WHAT IS THE DIGESTATE?

As anaerobic digestion (AD) is quickly being harnessed in Italy and in other European countries, there is a need for a more in-depth description of the main by-product of the process, the digestate. Little information on digestate characteristics and composition is available and unclear legislation causes problems in biogas plant management. In this work, the organic matter (OM) of this matrix was described through chemical, biological, spectroscopic, and statistical approaches. It was shown that AD results in a strong reduction of the easily degradable fraction of the OM and an accumulation of recalcitrant molecules (possible humus precursors). This contributes to a relatively high biological stability of the residual OM content in the digestate and may lead to good amendment properties. Besides, the observed relative accumulation and the high mineralisation of nitrogen and phosphorus may point to the digestate as a readily available liquid fertiliser for agronomic use. Moreover, xenobiotics and pathogens respected limits for both biosolids and compost in Italian and European legislation

"Non-invasive" portable laser ablation sampling for lead isotope analysis of archaeological silver: A comparison with bulk and In situ laser ablation techniques

The main factor restricting lead isotope analysis of metals from museum collections is the requirement for physical material. Hence, there are major incentives for developing minimally invasive methods for lead isotope analysis that are accurate and precise enough to reveal historical information about artefacts and their origin. Portable laser ablation (pLA), collecting microscopic samples on Teflon filters, has four key benefits. It produces no visual impact to the artefacts, does not require transport of artefacts to laboratory facilities, there are no artefact size restrictions, and samples are processed under clean laboratory conditions allowing Pb purification prior to measurement by solution MC-ICPMS. To validate the efficacy of the pLA technique on silver, nine matrixed-matched commercial, in-house and archaeological reference materials were sampled and analysed multiple times (9-10). The pLA mean analyses (±2SD) were all consistent with inter-laboratory bulk analyses. The digestion of sample filters produces precisions that are consistently more than five-times better than in situ nsLA-MC-ICPMS and are the same order of magnitude expected for bulk samples processed in different laboratories. This journal i

Micro-invasive method for studying lead isotopes in paintings*

A micro-invasive technique is presented that enables pigment sampling from individual layers of a painting cross-section by obtaining a furrow 10–50 μm wide of chosen length. Combined with increased sensitivity of lead (Pb) isotope analysis using multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) equipped with a 1013 Ω resistor or a Pb double-spike technique, the amount of Pb needed for isotopic analysis is drastically reduced, while maintaining a relative 2 SD precision for 206Pb/204Pb of < 0.02%. The methodology proved able to characterize Pb isotope differences within paint layers

Clinical and pathophysiological outcomes of the robotic-assisted Heller–Dor myotomy for achalasia: a single-center experience

Laparoscopic Heller myotomy and Dor fundoplication is considered a safe and effective treatment for achalasia. Robotic-assisted Heller–Dor procedure (RAHD) has emerged as an alternative approach due to improved visualization and fine motor control. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate clinical, and functional results of RAHD. We evaluated a group of 66 patients with achalasia that underwent robotic-assisted Heller–Dor operation. Before treatment all patients underwent a diagnostic work-up such as upper endoscopy, esophageal barium swallow and high resolution manometry. The presence of postoperative gastroesophageal reflux disease was diagnosed by impedance and pH monitoring (MII-pH). Dysphagia improved in 92.4% of patients after treatment. Barium swallow series showed esophageal emptying in 100% of patients and a significant reduction of the esophageal diameter (p = 0.00235). Forty-five of 66 patients (68.2%) underwent upper endoscopy and 35 of 66 (53%) underwent MII-pH. Esophageal erosions were found in 4/45 (8,8%) and MII-pH showed abnormal results in 3/35 patients (8.6%).&nbsp;RAHD ensures a meticulous esophageal and gastric myotomy, allowing to visualize and divide each muscle fibers with a low rate of intraoperative and postoperative complications. resulting in turn in good clinical outcomes, radiological findings and functional results even if robotic tecnique definitely increases the surgical cost in the treatment of these functional esophageal disorders

Laparoscopic compared with open d2 gastrectomy on perioperative and long‐term, stage‐stratified oncological outcomes for gastric cancer: A propensity score‐matched analysis of the imigastric database.

Background: The laparoscopic approach in gastric cancer surgery is being increasingly adopted worldwide. However, studies focusing specifically on laparoscopic gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy are still lacking in the literature. This retrospective study aimed to compare the short‐term and long‐term outcomes of laparoscopic versus open gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy for gastric cancer. Methods: The protocol‐based, international IMIGASTRIC (International study group on Minimally Invasive surgery for Gastric Cancer) registry was queried to retrieve data on patients undergoing laparoscopic or open gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy for gastric cancer with curative intent from January 2000 to December 2014. Eleven predefined, demographical, clinical, and pathological variables were used to conduct a 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) analysis to investigate intraoperative and recovery outcomes, complications, pathological findings, and survival data between the two groups. Predictive factors of long‐term survival were also assessed. Results: A total of 3033 patients from 14 participating institutions were selected from the IMIGASTRIC database. After 1:1 PSM, a total of 1248 patients, 624 in the laparoscopic group and 624 in the open group, were matched and included in the final analysis. The total operative time (median 180 versus 240 min, p &lt; 0.0001) and the length of the postoperative hospital stay (median 10 versus 14.8 days, p &lt; 0.0001) were longer in the open group than in the laparoscopic group. The conversion to open rate was 1.9%. The proportion of patients with in‐hospital complications was higher in the open group (21.3% versus 15.1%, p = 0.004). The median number of harvested lymph nodes was higher in the laparoscopic approach (median 32 versus 28, p &lt; 0.0001), and the proportion of positive resection margins was higher (p = 0.021) in the open group (5.9%) than in the laparoscopic group (3.2%). There was no significant difference between the groups in five‐year overall survival rates (77.4% laparoscopic versus 75.2% open, p = 0.229). Conclusion: The adoption of the laparoscopic approach for gastric resection with D2 lymphadenectomy shortened the length of hospital stay and reduced postoperative complications with respect to the open approach. The five‐year overall survival rate after laparoscopy was comparable to that for patients who underwent open D2 resection. The types of surgical approaches are not independent predictive factors for five‐year overall survival