Search

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background The HeartLogic algorithm combines multiple implantable defibrillator (ICD) sensor data and has proved to be a sensitive and timely predictor of impending heart failure (HF) decompensation. Purpose We determined if remotely monitored data from this algorithm can be used to identify patients at high risk of mortality. Methods The HeartLogic feature was activated in 568 ICD patients from 26 centers. Results During a median follow-up of 26 months [25th–75th percentile: 16-37], 1200 HeartLogic alerts were recorded in 370 (65%) patients. Overall, the time IN the alert state was 13% of the total observation period (151 out of 1159 years) and 20% of the follow-up period of the 370 patients with alerts. During follow-up, 55 patients died (37 in the group with alerts). Experiencing any alert episode was associated with a substantially increased risk of death [hazard ratio (HR): 2.08, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.16–3.73, P = 0.039]. Additionally, a time IN alert ≥20% was associated with death (HR: 4.07, 95%CI: 2.19-7.54, p Conclusions The HeartLogic algorithm provides an index that can be used to identify patients at higher risk of all-cause mortality. The index status identifies periods of significantly increased risk of death.

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Predicting worsening heart failure (WHF) events in chronic heart failure (HF) patients is important to avoid hospitalizations. In patients implanted with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) remote monitoring may help to identify patients at risk of WHF thanks to the ability to monitor physiological parameters that may change before WHF. However, clinicians need to know patient HF-related signs, symptoms and therapy non-compliance to determine type and time of necessary interventions. A patient Smartphone Application (App) may be an ideal option to remotely collect this information from patients and help clinicians in the decision-making process. Purpose to assess the penetration of App technology in a large real-world HF population and to evaluate patient willingness and compliance to use a HF-dedicated App to weekly send a diary on HF signs, symptoms and therapy compliance to the cardiologist. Methods From January 2021 to July 2022, 10 Italian hospitals in the framework of the One Hospital ClinicalService project designed a questionnaire on the use of App technology and submitted it to their HF patients with CIED during scheduled in-hospital follow-up. If the patient or his caregiver was able and willing to use Apps, the HF-dedicated App was activated on his smartphone. Compliance in using the App (= percentage of weeks in a year with at list an App diary received by all patients) was evaluated for patients who have received it for at least one year. Results 495 HF patients with CIED (age 67±13 years, 79% males, 26% NYHA III-IV, LVEF 35±11%, 60% with 3-chamber CIED, 43% with high school qualification) completed the questionnaire. Out of them, 80% have access to App technology, directly or through a caregiver; ≥62% can do all high-level activities (APP installation, email, web browsing) and 21% has already used Health Apps; 73% is willing to weekly send a diary using the App. 311 patients (63% of respondents) downloaded the HF-dedicated App on their or caregiver’s smartphone. They were younger and with higher school qualification than those not receiving the App. No other difference in baseline characteristics was seen. 138 patients have received the App for at least 1 year. Their compliance decreased during time, from 60% (weeks 1-13) to 42% (weeks 40-52; p Conclusion In a large real-world HF population with CIED patients, the penetration of Smartphone technology was high and > 60-year-old patients had higher compliance to the use of a new HF-dedicated App compared to younger patients. The use of Smartphone App technology to collect WHF sign/symptoms is feasible and may improve remote management of HF patients.

Background Cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular comorbidities are common in heart failure (HF) patients and impact disease severity and prognosis. Select modern implantable defibrillators (ICDs) are equipped with multisensor algorithms for HF monitoring. The HeartLogic index combines multiple ICD-based sensor data (heart rate, heart sounds, thoracic impedance, respiration, activity), and the associated alert has proved to be a sensitive and timely predictor of impending HF decompensation in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT-D) patients The algorithm was developed using data from CRT-D patients; the performance in non-CRT ICD patients and the impact of selected comorbidities on performance requires further study. Methods The HeartLogic feature was activated in 568 ICD patients (410 with CRT) from 26 centers. The median follow-up was 25 months [25th–75th percentile: 15–35]. Results During follow-up, 97 hospitalizations were reported (53 cardiovascular) and 55 patients died. We recorded 1200 HeartLogic alerts (0.71 alerts/patient-year) in 370 patients. Overall, the time IN the alert state was 13% of the total observation period. The rate of cardiovascular hospitalizations or death was 0.48/patient-year (95% CI: 0.37–0.60) with the HeartLogic IN alert state and 0.04/patient-year (95% CI: 0.03–0.05) OUT of alert state, with an incidence rate ratio of 13.35 (95% CI: 8.83–20.51, p13% was associated with the occurrence of the combined endpoint of cardiovascular hospitalization or death (HR: 2.54, 95% CI: 1.61–4.01, p Conclusions The burden of HeartLogic alerts appears similar between CRT and non-CRT patients, while patients with AF and CKD seem more exposed to alerts. Nonetheless, the ability of the HeartLogic algorithm to identify patients during periods of significantly increased risk of clinical events is confirmed regardless of the type of device, the presence of AF, or CKD. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.

