Design of an anti-inflammatory diet (ITIS diet) for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Background:Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease that affects synovial joints, leading to inflammation, joint destruction, loss of function, and disability. Although recent pharmaceutical advances have improved treatment of RA, patients with RA often inquire about dietary interventions to improve RA symptoms, as they perceive rapid changes in their symptoms after consumption of certain foods. There is evidence that some ingredients have pro- or anti-inflammatory effects. In addition, recent literature has shown a link between diet and microbiome changes. Both diet and the gut microbiome are linked to circulating metabolites that may modulate inflammation. However, evidence of the effects of an anti-inflammatory and probiotic-rich diet in patients with RA is scarce. There is also a need for biological data to support its anti-inflammatory effects. Methods:The main goal of this study is to delineate the design process for a diet tailored to our RA population. To achieve this goal, we collected information on diet, supplements, cooking methods, and intake of different ingredients for each patient. Different groups were interviewed, and their feedback was assessed to design a diet that incorporates suggested anti-inflammatory ingredients in a manner that was easy for patients to adopt based on their lifestyles and backgrounds. Results:We designed a diet that includes a high intake of potential anti-inflammatory ingredients. Feedback from highly motivated patients was critical in constructing an anti-inflammatory diet (ITIS diet) with elevated adherence. Conclusion:In order to tailor our diet, we surveyed our patients on several different parameters. We obtained important feedback on how feasible our ITIS diet is for RA patients. Using this feedback, we made minor improvements and finalized the design of the ITIS diet. This diet is being used in an on-going pilot study to determine their anti-inflammatory effect in pain and joint swelling in RA patients. Trial registration:Not applicable

A computational platform for the virtual unfolding of Herculaneum Papyri

Ancient Herculaneum papyrus scrolls, hopelessly charred in the 79 A.D. Vesuvius eruption, contain valuable writings of the Greek philosophers of the day, including works of the Epicurean Philodemus. X-ray phase contrast tomography has recently begun unlocking their secrets. However, only small portions of the text hidden inside the scroll have been recover. One of the challenging tasks in Herculaneum papyri investigation is their virtual unfolding because of their highly complicated structure and three-dimensional arrangement. Although this procedure is feasible, problems in segmentation and flattening hinder the unrolling of a large portion of papyrus. We propose a computational platform for the virtual unfolding procedure, and we show the results of its application on two Herculaneum papyrus fragments. This work paves the way to a comprehensive survey and to further interpretation of larger portions of text hidden inside the carbonized Herculaneum papyri

X‐ray microtomography and phylogenomics provide insights into the morphology and evolution of an enigmatic mesozoic insect larva

Fossils sometimes show unusual morphological features absent in living organisms, making it difficult to reconstruct both their affinity and their function. We describe here a new lacewing larva, Ankyloleon caudatus gen. et sp.n. (Neuroptera) from the Cretaceous amber of Myanmar, characterized by an abdomen unique among insects, with ‘tail-like’ terminal segments bearing a ventral pair of vesicles. Phase-contrast X-ray microtomography reveals that these structures were dense and equipped with a median duct, suggesting that they were likely pygopods used for locomotion, holding the position through adhesive secretions. Our phylogenetic analyses, combining genomic and morphological data from both living and fossil lacewings, proved critical to placing Ankyloleon gen.n. on the lacewing tree of life as an early representative of the antlion clade, Myrmeleontiformia. These results corroborate the view that derived myrmeleontiform lacewings ‘experimented’ with unusual combinations of features and specializations during their evolutionary history, some of which are now lost

Multi-objective mathematical programming for optimally sizing and managing battery energy storage for solar photovoltaic system integration of a multi-apartment building

This article presents a novel mathematical formulation to solve the problem of optimally sizing and managing battery energy storage for the solar photovoltaic system integration of a multi-apartment building. The aim is the maximization of the collective self-consumption maintaining control over time of the energy sold and bought and the monitoring of the state of batteries while ranging from minimum to maximum levels. This is obtained through a new mathematical programming model with three different objective functions that can be tuned simultaneously to find Pareto optimal solutions to the problem. The computational results in detailed scenarios with real data verify the model's adequacy to deal with the real problem and give a measure of the saving of bought and sold energy

Gen-Set Control in Stand-Alone/RES Integrated Power Systems

Power supply in stand-alone power systems, such those in non-grid connected islands, represents an important area of study in investigating smart energy concepts. In particular, the discontinuity in renewable energy availability and the mismatch with power demand are likely to hinder grid stability and overall system efficiency. Typically, the load-levelling relies on diesel engine gen-sets which suffer the modulation of power output resulting in increased operation costs and life time reduction. Although energy storage can complement power fluxes balance, a proper dispatch strategy is needed in order to improve diesel engine operations in Renewable Energy Source (RES) integrated systems. The present study investigates the merit of a dispatch strategy aiming at improving gen-set performance in a hybrid RES/storage/Diesel Engine Generator set (DEGS) power configuration. The proposed dispatch strategy is modelled in a transient simulation software, with hourly based analysis over a year period and is applied to a small island case study

