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In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates published elsewhere are provided as Suppl. material 1.

The inventory of the taxa collected during the annual field trip of the working group for Floristics, Systematics and Evolution of the Italian Botanical Society is reported. The field trip was held in 2019 along the Sillaro, Santerno, and Senio high valleys located in Toscana (central Italy). The flora documented for the studied area amounts to 492 specific and subspecific taxa (including five hybrids), belonging to 254 genera and 77 families. Bromopsis caprina, Ophrys appennina, O. classica, Polygala flavescens subsp. flavescens, and Pulmonaria vallarsae subsp. apennina were the only five Italian endemics found in the study area, whereas 28 alien taxa were detected. Finally, nine taxa (seven native and two alien) have to be considered as new records for the regional flora of Toscana.

In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, exclusions, and status changes for Italy or for Italian administrative regions. Furthermore, three new combinations are proposed. Nomenclatural and distribution updates published elsewhere are provided as Suppl. material 1.

The inventory of the taxa collected during the annual field trip of the working group for Floristics, Systematics and Evolution of the Italian Botanical Society is reported. The field trip was held in 2016 along the Velino and Aterno valleys located between Lazio and Abruzzo administrative regions (central Italy). The flora documented for the studied area amounts to 629 specific and subspecific taxa (including two hybrids) belonging to 300 genera and 69 families. Thirty-eight taxa are endemic to Italy, and only 16 alien taxa were detected. Thirty-eight taxa are included in the IUCN Red List of the Italian Flora. Twenty-four taxa have to be considered as floristic novelties because either new or confirmed for the regional flora of Lazio or Abruzzo. In particular, 15 taxa are new and 6 are confirmed for Lazio. Regarding Abruzzo, 2 taxa are new for the regional flora and one is confirmed. Furthermore, the alien status in Lazio has been updated for one taxon.

The energy content of finishing diets offered to feedlot cattle may vary across countries. We assumed that the lower is the energy content of the finishing diet, the shorter can be the adaptation period to high-concentrate diets without negatively impacting rumen health while still improving feedlot performance. This study was designed to determine the effects of adaptation periods of 6, 9, 14 and 21 days on feedlot performance, feeding behaviour, blood gas profile, carcass characteristics and rumen morphometrics of Nellore cattle. The experiment was designed as a completely randomised block, replicated 6 times, in which 96 20-month-old yearling Nellore bulls (391.1 ± 30.9 kg) were fed in 24 pens (4 animals/pen) according to the adaptation period adopted: 6, 9, 14 or 21 days. The adaptation diets contained 70%, 75% and 80.5% concentrate, and the finishing diet contained 86% concentrate. After adaptation, one animal per pen was slaughtered (n = 24) for rumen morphometric evaluations and the remaining 72 animals were harvested after 88 days on feed. Orthogonal contrasts were used to assess linear, quadratic and cubic relationships between days of adaptation and the dependent variable. Overall, as days of adaptation increased, final BW (P = 0.06), average daily gain (ADG) (P = 0.07), hot carcass weight (P = 0.04) and gain to feed ratio (G : F) (P = 0.07) were affected quadratically, in which yearling bulls adapted by 14 days presented greater final BW, ADG, hot carcass weight and improved G : F. No significant (P > 0.10) days of adaptation effect was observed for any of feeding behaviour variables. As days of adaptation increased, the absorptive surface area of the rumen was affected cubically, where yearling bulls adapted by 14 days presented greater absorptive surface area (P = 0.03). Thus, Nellore yearling bulls should be adapted by 14 days because it led to improved feedlot performance and greater development of rumen epithelium without increasing rumenitis scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inventory of the taxa collected during the annual field trip of the working group for Floristics, Systematics and Evolution of the Italian Botanical Society is reported. The field trip was held in 2016 along the Velino and Aterno valleys located between Lazio and Abruzzo administrative regions (central Italy). The flora documented for the studied area amounts to 629 specific and subspecific taxa (including two hybrids) belonging to 300 genera and 69 families. Thirty-eight taxa are endemic to Italy, and only 16 alien taxa were detected. Thirty-eight taxa are included in the IUCN Red List of the Italian Flora. Twenty-four taxa have to be considered as floristic novelties because either new or confirmed for the regional flora of Lazio or Abruzzo. In particular, 15 taxa are new and 