A comparative environmental life cycle assessment of road asphalt pavement solutions made up of artificial aggregates.

The construction and maintenance of road pavements entail detrimental impacts on the consumption of resources and damage to the natural environment but also make up an opportunity for the large-scale application of circular economy principles and innovative waste valorisation paths. The present study focuses on developing a comprehensive procedure to evaluate the technical and environmental sustainability of replacing high percentage of limestone aggregates with artificial aggregates from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) into hot or cold recycled asphalt mixtures for asphalt pavements. The technical feasibility of the designed mixtures was investigated in terms of the main physical and mechanical properties of both the raw materials and the asphalt mixtures with content of artificial aggregates or sand in the range 25-40 % by mass.

Nutraceuticals known to promote hair growth do not interfere with the inhibitory action of tamoxifen in MCF7, T47D and BT483 breast cancer cell lines.

Background: Hair loss/thinning is a common side effect of tamoxifen in estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer therapy. Some nutraceuticals known to promote hair growth are avoided during breast cancer therapy for fear of phytoestrogenic activity. However, not all botanical ingredients have similarities to estrogens, and in fact, no information exists as to the true interaction of these ingredients with tamoxifen.

Life Cycle Assessment of Sustainable Asphalt Pavement Solutions Involving Recycled Aggregates and Polymers.

The pursuit of sustainability in the field of road asphalt pavements calls for effective decision-making strategies, referring to both the technical and environmental sustainability of the solutions. This study aims to compare the life cycle impacts of several pavement solution alternatives involving, in the binder and base layers, some eco-designed, hot- and cold-produced asphalt mixtures made up of recycled aggregates in substitution for natural filler and commercial recycled polymer pellets for dry mixture modification. The first step focused on the technical and environmental compatibility assessment of the construction and demolition waste (CDW), jet grouting waste (JGW), fly ash (FA), and reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP).

The Potential Role of Nutraceuticals as an Adjuvant in Breast Cancer Patients to Prevent Hair Loss Induced by Endocrine Therapy.

Nutraceuticals, natural dietary and botanical supplements offering health benefits, provide a basis for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Use of CAM by healthy individuals and patients with medical conditions is rapidly increasing. For the majority of breast cancer patients, treatment plans involve 5-10 yrs of endocrine therapy, but hair loss/thinning is a common side effect.

Safety performance functions for crash severity on undivided rural roads.

The objective of this paper is to explore the effect of the road features of two-lane rural road networks on crash severity. One of the main goals is to calibrate Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) that can predict the frequency per year of injuries and fatalities on homogeneous road segments. It was found that on more than 2000km of study-road network that annual average daily traffic, lane width, curvature change rate, length, and vertical grade are important variables in explaining the severity of crashes.

Road safety from the perspective of driver gender and age as related to the injury crash frequency and road scenario.

Objective: The objective of this research is to develop safety performance functions (SPFs) on 2-lane rural roads to predict the number of injury crashes per year per 10(8) vehicles/km on the road segment using a study on the influence of the human factors (gender, age, number of drivers) and road scenario (combination of infrastructure and environmental conditions found at the site at the time of the crash) on the effects of a crash by varying the dynamic. Countermeasures are suggested to reduce the injury crash rate and include different awareness campaigns and structural measures on the segments of road.

Methods: An 8-year period was analyzed for which 5 years of crash information were used to calibrate and specify SPFs and the remaining 3 years were used to check the reliability of the equations.

Panthenyl triacetate transformation, stimulation of metabolic pathways, and wound-healing properties in the human skin.

Vitamin B5 and its derivatives are well known in personal care applications and are often used in wound healing and soothing compositions. However, little is known about the biochemical pathways involved. A better knowledge of these pathways would help to understand some of the mechanisms of action and suggest further applications.

Heterogeneity and symptom structure of schizophrenia.

Previous studies failed to identify a consistent factor structure of the BPRS-24 in schizophrenia. Our aims were to examine the fit of all previously published factor models and then to explore unobserved population heterogeneity and identify salient latent classes. Two hundred thirty-nine patients with ICD-10 schizophrenia admitted to a random sample of all Italian public and private acute inpatient units during an index period were administered the BPRS-24.

Skin benefits of a myconoside-rich extract from resurrection plant Haberlea rhodopensis.

Resurrection plant Haberlea rhodopensis develops molecules to survive drought stress. These molecules allow the plant to resurge from a desiccation state. We have extracted a specific fraction from the plant (Haberlea extract) and found it rich, among other molecules, of a caffeoyl phenylethanoid glycoside called myconoside, a molecule extremely abundant in the plant with a potential role in survival.

A bioactive complex to protect proteins from UV-induced oxidation in human epidermis.

UV light induces multiple damages including protein oxidation on skin. Oxidized proteins if not degraded by the proteasome would eventually accumulate causing metabolic damage, elastosis and pigment formation such as lipofuscin. During ageing, the activity of the proteasome decreases dramatically together with enzymes that protect from oxidation and as a result oxidized proteins accumulate.

Stability and phase transitions in a mathematical model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

We present a mathematical model to investigate the role of the immune system in the Duchenne muscular dystrophy disease. It is based on the assumption that the immune system contributes to the tissue damage and indeed its interaction with the muscle tissue after an initial endogenous damage can be described as a predator-prey system showing typical oscillations. In this article we investigate the dynamical properties of the system.

[The history and spirit of mental health services in Trieste.].

