TRAVI CONTINUE IN ACCIAIO CON ANIMA ONDULATA PER IMPALCATI MISTI IN ACCIAIO CALCESTRUZZO

La memoria riguarda gli impalcati per ponti stradali con travi in acciaio saldate, aventi l’anima sagomata secondo una sinusoide e soletta in c.a. collaborante. L’attenzione è focalizzata su impalcati aventi schema statico longitudinale di trave continua su 4 appoggi, costituiti da due sole travi in acciaio, e da una soletta in c.a.. Il progetto è sviluppato per un ponte stradale di I categoria, avente larghezza di 12.10 m e lungo 182 m. Lo studio consente di confrontare le soluzioni costruttive rappresentate da travi con anima tradizionale piana o sinusoidale e di porre in luce alcuni vantaggi di tale ultimo sistema

INDAGINI TEORICHE E SPERIMENTALI SU PARETI SISMICHE IN ACCIAIO

La memoria riguarda il comportamento di pannelli sottili in acciaio utilizzati come pareti di controvento. Per tali sistemi sono previsti due tipi fondamentali di utilizzo: come elementi dissipativi e irrigidenti;come elementi irrigidenti. Il primo caso riguarda pannelli dotati di robusti irrigidimenti, tali da determinare lo snervamento delle lastre costituenti il pannello prima dell’insorgere di fenomeni di instabilità. Tale tipologia è stata utilizzata prevalentemente in Giappone. La tendenza ad adottare pannelli sottili, per i quali l’instabilità avviene in campo elastico, si è sviluppata prevalentemente negli USA ed in Canada, ove attraverso indagini sperimentali si è constatato il notevole contributo dovuto alle riserve in campo post critico dei pannelli. Anche i risultati sperimentali ottenuti dagli autori evidenziano le notevoli riserve di resistenza di tali pannelli in campo post-critico, cosicché oggi è ampliamente plausibile l’introduzione nel progetto di tali elementi strutturali soggetti ad instabilità per azioni sismiche modeste. Gli studi condotti dagli autori hanno riguardato il comportamento di tali pannelli sottili in acciaio sottoposti a forze orizzontali, sviluppando indagini teoriche e sperimentali. La sperimentazione effettuata conferma che in campo post-critico si attivano bande diagonali di trazione, rendendo le riserve di resistenza cospicue; tuttavia i modelli FEM, sviluppati in ambito non lineare, non consentono di riprodurre il comportamento del sistema nella fase iniziale del carico. Nella presente nota si riporta una sintesi delle indicazioni normative e dei risultati ottenuti dagli autori nelle precedenti esperienze, proponendo un chiave di lettura sintetica per prevedere il comportamento di tali sistemi

Advanced Ultrasonic Structural Monitoring of Waveguides

Ultrasonic Guided Waves (UGWs) are a useful tool in those structural health monitoring applications that can benefit from built-in transduction, moderately large inspection ranges and high sensitivity to small flaws. This paper describes two methods, based on linear and nonlinear acoustics for structural damage detection based on UGWs. The linear method combine the advantages of UGW inspection with the outcomes of the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) that is used for extracting defect-sensitive features that can be combined to perform a multivariate diagnosis of damage. In particular, the DWT is exploited to generate a set of relevant wavelet coefficients to construct a uni-dimensional or multi-dimensional damage index that, in turn is fed to an outlier algorithm to detect anomalous structural states. The nonlinear acoustics method exploits the circumstance that a cracked medium exhibits high acoustic nonlinearity which is manifested as harmonics in the power spectrum of the received signal. Experimental results also indicate that the harmonic components increase non-linearly in magnitude with increasing amplitude of the input signal. The proposed nonlinear technique identifies the presence of cracks by looking at the harmonics and their nonlinear relationship to the input amplitude. The general framework presented in this paper is applied to the detection of fatigue cracks in an I-shaped steel beam. The probing hardware consists of Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) materials used for both ultrasound generation and detection at chosen frequency. The effectiveness of the proposed methods for the structural diagnosis of defects that are small compared to the waveguide cross-sectional area is discussed

The Phenotypic Characterization of the Cammalleri Sisters, an Example of Exceptional Longevity

This article shows demographic, clinical, anamnestic, cognitive, and functional data as well as biochemical, genetic, and epigenetic parameters of two exceptional siblings: Diega (supercentenarian) and Filippa (semisupercentenarian) Cammalleri. The purpose of this study is to provide new insights into the extreme phenotypes represented by semisupercentenarians and supercentenarians. Different studies have been published on supercentenarians, but to the best of our knowledge, this is the only concerning two sisters and the most detailed from a phenotypic point of view. Our findings agree with the suggestion that supercentenarians have an increasing relative resistance to age-related diseases, approximating the limits of the functional human reserve to address successfully the acute causes of death. More interestingly, our data agree with, and extend, the suggestion that inflammation and oxidative stress predict centenarian mortality

Colorectal Cancer Stage at Diagnosis Before vs During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

