Collective Molecular Dynamics of a Floating Water Bridge

When a high voltage is applied to pure water filling two beakers kept close to each other, a connection forms spontaneously, giving the impression of a floating water bridge. This phenomenon is of special interest, since it comprises a number of phenomena currently tackled in modern water science. The formation and the main properties of this floating water bridge are analyzed in the conceptual framework of quantum electrodynamics. The necessary conditions for the formation are investigated as well as the time evolution of the dynamics. The predictions are found in agreement with the observations.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

DNA waves and water

Some bacterial and viral DNA sequences have been found to induce low frequency electromagnetic waves in high aqueous dilutions. This phenomenon appears to be triggered by the ambient electromagnetic background of very low frequency. We discuss this phenomenon in the framework of quantum field theory. A scheme able to account for the observations is proposed. The reported phenomenon could allow to develop highly sensitive detection systems for chronic bacterial and viral infections.Comment: Invited talk at the DICE2010 Conference, Castiglioncello, Italy September 201

Poliomyelitis surveillance report number 18, May 20, 1955

Dr. Edwin Lennette, Virus Laboratory, California Department of Public Health, reports isolation of type 1 virus from the stool of case PSU No. Cal-21. He also reports isolation of type 1 virus from the stool of a third \uc2\ub0th contact of non-paralytic case PSU No. Cal-14. Isolations from 2 other contacts of this case were previously reported.Dr. Werner Henle, Children\ue2\u20ac\u2122s Hospital, Philadelphia, reports isolation of type 1 poliomyelitis virus from Case PSU No. Pa-2. This is the first isolation from a case receiving Wyeth Vaccine. This case had first paralysis at the same site as inoculation.One new case was accepted today from West Virginia. This seven-year-old female developed bulbar signs 26 days after inoculation with Lilly Vaccine. Vaccinated cases total 79 at 12:00 noon 5-20-55 (Table l)

Recurrent respiratory infections between immunity and atopy

Recurrent respiratory infections (RRIs) are frequent in children and are characterized by more than 6 airway infections in 1 year or more than 1 upper airway infection per month in the period between September and April or more than 3 lower airway infections in 1 year. Often pediatric RRIs are related to predisposing factors, such as reduced airway size, poor tussive reflex, and immaturity of the immune system. RRIs due to immature immune system are a transient condition, with spontaneous resolution in the school age. However, some RRIs are expression of more complex diseases. Red flags are the onset of symptoms in the first year of life, the involvement of other systems, unusual pathogens, slowing of growth, severe infections of the lower airways, and recurrence of the infection site. To help the pediatrician in the RRI differential diagnosis, we have created a roadmap based on scientific literature data and clinical practice that identifies 6 macro areas: immunodeficiencies, simple minimal genetic immunodeficiency, atopy, obesity, nutritional deficiencies, autoinflammatory diseases, and complex diseases

Corticosteroid-Sparing Effect of Chromoglycate Sodium and Nedocromil

The most appropiate management for bronchial asthma is the control of airway inflammation. Corticosteroids are the most effective anti-inflammatory drugs available, but they have a number of side effects; most of these are dose-dependent. In children, asthma control should be accomplished with low steroid doses possibly given by inhalation. In a double-bind placebo-controlled crossover study a group of children with mild to moderate asthma received NED 16 mg/day or BDP 400 μg/day. Values for FEV1, PEF, symptoms use ofbronchodilators overlapped, whereas bronchial hyper-responsiveness assessed by histamine bronchoprovocation challenge was better with BDP than NED. In another case, one boy with high bronchial hyper-reactivity assessed by provocation test with hypertonic solution, experienced a significant improvement only after 2 weeks of therapy with Deflazacort (2 mg/Kg/day) followed by 4 months on combined treatment with NED (16 mg/day) and BDP (300 μ/day). Authors conclude that NED could have a steroidsparing effect over long-term use

