52 research outputs found

    Management of High-Pressure Injection Hand Injuries: A Multicentric, Retrospective, Observational Study

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    Hand injuries after high-pressure injection are a medical emergency. These events occur frequently in workers during industrial cleaning, painting, and lubrication, and may have devastating consequences, leading to eventual amputation and poor functional outcomes. The authors have investigated the evolution, management, and outcome. Medical records of occupational medicine units and hand surgery units were collected in order to spot the high-pressure gear accident cases. Records were analyzed by dividing the subjects into two groups: those treated within 6 h and after 6 h of the trauma. A follow-up was carried out at least 1 year after treatment; the post-treatment outcomes were assessed. Of the 71 (100%) subjects, 26 (37%) were treated ≤6 h and 45 (63%) >6 h. A total of 28% (n = 20) underwent amputation. In 61% of cases, accidents had occurred in the iron and steel sector. High viscosity materials with a delayed treatment beyond 6 h seemed to determine compartmental syndrome and following amputation. A significantly better outcome was reported among subjects treated ≤6 h compared to those treated >6 h, 20% (n = 7) versus 26% (n = 9), respectively. Early management of this type of injury is crucial. The results of this study may contribute to providing guidelines to occupational physicians in order to best manage this type of emergency

    Mediterranean Sea large-scale low-frequency ocean variability and water mass formation rates from 1987 to 2007: A retrospective analysis

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    We describe a synthesis of the Mediterranean Sea circulation structure and dynamics from a 23-year- long reanalysis of the ocean circulation carried out by Adani et al. (2011). This mesoscale permitting dynamical reconstruction of past ocean variability in the Mediterranean Sea allows the study of the time-mean circulation and its low frequency, decadal, components. It is found that the time-mean circu- lation is composed of boundary and open ocean intensified jets at the border of cyclonic and anticyclonic gyres. The large scale basin circulation is generally characterized in the northern regions by cyclonic gyres and in its southern parts by anticyclonic gyres and eddy-dominated flow fields, with the exception of the Tyrrhenian and the northern Ionian Sea. The time-mean Tyrrhenian Sea circulation is dominated by cyclonic gyres of different intensity and intermittency. The northern Ionian Sea circulation, however, reverses in sign in two ten-year periods, the first in 1987–1996 and the second in 1997–2006, which is here called the Northern Ionian reversal phenomenon. This reversal is provoked by the excursion of the Atlantic-Ionian Stream from the middle to the northern parts of the basin. The decadal variability of other parts of the basin is characterized by changes in strength of the basin scale structures. The water mass formation rates and variability are dominated by event-like periods where the intermediate and deep waters are formed for 2–3 years at higher rates. The largest deep water formation events of the past 23 years occurred separately in the western and eastern Mediterranean basin: the first coincided with the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (Roether et al., 1996) and the second with the western Mediterranean deep water formation event in 2005–2006 (Smith et al., 2008). A new schematic of the basin-scale circu- lation is formulated and commented.Published318-3324A. Oceanografia e climaJCR Journa

    MyOcean Scientific Validation Report (ScVR) for WP9 – Med-MFC

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    This report was written for MyOcean ProjectPublished4.6. Oceanografia operativa per la valutazione dei rischi in aree marinereserve

