Reliability Analysis and Economic Evaluation of Thermal Reflective Insulators

High-performance thermal insulators allow a dramatic reduction in the thickness of coatings, thanks to their low thermal conductivity. This study provides an overview about thermal insulation materials, with regards to heat reflective insulators in particular. Then, the numerical investigation method adopted to compute the thermal resistance associated with reflective insulators is introduced. This method has been used in turn to check the accuracy of the declared, measured performance of different, heat-reflective materials on the market. Many manufacturers of reflective insulators were available to provide information and a good agreement between the declared and expected thermal resistance has been found. The choice of a non-experimental approach is meant to check the validity of an already performed test on a reflective insulator using a predictive approach instead of standard, additional testing. Then, the insulation of five typical walls at three different sites in Italy has been simulated, showing that most of heat-reflective materials cannot achieve the maximum required transmittance. Interstitial condensation is likely to occur in specific cases, also because of the aluminum layers inside. The economic analyses showed comparable costs for both heat reflective and traditional insulators, and their cost effectiveness needs to be evaluated case by case

Cerebellar Ataxia with Complete Clinical Recovery and Resolution of MRI Lesions Related to Central Pontine Myelinolysis: Case Report and Literature Review

There are several reports of central pontine myelinolysis (CPM) in a setting of malnutrition, alcoholism, and chronic debilitating illness associated with electrolyte abnormalities, especially hyponatremia. The cause of myelinolysis is still under debate, and, although osmotic effects are thought to be responsible in most cases, alternative pathological factors should be considered [King et al.: Am J Med Sci 2010;339:561–567]. We report a case of CPM in a patient with recent chemotherapy for colon cancer without electrolyte unbalance and otherwise unexplained causes. Moreover, the present case is an example of the unusual clinical ataxic variant, followed by complete recovery without any specific treatment. The diagnosis was confirmed by MRI, which showed a characteristic hyperintense signal abnormality in the central part of the pons with an unaffected outer rim. One month later, we observed complete resolution of clinical and radiological symptoms

Clinical impact of first-line bevacizumab plus chemotherapy in metastatic colorectal cancer of mucinous histology: a multicenter, retrospective analysis on 685 patients

In metastatic colorectal cancer (MCRC), mucinous histology has been associated with poor response rate and prognosis. We investigated whether bevacizumab combined with different chemotherapy regimens may have an impact on clinical outcomes of MCRC patients with mucinous histology

N-Glycomic changes in serum proteins in type 2 diabetes mellitus correlate with complications and with metabolic syndrome parameters

Background: Glycosylation, i.e the enzymatic addition of oligosaccharides (or glycans) to proteins and lipids, known as glycosylation, is one of the most common co-/posttranslational modifications of proteins. Many important biological roles of glycoproteins are modulated by N-linked oligosaccharides. As glucose levels can affect the pathways leading to glycosylation of proteins, we investigated whether metabolic syndrome (MS) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), pathological conditions characterized by altered glucose levels, are associated with specific modifications in serum N-glycome. Methods: We enrolled in the study 562 patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) (mean age 65.6 +/- 8.2 years) and 599 healthy control subjects (CTRs) (mean age, 58.5 +/- 12.4 years). N-glycome was evaluated in serum glycoproteins. Results: We found significant changes in N-glycan composition in the sera of T2DM patients. In particular, alpha(1,6)-linked arm monogalactosylated, core-fucosylated diantennary N-glycans (NG1(6)A2F) were significantly reduced in T2DM compared with CTR subjects. Importantly, they were equally reduced in diabetic patients with and without complications (P<0.001) compared with CTRs. Macro vascular-complications were found to be related with decreased levels of NG1(6) A2F. In addition, NG1(6) A2F and NG1(3) A2F, identifying, respectively, monogalactosylated N-glycans with alpha(1,6)- and alpha(1,3)-antennary galactosylation, resulted strongly correlated with most MS parameters. The plasmatic levels of these two glycans were lower in T2DM as compared to healthy controls, and even lower in patients with complications and MS, that is the extreme "unhealthy" phenotype (T2DM+ with MS). Conclusions: Imbalance of glycosyltransferases, glycosidases and sugar nucleotide donor levels is able to cause the structural changes evidenced by our findings. Serum N-glycan profiles are thus sensitive to the presence of diabetes and MS. Serum N-glycan levels could therefore provide a non-invasive alternative marker for T2DM and MS

The impact of COVID-19 on myocardial infarctions, strokes and out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary arrests: an observational retrospective study on time-sensitive disorders in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region (Italy)

The COVID-19 global pandemic has changed considerably the way time-sensitive disorders are treated. Home isolation, people's fear of contracting the virus and hospital reorganisation have led to a significant decrease in contacts between citizens and the healthcare system, with an expected decrease in calls to the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia (FVG) region. However, mortality in clinical emergencies like acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), stroke and out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest (OHCA) remained high. An observational retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out in FVG, taking into account the period between March 1, 2020, and May 31, 2020, the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and comparing it with the same period in 2019. The flow of calls to the EMS was analysed and COVID-19 impact on time-sensitive disorders (STEMIs, ischemic strokes and OHCPAs) was measured in terms of hospitalisation, treatment and mortality. Despite a -8.01% decrease (p value ˂0.001) in emergency response, a 10.89% increase in calls to the EMS was observed. A lower number of advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitations (CPR) (75.8 vs 45.2%, p=0.000021 in April) and ROSC (39.1 vs 11.6%, p=0.0001 in April) was remarked, and survival rate dropped from 8.5 to 5%. There were less strokes (-27.5%, p value=0.002) despite a more severe onset of symptoms at hospitalisation with NHISS˃10 in 38.47% of cases. Acute myocardial infarctions decreased as well (-20%, p value=0.05), but statistical significances were not determined in the variables considered and in mortality. Despite a lower number of emergency responses, the number of calls to the EMS was considerably higher. The number of cardiac arrests treated with advanced CPR (ALS) was lower, but mortality was higher. The number of strokes decreased as well, but at the time of hospitalisation the clinical picture of the patient was more severe, thus affecting the outcome when the patient was discharged. Finally, STEMI patients decreased; however, no critical issues were observed in the variables taken into account, neither in terms of response times nor in terms of treatment times