6 are confirmed for Lazio. Regarding Abruzzo, 2 taxa are new for the regional flora and one is confirmed. Furthermore, the alien status in Lazio has been updated for one taxon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large strain deformation and failure behavior of the mixed biopolymer gels have been investigated via in situ Environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM). ESEM has been employed to explore the changes in the structure of the material, while allowing the sample to stay hydrated as it was subjected to tensile strain. The “dog-bone” shaped samples were placed in a specially designed tensometer that fitted inside the ESEM specimen chamber. It was possible, therefore, to measure for the first time not only the mechanical properties of the hydrated material, but also to observe any morphological changes occurring as it was being stretched. By using a tensometer capable of keeping a sample moist over large strains, it was possible to observe hitherto unreported structural changes in gelatin-based systems subjected to uniaxial stretching. It was shown that bands were formed in the direction of the applied strain and that particles of maltodextrin included in the gelatin underwent deformation and fracture. Such observations have led to the conclusion that previous models were sometime inadequate due to the lack of in situ observation and novel approaches are required to describe these phenomena. © 2003 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, conducted at Sao Paulo University feedlot, in Botucatu Campus, Brazil, was designed to evaluate the effect of combined use of monensin (MON) and virginiamycin (VM) during the adaptation period and finishing period on feeding behavior of Nellore cattle. Seventy-two 26-mo-old yearling Nellore bulls (388 ± 31.07 kg), backgrounded on pasture were randomly allocated and kept in 24 pens (10 m² and 1.67 m bunk space per animal) according to the treatments: MON (30 mg/kg) during the adaptation and finishing period, MON (30 mg/kg)+VM (25 mg/kg) during the adaptation and only VM (25 mg/kg) in finishing, MON (30 mg/kg)+VM (25 mg/kg) during the adaptation and finishing period, and only VM (25 mg/kg) during the adaptation period and MON (30 mg/kg)+VM (25 mg/kg) during the finishing period, thus characterizing a completely randomized block design. Each treatment was composed of 6 replications (pens) in this study. The adaptation program consisted of ad libitum feeding of 3 adaptation diets overa period of 19 d with the concentration level increasing from 69% to 84% of diet DM. Cattle were fed twice daily for ad libitum consumption throughout the study. Two visual appraisals were conducted, 1 at the end of the adaptation period and another at d 60 of the experimental period, every 5 min during 24 h at each observation. At the end of the adaptation period no treatment effects were observed for the time spent resting, ruminating and eating as well as the length and the number of meals per day. Cattle supplemented only with VM during the adaptation period and MON plus VM in the finishing period and those supplemented with MON plus VM during the adaptation period and only VM in the finishing period showed greater (P < 0.05) DMI (8.15; 8.10 vs 6.99), eating a rate of DM (20.11; 21.20 vs 26.9, min/kg of DM) and eating a rate of NDF (79.69; 91.39 vs 112.52, min/kg of NDF) compared to those fed only by MON during both adaptation and finishing period. However, at the 60th d of experiment cattle fed with the combination of MON and VM during the adaptation period and only VM during the finishing period showed greater DMI (P = 0.01), eating a rate of DM (P < 0.01) and NDF (P < 0.01) compared to all other treatments. Supplementation with different combination of MON and VM change feeding behavior of Nellore cattle, nevertheless, supplementation with MON and VM during the adaptation period and only VM in finishing period seem to improve the feeding behavior traits of Nellore cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the R&D work performed in support of the design of the alumina insulators for the MITICA Neutral Beam Injector. The ceramic insulators are critical elements, both from the structural and electrical point of view, of the 1 MV electrostatic accelerator of the MITICA injector, as they are required to sustain both the mechanical loads due to the cantilevered weight of the ion source and the high electric field between the accelerator grids. This paper presents the results of numerical simulations and experimental tests on prototypes that have been carried out to validate the insulator design under realistic operating conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Brazil, scarce air quality data hinders air pollutant chemical understanding and policy decisions regarding public health and environmental impacts. From this perspective, our study assessed the O 3 , PM 2.5 , and PM 10 yearly and seasonal trends and also the WHO Air Quality Guidelines 2021 exceedance trends at 40 air