Cerebral reserve and indications for shunting in carotid surgery

The aim of this study was to establish whether a preoperative evaluation of cerebral haemodynamic reserve, carried out by means of transcranial Doppler and single photoemission computed tomography with a provocative test (acetazolamide) is able to select those patients who require carotid shunting to avoid cerebral ischaemia during clamping. All patients were monitored during operation by means of somatosensitive evoked potentials. Those patients who required shunting because of abnormal evoked potentials were also those who had a poor cerebral reserve with a perfusion and velocity increase below 15%. Only one neurological deficit developed in patients who were not shunted

Hemodynamic reserve in carotid surgery and the use of "superselective" shunt

The aim of this study is to establish whether a preoperative evaluation of the Cerebral Hemodynamic Reserve, carried out by means of transcranial Doppler and SPECT with provocative test (acetazolamide) can single out those patients who, because they are supplied with a poor cerebral reserve, are truly in need of intraoperative shunting after carotid clamping. All patients were intraoperatively monitored by means of Somato Sensitive Evoked Potentials (SSEPs). Those patients who were shunted due to abnormalities in SSEPs were also those who showed a perfusion and velocity increase below 15%, and therefore supplied, in our opinion, with a scanty cerebral reserve. No, but one, neurological deficit appeared on awakening in patients who were not shunted

TiO2 and N-TiO2 sepiolite and zeolite composites for photocatalytic removal of ofloxacin from polluted water

TiO2 sepiolite and zeolite composites, as well the corresponding N-doped composites, synthesized through a sol-gel method, were tested for the photocatalytic degradation of a widespread fluoroquinolone antibiotic (ofloxacin) under environmental conditions. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) analyses. A complete drug degradation occurred in 10-15 min in the presence of both TiO2 sepiolite and zeolite catalysts, and in 20-30 min with the N-doped ones. Sepiolite proved to be a better TiO2 support compared to the most common zeolite both in terms of adsorption capacity and photocatalytic efficiency in pollutants degradation. The influence of nitrogen doping (red shift from 3.2 to 3.0 eV) was also investigated. Although it was blurred by a marked increase of the particle dimension and thus a decrease of the specific surface area of the doped catalysts, it allowed a faster drug removal than direct photolysis. The photochemical paths and photoproducts were investigated, too

The environmental sustainability of the manor farm system

La ricerca, attualmente in via di sviluppo, mira a definire, in linea generale, quei criteri di sostenibilità ambientale, perseguiti in passato, per la costruzione degli edifici rurali pugliesi ed in particolare nelle masserie. Parte significante dello studio condotto investiga sul rapporto/dipendenza tra il costruito rurale e il paesaggio dove esso si incastona e al quale, dopo numerose stratificazioni, ha fornito una precisa identità, molte volte anche qualificandolo. La collocazione delle masserie sul territorio infatti, ha condizionato spesso la rete infrastrutturale e l’assetto di tutto il paesaggio agricolo. Più nel dettaglio, la ricerca è orientata a rintracciare le antiche logiche di localizzazione sul territorio, di sfruttamento dei caratteri propri del paesaggio agrario e a definire quali di esse derivino da una consapevolezza empirica e quali invece rispondano ad una progettazione codificata dalla trattatistica antica. Tali espedienti - utili soprattutto a limitare lo sfruttamento di risorse naturali ed economiche e all’ottenimento del migliore comfort termico interno degli ambienti – sono tutt’ora riscontrabili in alcune delle masserie prese in esame, la maggior parte delle quali versano oggi, purtroppo, in grave stato di abbandono.The research, at the moment under development, it generally aims to define those criteria of environmental sustainability, pursued from the past, for the construction of rural buildings in Puglia and particularly in the farmstead. The significant part of the study investigates the relationship / dependence between the rural building and the landscape where embeds itself and to which, after many stratifications, it provided a clear identity, sometimes even characterizing it positively. The position of the farmstead on the territory, in fact, has often conditioned the infrastructural network and the structuring of the agricultural landscape. More in detail, the research aims to trace the ancient logic of localization on the territory and exploitation of the agricultural landscape character in the Apulian rural architecture and to define which of them derive from an empirical knowledge and which respond to an already encoded design. These constructive expedients – are especially useful to obtaining an effective passive cooling, to promote the natural ventilation and to built an ingenious systems for the recovery and the preservation of rainwater - are still found in some of the farmsteads examined, most of whom are, today, in a serious state of neglect

Impaired glucose metabolism in the heart of obese Zucker rats after treatment with phorbol ester.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of obesity on the regulation of myocardial glucose metabolism following protein kinase C (PKC) activation in obese (fa/fa) and lean (Fa/?) Zucker rats. DESIGN: Isolated hearts obtained from 17-week-old lean and obese Zucker rats were perfused with 200 nM phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) for different time periods prior to the evaluation of PKC and GLUT-4 translocation. For metabolic studies isolated hearts from 48 h starved Zucker rats were perfused with an erythrocytes-enriched buffer containing increased concentrations (10-100 nM) of PMA. MEASUREMENTS: Immunodetectable PKC isozymes and GLUT-4 were determined by Western blots. Glucose oxidation and glycolysis were evaluated by measuring the myocardial release of 14CO2 and 3H2O from [U-14C]glucose and [5-3H]glucose, respectively. RESULTS: PMA (200 nM) induced maximal translocation of ventricular PKCalpha from the cytosol to the membranes within 10 min. This translocation was 2-fold lower in the heart from obese rats when compared to lean rats. PMA also induced a significant translocation of ventricular GLUT-4 from the microsomal to the sarcolemmal fraction within 60 min in lean but not in obese rats. Rates of basal cardiac glucose oxidation and glycolysis in obese rats were approximately 2-fold lower than those of lean rats. Perfusion with increasing concentrations of PMA (10-100 nM) led to a significant decrease of cardiac glucose oxidation in lean but not in obese rats. CONCLUSION: Our results show that in the heart of the genetically obese Zucker rat, the impairment in PKCalpha activation is in line with a diminished activation of GLUT-4 as well as with the lack of PMA effect on glucose oxidation