Banca dati idrogeologica TANGRAM©: strumento per elaborazioni quantitative di dati per la valutazione delle acque sotterranee - The hydrogeological well database TANGRAM©: a tool for data processing to support groundwater assessment

At the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of the University of Milano-Bicocca (DISAT-UNIMIB), a hydrogeological well database, called TANGRAM©, has been developed and published on line at www.TANGRAM.samit.unimib.it, developing an earlier 1989 DOS version. This package can be used to store, display, and process all data related to water wells, including administrative information, well characteristics, stratigraphic logs, water levels, pumping rates, and other hydrogeological information. Currently, the database contains more than 39.200 wells located in the Italian region of Lombardy (90%), Piedmont (9%) and Valle d'Aosta (1%). TANGRAM© has been created both as a tool for researches and for public administration's administrators who have projects in common with DISAT-UNIMIB. Indeed, transferring wells data from paper into TANGRAM© offers both an easier and more robust way to correlate hydrogeological data and a more organized management of the administrative information. Some Administrations use TANGRAM© regularly as a tool for wells data management (Brescia Province, ARPA Valle Aosta). An innovative aspect of the database is the quantitative extraction of stratigraphic data. In the part of the software intended for research purposes, all well logs are translated into 8-digit alphanumeric codes and the user composes the code interpreting the description at each stratigraphic level. So the stratigraphic well data can be coded, then quantified and processed. This is made possible by attributing a weight to the digits of the code for textures. The program calculates the weighted percentage of the chosen lithology, as related to each individual layer. These extractions are the starting point for subsequent hydrogeological studies: well head protection area, reconstruction of the dynamics of flow, realization of the quarry plans and flux and transport hydrogeological models. The results of a two-dimensional distribution of coarse, medium and fine sized material in the first 80 meters of depth are presented here for a study area located within the Province of Brescia (Italy)

Effect of Maternal Smoking on Breast Milk Interleukin-1α, β-Endorphin, and Leptin Concentrations

Tobacco smoke is immunotoxic, but the effect of smoking on the immunologic function of the mammary gland of mothers who smoke cigarettes (“smoker mothers”) has not been studied. Our objective was to test, in smoker mothers, the colostral and transitional milk concentrations of interleukin-(IL)1α. The immunomodulators β-endorphin and leptin were also tested. Pregnant women who self-identified as smokers (≥ 5 cigarettes per day through pregnancy) or nonsmokers were recruited for study participation. The study population included 42 smoker and 40 non-smoker nursing mothers, with otherwise uncomplicated gestation, delivery, and puerperium, who were breast-feeding ad libitum their healthy neonates. Colostrum was obtained on the third postpartum day at 0900 hr and transitional milk on the 10th postpartum day at 0900 hr. IL-1α concentrations were significantly reduced in the colostrum of smoker mothers compared with nonsmoker mothers (p < 0.01). Colostral β-endorphin and leptin concentrations were comparable. No significant differences were found between smoker and nonsmoker lactating mothers in transitional milk concentrations of IL-1α, β-endorphin, and leptin. Moreover, β-endorphin and leptin concentrations were significantly reduced in transitional milk samples compared with colostrum of both smoker and nonsmoker mothers (p < 0.05); also, IL-1α transitional milk concentrations were reduced compared with colostrum, but without any significance. This analysis shows that maternal smoking alters the colostral milk levels of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1α. The altered postnatal provision of alternative source of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1α adds understanding to how breast-feeding could be nonprotective against infections among the neonates nursed by smoker mothers

Continuous recurrence of type 1 hepatorenal syndrome and long-term treatment with terlipressin and albumin: A new exception to MELD score in the allocation system to liver transplantation?

Background & Aims The recurrence of type 1 hepatorenal syndrome has been described in up to 20% of responders to terlipressin and albumin after the discontinuation of the treatment. Subsequent recurrence of type 1 hepatorenal syndrome may require long-term treatment with terlipressin and albumin. Methods We describe our experience of long-term administration of terlipressin as a bridge to LT in three patients with cirrhosis and recurrent type 1 hepatorenal syndrome. For all three patients we requested an "early transplant" which is an option recognized in our country to reduce waiting times for liver transplantation. Results All three patients were transplanted within 2months of onset of hepatorenal syndrome. All patients are still alive and none of them have developed chronic kidney disease. Conclusions The outcomes of these patients suggest that long-term treatment with terlipressin and albumin is effective and well tolerated in patients with continuous recurrence of type 1 hepatorenal syndrome and, therefore, should be considered an absolute priority criterion in the allocation system for liver transplantation

The reliability of a deep learning model in external memory clinic MRI data: A multi‐cohort study