Design of an anti-inflammatory diet (ITIS diet) for patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease that affects synovial joints, leading to inflammation, joint destruction, loss of function, and disability. Although recent pharmaceutical advances have improved treatment of RA, patients with RA often inquire about dietary interventions to improve RA symptoms, as they perceive rapid changes in their symptoms after consumption of certain foods. There is evidence that some ingredients have pro- or anti-inflammatory effects. In addition, recent literature has shown a link between diet and microbiome changes. Both diet and the gut microbiome are linked to circulating metabolites that may modulate inflammation. However, evidence of the effects of an anti-inflammatory and probiotic-rich diet in patients with RA is scarce. There is also a need for biological data to support its anti-inflammatory effects. The main goal of this study is to delineate the design process for a diet tailored to our RA population. To achieve this goal, we collected information on diet, supplements, cooking methods, and intake of different ingredients for each patient. Different groups were interviewed, and their feedback was assessed to design a diet that incorporates suggested anti-inflammatory ingredients in a manner that was easy for patients to adopt based on their lifestyles and backgrounds. We designed a diet that includes a high intake of potential anti-inflammatory ingredients. Feedback from highly motivated patients was critical in constructing an anti-inflammatory diet (ITIS diet) with elevated adherence. In order to tailor our diet, we surveyed our patients on several different parameters. We obtained important feedback on how feasible our ITIS diet is for RA patients. Using this feedback, we made minor improvements and finalized the design of the ITIS diet. This diet is being used in an on-going pilot study to determine their anti-inflammatory effect in pain and joint swelling in RA patients. Not applicable

Magnetic Resonance Micro-imaging (μMRI): studying human bone tissue in archaeological contexts

The bones of the human skeleton represent an important resource for anthropological investigations as the life of the individual can be reconstructed through the morphological characteristics of his skeleton. In the last decade, the application of X-ray imaging-based methodologies to the study of archaeological human remains has made it possible to obtain unique information on individual life history such as the presence of pathologies. In this context, the use of magnetic resonance micro-imaging (μMRI) has proved particularly useful for studying the characteristics of materials composed of porous systems such as bone tissue [1]. Here we present the preliminary results of μMRI analyses on samples from three human tibiae from the Roman necropolis of San Donato (Urbino, Italy) dated to the 1st-3rd century AD [2]. Measurements were performed on a Bruker AVANCE-400 high-resolution spectrometer operating at a high magnetic field (9.4T) and a maximum gradient intensity of 1200 mT/m. To test the potential of μMRI, the samples were analysed in high-resolution Synchrotron-based X-ray Phase Contrast Tomography (XPCT) and the resulting images compared. This work demonstrates that the μMRI approach can highlight certain details that cannot be detected with other non-destructive techniques, thus proving to be a valuable support for anthropological and archaeological research. [1] Sinibaldi et al. 2018. Multimodal ‐ 3D imaging based on μMRI and μCT techniques bridges the gap with histology in visualization of the bone regeneration process. J Tissue Eng. Regen. Med. 12:750-761. [2] Paine et al. 2009. A health assessment for Imperial Roman burials recovered from the necropolis of San Donato and Bivio CH, Urbino, Italy. JASs 87:193-210

Design of an anti-inflammatory diet (ITIS diet) for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

BackgroundRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease that affects synovial joints, leading to inflammation, joint destruction, loss of function, and disability. Although recent pharmaceutical advances have improved treatment of RA, patients with RA often inquire about dietary interventions to improve RA symptoms, as they perceive rapid changes in their symptoms after consumption of certain foods. There is evidence that some ingredients have pro- or anti-inflammatory effects. In addition, recent literature has shown a link between diet and microbiome changes. Both diet and the gut microbiome are linked to circulating metabolites that may modulate inflammation. However, evidence of the effects of an anti-inflammatory and probiotic-rich diet in patients with RA is scarce. There is also a need for biological data to support its anti-inflammatory effects.MethodsThe main goal of this study is to delineate the design process for a diet tailored to our RA population. To achieve this goal, we collected information on diet, supplements, cooking methods, and intake of different ingredients for each patient. Different groups were interviewed, and their feedback was assessed to design a diet that incorporates suggested anti-inflammatory ingredients in a manner that was easy for patients to adopt based on their lifestyles and backgrounds.ResultsWe designed a diet that includes a high intake of potential anti-inflammatory ingredients. Feedback from highly motivated patients was critical in constructing an anti-inflammatory diet (ITIS diet) with elevated adherence.ConclusionIn order to tailor our diet, we surveyed our patients on several different parameters. We obtained important feedback on how feasible our ITIS diet is for RA patients. Using this feedback, we made minor improvements and finalized the design of the ITIS diet. This diet is being used in an on-going pilot study to determine their anti-inflammatory effect in pain and joint swelling in RA patients.Trial registrationNot applicable

Multiscale pink-beam microCT imaging at the ESRF-ID17 biomedical beamline

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