Assessing the impacts of citizen-led policies on emissions, air quality and health.

Air pollution is a global challenge, and especially urban areas are particularly affected by acute episodes. Traditional approaches used to mitigate air pollution primarily consider the technical aspects of the problem but not the role of citizen behaviour and day-to-day practices. ClairCity, a Horizon 2020 funded project, created an impact assessment framework considering the role of citizen behaviour to create future scenarios, aiming to improve urban environments and the wellbeing and health of its inhabitants. This framework was applied to six pilot cases: Bristol, Amsterdam, Ljubljana, Sosnowiec, Aveiro Region and Liguria Region, considering three-time horizons: 2025, 2035 and 2050. The scenarios approach includes the Business As Usual (BAU) scenario and a Final Unified Policy Scenarios (FUPS) established by citizens, decision-makers, local planners and stakeholders based on data collected through a citizen and stakeholder co-creation process. Therefore, this paper aims to present the ClairCity outcomes, analysing the quantified impacts of selected measures in terms of emissions, air quality, population exposure, and health. Each case study has established a particular set of measures with different levels of ambition, therefore different levels of success were achieved towards the control and mitigation of their specific air pollution problems. The transport sector was the most addressed by the measures showing substantial improvements for NO2, already with the BAU scenarios, and overall, even better results when applying the citizen-led FUPS scenarios. In some cases, due to a lack of ambition for the residential and commercial sector, the results were not sufficient to fulfil the WHO guidelines. Overall, it was found in all cities that the co-created scenarios would lead to environmental improvements in terms of air quality and citizens' health compared to the baseline year of 2015. However, in some cases, the health impacts were lower than air quality due to the implementation of the measures not affecting the most densely populated areas. Benefits from the FUPS comparing to the BAU scenario were found to be highest in Amsterdam and Bristol, with further NO2 and PM10 emission reductions around 10%-16% by 2025 and 19%-28% by 2050, compared to BAU.

A simulation environment for estimation of the performance of RSA cages.

Roentgen stereophotogrammetric analysis (RSA) is an important technique for in vivo evaluation of joint kinematics and surgical outcome. However, its accuracy is highly affected by the experimental set-up. In this paper we present a new software environment for assessing the impact of calibration cage design on the accuracy of the reconstruction of 3D points, which can be easily used for preliminary evaluations also by non-expert users. The paper presents methods of the simulator and preliminary results in a clinical standard and custom environment. The software was realized using MATLAB and developed for the PC/Windows operating system. It is freeware under request to authors.

Precision assessment of model-based RSA for a total knee prosthesis in a biplanar set-up.

Model-based Roentgen Stereophotogrammetric Analysis (RSA) was recently developed for the measurement of prosthesis micromotion. Its main advantage is that markers do not need to be attached to the implants as traditional marker-based RSA requires. Model-based RSA has only been tested in uniplanar radiographic set-ups. A biplanar set-up would theoretically facilitate the pose estimation algorithm, since radiographic projections would show more different shape features of the implants than in uniplanar images. We tested the precision of model-based RSA and compared it with that of the traditional marker-based method in a biplanar set-up. Micromotions of both tibial and femoral components were measured with both the techniques from double examinations of patients participating in a clinical study. The results showed that in the biplanar set-up model-based RSA presents a homogeneous distribution of precision for all the translation directions, but an inhomogeneous error for rotations, especially internal-external rotation presented higher errors than rotations about the transverse and sagittal axes. Model-based RSA was less precise than the marker-based method, although the differences were not significant for the translations and rotations of the tibial component, with the exception of the internal-external rotations. For both prosthesis components the precisions of model-based RSA were below 0.2 mm for all the translations, and below 0.3 degrees for rotations about transverse and sagittal axes. These values are still acceptable for clinical studies aimed at evaluating total knee prosthesis micromotion. In a biplanar set-up model-based RSA is a valid alternative to traditional marker-based RSA where marking of the prosthesis is an enormous disadvantage.

Identification of six putative novel human papillomaviruses (HPV) and characterization of candidate HPV type 87.

Six putative novel human papillomavirus (HPV) types were detected by using general primers for a conserved L1 HPV region in patients examined in gynecologic centers. One of the isolates, detected in samples from 4 patients with koilocytic atypia at cervical cytology (3 of whom were also infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1), was completely sequenced, identified as a new HPV genotype, and designated candidate HPV87 (candHPV87) by the Reference Center for Human Papillomavirus. candHPV87 shows the classic HPV genome organization and the absence of a functional E5 coding region. Phylogenetic analysis documented that the candHPV87 genome clusters within the A3 group of HPVs, together with HPV61, HPV72, HPV83, HPV84 and candHPV86, which have been completely sequenced, and a number of other putative novel genotypes (two of which are described in this work), which have been partially characterized. To address the growth-enhancing potential of candHPV87, the E6 and E7 putative coding regions were cloned and expressed in tissue cultures. The data indicate that both proteins stimulate cell division in tissue cultures more than those of low-risk HPVs, though not as much as those of HPV16. Taken together, the clinical, molecular, and biological data suggest that the novel papillomavirus characterized in the present study is a low- to intermediate-risk HPV.

Air quality index and its use in Italy's management plans.

The paper defines a specific Air Quality Index (AQI) introduced to evaluate the general trend of air quality within the elaboration of air quality management plans and discusses its application in the Trento (Italy) plan.