The influence of diabetes mellitus on the spectrum of uropathogens and the antimicrobial resistance in elderly adult patients with urinary tract infection

BACKGROUND: The role of Diabetes mellitus (DM) in the etiology and in the antimicrobial resistance of uropathogens in patients with urinary tract infection has not been well clarified. For this reason we have evaluated the spectrum of uropathogens and the profile of antibiotic resistance in both diabetic and non diabetic patients with asymptomatic urinary tract infection (UTI). METHODS: Urinary isolates and their patterns of susceptibility to the antimicrobials were evaluated in 346 diabetics (229 females and 117 males) and 975 non diabetics (679 females and 296 males) who were screened for significant bacteriuria (≥10(5 )CFU/mL urine). The mean age of diabetic and non diabetic patients was respectively 73.7 yrs ± 15 S.D. and 72.7 ± 24 (p = NS). RESULTS: Most of our patients had asymptomatic UTI. The most frequent causative organisms of bacteriuria in females with and without DM were respectively : E. coli 54.1% vs 58.2% (p = NS), Enterococcus spp 8.3% vs 6.5% (p = NS), Pseudomonas spp 3.9 vs 4.7% (p = NS). The most frequent organisms in diabetic and non diabetic males were respectively E. coli 32.5% vs 31.4% (p = NS), Enterococcus spp 9.4% vs 14.5% (p = NS), Pseudomonas spp 8.5% vs 17.2% (p = <0.02). A similar isolation rate of E. coli, Enterococcus spp and Pseudomonas spp was also observed in patients with indwelling bladder catheter with and without DM. No significant differences in resistance rates to ampicillin, nitrofurantoin, cotrimoxazole and ciprofloxacin of E. coli and Enteroccus spp were observed between diabetic and non diabetic patients. CONCLUSION: In our series of patients with asymptomatic UTI (mostly hospital acquired), diabetes mellitus per se does not seem to influence the isolation rate of different uropathogens and their susceptibility patterns to antimicrobials

WOOD-UP

The fundamental vision of the WOOD-UP project was to develop existing wood gasification plants in South Tyrol towards a polygenerative use in order to be able to produce not only energy but also high-quality charcoal (biochar) for the improvement of soil fertility and for climate protection. The project, funded by the European Regional Development Fund ERDF 2014–2020, was implemented by the Free University of Bolzano together with the Laimburg Research Centre. Based on the life cycle analysis (LCA) or scenario analysis of the entire production chain of wood gasification, strengths and weaknesses of the existing systems were identified with regard to their impact on the environment. Thanks to the results obtained, a number of suggestions for improvement could be formulated.; Il miglioramento verso un assetto poligenerativo degli attuali impianti altoatesini di gassificazione della biomassa legnosa, dove oltre all’energia si possa produrre biochar di qualità da impiegare in agricoltura come ammendante con effetti positivi sulla fertilità dei suoli e sulla mitigazione dei cambiamenti climatici è la visione che ha sostenuto il progetto WOOD-UP. Il progetto, finanziato con fondi FESR 2014-2020, ha visto la collaborazione tra la Libera Università di Bolzano e il Centro di Sperimentazione Laimburg. L’analisi del ciclo di vita e di scenario dell’intera filiera di gassificazione ha evidenziato elementi di forza e di debolezza dell’attuale filiera in termini di impatti ambientali e ha permesso di avanzare proposte di miglioramento sulla base dei risultati ottenuti dalla sperimentazione. ; Grundlegende Vision des Projektes WOOD-UP war die Entwicklung der bestehenden Holzvergasungsanlagen in Südtirol hin zu einer polygenerativen Nutzung, um neben Energie auch hochwertige Holzkohle (Biochar) zur Verbesserung der Bodenfruchtbarkeit und zum Klimaschutz erzeugen zu können. Das mit Mitteln aus dem Europäischen Fonds für regionale Entwicklung EFRE 2014–2020 finanzierte Projekt wurde von der Freien Universität Bozen gemeinsam mit dem Versuchszentrum Laimburg umgesetzt. Anhand der Lebenszyklusanalyse (LCA) bzw. der Szenarioanalyse der gesamten Produktionskette der Holzvergasung wurden Stärken und Schwächen der bestehenden Systeme hinsichtlich ihrer Auswirkungen auf die Umwelt aufgezeigt. Dank der erzielten Versuchsergebnisse konnte eine Reihe von Verbesserungsvorschlägen formuliert werden

