Ultrasound Guidance in Paravertebral Injections of Oxygen-Ozone: Treatment of Low Back Pain

Background: Paravertebral injection of ozone is an established clinical practice for the treatment of Low Back Pain (LBP). The role of Ultrasound Guidance (USG) in mini invasive procedures has become important in many clinical practice thanks to the greater precision this technique can add. As matter of fact, a large volume of ozone in a single administration may have some adverse or side effects. In this study we wanted to verify if the use of USG in Oxygen/ Ozone (O2/O3) infiltrations could allow the administration of a smaller volume of gas mixture, increasing the safety and the comfort of the procedure itself, obtaining however similar or better results in pain decrease. Methods: We compared two groups of 25 patients affected by LBP, undergoing 10 infiltrations of O2/O3, by using USG (group U) or only anatomical landmarks (group AL). Pain intensity, by calculating Visual Analogical Scale (VAS) difference before and after the treatment, and the discomfort were evaluated in both groups. Results: The mean of the VAS before the treatment was 6.44 in group U and 6.48 in group AL. The mean of the VAS after the treatment was 2.22 in group U and 3.04 in group AL. The mean of discomfort rate was 2.84 in group U and 5.44 in group AL. The number of patients with unbearable discomfort was 0 in group U and 7 in group AL. Conclusions: As many other treatment, also paravertebral injections of O2/O3 benefits of the advantages of the US device which makes this treatment safer and more accurate

Solar Spectrum Reflectometer Measurements on Profiled and Small Samples: Design and Testing of Adapters

Testing solar reflective building materials is mainly performed in laboratories using Solar Spectrum Reflectometer (SSR) or spectrophotometry. To obtain aged materials values, after exposing materials in test farms for natural ageing or applying ASTM-D7897, treated samples shall be tested again using SSR. On-site measurements of new and aged surfaces is allowed using pyranometers or albedometers, which present issues caused both by high-pitched roof and by solar and sky requirements in several locations such as at southern and middle Europe latitudes, where clay tiles are a typical coverage of roof surfaces. The use of battery-powered SSR offsite could be a solution to obtain reliable measurements in every climate, lighting, and slope condition. However, the shape of roof surfaces remains an issue since most of the tiles are characterized by elaborated morphologies that cannot fit the measurement head of the SSR. In this study, two sets of cylindrical adapters for SSR, made via Fused Deposition Modeling and coated with solar reflective white diffuse paint or specular reflective coating were produced and tested to overcome this problem. The adapters were attached to the top of the measurement head and measurements were performed according to ASTM-C1549. These adapters were tested with samples characterized by ASTM-C1549, analyzing the output from all 6 detectors of SSR, and by spectrophotometry according to ASTM-E903, using both AM1GH and ASTM E891-87 irradiance spectra. Aluminum-coated adapters proved ideal due to non-impact on measurements. Solar reflectance showed strong linear correlation for 30–50 mm adapter lengths, indicating minimal signal damping. They will allow testing most of the samples that cannot be tested with standard methods, especially aged ones, without altering their surface

Reciprocal association between social support and psychological distress in chronic physical health conditions: A random intercept cross-lagged panel model.

The onset of a chronic physical health condition (CHC) can highly impact individuals' well-being and mental health. Social support has been shown to help people rebound after the onset of a CHC. Nonetheless, little is known about the longitudinal pattern of social support and its reciprocal association with mental health in CHC. This study aimed to illustrate the longitudinal pattern of perceived social support and to examine the reciprocal association between perceived social support and psychological distress across 6 years. Two random intercept cross-lagged panel models were conducted, one for emotional and one for practical support, using yearly assessments of 582 Swiss Household Panel's participants reporting a CHC. A reciprocal association was found, with psychological distress 1 year after the onset being linked to less emotional support in the following year and vice versa, more emotional support being linked to less psychological distress the following year. A unidirectional association was found for practical support, with more psychological distress 1 year before the CHC onset being linked to more practical support at the onset year. This study underlines the importance of involving the social environment of individuals living with a CHC, especially around the first year after the onset

The primordial environment of super massive black holes: large scale galaxy overdensities around z∼6z\sim6 QSOs with LBT

We investigated the presence of galaxy overdensities around four $z\sim6$ QSOs, namely SDSS J1030+0524 (z = 6.28), SDSS J1148+5251 (z = 6.41), SDSS J1048+4637 (z = 6.20) and SDSS J1411+1217 (z = 5.95), through deep $r$-, $i$- and $z$- band imaging obtained with the wide-field ($\sim23'\times25'$) Large Binocular Camera (LBC) at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). We adopted color-color selections within the $i-z$ vs $r-z$ plane to identify samples of $i$-band dropouts at the QSO redshift and measure their relative abundance and spatial distribution in the four LBC fields, each covering $\sim8\times8$ physical Mpc at $z\sim6$. The same selection criteria were then applied to $z$-band selected sources in the $\sim$1 deg$^2$ Subaru-XMM Newton Deep Survey to derive the expected number of dropouts over a blank LBC-sized field ($\sim$0.14 deg$^2$). The four observed QSO fields host a number of candidates larger than what is expected in a blank field. By defining as $i$-band dropouts objects with $z_{AB}1.4$ and undetected in the $r$-band, we found 16, 10, 9, 12 dropouts in SDSS J1030+0524, SDSS J1148+5251, SDSS J1048+4637, and SDSS J1411+1217, respectively, whereas only 4.3 such objects are expected over a 0.14 deg$^2$ blank field. This corresponds to overdensity significances of 3.3, 1.9, 1.7, 2.5$\sigma$, respectively. By considering the total number of dropouts in the four LBC fields and comparing it with what is expected in four blank fields of 0.14 deg$^2$ each, we find that high-z QSOs reside in overdense environments at the $3.7\sigma$ level. This is the first direct and unambiguous measurement of the large scale structures around $z\sim6$ QSOs. [shortened]Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Psychological distress trajectories in chronic physical health conditions

