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1,2-Dialkyl-3-sulfonylpyrroles are versatile synthetic tools for obtaining related fused ring heterocycles, for instance, pyrrolothiazines. We have established a method for obtaining pyrrolic compounds with a variety of 3-sulfonyl moieties such as sulfones 4, sulfonates 5 and sulfonamides 6.

An aftershock interevent time series, initiated on February 18, 1996, in the eastern Pyrenees was analyzed. The threshold detection magnitude was set at 1.9, and the series was assumed to be complete for an interval of 77 days. The original time series does not fit Omori's law, probably because of sudden changes in the rate of occurrence, interpreted as an increase in the production rate. When the recorded interevent time series is classified in terms of leading aftershocks (those that satisfy a relaxation process) and cascades (those occurred at a nearly constant rate), the new time series of the leading aftershocks fits Omori's law quite well, with p = 0.94. Interpreted in terms of Dietrich's model, the series of leading aftershocks correctly predicts a return time for the main shock of the order of 50 years. To interpret the series of cascades, a minimalist, self-organized critical model was used. Although it is very simple, the model correctly reproduces the two-level structure in the observed time series, that is, the sequence of leading aftershocks and a cascade sequence emerging from each aftershock. This model may be given physical justification in terms of the Cotchard and Madariaga [1996] nucleation model.

Surface observations, satellite and radar imagery and cloud-to-ground lightning data are used in an observational study of two cases that produced severe weather in Catalonia (Spain). The first one occurred on 24 August 1993; a squall line crossed Catalonia from west to east producing heavy rain with rates of up to 100 mm h−1 and hail of 7 cm diameter. The observational information provided is a good tool for monitoring the event and issuing a reasonable nowcast. The second case, which occurred on 31 August 1994, was associated with the development of a tornado (F1 in the Fujita scale) as well as hail of up to 5 cm diameter. In this case the convection was almost stationary and no clear signatures of severe weather can be identified from available satellite and radar imagery. Copyright © 1997 Royal Meteorological Society

A new local control strategy with non-linear optimal controllers for a multimachine system is presented. Non-linear Field Voltage Controllers (NFVC) are designed with the use of the feedback linearization approach to adjust generator state variables to external reference signals resulting from optimal power flow calculation [Pi, Qi, Vti] in the stabilized power system. A non-linear control law has been derived for the three-dimensional [δ, ω, E′q] one-axis model of a generator. The local control strategy has been verified for the New England 39 bus system. An extensive simulation study shows robustness of the non-linear controllers and better performance than PSS-based classical controllers. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

—Deception Island is characterized by small magnitude local events with constant energy flux and very low stress drop. To obtain information about its origin, an interevent time series of 546 events, corresponding to an observational period of two month, has been analyzed. From a statistical point of view, data satisfies a Weibull distribution and presents clustering. A rescaled range analysis reveals that data are not independent, i.e. have memory, and the correlation dimension saturates at 2.2; as a consequence, the system can be modeled as a nonlinear iterative equation with three degrees of freedom that presents chaotic behavior. Taking into account that the average interevent time is of the order of 130 minutes, too short to be only due to tectonic activity, the above results indicate that some other mechanism may coexist with the regional tectonic one. According to several geological and geophysical observations, we suggest that most of the local events may be originated by pressure waves generated by a sudden change of phase, of sea and fresh water infiltrated into the main fractures and faults and also from shallow and confined water-saturated layers.

The cytokines play an important role in the cascade of the pathological events leading to septic shock. The TNF alpha produced by monocytes/macrophages upon stimulation with bacterial fragments may contribute to induction of this cytokine cascade. Moreover, the antibiotics used for antimicrobial therapy may cause the increase of TNF alpha production due to massive bacterial killing and exposure of monocytes/macrophages to bacterial cell constituents. To investigate the effect of Vancomycin on TNF alpha production, an in vitro model of LPS-stimulated monocytes was used. The level of TNF alpha protein or TNF biological activity were tested in the culture supernatants of monocytes with LPS. Vancomycin down-regulated, in dose-dependent manner, the TNF alpha production. Vancomycin also inhibited TNF alpha-mRNA accumulation in LPS-stimulated monocytes, as assessed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in cell suspension. The down-regulation of TNF alpha production in LPS-stimulated monocytes may indicate that inhibition of this cytokine release is one of the important therapeutic effects of Vancomycin in sepsis.