Mesofauna represents a major component of soil biological community and play a critical role in maintaining soil quality, as well as a range of ecosystem functions. A split–split plot design was performed with the aim of identifying the main predictors (phytogeographical criteria, cover type and environmental variables) of edaphic community structure under the effect of desertification. The study also aimed to examine the spatial and seasonal distribution of mesofauna community according to phytogeographical criteria (shrubland vs grassland) and cover type (bare vs covered soil) in the north-western Patagonian steppe of Argentina. The relationship between edaphic fauna, environmental variables and site location was investigated using redundancy analysis (RDA), while the main predictors of edaphic community were analysed using generalised linear mixed models (GLMMs). A total of 43 taxa of Oribatida were found in 168 samples. GLMM approaches selected cover type due to its higher effect on mesofauna community. In this sense, cover type was more important than phytogeographical criteria and environmental variables as predictor of mesofauna community. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how the distribution of mesofauna community respond in Patagonia steppe.

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular comorbidities are common in heart failure (HF) patients and determine disease severity and prognosis. Select modern implantable defibrillators (ICDs) are equipped with multisensor algorithms for HF monitoring. The HeartLogic index combines multiple ICD-based sensor data (heart rate, heart sounds, thoracic impedance, respiration, activity), and the associated alert has proved to be a sensitive and timely predictor of impending HF decompensation in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) patients. Purpose This analysis aims to investigate the performance of the algorithm in non-CRT patients, as well as in relation to the presence of comorbidities. Methods The HeartLogic feature was activated in 568 ICD patients (410 with CRT) from 26 centers. The median follow-up was 25 months [25th–75th percentile: 15-35]. Results We recorded 1200 HeartLogic alerts (0.71 alerts per patient-year) in 370 patients. Among patient characteristics, atrial fibrillation (AF) at implantation (HR: 1.62, 95%CI: 1.27-2.07, p Conclusions The burden of HeartLogic alerts appears similar between CRT and non-CRT patients, while patients with AF and CKD seem more exposed to alerts. ICD-measured thoracic impedance is sensitive to the fluid overload that characterizes kidney disease, as well as the first and third heart sound amplitudes seem sensitive to the reduced ventricular efficiency during AF. Nonetheless, ICD sensors seem to equally contribute to the HeartLogic alerts in all patient subgroups.

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Private grant(s) and/or Sponsorship. Main funding source(s): Boston Scientific Background HeartLogic algorithm combines data from multiple sensors to predict future heart failure (HF) decompensation in patients with an implantable defibrillator (ICD) . An optimal strategy to manage algorithm alerts is not yet known, although decongestive treatment with diuretics is the most frequent alert-triggered action reported so far. Purpose We describe the implementation of HeartLogic for remote monitoring of HF patients, and we evaluate the approach to diuretic dosing and timing of the intervention in patients with device alerts. Methods The study was conducted in eight Italian high-volume arrhythmia centers. The algorithm was activated in 229 ICD patients during a median follow-up was 17 months [25th–75th percentile: 11-24] between December 2017 and July 2020. Remote data reviews and patient phone contacts were undertaken at the time of HeartLogic alerts, to assess the patient’s status and to prevent HF worsening. The study protocol did not mandate any specific intervention algorithm, and physicians were free to remotely implement clinical actions, to schedule extra in-office visits when deemed necessary for additional investigations or for interventions, or to adopt an active monitoring approach. We analyzed alert-triggered augmented HF treatments, consisting of isolated increases in diuretics dosage. Results We reported 242 alerts (0.8 alerts/patient-year) in 123 patients, 137 (56%) alerts triggered clinical actions to treat HF. Overall, timely diuretic changes were associated with a shorter "in-alert" state duration in comparison with late changes, i.e. 28 days [25th-75th percentile: 20-43] versus 62 days [25th-75th percentile: 44-118], p Conclusions Decongestive treatment adjustments triggered by HeartLogic alerts, even when such adjustments were completely dependent on the physicians’ clinical expertise and were not standardized. The early use of decongestive treatment and the use of high doses of diuretics seem to be associated with more favorable outcomes.

Networks provide a suitable model for many scientic and technological problems that require the representation of complex entities and their relations. Life sciences applications include systems biology, where molecular components are represented in integrated systems in which the interactions among them provide richer infor- mation than single components taken separately, or neuroimaging, where brain networks allow representing the connectivity between dierent brain locations. In the examples we focus on, a set of networks is available, with each network rep- resenting an entity (e.g., a molecule, a macro molecule, or a patient) and links expressing their relation in the chemical/biological domain. The growing size and complexity of biomedical networks and the high computa- tional complexity of graph analysis methods have lead to the investigation of the so-called whole-graph embedding techniques. Here, graphs are projected into lower dimensional vector spaces, while retaining their structural properties, allowing to reducing the data complexity at the same time keeping the topological and struc- tural information. These techniques are showing very promising results in terms of their usability and potential. However, little research has focused on the analysis of their reliability and robustness. This need is strongly felt for real world ap- plications, where corrupted data, either due to acquisition noise or to intentional attacks, could lead to misleading conclusions for the task at hand. Our objective here is to investigate on the adoption of adversarial attacks to whole- graph embedding methods for evaluating their robustness for classication in ap- plications of interest for life sciences.

