Alternativas de mejora y diversificación de una granja marina en el Mediterráneo español

[EN] Description of marine farm[ES] Descripciión de una granaja marina, y comparacion de los costes de producción de la dorada y corvinaRosso, C. (2014). Alternativas de mejora y diversificación de una granja marina en el Mediterráneo español. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/54809Archivo delegad

Accuracy of the clinical diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) among the Italian Dementia Centers: a study by the Italian DLB study group (DLB-SINdem)

Introduction: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) may represent a diagnostic challenge, since its clinical picture overlaps with other dementia. Two toolkits have been developed to aid the clinician to diagnose DLB: the Lewy Body Composite Risk Score (LBCRS) and the Assessment Toolkit for DLB (AT-DLB). We aim to evaluate the reliability of these two questionnaires, and their ability to enhance the interpretation of the international consensus diagnostic criteria. Methods: LBCRS and AT-DLB were distributed to 135 Italian Neurological Centers for Cognitive Decline and Dementia (CDCDs), with the indication to administer them to all patients with dementia referred within the subsequent 3 months. We asked to subsequently apply consensus criteria for DLB diagnosis, to validate the diagnostic accuracy of the two toolkits. Results: A total of 23 Centers joined the study; 1854 patients were enrolled. We found a prevalence of possible or probable DLB of 13% each (26% total), according to the consensus criteria. LBCRS toolkit showed good reliability, with a Cronbach alpha of 0.77, stable even after removing variables from the construct. AT-DLB toolkit Cronbach alpha was 0.52 and, after the subtraction of the "cognitive fluctuation" criterion, was only 0.31. Accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were higher for LBCRS vs. AT-DLB. However, when simultaneously considered in the logistic models, AT-DLB showed a better performance (p\u2009<\u20090.001). Overall, the concordance between LBCRS positive and AT-DLB possible/probable was of 78.02% CONCLUSIONS: In a clinical setting, the LBCRS and AT-DLB questionnaires have good accuracy for DLB diagnosis

United Kingdom: reforming the Westminster model

Marine nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria are largely confined to the tropical and subtropical ocean. It has been argued that their global biogeographical distribution reflects the physiologically feasible temperature range at which they can perform nitrogen fixation. In this study we refine this line of argumentation for the globally important group of unicellular diazotrophic cyanobacteria, and pose the following two hypotheses: (i) nitrogen fixation is limited by nitrogenase activity at low temperature and by oxygen diffusion at high temperature, which is manifested by a shift from strong to weak temperature dependence of nitrogenase activity, and (ii) high respiration rates are required to maintain very low levels of oxygen for nitrogenase, which results in enhanced respiratory cost per molecule of fixed nitrogen at low temperature. We tested these hypotheses in laboratory experiments with the unicellular cyanobacterium Cyanothece sp. BG043511. In line with the first hypothesis, the specific growth rate increased strongly with temperature from 18 to 30?°C, but leveled off at higher temperature under nitrogen-fixing conditions. As predicted by the second hypothesis, the respiratory cost of nitrogen fixation and also the cellular C:N ratio rose sharply at temperatures below 21?°C. In addition, we found that low temperature caused a strong delay in the onset of the nocturnal nitrogenase activity, which shortened the remaining nighttime available for nitrogen fixation. Together, these results point at a lower temperature limit for unicellular nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, which offers an explanation for their (sub)tropical distribution and suggests expansion of their biogeographical range by global warming

National adoption of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy: The Italian VATS register evaluation

Background: The expertise curve of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomies still stirs debate and controversy both because of the number of procedures to carry out and of the evaluation of the learning threshold. The purpose of our study was the examination of the variables related to the learning curve of the video-assisted approach, to establish what may be an expression of the technical maturity of the surgeon. Methods: The National Register for VATS lobectomy built in 2013 was used to collect data from 65 Thoracic Surgery Units. Out of more than 3,700 patients enrolled, only information from Units with \ue2\u89\ua5100 VATS lobectomies were retrospectively analysed. Unpaired Student's t-tests, Fisher's exact tests, Pearson's \ucf\u872were applied as needed. Cumulative summative analysis and one-way ANOVA were used to identify the expertise curve of VATS lobectomy. Results: Ten institutions contributed a total of 1,679 patients, who were divided into three uniform groups according to the chronological sequence of surgery. The length of utility incision, the number of dissected lymph nodes and the operative time were not statistically significant (P=0.999, P=0.972 and P=0.307, respectively) among groups. Conversion to thoracotomy and postoperative air leaks occurred in 125 (7.44%) and 109 (6.49%) patients, gradually declined in Group 3 with statistical significance (P=0.048 and P=0.00086). Conclusions: The conversion rate and the percentage of air leaks seem to define the expertise of VATS lobectomy, being linked to the ability to manage more complicated surgical cases or intraoperative adverse events

Standardized uptake value and radiological density attenuation as predictive and prognostic factors in patients with solitary pulmonary nodules: Our experience on 1,592 patients

