The impact of acute intoxications in a toxicological unit care in North East Italy

Retrospective study in a Toxicological Unit Care (TUC) performed to know the epidemiology of acute intoxication (AI) in Verona (Italy) during years 2008-2009. All data regarding patients with a diagnosis of certain/suspected AI were collected and evaluated: some demographic information, the characteristics of the agent involved, the pattern of exposure, the triage at the admission to TUC and the outcome. 244 cases were analyzed: 45.9% males and 54.9% females, mean age respectively 45.1 and 43.9 years. The monthly distribution of admitted patients resulted fairly constant, except from a light rising prevalence in autumn, with a majority of yellow (45.9%) and green (43.4%) triage code. The pattern of exposure resulted: ingestion (82.7% of cases; age peaks: 18-34 and 35-51 years old; mostly due to food (as mushrooms), drinks, detergents, soap, pharmaceutical, drugs of abuse, caustics substances), contact (10.2% of cases; age peak 18-51) and inhalation (6.9% of cases). In 17.2% of cases the poisoning exposure was intentional. In 63.5% the patients were sent to their general practitioners (45.5% of the yellow and 81.1% of the green coded patients) and in 22.1% of cases they were admitted to clinical rooms (44.6% of the yellow coded patients). In most cases the triage code assigned to the studied patients resulted yellow and green. Considering that the seriousness of the symptoms can appear after several hours from the exposure to toxic substances, a quick and specific intervention to obtain the best therapeutical effectiveness is suitable, in order to save lives or to avoid irremediable health damages

Flow-to-fracture transition in a volcanic mush plug may govern normal eruptions at Stromboli

Stromboli is a model volcano for studying eruptions driven by degassing. The current paradigm posits that Strombolian eruptions represent the bursting of gas slugs ascending through melt‐filled conduits, but petrological observations show that magma at shallow depth is crystalline enough to form a three‐phase plug consisting of crystals, bubbles, and melt. We combine a 1‐D model of gas flushing a crystalline mush with a 3‐D stress model. Our results suggest that localized gas segregation establishes hot conduits of mobile magma within a stagnant plug. The plug is prone to tensile failure controlled by gas overpressure and tectonic stress, with failure most likely beneath the observed vent locations. We hence argue that Strombolian eruptions are related to plug failure rather than flow. Our proposed three‐phase model of the shallow plumbing system may provide a promising framework for integrating geophysical, petrological, and morphological observations at Stromboli and in open‐system volcanism more generally

Evidences of volcanic unrest on high-temperature fumaroles by satellite thermal monitoring: The case of Santa Ana volcano, El Salvador

International audienceOn October 1st, 2005, Santa Ana volcano (El Salvador) underwent a VEI 3 phreatomagmatic eruption after approximately one century of rest. Casualties and damages to some of the local infrastructures and surrounding plantations were followed by the evacuation of the nearby communities. The analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) infrared data reveals that the main explosion was preceded by a one-year-long thermal unrest, associated to the development of a fumaroles field, located at the western rim of the summit crater lake. By combining space-based thermal flux and ground-based measurements (seismicity, sulfur emissions and lake temperatures), we suggest that the activity observed at Santa Ana between 2004 and 2005 was driven by the gradual intrusion of an undegassed magma body at a very shallow depth. Magma injection induced thermal anomalies associated with sustained degassing from the fumaroles field and promoted the interaction between the magmatic-hydrothermal system and the overlying water table. This process culminated into the VEI 3 phreatomagmatic eruption of October 2005 that strongly modified the shallow structure of the crater area. The subsequent three-years-long activity resulted from self-sealing of the fracture system and by the opening of a new fracture network directly connecting the deeper hydrothermal system with the crater lake. Our results show that satellite-based thermal data allow us to detect the expansion of the high-temperature fumarolic field. This may precede an explosive eruption and/or a lava dome extrusion. In particular, we show that thermal records can be analyzed with other geochemical (i.e. SO2 emissions) and geophysical (seismicity) data to track a shallow magmatic intrusion interacting with the surrounding hydrothermal system. This provides a remarkable support for volcano monitoring and eruption forecasting, particularly in remote areas where permanent ground data acquisition is hazardous, expensive and difficult

Association of Lifestyle Factors With Abdominal Subcutaneous and Visceral Adiposity: The Framingham Heart Study

OBJECTIVE— The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between lifestyle factors and abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in a community-based setting