quality stations located in four highly urbanized zones in Brazil (Belo Horizonte, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Espírito Santo) from early 1990s up to 2019. We applied the Mann-Kendall test aligned with Sen's Slope estimator to assess the trends and the Cox-Stuart test to verify the WHO AQG 2021 exceedances trends. Our findings pointed out that the current national legislation is outdated when compared to WHO AQG 2021 values, leading to multiple exceedances episodes. We also found out that 62% of São Paulo's stations presented O 3 increasing trends, while in Rio de Janeiro 85.7% presented decreasing trends. The Cox-Stuart test pointed out that PM 2.5 exceedance trends showcase positive values, and most of the significative values are located in São Paulo stations. Therefore, we endorse that the national legislation needs to be updated meanwhile the air monitoring network needs to expand its coverage., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Vehicles are one of the most significant sources of air pollutant emissions in urban areas, and their real contribution always needs to be updated to predict impacts on air quality. Radar databases and traffic counts using statistical modeling is an alternative and low-cost approach to produce traffic activities data in each urban street to be used as input to predict vehicular emissions. In this work, we carried out a spatial statistical analysis of local radar data and calculated traffic flow using local radar data combined with different statistical models. Future scenarios about vehicle emission inventory to define public policies were also proposed and analyzed for Belo Horizonte (BH), a Brazilian State capital, with the third-largest metropolitan region in the country. The Normal-Neighborhood Model (i.e., the mixed effect model with random effect in the neighborhood, radar type, and in the regional area) was used to calculate traffic flow in each urban street. Results showed average reductions in CO (4.5%), NMHC (3.0%), NOx (3.0%) and PM 2.5 (6.2%) emissions even with an increase in fleet composition (25% in average). The decrease is a result of the implementation of emission control programs by the government, improvements vehicles technologies, and the quality of fuels. Prediction of traffic data from radar databases has proven to be useful for avoiding the high costs of performing origin-destination surveys and traffic modeling using commercial software. Radar databases can provide many potential benefits for research and analysis in environmental and transportation planning. These findings can be incorporated in future investigations to implement public policies on vehicular emission reduction in urban areas and to advance environmental health effects research and human health risk assessment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Emission inventories are one of the most critical inputs for the successful modeling of air quality. The performance of the modeling results is directly affected by the quality of atmospheric emission inventories. Consequently, the development of representative inventories is always required. Due to the lack of regional inventories in Brazil, this study aimed to investigate the use of the particulate matter (PM) emission estimation from the Brazilian top-down vehicle emission inventory (VEI) of 2012 for air quality modeling. Here, we focus on road vehicles since they are usually responsible for significant emissions of PM in urban areas. The total Brazilian emission of PM (63,000 t year -1 ) from vehicular sources was distributed into the urban areas of 5557 municipalities, with 1-km 2 grid spacing, considering two approaches: (i) population and (ii) fleet of each city. A comparison with some local inventories is discussed. The inventory was compiled in the PREP-CHEM-SRC processor tool. One-month modeling (August 2015) was performed with WRF-Chem for the four metropolitan areas of Brazilian Southeast: Belo Horizonte (MABH), Great Vitória (MAGV), Rio de Janeiro (MARJ), and São Paulo (MASP). In addition, modeling with the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) inventory was carried out to compare the results. Overall, EDGAR inventory obtained higher PM emissions than the VEI segregated by population and fleet, which is expected owing to considerations of additional sources of emission (e.g., industrial and residential). This higher emission of EDGAR resulted in higher PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentrations, overestimating the observations in MASP, while the proposed inventory well represented the ambient concentrations, obtaining better statistics indices. For the other three metropolitan areas, both EDGAR and the VEI inventories obtained consistent results. Therefore, the present work endorses the fact that vehicles are responsible for the more substantial contribution to PM emissions in the studied urban areas. Furthermore, the use of VEI can be representative for modeling air quality in the future.

