Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is one of the most extensively studied ligand-inducible transcription factors (TFs), able to modulate its transcriptional activity through conformational changes. It is of particular interest because of its pleiotropic functions: it plays a crucial role in the expression of key genes involved in adipogenesis, lipid and glucid metabolism, atherosclerosis, inflammation, and cancer. Its protein isoforms, the wide number of PPARγ target genes, ligands, and coregulators contribute to determine the complexity of its function. In addition, the presence of genetic variants is likely to affect expression levels of target genes although the impact of PPARG gene variations on the expression of target genes is not fully understood. The introduction of massively parallel sequencing platforms—in the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) era—has revolutionized the way of investigating the genetic causes of inherited diseases. In this context, DNA-Seq for identifying—within both coding and regulatory regions of PPARG gene—novel nucleotide variations and haplotypes associated to human diseases, ChIP-Seq for defining a PPARγ binding map, and RNA-Seq for unraveling the wide and intricate gene pathways regulated by PPARG, represent incredible steps toward the understanding of PPARγ in health and disease.

Current debris evolutionary models usually neglect fragments smaller than 10 cm because of the high computational effort they add to the simulation. However, small debris objects can also be dangerous to operational satellites. This work proposes an analytical approach to describe the evolution of a cloud of small fragments generated by a collision in Low Earth Orbit. The proposed approach considers the cloud globally and derives its evolution analytically, in terms of the change in the spatial density under the effect of atmospheric drag. As a result, the analytical approach allows the representation of small fragments and noticeably reduces the computational time under 10% compared to the numerical propagation of all the fragment trajectories.For altitudes above 800 km the relative error compared to the numerical method is lower than 10%. R E = Earth's radius [km]

As the debris spatial density increases due to recent collisions and inoperative spacecraft, the probability of collisions in space grows. Even a collision involving small objects may produce thousands of fragments due to the high orbital velocity and the high energy released. The propagation of the trajectories of all the objects produced by a breakup would be prohibitive in terms of computational time; therefore, simplified models are needed to describe the consequences of a collision with a reasonable computational effort. The continuity approach can be applied to this purpose as it allows switching the point of view from the analysis of each single fragment to the study of the evolution of the debris cloud distribution of area-to-mass ratio and eccentricity among the fragments. Results for these three applications are shown and discussed in terms of accuracy compared to the numerical propagation and to the one-dimensional approach.

Libration Point Orbits (LPOs) and Highly Elliptical Orbits (HEOs) are often selected for astrophysics and solar terrestrial missions. No guidelines currently exist for their end-of-life disposal. However, as current and future missions are planned to be placed on these orbits, it is a critical aspect to clear these regions at the end of operations to avoid damage to other spacecraft and ensure on-ground safety. This paper presents an analysis of possible disposal strategies for LPO and HEO missions as a result of a European Space Agency study. The dynamical models and the design approach are presented for each disposal option. Five current missions are selected as test cases Herschel, Gaia, SOHO as LPOs, and INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton as HEOs. A trade-off on the disposal options is made considering technical feasibility, as well as the sustainability context