169,829 research outputs found
An example of a building service LCA for a new hospital’s operating room
No full textThe paper deals with the environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of HVAC plants operating in an emergency ward of a major hospital building in North of Italy. The analysis was performed in order to evaluate the environmental impact of individual components such as heat generators, heat pumps, air handling units and distribution systems and their effects on the overall environmental balance of the HVAC system.
When a component is utilized in a circuit for functional wards, LCA takes only into account of the fractional environmental
damage to that particular ward. The assessment was made using the Dutch code SimaPro 5.0® in accordance to
EcoIndicator 99 thus enabling quantification of the environmental damage due to different impacts. In this analysis the software uses a database built from past cases
A methodology for life cycle assessment of building services
No full textThe study described in this paper focussed on the requirements of Life cycle Assessment (LCA) of HVAC system. The
environmental behaviour of an HVAC system evaluated by LCA considers all the process necessary for components
production, use and disposal. A database for Italian conditions was created for examining the environmental impacts of
material, transport, land use and energy consumption of HVAC’s processing and management. The database is capable LCA
of building services. The application of the methodology is proposed for there different heating systems i.e traditional, solar
and heat pump systems for the energy requirements of residential buildings in Rome. The LCA was undertaken by means of
Dutch Code SimaPro 5.0® in accordance to EcoIndicator 99. The LCA of the studies showed that the renewable energy
sources (solar collectors) or high performance (heat pumps) cause low environmental damage for energy consumption but
high impacts on global environmental balance of the plant production resulting from the components
UNEXPECTED PHENOTYPES AND PREDOMINANT TCR-V GENE USAGE IN RANDOM SELECTED SUBJECTS
No full textThe presence of a subset of T lymphocytes with an irregular phenotype has been identified in the peripheral blood of 22 subjects, selected among more than 5000 individuals evaluated for peripheral blood lymphocyte subset distribution as part of a routine procedure. By Southern Blot Analysis 13 out of 14 of the analysed samples presented additional non-germline bands, indicative of monoclonal or oligoclonal T cell expansions. Moreover, the cytometric analysis showed that 7 out of 19 analysed samples were restricted for a subfamily of the TCR variable regions. Thus, lymphocyte subsets with phenotypic irregularities could represent the clonally driven expansion of otherwise normally subpopulations, which may be present in peripheral blood below the limit of detection of routine phenotypic analyses. Such clonal populations could exert a regulatory activity either on the pathogenetic mechanisms of the disease or in maintaining homeostasis in healthy people
Altered gene expression in the human airways during oxidative stress
No full textThe atmospheric accumulation of pollutant gases, such as N02 and ozone, has been associated with an increased airways hyper-reactivity within the healthy population. Moreover, those with conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases generally experience an exacerbation of their symptoms upon exposure to these noxious gases.Cells lining the respiratory tract can be considered as the primary target for the potential toxic effects of airborne chemicals, but the molecular mechanisms behind the injury occurring in these cells upon gas inhalation remain to be fully elucidated. It has been hypothesised that the toxicity of these gases relies on their reactivity towards macromolecules in the lining fluid of the lung and the formation of reactive secondary products, which cause a situation of oxidative stress.Cells posses a well-developed defence against reactive species, but when this defence is overwhelmed damage can occur to important cellular components, including DNA and proteins. The major aim of this thesis was to study the effects of oxidative stress on the redox-sensitive machinery of gene expression in human lung cells. Cells are able to sense oxidative damage, as well as changes in the cellular redox status and adapt their gene expression profiles in a manner either promoting protection against the insult, or taking the decision to induce cell death to prevent propagation of damaged genetic templates.The pulmonary defence against inhaled antigens is based on the activation of immunological events, most of them dependent on cytokine signalling. Analysis