Objective: The onset of a chronic health condition (CHC) can have a severe impact on an individual’s life, affecting mental and physical health. This study’s goal was to investigate psychological distress trajectories starting from 1 year before to 4 years after the onset of a physical CHC. The specific aims were to identify the number and shape of longitudinal psychological distress trajectories and to test health-related, psychological, social, and demographic factors predicting these trajectories. Method: Two samples were drawn from the Swiss Household Panel data set: a CHC sample (n = 361) and a 1-to-1 matched comparison sample of healthy individuals. Latent growth mixture modeling was used to identify psychological distress trajectories over 6 years. Factors predicting trajectories were then tested using multinomial logistic regression. Results: Four psychological distress trajectories were identified in the CHC sample: resilience (53.9%), chronic (22.2%), delayed (15.0%), and recovery (8.9%). In the comparison sample, two trajectories were identified: low psychological distress (90%) and elevated psychological distress (10%). Protective factors associated with resilient trajectory membership in the CHC sample were higher emotional stability, higher relationship satisfaction, and male gender. Conclusion: Individuals living with a CHC had an increased risk of vulnerability compared with a sample of healthy individuals. This advocates awareness of mental health issues following the onset of a CHC. In this regard, biopsychosocial factors (gender, emotional stability, and relationship satisfaction) offer prevention and intervention opportunities for more vulnerable individuals

A reanalysis of the atmospheric boundary layer field experiment(SPCFLUX93) at San Pietro Capofiume (Italy)

A fortnight field experiment was carried out at San Pietro Capofiume(Po Valley, Italy)during the month of June, 1993, and was named SPCFLUX93. This location was chosen as representative of the Po Valley. The SPCFLUX93 experiment was devised according to the results of some previous measurements carried out in mountainous areas of South Europe (i.e. ALPEX—ALPine EXperiment, PYREX—PYRenean Experiment), and aimed to represent a prototype for further field observations. The dataset of the SPCFLUX93 experiment consisted of: i)meteorological and chemical data collected continuously with slow-response sensors in the atmospheric surface layer and into the soil; ii)data coming from fastresponse instrumentation (sonic anemometers and fluxmeter); iii) radiosoundings carried out with free and tethered balloons; iv)con tinuous vertical wind soundings with a Mini-Sodar. The aim of the SPCFLUX93 field experiment was to investigate the following topics: atmospheric turbulence, dry and wet atmospheric total deposition, energy balance, thermal wave propagation in the soil. Few years later, the atmospheric and hydrological scientific community conduced an extensive programme, the Mesoscale Alpine Programme (MAP), on weather and climate in mountainous regions. This programme considered many aspects of alpine meteorology, ranging from high-resolution numerical modelling to experimental campaigns performed on both sides of the Alps, with the aim to better understand the interaction processes of atmospheric fluxes with the orography. Many puzzling problems were posed by the complexity of these interactions; among them, the perturbations on the boundary layer structure caused by the airflows that cross the Alps and reach the Po Valley would still require more experimental observations and theoretical studies. These considerations prompted us to reanalyze the SPCFLUX93 dataset. In this paper, a layout of the field experiment (including the instrumentation details, the experimental relevant dataset and database composed by meteorological standard data, vertical profile data, ultrasonic anemometer data, and chemical data)is presented; the collected data are described; the details of the mesoscale meteorological situation over San Pietro Capofiume during the experiment are presented; finally, some analyses on the data are shown, and the main results coming from the several applications carried out using the dataset are illustrated or summarized. In particular, the most interesting results are related to the following topics: the characteristics of the turbulence in the surface layer (using the fast-response data), the validation of land surface schemes (using the surface observations), the evaluation of mixed layer depth (using radon flux data)and the estimate of deposition velocity

Linux Based Ethernet Communication for Xilinx FPGAs

This article presents the implementation of an Ethernet communication platform for use on Xilinx FPGAs. The proposed solution relies on a synthesized embedded system to provide network data transfer and control capabilities, for use with synthesizable electronic devices. Most TCP/IP stack services and protocols were implemented and the design is flexible to allow adaptation and/or expansion for different application scenarios. Currently this platform is being used on the development of a FPGA based JTAG controller, with remote access. The embedded system hardware requires a MicroBlaze softcore microprocessor running a Petalinux operating system.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio