Innovative blood antioxidant test in standardbred trotter horses

In athletic horses, prolonged and intense training gives rise to an imbalance between the production of free radicals and antioxidant molecules, leading to oxidative stress. Considering the relation between exercise and oxidative stress in horses, the present work aims to validate the Kit Radicaux Libres (KRL) test as a tool to verify the influence of taming, training and racing on the total blood antioxidant activity and some haematochemical parameters. Five Italian Standardbred racehorses (two males and three females, aged 12 ± 1 months) from the same training center were selected and monitored upon arrival and during the following year until the racing season. Blood samples were obtained at different timepoints, corresponding to different steps of training. The data showed that KRL values were higher (p < 0.001) before the beginning of the taming period and at 60 days of taming, compared with the training and racing periods; additionally, the total protein value was affected by the training program, whereas no effects of training on muscle enzymes were detected. These results confirm that exercise plays a role in the production of free radicals and show that the KRL test may represent a valid method to determine oxidative stress in athletic horses

Improvement of Solar and Wind forecasting in southern Italy through a multi-model approach: preliminary results

The improvement of the Solar and Wind short-term forecasting represents a critical goal for the weather prediction community and is of great importance for a better estimation of power production from solar and wind farms. In this work we analyze the performance of two deterministic models operational at ISAC-CNR for the prediction of short-wave irradiance and wind speed, at two experimental sites in southern Italy. A post-processing technique, i.e the multi-model, is adopted to improve the performance of the two mesoscale models. The results show that the multi-model approach produces a significant error reduction with respect to the forecast of each model. The error is reduced up to 20  % of the model errors, depending on the parameter and forecasting time

Hematocrit: another important factor in systemic neonatal cardiovascular adaptation

Background: Global cardiovascular adaptation of normal healthy term newborns is rarely studied from a multiorgan and hematological point of view. Aims: To evaluate comprehensive neonatal cardiovascular adaptation during the first days of life with echocardiography and renal-cerebral echo color-Doppler and to correlate it with hematocrit (Ht) changes. Study design: A prospective observational study was conducted on 35 healthy term neonates with a mean ± SD gestational age and birth weight of 39.5 ± 1.1 weeks and 3,400 ± 330 g, respectively. All infants underwent serial echocardiograms at 15 ± 4 hours (day 1) and 72 ± 4 hours (day 3) of age. At the same time, cerebral and renal Doppler parameters were acquired and Ht was sampled. Results: The weight and Ht declined by 220 g (189-251) and 8.1% (6.7-9.5), respectively. Systolic and diastolic diameters of the right ventricle and diastolic left ventricle posterior wall thickness showed a reduction, while the diastolic diameter of the left ventricle showed a small increase. The Doppler cardiac evaluation showed an increase in the mitral E/A ratio and pulmonary acceleration time, a reduction of late transmitral flow peak velocity, aortic peak systolic velocity (PSV), aortic peak systolic pressure gradient, aortic velocity-time integral, aortic mean pressure gradient and pulmonary mean acceleration. We also found a reduction of cerebral resistance parameters and an increase in PSV, end-diastolic velocity, and time-averaged velocity. Other measured parameters remained unchanged. Conclusion: Systemic cardiovascular evaluation about changes in Ht is an essential approach to study newborns, especially during the first days of life when Ht shows a significant decrease. Knowledge of the laws of physics related to the effect of Ht changes on vascular parameters is another important factor in understanding the pathophysiology of neonatal disease states. Further studies are useful to help physicians make evidence-based decisions in the management of newborns in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs)

XXXVIII Meeting of the Italian Section of the Combustion Institute Impact of agriculture biomass burning and preliminary results, on coastal site Lamezia Terme, integrating data of different instruments

Abstract In order to establish strategies for the influence of anthropic activities, continuously monitoring of particulate and greenhouse gases are required. Atmospheric aerosol particles together with greenhouse gases, according to the IPCC( 2013), are playing a major role in climate change affecting the Earth's radiative balance: directly by absorbing and scattering of solar radiation and indirectly by supporting for cloud condensation. In the GAW Regional Coastal Observatory I-AMICA in Lamezia Terme (38.88 LAT 16.24 LON, 6m agl) in Calabrian Region, greenhouse gas and particulate are daily monitored in order to collect and investigate natural and anthropic sources affecting climate. The equipment allow us to detect local events of different nature that influence short lived gases and aerosol presence in our area. In particular here we present some evidence of forest fire smoke detection due to biomass burning caused from agriculture activities. Hourly and daily variation of several parameters are showed, correlation with local circulation is analysed. A further analysis on the correlations with back-trajectories technique based on Hysplit model outputs are also showed

Improvement of Solar and Wind forecasting in southern Italy through a multi-model approach: preliminary results

The improvement of the Solar and Wind short-term forecasting represents a critical goal for the weather prediction community and is of great importance for a better estimation of power production from solar and wind farms. <br><br> In this work we analyze the performance of two deterministic models operational at ISAC-CNR for the prediction of short-wave irradiance and wind speed, at two experimental sites in southern Italy. <br><br> A post-processing technique, i.e the multi-model, is adopted to improve the performance of the two mesoscale models. <br><br> The results show that the multi-model approach produces a significant error reduction with respect to the forecast of each model. The error is reduced up to 20  % of the model errors, depending on the parameter and forecasting time

Meteorology and aerosol studies at a Black Sea coastal site

Coastal meteorology is characterised with complex physical and chemical processes related to aerosols exchange and transport. Aerosol measurements in Bulgaria are rare in areas outside big cities which makes extremely valuable the 3-year effort of a bilateral project between BAS and CNR to perform experimental campaigns at a rural Black Sea coastal site. Not only the concentration of different fractions of PM, but also the chemical composition of aerosols was studied during three short experimental studies in 2016, 2017 and 2018