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The emissions from transport and residential sectors have significant shares in total emissions of Europe. In this study, we identified key priorities in support to the EU Macro-regional Strategies implementation based on an ex-ante assessment focusing on two EU macro-regions: Adriatic-Ionian (AIR) and Alpine (ALP). Firstly, we analysed how different sectors contribute to air pollution in the ALP and AIR regions and to predict future pollution levels under different emission scenarios such as Current Legislation (CLE), Maximum Technically Feasible Reduction (MTFR), and Climate Mitigation (CLIM) by using the TM5-FASST air quality and impact model. It was found that the residential sector is the main contributor to anthropogenic PM2.5 emissions and it will remain so also beyond 2050 under the CLE scenario while the transport sector remains the major contributor to NOx emissions until 2030, with a significant and growing contribution from shipping in the AIR region. Primary PM2.5 has almost reached its technical reduction limit but secondary PM2.5 still has a large reduction potential. MTFR measures on road transport and shipping emissions can generate an annual health benefit from PM2.5 and ozone of 750 (ALP) + 2950 (AIR) avoided premature mortalities in 2050 of which 64% from shipping emission reductions. The potential health benefits from all sectors under MTFR (ALP + AIR) amounts to 16, 800 avoided premature deaths annually in 2030 (3250 + 13550). The potential health benefits from Climate mitigation (ALP + AIR) amounts to 2200 avoided premature deaths annually in 2050 (620 + 1580), however CLIM policies due to fuel switch to biomass also cause air quality trade-off in the domestic sector leading to an estimated number of 360 extra premature deaths annually in 2050 in AIR. Secondly, the experts in the transport sector from these regions have pointed several areas of improvement. Increased intermodality, combining road, rail and maritime ship transport can have important benefits in both regions. In the ALP, moving from trucks to rail could considerably reduce the environmental impacts of transport by reducing emissions of CO2 and air pollutants and could help to solve traffic congestion problems. In the AIR, many countries use outdated technologies for on-road freight transport, causing large environmental impacts. A modal shift e.g. to electric rail or maritime shipping can thus give particularly large positive environmental benefits for this region. The potential drawbacks of a modal strengthening the role of railway and ship transport are primarily related to the increased complexity, the costs of the necessary infrastructures and the risk of increased air pollution in some port cities due to ship emissions. For traffic on roads, infrastructure development is a key element to move towards more sustainable transport. Electrification of road transport generates emissions reductions when the electricity generation is also clean and attention should be given to the charging infrastructure development. Fleet renewal of trucks and ships and use of cleaner fuels will contribute to clean growth in transport. However, fleet renewal is a costly measure and difficult to implement in poor countries ; consequently, the measures that proved to be effective in other countries may not be beneficial or even applicable in these countries. One important obstacle in implementing the provisions of EU macro-regional strategies is the disparity between countries within the macro-regions. Further, some countries in ALP and AIR are not part of EU and may present limitations in international trade and security agreements. Finally, the experts in the field highlighted the fact that bioenergy is an important opportunity for ALP and AIR regions. Because of potential environmental threats, its clean deployment is an issue to be carefully addressed through appropriate policies and regulatory acts. An example is the impact on regional air pollution of small and medium scale traditional appliances and domestic boilers. Improved efficiency and best available technologies need to be strongly supported with both market strategies and effective controls. On the other side of the supply chain, sustainable collection of feedstock has to be assured through the appropriate management of the forest stocks and accounting for the actual climate mitigation benefits, without forgetting the increasing demand of biomass from other industrial sectors in a bio-economy framework.