of human alveolar macrophages exposed to N02 in vitro revealed inhibition of transcription and release of some inflammation-modulating cytokines. The inhibition was more pronounced in macrophages from habitual smokers. The effects of ozone on mRNA profiles were studied in human alveolar macrophages exposed to low-concentration of ozone in vivo. Large-scale screening of these events resulted in the detection of a discrete number of ozone-responsive genes belonging to disparate biological pathways, including nucleic acids synthesis and repair, inter- and intra-cellular signal transduction, cytoskeletal organisation, inflammation and protein modification. These findings also report on considerable biochemical effects of ozone in the lung at levels close to the safety limits recommended by international air quality guidelines and standards.Exposure of cells to the thiol-oxidising agent diamide in vitro, lead to increased mRNA levels and expression of stress responsive-genes and to the oxidation of GSH with the concomitant S-glutathionylation of cellular proteins. In contrast, in vitro exposure of cells to hydrogen peroxide failed to induce many of the diamide-responsive genes, significant oxidation of GSH or formation of protein-GSH mixed disulphides. Thus, redox-sensitive alteration of gene expression could be correlated to the oxidation of GSH and the concomitant formation of mixed protein-GSH disulphides. In addition, induced expression of protein and DNA chaperones, including heat shock proteins, by diamide exposure, resulted in cytoprotection against both heath shock and the DNA-damaging pro-oxidant potassium bromate.Exposure of the human A549 lung epithelial cell line to sub-toxic levels of hydrogen peroxide caused sustained arrest in cell cycle progression and activation of apoptotic events, including activation of caspase-3 and the augmentation of TRAIL-dependent caspase-3 activation. These effects may be in consequence of the DNA damage caused by the oxidant. Hydrogen peroxide treatment lead also to the alteration in mRNA profiles for a variety of genes, many of them known to be p53-dependent and other not previously associated with changes in cellular redox states. These alterations could be functionally related to cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and DNA damage.In summary, airborne pollutants and their secondary oxidant products can damage important components of lung cells and alter their gene expression profiles. The results of these studies contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms of oxidative stress in human lung cells, as well as provide evidence for co-ordination in the regulation of the redox-sensitive machinery of gene expression.List of scientific papersI. Dandrea T, Tu B, Blomberg A, Sandstrom T, Skold M, Eklund A, Cotgreave I (1997). Differential inhibition of inflammatory cytokine release from cultured alveolar macrophages from smokers and non-smokers by NO2. Hum Exp Toxicol. 16(10): 577-88. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9363475II. Dandrea T, Bjorklund C, Blomberg A, Sandstrom T, Warngard L, Cotgreave I (2003). The identification of a novel ozone-responsive gene cluster in human alveolar macrophages following low-level in vivo exposure on individuals. [Manuscript]III. Dandrea T, Bajak E, Warngard L, Cotgreave IA (2002). Protein S-glutathionylation correlates to selective stress gene expression and cytoprotection. Arch Biochem Biophys. 406(2): 241-52. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12361712IV. Dandrea T, Hellmold H, Jonsson C, Zhivotovsky B, Hofer T, Warngard L, Cotgreave I (2003). The transcriptosomal response of human A549 lung cells to hydrogen peroxide: Relationship to DNA damage, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. [Manuscript]</p
Effetto di polimorfismi in geni candidati sulle caratteristiche qualitative del latte ovino
No full textGoing Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Characterization of five clones of Uva di Troia vine
No full textFive clones of "Uva di Troia" vine were compared in Southern Italy. The wine produced from "Uva di Troia", is of high quality. Ampelographic characteristics of cluster and of grape were observed at harvest time. Must and wine composition were measured at six months of elaboration The data were submitted to the analysis of variance and the Duncans's Multiple Range Test was adopted for the mean separation using MSTAT-C software. In conclusion, each clone showed good ampelographic and enological characteristics, that were influenced by agronomical factors
Spectral changes of near-infrared spectroscopy signals in migraineurs with aura reveal an impaired carbon dioxide-regulatory mechanism
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