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On December 2018, the Near Earth Commissioning Phase (NECP) has been place forSIMBIO-SYS (Spectrometers and Imagers for MPO BepiColombo Integrated Observatory – SYStem), the suite part of the scientific payload of the BepiColombo ESA-JAXA mission. SIMBIO-SYS is composed of three channels: the high resolution camera (HRIC), the stereo camera (STC) and the Vis/NIR spectrometer (VIHI) . During the NECP the three channels have been operated properly. For the three channels were checked the operativity and the performance. The commanded operations allowed to verify all the instrument functionalities demonstrating that all SIMBIO-SYS channels and subsystems work nominally. During this phase we also validated the Ground Segment Equipment (GSE) and the data analysis tools developed by the team.

In the field of cardiovascular diseases, elevated levels of serum uric acid (UA) reflect a marked activation of the xanthine oxidase pathway with increase in free radicals production; it is often associated with an inflammatory state, oxygen consumption and endothelial dysfunction. All these associations have been also confirmed in heart failure (HF) but the pathophysiological role of UA in this setting is not well understood. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic role of UA in outpatients enrolled in the Italian Registry of Congestive Heart Failure (IN-CHF).All patients met the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) criteria for diagnosis of HF. We considered patients with complete clinical data and UA level available at the baseline and at 1-year follow-up. The study population was composed of 877 patients aged 63 ± 12 years. One-year mortality was 10.8% and dead patients had a higher level of UA than survivors (7.1 mg dl⁻¹ vs 6.6 mg dl⁻¹, p0.0207). In multivariable full model of analysis, UA did not result in an independent predictor of death in overall population, but only in patients with low body mass index (BMI) (≤22 kg m⁻²) (hazard ratio (HR): 2.38, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.36-4.18). In this subgroup, a statistically significant gradual relationship between UA and survival was detected starting from values higher than 8 mg dl⁻¹.Elevated level of UA is not an independent predictor of mortality in chronic HF, but it markedly worsens outcome if associated with low level of BMI. This association is likely an indicator of chronic inflammatory and catabolic state.

Noise pollution is an important part of the environmental impact of ships. The noise inside the vessel (affecting crew and passengers) has been regulated since a few decades, while the impact of emissions in water on the marine fauna has been under consideration at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) only in the last few years. No specific effort seems to be in place towards a regulatory framework for external airborne noise emissions from sea going commercial ships. Only the particular cases of inland vessels and pleasure crafts are partially covered by rules. The airborne noise pollution from commercial ships, on the other hand, does affect people living near channels, in coastal areas with intense traffic or near ports, where ships enter and stay at wharf for loading/unloading processes. The actual dimension of the problem is remarked by several cases of complaints sent out by citizens living in the urban areas affected. Within the SILENV project (Ships oriented Innovative soLutions to rEduce Noise & Vibrations, funded by the E.U.) assessment criteria for the airborne noise emitted by sea-going ships have been proposed: the background information, the general criteria at the basis of the formulation, the aims as well as the verification procedure of the proposed limits are discussed in the paper.

The issue of the environmental impact of shipping activities is treated in this work from the specific viewpoint of underwater noise emissions from the vessels. There has been recently a rising concern about the negative effects that this kind of emissions can have on the marine wildlife in general and in particular on marine mammals. In these animals, acoustic communication and perception has acquired a privileged role compared with other senses and other zoological groups. The paper examines the role in this scenario of noise emissions from shipping and explores how their impact can be quantified, in order to establish a target for the control of such emissions. The standards recently issued for the characterisation of underwater noise signature by commercial vessels are also reviewed. The paper builds on the first results of the project SILENV, funded with the 7th Framework programme of the European Union