A new application of LQR controller with the ability of reference tracking for a multi modular converter with several cells is proposed. First, the mathematical model for the grid connected MMC is presented and then, the small signal state space model is obtained. MMC is a very complex MIMO system with several state variables and global control for this system is very important issue. Optimal advanced controller based on linear quadratic regulator with integral action is a very good candidate for controlling the AC signals and energy balancing in multi cells MMC system. The performance and validity of obtained model and designed linear controller are evaluated with non-linear model of MMC in SimPower System toolbox/Matlab. Simulation results are verified the excellent performance of the proposed approach in the transient and steady state operational conditions.

This paper presents a methodology for designing the link passive filter of the power converters installed in a multi-megawatt wave power plant. Such filter is based on the superposition of both LCL and trap filter configurations with the purpose of achieving enhanced grid interaction of a two-level voltage source converter. The LCL+Trap filter design is highly dependent on the electrical network characteristics; hence the distribution system of the plant is introduced in the paper to take into account its effects on the tuning parameters. The proposed LCL+trap filter topology arises as a successful alternative solution for the conventional LCL filter topology, thanks to its improved filtering capability while ensuring a reduced filter size. The validation of the proposed filter performance is evaluated in simulation by performing a comparative analysis between the LCL+trap and the LCL filters when operate in a wave farm application.

This paper proposes a passive filter design method and validation analysis based on a Trap-LCL filter topology for implementation in grid connected two-level converters for high power applications. The proposed topology appears as an alternative to the conventional LCL filter, since reduced filter parameters can be obtained while still ensuring high filtering capability for switching frequency harmonics. Furthermore, a step-by-step filter design method will be introduced in order to provide a clear scope on the tuning procedure, as well as on the main requirements that the filter should satisfy. Finally, a comparative study between a conventional LCL and a LCL-Trap filter will be performed in simulation with the goal of finding a meaningful evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages provided from the LCL-Trap configuration.

This paper presents a filter design methodology and control design strategy for LCL+Trap filters deployed in large scale wave power plants. This filter topology appears as an alternative for the widely used LCL filters, since effective harmonic mitigation can be achieved while reducing the overall passive filter components size. As a result, the use of LCL+Trap filters for two-level power converters arise as a suitable power processing solution to match the requirements of large scale wave energy applications, since such well-known power converter technology is very robust, reliable and very cost effective. The designed LCL+Trap filter is validated through simulation by performing a comparative analysis between LCL and LCL+Trap filters, and finally, the control of the converter is introduced with the purpose of validating the grid connection compliance of the entire power processing system.

In this paper a new application of PSO technique for optimizing the controller parameters of multi modular converters is presented. PSO based LQR controller is designed for averaged model of modular converter and to obtain better control parameters though the minimizing a quadraticperformance index. In this method in order to have more accuracy and better design for controller parameters, PSO algorithm is added to find the gain matrix of the controller. Simulation results show that with using this method better dynamic responses are accessible.

This paper presents a method for improving the design procedure of AC-DC power converters for power generation applications. The proposed methodology is based on selection of the most convenient configuration, in terms of switching frequency and design of the line filter, in order to minimize the overall losses in the system. In this work two types of semiconductor devices are considered: silicon IGBT and silicon carbide MOSFET for the design of a 100 kVA system, and they performance is compared. The AC-DC converter parameters, the design methodology and preliminary simulation results for representatives of Si IGBT and SiC MOSFET modules are presented.

