Lectio Magistralis del Prof. Orazio Ciancio in occasione del suo ottantesimo compleanno

Abstract: On december 3rd, 2015 the 80th birthday of prof. Orazio Ciancio has been celebrated at the Italian Academy of Forest Sciences in Florence (Italy) by a meeting organized by the proponents of the "Manifesto of the systemic silviculture". In this special occasion, prof. Ciancio has given his lectio magistralis focused on the systemic silviculture, the culture of complexity, the reference scientific paradigma, the relationships between science and humanism and those among culture, aethics and arts

Impact of Orbital Parameters and Greenhouse Gas on the Climate of MIS 7 and MIS 5 Glacial Inceptions

This work explores the impact of orbital parameters and greenhouse gas concentrations on the climate of marine isotope stage (MIS) 7 glacial inception and compares it to that of MIS 5. The authors use a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model to simulate the mean climate state of six time slices at 115, 122, 125, 229, 236, and 239 kyr, representative of a climate evolution from interglacial to glacial inception conditions. The simulations are designed to separate the effects of orbital parameters from those of greenhouse gas (GHG). Their results show that, in all the time slices considered, MIS 7 boreal lands mean annual climate is colder than the MIS 5 one. This difference is explained at 70% by the impact of the MIS 7 GHG. While the impact of GHG over Northern Hemisphere is homogeneous, the difference in temperature between MIS 7 and MIS 5 due to orbital parameters differs regionally and is linked with the Arctic Oscillation. The perennial snow cover is larger in all the MIS 7 experiments compared to MIS 5, as a result of MIS 7 orbital parameters, strengthened by GHG. At regional scale, Eurasia exhibits the strongest response to MIS 7 cold climate with a perennial snow area 3 times larger than in MIS 5 experiments. This suggests that MIS 7 glacial inception is more favorable over this area than over North America. Furthermore, at 239 kyr, the perennial snow covers an area equivalent to that of MIS 5 glacial inception (115 kyr). The authors suggest that MIS 7 glacial inception is more extensive than MIS 5 glacial inception over the high latitudes

A randomised clinical trial (RCT) of a symbiotic mixture in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): effects on symptoms, colonic transit and quality of life

Purpose The aim of this study is to test in a doubleblinded, randomised placebo-controlled study the effects of a commercially available multi-strain symbiotic mixture on symptoms, colonic transit and quality of life in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients who meet Rome III criteria. Background There is only one other double-blinded RCT on a single-strain symbiotic mixture in IBS. Methods This is a double-blinded, randomised placebocontrolled study of a symbiotic mixture (Probinul, 5 g bid) over 4 weeks after 2 weeks of run-in. The primary endpoints were global satisfactory relief of abdominal flatulence and bloating. Responders were patients who reported at least 50 % of the weeks of treatment with global satisfactory relief. The secondary endpoints were change in abdominal bloating, flatulence, pain and urgency by a 100-mm visual analog scale, stool frequency and bowel functions on validated adjectival scales (Bristol Scale and sense of incomplete evacuation). Pre- and post-treatment colonic transit time (Metcalf) and quality of life (SF-36) were assessed. Results Sixty-four IBS patients (symbiotic n032, 64 % females, mean age 38.7±12.6 years) were studied. This symbiotic mixture reduced flatulence over a 4-week period of treatment (repeated-measures analysis of covariance, p<0.05). Proportions of responders were not significantly different between groups. At the end of the treatment, a longer rectosigmoid transit time and a significant improvement in most SF-36 scores were observed in the symbiotic group. Conclusions This symbiotic mixture has shown a beneficial effect in decreasing the severity of flatulence in IBS patients, a lack of adverse events and a good side-effect profile; however, it failed to achieve an improvement in global satisfactory relief of abdominal flatulence and bloating. Further studies are warranted

Essential Role of the cVRG in the Generation of Both the Expiratory and Inspiratory Components of the Cough Reflex.

