Effects of Short-Term Consumption of Bread Obtained by an Old Italian Grain Variety on Lipid, Inflammatory, and Hemorheological Variables: An Intervention Study

Francesco Sofi,Lisetta Ghiselli,Francesca Cesari,Anna Maria Gori,Lucia Mannini,Alessandro Casini,Concetta Vazzana,Vincenzo Vecchio,Gian Franco Gensini,Rosanna Abbate,Stefano Benedettelli 한국식품영양과학회 2010 Journal of medicinal food Vol.13 No.3

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of short-term dietary intake of bread obtained by a selected variety of old grain grown in Tuscany, Italy on some parameters related to the atherosclerotic process. Twenty healthy subjects (median age, 39.5 years) followed for 10 weeks a diet containing bread (150g/day) made from the test grain (test period) and for the same period a diet containing commercially available bread of the same quantity (control period). Lipid, inflammatory, and hemorheological profiles before and after dietary intervention were evaluated. The test period showed a significant (P<.05) improvement of total cholesterol (pre-intervention, 211.2±10.8mg/dL; post-intervention, 196.5±9.8mg/dL) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels (pre-intervention, 137.5±8.1mg/dL; post-intervention, 119.5±7.5mg/dL), whereas no significant changes during the control period were observed. With regard to inflammatory and hemorheological parameters, the test period showed a significant decrease in some of the parameters investigated (interleukin-8 [pre-intervention vs. post-intervention, 67.4±10.7 vs. 43.9±4.1pg/mL], whole blood viscosity at high [4.36±0.03 vs. 4.32±0.03mPa·s, respectively] and low [26.1±0.4 vs. 24.8±0.5mPa·s, respectively] shear rates, and erythrocyte filtration [8.4±0.7% vs. 9.1±0.6%, respectively]) relative to the control period, which showed no significant changes. Short-term dietary intake of whole grain bread obtained from an old grain variety seems to impose a favorable status with regard to lower circulating levels of markers of atherosclerosis.

Basis of design and numerical modeling of offshore wind turbines

Francesco Petrini,Hui Li,Franco Bontempi 국제구조공학회 2010 Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An Int'l Jou Vol.36 No.5

Offshore wind turbines are relatively complex structural and mechanical systems located in a highly demanding environment. In the present paper the fundamental aspects and the major issues related to the design of these special structures are outlined. Particularly, a systemic approach is proposed for a global design of such structures, in order to handle coherently their different parts: the decomposition of these structural systems, the required performance and the acting loads are all considered under this philosophy. According to this strategy, a proper numerical modeling requires the adoption of a suitable technique in order to organize the qualitative and quantitative assessments in various sub-problems, which can be solved by means of sub-models at different levels of detail, for both structural behavior and loads simulation. Specifically, numerical models are developed to assess the safety performances under aerodynamic and hydrodynamic actions. In order to face the problems of the actual design of a wind farm in the Mediterranean Sea, in this paper, three schemes of turbines support structures have been considered and compared: the mono pile, the tripod and the jacket support structure typologies.

Coupling effects between wind and train transit induced fatigue damage in suspension bridges

Francesco Petrini,Pierluigi Olmati,Franco Bontempi 국제구조공학회 2019 Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An Int'l Jou Vol.70 No.3

Long-span steel suspension bridges develop significant vibrations under the effect of external time-variable loadings because their slenderness. This causes significant stresses variations that could induce fatigue problems in critical components of the bridge. The research outcome presented in this paper includes a fatigue analysis of a long suspension bridge with 3300 meters central suspended span under wind action and train transit. Special focus is made on the counterintuitive interaction effects between train and wind loads in terms of fatigue damage accumulation in the hanger ropes. In fact the coupling of the two actions is shown to have positive effects for some hangers in terms of damage accumulation. Fatigue damage is evaluated using a linear accumulation model (Palmgren-Miner rule), analyses are carried out in time domain by a three-dimensional non-linear finite element model of the bridge. Rational explanation regarding the above-mentioned counterintuitive behavior is given on the basis of the stress time histories obtained for pertinent hangers under the effects of wind and train as acting separately or simultaneously. The interaction between wind and train traffic loads can be critical for a some hanger ropes therefore interaction phenomena within loads should be considered in the design.

Basis of design and numerical modeling of offshore wind turbines

Petrini, Francesco,Li, Hui,Bontempi, Franco Techno-Press 2010 Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An Int'l Jou Vol.36 No.5

Offshore wind turbines are relatively complex structural and mechanical systems located in a highly demanding environment. In the present paper the fundamental aspects and the major issues related to the design of these special structures are outlined. Particularly, a systemic approach is proposed for a global design of such structures, in order to handle coherently their different parts: the decomposition of these structural systems, the required performance and the acting loads are all considered under this philosophy. According to this strategy, a proper numerical modeling requires the adoption of a suitable technique in order to organize the qualitative and quantitative assessments in various sub-problems, which can be solved by means of sub-models at different levels of detail, for both structural behavior and loads simulation. Specifically, numerical models are developed to assess the safety performances under aerodynamic and hydrodynamic actions. In order to face the problems of the actual design of a wind farm in the Mediterranean Sea, in this paper, three schemes of turbines support structures have been considered and compared: the mono pile, the tripod and the jacket support structure typologies.