In the wave energy sector, an increasing concern regarding the grid connection of wave energy converters is recently being experienced, as well as in the main challenges resulting from the grid integration of large scale wave power plants. This increasing interest arise due to the near-commercial developments of several wave energy converter devices, which have already proved its hydrodynamic and power take-off performance. Therefore, this paper proposes a suitable power processing system configuration and its suitable control design used for interfacing the grid connection of such high power wave energy converters while ensuring acceptable grid connection standards compliance. An advanced filter topology will be introduced based on the superposition of LCL+Trap filters as an alternative solution to the conventional LCL filters, as it allows for smaller filter size, while ensuring a reliable and cost-effective power processing solution. Finally, the evaluation of the filter design as well as the power converter control will be introduced in simulation with the purpose of validating the grid connection of wave energy converters.

Introduction Vacuum-assisted core biopsy (VACB) guided by ultrasound is a minimally invasive method used in diagnosis and treatment of breast focal lesions. Vacuum-assisted core biopsy is an interesting minimally invasive alternative to open surgical biopsy. Aim To assess the value of ultrasound-guided vacuum-assisted core biopsy in the diagnosis and treatment of breast focal lesions. Material and methods In the period 2009-2010, 397 ultrasound-guided vacuum-assisted core biopsies were performed. Mean age of the patients was 41.7 years (18-92 years), and size of the lesions ranged from 3 mm to 65 mm, mean size being 12 mm. All women with diagnosed atypical ductal hyperplasia or cancer were qualified for surgery. The patients with histopathologically benign lesions were under follow-up. Results Samples sufficient for histopathological examination were obtained from 394 cases (99.2%). Of all 397 lesions, 293 (73.7%) were diagnosed as benign, there were 6 (1.6%) cases of atypical ductal hyperplasia and 98 (24.7%) malignant lesions. Three hundred and sixty-nine lesions were below 15 mm in diameter, of which 339 (91.9%) were totally removed during the VACB. Conclusions The results obtained confirm high efficiency of ultrasound-guided VACB in the differential diagnosis of breast focal lesions, including impalpable ones. It is a safe method with a low complication rate. In the case of benign lesions with a diameter not exceeding 15 mm, it allows one to excise the whole lesion and is a very good alternative to an open surgical biopsy. Vacuum-assisted core biopsy should be a standard and the method of choice in diagnosing breast lesions.

We have purified hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from the bone marrow of old mice and compared their properties to HSCs in young and middle-aged mice. Single, reconstituting HSCs (by limit dilution) from old and young mice exhibited indistinguishable progenitor activities in vivo. HSCs were five times as frequent in the bone marrow of old mice; however, HSCs from old mice were only one-quarter as efficient at homing to and engrafting the bone marrow of irradiated recipients. HSCs in young and middle-aged mice rarely were in the S/G2/M phases of the cell cycle, but HSCs in old mice were frequently in cycle. We speculate that the unexpected proliferation of HSCs in old mice might be related to the increased incidence of leukemia in old mice. HSCs change with age, but it is unknown whether these changes are determined intrinsically or caused by the aging of their environment.

SUMMARY S-coda waves of 10 local events that occurred in the eastern Pyrenees and were recorded at La Cerdanya seismic station have been analysed to determine whether the complexity they present is chaotic deterministic or random. The data were first subjected to a qualitative analysis, the construction of a phase portrait by the delay method. This clearly displays the possibility of deterministic chaos. Under the assumption that part of the coda can be considered stationary, in the sense that transients are no longer present, we performed a non-linear analysis of coda waves. The geometry of the attractor of the motion of the system (i.e. the recorded ground velocity of the medium) was characterized by means of the correlation dimension. In all cases we obtained a fractal dimension that ranges between 3.43 and 3.94. The Kolmogorov entropy was estimated from the correlation function; in all cases it was positive and finite, and the computation of the divergence of nearby orbits revealed positive, finite maximum Lyapunov exponents for all events. Thus, all evidence is in favour of the hypothesis that the attractor is a strange attractor, and that the propagation is chaotic deterministic. Errors in the measurements are estimated at 8 per cent for the correlation dimension and 12 per cent for the Lyapunov exponent. Because of natural noise in the seismic records, the above determinations should be considered as lower bounds. The above results constitute strong evidence in favour of chaotic coda-wave propagation in the zone under study, and suggest that the chaotic behaviour is generated by multiple scattering. To account for characteristics such as those found, mathematical models should be formulated in terms of non-linear equations with a minimum of four degrees of freedom.