SISMIKO:emergency network deployment and data sharing for the 2016 central Italy seismic sequence

At 01:36 UTC (03:36 local time) on August 24th 2016, an earthquake Mw 6.0 struck an extensive sector of the central Apennines (coordinates: latitude 42.70° N, longitude 13.23° E, 8.0 km depth). The earthquake caused about 300 casualties and severe damage to the historical buildings and economic activity in an area located near the borders of the Umbria, Lazio, Abruzzo and Marche regions. The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) located in few minutes the hypocenter near Accumoli, a small town in the province of Rieti. In the hours after the quake, dozens of events were recorded by the National Seismic Network (Rete Sismica Nazionale, RSN) of the INGV, many of which had a ML > 3.0. The density and coverage of the RSN in the epicentral area meant the epicenter and magnitude of the main event and subsequent shocks that followed it in the early hours of the seismic sequence were well constrained. However, in order to better constrain the localizations of the aftershock hypocenters, especially the depths, a denser seismic monitoring network was needed. Just after the mainshock, SISMIKO, the coordinating body of the emergency seismic network at INGV, was activated in order to install a temporary seismic network integrated with the existing permanent network in the epicentral area. From August the 24th to the 30th, SISMIKO deployed eighteen seismic stations, generally six components (equipped with both velocimeter and accelerometer), with thirteen of the seismic station transmitting in real-time to the INGV seismic monitoring room in Rome. The design and geometry of the temporary network was decided in consolation with other groups who were deploying seismic stations in the region, namely EMERSITO (a group studying site-effects), and the emergency Italian strong motion network (RAN) managed by the National Civil Protection Department (DPC). Further 25 BB temporary seismic stations were deployed by colleagues of the British Geological Survey (BGS) and the School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh in collaboration with INGV. All data acquired from SISMIKO stations, are quickly available at the European Integrated Data Archive (EIDA). The data acquired by the SISMIKO stations were included in the preliminary analysis that was performed by the Bollettino Sismico Italiano (BSI), the Centro Nazionale Terremoti (CNT) staff working in Ancona, and the INGV-MI, described below

Le attività del gruppo operativo INGV "SISMIKO" durante la sequenza sismica "Amatrice 2016",

SISMIKO è un gruppo operativo dell’Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) che coordina tutte le Reti Sismiche Mobili INGVPublishedLecce3T. Sorgente sismica4T. Sismicità dell'Italia8T. Sismologia in tempo reale1SR TERREMOTI - Sorveglianza Sismica e Allerta Tsunami2SR TERREMOTI - Gestione delle emergenze sismiche e da maremoto3SR TERREMOTI - Attività dei Centr

Methods for restoration of ki67 antigenicity in aged paraffin tissue blocks

none9: Pathology archives are a treasure trove of paraffin embedded tissue spanning many years and covering a wide variety of tissues and diseases. The possibility of using old archival formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues for diagnostic updates and research projects is a widespread need and it requires archives of stable, well-preserved samples. Immunohistochemistry performed on old archival paraffin blocks may give unreliable results, in particular for some antigens, such as Ki67. In consideration of this phenomenon, our aim is to comprehensively test and identify methods which may be used to obtain Ki67 immunohistochemical reactions of good quality from old archival FFPE blocks. Various methods were tested in order to evaluate their possible efficacy in increasing Ki67 immunointensity in a collection of 40-year-old, archival blocks including re-embedding, with deeper sectioning of tissue from the block and increasing heat-based pretreatment times (20 cases) and re-processing (20 cases). All reactions were performed using an automated immunostainer and Ki67 stained immunosections compared using a visual colour-based scale (the first immunostained section was considered as baseline). The combination of deep sectioning (1000&nbsp;µM) and prolonged heat-based pretreatment (64&nbsp;min) markedly increased immunoreactivity for Ki67. Re-embedding and reprocessing did not have a significant effect. Large tissue samples showed heterogeneity of Ki67 immunoexpression between the periphery of the sample and the central area. In conclusion, the study defines a useful protocol to increase antigen retrieval applicable to dated archival tissues.mixedGrillo, Federica; Campora, Michela; Pigozzi, Simona; Bonadio, Silvia; Valle, Luca; Ferro, Jacopo; Paudice, Michele; Dose, Beatrice; Mastracci, LucaGrillo, Federica; Campora, Michela; Pigozzi, Simona; Bonadio, Silvia; Valle, Luca; Ferro, Jacopo; Paudice, Michele; Dose, Beatrice; Mastracci, Luc