Results of Skylab investigation over Italy

The author has identified the following significant results. Multispectral high resolution photography of S190A was successfully applied to the detection of paleoriverbeds in flat lands. Results of SL-3 mission were compared to those of LANDSAT for two regional geological surveys (linear structures) on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. On Sicily, the seasonal conditions were unfavorable for Skylab while LANDSAT played a major role in discovering long, unknown lineaments of great interest for the geodynamics of the area. On Sardinia, owing to the vegetation type and to the geomorphic conditions, the Skylab imagery was successfully employed to describe the network of linears, both regional and local. Results can be used to study the relationship between linears, actual fracturing and the occurrence of mineral deposits

Heat Capacity Mapping Mission (HCMM) program: Study of geological structure of Sicily and other Italian areas

The usefulness of thermal inertia mapping in discriminating geolithological units was investigated using Sardinia and the Gulf of Orosei as test sites. Software designed for LANDSAT data were modified and improved for HCMM tapes. A first attempt was made to compare the geological cross section, the topography, the IR radiance, and the thermal inertia along selected profiles of the test site. Thermal inertia profiles appear smoothed in comparison with the thermal radiance. The lowest apparent thermal inertia (ATI) was found on granitic and basaltic outcrops where their image is of sufficient extent, while ATI is higher on carbonatic and dolomitic or moist deposits. Almost every fault is marked by a jump of ATI, the interval being sometimes of the order of one pixel. This seems to demonstrate the ability of ATI to detect contacts or tectonically disturbed zones with a good resolution. It seems more difficult to measure the differences in ATI between homogeneous materials having different lithology. Ground surveys conducted and a simulation model of diurnal temperatures of rocks having different thermal inertia are discussed

Contribution of Skylab multispectral imagery to the remote sensing studies of Mount Etna volcano

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Multivariate Differencing Techniques for Land Cover Change Detection: the Normalized Difference Reflectance Approach

Non

Study of geological structure of Sicily and other Italian areas

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Skylab multispectral photography of Italian volcanology, geology, rice fields, and Paleo river beds

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Multispectral photography of Italian volcanic activity, vegetation, and Paleo River beds

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Volcanology, geology, and vegetation of Sicily and Italy

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Insulin and glucose mediate opposite intracellular ionized magnesium variations in human lymphocytes

Insulin is capable of increasing intracellular magnesium, although very little is known about the effect of insulin on the biologically active fraction of magnesium, i.e. the ionized quota (Mgi2+), its interactions with glucose, and the cellular mechanisms involved in these processes. We studied the interactions of the effects of insulin and glucose on intracellular ionized magnesium in human lymphocytes. Mgi2+ was measured using a fluorimetric method and the Mg2+-sensitive dye, furaptra. We found that insulin significantly increases the Mgi2+(without insulin 227 ± 14 μM, with 10 μU/ml, insulin 301 ± 30 μM, P<0.0001, n = 12) in a dose-dependent manner in all three glucose concentrations tested (5, 7 and 15 mmol/l). The half-maximal effect of insulin was approximately 0.8 μU/ml. Glucose and insulin showed opposite effects in their ability to modify Mgi2+ in lymphocytes. Inhibitors of the membrane Na+- Mg2+ transport system and of phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase abolish the insulin-mediated increase of Mgi2+, thus suggesting that insulin is capable of increasing Mgi2+ by modulating the activity of this transport system, possibly through the mediation of PI 3-kinase activation. Taking into account the relationship between insulin and glucose plasma levels and their opposing effects on Mgi2+, this mechanism may represent the two limbs of a biphasic regulatory system of Mgi2+ in both physiological and pathological conditions

Activity of cardiopulmonary baroreceptors, peripheral resistance and cutaneous microcirculation in patients with peripheral obstructive arterial disease.

Abstract. Arosio E, De Marchi S, Prior M, Zannoni M, Lucchese L, Lechi A (Division of Vascular Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Verona, Italy). Activity of cardiopulmonary baroreceptors, peripheral resistance and cutaneous microcirculation in patients with peripheral obstructive arterial disease. J Intern Med 2000; 247: 471\u2013478. Objectives. To assess the effects of cardiopulmonary baroreceptors on the haemodynamics of the humeral and common carotid arteries in patients suffering from peripheral artery disease (PAD) and to discover whether the stimulation of these receptors modifies the cutaneous microcirculation in the forearm. Design. We studied a group of patients suffering from peripheral artery disease and two groups as controls. Setting. Patients were examined at the ambulatory for Vascular Research, Division of Vascular Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Verona. Patients. We studied 15 patients with peripheral artery disease of the lower limbs at Fontaine stage II (group C), 10 free of arterial pathologies (group B) and 10 young people (group A). Main outcome measures. We subjected the patients to passive elevation of the legs and the trunk in a horizontal position with pressure monitoring and measurement of the calibre and flow in the brachial and common carotid arteries using a colourDoppler ultrasound. We also studied the cutaneous microcirculation with laserDoppler flowmetry. Results. During the test, arterial pressure and cardiac frequency remained constant in group A, systolic pressure values showed a slight, but statistically significant increase in group B, whilst the increase in systolic pressure values at this stage was marked in group C. Diastolic pressure values and cardiac frequency remained unchanged in all groups. The calibre of the humeral artery increased in the control groups. Carotid resistance was unchanged in the three groups. Humeral resistance during the test decreased in the two control groups whilst it increased in group C. The number of perfusion units felt in the control groups; no variations in group C. Conclusions. Our study demonstrates, in patients with peripheral artery disease, a reduction in the activity of the cardiopulmonary baroreceptors with an increase in the humeral resistance during the test and impairment of the mechanisms of cutaneous microcirculatory vasoregulation in the forearm