AbstractBackgroundDeep learning (DL) has provided impressive results in numerous domains in recent years, including medical image analysis. Training DL models requires large data sets to yield good performance. Since medical data can be difficult to acquire, most studies rely on public research cohorts, which often have harmonized scanning protocols and strict exclusion criteria. This is not representative of a clinical setting. In this study, we investigated the performance of a DL model in out‐of‐distribution data from multiple memory clinics and research cohorts.MethodWe trained multiple versions of AVRA: a DL model trained to predict visual ratings of Scheltens' medial temporal atrophy (MTA) scale (Mårtensson et al., 2019). This was done on different combinations of training data—starting with only harmonized MRI data from public research cohorts, and further increasing image heterogeneity in the training set by including external memory clinic data. We assessed the performance in multiple test sets by comparing AVRA's MTA ratings to an experienced radiologist's (who rated all images in this study). Data came from Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), AddNeuroMed, and images from 13 European memory clinics in the E‐DLB consortium.ResultsModels trained only on research cohorts generalized well to new data acquired with similar protocols as the training data (weighted kappa κw between 0.70‐0.72), but worse to memory clinic data with more image variability (κw between 0.34‐0.66). This was most prominent in one specific memory clinic, where the DL model systematically predicted too low MTA scores. When including data from a wider range of scanners and protocols during training, the agreement to the radiologist's ratings in external memory clinics increased (κw between 0.51‐0.71).ConclusionIn this study we showed that increasing heterogeneity in training data improves generalization to out‐of‐distribution data. Our findings suggest that studies assessing reliability of a DL model should be done in multiple cohorts, and that softwares based on DL need to be rigorously evaluated prior to being certified for deployment to clinics. References: Mårtensson, G. et al. (2019) 'AVRA: Automatic Visual Ratings of Atrophy from MRI images using Recurrent Convolutional Neural Networks', NeuroImage: Clinical. Elsevier, 23(March), p. 101872

EVOLUZIONE DEL SETTORE SETTENTRIONALE DELLA PIATTAFORMA CARBONATICA ADRIATICA

The eastern Southern Alps are characterized by the superimposition of alpine and dinaric tectonic clcmcnts; the bedrock Of the Friulan plane is composed by structural elements that represent the prosecution of the External Dinarides. This structural setting is the result of the dinaric, alpine and, partly, apenninic tectogeno—sedimentary processes which affected from the Upper Cretaceous to the present an area with peculiar palaeogeographic characters. During the Jurassic—Cretaceous times infact an ' 'adriatic" carbonatic platform developed with some basins at its- edges: the Belluno, Carnic and Tolmino basins. The authors propose here, on the basis of stratigraphic, tectonic and physiographic elements and with palaeogeographic reconstruction, an evolutionary model of the area that takes in account all these factors, thelr influence and their interactions

Ricostruzione 3D della distribuzione delle tessiture nel sottosuolo della Pianura Lombarda centro-occidentale

Po Plain is the result of complex endogenous processes which induced the growth of a large and deep subsiding foredeep basin for the south-vergent thrusting from the Alpine Chain first, and then for the Apennine structure, verging in the opposite direction. The Po Plain foredeep was nourished by large amount of debris coming from exogenous processes of erosion of both mountain chains. During Pleistocene, the foredeep has assumed a W-E direction along the Appenine margin, corresponding to the Po River course, deeper eastward. At the same time, at the northern margin of the plain, isostatic processes have been responsible of relevant raising. Sediments in the area have been deposited firstly in a marine basin, then in a wide delta-lagoon region, and more recently, a continental sedimentation prevailed. The area was dominated by large alluvial fans coming from the main Alpine valleys while in the southern part of the plain, where finer sediments are widespread, intense subsidence phenomena due to compaction of the sedimentary deposits occurred. During Quaternary, fluvial transport and sedimentation was strongly influenced by climate changes and, in the cold stages, large amount of debris were produced on the mountain chains and remarkable sea-level changes caused marine ingression in the middle of the Po Plain alternating to as much relevant regressions. Through the use of GOCAD software, using SGRID frame, voxels 500x500 m were obtained interpolating between Topo and A surfaces subdivided in 90 intervals, between A and B surfaces in 84 intervals and between B and C surfaces in 74 intervals respectively. The surfaces A, B and C, (Regione Lombardia &amp; ENI-Divisione AGIP, 2002) were dated back respectively to 450, 870 and 1240 Ky. In each voxel, gravel, sand and clay texture distribution have been interpolated using percentage of texture for each metre assumed from stratigraphic data of the wells (11,993) stored in TANGRAM database. Interpolation has been carried out using kriging methods into GOCAD environment. To each voxel, the value of texture percentage has been assigned and the distribution in space and time has been modelled. 3D analysis related to clastic deposits distribution in the whole studied area testify that: 1) gravels deposited in the piedmont area over sand and clay materials from MIS 22 (870 Ky), and prograding gradually southward, are the effects of the beginning of glacial phases; 2) sand levels interbedded with clay ones, along the south-eastern Po river axis, have a geometric sequences, along axis Z, according to temporal sequences, effects of climate changes during Pleistocene

