Myocardial interleukin-6 in the setting of left ventricular mechanical assistance: relation with outcome and C-reactive protein

Background: In left ventricular assist device (LVAD) recipients, plasma levels of interleukin (IL)-6 are associated with Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (INTERMACS) profiles, reflecting postoperative risk. However, it is not clear how the cardiac. Conclusions: Cardiac IL-6 levels do not contribute to improve risk profile of LVAD recipients in relation to clinical inpatient post-implantation. Instead, plasma IL-6 and serum CRP concentrations are more effective in predicting the severity of the clinical course in the early phase of LVAD therapy. level of IL-6, detectable on the tissue samples at the time of implantation, can contribute to predict the post-operative outcome

IL-33/ST2 Pathway and Classical Cytokines in End-Stage Heart Failure Patients Submitted to Left Ventricular Assist Device Support: A Paradoxic Role for Inflammatory Mediators?

Background. Inflammation is a critical process contributing to heart failure (HF). We hypothesized that IL-33/ST2 pathway, a new mechanism regulated during cardiac stress, may be involved in the functional worsening of end-stage HF patients, candidates for left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation, and potentially responsible for their outcome. Methods. IL-33, ST2, and conventional cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α) were determined in cardiac biopsies and plasma of 22 patients submitted to LVAD implantation (pre-LVAD) and compared with (1) control stable chronic HF patients on medical therapy at the moment of heart transplantation without prior circulatory support (HT); (2) patients supported by LVAD at the moment of LVAD weaning (post-LVAD). Results. Cardiac expression of ST2/IL-33 and cytokines was lower in the pre-LVAD than in the HT group. LVAD determined an increase of inflammatory mediators comparable to levels of the HT group. Only ST2 correlated with outcome indices after LVAD implantation. Conclusions. IL-33/ST2 and traditional cytokines were involved in decline of cardiac function of ESHF patients as well as in hemodynamic recovery induced by LVAD. IL-33/ST2 pathway was also associated to severity of clinical course. Thus, a better understanding of inflammation is the key to achieving more favorable outcome by new specific therapies

Improving access to research outcomes for innovation in agriculture and forestry : the VALERIE project

Many excellent results are obtained in agricultural and forestry research projects, but their practical adoption is often limited. The aim of the European project VALERIE is to increase the transfer and application of innovations produced by research in agriculture and forestry, by facilitating their integration into management practices. The project is still ongoing and the results illustrated in this paper are still temporary and subject to being improved. Here we present the methodology used in VALERIE to extract and summarise knowledge for innovation from research documents with the aim of making it available to final users through ask-Valerie.eu; we also report on current progress. The tasks associated with extracting and summarising knowledge are centred on: i) ontology; ii) a document base; and iii) a system (ask-Valerie.eu) that allows users to effectively search the document base. Ontology defines a set of concepts and the relations between them. The VALERIE ontology is built by experts in the agricultural and forestry domain and contains 6169 concepts (21st October 2016). The document base is the collection of documents in which the system searches. The VALERIE document base includes scientific and practical documents derived from various sources, written in any of a number of languages. All documents contained in the document base are annotated using the ontology: each term (a word or a short phrase) in the document that matches a concept in the VALERIE-ontology is linked to that concept. Annotation is an automated process that takes place whenever a document is added to the document base. The document base contains 4278 documents (October 2016). Among them, there are 201 mini-factsheets written by members of the VALERIE project, each describing an innovation with: a short description of the innovation, a list of correlated projects, and some links to scientific and practical documents. ask-Valerie.eu searches documents and fragments of text from the document base that address the user’s query. ask-Valerie.eu mimics the dialogue between a practitioner and an expert and achieves this functionality by: i) supporting the practitioner in articulating the question (it completes terms that the user starts to type and suggests other possibly relevant terms); ii) expanding the query using synonyms; iii) extracting and ranking text fragments from the documents

Economic and environmental performances of foresty mechanization: an innovative approach