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Adherence to medical therapy after myocardial infarction (MI) is a crucial part of patient care and indispensable for reaching clinical goals, however, data from low to middle income countries (LMIC) regarding adherence and persistence of optimal medical treatment (OMT) is scarce. Purpose To evaluate adherence and persistence to OMT after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in a cohort of patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in a low to middle income country. Methods We conducted a survey study evaluating adherence and persistence of OMT after 6 months of the index event in patients with STEMI. Patients were surveyed via phone call using the simplified medication adherence questionnaire (SMAQ) tool, which has been previously validated (both in English and Spanish) as a clinical tool to evaluate adherence to medication. We evaluated persistence of OMT as well. A secure electronic database was constructed to capture information, regarding adherence and persistence, and other clinically relevant variables. Study population The study included consecutive patients aged 18-99 years old with the diagnosis of STEMI form Mexico City’s STEMI Network, who received either pharmacoinvasive strategy (PIS) or Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (pPCI) during the first 12 hours from symptom onset. This population is derived from the PHASE-Mx study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03974581), which results have been previously published. Results A total of 602 patients were initially screened; among these, 158 patients (26.2%) were lost to contact, 5 patients (n = 0.008%) refused to answer and 65 patients (10.7%) died during follow up. The final analytic sample consisted of 375 patients; among them, 192 (51.2%) received primary PCI and 183 (48.8%) received pharmacoinvasive strategy. Mean age was 58 + 10 years old and most of the patients were male (90.1%). Hypertension (44.8%) and diabetes (32.0%) were common. Mean follow-up time after index STEMI was 650 (IQR: 416-832) days. After SMAQ evaluation, only 26.1% of the patients were considered to be adherent to their medications (>95% compliance), as shown in the Table 1. Persistence of OMT after STEMI included: ASA (84.6%), P2Y12i (71.5%), statin (83.6%), ACEI/ARB (77.1%) and beta blocker (63.7%) (Table 2). Conclusions In patients with STEMI in a low to middle income country, persistence and adherence to OMT were low. Actions to improve adherence to therapy after mayor cardiovascular events are needed. Risk factors associated to poor adherence included diabetes (OR 0.46), age (OR 0.76) and atrial fibrillation (OR 0.42). Abstract Figure.

Questo rapporto include le slide della presentazione fatta al Workshop "How can Scientific Computing help to study Life Sciences?" organizzato dall'Unità di Ricerca INdAM ICAR-CNR il 13 settembre 2021

College environments can put lower socioeconomic status (SES) female students at particular risk of withdrawing during challenging academic situations. However, thinking about reaching a successful future identity may encourage these students to take action rather than withdraw. In a laboratory experiment, we tested the hypothesis that imagining a successful future identity would help lower SES female students to actively and successfully confront challenging tasks (i.e., a mock student–faculty interaction and difficult academic test). As predicted, when future identities were cued rather than past identities, lower SES female students demonstrated greater action readiness. Specifically, they showed more expansive body posture during the mock interaction and more attempts to complete the academic test, which led to better performance. The motivation to take action among higher SES and male students, who are at lower risk of vulnerability in college environments, was not influenced by future identities.

