Search

La promozione e la valorizzazione della Dieta Mediterranea come strumento di prevenzione primaria delle principali malattie cardiovascolari, metaboliche, oncologiche e degenerative è l’obiettivo di Idimed e questo opuscolo è uno degli strumenti della sua strategia di divulgazione. Idimed, fedele alla sua impostazione sistemica, ha sempre parlato di alimentazione a 360°, integrando i diversi aspetti del fenomeno: culturali, salutistici, agronomici, botanici, gastronomici, psicologici, relazionali e della comunicazione. Far conoscere l’alimento, descrivere la realizzazione della ricetta, fornire indicazioni su quantità, uso dei condimenti, specificità della tradizione e raccomandazioni salutistiche costituisce il fondamento di questo progetto editoriale che integra cultura, gusto e salute. Una pubblicazione per tutti: per le famiglie, per i ristoratori, per gli appassionati, per i visitatori/viaggiatori/turisti. Per sperimentare un viaggio nel gusto e nella tradizione siciliana e ritrovare o riscoprire antichi sapori dimenticati. Le ricette proposte danno casa al cibo che racconta il territorio, la sua storia, la sua cultura e la sua identità, letta nella cornice più ampia che la Dieta Mediterranea interpreta. Palermo Street Food Fest, voluto dal Comune di Palermo e gestito da AdwMeridiem, costituisce un’ulteriore occasione per socializzare saperi e sapori, riscoprire le tradizioni e raccontare la Sicilia, luogo naturale in cui questi aspetti convergono magicamente per offrire uno stile di vita capace di far crescere in salute e invecchiare con successo.

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) requires a high power (> 1 MW) 1 GeV proton beam to produce an intense source of neutrons. The proton beam acceleration is primarily provided by a Superconducting Cavity Linac (SCL). This SCL is the first use of superconducting cavities to accelerate protons to energies this high and is also the first application of pulsed SRF with proton beams. The SCL has been in operation for over two years now. The experience in commissioning and operating the linac are discussed in this paper.

Experimental evidence is presented showing that in conformity with theoretical expectations, discharge gas atoms are trapped in sputtered films whenever a gas of atomic mass smaller than that of the c athode is used. In such a case, discharge gas atoms may be reflected by the cathode as high energy neutrals and get incorporated in the growing film. Niobium films have been produced using Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe and then analysed for rare gas content by thermal extraction. The gas concentrations are found to vary from the several percent range for Ne down to the ppm level for Kr and Xe. The noble gas conce ntration in the film influences the RRR and, in the case of high concentration, also the critical temperature. To study the effect of the implanted noble gas on the superconducting RF parameters, seve ral 1.5 GHz copper cavities have been niobium-coated using the different discharge gases. The noble gases trapped in the film affect the penetration depth, the temperature dependent losses (RBCS), the losses induced by the presence of trapped fluxons, but have no significant influence on the residual resistance.

Studies have been performed on the properties of niobium thin films sputtered onto solid niobium TM010 resonators at 1.5 GHz. The purpose of the work is to study the behaviour of the film's RF and str uctural properties as a function of heat treatment temperature in order to determine if and at what treatment temperature the properties of the films merge with those of the bulk. Niobium resonators h ave been heat treated at temperatures up to 1100°C in a vacuum furnace inside a niobium box surrounded by a titanium gettering protection. Subsequently, they have been sputter coated with a niobium fi lm. Following RF measurements of the coated resonators, the cavities have undergone heat treatments as described above at 800°C, 900°C, 1000°C and 1100°C, each time followed by RF measurements. Before heat treatment, the RF response of the film was similar to that of a film coated on a copper substrate. A marked transition towards bulk-like RF behaviour was observed after the 900°C treatment. The c hanges include a sharp variation of the BCS resistance and of the sensitivity to externally applied magnetic field, quantities believed to be closely linked to the amount and nature of defects in the coating.