    Marine climate change and environmental indicators from the Marine Core Service

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    In the framework of the Mediterranean Operational Oceanography Network (MOON, http://www.moon-oceanforecasting.eu) The Mediterranean Forecasting System (Pinardi et al., 2003) has started the design and development of services that include the routine production of environmental and climate indicators. A process of identifying user requirements has been started in collaboration with European Environment Agency and the indicators definition and implementation aim to take user requirements into account. The indicators are extensively used by EEA (EEA web page on indicators: http://themes.eea.europa.eu/indicators/). INGV has carried out an analysis on the possible improvements of existing indicators in use by EEA and on the development of new indicators based on Marine Core Services (MCS) products. The list of indicators includes: Temperature, Chlorophyll-a (from ocean colour), Ocean Currents and Transport, Salinity, Transparency, Sea Level, Sea Ice and Density. A critical analysis has been carried out to identify the relevance of the above-mentioned indicators for EU policies, their spatial and temporal coverage, their accuracy and their availability (Coppini et al., 2008). INGV in collaboration with CNR-ISAC are directly involved on the development of the indicators in the Mediterranean region and European Seas region the Temperature and Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) products are the most suitable for an indicator development test phase. In particular the OO Chl-a product, deduced from satellite data, is able to contribute to the further development of the EEA Chl-a indicator on eutrohpication that is based on in-situ measurements (CSI023). For this indicator a development phase has been undertaken in 2008 and 2009 within the European Topic Center for Water (ETC-W) for EEA. The temperature indicators, developed with the support of MyOcean and Operational Oceanography community, consist of long time series (1870-Today) of SST anomaly able to describe ocean temperature increase due to climate change in the European Seas and on SST trends map of the last 25 years for the European Seas. These last two indicators have been included in the last 2008 EEA report on Impacts of Climate change in the European Seas (http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/eea_report_2008_4). Moreover MFS re-analysis have been produced for the Mediterranean Sea and it consists of daily output of MFS-OPA hydrodinamic model (1/16 of degree horizontal resolution) that assimilates all available in situ and satellite observation for 1985 to 2007. This reanalysis product is used to detect temperature anomalies over the last 20 years in the coastal zone that could be related with environmental stresses. In addition to that we have also identified a Density indicator that appears relevant for the ecosystem health assessment in the coastal waters.PublishedBerlin, Germany3.7. Dinamica del clima e dell'oceanoope

    Definitive childlessness in women with multiple sclerosis: a multicenter study

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    The frequency of definitive childlessness in women with multiple sclerosis (MS) may be higher than in the general population. MS may also affect decisions on the delivery procedure and on breast-feeding issues. Aim of the study was to assess the frequency of childlessness and its possible causes, the proportion of cesarean deliveries (CD), and the frequency of breast-feeding in patients and controls who have reached the end of their reproductive period. Female MS patients (>43 years) and controls (>45 years) filled out a questionnaire. We enrolled 303 patients and 500 controls. MS was associated with a higher frequency of childlessness (22 vs 13%) and less patients were in a stable relationship (83 vs 89%). There was no difference in the reported rates of infertility and miscarriages, while elective abortions were more frequent in patients (20 vs 12%). MS did not significantly affect the frequency of CD or of breast-feeding. MS-related reasons for childlessness, reported by 16% of childless patients, included disability/fear of future disability, fear of genetically transmitting MS, fear of not starting/discontinuing treatments, and discouragement by physician. Definitive childlessness is more frequent in women with MS compared to controls. A portion of voluntary childlessness may be avoided through correct/tailored information to patients

    Eurodelta multi-model simulated and observed particulate matter trends in Europe in the period of 1990-2010