Air quality management involves investigating areas where pollutant concentrations are above guideline or standard values to minimize its effect on human health. Particulate matter (PM) is one of the most studied pollutants, and its relationship with health has been widely outlined. To guide the construction and improvement of air quality policies, the impact of PM on the four Brazilian southeast metropolitan areas was investigated. One-year long modeling of PM 10 and PM 2.5 was performed with the WRF-Chem model for 2015 to quantify daily and annual PM concentrations in 102 cities. Avoidable mortality due to diverse causes and morbidity due to respiratory and circular system diseases were estimated concerning WHO guidelines, which was adopted in Brazil as a final standard to be reached in the future; although there is no deadline set for its implementation yet. Results showed satisfactory representation of meteorology and ambient PM concentrations. An overestimation in PM concentrations for some monitoring stations was observed, mainly in São Paulo metropolitan area. Cities around capitals with high modelled annual PM 2.5 concentrations do not monitor this pollutant. The total avoidable deaths estimated for the region, related to PM 2.5 , were 32,000 ± 5,300 due to all-cause mortality, between 16,000 ± 2,100 and 51,000 ± 3,000 due non-accidental causes, between 7,300 ± 1,300 and 16,700 ± 1,500 due to cardiovascular disease, between 4,750 ± 900 and 10,950 ± 870 due ischemic heart diseases and 1,220 ± 330 avoidable deaths due to lung cancer. Avoidable respiratory hospitalizations were greater for PM 2.5 among 'children' age group than for PM 10 (all age group) except in São Paulo metropolitan area. For circulatory system diseases, 9,840 ± 3,950 avoidable hospitalizations in the elderly related to a decrease in PM 2.5 concentrations were estimated. This study endorses that more restrictive air quality standards, human exposure, and health effects are essential factors to consider in urban air quality management., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of lipid source and fatty acid (FA) profile on intake, performance, carcass characteristics, expression of enzymes, and sensorial analysis of Bos indicus animals offered a high-concentrate diet. On day 0, 96 noncastrated animals were blocked by initial body weight (400 ± 19.3 kg), randomly allocated to 1 of 24 pens (4 animals/pen), and pens were randomly assigned to receive: 1) control: basal diet composed of whole cottonseed and corn germ as lipid substrates (CONT; n = 6), 2) calcium salts of fatty acids (CSFA) of soybean: CSFA of soybean oil as replacement for whole cottonseed and corn germ (calcium salts of soybean oil [CSSO]; n = 6), 3) CSFA-Blend: CSFA of palm, cottonseed, and soybean oil as replacement for whole cottonseed and corn germ (calcium salts of vegetable oils [CSVO]; n = 6), and 4) Mix: basal diet containing whole cottonseed, corn germ, and CSVO (MIXT; n = 6). Experiment lasted 108 d and performance, ultrasound measurements, as well as carcass characteristics were evaluated. Additionally, meat FA profile, expression of enzymes involved in lipid metabolism, and sensorial analysis were evaluated. No treatment effects were observed on performance variables, ultrasound, and carcass traits ( P ≥ 0.22), whereas animals receiving CONT had a greater intake of C10:0, C16:0, C16:1 trans -9, C18:1 cis -9, C18:2, C18:3, total FA, monounsatured FA (MUFA), and polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) vs. CSSO and MIXT ( P < 0.05). Conversely, intake ratios of saturated FA (SFA):MUFA and SFA:PUFA were all reduced for CONT vs. other treatments. Meat obtained from CONT animals had greater colorimetric (L*, a*, and b*) values vs. MIXT ( P < 0.01). On meat FA profile, CONT increased C18:0 vs. supplementation with calcium salts ( P < 0.02) and supplementation with CSSO yielded greater meat concentrations of C18:1 trans -10 and C18:2 CLA intermediates ( P < 0.01). Expression of SREBP-1, SCD, and LPL was downregulated for CSSO ( P < 0.05). For sensorial analysis, regular flavor was greater ( P = 0.01) for CSSO vs. other treatments, but also greater aroma ( P = 0.05) vs. CONT and CSVO. In summary, addition of different lipid sources with varying FA profiles into high-concentrate diets did not affect performance and carcass characteristics of B. indicus animals, but supplementation with calcium salts of soybean oil inhibited the mRNA expression of enzymes involved in lipid metabolism, whereas flavor and aroma were positively affected by this lipid source., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science.)