Intro: Von Willebrand disease (VWD) is a coagulopathy caused by deficiency or dysfunction of von Willebrand factor (VWF), resulting in prolonged and excessive bleeding. Patients are advised to avoid aspirin (ASA), P2Y12 inhibitors, or anticoagulation (AC) so as not to exacerbate this condition. However, typical treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF) includes anticoagulation, particularly if the risk of stroke by CHA 2DS 2-VASC score is 2+. Current recommendations suggest giving necessary antiplatelet (AP) or AC therapy over no treatment with assessment of bleeding risk throughout the course. However, this is a conditional recommendation based on low certainty in evidence, and there are no specific guidelines on treating AF in patients with VWD. This study aims to assess anticoagulation use, bleeding risk, and stroke risk in patients with VWF and AF. Methods: We conducted an IRB-approved analysis of coded data from institutional electronic medical records to select patients with diagnosis of VWD, low ristocetin cofactor level, or any abnormal VWF panel as well as patients with diagnosis of AF or atrial flutter. Three hundred and forty patients met criteria. Patients were manually screened for inclusion criteria and excluded for inaccurate diagnosis or insufficient data. Eighty-nine patients were included in the analysis. Primary endpoint was rate of major bleeding defined by ISTH criteria while on AC or AP. Categorical data were tested using the Fisher exact test at the nominal 0.05 two-sided significance level, and all person-time comparisons are made against the rate of bleeding on AC alone. Results: Most patients were female (64.0%; 57/89), and 28.1% (25/89) were deceased at the time of data collection. Date of diagnosis of AF ranged from 1980-2020. 42.7% (38/89) of patients were ever prescribed ASA, 43.8% (39/89) a P2Y12 inhibitor, 56.2% (50/89) AC, and 23.6% (21/89) had never been prescribed AP or AC. Of patients with a CHA 2DS 2-VASC of 2+, 57.5% (46/80) were ever prescribed AC. 32.0% (16/50) of patients ever prescribed AC and 25.6% (10/39) patients never prescribed AC had at least one major bleeding event (p=0.428). The rate of major bleeding on AC alone was 8.9 events per 100 person-years (32 events/359.2 years), 10.2 events per 100 person-years on AP alone (41 events/402.3 years) (p=0.572), and 1.06 events per 100 person-years (8 events/757.47 years) in patients never prescribed AC or AP (p= Discussion: This retrospective observational study over 40 years characterizes AC and AP use in patients with VWD and AF. Only 57.5% of patients with CHA 2DS 2-VASC of 2+ received standard of care AC despite conditional recommendations to give necessary anticoagulation to patients with VWD. In parallel with the general population, AC use significantly increases the rate of major bleeding in patients with VWD, but there was no difference in bleeding rate between standard AC and AP monotherapy. However, major bleeding rates were notably elevated in patients prescribed concomitant AC and AP which most commonly occurred in the setting of ACS. This analysis is limited by its retrospective nature, the lack of granular details in the coded database, and incomplete data in older charts. Overall, these data do not support the use of AP monotherapy over standard AC to reduce bleeding rates for patients with VWD and AF. Additionally, AC and AP co-administration should be avoided due to high rates of major bleeding, but more studies are required to understand AP and AC strategies in patients with VWD, AF, and ACS. Although the rate of major bleeding is elevated with AC use in patients with VWD, there is no difference in lifetime prevalence of major bleeding events by AC vs no AC use. Finally, over half of thromboembolic strokes occurred when not prescribed AC. Shared decision-making around stroke and bleeding risk is advised in considering AC use for AF in patients with VWD. Prospective studies should further evaluate the risk of major bleeding and stroke in patients with VWD and AF on standard AC vs no AC. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Knowledge of the oribatid mite community from Patagonian steppe is scarce compared with other environments, such as the Andean-Patagonian forest. In the present research we identified oribatid mites under different environmental conditions: two Patagonian steppe types (grass and shrub), two soil characteristics (bare and covered soil) and two different seasons (autumn and spring). A total of 42 species/morphospecies were found, 13 were new records for Chubut and one was a new record for Argentina. In view of its ecological role in soil formation, it is fundamental that knowledge about this fauna is enhanced in order to provide baselines for study and to aid further understanding about its ecology.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text., Background: The HeartLogic algorithm combines multiple implantable cardioverter-defibrillator sensors to identify patients at risk of heart failure (HF) events. We sought to evaluate the risk stratification ability of this algorithm in clinical practice. We also analyzed the alert management strategies adopted in the study group and their association with the occurrence of HF events. Methods: The HeartLogic feature was activated in 366 implantable cardioverter-defibrillator and cardiac resynchronization therapy implantable cardioverter-defibrillator patients at 22 centers. The median follow-up was 11 months [25th–75th percentile: 6–16]. The HeartLogic algorithm calculates a daily HF index and identifies periods IN alert state on the basis of a configurable threshold. Results: The HeartLogic index crossed the threshold value 273 times (0.76 alerts/patient-year) in 150 patients. The time IN alert state was 11% of the total observation period. Patients experienced 36 HF hospitalizations, and 8 patients died of HF during the observation period. Thirty-five events were associated with the IN alert state (0.92 events/patient-year versus 0.03 events/patient-year in the OUT of alert state). The hazard ratio in the IN/OUT of alert state comparison was (hazard ratio, 24.53 [95% CI, 8.55–70.38], P

espanolSe llevo a cabo un estudio de la comunidad de acaros oribatidos de un bosque afectado por fuego ubicado en la Patagonia argentina para evaluar su diversidad taxonomica e incrementar el conocimiento de su distribucion. Un total de 43 especies/morfoespecies fueron encontradas; del total, 10 fueron nuevos registros para la provincia de Chubut y 3 fueron nuevos registros para la Argentina. Incrementar el conocimiento de esta fauna se vuelve fundamental para ayudar a comprender su ecologia y distribucion. EnglishA study of oribatid mite communities in a Patagonian forest affected by wildfires was carried out to assess their taxonomic diversity and to increase knowledge of their distribution. A total of 43 species/morphospecies were found. Ten were new records for Chubut and 3 for Argentina. Increased knowledge of this fauna will be fundamental in aiding further understanding about its ecology and distribution.