IMPORTANCE Delays in screening programs and the reluctance of patients to seek medical attention because of the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 could be associated with the risk of more advanced colorectal cancers at diagnosis. OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was associated with more advanced oncologic stage and change in clinical presentation for patients with colorectal cancer. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This retrospective, multicenter cohort study included all 17 938 adult patients who underwent surgery for colorectal cancer from March 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021 (pandemic period), and from January 1, 2018, to February 29, 2020 (prepandemic period), in 81 participating centers in Italy, including tertiary centers and community hospitals. Follow-up was 30 days from surgery. EXPOSURES Any type of surgical procedure for colorectal cancer, including explorative surgery, palliative procedures, and atypical or segmental resections. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was advanced stage of colorectal cancer at diagnosis. Secondary outcomes were distant metastasis, T4 stage, aggressive biology (defined as cancer with at least 1 of the following characteristics: signet ring cells, mucinous tumor, budding, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, and lymphangitis), stenotic lesion, emergency surgery, and palliative surgery. The independent association between the pandemic period and the outcomes was assessed using multivariate random-effects logistic regression, with hospital as the cluster variable. RESULTS A total of 17 938 patients (10 007 men [55.8%]; mean [SD] age, 70.6 [12.2] years) underwent surgery for colorectal cancer: 7796 (43.5%) during the pandemic period and 10 142 (56.5%) during the prepandemic period. Logistic regression indicated that the pandemic period was significantly associated with an increased rate of advanced-stage colorectal cancer (odds ratio [OR], 1.07; 95%CI, 1.01-1.13; P = .03), aggressive biology (OR, 1.32; 95%CI, 1.15-1.53; P < .001), and stenotic lesions (OR, 1.15; 95%CI, 1.01-1.31; P = .03). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This cohort study suggests a significant association between the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the risk of a more advanced oncologic stage at diagnosis among patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer and might indicate a potential reduction of survival for these patients

How future surgery will benefit from SARS-COV-2-related measures: a SPIGC survey conveying the perspective of Italian surgeons

COVID-19 negatively affected surgical activity, but the potential benefits resulting from adopted measures remain unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the change in surgical activity and potential benefit from COVID-19 measures in perspective of Italian surgeons on behalf of SPIGC. A nationwide online survey on surgical practice before, during, and after COVID-19 pandemic was conducted in March-April 2022 (NCT:05323851). Effects of COVID-19 hospital-related measures on surgical patients' management and personal professional development across surgical specialties were explored. Data on demographics, pre-operative/peri-operative/post-operative management, and professional development were collected. Outcomes were matched with the corresponding volume. Four hundred and seventy-three respondents were included in final analysis across 14 surgical specialties. Since SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, application of telematic consultations (4.1% vs. 21.6%; p < 0.0001) and diagnostic evaluations (16.4% vs. 42.2%; p < 0.0001) increased. Elective surgical activities significantly reduced and surgeons opted more frequently for conservative management with a possible indication for elective (26.3% vs. 35.7%; p < 0.0001) or urgent (20.4% vs. 38.5%; p < 0.0001) surgery. All new COVID-related measures are perceived to be maintained in the future. Surgeons' personal education online increased from 12.6% (pre-COVID) to 86.6% (post-COVID; p < 0.0001). Online educational activities are considered a beneficial effect from COVID pandemic (56.4%). COVID-19 had a great impact on surgical specialties, with significant reduction of operation volume. However, some forced changes turned out to be benefits. Isolation measures pushed the use of telemedicine and telemetric devices for outpatient practice and favored communication for educational purposes and surgeon-patient/family communication. From the Italian surgeons' perspective, COVID-related measures will continue to influence future surgical clinical practice

Guidelines for the use of flow cytometry and cell sorting in immunological studies (third edition)

The third edition of Flow Cytometry Guidelines provides the key aspects to consider when performing flow cytometry experiments and includes comprehensive sections describing phenotypes and functional assays of all major human and murine immune cell subsets. Notably, the Guidelines contain helpful tables highlighting phenotypes and key differences between human and murine cells. Another useful feature of this edition is the flow cytometry analysis of clinical samples with examples of flow cytometry applications in the context of autoimmune diseases, cancers as well as acute and chronic infectious diseases. Furthermore, there are sections detailing tips, tricks and pitfalls to avoid. All sections are written and peer‐reviewed by leading flow cytometry experts and immunologists, making this edition an essential and state‐of‐the‐art handbook for basic and clinical researchers.DFG, 389687267, Kompartimentalisierung, Aufrechterhaltung und Reaktivierung humaner Gedächtnis-T-Lymphozyten aus Knochenmark und peripherem BlutDFG, 80750187, SFB 841: Leberentzündungen: Infektion, Immunregulation und KonsequenzenEC/H2020/800924/EU/International Cancer Research Fellowships - 2/iCARE-2DFG, 252623821, Die Rolle von follikulären T-Helferzellen in T-Helferzell-Differenzierung, Funktion und PlastizitätDFG, 390873048, EXC 2151: ImmunoSensation2 - the immune sensory syste

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries