Survey of the interventional cardiology procedures in Italy

Interventional cardiology procedures are increasing because they offer many advantages to patients compared with other techniques: therefore the Italian National Institution for Insurance against Accidents at Work decided to start a survey for monitoring the state-of-the-art regarding the professionals involved in those procedures. The survey covered six cardiology and medical physics Italian departments. Each centre was asked to record 10 examinations for five types of procedures: coronary angiography (CA), electrophysiology studies (ES), pacemaker implantation (PI), percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and radiofrequency catheter ablation (RA). For each examination all the centres were requested to fill in a questionnaire containing information regarding the operator performing the examination, the patient and the procedure. A total of 290 examinations were recorded: 103 CA, 14 ES, 68 PI, 79 PTCA and 26 RA. As occupational doses are strongly related to patient doses, both patients and operators radiation dose data are reported. Ratios of maximum to minimum mean patient doses across the hospitals surveyed were 2.0, 3.9, 7.0, 1.8 and 1.4 for CA, ES, PI, PTCA and RA, respectively. The calculated rounded mean dose-area product values across all participating hospitals were comparable with other values reported in the literature. In general, specific radiation protection tools were used by all operators performing different procedures in all hospitals. A major issue in this survey was the absence of information about correlation between staff and patient doses in a single procedure: future studies could be more aimed to prospective goals where occupational exposures per procedure are monitored specifically.     

Analytical model for the effective strain in FRP-wrapped circular RC columns

The available models for predicting the ultimate capacity and stress–strain relationships of confined concrete rely on an assumed FRP ultimate strain value. It is commonly assumed that FRP fails when hoop strain in the jacket reaches its ultimate tensile strain determined according to flat coupon tests. However, experimental results of FRP confined concrete showed that in most cases, FRP experimental ultimate tensile strain is clearly not reached at the rupture of the FRP jacket. The discrepancies may include the shape and conditions of concrete substrate as well as defects or stress concentrations in FRP jackets (in particular, the multiaxial stress state in FRP wrapping due to the transfer of loads through the bond with concrete). The present paper covers only issues related to this latter aspect. Since the average absolute error of all confinement models showed a remarkable decrease when the effective FRP hoop strain (smaller than ultimate flat coupon strain) was inserted in the equations, an analytical model to directly evaluate the FRP strain efficiency factor as the strain ratio between the effective FRP hoop strain at failure and the flat coupon test outcomes has been formulated. Multiaxial failure criteria have been adopted (i.e. 3D Tsai–Hill criterion for FRP) in the model considering axial, circumferential and radial stresses. Results of theoretical analyses and experimental tests (experimental data available in literature) have been compared showing a good agreement.     

Peptide-containing aggregates as selective nanocarriers for therapeutics

New nanocarriers are obtained by assembling two amphiphilic monomers: one containing the bioactive peptide CCK8 spaced, by a polydisperse poly(ethylene glycol), from two hydrophobic tails ((C18)2PEG2000CCK8), and the other containing a chelating agent able to give stable radiolabeled indium-111 complexes linked to the same hydrophobic moiety ((C18)2DTPAGlu). The size and shape of the supramolecular aggregates were structurally characterized by dynamic light scattering, small-angle neutron scattering, and cryogenic transmission electronic microscopy. Under the experimental conditions we investigated (pH 7.4 and molar ratio between monomers 30:70), there is the presence of high polydisperse aggregates: rod-like micelles with a radius of approximately 40 A and length >700 A, open bilayer fragments with thickness approximately 65 A, and probably vesicles. The presence of the bioactive peptide well exposed on the external surface of the aggregate allows selective targeting of nanocarriers towards the cholecystokinin receptors overexpressed by the cancerous cells. In vitro binding assays and in vivo biodistribution studies by nuclear medicine experiments using indium-111 are reported. Moreover, preliminary data concerning the drug loading capability of the aggregates and their drug efficiency on the target cells is reported by using the cytotoxic drug doxorubicin. Incubation of receptor-positive and control cells with peptide-containing aggregates filled with doxorubicin shows significantly lower cell survival in receptor-expressing cells relative to the control, for samples incubated in the presence of doxorubicin.     

