AMYLOIDOSIS AND INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE: FACT OR MITH?

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), which includes both Crohn's Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC), is a chronic idiopathic inflammatory disorder affecting the gastrointestinal tract. Extraintestinal manifestations (EIM) are common in patients with IBD, and occur in 6-47% of patients with CD or UC. EIM can involve organs other than the gastrointestinal tract such as skin, eyes, joints, biliary tract and kidneis. Renal and urinary involvement particularly occurs in 4-23% of patients with IBD. Among the renal complications of IBD, seconfary amyloidosis (AA-type, AAA) is a rare but serious complication. renal amyloidosis has been proven to be the most common lethal manifestation of IBD-associated amyloidosis, since renal involvement rapidly leads to end-stage renal failure. A few studies suggest that AAA is more prevalent in CD than in UC, mainly occurring in male patients with an extensive long-lasting and penetrating ddisease pattern. The therapeutic approaches of IBD-associated AAA are based both on control of the chronic inflammatory process that causes the production and storage of serum amyloid A (SAA), which is a precursor of the amyloid, as well as on destabilizing amyloid fibrils so that they can no longer maintain their pleated sheet configuration; however, in patients with end-stage renal disease, the only therapeutic options still available are hemodyalisis and renal transplantation. Whether effective treatment exists for AAA remain controversial

CLINICAL OUTCOMES OF SELF-EXPAMDABLE METALLIC STENTS IN PALLIATION OF MALIGNANT ANASTOMOTIC STRICTURES: A SINGLE CENTER EXPERIENCE

Background: self-expandable metallic stents (SEMS) are employed as the preferred non surgical palliative treatment for gastric outlet obstruction due to malignancies. Metallic stents are often employed to treat malignant anastomotic obstructions after surgicsl interventions as esophagojejunostomy, gastrojejunostomy and esophagogastrojejunostomy. Methods: this case series reports prospectively the clinical outcomes of SEMS in the palliative care of malignant anastomotic strictures caused by the recurrence gastric cancer follwing gastric surgery as oncological curative treatment, in a series of nine consecutive patients, treated between January 2009 and december 2012 in our center. Results: Nine patients (M:F=8:1) were enrolled in the study. The operation was a total gastrectomy with esophagogastrojejunostomy (n=4), subtotal gastrectomy with Bilroth-II reconstruction (n=4), subtotal gastrectomy with Billroth-II reconstruction (n=3), and subtotal gastrectomy with esophagogastrostomy (n=2). The technical success rate was 88,9%, and the clinical success rate was 88.9%. The reostruction of the stent, due to the ingrowth of the tumor, occurred in 1 patient (11,1%) within 1 month after stent placement. the migration of the stent occurred after the placement of a covered stent in 1 patient who underwent a subtotal gastrectomy (with Billroth-II reconstruction). A case o partial stent dislodgement was treated with the placement of a second stent. The median survival period was 180 days (range, 30-240 days) and the median stent patency was 45 days 8range, 30-90 days). Conclusions: Although the number of the patients treated with SEMS results, in this series, almost small to certainly judge the safety and feasibility of SEMS, we believe that the endoscopic insertion of SEMS seems to be a safe, easily feasible, and effective treatment in the palliative care of malignant anastomotic strictures caused by the recurrence of gastric cancer following gastric surgery. The technical and clinical success, and the onset of complications of this procedure are influenced by several factors, such as the type of anastomosis, the technical features of the stent, and the extent of the underlying tumor

CPMAS 13C NMR characterization of leaves and litters from the reafforestated area of mustigarufi in Sicily (Italy).

Reafforestation is generally based on the planting of exotic fast growing tree species suitable for adapting to even harsh environments. Once the introduced plants ameliorate soil conditions, they can be progressively replaced by au- tochthonous plant species. Reafforestation is applied worldwide. However, only few studies on the effect of reafforesta- tion on lands from Mediterranean regions are available. This paper reports the characterization by cross polarization 13C NMR spectroscopy of fresh leaves and superficial litters from a reafforestated area in central Sicily (Italy). NMR assign- ment is attempted. A differentiation among the molecular systems within leaves and litters is also done on the basis of NMR assessment. Results showed that the main differences among the leaves of four forest trees (two eucalyptus spp., one cypress sp. and one pine sp.) occur in the distribution of the aromatic and alkyl carbons. In particular, the alkyl moie- ties in the eucalyptus spp. leaves were attributed to branched structures belonging to the eucalyptus oil, whereas linear fatty acids were more representetive in the NMR spectra of pine and cypress leaves. In addition, the aromatic carbons of the conifer leaves were assigned not only to lignin- and tannin-like structures, but also to common olefin carbons in un- saturated fatty acids and abietic acid-like systems. The spectra of the litters resembled, as expected, those of the leaves. However, the presence of very large carbohydrate NMR signals suggested that degradation processes were still ongoing in litters. A comparative evaluation of CPMAS 13C NMR spectra was done by applying principal component analysis. This paper confirmed the suitability of CPMAS 13C NMR spectroscopy in evaluating the differences among natural bio-masses which are the major nutrient sources for soil micro-organisms and the main input for humification processes