The authors describe the evolution of mental health services put in place in Trieste over the last 25 years. They identify the principles that have led to institutional transformation and to the replacement of the traditional psychiatric hospital with a complete organization of services across the Trieste territory. By defining the spirit presiding over these transformations, the authors describe the variety of services offered.

A new self-report questionnaire called "ABC" to evaluate in a clinical practice the aid perceived from services by relatives, needs and family burden of severe mental illness.

Objective: To describe: a) a self-report questionnaire of 34 item, developed by a Family Association of Psychiatric Patients in collaboration with two psychiatrists to evaluate by key-relative in a clinical practice the perceived quality of mental health services, the needs and family burden; b) the methodology of validation.

Methods: It has been studied (a) the Face Validity by two focus groups of 10 relatives for each group, (b) the concurrent validity of family burden items comparing the ABC with QPF, a widely used questionnaire, in 6 Italian mental health centres on a sample of key-relatives, (c) the discriminant validity comparing three different samples of key-relatives of patients with psychiatric illness, Alzheimer or cancer. The internal consistency of items for assessing relatives' opinions on the quality of care has been evaluated by Chronbach' s alpha.

Characteristics and activities of acute psychiatric in-patient facilities: national survey in Italy.

Background: Legislation in 1978 led to the gradual replacement of mental hospitals in Italy with a full range of community-based services, including facilities for acute in-patient care.

Aims: To survey the main characteristics of Italian public and private in-patient facilities for acute psychiatric disorders.

Method: Structured interviews were conducted with each facility's head psychiatrist in all Italian regions, with the exception of Sicily.

RNAIII-inhibiting peptide in combination with the cathelicidin BMAP-28 reduces lethality in mouse models of staphylococcal sepsis.

A mouse model of staphylococcal sepsis was used to evaluate the efficacy of RNAIII-inhibiting peptide (RIP) combined with the cathelicidin BMAP-28. Preliminary in vitro studies showed that both peptides, alone or combined, were able to inhibit the lipoteichoic acid-induced production of tumor necrosis factor alpha and nitric oxide by RAW 264.7 cells.

RNAIII-inhibiting peptide significantly reduces bacterial load and enhances the effect of antibiotics in the treatment of central venous catheter-associated Staphylococcus aureus infections.

Background: Medical devices used in clinical practice are often associated with biofilm-associated staphylococcal infections.

Methods: An in vitro antibiotic susceptibility assay of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms using 96-well polystyrene tissue-culture plates was performed to test the effects of RNAIII-inhibiting peptide (RIP), ciprofloxacin, imipenem, and vancomycin. Efficacy studies were performed using a rat model of central venous catheter (CVC)-associated infection.

Prevention of staphylococcal biofilm-associated infections by the quorum sensing inhibitor RIP.

Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis associated with implantable medical devices, are often difficult to treat with conventional antimicrobials. Formation of a biofilm and subsequent production of toxins are two distinct mechanisms considered important in foreign body infections. Staphylococcal virulence is caused by a complex regulatory process, which involves cell-to-cell communication through the release and response to chemical signals in a process known as quorum sensing.

RNAIII-inhibiting peptide improves efficacy of clinically used antibiotics in a murine model of staphylococcal sepsis.

RNAIII-inhibiting peptide (RIP, YSPWTNF-NH2) is a quorum-sensing peptide inhibitor that prevents Staphylococcus aureus toxin production and biofilm formation. A mouse sepsis model was used to test the efficacy of RIP alone or in combination with conventional antibiotics in suppressing S. aureus-induced sepsis.

Suppression of drug-resistant Staphylococcal Infections by the quorum-sensing inhibitor RNAIII-inhibiting peptide.

Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis are major causes of infection related to biofilm formed on indwelling medical devices. Such infections are common causes of morbidity and mortality and, because of biofilm resistance to antibiotics, are difficult to treat.

RNAIII-inhibiting peptide and/or nisin inhibit experimental vascular graft infection with methicillin-susceptible and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of RNAIII-inhibiting peptide (RIP) and nisin as prophylactic agents in a rat model of vascular graft infection.

Design: Prospective, randomized, controlled animal study.

Materials: Two hundred and twenty adult male Wistar rats.

Skin biophysical properties of a population living in Valais, Switzerland.

Background/purpose: Switzerland has one of the highest rates of skin diseases and particularly skin cancer, in Europe. Skin elastosis, roughness and atopy are also frequent. High UV exposure and prevalence of light skin individuals could be the cause.

Prophylactic efficacy of topical temporin A and RNAIII-inhibiting peptide in a subcutaneous rat Pouch model of graft infection attributable to staphylococci with intermediate resistance to glycopeptides.

Background: Bacteria that adhere to implanted medical devices play an important role in industry and in modern medicine. Staphylococci are among the most common pathogens that cause biomaterial infections. Vascular prosthetic graft infection is one of the most feared complications that the vascular surgeon treats, frequently resulting in prolonged hospitalization, organ failure, amputation, and death.

RNA III inhibiting peptide inhibits in vivo biofilm formation by drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Staphylococcus aureus is a prevalent cause of bacterial infections associated with indwelling medical devices. RNA III inhibiting peptide (RIP) is known to inhibit S. aureus pathogenesis by disrupting quorum-sensing mechanisms.

Use of the quorum-sensing inhibitor RNAIII-inhibiting peptide to prevent biofilm formation in vivo by drug-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis.

Staphylococcus epidermidis is a frequent cause of infections associated with foreign bodies and indwelling medical devices. The bacteria are capable of surviving antibiotic treatment through encapsulation into biofilms. RNAIII-inhibiting peptide (RIP) is a heptapeptide that inhibits S.