Visual evaluation of cattle cleanliness and correlation to carcass microbial contamination during slaughtering

The aim of the study was to establish whether the visual cleanliness of cattle slaughtered was correlated to hide and carcass contamination as indicated by aerobic colony count (ACC), Enterobacteriaceae count (EC) and Escherichia coli count (ECC). Cattle in a slaughterhouse were visually inspected and assigned to a category from 1 (very clean) to 5 (very dirty) based on cleanliness. Fifteen animals for each category were randomly selected, hide and carcass sampled and analyzed for ACC, EC and ECC. Results showed that increasing dirt on cattle was associated with higher ACC, EC and ECC on hide and carcasses. Carcass ACC and ECC belonging to animals classified in cleanliness categories 3, 4 or 5 have a higher probability of exceeding the limits set by the Reg. EU 2073/2005. The study supports the conclusion that the pre-slaughter visual evaluation of animal cleanliness and application of corrective actions can be an effective aid to reduce carcass contamination.     

A New View of Microcrystalline Silicon: The Role of Plasma Processing in Achieving a Dense and Stable Absorber Material for Photovoltaic Applications

To further lower production costs and increase conversion efficiency of thin‐film silicon solar modules, challenges are the deposition of high‐quality microcrystalline silicon (μc‐Si:H) at an increased rate and on textured substrates that guarantee efficient light trapping. A qualitative model that explains how plasma processes act on the properties of μc‐Si:H and on the related solar cell performance is presented, evidencing the growth of two different material phases. The first phase, which gives signature for bulk defect density, can be obtained at high quality over a wide range of plasma process parameters and dominates cell performance on flat substrates. The second phase, which consists of nanoporous 2D regions, typically appears when the material is grown on substrates with inappropriate roughness, and alters or even dominates the electrical performance of the device. The formation of this second material phase is shown to be highly sensitive to deposition conditions and substrate geometry, especially at high deposition rates. This porous material phase is more prone to the incorporation of contaminants present in the plasma during film deposition and is reported to lead to solar cells with instabilities with respect to humidity exposure and post‐deposition oxidation. It is demonstrated how defective zones influence can be mitigated by the choice of suitable plasma processes and silicon sub‐oxide doped layers, for reaching high efficiency stable thin film silicon solar cells.     

Thermoelastic finite element model updating with application to monumental buildings

A reliable and predictive model of an existing structure entails the use of model updating techniques, which are usually performed on the basis of operational modal analysis campaigns. In this paper, a new model calibration strategy is proposed that adopts a multiphysics approach to exploit data collected by both static and dynamic monitoring systems. More specifically, mechanical and temperature data are assimilated into the model through a thermoelastic updating. The proposed scheme is validated with numerical simulations and applied on the Sanctuary of Vicoforte, a complex historical building that is subjected to both static and dynamic monitoring.     

Novel PCR-based identification of Weissella confusa using an AFLP-derived marker

An extensive use of Weissella (W.) confusa is currently being made for the production of a variety of fermented foods and beverages although some strains of this species have emerged as opportunistic pathogens for humans and animals. Nevertheless, no rapid methods are available for the reliable identification of W. confusa. We developed a novel PCR using AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism)-derived primers for the rapid and unequivocal identification of W. confusa. Fluorescent AFLP of 30 strains of W. confusa, Leuconostoc citreum, Lactobacillus (Lb.) brevis, Lb. rossiae, Lb. plantarum and Lb. buchneri allowed us to detect, purify and sequence several W. confusa specific AFLP fragments. The homology search in BLAST of a 303 bp nucleotide sequence revealed a ≤ 77% identity of the purified fragment with the lepA gene of several lactic acid bacteria. A PCR assay targeting 225 bp of this fragment was developed and tested against the DNA of 109 strains, including 34 foodborne and clinical W. confusa and 75 strains of 47 phylogenetically closely and distantly related species, resulting in 100% specificity with a detection limit of 16 pg. Being the first species-specific PCR to date developed for the rapid and unambiguous identification of W. confusa, this novel assay could be a reliable and efficient tool for detecting W. confusa not only in food and beverages, but also in clinical specimens, thus contributing to clarify its real significance in human and animal infections.     

High‐efficiency microcrystalline silicon single‐junction solar cells

This short communication highlights our latest results towards high‐efficiency microcrystalline silicon single‐junction solar cells. By combining adequate cell design with high‐quality material, a new world record efficiency was achieved for single‐junction microcrystalline silicon solar cell, with a conversion efficiency of 10.69%, independently confirmed at ISE CalLab PV Cells. Such significant conversion efficiency could be achieved with only 1.8 µm of Si. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A wavelet analysis of 1/f and white noise in microwave transistors

The results of a computer-controlled experiment devoted to on-line measurements of the wavelet transform (WT) of low-frequency electronic noise voltage in bipolar microwave transistors are presented. We measure the average recurrence time of fluctuations of the WT coefficients occurring selectively in limited time and at frequency intervals. We detect two quite different behaviors in such recurrence times in the 1/f and white noise regimes.