The hydrogeological well database TANGRAM©: a tool for data processing to support groundwater assessment

At the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of the University of Milano-Bicocca (DISAT-UNIMIB), a hydrogeological well database, called TANGRAM©, has been developed and published on line at www.TANGRAM.samit.unimib.it, developing an earlier 1989 DOS version. This package can be used to store, display, and process all data related to water wells, including administrative information, well characteristics, stratigraphic logs, water levels, pumping rates, and other hydrogeological information. Currently, the database contains more than 39.200 wells located in the Italian region of Lombardy (90%), Piedmont (9%) and Valle d’Aosta (1%). TANGRAM© has been created both as a tool for researches and for public administration’s administrators who have projects in common with DISAT-UNIMIB. Indeed, transferring wells data from paper into TANGRAM© offers both an easier and more robust way to correlate hydrogeological data and a more organized management of the administrative information. Some Administrations use TANGRAM© regularly as a tool for wells data management (Brescia Province, ARPA Valle Aosta). An innovative aspect of the database is the quantitative extraction of stratigraphic data. In the part of the software intended for research purposes, all well logs are translated into 8-digit alphanumeric codes and the user composes the code interpreting the description at each stratigraphic level. So the stratigraphic well data can be coded, then quantified and processed. This is made possible by attributing a weight to the digits of the code for textures. The program calculates the weighted percentage of the chosen lithology, as related to each individual layer. These extractions are the starting point for subsequent hydrogeological studies: well head protection area, reconstruction of the dynamics of flow, realization of the quarry plans and flux and transport hydrogeological models. The results of a two-dimensional distribution of coarse, medium and fine sized material in the first 80 meters of depth are presented here for a study area located within the Province of Brescia (Italy)

Estimation of information loss when maskingconditional dependence and categorizingcontinuous data: further experiments on adatabase for spatial prediction modelling innorthern Italy

Prediction patterns are generated using different data sets from a database for landslides hazard in northern Italy. A direct supporting pattern of the distribution of 28 complex landslides was previously used to obtain their spatial relationships with five categorical indirect supporting patterns representing the spatial context of the landslides: geology, land use, and permeability in addition to internal relief and slope, the latter two categorized into five classes. The five indirect supporting patterns were selected to minimize the effects of conditional dependence on prediction patterns by a Weight-of-Evidence model. The same set of patterns is reanalysed applying the Empirical Likelihood Ratio model using also uncategorized continuous supporting patterns: aspect, curvature, and digital elevation, in addition to internal relief and slope. The resulting prediction patterns are compared in terms of prediction rates and target-uncertainty patterns.Published291-2942TR. Ricostruzione e modellazione della struttura crostaleN/A or not JC

Lipid Profile, Eating Habit, and Physical Activity in Children with Down Syndrome: A Prospective Study

Children with Down Syndrome (DS) frequently undergo health challenges, including a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity. We aimed to evaluate the impact of dietary and physical advice provided by a specialized pediatrician over two years. In this prospective study, 44 children with DS, aged 2 to 17, underwent outpatient follow-up visits every six months between December 2020 and May 2023. Dietary habits, physical activities, anthropometric data, and laboratory results were recorded at baseline and 2-year follow-up. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet and physical activity were investigated using the ‘KIDMED’ and ‘Godin–Shepard Leisure-Time’ questionnaires, respectively, completed by the parents of the children. Venous blood samples were taken to determine the lipid profile. A significant reduction in BMI z-scores (p = 0.006) and an improvement in Godin–Shepard questionnaire scores (p = 0.0004) were observed. On the other hand, the lipid profile worsened, with an increase in LDL-c (p = 0.04) and a decrease in HDL-c (p = 0.03). Children with DS may benefit from an educational program on nutrition and physical activity to optimize weight control. Different interventions should target the lipid profile. Preventive intervention and follow-up by the pediatrician are essential for DS, which should continue into adulthood

Comparing Patterns of Spatial Relationships for Susceptibility Prediction of Landslide Occurrences

This contribution proposes a cautious way of constructing the susceptibility classes obtained from favourability modeling of landslide occurrences. It is based on the ranks of the numerical values obtained by the modelling. Such ranks can be displayed in the form of histograms, cumulative curves, and prediction patterns resembling maps. A number of models have been proposed and in this contribution the following will be compared in terms of their respective rankings for equal area classes: fuzzy set function, empirical likelihood ratio, linear and logistic regression, and Bayesian prediction function. The analyses performed and contrasted exemplify a generalized methodology for comparing predictions that should allow evaluating prediction patterns from any model. Unfortunately, many applications in the scientific literature use methods of characterizing prediction quality that make comparison hard or impossible. A database from a study area in the Mountain Community of Tirano in Valtellina, Lombardy Region, northern Italy, is used to illustrate how the results of the different models and strategies of analysis show the relevance of the properties of the database over those of the models.PublishedLjubljana, Slovenia2TR. Ricostruzione e modellazione della struttura crostal