Great efforts have been made over the years to assess the effectiveness of air pollution controls in place in the metropolitan area of São Paulo (MASP), Brazil. In this work, the community multiscale air quality (CMAQ) model was used to evaluate the efficacy of emission control strategies in MASP, considering the spatial and temporal variability of fine particle concentration. Seven different emission scenarios were modeled to assess the relationship between the emission of precursors and ambient aerosol concentration, including a baseline emission inventory, and six sensitivity scenarios with emission reductions in relation to the baseline inventory: a 50% reduction in SO 2 emissions; no SO 2 emissions; a 50% reduction in SO 2 , NO x , and NH 3 emissions; no sulfate (PSO 4 ) particle emissions; no PSO 4 and nitrate (PNO 3 ) particle emissions; and no PNO 3 emissions. Results show that ambient PM 2.5 behavior is not linearly dependent on the emission of precursors. Variation levels in PM 2.5 concentrations did not correspond to the reduction ratios applied to precursor emissions, mainly due to the contribution of organic and elemental carbon, and other secondary organic aerosol species. Reductions in SO 2 emissions are less likely to be effective at reducing PM 2.5 concentrations at the expected rate in many locations of the MASP. The largest reduction in ambient PM 2.5 was obtained with the scenario that considered a reduction in 50% of SO 2 , NO x , and NH 3 emissions (1 to 2 μg/m 3 on average). It highlights the importance of considering the role of secondary organic aerosols and black carbon in the design of effective policies for ambient PM 2.5 concentration control.

Metropolitan areas may suffer with increase of air pollution due to the growth of urbanization, transportation, and industrial sectors. The Metropolitan Area of Vitória (MAV) in Brazil is facing air pollution problems, especially because of the urbanization of past years and of having many industries inside the metropolitan area. Developing air quality system is crucial to understand the air pollution mechanism over these areas. However, having a good input dataset for applying on photochemical models is hard and requires quite of research. One input file for air quality modeling which can play a key role on results is the lateral boundary conditions (LBC). This study aimed to investigate the influence of LBC over CMAQ simulation for particulate matter and ozone over MAV by applying four different methods as LBC during August 2010. The first scenario (M1) is based on a fixed, time-independent boundary conditions with zero concentrations for all pollutants; the second scenario (M2) used a fixed, time-independent concentration values, with average values from local monitoring stations; the third CMAQ nesting scenario (M3) used the nested boundary conditions varying with time from a previous simulation with CMAQ over a larger modeling domain, centered on MAV; and finally, the fourth GEOS-Chem scenario (M4) used the boundary conditions varying with time from simulations of global model GEOS-Chem. All scenarios runs are based on the same meteorology conditions and pollutant emissions. The air quality simulations were made over a domain 61 × 79 km centered on coordinates - 20.25° S, - 40.28° W with a resolution of 1 km. The results were evaluated with the measured data from the local monitoring stations. Overall, significant differences on concentrations and number of chemical species between the LBC scenarios are shown across all LBC scenarios. The M3 and M4 dynamic LBC scenarios showed the best performances over ozone estimates while M1 and M2 had poor performance. Although no LBC scenarios do not seem to have a great influence on total PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentrations, individual PM 2.5 species like Na, NO 3 - , and NH 4 + concentrations are influenced by the dynamic LBC approach, since those hourly individual PM 2.5 species from CMAQ nesting approach (M3) and GEOS-Chem model (M4) were used as an input to LBC.

