Indoor air quality and the associated health risk in primary school buildings in Central Europe – The InAirQ study

The indoor air quality (IAQ) was investigated in sixty-four primary school buildings in five Central European countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Slovenia). The concentration of volatile organic compounds, aldehydes, PM_2.5 mass, carbon dioxide, radon, as well as physical parameters were investigated during the heating period of 2017/2018. Significant differences were identified for the majority of the investigated IAQ parameters across the countries. The median indoor/outdoor ratios varied considerably. A comprehensive evaluation of IAQ in terms of potential health effects and comfort perception was performed. Hazard quotient values were below the threshold value of 1 with one exception. In contrast, 31% of the school buildings were characterized by hazard index values higher than 1. The maximum cumulative ratio approach highlighted that the concern for non-carcinogenic health effects was either low or the health risk was driven by more substances. The median excess lifetime cancer risk values exceeded the acceptable value of 1 × 10⁻⁶ in the case of radon and formaldehyde. PM_2.5 mass concentration values exceeded the 24 h and annual guideline values set by the World Health Organization in 56 and 85% of the cases, respectively. About 80% of the schools could not manage to comply with the recommended concentration value for carbon dioxide (1000 ppm).     

Astringency sub-qualities of red wines and the influence of wine–saliva aggregates

Astringency is a sensory attribute, related to the quality and mouthfeel of red wines. However, the origin of astringency sub-qualities, such as the typical drying astringency found in immature grapes, is still unknown. Astringency of red wines with similar tannin content but different astringency sub-qualities, from different harvest dates, is studied. Astringency was characterised in terms of friction coefficient, polyphenol content, sensory analysis and tannin/salivary–proteins aggregates characterisation. A different evolution during ripening was found for both Cabernet Sauvignon and Carménère, and tannin–protein aggregates showed differences in size, shape and surface. The velvety sub-quality appears to be related to aggregates with low precipitation, and with specific surface characteristics as roundness and Feret diameter. Results from this work propose an effect of aggregates on sensory perception and opens the possibility to explore their effect on oral lubrication.     

Design,Synthesis, and Evaluation of WC5 Analogues as Inhibitors of Human Cytomegalovirus Immediate‐Early 2 Protein,a Promising Target for Anti‐HCMV Treatment

Although human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is mostly asymptomatic for immunocompetent individuals, it remains a serious threat for those who are immunocompromised, in whom it is associated with various clinical manifestations. The therapeutic utility of the few available anti‐HCMV drugs is limited by several drawbacks, including cross‐resistance due to their common mechanism of action, i.e., inhibition of viral DNA polymerase. Therefore, compounds that target other essential viral events could overcome this problem. One example of this is the 6‐aminoquinolone WC5 , which acts by directly blocking the transactivation of essential viral Early genes by the Immediate‐Early 2 (IE2) protein. In this study, the quinolone scaffold of the lead compound WC5 was investigated in depth, defining more suitable substituents for each of the scaffold positions explored and identifying novel, potent and nontoxic compounds. Some compounds showed potent anti‐HCMV activity by interfering with IE2‐dependent viral E gene expression. Among them, naphthyridone 1 was also endowed with potent anti‐HIV activity in latently infected cells. Their antiviral profile along with their innovative mechanism of action make these anti‐HCMV quinolones a very promising class of compounds to be exploited for more effective antiviral therapeutic treatment.     

A new geological model for Spriana landslide

Complex large landslides are characterized by different kinematic behaviors and involve diverse materials. Both elements make it difficult to study the instability of these huge mass movements, which may cause massive damage and affect extended areas. This paper is focused on the study of Spriana landslide, an important rockslide located in the North of Italy. Starting from the geological interpretation provided by Belloni and Gandolfo (Geologia tecnica ed ambientale 3:7–36, 1997), the authors gather all available data sets and perform a novel analysis aimed to better describe the unstable body. The key point of this case study regards the characterization of the deeper surface of failure. The location as well as the continuity of this surface is a crucial unsolved question, and in this paper we try to provide a reasonable answer. We propose a new hypothesis based on a structurally controlled, wedge-like rockslide involving the presence of a composed deeper surface of failure constrained by the intersection of two different weak zones. Although this work mainly addresses the development of a new geological model, numerical simulations were also performed. Both continuous and discontinuous models were tested, and then a comparison of the outcomes of the numerical simulations was performed to define the best fit to the observed landslide behavior.     

Optical properties of high-density dispersions of particles: application to intralipid solutions

We propose to study the scattering properties of dense distributions of spherical scatterers by resorting to an iterative solution of the Foldy-Twersky equation for the propagation of the coherent field. As a result of the first step of the iterative procedure, the host medium is substituted by an effective medium of complex refractive index to account for the multiple-scattering processes that occur among the particles. Although we truncate the above-mentioned iterative procedure to the second step, the results of our calculations are in excellent agreement with previous experimental results of Zaccanti et al. ("Measurement of optical properties of high-density media," to be published in Applied Optics) for the scattering coefficient of Intralipid solutions up to a volume density of 15% and show a limited disagreement at a volume density of 22%.