Since 1984, a seismic surveillance at the Baix Ebre Region (NE of the Iberian Peninsula) has been carried out from a seismic network consisting of two digital and one analog stations. Large discrepancies between the recorded amplitudes and the magnitude estimates given by different agencies have been observed. To explain these discrepancies, that consist of a large reduction of amplitude and a strong dependence of the azimuth, a local magnitude formula for the area has been computed, using the analog records obtained at EBR short-period station. Global results show an average station correction factor between the computed local magnitude and the reported magnitude of the order of 1, presenting large variations around the mean value with a clear dependence on the azimuth. A detailed analysis of this variation around the mean value reveals that earthquakes can be classified according to their location in different geological units, thus obtaining for each zone a distinct station correction factor that can fluctuate as much as 0.6 around the average. These large lateral variations of the magnitude are in good agreement with previous studies of coda-Q attenuation.

1,2-Dialkyl-3-nitropyrroles 1 are versatile synthetic tools for obtaining substituted pyrrolidines or fused ring heterocycles such as pyrrolopyridines, pyrrolopyrimidines or pyrroloazepines. We have established a method for obtaining compounds related to structure 1 and studied the reactivity as a nucleophile of the benzylic type moiety in the alkyl residue bound to position 2.

The monitoring of fisheries target species in three marine protected areas (MPAs) located in the NW Mediterranean provided important conclusions on management effects. The abundance, occurrence and biomass of large fish showed consistent and growing trends inside the MPAs. Fish diversity was also favoured by protection. Nevertheless, spatial variance of these indicators at a medium scale was often of the same order as that caused by time between different protection levels. The carrying capacity was determined for the first time in western Mediterranean MPAs in five out of six sites studied, and in all cases it was achieved within the first five years of protection. The observed values indicate that the system of the studied MPAs is representative of the general coastal environment of the Balearic Islands, but is far from the potential of other MPAs which are considered as hot spots in other localities. Likewise, this study shows that partially protected areas can also be fairly effective if their habitats fit with those required by target species and fishing modalities are suitably regulated or banned., El seguimiento de especies de peces vulnerables a la pesca en 3 AMPs del Mediterráneo Occidental ha permitido extraer conclusiones importantes sobre los efectos de la gestión. La abundancia y ocurrencia de peces grandes así como la biomasa presentaron patrones temporales consistentes y crecientes en las AMPs. Conjuntamente al incremento de biomasa, la diversidad de peces también aumentó con la protección. Sin embargo, la varianza de estos indicadores a mediana escala espacial fue a menudo del mismo orden que la producida por el tiempo y el nivel de protección. La capacidad de carga se ha establecido por primera vez en AMPs del Mediterráneo Occidental en 5 de los 6 sitios estudiados. En todos los casos esta situación se alcanzó dentro de los primeros 5 años de protección. Los resultados indican que el sistema de AMPs estudiado es representativo de la mayor parte de las costas de Baleares pero que está lejos del potencial de otras AMPs consideradas como hot spots en otros enclaves geográficos. Asimismo, este trabajo pone de manifiesto que las áreas de reserva parcial pueden ser muy efectivas si su hábitat se ajusta al de las especies que quieren protegerse y si las modalidades de pesca restringidas o prohibidas son las adecuadas.