Coalescing filters are used to remove fine drops from aerosols and emulsions. Fibrous nonwoven filter media are commonly used to coalesce small drops into larger drops for easier removal. The coalescing performance of a medium is dependent upon several parameters including permeability, porosity, and wettability. In many coalescing filters, glass fibers are used. In this work, we measure the properties of steel fiber media to see how these properties compare to glass fibers in coalescence performance. Steel fiber media have several differences in material properties from glass fiber media that may prove advantageous in performance and filter design. Steel fiber media are more ductile than glass fibers making them more suitable for vibrating environments and easier to machine with reduction of fiber shedding. The steel fiber media are elastic and can be compressed to change media properties such as permeability and porosity. The steel fibers have different wetting properties than glass and may give better coalescing performance for some liquids and they can be applied at higher operating temperatures than glass fibers. Nonwoven stainless steel and glass fiber media with fiber diameters of 2 and 6 μm were used. Permeabilities were measured using a Frazier Permeability Tester, porosities were measured using a custom made pycnometer, and wetting properties were measured with a modified Washburn test. The media performances were evaluated in a coalescence test apparatus. The overall performances of the steel fiber and glass fiber media are compared using a filtration index. 2 μm glass and 6 μm stainless steel fiber media had separation efficiencies of about 85%. Due to the higher permeability of 6 μm stainless steel media, its filtration index was significantly higher.

La DGS UNMIG ha promosso, nell'ambito della rete di ricerca CLYPEA "il network per la sicurezza offshore", uno studio multidisciplinare per la valutazione delle deformazioni del suolo connesse ad attività di produzione di idrocarburi in aree marino-costiere dell'offshore emiliano-romagnolo finalizzato allo sviluppo di un modello per il monitoraggio integrato. L'iniziativa nasce nel 2016 a seguito dell'accordo siglato ad Ottobre tra il Ministero Sviluppo Economico e la Regione Emilia Romagna (accordo offshore), con l'intento di verificare una possibile estensione a mare degli "Indirizzi e Linee Guida per il monitoraggio della sismicità, delle deformazioni del suolo e delle pressioni di poro" (ILG, 2014). Il progetto "subsidenza" si pone l'obiettivo di affrontare il tema del monitoraggio e controllo della subsidenza in mare che, già da diversi anni, rappresenta un elemento chiave per il mantenimento di elevati standard di sicurezza nelle operazioni di produzione di idrocarburi integrando le competenze di 6 enti specializzati (tra università e centri di ricerca). Di seguito si riportano i diversi contributi alle attività che contribuiranno al raggiungimento degli obiettivi del progetto.

The process development of Mavatrep (1), a potent transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (TRPV1) antagonist, is described. The two key synthetic transformations are the synthesis of (E)-6-bromo-2-(4-(trifluoromethyl)styryl)1H-benzo[d]imidazole (4) and the Suzuki coupling of 4 with 3,3-dimethyl-3H-benzo[c][1,2]oxaborol-1-ol (5). Compound 1a was prepared in four chemical steps in 63% overall yield.

The performance of gas–liquid coalescing filter media depends on material properties and operating conditions. To optimize the filter performance, highly porous filter media are fabricated with micron-sized fibers with diameters typically in the range of about 5–20 μm. In recent experiments with fiber diameters less than 5 μm the thicknesses of the media were observed to decrease as the amount of liquid held in the media increased. This paper reports on empirical measurements of the shrinkage of the media due to the presence of the liquid drops. This shrinkage phenomenon is attributed to capillary forces compressing the media primarily in the thickness dimension. The shrinkage depends upon the fiber diameter and the wetting properties of the fiber surfaces. The shrinkage caused variations in media properties (pore size, porosity, and permeability) and affected the coalescence performances of the media. The objective of this work was to measure the shrinkage, the effect of the thickness shrinkage on the media properties, and the effect on coalescing filter performance. Experiments were conducted on two media materials (glass fibers and stainless steel fibers) with fiber diameters ranging from 1.5 μm to 22 μm wetted by three organic liquids (Sullube-32, Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel and Viscor 1487) and by water. The results show the shrinkage phenomenon varied with amount of liquid in the media and the fiber material. The effects of shrinkage on the filter properties and coalescence performance were compared to mechanically compressed media to similar thickness. The mechanically compressed media had higher pressure drops but also higher separation efficiencies.

