Experimental characterization of the self-healing capacity of cement based materials and its effects on the material performance: A state of the art report by COST Action SARCOS WG2

Ferrara, Liberato,Van Mullem, Tim,Alonso, Maria Cruz,Antonaci, Paola,Borg, Ruben Paul,Cuenca, Estefania,Jefferson, Anthony,Ng, Pui-Lam,Peled, Alva,Roig-Flores, Marta,Sanchez, Mercedes,Schroefl, Christ Elsevier 2018 Construction and Building Materials Vol.167 No.-

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>Heuristically known at least since the first half of XIX century, the self-healing capacity of cement-based materials has been receiving keen attention from the civil engineering community worldwide in the last decade. As a matter of fact, stimulating and/or engineering the aforementioned functionality via tailored addition and technologies, in order to make it more reliable in an engineering perspective, has been regarded as a viable pathway to enhance the durability of reinforced concrete structures and contribute to increase their service life.</P> <P>Research activities have provided enlightening contributions to understanding the mechanisms of crack self-sealing and healing and have led to the blooming of a number of self-healing stimulating and engineering technologies, whose effectiveness has been soundly proved in the laboratory and, in a few cases, also scaled up to field applications, with ongoing performance monitoring. Nonetheless, the large variety of methodologies employed to assess the effectiveness of the developed self-healing technologies makes it necessary to provide a unified, if not standardized, framework for the validation and comparative evaluation of the same self-healing technologies as above. This is also instrumental to pave the way towards a consistent incorporation of self-healing concepts into structural design and life cycles analysis codified approaches, which can only promote the diffusion of feasible and reliable self-healing technologies into the construction market.</P> <P>In this framework the Working Group 2 of the COST Action CA 15202 “Self-healing as preventive repair of concrete structures – SARCOS” has undertaken the ambitious task reported in this paper. As a matter of fact this state of the art provides a comprehensive and critical review of the experimental methods and techniques, which have been employed to characterize and quantify the self-sealing and/or self-healing capacity of cement-based materials, as well as the effectiveness of the different self-sealing and/or self-healing engineering techniques, together with the methods for the analysis of the chemical composition and intrinsic nature of the self-healing products. The review will also address the correlation, which can be established between crack closure and the recovery of physical/mechanical properties, as measured by means of the different reviewed tests.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> Review of test methods for assessing healing efficiency. </LI> <LI> Novel perspective in correlating healing to durability and mechanical recovery. </LI> <LI> Correlation between different test methods. </LI> <LI> Characterization methods of healing products. </LI> <LI> Pioneer monitored case studies are presented. </LI> </UL> </P>

THE EFFECT OF SOMIDOBOVE (BIOSYNTHETIC BOVINE SOMATOTROPIN) ON THE PRODUCTION AND ON THE QUALITY OF MILK OF BUFFALOES (BUBALUS BUBALIS) RAISED IN ITALY

Ferrara, L.,Di Luccia, A.,Manniti, F.,Piva, G.,Masoero, F.,Fiorentini, L.,Litta, G. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 1989 Animal Bioscience Vol.2 No.3

Melatonin’s Effect on the Efficacy of Desmopressin in the Treatment of Enuresis

Pietro Ferrara,Annamaria Sbordone,Costanza Cutrona,Francesca Ianniello,Chiara Guadagno,Giacomo Perrone,Antonio Chiaretti,Alberto Verrotti,Vincenzo Di Lazzaro 대한배뇨장애요실금학회 2016 International Neurourology Journal Vol.20 No.3

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate and compare the efficacy of exogenous melatonin associated with desmopressin (dDAVP) and dietary recommendations. Methods: A total of 189 patients were enrolled from the Service of Pediatrics, Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital of Rome, from January 2013 to June 2015. Of the 189 original patients, 153 children, aged between 5 and 14 years (mean age, 8.7 years) were included in the study. After clinical evaluation and a 3-month period of observation without treatment, children were assigned to receive treatment in one of 3 groups: group 1, dDAVP at a dose of 120 mcg a day (Minirin); group 2, dDAVP at a dose of 120 mcg and dietary recommendations; or group 3, dDAVP at a dose of 120 mcg, dietary recommendations, and melatonin at a dose of 1 mg a day (Melamil plus). Each patient was treated for 3 months. Results: After the 3 months of therapy, a desiderable response was achieved in 30 of 51 patients (58.82%) treated with dDAVP, 35 of 53 patients (66.04%) treated with dDAVP and dietary recommendations, and 35 of 49 patients (71.43%) treated with dDAVP, dietary recommendations, and melatonin. Conclusions: Although not statistically significant, the results show that the association between dDAVP treatment with dietary recommendations and melatonin could be considered a safe and effective treatment of NE. Considering that the statistically insignificant results might be due to the small sample size, the study will be continued to increase the number of subjects.

A Possible Pathogenic Linkage Among Headache, Migraine, and Nocturnal Enuresis in Children

Pietro Ferrara,Livia Dell’Aquila,Giacomo Perrone,Giulia Spina,Francesco Miconi,Valentina Rapaccini,Ester Del Vescovo,Vincenzo Di Lazzaro,Alberto Verrotti 대한배뇨장애요실금학회 2016 International Neurourology Journal Vol.20 No.4

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the prevalence of headaches and migraine in children with nocturnal enuresis (NE) and to improve knowledge on these conditions. In particular, for this purpose, a possible pathogenic relationship linking both conditions and the impact of headaches and migraine on NE persistence was evaluated. Methods: Researchers enrolled 123 children with NE, aged between 5 and 15 years, referred to the Service of Pediatrics, Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital of Rome between January 2014 and January 2015. Parents of all children enrolled in the study were invited to complete a self-reported questionnaire. The study protocol was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Campus-Bio-Medico University. The NE group data was compared with the data of a control group (107 children). Results: Of the eligible patients, 7.8% suffer from headaches/migraine (mean age, 9.63 years; interquartile range [IQR], 3.5 years) and 47.1% have a family history of headaches (mean age, 8.46 years; IQR, 3.75 years). Of the 8 patients with headaches, all are male, 3 have tension-type headaches (2 of them have maternal family history) and 5 have migraine (3 of them have maternal family history). Of the 35.3% with a migraine family history (mean age, 8.36 years; IQR, 3.5 years), 22 are male, and 14 are female. Three of these patients have migraine. A total of 92.2% suffer from NE but not from headaches (mean age, 8.43 years; IQR, 3 years). Of these patients, 33 are female (35.1%), and 61 are male (64.9%). In the control group, 4.7% (5 out of 107) of the children suffer from headaches, and of these, 4 are affected by nonmigraine headaches and 1 by migraine. Conclusions: In conclusion, according to the hypothesis, NE and headaches/migraine could be linked by several similarities.

Curcumin-Based Treatment for Macular Edema from Uncommon Etiologies: Efficacy and Safety Assessment

Mariantonia Ferrara,Davide Allegrini,Tania Sorrentino,Giancarlo Sborgia,Francesco Parmeggiani,Alfredo Borgia,Mario R. Romano 한국식품영양과학회 2020 Journal of medicinal food Vol.23 No.8

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of curcumin formulation with a polyvinylpyrrolidone-hydrophilic carrier (CHC*; Diabec®—AlfaIntes, Italy) for the treatment of macular edema (ME) from uncommon etiologies. We conducted retrospective interventional case series, reviewing the medical records of patients referred to the Eye Center, Humanitas Hospital, Bergamo due to persistent ME related to uncommon causes and treated by oral administration of CHC. The main outcomes assessed were best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central macular thickness (CMT), and the presence of intraretinal and/or subretinal fluid (SRF). Only patients with a minimum follow-up (f/u) of 6 months were included. The occurrence of any adverse effect was registered. Thirty-one eyes of 30 patients were included, with a mean f/u of 8.32 ± 1.77 months. Of them, 9 patients (10 eyes) were affected by postoperative ME and 21 by chronic central serous chorioretinopathy. Median BCVA significantly improved after treatment, changing from 0.3 [0.16–0.5] to 0.1 [0–0.3] logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (P < .001). Also CMT was significantly improved, as it decreased from 400 [364–438] μm before treatment to 280 [242–307] μm at the last f/u visit (P < .001). The complete absorption of intraretinal/SRF was detected in 23 of 31 eyes (74%) at the final f/u. No adverse effects were registered. In conclusion, treatment with CHC was effective and safe for eyes affected by ME of various uncommon etiologies, resulting in significant improvement of both functional and anatomical outcomes, with the complete resolution of the edema in the majority of cases (74%).

A RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHIC READING OF JOYCE' STEPHEN DEDALUS

Mark S. Ferrara 현대영미어문학회 1996 현대영미어문학 Vol.14 No.-

A RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHIC READING OF JOYCE’S STEPHEN DEDALUS

( Mark S. Ferrara ) 현대영미어문학회 1996 현대영미어문학 Vol.14 No.-

James Joyces main character in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) is Stephen Dedal us. As a young boy Stephen writes verse and seems especially sensitive to his environment. As Stephen grows, he develops a philosophical and religious temperament, perhaps due in part to his Jesuit education. When James Joyce wrote Ulysses (1922), he included Stephen, again, as a primary character. In Ulysses, Stephen has completed his high school education and has begun his studies at the university. It becomes immediately apparent that Stephens religious and philosophical outlook has matured. He has begun to develop a religious philosophy that is a departure from traditional Jesuit theology. Indeed, Stephens revisionist ideas come to resemble quite clearly those of the Modernist movement. The purpose of this essay is to contextualize Stephen Dedalus’ religio-philosophical perspective in the light of the Modernist movement, Existentialism, as well as the more esoteric tradition of the western mystics. By locating Stephen in the context of these traditions, we gain a valuable insight into the philosophical underpinnings of Ulysses, as well as the mind of the great Irish writer James Joyce (1882-1941).

Coexistence of VHL Disease and CPT2 Deficiency: A Case Report

Alfonso Massimiliano Ferrara,Monica Sciacco,Stefania Zovato,Silvia Rizzati,Irene Colombo,Francesca Boaretto,Maurizio Moggio,Giuseppe Opocher 대한암학회 2016 Cancer Research and Treatment Vol.48 No.4

von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease is an inherited syndrome manifesting with benign and malignant tumors. Deficiency of carnitine palmitoyltransferase type II (CPT2) is a disorder of lipid metabolism that, in the muscle form, manifests with recurrent attacks of myalgias often associated with myoglobinuria. Rhabdomyolytic episodes may be complicated by life-threatening events, including acute renal failure (ARF). We report on a male patient who was tested, at 10 years of age, for VHL disease because of family history of VHL. He was diagnosed with VHL but without VHL-related manifestation at the time of diagnosis. During childhood, the patient was hospitalized several times for diffuse muscular pain, muscle weakness, and dark urine. These recurrent attacks of rhabdomyolysis were never accompanied by ARF. The patient was found to be homozygous for the mutation p.S113L of the CPT2 gene. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the coexistence of VHL disease and CPT2 deficiency in the same individual. Based on findings from animal models, the case illustrates that mutations in the VHL gene might protect against renal damage caused by CPT2 gene mutations.

The Green Light across Long Island Sound: Gatsby and American Idealism

( Mark S. Ferrara ) 현대영미어문학회 1997 현대영미어문학 Vol.15 No.2

Jay Gatsby is a mythic representation of the American Dream. As such, he embodies many of the characteristics found in American Idealism, namely: a belief in possibility, optimism, creativity, and that people can transform themselves regardless of present or past conditions. The characteristics of American idealism naturally arose from the American environment that provided seemingly endless natural and social resources. In this respect James Gatz is a classic American hero because he transformed himself from a poor North Dakota farm boy into the tycoon Jay Gatsby. He created a new persona for himself at the age of 17, and was faithful to it to the end. This essay will examine the characteristics upon which the American Dream is founded. Of special interest will be the relationship Americans have created with the past, present, and future. We will see that the unique American tendency to look optimistically toward the future leads naturally to an earnest chasing of dreams, though they may seem unattainable. While it is true that pursuing his romantic idea of Daisy Buchanan is eventually Gatsby’s downfall, it is also his redemption. For it is his daring to dream and to re-make himself that makes Gatsby a classic American hero.

Self-healing Capacity of Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites. State of the Art and Perspectives

E. Cuenca,L. Ferrara 대한토목학회 2017 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.21 No.7

Design of building structures and infrastructures is mainly based on four concepts: safety, serviceability, durability and sustainability. The latter is becoming increasingly relevant in the field of civil engineering. Reinforced concrete structures are subjected to damages that produce cracks which, if not repaired, can lead to a rapid deterioration and would result into increasing maintenance costs to guarantee the anticipated level of performance. Therefore, self-healing concrete can be very useful in any type of structures, as it allows to control and repairing cracks as soon as they are likely to occur. The effectiveness of self-healing can be improved with the use of fibers due to their capacity to control crack width and enhance multiple crack formation. In that way, researchers should use advanced cement based materials (FRCC, HPFRCC, etc.) and techniques (autogenous and engineering healing) to satisfy all demands in which sustainability and durability are key factors. Compared to the large number of investigations on selfhealing of plain concrete, self-healing studies on Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites (FRCC) are still limited. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to provide a deep literature review on this subject in order to clarify what is known (What now?) and finally to identify those gaps which still require further studies (What next?) such as: healing capacity under sustained stress, repeatability healing/cracking cycles as well as healing capacity for cracks and damages occurring at later concrete ages.