Essential Oil Composition of Teucrium divaricatum Sieb. ssp. villosum (Celak.) Rech. fil. Growing Wild in Lebanon

Carmen Formisano,Francesco Napolitano,Daniela Rigano,Nelly Apostolides Arnold,Franco Piozzi,Felice Senatore 한국식품영양과학회 2010 Journal of medicinal food Vol.13 No.5

Teucrium divaricatum Sieb. ssp. villosum (Celak.) Rech. fil. is a medicinal plant used in Lebanon. The hydrodistillation of the aerial parts of T. divaricatum yielded 0.27% (wt/wt) of essential oil; gas chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis enabled the identification of 60 compounds representing 94.5% of the total oil. On the whole, the oil was constituted mainly by sesquiterpenes (64.6%), particularly sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (50.0%). The most abundant compounds were (E)-caryophyllene (30.1%) and caryophyllene oxide (6.1%). The in vitro activity of the essential oil against some microorganisms in comparison with gentamicin by the broth dilution method was determined. The oil exhibited a good activity as an inhibitor of growth of Gram-positive bacteria.

Numerical analyses for the structural assessment of steel buildings under explosions

Pierluigi Olmati,Francesco Petrini,Franco Bontempi 국제구조공학회 2013 Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An Int'l Jou Vol.45 No.6

This paper addresses two main issues relevant to the structural assessment of buildings subjected to explosions. The first issue regards the robustness evaluation of steel frame structures: a procedure is provided for computing “robustness curves” and it is applied to a 20-storey steel frame building, describing the residual strength of the (blast) damaged structure under different local damage levels. The second issue regards the precise evaluation of blast pressures acting on structural elements using Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) techniques. This last aspect is treated with particular reference to gas explosions, focusing on some critical parameters (room congestion, failure of non-structural walls and ignition point location) which influence the development of the explosion. From the analyses, it can be deduced that, at least for the examined cases, the obtained robustness curves provide a suitable tool that can be used for risk management and assessment purposes. Moreover, the variation of relevant CFD analysis outcomes (e.g., pressure) due to the variation of the analysis parameters is found to be significant.

Analytical similitudes applied to thin cylindrical shells

De Rosa, Sergio,Franco, Francesco Techno-Press 2015 Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science Vol.2 No.4

This work is focused on the definition and the analysis of both complete and incomplete similitudes for the dynamic responses of thin shells. Previous numerical and experimental investigations on both structural and structural-acoustic systems motivated this further analysis, mainly centred on the incomplete (distorted) similitudes. These similitudes and the associated scaling laws are defined by using the classical modal approach (CMA) and by invoking also the Energy Distribution Approach (EDA) in order to take into account both the cinematic and energetic items. The whole procedure is named SAMSARA: Similitude and Asymptotic Models for Structural-Acoustic Research and Applications. A brief summary of the procedure is herein given and the attention is paid to the analytical models of thin stiffened and unstiffened cylindrical shells. By using the well-known smeared model, the stiffened cylinder equations are used as general framework to analyse the possibility to define exact (replicas) or distorted similitudes (avatars). Despite the extreme simplicity of the proposed models, the results are really encouraging. The final aim is to define equivalent models to be used in laboratory measurements.

Optimizing aesthetic outcomes after Goldilocks mastectomy: A new method of nipple reconstruction

Zingaretti, Nicola,Guarneri, Gianni Franco,De Francesco, Francesco,Riccio, Michele,Cordaro, Emanuele Rampino,Parodi, Pier Camillo Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surge 2020 Archives of Plastic Surgery Vol.47 No.6

Numerical analyses for the structural assessment of steel buildings under explosions

Olmati, Pierluigi,Petrini, Francesco,Bontempi, Franco Techno-Press 2013 Structural Engineering and Mechanics, An Int'l Jou Vol.45 No.6

This paper addresses two main issues relevant to the structural assessment of buildings subjected to explosions. The first issue regards the robustness evaluation of steel frame structures: a procedure is provided for computing "robustness curves" and it is applied to a 20-storey steel frame building, describing the residual strength of the (blast) damaged structure under different local damage levels. The second issue regards the precise evaluation of blast pressures acting on structural elements using Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) techniques. This last aspect is treated with particular reference to gas explosions, focusing on some critical parameters (room congestion, failure of non-structural walls and ignition point location) which influence the development of the explosion. From the analyses, it can be deduced that, at least for the examined cases, the obtained robustness curves provide a suitable tool that can be used for risk management and assessment purposes. Moreover, the variation of relevant CFD analysis outcomes (e.g., pressure) due to the variation of the analysis parameters is found to be significant.

A facile way to synthesize noble metal free TiO2 based catalysts for glycerol photoreforming

Claudio M. Pecoraro,Marianna Bellardita,Vittorio Loddo,Francesco Di Franco,Leonardo Palmisano,Monica Santamaria 한국공업화학회 2023 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.118 No.-

In this work anaerobic heterogeneous photocatalytic solar/UV light reforming of glycerol in aqueousmedia was performed with Pt-photodeposition and noble metal free modified TiO2 photocatalysts preparedthrough ball milling, a very simple and cheap coupled catalyst preparation method. Differentamounts of Cu2O or 3% CuO were loaded on TiO2 using ball milling and during each run glycerol conversion,hydrogen and CO2 formed in the gas phase and 1,3-dihydroxyacetone (DHA) and glyceraldehyde(GA) in the liquid phase were determined. The results were compared with the aim to verify the effectivenessof Cu2O in replacing Pt. Using noble metal free photocatalysts, 33% glycerol conversion, 10.3%and 5.4% selectivity towards DHA and GA, respectively, a CO2 concentration of 0.16 mM, and a H2 concentrationof 1.01 mM corresponding to 0.17 mmol h1 g1 were obtained. Ex situ photoelectrochemicalcharacterization confirmed the formation of a heterostructure between TiO2 and copper oxide and theeffectiveness of Cu2O towards H2 formation.