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    The Eurodelta-Trends (EDT) multi-model experiment, aimed at assessing the efficiency of emission mitigation measures in improving air quality in Europe during 1990-2010, was designed to answer a series of questions regarding European pollution trends; i.e. were there significant trends detected by observations? Do the models manage to reproduce observed trends? How close is the agreement between the models and how large are the deviations from observations? In this paper, we address these issues with respect to particulate matter (PM) pollution. An in-depth trend analysis has been performed for PM10 and PM2.5 for the period of 2000-2010, based on results from six chemical transport models and observational data from the EMEP (Cooperative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe) monitoring network. Given harmonization of set-up and main input data, the differences in model results should mainly result from differences in the process formulations within the models themselves, and the spread in the model-simulated trends could be regarded as an indicator for modelling uncertainty.The model ensemble simulations indicate overall decreasing trends in PM10 and PM2.5 from 2000 to 2010, with the total reductions of annual mean concentrations by between 2 and 5 (7 for PM10) mu g m(-3) (or between 10 % and 30 %) across most of Europe (by 0.5-2 mu g m(-3) in Fennoscandia, the north-west of Russia and eastern Europe) during the studied period. Compared to PM2.5, relative PM10 trends are weaker due to large interannual variability of natural coarse PM within the former. The changes in the concentrations of PM individual components are in general consistent with emission reductions. There is reasonable agreement in PM trends estimated by the individual models, with the inter-model variability below 30 %-40 % over most of Europe, increasing to 50 %-60 % in the northern and eastern parts of the EDT domain.Averaged over measurement sites (26 for PM10 and 13 for PM2.5), the mean ensemble-simulated trends are - 0.24 and -0.22 mu g m(-3) yr(-1) for PM10 and PM2.5, which are somewhat weaker than the observed trends of - 0.35 and -0.40 mu g m(-3) yr(-1) respectively, partly due to model underestimation of PM concentrations. The correspondence is better in relative PM10 and PM2.5 trends, which are -1.7 % yr(-1) and -2.0 % yr(-1) from the model ensemble and -2.1 % yr(-1) and -2.9 % yr(-1) from the observations respectively. The observations identify significant trends (at the 95 % confidence level) for PM10 at 56 % of the sites and for PM2.5 at 36 % of the sites, which is somewhat less that the fractions of significant modelled trends. Further, we find somewhat smaller spatial variability of modelled PM trends with respect to the observed ones across Europe and also within individual countries.The strongest decreasing PM trends and the largest number of sites with significant trends are found for the summer season, according to both the model ensemble and observations. The winter PM trends are very weak and mostly insignificant. Important reasons for that are the very modest reductions and even increases in the emissions of primary PM from residential heating in winter. It should be kept in mind that all findings regarding modelled versus observed PM trends are limited to the regions where the sites are located.The analysis reveals considerable variability of the role of the individual aerosols in PM10 trends across European countries. The multi-model simulations, supported by available observations, point to decreases in SO42- concentrations playing an overall dominant role. Also, we see relatively large contributions of the trends of NH4+ and NO3- to PM10 decreasing trends in Germany, Denmark, Poland and the Po Valley, while the reductions of primary PM emissions appear to be a dominant factor in bringing down PM10 in France, Norway, Portugal, Greece and parts of the UK and Russia. Further discussions are given with respect to emission uncertainties (including the implications of not accounting for forest fires and natural mineral dust by some of the models) and the effect of inter-annual meteorological variability on the trend analysis.Peer reviewe

    Marine climate change and environmental indicators from the Marine Core Service

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    In the framework of the Mediterranean Operational Oceanography Network (MOON, http://www.moon-oceanforecasting.eu) The Mediterranean Forecasting System (Pinardi et al., 2003) has started the design and development of services that include the routine production of environmental and climate indicators. A process of identifying user requirements has been started in collaboration with European Environment Agency and the indicators definition and implementation aim to take user requirements into account. The indicators are extensively used by EEA (EEA web page on indicators: http://themes.eea.europa.eu/indicators/). INGV has carried out an analysis on the possible improvements of existing indicators in use by EEA and on the development of new indicators based on Marine Core Services (MCS) products. The list of indicators includes: Temperature, Chlorophyll-a (from ocean colour), Ocean Currents and Transport, Salinity, Transparency, Sea Level, Sea Ice and Density. A critical analysis has been carried out to identify the relevance of the above-mentioned indicators for EU policies, their spatial and temporal coverage, their accuracy and their availability (Coppini et al., 2008). INGV in collaboration with CNR-ISAC are directly involved on the development of the indicators in the Mediterranean region and European Seas region the Temperature and Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) products are the most suitable for an indicator development test phase. In particular the OO Chl-a product, deduced from satellite data, is able to contribute to the further development of the EEA Chl-a indicator on eutrohpication that is based on in-situ measurements (CSI023). For this indicator a development phase has been undertaken in 2008 and 2009 within the European Topic Center for Water (ETC-W) for EEA. The temperature indicators, developed with the support of MyOcean and Operational Oceanography community, consist of long time series (1870-Today) of SST anomaly able to describe ocean temperature increase due to climate change in the European Seas and on SST trends map of the last 25 years for the European Seas. These last two indicators have been included in the last 2008 EEA report on Impacts of Climate change in the European Seas (http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/eea_report_2008_4). Moreover MFS re-analysis have been produced for the Mediterranean Sea and it consists of daily output of MFS-OPA hydrodinamic model (1/16 of degree horizontal resolution) that assimilates all available in situ and satellite observation for 1985 to 2007. This reanalysis product is used to detect temperature anomalies over the last 20 years in the coastal zone that could be related with environmental stresses. In addition to that we have also identified a Density indicator that appears relevant for the ecosystem health assessment in the coastal waters
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