Niobium-coated copper resonators are usually produced with an oxide interface between the film and the substrate. This oxide has two sources: the passivation layer inevitably formed on the surface of the cavity after chemical preparation before coating, and the niobium oxide which builds up on the surface of the cathode when it is exposed to air, and is transferred to the cavity surface during coa ting. The oxide layer may influence both the purity and the structural properties of the film, and in turn its RF behaviour. To study its effect, some cavities have been coated with a special two-cath ode sputtering system, allowing for a complete removal of both oxide layers by sputter-etching. For comparison, a few cavities have also been produced with the same coating system without sputter-etch ing, or with a controlled oxidation of the copper surface of the cavity after sputter-etching. Two cavities have also been produced without oxide interface using Kr and Ne as sputter gas instead of Ar .

Niobium sputter-coated copper resonators are successfully employed in operating particle accelerators, the most outstanding example being LEP2 at CERN. In this review we present recent progress in the understanding of the basic principles governing their behaviour, based on an extensive R&D programme carried out at CERN on 1.5 GHz resonators operated in the TM010 mode. At the present stage of the s tudy, no fundamental limitation has been found which would prevent the use of this technology for future high-field, high-Q accelerating cavities.

In a systematic study of the RF response of superconducting niobium cavities operated in their fundamental TM010 mode at 1.5 GHz, magnetic flux trapping has been used as a tool to diagnose the presenc e of pinning centres. In addition to bulk niobium cavities the study covers copper cavities, the inner walls of which are coated with 1.5 µm thick niobium films grown by magnetron sputtering in a nobl e gas atmosphere. The use of different gases (Xe, Kr, Ar and Ne) or gas mixtures has made it possible to vary the concentration of noble gas atoms in the films. Film contamination is characterised by an electron mean free path l calculated from the results of systematic measurements of the penetration depth at T = 0 K, l0, and from RRR measurements made on samples prepared under similar conditions as the cavity films.

Host genetic factors are crucial risk determinants for many human cancers. In this framework, an interesting model is represented by prostate cancer (PC), which is featured by a complex pathophysiology with a strong genetic component. Multiple genes seem to influence PC risk and several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of candidate genes modifying PC susceptibility have been identified. It is noteworthy the potential association of common SNPs in pro-inflammatory genes with PC risk, since chronic inflammation is assumed to play a key role in prostate carcinogenesis. With the aim to identify candidate genes as an experimental basis to develop new strategies for both prevention and treatment of PC, we have investigated the potential role of common SNPs of a gene cluster (TLR4, TLR2, PTGS2 and 5-Lo), involved in innate and inflammatory response, in PC cases, age-matched controls and centenarians from Sicily. Six SNPs were genotyped and their association with PC risk determined. Statistical analysis evidenced a significant association of some pro-inflammatory gene SNPs with an increased risk of PC. Furthermore, significant differences were observed comparing the three groups in the combined presence of a "high responder" pro-inflammatory profile. Overall, the present results suggest the likely association of these SNPs and PC risk, clearly motivating the need of larger studies to confirm the role of these genes in PC development and/or progression.

The relationship between sex steroids and cancer has been studied for more than a century. Using an original intact cell analysis, we investigated sex steroid metabolism in a panel of human cancer cell lines, either hormone responsive or unresponsive, originating from human breast, endometrium, and prostate. We found that highly divergent patterns of steroid metabolism exist and that the catalytic preference (predominantly reductive or oxidative) is strictly associated with the steroid receptor status of cells. We explored intra-tissue concentrations and profiles of estrogens in a set of human breast tumors as compared to normal mammary tissues, also in relation to their estrogen receptor status. In particular, we showed that, with hydroxyestrogens representing the majority of all tissue estrogens, concentrations of individual metabolites, as well as their ratios, significantly differ when comparing normal tissue with cancer tissues or when they are related to the overall survival of cancer patients. © 2004 New York Academy of Sciences.