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Objectives: The assessment of body composition is crucial for identifying an individual’s characteristics critical to performance, evaluating the effects of training programs, managing weight strategies, and monitoring athletic health. Bioimpedance vector analysis is spreading as a method to obtain a qualitative assessment of body composition. In the present study we investigated the relationship between body composition of top-level female volleyball players and their performing data during the matches of the Italian First League Championship. Design: Observational. Method: Attackers from a volleyball team participating in the Italian 1st (Super Lega) division were monitored by bioelectric impedances performed before each match of the ON-season period and results were related to individual performance data provided for each match by the Italian Volleyball League. Results: The height of the players was confirmed as a fundamental parameter, it was related to blocked attacks, to service errors, and to attack efficiency. The athletes’ body mass showed a performance influence, too. It was correlated to blocked attacks and to the attack efficiency. The FM was correlated to the blocked attacks and with the invasion blocks. The total body water percentage was negatively related to blocks invasion. Conclusion: Any anthropometric and bioimpedance vector analysis data seems to influence the athlete’s performance during competitive matches.

We have used the EGS4 Monte Carlo code to simulate the performance of a Positron Emission Tomograph for small animals. The Tomograph is a four-head detector, made of matrices of 400 YAP:Ce finger-like crystals (2×2×30 mm3 each) coupled to Position Sensitive Photo-Multipliers Hamamatsu R2486-06. 3-D reconstruction algorithms have been applied to the 3-D simulated data. The Monte Carlo results show that a spatial resolution below 2 mm (FWHM) can be obtained over a field of view of 2×2×2 cm3 with a sensitivity of about 550 counts/(μCis) for a gantry diameter of 15 cm, and a threshold of 150 keV.

The crystal structure of poly(co-pentadecalactone) (PPDL) synthesized by enzyme-catalyzed polymerization was determined by full-profile refinement. A pseudoorthorombic monoclinic unit cell with dimensions a = 7.49(1), b = 5.034(9), and c = 20.00(4)Angstrom (fiber axis), and alpha = 90.06(4) hosts two monomeric units belonging to polymer chains with opposite orientation, according to the P2(1) space-group symmetry. A close similarity to the crystal structure of poly(epsilon-caprolactone) was evident. However, the even number of backbone atoms in the monomer unit of PPDL leads to a lower crystal symmetry.

Sequence distribution and chemical structure of mass-selected macromolecules of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate), PHBV, biopolyester macroinitiator obtained by partial alkaline depolymerization of natural PHBV containing 5 mol % of HV units was determined by electrospray ionization multistage mass spectrometry (ESI-MSn). On the basis of the ESI-MSn studies of PHBV individual;oligomers, the microstructure of this bacterial copolyester was assessed, starting from dimer up to the oligomer containing 22 repeat units, and the results obtained were compared with those described previously for other "soft" ionization MS techniques.