Selecting the most suitable machines for forestry operations (FO) is crucial to evaluate the economic (Peco) and the environmental (Penv) performances of the whole forestry machinery chain (FMC). Nevertheless, there is still a lack of a generalized method to make this selection feasible. To fill this gap, an innovative approach based on two linked models operating at the forest stand level was developed to support the stakeholders, such as Local Authorities (e.g. mountain communities, municipalities) and supply chain operators (e.g. logging companies), in awarding public grants/subsidies and setting transparent FO tariffs, respectively. In the first model (FOREstry MAchinery chain selection, FOREMA v1) the feasible FMCs are defined by combining the categories that compose seven technical parameters (i.e.: stand’s management, commercial woody assortment, harvesting system, mechanization level, forest roads transitability, stand’s accessibility, mass of harvested wood). For each FMC, the model defines the FOs sequence and the types of usable machines. Through a second model (ENVironmental Inventory of Agricultural Machinery operations, ENVIAM v3), the mechanical parameters of the selected machines are uploaded from a machinery database, and Peco and Penv of each FO are computed. Peco (€∙h-1) are subdivided into: (i) fixed costs (financial depreciation, insurance and permanent workers) and (ii) variable costs (maintenance, total consuming inputs and temporary workers). Penv (kg∙h-1) are subdivided into: (i) total consuming inputs (fuel, lubricant, AdBlue®), (ii) partial consuming inputs (FM required materials for production, maintenance&repair work), (iii) exhaust gases emissions into the atmosphere (i.c. Diesel engines) and (iv) heavy metals released into the soil (tire abrasion). The simultaneous calculation of Peco and Penv allows to better define the sustainability of the selected forestry machinery chain

Sostenibilità ambientale delle operazioni meccaniche di campo

Le operazioni agricole di campo sono fortemente influenzate da condizioni operative sito-specifiche le cui variazioni contribuiscono a modificare gli impatti ambientali associati. La valutazione delle prestazioni ambientali delle operazioni meccaniche di campo può essere effettuata mediante la metodologia dell’analisi del ciclo di vita (Life Cycle Assessment, LCA). Uno degli aspetti più importanti e critici che condiziona la qualità dei risultati di uno studio LCA è che molto spesso non è possibile (o comunque è troppo difficoltoso) reperire dati primari o secondari affidabili. Di conseguenza, è necessario adottare approcci innovativi per costruire inventari secondari che siano rappresentativi delle condizioni in esame. Al DiSAA dell’Università degli Studi di Milano è stato elaborato uno strumento di calcolo chiamato ENVIAM (ENVronmental Inventory of Agricultural Machinery operations) che consente - sulla base dell’accoppiamento trattore-operatrice - di quantificare: (i) consumi diretti (gasolio e lubrificante), (ii) consumi indiretti e (iii) emissioni in atmosfera e in suolo. Aggregando le diverse operazioni meccaniche eseguite per la coltivazione di una determinata coltura è possibile ottenere consumi e emissioni associate alla meccanizzazione del suo intero ciclo produttivo di campo. I risultati ottenibili mediante ENVIAM sono: (i) inventari locali accurati, (ii) quantificazione degli impatti ambientali (e hotspots) associati ai cicli produttivi e (iii) identificazione di soluzioni di mitigazione. Nella nuova versione di ENVIAM (v2) è stata quantificata la massa di gomma di pneumatico abrasa durante lo svolgimento dell’operazione meccanica in studio e la corrispondente massa di metalli pesanti immessa nel suolo. Inoltre, tra gli aspetti innovativi (alcuni dei quali ancora in fase di studio), si ricorda: (i) influenza della pendenza degli appezzamenti e del tenore idrico del terreno, (ii) affinamento del calcolo della dissipazioni di potenza e del consumo specifico di combustibile nei diversi tempi di lavoro e (iii) materiali componenti le macchine. Per migliorare la qualità e la robustezza dei risultati - tenuto conto degli obiettivi particolari del Convegno - è possibile auspicare che il Meccanico Agrario collabori con esperti di settori affini, al fine sia di rendere gli strumenti di calcolo più intuitivi e semplici da utilizzare, sia per ottenere una visione più ampia sugli impatti ambientali dei cicli produttivi, rinnovando la consapevolezza che le proprie conoscenze specifiche - pur essendo basilari - vanno necessariamente integrate per la realizzazione di filiere agro-alimentari sostenibili