The Pilot Acoustic Indicator: a Novel Cockpit Instrument for the Greener Helicopter Pilot

This paper presents the Pilot Acoustic Indicator (PAI), one the outcomes of the Clean Sky GRC5 project MANOEUVRES. The PAI is an instrument designed to present information on the current and expected noise emission levels to the rotorcraft pilot, to allow him/her to adequately react to incipient high noise conditions and effectively fly low acoustic impact procedures, such as in terminal manoeuvres. In-flight noise estimation is based on the interpolation within a pre-calculated database of acoustic hemispheres interrogated through the retrieval of a limited set of current rotorcraft state parameters. Noise information is subsequently synthesized in an index for cockpit display, through a dedicated graphical interface. The paper details the PAI design, development and prototypal implementation, aimed to be integrated in an industrial research flight simulator for functional demonstration and assessment

Defective lymphocyte caspase-3 expression in type 1 diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE: Activation-induced cell death (AICD) is a major mechanism in the regulation of peripheral tolerance and its impairment can determine the development of autoimmunity. In the present study, in order to evaluate the role of caspase-3 in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) AICD, caspase-3 expression was analyzed in peripheral blood lymphocytes from 37 new onset T1DM patients and from 36 normal control subjects (NC) in resting conditions and after anti-Fas-triggered apoptosis. METHODS: Caspase-3 expression was determined by semiquantitative RT-PCR and Western blot. Apoptosis was induced in activated lymphocytes by anti-Fas monoclonal antibody and quantified by flow cytometry and morphological analysis. RESULTS: Caspase-3 mRNA expression was reduced in resting lymphocytes in 18/37 T1DM patients and in 1/36 NC (P < 0.01). Patients studied for both Fas-mediated AICD and caspase-3 mRNA expression revealed that a reduced caspase-3 mRNA expression in resting lymphocytes occurred in all patients showing resistance to Fas-mediated apoptosis (T1DM vs NC, P < 0.02) with the exception of 3 patients who exhibited normal caspase-3 expression levels. Caspase-3 protein analysis confirmed mRNA data and showed an impaired expression of caspase-3 active form in T1DM subjects compared with NC. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that defective expression and function of caspase-3 in peripheral lymphocytes of T1DM patients may contribute to the development of AICD resistance in type 1 diabetes