467 research outputs found
"Gender congruence and acceptance before and after cross-sex hormonal therapy" G. Senofonte, F. Cargnelutti, A. Petrozzi, S. Colangelo, F. Pallotti, D. Paoli, M. Mosconi, F. Lombardo
No full textIntroduction - Gender dysphoria (GD) is a non congruity between an individual’s assigned
gender and the perceived gender identity. This incongruence often produces significant
distress and/or social functioning problems.
Aim – To evaluate gender congruence in FtM and MtF patients using a validated psychometric
scale.
Materials and Methods - We recruited 62 patients (33 FtM and 29 MtF; mean age 27.3 ± 6.7
and 28 ± 6.2 years, respectively) who referred to the outpatient clinic of Endocrinology and
Andrology of the Department of Experimental Medicine for Gender Dysphoria, “Sapienza”
University of Rome, sent by the mental health specialists. Each patient underwent clinical
evaluation, blood hormone testing and completed the Transgender Congruence Scale (TGCS).
This questionnaire is composed of 12 items, exploring Transgender Congruence (TC),
Appearance Congruence (AC) and Gender Identity Acceptance (GIA) (score 1-5). The
evaluation was carried out before the beginning of cross-sex hormone therapy (T0) and after
6 months of therapy (T6).
Results – Baseline evaluation – We detected higher TC scores in FtM patients compared to
MtF (2.65 ± 0.62 vs 2.17 ± 0.73, respectively; p = 0.001), and comparable AC and GIA scores in
both groups (AC: 1.94 ± 0.88 vs 1.69 ± 0.85, p = 0.087; GIA: 4.02 ± 0.26 vs 3.96 ± 0.26, p =
0.409); blood testosterone and estradiol values were within normal cis-gender ranges for all
patients.
FtM post therapy evaluation – At T6 we detected a significant increase of both TC and AC
scores (TC: 2.65 ± 0.62 vs 3.61 ± 0.21, T0 vs T6 respectively, p = 0.001; AC: 1.94 ± 0.88 vs 3.30
± 0.16, T0 vs T6 respectively, p = 0.001). Hormone testing revealed a significant increase of
testosterone levels within eugonadal male range (1.35 ± 0.83 vs 13.36 ± 4.52, T0 vs T6
respectively, p = 0.001).
MtF post therapy evaluation – Similarly, we detected a significant increase of both TC and AC
scores at T6 (TC: 2.17 ± 0.73 vs 3.27 ± 0.57, T0 vs T6, p = 0.005; AC: 1.69 ± 0.85 vs 3.06 ± 0.79,
T0 vs T6, p = 0.011). Blood hormone analysis revealed a significant decrease of testosterone
levels (19.39 ± 10.76 vs 2.70 ± 4.51, T0 vs T6, p = 0.004) without variation of estradiol levels
(24.52 ± 7.61 vs 31.23 ± 14.01, T0 vs T6, p = 0.424). It is noteworthy that TC scores at T6 in
MtF were significantly lower than in FtM (p = 0.048).
Correlations - No significant correlations were detected between sex hormones levels and
TGCS scores in both groups.
Conclusions – Both FtM and MtF individuals show high acceptance of their new gender
identity even before treatment due to their rejection of their birth-assigned gender. Six
months of cross-sex hormone therapy determined an outstanding improvement of selfreported
congruence and appearance scores in both groups, although to a milder extent on
MtF. This reflects the fact that androgen therapy induces marked physical changes in FtM
(menses cessation, hair growth, etc.) and with shorter latency than anti-androgens and
estradiol in MtF. Longer follow-up is required to determine long term maintenance of physical
and psychological effects of therapy
Towards Zero Energy Stadiums: the case study of the Dacia Arena in Udine, Italy
No full textThe environmental impacts of famous sportive events have been growing during the recent decades leading the main organizing associations to develop adequate countermeasures for both reducing and compensating carbon emissions due to the construction and the operation stages. The present work aims to propose an approach to stadiums’ energy enhancement that includes strategies largely recognized as effective and already applied to several building typologies such as residential, commercial and academic. The case study investigated is the Dacia Arena in Udine that has been recently refurbished and renovated. The Arena has been assessed in order to reduce the increasing of operational emissions caused by the new heated areas recently realized for improving the services offered to users. Firstly, the stadium’s energy consumption was estimated in dynamic state for the Scenario 0 (current state) and the Scenario 1 (renovated state) for quantifying the requirements to the new plants. Secondly, two hypothesis of system layout were proposed and compared. On the first, power for lighting, cooling and heating is supplied by a system which couples photovoltaic panels with heat pump, while in the second the same photovoltaic plant is integrated with a biomass plant and an absorption chiller. The comparison highlights the suitability of those interventions and the environmental advantages deriving from the biomass exploitation instead of geothermal energy
Valutazione degli indici di stress ossidativi in addetti alla distribuzione di carburanti
No full textGaucher\u27s Disease: Case Report with Stress on Eye Findings
No full textThis interesting case report comes from an alumnus of Henry Ford Hospital - Dr. Carlos Petrozzi who was a medical resident here from July 1961 to 1964. The findings may be of interest to opththalmologists and others because of the rather specific changes in the bulbar conjunctiva which can be easily seen without special ophthalmic instruments
An innovative high-reflective mulching membrane coupled with a sub-irrigation system for a sustainable development of food crops