Thy-1loSca-1+Lin-Mac-1+CD4- cells have been isolated from the livers of C57BL-Thy-1.1 fetuses. This population appears to be an essentially pure population of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), in that injection of only six cells into lethally irradiated adult recipients yields a limit dilution frequency of donor cell-reconstituted mice. Sixty-seven to 77% of clones in this population exhibit long-term multilineage progenitor activity. This population appears to include all long-term multilineage reconstituting progenitors in the fetal liver. A high proportion of cells are in cycle, and the absolute number of cells in this population doubles daily in the fetal liver until 14.5 days postcoitum. At 15.5 days postcoitum, the frequency of this population falls dramatically. Long-term reconstituting HSC clones from the fetal liver give rise to higher levels of reconstitution in lethally irradiated mice than long-term reconstituting HSC from the bone marrow. The precise phenotypic and functional characteristics of HSC vary according to tissue and time during ontogeny.

Deception Island is the most active volcano of the South Shetland Islands-Antarctic Peninsula group, experiencing eruptions in 1967, 1969 and 1970. Local attenuation derived from coda analysis and source parameters derived from Brune's model, for well located seismic events, have been studied in order to complement the available geophysical information. Results show abnormally lowQ0 values and an abnormally high frequency dependence, as well as large dispersion. These factors are strongly dependent on the path travelled by the seismic wave. Retrieved values of the source parameters (stress drop, seismic moment and source radius), are again abnormally low compared to world-wide average values, for example, those obtained for the Oroville, California aftershock series between June and September, 1976. These results are consistent with some aspects of the geology of Deception Island, such as the very high degree of fracturing and faulting, and the existence of a strong hydrothermal alteration affecting most of the subaerial volcanic rocks. Moreover, the pattern defined for the lateral variations ofQ0 shows minimum values in the inner bay of the island, close to the most recent eruption vents. A large reduction in spectral amplitudes over a particular frequency range occurs in several observations, corresponding to the path crossing the zone of highest attenuation. This observation suggests the existence of a hot magmatic intrusion produced during the most recent eruption, and coincides with the superficial low density mass distribution obtained from the gravimetric model and the long wave magnetic field component obtained from magnetic surveys. The width of this intrusion is estimated to be about 200 m, in agreement with the previous results obtained analyzing residuals of the location of seismic events.

7 páginas, 4 figuras., Major coastal storms, associated with strong winds, high waves and intensified currents, and occasionally with heavy rains and flash floods, are mostly known because of the serious damage they can cause along the shoreline and the threats they pose to navigation. However, there is a profound lack of knowledge on the deep-sea impacts of severe coastal storms. Concurrent measurements of key parameters along the coast and in the deep-sea are extremely rare. Here we present a unique data set showing how one of the most extreme coastal storms of the last decades lashing the Western Mediterranean Sea rapidly impacted the deep-sea ecosystem. The storm peaked the 26th of December 2008 leading to the remobilization of a shallow-water reservoir of marine organic carbon associated with fine particles and resulting in its redistribution across the deep basin. The storm also initiated the movement of large amounts of coarse shelf sediment, which abraded and buried benthic communities. Our findings demonstrate, first, that severe coastal storms are highly efficient in transporting organic carbon from shallow water to deep water, thus contributing to its sequestration and, second, that natural, intermittent atmospheric drivers sensitive to global climate change have the potential to tremendously impact the largest and least known ecosystem on Earth, the deep-sea ecosystem.

The problem of synthesizing a field voltage controller for a synchronous generator is considered. Using the theory of feedback linearization of nonlinear systems, the existence of a linearizing feedback for an improved reduced-order three-dimensional model of a generator is proved and the most simple form of this feedback is derived. An application of the obtained nonlinear control law to synchronous generator stabilization gives very good results, not only for the reduced-order model but also for the ‘exact’ Park's model of a generator. Simulations of fault and post-fault transients in the obtained control system with the synchronous generator ( P = 360 MW), in the presence of a nonlinear state observer and field voltage limiters confirmed superiority of this control system as opposed to a system with a linear optimal controller.