The aim of this paper was to evaluate different strategies of chitosan activation using cross-linking reagent like glycidol, epichlorohydrin, and glutaraldehyde for Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase (TLL) immobilization. Operational activity and stability by esterification of oleic acid with ethanol and thermal inactivation using these derivatives were investigated. Derivative obtained by sequentially activation with glycidol, ethylenediamine, and glutaraldehyde and subsequent TLL immobilization showed the best performance, with high hydrolytic activity value. Its stability was 15-fold higher than solubilized TLL in the evaluated inactivation conditions (60 °C, 25 mM sodium phosphate buffer pH 7). After 5 cycles of oleic acid esterification, only a few percentage of its conversion has reduced. On the other hand, glycidol-activated chitosan derivative showed very low hydrolytic activity value. Epichlorohydrin-activated chitosan derivative showed regular hydrolytic activity value. Both derivatives showed low immobilization yields. Operational stability of this last derivative was very low, where after the first cycle of oleic acid esterification, only 56% of its initial conversion was obtained. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

The Sentinel-1 (S1) constellation is a family of satellites designed to collect C-band SAR data in continuity with the previous ERS-1/2 and ENVISAT missions, within the framework of the Copernicus Programme of the European Union, with the aim to detect and analyze Earth's surface displacements. S1 is characterized by significant enhancements in terms of spatial coverage, revisit time, timeliness and service reliability. In particular, S1 Interferometric Wide Swath (IWS) scenes are collected through the innovative acquisition mode referred to as Terrain Observation by Progressive Scans (TOPS) [1], which allows a considerable improvement of the range coverage (of about 250 km) with respect to the conventional Stripmap mode, and, at the same time, a significant increase of the acquired SAR data size (around 10 times greater than ERS and ENVISAT scenes). Moreover, the constellation is nowadays made up of two twin sensors (Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B) that acquire images all around the world with a repeat pass of 6 days in most areas, thus leading to the creation of large SAR data archives, which can be exploited according to a "free and open" data distribution policy. Such characteristics require the development of innovative and appropriate solutions aimed at handling these huge SAR data archives, more and more increasing in terms of both temporal and spatial coverage, to effectively and routinely exploit the advanced DInSAR methodologies. In this work we present a strategy to perform massive, systematic and automatic analysis of S1 SAR data via the generation of deformation time series. In particular, we propose a solution, based on the Parallel version of the well-known SBAS algorithm (P-SBAS) [2][3], properly designed for processing S1 SAR data. Our solution takes advantage of the P-SBAS characteristics to run on distributed computing infrastructures (i.e., cluster, grid, cloud) by making use of both multi-core and multi-node programming techniques and exploiting an "ad - hoc" designed distributed storage [4]. Moreover, it strongly takes into account the data characteristics of the TOPS mode. Indeed, IWS scenes consist of series of bursts that can be considered as independent, separate acquisitions. This makes a large part of the processing inherently parallel at a burst granularity level; such a condition implies that the processing time can be significantly reduced when large computing resources are available. The developed S1 P-SBAS processing chain is exploited to generate mean deformation velocity maps and corresponding deformation time series of South Italy. In particular, we processed six S1 interferometric SAR data stacks, acquired along descending orbits (tracks 22, 124, 51) and spanning the time interval October 2014 - September 2016. Starting from these data (almost 300 slices), we generated 850 differential interferograms with 5 looks in azimuth and 20 in range directions, thus resulting in a pixel size of approximately 60 x 60 m. In Figure 1 we display the retrieved LoS mean deformation velocity map, geocoded and superimposed on an optical image of the area. The map reveals the presence of localized displacements associated, for instance, to the volcanic activity of the caldera of Campi Flegrei and Mt. Etna volcano. The achieved results demonstrate the capability of the presented processing chain to effectively deal with massive amount of data to generate advanced DInSAR products aimed at detecting displacements at very large spatial scale. Moreover, they show that S1 P-SBAS can be exploited to build up operational services for the easy and rapid generation of advanced interferometric products that can be very useful within risk management and natural hazard monitoring scenarios. Acknowledgments This work has been supported by the Ministry of Economic Development - DGS-UNMIG (Directorate-General for Safety of Mining and Energy Activities - National Mining Office for Hydrocarbons and Georesources), the Italian Department of Civil Protection, the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the EPOS-IP project (grant agreement No 676564), the ESA GEP (Geohazards Exploitation Platform) and I-AMICA (Infrastructure of High -55- Technology for Environmental and Climate Monitoring - PONa3_00363) projects. Sentinel-1 data are copyright of Copernicus (2016). The DEMs of the investigated zone were acquired through the SRTM archive. References [1] F. De Zan and A. M. Monti Guarnieri, "TOPSAR: Terrain Observation by Progressive Scans," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 44, no. 9, pp. 2352-2360, Sept. 2006. [2] Berardino, P., Fornaro, G., Lanari, R., Sansosti, E., "A new Algorithm for Surface Deformation Monitoring based on Small Baseline Differential SAR Interferograms", IEEE Trans. Geo. Rem. Sens., 40, 11, pp. 2375-2383, 2002. [3] F. Casu, S. Elefante, P. Imperatore, I. Zinno, M. Manunta, C. D. Luca, and R. Lanari, "SBAS-DInSAR Parallel Processing for Deformation Time-Series Computation," Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, IEEE Journal, 2014. [4] Zinno, S. Elefante, L. Mossucca, C. De Luca, M. Manunta, O. Terzo, R. Lanari, and F. Casu, "A First Assessment of the P-SBAS DInSAR Algorithm Performances Within a Cloud Computing Environment," IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl. Earth Obs. Remote Sens., pp. 1-12, 2015.

