Physical activity intervention for elderly patients with reduced physical performance after acute coronary syndrome (HULK study): Rationale and design of a randomized clinical trial

Background: Reduced physical performance and impaired mobility are common in elderly patients after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and they represent independent risk factors for disability, morbidity, hospital readmission and mortality. Regular physical exercise represents a means for improving functional capacity. Nevertheless, its clinical benefit has been less investigated in elderly patients in the early phase after ACS. The HULK trial aims to investigate the clinical benefit of an early, tailored low-cost physical activity intervention in comparison to standard of care in elderly ACS patients with reduced physical performance. Design: HULK is an investigator-initiated, prospective multicenter randomized controlled trial (NCT03021044). After successful management of the ACS acute phase and uneventful first 1 month, elderly (≥70 years) patients showing reduced physical performance are randomized (1:1 ratio) to either standard of care or physical activity intervention. Reduced physical performance is defined as a short physical performance battery (SPPB) score of 4-9. The early, tailored, low-cost physical intervention includes 4 sessions of physical activity with a supervisor and an home-based program of physical exercise. The chosen primary endpoint is the 6-month SPPB value. Secondary endpoints briefly include quality of life, on-treatment platelet reactivity, some laboratory data and clinical adverse events. To demonstrate an increase of at least one SPPB point in the experimental arm, a sample size of 226 patients is needed. Conclusions: The HULK study will test the hypothesis that an early, tailored low-cost physical activity intervention improves physical performance, quality of life, frailty status and outcome in elderly ACS patients with reduced physical performance

Acute Delta Hepatitis in Italy spanning three decades (1991–2019): Evidence for the effectiveness of the hepatitis B vaccination campaign

Updated incidence data of acute Delta virus hepatitis (HDV) are lacking worldwide. Our aim was to evaluate incidence of and risk factors for acute HDV in Italy after the introduction of the compulsory vaccination against hepatitis B virus (HBV) in 1991. Data were obtained from the National Surveillance System of acute viral hepatitis (SEIEVA). Independent predictors of HDV were assessed by logistic-regression analysis. The incidence of acute HDV per 1-million population declined from 3.2 cases in 1987 to 0.04 in 2019, parallel to that of acute HBV per 100,000 from 10.0 to 0.39 cases during the same period. The median age of cases increased from 27 years in the decade 1991-1999 to 44 years in the decade 2010-2019 (p < .001). Over the same period, the male/female ratio decreased from 3.8 to 2.1, the proportion of coinfections increased from 55% to 75% (p = .003) and that of HBsAg positive acute hepatitis tested for by IgM anti-HDV linearly decreased from 50.1% to 34.1% (p < .001). People born abroad accounted for 24.6% of cases in 2004-2010 and 32.1% in 2011-2019. In the period 2010-2019, risky sexual behaviour (O.R. 4.2; 95%CI: 1.4-12.8) was the sole independent predictor of acute HDV; conversely intravenous drug use was no longer associated (O.R. 1.25; 95%CI: 0.15-10.22) with this. In conclusion, HBV vaccination was an effective measure to control acute HDV. Intravenous drug use is no longer an efficient mode of HDV spread. Testing for IgM-anti HDV is a grey area requiring alert. Acute HDV in foreigners should be monitored in the years to come

Spin Assignment of Neutron Resonances via (n,gamma) and (n,alpha) Reactions.

Abstract not availableJRC.D-Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (Geel

Neutron Capture of the Bottle-Neck Isotopes 138-Ba and 208-Pb, s-Process Studies and the r-Process Abundance Distribution.

The capture cross-sections of 138-Ba and 208-Pb have been measured by time-of-flight (TOF) at the electron linear accelerator GELINA in the energy range 200 keV. The maxvellian averaged capture (MAC) cross section were determined vs temperature kT between 5 and 100 keV. The data were applied to carry out new parametric studies of the s-process. Two parametrized models were considered, pulsed s-process with one neutron source and double pulsed s-process, the combined burning of two neutron sources. Through the s-process abundance distributions the complementary semi-empirical p-process and r-process abundance distributions were determined. Especially the termination of the s-process was investigated. It was found that in the frame of the double pulse s-process model only negligible amounts of 209-Bi are synthetized. This would means that bismuth is mainly an r-process element.JRC.D-Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (Geel

Commuta: A Cross Adaptive Laptop Ensemble

Commuta is a trio algorithmic performance dealing with the notion of cross-adaptive sonic relationships. Three performers are entangled in a network of influences obtained by dynamically relating the expressive features of each sound stream with the others. In this system, live coding acts as a form of interaction capable of producing perturbations and changing on-the-fly the overall structure of the network. The joint result seeks for an emergent complexity lying at the intersection of the the three performer’s individual practices: the development of adaptive sonic processes in live coding by Francesco Corvi (nesso.xyz), Giulia Rae’s exploration of machine listening techniques for environmental synthetic soundscapes, and Riccardo Ancona’s study on material identities in corpus manipulations

Dependence of the Populations of Low-Energy Levels in 108,110-Ag on the Resonance Spin and Parity.

Abstract not availableJRC.D-Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (Geel

An underground historical quarry in the Hanbury Botanical Gardens of Ventimiglia (Italy)

This paper concerns with the original survey of an ancient underground quarry located in the internationally known Hanbury botanical gardens, located on the Mortola promontory, 2 kilometers far from the Italy - France boundary. The gardens were established from 1867 by Sir Thomas Hanbury with the aim of acclimatizing several rare botanical species coming from all the temperate climate regions of the world. Many restoration works have been executed, and to this end an extended sandy layer located on the upper portion of the property was used as building material: it was extracted from weakly cemented yellowish sands probably belonging to the top of the Pliocenic Ortovero clay formation. The artificial cave opens up to about 90 m a.s.l. and has a total length of 133 m and a maximum difference in level of 8 m; the total volume extracted is of the order of 1,500 m3 and the internal stability seems guaranteed by some stone pillars. The NE portion of the underground quarry has not been surveyed yet because of the cavity infilling: some testimonies from inhabitants report a possible continuation under the village of Mortola Inferiore. The sand quarry of the Hanbury Botanical Gardens is therefore a cultural heritage with a high tourist potential, even if the site requires further analyses about the geotechnical features of the material aiming at assessing the stability of the underground volume