Background: Multislice computed tomography (MSCT) increased detection of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs), changing the management based on radiological and clinical factors. When 18-fluorine fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography combined with computed tomography (18F-FDG-PET/CT) was considered for the evaluation of nodules, the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) more than 2.5 is used frequently as a cut off for malignancy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate SUVmax PET/CT and pulmonary attenuation patterns at MSCT in patients with SPN according to morphological and pathological characteristics of the lesion. Methods: A retrospective study on 1,592 SPN patients was carried out following approval by the Italian Registry of VATS Lobectomies. Results: All patients underwent VATS lobectomy. On histologic examination, 98.1% had primary or second metachronous primary lung cancers. In addition, 10.7% presented occult lymph node metastases (pN1 or pN2) on histological examination. Nodule attenuation on CT was associated with the histology of the lesion (p= 0.030); in particular, pure ground glass opacities (pGGOs) and partially solid nodules were related to adenocarcinomatous histotypes. Conversely, a significant relationship between SUVmax and age, nodule size, pathological node status (pN) was found (P=0.007, P=0.000 and P=0.002 respectively). Conclusions: Nodule attenuation can predict the histology of the lesion whereas SUVmax may relate to the propensity to lymph node metastases. Keywords: Solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN); maximum standardized uptake value; ground glass opacities; lymph node metastases; lung adenocarcinom

Safety of lymphadenectomy during video-assisted thoracic surgery lobectomy: Analysis from a national database

OBJECTIVES The Italian VATS Group database was accessed to evaluate whether preoperative and intraoperative factors may affect the safety of lymphadenectomy (LA) during video-assisted thoracic surgery lobectomy. METHODS All video-assisted thoracic surgery lobectomy procedures performed between 1 January 2014 and 30 March 2017 for non-small-cell lung cancer with cN0 or cN1 disease were identified in the database. LA safety was evaluated based on intraoperative (operative time, bleeding and conversion rate) and postoperative (30-day morbidity and mortality, chest drain duration and length of stay) outcomes and was correlated with the number of resected lymph nodes and the rates of nodal upstaging. Continuous variables were presented as mean \ub1 standard deviation and compared using the unpaired t-test; the X 2 test was used for categorical variables. Univariable analysis was performed on selected variables. Significant variables (P < 0.30) were entered into a Cox multivariable logistic regression model, using the overall and specific occurrence of complications as dependent variables. The Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was applied as needed. RESULTS A total of 3181 cases (2077 men, 65.3%; mean age of 69 years) met the enrolment criteria. Final pathology was consistent with adenocarcinoma (n = 2262, 67.5%), squamous cell (n = 520, 15.5%), typical (n = 184, 5.5%) and atypical carcinoid (n = 48, 1.4%) and other (n = 335, 10%). The mean number of resected lymph nodes was 13.42 \ub1 8.24; nodal upstaging occurred in 308 of 3181 (9.68%) cases. Six hundred and fifty-five complications were recorded in 404 (12.7%) patients; in this series, no mortality was observed. Univariable and multivariable analyses did not show any association between the extension of LA and intraoperative or postoperative outcomes. The number of resected lymph nodes and nodal upstagings showed a minimal correlation with intraoperative outcomes and a moderate correlation with postoperative air leak (p = 0.35 and p = 0.48, respectively), arrhythmia (p = 0.29 and p = 0.35, respectively), chest drain duration (p = 0.35 and p = 0.51, respectively) and length of stay (p = 0.35). CONCLUSIONS Based on the VATS Group data, video-assisted thoracic surgery LA proved to be safe and displayed good outcomes even when performed with an extended approach

Risk factors and impact of conversion from VATS to open lobectomy: analysis from a national database

Objective: The objective of the study is to analyse the causes and impact of conversion from VATS to thoracotomy identifying any possible pre-operative risk factors and related consequences. Methods: Data from patient who underwent VATS lobectomy (VATS-L) for NSCLC at VATS Group participating centres were retrospectively analysed and divided in two groups: patients treated with VATS-L and patients who suffered from conversion. Predictors of conversion were assessed with univariate and multivariable exact logistic regression. Complications were evaluated as dependent variables of conversion in a Cox multivariable logistic regression model. Results: A total of 4629 patients underwent planned VATS-L for NSCLC and of these, 432 (9.3%) required conversion; the most frequent causes were bleeding (30.4%) and fibro-calcified hilar lymph nodes (23.9%). The independent risk factors at multivariable analysis model were sex male (OR 1.458, p &lt; 0.01), age older than 70&nbsp;years (OR 1.248, p = 0.036) and the clinically node-positive disease (OR 2.258, p &lt; 0.01). The mortality rate was similar, but the percentage of patients who suffered from any complication (41.7% vs 24.4%, p &lt; 0.01), the complication rate (65% vs 32.2%, p &lt; 0.01), chest tube duration (p &lt; 0.01) and the hospitalisation rate (p &lt; 0.01) were higher for patients converted. Atrial fibrillation (OR 1.471, p = 0.019), prolonged air leak (OR 1.403, p = 0.043), blood transfusions (OR 4.820, p &lt; 0.01), sputum retention (OR 1.80, p = 0.027) and acute kidney failure (OR 2.758, p = 0.03) were significantly associated with conversion at multivariable analysis. Conclusions: Conversion is associated with increased surgical morbidity, blood loss and hospital stay. Sex male, old age and the clinical involvement of lymph nodes were the strongest predictors of conversion