The Inflammatory Feed-Forward Loop Triggered by the Complement Component C3 as a Potential Target in Endometriosis

Copyright © 2021 Agostinis, Zorzet, Balduit, Zito, Mangogna, Macor, Romano, Toffoli, Belmonte, Morello, Martorana, Borelli, Ricci, Kishore and Bulla. The complement system is a major component of humoral innate immunity, acting as a first line of defense against microbes via opsonization and lysis of pathogens. However, novel roles of the complement system in inflammatory and immunological processes, including in cancer, are emerging. Endometriosis (EM), a benign disease characterized by ectopic endometrial implants, shows certain unique features of cancer, such as the capacity to invade surrounding tissues, and in severe cases, metastatic properties. A defective immune surveillance against autologous tissue deposited in the peritoneal cavity allows immune escape for endometriotic lesions. There is evidence that the glandular epithelial cells found in endometriotic implants produce and secrete the complement component C3. Here, we show, using immunofluorescence and RT-qPCR, the presence of locally synthesized C3 in the ectopic endometriotic tissue, but not in the eutopic tissue. We generated a murine model of EM via injection of minced uterine tissue from a donor mouse into the peritoneum of recipient mice. The wild type mice showed greater amount of cyst formation in the peritoneum compared to C3 knock-out mice. Peritoneal washings from the wild type mice with EM showed more degranulated mast cells compared to C3 knock-out mice, consistent with higher C3a levels in the peritoneal fluid of EM patients. We provide evidence that C3a participates in an auto-amplifying loop leading to mast cell infiltration and activation, which is pathogenic in EM. Thus, C3 can be considered a marker of EM and its local synthesis can promote the engraftment of the endometriotic cysts.Ministry of Health: Project code: ENDO-2020-23670288 “Pathogenesis of endometriosis: the role of genes, inflammation and environment”; Institute for Maternal and Child Health, IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Trieste, Italy (RC20/16, RC23/18; 5MILLE15D; PORFESR 2014/2020 FVG (“TiCheP” project)

SIMBIO-SYS Near Earth Commissioning Phase: a step forward toward Mercury

On December 2018, the Near Earth Commissioning Phase (NECP) has been place forSIMBIO-SYS (Spectrometers and Imagers for MPO BepiColombo Integrated Observatory - SYStem), the suite part of the scientific payload of the BepiColombo ESA-JAXA mission. SIMBIO-SYS is composed of three channels: the high resolution camera (HRIC), the stereo camera (STC) and the Vis/NIR spectrometer (VIHI) . During the NECP the three channels have been operated properly. For the three channels were checked the operativity and the performance. The commanded operations allowed to verify all the instrument functionalities demonstrating that all SIMBIO-SYS channels and subsystems work nominally. During this phase we also validated the Ground Segment Equipment (GSE) and the data analysis tools developed by the team

European Atlas of Natural Radiation

Natural ionizing radiation is considered as the largest contributor to the collective effective dose received by the world population. The human population is continuously exposed to ionizing radiation from several natural sources that can be classified into two broad categories: high-energy cosmic rays incident on the Earth’s atmosphere and releasing secondary radiation (cosmic contribution); and radioactive nuclides generated during the formation of the Earth and still present in the Earth’s crust (terrestrial contribution). Terrestrial radioactivity is mostly produced by the uranium and thorium radioactive families together with potassium. In most circumstances, radon, a noble gas produced in the radioactive decay of uranium, is the most important contributor to the total dose. This Atlas aims to present the current state of knowledge of natural radioactivity, by giving general background information, and describing its various sources. This reference material is complemented by a collection of maps of Europe displaying the levels of natural radioactivity caused by different sources. It is a compilation of contributions and reviews received from more than 80 experts in their field: they come from universities, research centres, national and European authorities and international organizations. This Atlas provides reference material and makes harmonized datasets available to the scientific community and national competent authorities. In parallel, this Atlas may serve as a tool for the public to: • familiarize itself with natural radioactivity; • be informed about the levels of natural radioactivity caused by different sources; • have a more balanced view of the annual dose received by the world population, to which natural radioactivity is the largest contributor; • and make direct comparisons between doses from natural sources of ionizing radiation and those from man-made (artificial) ones, hence to better understand the latter.JRC.G.10-Knowledge for Nuclear Security and Safet

Indagini per l'individuazione di placers nella piattaforma continentale interna tra M.te Argentario ed Ansedonia (Toscana meridionale

Trattasi di una indagine per la ricerca di placers marini che si avvale di analisi morfologiche, sismostratigrafiche, sedimentologiche e mineralogiche

Caratteristiche morfologiche, stratigrafiche e sedimentologiche della piattaforma continentale interna tra M.te Argentario e Torre Sant'Agostino

Vengono presentate le caratteristiche morfologiche, sedimentologiche e stratigrafiche della piattaforma continentale in esame ipotizzandone l'evoluzione durante l'Olocene