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We examined the difference between self-reported and measured body size values and their impact on detection of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) by echocardiographic LV mass indexation. A total of 1963 subjects referred by their practitioners for routine echocardiographic examination to nine outpatient echocardiographic laboratories across Italy were included in the study. Left ventricular hypertrophy was defined according to two gender-specific criteria as: A) Left ventricular mass (LVM) index ≥49 g/h2.7 in men and ≥45 g/h2.7 in women; B) LVM index ≥125 g/m2 in men and ≥110 g/m2 in women. Prevalence of LVH was calculated by indexing LVM to both self-reported and measured anthropometric values. In the whole population, LVH tended to be underestimated by self-reported values by 5.4% according to criterion A (48.5% vs. 53.9%, p < 0.001) and by 1.2% according to criterion B (29.6% vs. 30.8%, p < 0.01); similar findings were observed in the hypertensive subgroup encompassing one-half of the sample. Underestimation of LVH was more pronounced in older patients than in younger patients: 8.6% vs. 3.2% (p < 0.001) by criterion A, 3.1% vs. 0.1% (p < 0.001) by criterion B, in women than in men (8.6% vs. 3.3% (p < 0.001) by criterion A and 1.8% vs. 0.5% (p < 0.01) by criterion B. In a sample of outpatients attending echocardiographic laboratories, LVH is misclassified when left ventricular mass is normalized to self-reported weight and height. The error is related to the clinical characteristics of patients and is more pronounced when LVM is normalized to height2.7. © 2011 Informa Healthcare USA, Inc.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials represents nowadays the new frontiers of semiconductor technology [1]. At one side, great effort has been done in research applied to graphene producing new technology that will rebuild many industrial sectors. On the other side non- graphene 2D materials like transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are highly attractive because they offer complementary properties to graphene [2] but still lack a large-scale production method for high quality and well controlled layers. MoS2, one of the most studied TMDs materials, has been produced by using many techniques, but the deposition through chemical methods, i.e. based on the use of materials such as Mo or MoO3 and then the reaction with sulfur, already demonstrates to fit better the stringent requirements of lateral uniformity on the centimeter scale, vertical scalability and structural optimization as function of the growth parameters [3]. However, many details about the chemistry of the reaction between Mo precursor and sulfur needs further clarification in view of a large-area production [4]: in particular, it is not clear the role of the materials used as precursors, of the substrate type and of the deposition temperature, which drives Mo-S reaction, but also other undesired ones. This work is focused on the study of some of these fundamental parameters in the growth of MoS2 on SiO2/Si substrates by vapor-solid chemical reaction between Mo pre-deposited thin film precursor (TFP) and sulfur (figure 1(a)). We demonstrate that the control of the Mo film thickness allows us to have accurate control of the MoS2 thickness. This methodology leads to MoS2 nanosheets with a tunable number of layers and uniformly extended throughout the whole area of the support substrates (figure 1(b)). In this type of process, the role of the growth temperature and of the substrate on the structural properties of the layers becomes dramatically important. Various techniques are employed to characterize the MoS2 layers. In particular, Raman spectroscopy is the key-probe used for single- and multi-layers identification and for the validation of the high structural quality of the grown material (see figure 1(b)), but fundamental information about the chemical details, the morphology, and the structural quality are also drawn from X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and photoluminescence (PL). The temperatures used for the study are 500, 750, and 1000 °C. All the grown films show granular morphology by AFM. Better results in term of layer quality is obtained with higher sulfurization temperature and detailed analysis of Raman spectra collected from quadrilayers demonstrates that the layer features are comparable to exfoliated MoS2 samples. We further demonstrate that SiO2/Si wafer bring intrinsic limitation as a substrate for the MoS2 growth at high deposition temperature because of the activation of silicon diffusion from the substrate and of the chemical reaction between Si and S with SiS2 byproduct formation [5]. Our study supplies some fundamental information on the chemistry of vapor-solid reaction growth, clarifying the role of temperature in giving high quality materials and putting a warning on the use of silicon substrate for this type of process [6]. References [1] Yazyev, O. V. and Chen, Y. P., Nature Nanotechnology 9, 755 (2014). [2] See editorial’s Nature Materials 13, 1073 (2014) and references therein. [3] Lee, Y.-H. et al. Adv. Mater. 24, 2320–2325 (2012); Liu, K. et al. Nano Lett. 12, 1538 (2012); Yu, Y. et al., Sci. Rep. 3, 1866 (2013); Zhan, Y. et al. Small 8, 966–971 (2012). [4] Liu, H. et al. Nanotechnology 25, 405702 (2014). [5] Niu, J. et al. Physica E 24, 278–281 (2004). [6] This research was partially supported by US-Army Contract with CNR-IMEM and CNR-IMM.