Purpose. Strategies for volume assessment of critically ill patients are limited, yet early goal-directed therapy improves outcomes. Central venous pressure (CVP), Bioimpedance Vectorial Analysis (BIVA), and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) are potentially useful tools. We studied the utility of these measures, alone and in combination, to predict changing oxygenation. Methods. Thirty-four mechanically ventilated patients, 26 of whom had data beyond the first study day, were studied. Relationships were assessed between CVP, BIVA, BNP, and oxygenation index (O(2)I) in a cross-sectional (baseline) and longitudinal fashion using both univariate and multivariable modeling. Results. At baseline, CVP and O(2)I were positively correlated (R = 0.39; P = .021), while CVP and BIVA were weakly correlated (R = -0.38; P = .025). The association between slopes of variables over time was negligible, with the exception of BNP, whose slope was correlated with O(2)I (R = 0.40; P = .044). Comparing tertiles of CVP, BIVA, and BNP slopes with the slope of O(2)I revealed only modest agreement between BNP and O(2)I (kappa = 0.25; P = .067). In a regression model, only BNP was significantly associated with O(2)I; however, this was strengthened by including CVP in the model. Conclusions. BNP seems to be a valuable noninvasive measure of volume status in critical care and should be assessed in a prospective manner.

When a thin film of initially hydrated gelatin is allowed to dry from the surface, superficial changes in the structure of the material affect the local mechanical properties of the drying region. If the film is simultaneously subjected to large strain deformation (above 20%), a periodic pattern of wrinkles appears on the surface of the gelatin along the length of the sample in the direction of the applied force. These wrinkles are uniformly distributed on the surface of the gelatin with a wavelength that is much smaller than the sample thickness, which changes with sample composition, aging time, and deformation rate. We investigate these patterns via in situ environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and provide a theory for their origin.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of early short-term, isovolaemic haemofiltration at 45 ml/kg/h on physiological and clinical outcomes in patients with septic shock., Design: Retrospective study before and after a change of unit protocol (study period 8 years)., Setting: Intensive care unit of metropolitan hospital., Patients: Eighty patients with septic shock., Interventions: Introduction of a new septic shock protocol based on early isovolaemic haemofiltration (EIHF). In the pre-EIHF period (before), 40 patients received conventional supportive therapy. In the post-EIHF period (after), 40 patients received EIHF at 45 ml/kg/h of plasma-water exchange over 6 h followed by conventional continuous venovenous haemofiltration (CVVH). Anticoagulation policy remained unchanged., Measurements and Main Results: The two groups were comparable for age, gender and baseline APACHE II score. Delivered haemofiltration dose was above 85% of prescription in all patients. PaO2/FiO2 ratio increased from 117+/-59 to 240+/-50 in EIHF, while it changed from 125+/-55 to 160+/-50 in the control group (p<0.05). In EIHF patients, mean arterial pressure increased (95+/-10 vs 60+/-12 mmHg; p<0.05), and norepinephrine dose decreased (0.20+/-2 vs 0.02+/-0.2 microg/kg/min; p<0.05). Among EIHF patients, 28 (70%) were successfully weaned from the ventilator compared with 15 (37%) in the control group (p<0.01). Similarly, 28-day survival was 55% compared with 27.5% (p<0.05). Length of stay in the ICU was 9+/-5 days compared with 16+/-4 days (p<0.002)., Conclusions: In patients with septic shock, EIHF was associated with improved gas exchange, haemodynamics, greater likelihood of successful weaning and greater 28-day survival compared with conventional therapy.