Attenuative parameters of the Earth's mantle are obtained for the frequency range 0.5–2 Hz by means of an iterative nonlinear fit to observed body-wave dispersion. Dispersion curves are obtained by directly measuring the arrival time of some selected frequency components of P- and S-wave pulses. The frequency components are obtained by narrow band-pass filtering the signal, and the arrival time is determined as the expectation value of the first pulse, which can be interpreted as the arrival time of the center of gravity of its energy contents. Before any interpretation, arrival time must be corrected by the group delay of filter and instrumental response. The apparentQ, as a function of frequency, is retrieved from broadband records of the Network of Autonomously Recording Stations array corresponding to earthquakes which occurred in the Japan-Kurile Islands region, and interpreted in terms of the continuous relaxation model (CRM) and the power law model (PLM). For the CRM the following parameters are obtained, corresponding to average values of the mantle: for P waves,τ2 = 0.064s andQm = 587; for S waves,τ2 = 0.281andQm = 399. In both cases,τ1 has been given an arbitrary value of 1.0E + 05. Using these parameters, the values ofQP = 608andQS = 464 are obtained for a period of 1 s. For the PLM, the values ofQ0 = 611andγ = 0.07 are obtained for P waves, andQ0 = 714andγ = 0.6 for S waves, with the same numerical values forQ at 1 s. The predicted values at 1 s agree with average published data for the mantle, except the valueQS = 714 predicted by the PLM, which is 50% higher. Thus, the measurement of body-wave dispersion proves to be an independent method and a powerful complement to classical well-established methods for the study of attenuation based on amplitude analysis.

Hospital acquired-pneumonia is the most frequently occurring hospital-acquired infection in intensive care units (ICU). The study group consisted of 233 patients treated over 12 months in the ICU of the 1st Department of General Surgery and Gastroenterological Surgery Clinics, University Hospital in Krakow. Patients were divided in two groups: experimental--consisting of 92 patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia, and control--consisting of 141 patients without the disease. The following risk factors of hospital-acquired pneumonia risk were analysed for both groups: length of stay in the ICU, duration of mechanical ventilation, kind of treatment applied, presence of a gastrointestinal tube, blood glucose levels. Significantly more patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia than controls had blood glucose level above 6 mmol/l (OR = 2.23). Monitoring and maintainment of glucose level within the normal ranges is an important element of successful treatment. In fact, glucose level is the only risk factor that can be easily modified compared with other analyzed factors.

The operative injury affects the immune system what results in cytokine production--mediators of immune response. Intensity of this reaction depends on the extent of surgery, the time of procedure and actual status of the immune system. In gastric cancer patients malnutrition is diagnosed in as much as 60-80% and increases postoperative morbidity, and the time to functional recovery. The implementation of immunonutrition correlates with the improvement of postoperative course. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of immunonutrition on postoperative cytokine (IL-6, IL-10, TNF-alpha) plasma levels in gastric cancer patients.The group of 99 gastric cancer patients was enrolled. In 54 patients standard postoperative enteral nutrition and in 45 patients immunonutrition was administered. Preoperatively and in 1., 3. and 7. postoperative day plasma levels of IL6, IL10 and TNFalpha were measured.The mean absolute levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha did not differ statistically between the groups. However, the increment of changes of these cytokines was higher in immunonutrition group reaching statistical significance at day 7 for TNF-alpha (26 pg/ml for immunonutrition vs -10 pg/ml for standard nutrition p = 0.024). IL-10 levels were significantly higher in immunonutrition group at 1. and 3. postoperative days.The postoperative profile of proinflammatory cytokines did not differ significantly between immunonutrition and standard nutrition groups. The increase of IL-10 plasma levels in early postoperative period in immunonutrition patients may suggest that one of the effects of this therapy is the inhibition of early inflammatory reaction.

