Ricerc@Sapienza

The determination of the function of cells in zero-gravity conditions is a subject of interest in many different research fields. Due to their metabolic unicity, the characterization of the behaviour of erythrocytes maintained in prolonged microgravity conditions is of particular importance. Here, we used a 3D-clinostat to assess the microgravity-induced modifications of the structure and function of these cells, by investigating how they translate these peculiar mechanical stimuli into modifications, with potential clinical interest, of the biochemical pathways and the aging processes.

Over the last few decades, many surgical techniques for lumbar interbody fusion have been reported. The anterior-to-psoas (ATP) approach is theoretically supposed to benefit from the advantages of both anterior and lateral approaches with similar complication rates, even in L5-S1. At this segment, the anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) requires retroperitoneal dissection and retraction of major vessels, whereas the iliac crest does not allow the lateral transpsoas approach.

The paper shows the typical architecture of a 2×25 kV-50 Hz traction system, and the details that need to be considered and approximations that can safely be done, for power frequency studies. Power frequency models are important to allow simulations of long timespans, such as those needed when evaluation of trains acceleration/braking, for instance to analyse active and reactive power flows, voltages and currents. The proposed models are implemented in two ways: as data to be inputted to the well-known ATP Program, and as specific models written in the standard Modelica language.