Introduction Dynamic roentgen stereophotogrammetric analysis (RSA) showed to be a very accurate method in detecting 3D joint motion1, but at present this technique is based only on custom radiographic equipments. We tested a new dynamic RSA set-up, based on the use of a commercial bi-plane fluoroscopy system. This set-up permits the acquisition of slow passive and active movements of the lower limb, both in supine and weight-bearing position. This method relies on a fully 3D data acquisition, there- fore a more homogeneous accuracy in all the directions of motion is to be expected, in comparison with single plane fluoroscopy 2,3 which is characterized by a large out-of-plane error. Methods We used a Biplane Advantx (GE) system, with two 320mm diameter image intensifiers. Image sequences were recorded at 4fps. We utilized a bi-planar calibration cage and a regular grid for the calibration of systematic geometric distortion. All calibration tools were custom made. Custom toolbox (in MATLAB language) were designed for the correction of distortion following the global bi-polynomial technique4; a commercial software (Model-Based RSA 3.0, Medis Specials bv) were used for the reconstruction of 3D position of the markers; cus- tom software were used for kinematics elaboration. We performed in-vitro tests with a phantom and in-vivo tests examining slow passive motions of 5 patients (3 ligament reconstructions, 2 knee replacements). Tantalum markers were implanted in both femoral and tibial epiphyses of each knee. Bias and precision were investigated in terms of errors in dynamic tracking of markers1 and in terms of translational and rotational accuracy3. Results Dynamic tracking of markers inserted in the phantom object showed a bias of 0.40mm and an inter-marker distance standard deviation of 0.3mm. In-vivo tests showed an average standard deviation of inter-marker distances of 0.3mm, too. From in-vitro tests the mean error in detecting relative motion were not negligible, whereas translational precision was below 0.5mm in all directions and the rotational precision was below 0.3º (Tab.1) Discussion This study shows the potentiality of a dynamic RSA set- up using an available commercial bi-plane fluoroscopy system to provide an interesting method for fully 3D joint motion analysis. Further improvements in terms of reduction of bias of the system may be reached by the use of more precise calibration tools and of different commercial bi-plane fluoroscopic systems, with more suitable specifications for kinematics studies (e.g. with a stricter synchronization of bi-plane acquisitions). References 1. Tashman, S., Anderst, W. In-vivo measurement of dynamic joint motion using high speed biplane radiography and CT: application to canine ACL deficiency. J Biomech Eng, 125, 238, 2003. 2. Hoff, W.A., Komistek, R.D., Dennis, D.A., Gabriel S.M., Walker S.A. Three-dimensional determination of femoral-tibial contact positions under in vivo conditions using fluoroscopy. Clin Biomech, 13, 455, 1998. 3. Garling, E.H., Kaptein, B.L., Geleijns, K., Nelissen, R.G., Valstar, E.R. Marker Configuration Model-Based Roentgen Fluoroscopic Analysis. J Biomech, 38, 893, 2005. 4. Gronenschild E. The accuracy and reproducibility of a global method to correct for geometric image distortion in the x-ray imaging chain. Med Phys, 24, 1875, 1997

Six putative novel human papillomavirus (HPV) types were detected by using general primers for a conserved L1 HPV region in patients examined in gynecologic centers. One of the isolates, detected in samples from 4 patients with koilocytic atypia at cervical cytology (3 of whom were also infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1), was completely sequenced, identified as a new HPV genotype, and designated candidate HPV87 (candHPV87) by the Reference Center for Human Papillomavirus. candHPV87 shows the classic HPV genome organization and the absence of a functional E5 coding region. Phylogenetic analysis documented that the candHPV87 genome clusters within the A3 group of HPVs, together with HPV61, HPV72, HPV83, HPV84 and candHPV86, which have been completely sequenced, and a number of other putative novel genotypes (two of which are described in this work), which have been partially characterized. To address the growth-enhancing potential of candHPV87, the E6 and E7 putative coding regions were cloned and expressed in tissue cultures. The data indicate that both proteins stimulate cell division in tissue cultures more than those of low-risk HPVs, though not as much as those of HPV16. Taken together, the clinical, molecular, and biological data suggest that the novel papillomavirus characterized in the present study is a low- to intermediate-risk HPV.

Model-based Roentgen Stereophotogrammetric Analysis (RSA) was recently developed for the measurement of prosthesis micromotion. Its main advantage is that markers do not need to be attached to the implants as traditional marker-based RSA requires. Model-based RSA has only been tested in uniplanar radiographic set-ups. A biplanar set-up would theoretically facilitate the pose estimation algorithm, since radiographic projections would show more different shape features of the implants than in uniplanar images. We tested the precision of model-based RSA and compared it with that of the traditional marker-based method in a biplanar set-up. Micromotions of both tibial and femoral components were measured with both the techniques from double examinations of patients participating in a clinical study. The results showed that in the biplanar set-up model-based RSA presents a homogeneous distribution of precision for all the translation directions, but an inhomogeneous error for rotations, especially internal-external rotation presented higher errors than rotations about the transverse and sagittal axes. Model-based RSA was less precise than the marker-based method, although the differences were not significant for the translations and rotations of the tibial component, with the exception of the internal-external rotations. For both prosthesis components the precisions of model-based RSA were below 0.2 mm for all the translations, and below 0.3 degrees for rotations about transverse and sagittal axes. These values are still acceptable for clinical studies aimed at evaluating total knee prosthesis micromotion. In a biplanar set-up model-based RSA is a valid alternative to traditional marker-based RSA where marking of the prosthesis is an enormous disadvantage.

To determine polyethylene deformation in well-functioning meniscal bearing PCL-retaining total knee prosthesis a quantitative stereophotogrammetric analysis was carried out over 5 years' follow-up. Polyethylene plastic deformation was obtained by tracking the intermarker distance variations of five tantalum beads inserted into the polyethylene prior to surgery in a known position. Plastic deformation occurred in the posteromedial part of the meniscal bearing. Radiostereometric analysis was a useful tool to monitor the load distribution in vivo on the polyethylene of this meniscal bearing prosthesis. This analysis revealed a very similar pattern of plastic deformation in the polyethylene insert of this prosthesis design to the wear pattern revealed with different methodologies in PCL-retaining fixed-bearing prosthesis.