Objectives: The role of atrial fibrillation (AF) in older patients with heart failure (HF) is controversial because many variables seem to influence their outcome. We investigated the predictivity of AF in 3 age groups of outpatients with HF. Methods: We analyzed 8,178 outpatients enrolled in the Italian Network on Congestive Heart Failure Registry with HF diagnosed according to the European Society of Cardiology criteria. A trained cardiologist established the diagnosis of AF and HF at the entry visit at each center. We stratified the population into 3 age groups, as follows: group A, ≤65 years; group B, 66–75 years, and group C, >75 years. Results: Group A was composed of 4,261 patients, 683 with AF (16.0%); in group B there were 2,651 patients, 638 with AF (24.1%), and group C was composed of 1,266 patients, 412 with AF (32.5%). The 1-year mortality rate was higher in AF patients in all groups. In a multivariate model, AF remained an independent risk factor for death in groups A and B, but not in group C [group A: hazard ratio (HR) 1.42, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.10–1.81; group B: HR 1.29, 95% CI 1.00–1.67; group C: HR 1.05, 95% CI 0.78–1.43]. Conclusion: The prevalence of AF increased with age and was associated with a higher mortality rate. However, AF independently predicted all-cause mortality only in patients aged ≤75 years.

Airborne noise emissions from ships can be a significant source of annoyance. Therefore, it is important to accurately predict ship noise in order to get an effective environmental noise control in planning new ports, or in widening existing harbor, or in locating new mooring positions. To test the reliability of current commercial simulators in predicting the noise field from complex sources such as ships, in the present work the airborne noise propagation from two different vessels was modelled: a Multipurpose Ship and a Fishing Research Vessel. The development of the model for both ships was performed in five steps: acquisition of the input data; modelling of the ship in the sound propagation software; definition of the noise sources; model validation; output data generation. Simulated data were then compared with on field measurements. The obtained results rise some questions about the measurement techniques adopted to characterize the source levels and the validation data, the simplifications made on the ship surface and the typologies of sources utilized in the study. Future developments in numerical simulators are needed in order to better describe outdoor noise propagation from ships, taking into account the specific nature and complexity of such sources.

The problem of the impact of airborne noise emitted by commercial ships moored at quay is gaining attention by Regulatory Bodies. The question is often raised by citizens sending complaints to the municipalities of port cities in which the harbour is located inside the town. The problem may be even more important in the case of pleasure crafts accessing protected areas and mooring there. Limit levels for airborne noise emissions started therefore to be fixed in normative as well as contract requirements. In the light of what above, an effective measurement procedure to characterise the noise emissions from ships and compare them to limits plays an important role. The procedure needs to take into account aspects linked to the ship source characteristics (dimensions, complexity, directivity) as well as related to the surrounding environment, which is often represented by the shipyard where the ship is built. The latter aspect includes the presence of obstacles and reflecting surfaces around the ship, as well as significant components of background noise. The paper recalls the background of a measurement procedure that was defined within the project SILENV of the 7th Framework Programme specifically for the purpose of the characterisation of ships as airborne noise sources and reports a trial application of this procedure to a ship moored at a yard quay. Instrumentation used and data post processing are discussed, together with practical problems encountered and solutions found in order to carry out measurements.

The requirement of better workers' psychophysical health and the wish to guarantee a correct comfort also during work activities, induce to consider the presence of significant pure tones also for the working spaces. However, the current European legislation regarding professional exposure to the noise of the workers, and namely the EU Directive 2003/10/CE, does not take into consideration the possible presence of pure tones in working noise. The same lack can be noticed in the standard ISO 1999:2013. As regards seafarers, the reference codes are the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Resolution A.468(XII) for ships built before 1 July 2014, and Resolution MSC.337(91) for newer ships. While tonal components are mentioned in the first one, stating that, if these are "obvious", the ISO noise rating (NR) number should be also determined, in the latter and most recent IMO Resolution no reference to tonal components is present. Tonal components cause annoyance and, at the same time, they induce hearing damage and can alter the behavior of workers, with a potential risk for the safety of ships. In this study, noise measurements taken onboard different ships are analyzed in order to determine seafarers' work exposure to tonal components. The survey includes different work spaces. To assess the presence of tonal components in crew's work environments the methodology of environmental noise analysis, defined in the Annex B of Italian Decree D.M. 16/3/98, has been used, making reference to ISO 226:2003 for determining normal equal-loudness level contours. The method used in order to evaluate tonal components is well established for the environmental noise annoyance and therefore it can be operatively extended to the workplace noise exposure. Results show that the presence of tonal disturbing components is not sporadic and therefore worthy of further analysis and regulation.