The SENTINEL-1 (S1) mission is designed to provide operational capability for continuous mapping of the Earth thanks to its two polar-orbiting satellites (SENTINEL-1A and B) performing C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging. It is, indeed, characterized by enhanced revisit frequency, coverage and reliability for operational services and applications requiring long SAR data time series. Moreover, SENTINEL-1 is specifically oriented to interferometry applications with stringent requirements based on attitude and orbit accuracy and it is intrinsically characterized by small spatial and temporal baselines. Consequently, SENTINEL-1 data are particularly suitable to be exploited through advanced interferometric techniques such as the well-known DInSAR algorithm referred to as Small BAseline Subset (SBAS), which allows the generation of deformation time series and displacement velocity maps. In this work we present an advanced interferometric processing chain, based on the Parallel SBAS (P-SBAS) approach, for the massive processing of S1 Interferometric Wide Swath (IWS) data aimed at generating deformation time series in efficient, automatic and systematic way. Such a DInSAR chain is designed to exploit distributed computing infrastructures, and more specifically Cloud Computing environments, to properly deal with the storage and the processing of huge S1 datasets. In particular, since S1 IWS data are acquired with the innovative Terrain Observation with Progressive Scans (TOPS) mode, we could benefit from the structure of S1 data, which are composed by bursts that can be considered as separate acquisitions. Indeed, the processing is intrinsically parallelizable with respect to such independent input data and therefore we basically exploited this coarse granularity parallelization strategy in the majority of the steps of the SBAS processing chain. Moreover, we also implemented more sophisticated parallelization approaches, exploiting both multi-node and multi-core programming techniques. Currently, Cloud Computing environments make available large collections of computing resources and storage that can be effectively exploited through the presented S1 P-SBAS processing chain to carry out interferometric analyses at a very large scale, in reduced time. This allows us to deal also with the problems connected to the use of S1 P-SBAS chain in operational contexts, related to hazard monitoring and risk prevention and mitigation, where handling large amounts of data represents a challenging task. As a significant experimental result we performed a large spatial scale SBAS analysis relevant to the Central and Southern Italy by exploiting the Amazon Web Services Cloud Computing platform. In particular, we processed in parallel 300 S1 acquisitions covering the Italian peninsula from Lazio to Sicily through the presented S1 P-SBAS processing chain, generating 710 interferograms, thus finally obtaining the displacement time series of the whole processed area.

On 24 August 2016 (01:36 UTC) the intra-Apennine extensional fault system of Central Italy released a ML 6.0 destructiveearthquakebetweenthetownsofNorciaandAmatrice.Themainshockproducedwidespreaddamages and fatalities, devastating several localities and killing about 300 people. The main event was followed by a significant aftershock (ML 5.4), located 15 km to the NW. After one week, the epicentral area reached a length of about 30 km, in the NNW-SSE direction, largely developing at the hanging-wall of the WSW-dipping active extensional Vettore and Gorzano faults. The reconstructed 3D fault model consists in two major interconnected faultsegments,VettoreandGorzano,whichareindividualatdepthshallowerthanabout7-8kmandconvergeinto a unified surface at higher depths; the Vettore-Gorzano unified surface has a length of 65 km, dips WSW-ward with an angle of about 45-50o and reaches a depth of 11 km. By inverting the generated interferograms, following a classical Okada analytical approach, the best modelling results account for two sources related to main shock and more energetic aftershock. The time interval between theascendinganddescending(31August2016)doesnotdiscriminatetheeffectsderivedfromthemain24August event and by its aftershock, but the low magnitude of the second event can only very marginally contribute to the overall deformation pattern. Through Finite Element modelling that jointly exploits DInSAR deformation measurements and structuralgeological data, we reconstruct the 3D source of the Accumoli 2016 normal fault earthquake which fit better a moment Mw 6.2. As results of our modelling, we retrieve (i) the active seismogenic structures responsible for the observed ground deformation, (ii) the spatial distribution of the local stress field in term of volumetric stress and strain. The inversion shows that the co-seismic displacement area was partitioned on two distinct en echelon fault planes, which at the main event hypocentral depth (8 km) merge in one single WSW-dipping surface. Slip peaks were higher along the southern half of the Vettore fault, lower along the northern half of Gorzano fault and null in the relay zone between the two faults; field evidence of co-seismic surface rupture are coherent with the reconstructed scenario.

