This study investigated the behavior of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and serum nitric oxide (NO) products, nitrite/nitrate (NO 2-NO,-), in subjects with primary ...hypercholesterolemia (HCh) without other risk factors and atherosclerosis. The effect of a short-term cholesterol-lowering treatment with atorvastatin, an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, on the levels of sICAM-1 and NO2-/NO3 were also investigated. After 4 weeks of placebo administration, 40 HCh (15 males and 25 females) were randomized in 2 groups: 20 subjects (atorvastatin group) received 10 mg/day of atorvastatin and the remaining 20 (placebo group) continued to take placebo. At baseline and after 4 and 12 weeks of atorvastatin or placebo administration, serum sICAM-1 and NO2-/NO3-levels were evaluated. The basal levels of these parameters were compared with those of 20 healthy subjects (C), matched for sex and age. Hypercholesterolemic subjects showed sICAM-1 and NO2-/NO3-basal values that were higher (331.7 ± 60.3 ng/mL vs. 202.3 ± 32.3 ng/mL, p<0.001) and lower (10.4 ± 2.5 μmol/L vs. 20.7 ± 4.4 μmol/L, p<0.01) than controls. No correlation between sICAM-1 or NO products and plasma cholesterol values was found, whereas there was an inverse correlation between sICAM-1 and NO2-/NO3-levels. Atorvastatin administration significantly decreased sICAM-1 and increased NO2-/NO3-levels, however these changes were not correlated with the reduction of plasma cholesterol. These data support the hypothesize that patients with HCh with no signs of arterial lesions, may have latent atherosclerosis, expressed as an increase of sICAM-1 and decrease in NO product levels. An improvement in the levels of these parameters after a short-time treatment with atorvastatin was also demonstrated.
According to European policy on drought and water scarcity a proactive approach is proposed to cope with drought phenomena in one of the most important agricultural areas in southern Italy. First, a ...strategic plan is developed in order to reduce the vulnerability of the irrigated area by means of long-term measures. Then, according to the implemented strategic plan, a management plan and a contingency plan are developed to schedule short-term measures to be adopted in case of water scarcity. Through appropriate early warning indicators different conditions were defined (Normal, Pre-Alert, Alert and Alarm) with the aim of determining the best mix of measures to be chosen
The most cost-effective solution for the production of numerous uniform product series under specific economic considerations is the product-specific series machine. However, the aspect of ...flexibility of the machine tool becomes more and more important as the variety of alternatives increases and product life cycles decrease 7. As a result, development trends move from product specific machine tools towards stand-alone machines overlapping the product life cycle. Reconfigurable Multi Technology Machine (RMM) fulfills these requirements. The RMM is characterized by a very high degree of modularity and flexibility. Its universality is accomplished through a consistent design of the machine according to the modular concept, rather than covering all necessary options. This means that the technology modules are either added on or left out of the reconfigurable machine tool with the help of largely standardized interfaces.
The authors report their results in a series of 213 patients affected by ventral hernia and operated with the overlapping suture technique, between 1970 and 1991. After having reported on the ...patients features and the circumstances of the treatment, they describe the different reconstructive times in their overlapping suture technique of the abdominal wall and the personal modifications brought about during their twenty years experience. According to the quality of the obtained results (< 5% of recurrence rate), the authors underline the efficiency of the technique that today in the time of the mesh prosthesis use, seems to guarantee good results even in the therapy of certain large eventrations.
Cationic photopolymerization is amongst the greenest processes used to obtain polymers since light is abundant, inexpensive and allows for rapid and waste-less curing at room temperature. Moreover, ...in the current search for the reduction of the environmental impacts of polymers, the use of biobased monomers is one of the most crucial stakes. At the crossroads of these domains, biobased monomers photopolymerization offers the best of both. Hence, this review aims at underlying the increasing importance of cationic photopolymerization in combination with bio-based photopolymerizable monomers, and describes the numerous reactive species derived from bioresources that can lead to innovative materials through cationic photopolymerization reactions. This review intends to be a guide to orientate academic teams and industries involved in reducing both environmental impacts and toxicity towards the synthesis of environmentally safe materials. The recent advances on the photochemical systems used, the toxicity of the cationic photoinitiating systems, the reactivity of the new epoxy bio-sourced monomers, their thermomechanical properties as well as the applications of the targeted materials will be described.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Phthalocyanines (Pcs) are interesting molecules offering fascinating chemistry that has received tremendous interest in the last decade. Certain features, such as high thermal, chemical, and optical ...stability, as well as unique electrochemical, photochemical and photophysical properties have opened a multitude of applications, ranging from photodynamic therapy in cancer treatment, chemical sensors, solar cells, nonlinear optics, and recently to photoinitiating systems for free-radical, cationic and controlled radical polymerizations. The success story of Pcs prompted us to highlight their significant role in photopolymerization and in materials science. In the present review, we first report on the structural design and synthesis of Pcs for specific applications and then focus on some innovative works that exploit the multiple activating properties of these macrocycles for the initiation of various modes of polymerizations under light exposure.
Phthalocyanines present excellent photochemical properties for use as photoinitiators under visible or IR light exposure.
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•Vanillin can be used as a scaffold for the synthesis of type I photoinitiator.•Vanillin-derived type I photoinitiator generates highly reactive radical species.•Vanillin-derived ...photoinitiator induces free-radical photopolymerization.
A new efficient type I photoinitiator derived from vanillin was synthesized to initiate, according to a green photoinduced process, the free-radical polymerization (FRP) of acrylate monomers in a reduced time and under air. Interestingly, this unprecedented photoinitiator lead to high acrylate conversions even under air, with a higher efficiency than some reference photoinitiating systems commonly used in FRP.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
•Combined Heat and Power plants and civil/residential energy uses.•CHP plant supported by auxiliary boilers and thermal energy storage.•Definition of optimal operational strategies for cogeneration ...plants for District Heating.•Optimal-sized Thermal Energy Storage and a hybrid operational strategy.•Maximization of cogeneration share and reduction of time of operation of auxiliary boilers.
The aim of the paper is to define optimal operational strategies for Combined Heat and Power plants connected to civil/residential District Heating Networks. The role of a reduced number of design variables, including a Thermal Energy Storage system and a hybrid operational strategy dependent on the storage level, is considered.
The basic principle is to reach maximum efficiency of the system operation through the utilization of an optimal-sized Thermal Energy Storage. Objective functions of both energetic and combined energetic and economic can be considered. In particular, First and Second Law Efficiency, thermal losses of the storage, number of starts and stops of the combined heat and power unit are considered. Constraints are imposed to nullify the waste of heat and to operate the unit at its maximum efficiency for the highest possible number of consecutive operating hours, until the thermal tank cannot store more energy.
The methodology is applied to a detailed case study: a medium size district heating system, in an urban context in the northern Italy, powered by a combined heat and power plant supported by conventional auxiliary boilers. The issues involving this type of thermal loads are also widely investigated in the paper. An increase of Second Law Efficiency of the system of 26% (from 0.35 to 0.44) can be evidenced, while the First Law Efficiency shifts from about 0.74 to 0.84. The optimization strategy permits of combining the economic benefit of cogeneration with the idea of reducing the energy waste and exergy losses.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
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