A high pulse pressure (PP) predicts cardiovascular mortality in hypertension and in the elderly. We analyzed the data from the Italian Network of Congestive Heart Failure Registry to test the prognostic role of PP in patients with heart failure.A total of 8660 patients with heart failure (mean age 64 +/- 12 years, 73% male) were divided into four groups according to their PP (40, 40-49, 50-59, andor = 60 mmHg), and followed prospectively.After 1 year, 995 patients (11.5%) died. Both the mean arterial pressure and systolic blood pressure were found to be inversely associated with mortality at univariate and multivariate analyses. An inverse univariate relation was observed between PP and all-cause mortality. An excess mortality risk in the lowest PP group (odds ratio 1.40, 95% confidence interval 1.09-1.79 vs the highest PP group) was confirmed in a multivariate analysis which took into account the effect of several other variables, including mean arterial pressure. Similar findings were obtained for cardiovascular mortality. When we replaced systolic blood pressure with mean arterial pressure in the model, PP did not retain its independent prognostic role, possibly because of the high co-linearity between these two variables (r = 0.87).For any given level of mean arterial pressure, a low PP is an independent predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular death in patients with heart failure. The association may be partly related to the strong influence of low systolic blood pressure on mortality. Different pathophysiological mechanisms may underlie the opposite prognostic significance of PP in hypertension and heart failure.

In the present study, full-scale noise levels measurements on board a Ro-Pax ferry have been carried out in various compartments of the ship, both in stationary conditions (navigation) and during manoeuvres. Noise levels have been surveyed in various categories of spaces located in all decks accessible to both passengers and crew, with the purpose of giving a complete and effective picture of the acoustic climate on board. The measured noise levels have been compared with current and proposed limits for working and living spaces, obtaining a clear identification of the most critical spaces on board the ship both in respect to acoustic comfort and noise exposure of crew during working hours. In cabins, different operating conditions for air conditioning have been tested, to analyse the specific contribution to annoyance of the ventilation noise, which turned out to be in many cases determinant. Transient conditions during manoeuvres entering and leaving harbours have been analysed by spectral time histories in cabins and public spaces close to the main propulsion plant and to bow thrusters. These situations correspond to considerably high levels, which may limit significantly operation during night time.

The paper addresses the present regulatory framework regarding ship noise emissions both towards the internal spaces onboard and the external environment (in air and in water). A different level of development has been reached in the various areas for the definition of the needs for the noise control and for their implementation in a normative framework. This is due in part to the different point in time in which the different aspects were recognised to be relevant and therefore studied, assessed and regulated. The analysis of existing regulations is the basis for considering the present situation, on-going developments and possible future trends as regards the evaluation of ship noise impact on the various types of environment. The situation of the requirements developed for the maritime field appears to be in line with other fields of engineering as regards the definition of noise limits for the working environment, while the definition of comfort of living on board seems to be somehow lacking behind other fields, with possibility of taking advantage of their experience. Well established assessment procedures for external radiation in air appear to be not yet available and in this case a need for specific developments arises. Finally, for underwater noise emissions, there is availability of relatively well developed requirements, that however are not adequately correlated to the quantification of the effects of the noise emissions on the marine fauna.

The noise generated by ships affects a wide range of receivers: crew and passengers inside the vessel, inhabitants of the coastal areas and marine fauna outside it. The time elapsed since these types of impact have been considered and the state of the art of the noise control for each of these fields is very different. The paper aims at analysing the regulatory frameworks in the various fields, underlining differences in the present level of development and suggesting possible improvements in the general approach. The paper refers to the first phase of the SILENV collaborative project (EU 7th Framework Programme).