La comunicazione e i media studies

Il saggio intende offrire una panoramica sull'evoluzione dello studio degli effetti prodotti dalla comunicazione e dalle sue tecnologie, proponendo un percorso di ricostruzione storica e teorica, attraverso l'analisi di alcune delle principali teorie e ricerche sviluppate nell'ambito dei media studies

La comunicazione in un "tweet"

La circoscrizione analitica di un fenomeno complesso e ricco di sfaccettature può essere facilitato da una riflessione che individui in maniera sintetica una serie di categorie interpretative relative all’oggetto di studio in questione. Attraverso un’analogia con i social network e con Twitter, in particolare, di cui si riprende la metodologia concisa dei tweet e l’architettura complessa della rete che estende a dismisura i propri nodi, in questo capitolo si tenta di dare origine ad una nuvola semantica di definizioni e concezioni sulla comunicazione. La comunicazione come bisogno elementare, presuppone che quest’ultima sia insita nella natura di ogni individuo. La comunicazione come tecnica pone l’accento sulla dimensione tecnologica della comunicazione e sul medium utilizzato. La comunicazione come informazione rimanda all’idea di comunicazione come trasferimento di risorse o trasmissione di contenuti da un soggetto all’altro. La comunicazione come relazione riguarda i processi di socializzazione e i meccanismi dello scambio sociale. La comunicazione come cultura pone l’attenzione sulla costruzione di significato, sulla dimensione simbolica e interpretativa dell’agire comunicativo. La comunicazione come potere chiama in causa i rapporti di potere configurabili tra emittenti e riceventi. La comunicazione come gioco mette in luce la componente ludica dell’esperienza individuale e sociale. La comunicazione come narrazione, infine, chiama in causa la dimensione cognitiva ed ermeneutica della comunicazione, i processi di socializzazione, di costruzione identitaria e di conservazione della memoria

Sociologia della comunicazione: teorie e ricerche

Il contributo propone un approccio allo studio della comunicazione attraverso l'analisi degli effetti mediali. Dopo aver fornito una possibile definizione dei Media Studies come ambito disciplinare, si individuano alcune delle principali teorie sugli effetti (la teoria del proiettile magico; “Payne Fund Studies”;la teoria dell’influenza personale; l’approccio degli usi e gratificazioni;la teoria dell’agenda setting; la teoria della spirale del silenzio;la teoria della coltivazione;la teoria della dipendenza), sviluppate a partire dagli anni Venti, e analizzate in una prospettiva cronologica. L’ultima parte del contributo prospetta una evoluzione dello studio sugli effetti mediali in chiave ecologia, che consenta di ripensare il rapporto tra produttori, pubblici e contenuti

Heavy Gas Dispersion Modelling Over a Topographically Complex Mesoscale: A CFD Based Approach

Abstract: Potentially dangerous events involving heavy gas dispersion and their severe consequences have been largely publicized by the media. Simplified models have been widely applied to describe the effects of these accidents. However, most simplified models deal with flat terrain scenarios and are based on quite crude simplifications of the complex phenomenology involved. In this paper the possibility of simulating the dispersion of heavy gas clouds over a large topographically complex area (tens of km) by a general purpose computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code is investigated. The aim is that of setting up a tool able to produce a realistic description of such dispersion processes, whose results can be useful in considering the question of when and by how much one can be misled by a simplified model. The paper is divided in two parts: the first part describes the use of CFD simulations to generate the micrometeorological parameters which characterize the site before the release of the toxic material, while the second part deals with the dispersion process itself. The geographical region examined is the industrial site of Priolo-Gargallo/Augusta in the eastern part of Sicily, covering an extension of 30 x 30 km(2)