Mediterranean diet (MD) is acknowledged to exert a number of beneficial health effects. We assessed the efficacy and the durability of a 3-month intensive dietary intervention aimed at implementing the MD on body weight and cardiometabolic risk factors in subjects at high risk. One hundred and sixteen subjects participated in the study (71 assigned to the intensive intervention and 45 to the conventional intervention). The intensive intervention consisted of 12 weekly group educational meetings and a free-of-charge supply of meals prepared according to the MD model. The conventional intervention consisted of an individual education session along with monthly reinforcements of nutritional messages by the general practitioner. All participants were followed up for 9 months. The two groups had similar pre-intervention characteristics. After the intervention, mean body weight decreased significantly in both groups (p

L'identificazione, l'analisi ed il monitoraggio delle deformazioni della superficie terrestre e la successiva modellazione geofisica delle sorgenti di deformazione forniscono informazioni fondamentali per la valutazione e gestione di scenari di rischio e per la corretta pianificazione delle attività umane e del territorio. In questo contesto si colloca l'Accordo Operativo che l'Istituto per il Rilevamento Elettromagnetico dell'Ambiente (IREA) del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) ha stipulato con il Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico (MiSE). Tale Accordo ha lo scopo di effettuare un monitoraggio delle deformazioni superficiali delle aree di interesse per il MiSE, con particolare riferimento ai siti pilota sui quali saranno sperimentate per la prima volta gli Indirizzi e Linee Guida per il monitoraggio delle attività di sottosuolo, mediante analisi interferometriche e modellazioni multi-parametriche e multi-fisiche. Le prime consentono di ottenere informazioni sulla distribuzione spaziale delle deformazioni superficiali e sulla loro evoluzione temporale, le seconde sui processi geofisici/geologici che caratterizzano le aree investigate. In questo lavoro sono mostrati i risultati preliminari prodotti nell'ambito del suddetto Accordo. In particolare, sono presentati e discussi i risultati ottenuti mediante analisi interferometriche effettuate utilizzando dati SAR acquisiti dal sensore Sentinel-1A sulla porzione dell'Italia meridionale che va dal Golfo di Napoli al Golfo di Taranto. Inoltre, è presentata una modellazione geologica 3D dell'area epicentrale degli eventi sismici che hanno interessato l'Emilia nel maggio 2012; la modellazione, seppur preliminare, costituisce la base sulla quale verrà sviluppato una modellazione multi-fisica avanzata delle sorgenti di deformazione nell'area considerata.

This paper discusses the fabrication and characterization of electrospun nanofiber mats made up of poly(4-methyl-1-pentene) polymer. The polymer was electrospun in different weight concentrations. The mats were characterized by their basis weight, fiber diameter distribution, contact angles, contact angle hysteresis, and air permeability. All of the electrospun nonwoven fiber mats had water contact angles greater than 150 degrees making them superhydrophobic. The permeabilities of the mats were empirically fitted to the mat basis weight by a linear relation. The experimentally measured air permeabilities were significantly larger than the permeabilities predicted by the Kuwabara model for fibrous media.

An efficient scalable route to synthesize the enantiomerically pure tert-butyl-(1R,4S,6R)-4-(hydroxymethyl)-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptane-3-carboxylate is described. Compared to the original routes, significant improvements were made by using an innovative approach starting from commercially available chiral lactone. In this approach, one of the key steps described is an elegant epimerization/hydrolysis of the undesired diastereoisomer avoiding tedious purification. The chemistry has been scaled up to produce kilogram amounts of tert-butyl-(1R,4S,6R)-4-(hydroxymethyl)-3-azabicyclo[4.1.0]heptane-3-carboxylate in 43% yield over nine chemical transformations.

A case study on the synthesis of novel CRF-1 antagonists containing the 2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine moiety is presented. The development of ever more efficient synthetic routes allowed th...

An efficient gold-catalyzed procedure for the preparation of 2-vinylimidazolidinones has been developed. The starting materials for the synthesis of these compounds are α-amino allenamides which undergo heterocyclization by means of nucleophilic attack of the amino group on the inside double bond of the 1,2-diene moiety. This is the first example of a gold-catalyzed cyclization on allene substrates bearing an amido group which, however, resulted inactive.

GW597599 1 is a novel NK-1 antagonist currently under investigation for the treatment of CNS disorders and emesis. The initial chemical development synthetic route, derived from the one used by medicinal chemistry, involved several hazardous reagents, gave low yields, and produced high levels of wastes. Through a targeted process of research and development, application of novel techniques, and extensive route scouting, a synthetic route for GW597599 has been developed. This paper reports the optimisation work of the second stage in the chemical synthesis of GW597599: the development of a pilot-plant-suitable process for the manufacturing of an optically pure arylpiperazine derivative. In particular, the new process eliminates the need to purchase and store dangerous and expensive borane by generating it in situ and also the need for a chlorinated solvent, thereby improving the safety of the process and substantially reducing the overall waste. The final yield and throughput will be significantly enhanced.

1 Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnologico para la Industria Quimica (INTEC)–CONICETUniversidad Nacional del Litoral (UNL), Santa Fe, Argentina 2 Cat. deMicrobiologia y Biotecnologia, Departamento de Ing. de Alimentos, Facultad de Ingenieria Quimica, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina 3 DEQ – Universidade Federal do Ceara, Fortaleza, Ceara, Brasil E-mail para contato: ejoma@intec.unl.edu.ar