Lunasin is a peptide whose anticancer properties are widely reported. Originally isolated from soybean seeds, lunasin was also found in cereal (wheat, rye, barley and Triticale), Solanum and amaranthus seeds. However, it was recently reported that searches of transcript and DNA sequence databases for wheat and other cereals failed to identify sequences with similarity to those encoding the lunasin peptide in soy. In order to clarify the presence or absence of lunasin in wheat varieties, a broad investigation based on chemical (LC-ESI-MS) and molecular (PCR) analyses was conducted. Both approaches pointed out the absence of lunasin in the investigated wheat genotypes; in particular no compounds with a molecular weight similar to that of lunasin standard and no lunasin-related sequences were found in the analysed wheat samples. These findings confirm the hypothesis, reported in recent researches, that lunasin is not a wheat-derived peptide.

Roentgen stereophotogrammetric analysis (RSA) is an important technique for in vivo evaluation of joint kinematics and surgical outcome. However, its accuracy is highly affected by the experimental set-up. In this paper we present a new software environment for assessing the impact of calibration cage design on the accuracy of the reconstruction of 3D points, which can be easily used for preliminary evaluations also by non-expert users. The paper presents methods of the simulator and preliminary results in a clinical standard and custom environment. The software was realized using MATLAB and developed for the PC/Windows operating system. It is freeware under request to authors.

We assessed 30 patients with a cemented TKR implant (Interax ISA (R), Stryker Orthopaedics) at 1 and 3 years follow-up. We wanted to ascertain whether knee alignment was maintained during the critical period of follow-up in meniscal-bearing PCL-retaining TKR patients and test if correlations exist between alignment variations in the coronal plane and preoperative varus/valgus deformity or tibial component position and migration with respect to the tibia. Lower limb alignment was evaluated by measuring the angle between the tibia and femur anatomical axis directly from the antero-posterior radiographs and the tibial component position with respect to the tibial anatomical axis. The tibial component varus/valgus migration in the tibia was measured by roentgen stereophotogrammetric analysis, The results showed that at 3 years follow-up 40% of patients presented an alignment variation of over 3 degrees. The recurrent deformity was not correlated with the preoperative deformity, nor with the tibial component position with respect to the tibial shaft nor with its migration. After total knee arthroplasty coronal axial variation is a common finding and it depends on the overall limb muscles and ligaments adaptation to prosthetic constraints.

For many years our knowledge on hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication has been based on in vitro experiments or transfection studies. Recently, the first reliable system for studying viral replication in tissue culture cells was developed. Taking advantage of this system, we examined in detail the localization of viral nonstructural (NS) proteins in cells containing functional replication complexes. By fractionation experiments and immunomicroscopy, we observed that all NS proteins were associated with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes, confirming the hypothesis that the ER is the site of membrane-associated HCV RNA replication. Interestingly, NS3 and NS4A were preferentially localized in endoplasmic reticulum cisternae surrounding mitochondria, suggesting additional subcellular compartment-related functions for these viral proteins. Furthermore, the immunoelectron microscopy revealed the loss of the organization and other morphological alterations of the ER (convoluted cisternae and paracrystalline structures), resembling alterations observed in liver biopsies of HCV-infected individuals and in flavivirus-infected cells.

“La theorie des fonctions generatrices s'adapte elle meme et avec la plus grande generalite aux questions des probabilite les plus difficiles.” (Laplace, 1812) “An important part of probability theory consists of the derivation of the probability distribution of the sum of n random variables, each of which obeys a given probability law, and the development of asymptotic forms of these distributions valid for increasing n. Probability generating functions owe their dominant position to the simplification they permit to both problems. Their employment to obtain the successive moments of a probability distribution and to solve the difference equations of probability theory is ancillary to their chief use in connexion with sums of random variables.” (Seal, 1949)

Models have traditionally played a significant role in statistical mechanics. In view of the complexity of the system which statistical mechanics attempt to describe, this is not at all surprising. The study of simplified models has frequently revealed the underlying mathematical structure of many physical questions and in so doing the study of models has contributed directly to a clarification of several paradoxes which beset statistical mechanics. In this paper some of the models which appear to be useful for the discussion of non-equilibrium phenomena are examined in some detail. As usual these models are extremely simplified versions of the actual situations. It is, finally, as well to stress that although the models are mathematically simpler, the actual discussion is still sometimes quite complicated. “Mathematics is often regarded as the bread and butter of science. If the butter is omitted, the results is indigestion, loss of appetite, or both. The purpose of this book is to suggest some ways of buttering the bread. The human mind can seldom accept completely abstract ideas; they must be derived from, or illustrated by, concrete examples. Here the reader will find ways of providing for himself tangible objects which will bring that necessary contact with reality into the symbolic world of mathematics.” (Cundy and Rollett, 1961)