Emulsions are fine dispersions of immiscible liquids (for example, oil and water) widespread in nature and in industrial products. Therefore mastering methodologies for formulating stable emulsions with tailored properties (for example, in food technologies or for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals), or to destabilise on purpose very stable emulsions (for example, for crude oil upstream) is an important technological target. Emulsions are stabilised against separation by means of surface-active molecules, generically known as surfactants, which segregating at the interface prevents the coalescence of the disperse droplets. MAP-FASES (Fundamental and Applied Studies in Emulsion Stability) is a research project supported by the European Space Agency, aimed at investigating the relationships between the interfacial properties of surfactant adsorption layers at liquid-liquid interfaces and the stability and features of the corresponding emulsions. In order to approach such important topic, the FASES project covers a wide spectrum of investigations and modellings: from the interaction of surfactants with particles, to droplet dynamics in emulsions, passing through the properties of single liquid-liquid interfaces and films.The research programme also includes the investigation of particle-stabilised emulsions. These emulsions are widely diffuse in nature (Pickering emulsions) and have an increasing importance for different products, technologies and applicative topics. Benchmark experiments are planned onboard the International Space Station (ISS), exploiting the purely diffusive conditions and the absence of buoyancy, which allows for the accurate investigation of interfacial properties and of the fundamental processes involved in emulsion destabilisation. In the framework of the project innovative diagnostics have been conceived and implemented into suitable experiment modules for the ISS. In particular, the experiment container FASES for the Fluid Science Laboratory, designed to investigate collective properties of the emulsion, such as, destabilisation process and droplets interaction and dynamics. The module allows for the serial investigation of emulsion samples of different nature (water-in-oil, oil-in-water, surfactant-stabilised, particle-stabilised) and composition (water/oil ratio, surfactant and particle concentrations) by means of two diagnostics. Optical Scan Microtomography is utilised for the investigation of transparent (dilute) emulsions, while a methodology utilising Differential Scan Calorimetry is used to investigate opaque (concentrate) emulsions. Properties of oil-water interfaces relevant for emulsion stability, such as dilational viscoelasticity of surfactant adsorbed layers and surfactant adsorption kinetics, are instead investigated by means of the facility FASTER (Facility for Adsorption and Surface Tension), based on the application of Capillary Pressure Tensiometry. Here we provide an overview of the FASES research programme and of the utilised experimental techniques and facilities.

AIM: To assess the absolute number of T-regulatory cells (Tregs; CD4+CD25+Foxp3+) in the peripheral blood of gastric and colorectal cancer patients. METHODS: We enrolled 70 cancer patients (33 gastric cancer, 37 colorectal cancer) and 17 healthy volunteers. The CD3+CD4+ lymphocytes and CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Tregs in the peripheral blood were analyzed with flow cytometry. The absolute numbers of Tregs were calculated based on the CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells percentage of CD3+CD4+ cells and the absolute numbers of CD3+CD4+ cells per microliter. RESULTS: The mean number of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells per microliter in colorectal cancer patients was 15.7 (SD: 21.8), for gastric cancer patients 12.2 (SD: 14.3), and for controls 17.5 (SD: 11.4). The absolute number of Tregs was significantly lower in gastric cancer patients than in controls (P = 0.026). There was no statistically significant difference for gastric vs colorectal cancer or colorectal cancer vs controls. The absolute number of Tregs was also significantly depressed in N+ vs N- cancer patients [22.0 (27.7) vs 10.1 (9.0), P = 0.013], and in the subgroup of gastric cancer patients [30.3 (27.6) vs 9.6 (8.0), P = 0.003]. No statistical difference was observed in the proportion of Tregs in the CD4+ population between the groups. CONCLUSION: The absolute number of Tregs in peripheral blood of gastric cancer but not colorectal cancer patients was significantly decreased in comparison with that in healthy controls.