Frequency and time to relapse after discontinuing 6-month therapy with IVIg or pulsed methylprednisolone in CIDP

Background: We reported that 6-month therapy with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) was more frequently effective or tolerated than intravenous methylprednisolone (IVMP) in patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP). We now retrospectively compared the proportion of patients who eventually worsened after discontinuing therapy and the median time to clinical worsening. Methods: By March 2013, data were available from 41 of the 45 patients completing the trial with a median follow-up after therapy discontinuation of 42 months (range 1-60). Three patients withdrew during the original study and one failed to respond to either of the therapies. No patient received a diagnosis alternative to CIDP during the follow-up. Results: Twenty-eight of the 32 patients treated with IVIg (as primary or secondary therapy after failing to respond to IVMP) improved after therapy (87.5%) as compared with 13 of the 24 patients treated with IVMP as primary or secondary therapy (54.2%). After a median follow-up of 42 months (range 1-57), 24 out of 28 patients responsive to IVIg (85.7%) worsened after therapy discontinuation. The same occurred in 10 out of 13 patients (76.9%) responsive to IVMP (p=0.659) after a median follow-up of 43 months (range 7-60). Worsening occurred 1-24 months (median 4.5) after IVIg discontinuation and 1-31 months (median 14) after IVMP discontinuation (p=0.0126). Conclusions: A similarly high proportion of patients treated with IVIg or IVMP eventually relapse after therapy discontinuation but the median time to relapse was significantly longer after IVMP than IVIg. This difference may help to balance the more frequent response to IVIg than to IVMP in patients with CIDP

La terminologia spagnola della TV digitale

Con la transizione al digitale terrestre gli italiani e gli europei si sono avventurati in una giungla di complessi termini tecnici che continua a infittirsi. Per fare un po' di luce sull'attuale panorama, in questo volume si è voluto dapprima ripercorrere l'itinerario storico e normativo della disciplina del digitale terrestre in Italia, mettendone in rilievo i risvolti linguistici, e poi allargare lo sguardo in prospettiva europea, proponendo un insieme di spunti e di materiali che danno conto di alcuni dei numerosi problemi caratteristici della terminologia della TV digitale. Il volume include un glossario in lingua spagnola, redatto con uno sguardo sempre attento anche all'italiano. L'intero lavoro è l'esito di una ricerca avviata nel contesto del progetto PRIN "L'italiano televisivo 1976-2006"

Tectonic control on vein attributes and deformation intensity in fault damage zones affecting Natih platform carbonates, Jabal Qusaybah, North Oman

Understanding the factors that control fracture patterns in fault damage zones is fundamental to predicting fault zone permeability in the subsurface. In this contribution, we present outcrop data on vein attributes collected from 26 fault zones (10 strike-slip and 16 normal dip-slip) that cut Cretaceous Natih Formation platform carbonates exposed in the Jabal Qusaybah anticline, North Oman. Faulting occurred during the growth of the salt-cored anticline and progressed initially from dominant strike-slip faults (burial depth ∼3–4 km) to late normal dip-slip faults (burial depth <1–2 km). The displacements accommodated by both kinematic fault types range similarly from 0.1 to 100 m, and damage-zone width increases with displacement at the same rate for both types. Vein aperture (A), height (H), and spacing (S) were measured in vertical cross-sections (n = 10839 data) along fault-perpendicular, linear scanlines across fault damage zones. Data analyses indicate that, as the master slip surface is approached in each fault zone: (1) vein aperture and height generally increase; (2) vein spacing systematically decreases; and (3) deformation intensity, calculated as vein H/S ratio, increases. However, median H/S values calculated in each damage zone do not show a robust correlation with fault displacement. When analyzed collectively across-fault distributions, H/S ratios indicate that deformation intensity (i) in normal dip-slip fault damage zones is greater than in strike-slip fault damage zones; (ii) in strike-slip fault damage zones is symmetrical with respect to the master slip surface; and (iii) is locally asymmetrically distributed with greater deformation intensity in footwall blocks for normal dip-slip faults. Greater deformation in normal dip-slip fault zones is expressed by greater vein height, rather than smaller vein spacing. The main conclusion is that deformation intensity and vein attributes in fault damage zones are primarily controlled by burial stress and fault kinematics, and less importantly by rheological contrasts between layers, rather than local stress induced by fault displacement

Extensional deformation structures within a convergent orogen: The Val di Lima low-angle normal fault system (Northern Apennines, Italy).

A low-angle extensional fault system affecting the non metamorphic rocks of the carbonate dominated Tuscan succession is exposed in the Lima valley (Northern Apennines, Italy). This fault system affects the right-side-up limb of a kilometric-scale recumbent isoclinal anticline and is, in turn, affected by superimposed folding and late-tectonic high-angle extensional faulting. The architecture of the low-angle fault system has been investigated through detailed structural mapping and damage zone characterization. Pressure-depth conditions and paleofluid evolution of the fault system have been studied through microstructural, mineralogical, petrographic, fluid inclusion and stable isotope analyses. Our results show that the low-angle fault system was active during exhumation of the Tuscan succession at about 180C and 5 km depth, with the involvement of low-salinity fluids. Within this temperature - depth framework, the fault zone architecture shows important differences related to the different lithologies involved in the fault system and to the role played by the fluids during deformation. In places, footwall overpressuring influenced active deformation mechanisms and favored shear strain localization. Our observations indicate that extensional structures affected the central sector of the Northern Apennines thrust wedge during the orogenic contractional history, modifying the fluid circulation through the upper crust and influencing its mechanical behavior

Tai Chi Chuan effects on balance, mobility and gait in Parkinson disease; preliminary data

Tai Chi Chuan effects on balance, mobility and gait in Parkinson disease; preliminary dat