Covid-19 and spirometry in this age

In the last year, many countries adopted a plan to contain hospital infections by Sars-Cov-2 also limiting pulmonary function tests (PFTs), exclusively to indispensable cases. All the recommendations of the major scientific societies regarding the use of PFTs, in particular spirometry, in the Covid era were formulated in the initial period of the pandemic. Currently, the new scientific knowledge about Sars-Cov-2 and the vaccination among healthcare workers, shown new insight to start doing PFTs again to help the investigation and monitoring of patients with respiratory pathology. In this article, we sum up the recommendations of major International Respiratory Societies, and we shared our experience about PFTs in a Pediatric Respiratory Disease Unit during the pandemic

Potentialities of Complex Network Theory Tools for Urban Drainage Networks Analysis

Urban drainage networks (UDNs) represent important infrastructures to protect and maintain community health and safety. For these reasons, technicians and researcher are focusing more and more on topics related to vulnerability, resilience and monitoring for controlling illicit intrusions, contaminant and pathogenic spread. In the last years the complex network theory (CNT) is attracting attention as a new, useful and structured approach to analyze urban systems. The aim of this work is to evaluate potentialities of CNT approaches for UDNs vulnerability assessment and monitoring system planning. Limits and potentialities of applicability of CNT tools to UDNs are first provided evaluating the performances of standard centrality metrics. Then, it is proposed the use of tailored metrics embedding prior information, as intrinsic relevance of each node and pipe flow direction, which derive from the Horton's hierarchy and geometric data (pipe slope), respectively, without performing hydraulic simulations. The analysis is applied on two schematic literature networks of different complexity and to a real case-study. The results suggest that vulnerability/resilience, monitoring design, contaminant and pathogenic spreads can be effectively analyzed using tailored metrics. Therefore, the proposed approach represents a complementary tool respect the more complex and computationally expensive methodologies and it is particular useful for large complex networks

The Role of Sensory Profile in the Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Consumers Choice

sensory profiles promoted by the Extra-virgin olive oil (EVO) is an important element of the Mediterranean diet and a valuable agricultural crop for Southern Europe countries in terms of both farm income and cultivated area. Moreover, given the increased popularity of the Mediterranean diet among consumers in US, Canada, Australia and large parts Asia, EVO consumption has grown almost worldwide.In Italy olive-oil production has switched from low yields and low-input cultivation to a capital intensive farming system involving innovations of both agricultural practices and processing techniques: sensory characteristics of the product were significantly improved, changing the traditional taste from “neutral odour and flavour” and well known organoleptic features, to new complex sensory profiles. This evolution is due to the developments that have taken place in the sensory analysis of olive oil and the use of trained panel responses as a means of monitoring and guidance in the production of quality oils.Currently, agricultural research and sensory panels managed not only to identify what aspects of taste and smell are indicators of quality of the oil but also the correlation of these with the production techniques. The situation today is that consumers can find on the market EVOs characterized by well-differentiated sensory profiles. On the consumption side, however, buyers seem still to prefer neutral flavour oils with little or no personality. This aspect deserves a central position in present research on EVOs because consumer preferences risk undermining all efforts to improve the quality of the product made from the production side. In the following work, the role of sensory components in the consumers preferences of EVOs will be explicitly evaluated through an Hedonic Price model. During October 2012, a sample of 68 EVOs available on the shelf of a Supermarket belonging to one of the largest big retailers operating in Italy were bought. The 68 different EVOOs were also evaluated by a panel of expert tasters to get a precise sensory profile for each of them. The results estimation of a simultaneous two equations model well highlighted the idiosyncrasy of the consumers’ preferences towards the trained experts

COVID-19 Pneumonia in Children: From Etiology to Management

COVID-19 is less serious in children than in adults. However, respiratory management dominates the clinical picture of hospitalized COVID-19 even in children. In some case series, deterioration of the clinical picture wherein dyspnea, cyanosis, and the onset of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) emerged ~8–10 days after the onset of SARS-CoV-2 infection, which could rapidly progress to multiple organ failure and death. This review aimed to evaluate the characteristics of COVID-19 pneumonia in pediatric populations, beginning from its etiology and pathological mechanisms and closing with its clinical management