A new eruption started at Stromboli on 6 August 2014, which had been preceded by 2 months of increased Strombolian activity and several lava overflows from the craters. The eruption was characterized by a lava effusion in Sciara del Fuoco from a fracture at 650 m above sea level that lasted until 13-17 November. Here we present the first geochemical observations of this eruption, based on the soil CO2 flux in the summit area and on 3He/4He ratios in the thermal waters near Stromboli village. We infer that this eruption was triggered by the gradual replenishment of the feeding system by a CO2- and 3He-rich magma at the end of 2013 and after June 2014, suggested by the increase in 3He/4He ratio before eruption, which reached its highest value since 2007. We thus infer that this eruption was unusual, and we finally speculate on the evolutionary scenario of posteruption.

The diffusion of Electric Vehicles (EVs), the reduction of environmental pollution and the production of energy from renewable sources (RES), in particular photovoltaic system, wind farm, hydroelectric plants, bioenergy and geothermal plants are the principal aspects discussed in the world. For this reason, the goal of this work is to study for 2014 year in all Italy's Regions; the energy production obtained to photovoltaic systems (PV) and the possibility to use with different percentage this energy for recharge the electric vehicles. In particular, they have been considered different scenarios in function to the km travelled per year from the population. This paper examines the integration of green vehicle with the use of renewable sources in all Regions of Italy in order to replace polluting vehicles circulating on the road.

We present a high-pressure study of Mg$_{1–x}$Fe$_{x}$O (ferropericlase, Fp) single crystals 0.04(1)$\leqslant x \leqslant$ 0.33(1) with a focus on ferrous iron spin-state crossover and the material behavior preceding it. Using Vegard's law and highly accurate high-pressure single-crystal experimental data, we extract the lattice parameter $a^{HS}_{FeO}$ of the “FeO high spin lattice contribution” in the MgO-FeO solid solution. We find that ferropericlases with a wide range of compositions share the same critical parameter $a_C$ (defined as the minimum $a^{HS}_{FeO}$ after which spin crossover starts). Furthermore, we discuss the effect of composition on spin crossover in ferrous iron in ferropericlase in the limits of low and moderate concentrations of Fe$^{2+}$.

Physical review / B 95(21), 214412(2017). doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.95.214412, We present a high-pressure study of Mg$_{1–x}$Fe$_{x}$O (ferropericlase, Fp) single crystals 0.04(1)$\leqslant x \leqslant$ 0.33(1) with a focus on ferrous iron spin-state crossover and the material behavior preceding it. Using Vegard's law and highly accurate high-pressure single-crystal experimental data, we extract the lattice parameter $a^{HS}_{FeO}$ of the “FeO high spin lattice contribution” in the MgO-FeO solid solution. We find that ferropericlases with a wide range of compositions share the same critical parameter $a_C$ (defined as the minimum $a^{HS}_{FeO}$ after which spin crossover starts). Furthermore, we discuss the effect of composition on spin crossover in ferrous iron in ferropericlase in the limits of low and moderate concentrations of Fe$^{2+}$., Published by APS, Woodbury, NY