This work was focused on recycling different typology of pollutant wastes (olive pomace and orange residues; municipal wastes and sulphur residue of hydrocarbon refining processes) with the triple ...objectives of limiting wastes in landfill, reducing greenhouse gas emission and producing organic-mineral fertilizers. The environmental risks and benefits of the whole process have been considered. The specific objectives were: 1) innovation in waste management techniques by reducing the accumulation of different typology of wastes using a unique process 2) verifying efficiency of the obtained organic-mineral fertilizers on soil and plant growth 3) improving soil and crop quality relating wastes to food, economy and environment.
Sulphur-based pads improved soil quality mostly when contained orange residues. Onion and Garlic grew better in presence of sulphur-based pads (+20%), and mostly when pads contained orange residues (+45%). Onion and Garlic quality, in terms of antioxidant compounds and antioxidant capacity, increased in presence of sulphur-based pads (+30%) mostly when orange residues were present in the pads (+90%). In short, in addition to the environmental advantages, numerous economic benefits coming from the decrease in the production and use of chemical fertilizers, the reduction of costs for landfilling and the gain rising from the sale of the new fertilizers produced, emerged.
•Cost effective process was used to transform wastes in fertilizers.•Use of municipal, industrial and agricultural wastes for Sulphur-organic-fertilizers.•All by-products had beneficial effects on soil fertility and crop quality.•All by-products fell into limits for the marketability established by legislation.
Newly generated neurons pass through a series of well-defined developmental stages, which allow them to integrate into existing neuronal circuits. After exit from the cell cycle, postmitotic neurons ...undergo neuronal migration, axonal elongation, axon pruning, dendrite morphogenesis and synaptic maturation and plasticity. Lack of a global metabolic analysis during early cortical neuronal development led us to explore the role of cellular metabolism and mitochondrial biology during ex vivo differentiation of primary cortical neurons. Unexpectedly, we observed a huge increase in mitochondrial biogenesis. Changes in mitochondrial mass, morphology and function were correlated with the upregulation of the master regulators of mitochondrial biogenesis, TFAM and PGC-1α. Concomitant with mitochondrial biogenesis, we observed an increase in glucose metabolism during neuronal differentiation, which was linked to an increase in glucose uptake and enhanced GLUT3 mRNA expression and platelet isoform of phosphofructokinase 1 (PFKp) protein expression. In addition, glutamate-glutamine metabolism was also increased during the differentiation of cortical neurons. We identified PI3K-Akt-mTOR signalling as a critical regulator role of energy metabolism in neurons. Selective pharmacological inhibition of these metabolic pathways indicate existence of metabolic checkpoint that need to be satisfied in order to allow neuronal differentiation.
We investigate the search for heavy Majorana neutrinos stemming from a composite model scenario at the upcoming LHC Run II at a centre of mass energy of 13 TeV. While previous studies of the ...composite Majorana neutrino were focussed on gauge interactions via magnetic type transition coupling between ordinary and heavy fermions (with mass
m
∗
) here we complement the composite model with contact interactions at the energy scale
Λ
and we find that the production cross sections are dominated by such contact interactions by roughly two/three orders of magnitude. This mechanism provides therefore very interesting rates at the prospected luminosities. We study the same-sign di-lepton and di-jet signature (
p
p
→
ℓ
ℓ
j
j
) and perform a fast detector simulation based on
Delphes
. We compute 3
σ
and 5
σ
contour plots of the statistical significance in the parameter space (
Λ
,
m
∗
). We find that the potentially excluded regions at
s
=
13
TeV are quite larger than those excluded so far at Run I considering searches with other signatures.
Cyclin-dependent kinase 12 (CDK12) overexpression is implicated in breast cancer, but whether it has a primary or only a cooperative tumorigenic role is unclear. Here, we show that transgenic CDK12 ...overexpression in the mouse mammary gland per se is sufficient to drive the emergence of multiple and multifocal tumors, while, in cooperation with known oncogenes, it promotes earlier tumor onset and metastasis. Integrative transcriptomic, metabolomic and functional data reveal that hyperactivation of the serine-glycine-one-carbon network is a metabolic hallmark inherent to CDK12-induced tumorigenesis. Consistently, in retrospective patient cohort studies and in patient-derived xenografts, CDK12-overexpressing breast tumors show positive response to methotrexate-based chemotherapy targeting CDK12-induced metabolic alterations, while being intrinsically refractory to other types of chemotherapy. In a retrospective analysis of hormone receptor-negative and lymph node-positive breast cancer patients randomized in an adjuvant phase III trial to 1-year low-dose metronomic methotrexate-based chemotherapy or no maintenance chemotherapy, a high CDK12 status predicts a dramatic reduction in distant metastasis rate in the chemotherapy-treated vs. not-treated arm. Thus, by coupling tumor progression with metabolic reprogramming, CDK12 creates an actionable vulnerability for breast cancer therapy and might represent a suitable companion biomarker for targeted antimetabolite therapies in human breast cancers.
•Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) caused by carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in patients hospitalized in intensive care units for coronavirus disease-2019 is an important and ...challenging superinfection.•Considering the poor lung penetration of most antibiotics, the choice of the best antibiotic regimen for treatment of VAP is still being debated.•Data from this study showed a possible benefit deriving from the use of cefiderocol and its association with fosfomycin compared with a colistin-based regimen.•This real-life study in patients with bacteraemic VAP provides useful suggestions for clinicians about the management of this difficult-to-treat infection.
Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) caused by carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) in patients hospitalized in intensive care units (ICUs) is an important and challenging complication, including in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Considering the poor lung penetration of most antibiotics, including intravenous colistin due to the poor pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics at the infection site, the choice of the best antibiotic regimen is still being debated.
This single-centre, observational study was conducted from March 2020 to August 2022, and included all patients hospitalized consecutively with VAP and concomitant bloodstream infection due to CRAB in the COVID-ICU. The main goal of the study was to evaluate risk factors associated with survival or death at 30 days from VAP onset. A propensity score for receiving therapy was added to the model.
During the study period, 73 patients who developed VAP and concomitant positive blood cultures caused by CRAB were enrolled in the COVID-ICU. Of these patients, 67 (91.7%) developed septic shock, 42 (57.5%) had died at 14 days and 59 (80.8%) had died at 30 days. Overall, 54 (74%) patients were treated with a colistin-containing regimen and 19 (26%) were treated with a cefiderocol-containing regimen. Cox regression analysis showed that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and age were independently associated with 30-day mortality. Conversely, cefiderocol-containing regimens and cefiderocol + fosfomycin in combination were independently associated with 30-day survival, as confirmed by propensity score analysis.
This real-life study in patients with bacteraemic VAP caused by CRAB provides useful suggestions for clinicians, showing a possible benefit of cefiderocol and its association with fosfomycin.
We investigate the electrical switching of charge and spin transport in a topological insulator nanoconstriction in a four-terminal device. The switch of the edge channels is caused by the coupling ...between edge states which overlap in the constriction and by the tunneling effects at the contacts and therefore can be manipulated by tuning the applied voltages on the split gate or by geometrical etching. The switching mechanism can be conveniently studied by electron interferometry involving the measurements of the current in different configurations of the side gates, while the applied bias from the external leads can be tuned to obtain pure charge or pure spin currents (charge- and spin-bias configurations). Relevant signatures of quantum confinement effects, quantum size effects, and energy gap are evident in the Fabry-Perot physics of the device, allowing for a full characterization of the charge and spin currents. The proposed electrical switching behavior offers an efficient tool to manipulate topological edge-state transport in a controllable way.
A new physics scenario shows that four-fermion operators of Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) type have a strong-coupling UV fixed point, where composite fermions
F
(bosons
Π
) form as bound states of three ...(two) SM elementary fermions and they couple to their constituents via effective contact interactions at the composite scale
Λ
≈
O
(TeV). We present a phenomenological study to investigate such composite particles at the LHC by computing the production cross sections and decay widths of composite fermions in the context of the relevant experiments at the LHC with
pp
collisions at
s
=
13
TeV and
s
=
14
TeV. Systematically examining all the different composite particles
F
and the signatures with which they can manifest, we found a vast spectrum of composite particles
F
that has not yet been explored at the LHC. Recasting the recent CMS results of the resonant channel
p
p
→
e
+
F
→
e
+
e
-
q
q
¯
′
(as
F
=
E
), we find that the composite fermion mass
m
F
below 4.25 TeV is excluded for
Λ
/
m
F
= 1. We further highlight the region of parameter space where this specific composite particle
F
can appear using 3
ab
-
1
, expected by the High-Luminosity LHC, computing 3 and 5
σ
contour plots of its statistical significance.
In this work, we provide a necessary and sufficient condition on a polyomino ideal for having the set of inner 2‐minors as graded reverse lexicographic Gröbner basis, due to combinatorial properties ...of the polyomino itself. Moreover, we prove that when the latter holds the polyomino ideal coincides with the lattice ideal associated to the polyomino, that is the polyomino ideal is prime. As an application, we describe two new infinite families of prime polyominoes.
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