests for guiding patient care in clinical trials. The checklist criteria cover issues relating to specimens, assays, mathematical modelling, clinical trial design, and ethical, legal and regulatory aspects. Funding bodies and journals are encouraged to consider the checklist, which they may find useful for assessing study quality and evidence strength. The checklist will be used to evaluate proposals for NCI-sponsored clinical trials in which omics tests will be used to guide therapy

Effect Of Concurrent Training With Blood Flow Restriction In The Elderly.

The aim of this present study was to investigate on the effects of concurrent training with blood flow restriction (BFR-CT) and concurrent training (CT) on the aerobic fitness, muscle mass and muscle strength in a cohort of older individuals. 25 healthy older adults (64.7±4.1 years; 69.33±10.8 kg; 1.6±0.1 m) were randomly assigned to experimental groups: CT (n=8, endurance training (ET), 2 days/week for 30-40 min, 50-80% VO2peak and RT, 2 days/week, leg press with 4 sets of 10 reps at 70-80% of 1-RM with 60 s rest), BFR-CT (n=10, ET, similar to CT, but resistance training with blood flow restriction: 2 days/week, leg press with 1 set of 30 and 3 sets of 15 reps at 20-30% 1-RM with 60 s rest) or control group (n=7). Quadriceps cross-sectional area (CSAq), 1-RM and VO2peak were assessed pre- and post-examination (12 wk). The CT and BFR-CT showed similar increases in CSAq post-test (7.3%, P<0.001; 7.6%, P<0.0001, respectively), 1-RM (38.1%, P<0.001; 35.4%, P=0.001, respectively) and VO2peak (9.5%, P=0.04; 10.3%, P=0.02, respectively). The BFR-CT promotes similar neuromuscular and cardiorespiratory adaptations as CT

Draft genome sequence and biofilm production of a carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (KpR405) sequence type 405 strain isolated in Italy

Rapid identification and characterization of multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strains is essential to diagnose severe infections in patients. In clinical routine practice, K. pneumoniae is frequently identified and characterized for outbreak investigation. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis or multilocus sequence typing could be used, but, unfortunately, these methods are time-consuming, laborious, expensive, and do not provide any information about the presence of resistance and virulence genes. In recent years, the decreasing cost of next-generation sequencing and its easy use have led to it being considered a useful method, not only for outbreak surveillance but also for rapid identification and evaluation, in a single step, of virulence factors and resistance genes. Carbapenem-resistant strains of K. pneumoniae have become endemic in Italy, and in these strains the ability to form biofilms, communities of bacteria fixed in an extracellular matrix, can defend the pathogen from the host immune response as well as from antibiotics, improving its persistence in epithelial tissues and on medical device surfaces