As stated by Korpáš and Tomori (1979), cough is the most important airway protective reflex which provides airway defensive responses to nociceptive stimuli. They recognized that active expiratory efforts, due to the activation of caudal ventral respiratory group (cVRG) expiratory premotoneurons, are the prominent component of coughs. Here, we discuss data suggesting that neurons located in the cVRG have an essential role in the generation of both the inspiratory and expiratory components of the cough reflex. Some lines of evidence indicate that cVRG expiratory neurons, when strongly activated, may subserve the alternation of inspiratory and expiratory cough bursts, possibly owing to the presence of axon collaterals. Of note, experimental findings such as blockade or impairment of glutamatergic transmission to the cVRG neurons lead to the view that neurons located in the cVRG are crucial for the production of the complete cough motor pattern. The involvement of bulbospinal expiratory neurons seems unlikely since their activation affects differentially expiratory and inspiratory muscles, while their blockade does not affect baseline inspiratory activity. Thus, other types of cVRG neurons with their medullary projections should have a role and possibly contribute to the fine tuning of the intensity of inspiratory and expiratory efforts

Carrot productivity and its physiological response to irrigation methods and regimes in arid regions

The aim of this study is to optimize water irrigation management for improving carrot productivity and water-saving in arid regions of southern Tunisia. Field studies were conducted over two seasons (2017-2019) to evaluate the effects of drip irrigation (DI) and surface irrigation (SI) methods coupled with three irrigation regimes on agronomic parameters of carrot crops. Irrigation regimes consisted of water replacements of cumulated crop evapotranspiration (ETc) at levels of 100% (I100), 70% (I70), and 40% (I40) when the readily available water in I100 treatment was depleted. Results showed a reduction in carrot yield by 13-22% and 22-32% with I70 and I40 treatments compared to I100, respectively. Yield is affected by the irrigation method with a reduction of around 6-7% under the surface method for both years. The water productivity (WP) was found to significantly vary among regimes and methods, where the highest values were observed for the I40 regimes and drip method. Drip and I100 irrigation techniques seem to optimize carrot production. Under situations of water shortage, adopting deficit irrigation treatment (DI70) could be an alternative for managing carrot irrigation and improving water productivity

Interobserver Agreement of Novel Classification of Central Serous Chorioretinopathy

Objective To validate the newly proposed multimodal-imaging-based classification for central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR). Methods This was a retrospective study performed in a total of 87 eyes of 44 patients with a diagnosis of CSCR. Multimodal images in the form of auto-fluorescence, fundus fluorescein angiography, indocyanine green angiography, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) images, of all the patients, were presented to two masked retina specialists. The masked observers graded each eye into simple or complex; primary, recurrent, resolved; and specific features such as foveal involvement, outer retinal atrophy, and choroidal neovascularization (CNV). Interobserver agreement was assessed using Cohen's kappa. In areas of non-consensus, a detailed discussion was carried out with a third independent grader. Results The mean age of the 44 patients (32 males and 12 females) was 49.2±9.3 years. We found a moderate-strong agreement between the two observers in all subclassifications, that included "simple or complex" (kappa value=0.91, 95% CI 0.82-0.99, p&lt;0.001); "primary/recurrent/resolved" (kappa value=0.88, 95% CI 0.80-0.96, p&lt;0.001) and "foveal involvement" (kappa value=0.89,95%CI 0.8-0.98, p&lt;0.001). However, there was less agreement between the two graders with respect to classification of "outer retinal atrophy" (kappa value=0.72, 95%CI 0.57-0.87, p&lt;0.001) and "presence/absence of CNV" (kappa value=0.75, 95% CI 0.58-0.92, p&lt;0.001). Non-consensus in categorizing "outer retinal atrophy" was seen in eyes with sub-retinal hyper-reflective material (SHRM) and outer nuclear layer (ONL) thinning overlying subretinal fluid, and non-consensus in categorizing "CNV" was seen in eyes with inner choroidal atrophy. Conclusion Our study reports the validity and strong interobserver agreement in several aspects of the multimodal-imaging-based classification. This could support its implementation in clinical practice and pave way for appropriate treatment guidelines