No full textModern agricultural techniques are responsible for the emission of large volumes of greenhouse gases. During the last decades, many efforts have been made to develop more sustainable techniques and methods. Within this framework, the present study aims at investigating the effectiveness of a high-reflective mulching membrane which is treated with glass micro-spheres and coupled with a sub-irrigation system. This technology is currently tested in the experimental field in Perugia (Central Italy). The effects of this membrane on soil temperature and humidity were evaluated through humidity and temperature sensors. The monitoring campaign conducted during March 2021 has demonstrated that the high-reflective mulching membrane is capable of reducing the soil temperature at different depths (i.e. 0.15 m, 0.10 m, and 0.05 m). Mulching membrane reduced morning soil temperature slightly, while it decreased afternoon soil temperature by 3°C at each investigated depth. In addition, relative humidity was always higher under the mulching membrane, particularly during the night. Basing on such preliminary results, a more detailed and extended monitoring campaign will be performed in the next months. Local food crops will be selected according to the principles of the Mediterranean diet such as seasonality and nutrients balance
An Integrated System for the Energy Production and Accumulation from Renewable Sources: A Rural Tower Prototype
No full textAbstractThe recent growth of renewable sources has led to relevant effects in terms of land consuming, social acceptance, distributed energy generation, non continuous production caused by non-programmable sources such as wind and solar one also characterized by low energy density per surface unit. These issues will be addressed in the next future through the concept of energy smart grid, provided by ICT (Information and Communication Technology). The aims of this paper is to show the preliminary results of the research activities carried out by several operative unities of the Universities of Perugia and Cusano, within a national research project, where one possible solution for renewable energy integration to solve the criticisms in renewable sources application is proposed modeled. The model prototype for energy production could be good applied in existing ancient building with vertical extension such as the dove towers typical of rural areas in central Italy. The preliminary design of the prototype is applied to a chosen case study in Perugia: it consists in an integrated system in which the tower is converted to an energy system for renewable energy production, storage and supply, based on photovoltaic, hydropower and geothermal heat pump with boreholes integrated to micropiles. Energy managing is leaded by an intelligent system, by combining meteorological forecasting to predict energy productions by renewables with the energy demand needs. In particular, the concept of this project is mainly effective because in the rural areas there are many little building centers that are abandoned because they are without any connection to the electricity grid and methane piping: the possibility to create an autonomous energy system is the basis for energy supply
Multifunctional Environmental Energy Tower: A Case Study of an Innovative System for Renewable Energy Exploitation
No full textAbstractIn a context of increasing interest in energy efficiency, the attention to the environmental quality is bringing the city of the future to be structured on energy smart grids for electricity, heat and natural gas production and distribution. The Multifunctional Environmental Energy Tower intends to be considered as a node in the future Smart Grid of the borough “Rome EUR”, to decrease the primary energy consumption from fossil fuels, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to maximize the energy production from renewable sources, as required by the European Union objectives at 2020. Renewable energy generation systems are integrated in a single vertically developed building, where energy is mainly produced from waste in integration with thermal and electrical energy storage systems, to create an intelligent tower combining and meeting together energy demand and supply.This integrated system allows to overcome some problems related to the renewable energy sources usage: their non-programmability, the land occupation and consumption, the social acceptance and the imbalances in the electricity grid. The designed building produces electricity for the grid, ensuring the air conditioning for Acea's company utilities and to feed the existing heating district network located in “Torrino-Mezzocammino” district within “Rome Eur” borough.The architectural components were designed to link the architectural view and the functional aspects, because its location within the roman roads net developing from the “Grande Raccordo Anulare” (GRA) the tower is configured as a totem of energy efficiency and technological innovation
The CRB multifuel biomass energy plant: description and preliminary modeling
No full textThe CRB multifuel biomass energy plant is coupled to a micro-turbine with a 100 kW electric net power, excluding the consumption of the plant. The micro-turbine can work in two different configurations: with natural gas or linked to a biomass plant. The efficiency of the system operating with natural gas is equal to 25%. For this energy plant the thermal power is equal to about 1 MWt and both in the natural gas configuration and in the biomass one, the alternator is equipped with the connection system to the parallel panel of the national electricity grid (resistive load bench by 100 kW installed on the roof of the CRB building). This alternator is able to allow the minimum energy consumption during the start-up and to have the electronic instrumentation for the adaptation of voltage and frequency of the electric current produced to the three-phase voltage and to the frequency (50 Hz) of the national electricity grid. In both configurations, the combustion chamber is configured to achieve the best combustion efficiency and to guarantee the minimum emissions in terms of NOx, CO and VOC (nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds). The present work presents a description of the components of the biomass plant installed to supply the thermal input to the turbine and some preliminary results obtained from the modeling of the components of energy valorization
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