Perioperative latex allergy.

The prevalence of latex allergy varies greatly depending on the population studied and the methods used to detect sensitization. Subjects considered to be at high risk for latex allergy are rubber industry workers, children with spina bifida and urological abnormalities, children undergoing multiple surgical procedures and with urinary catheterization, health care workers and people with food allergy (latex fruit syndrome). In this paper we report a review of latex proteins, the symptoms of latex allergy, diagnosis and management in subjects with latex allergy

Modello numerico di flusso e trasporto del sistema acquifero della pianura del Cecina (Toscana, Italia), con l'uso di elaborazioni GIS Groundwater Flow and Transport Model in Cecina Plain (Tuscany, Italy) using GIS processing

This work provides a groundwater flow and transport model of trichlorethylene and tetrachlorethylene contamination in the Cecina's coastal aquifer. The contamination analysis, with source located in the Poggio Gagliardo area (Montescudaio, Pisa), was necessary to optimize the groundwater monitoring and remediation design. The work was carried out in two phases: • design of a conceptual model of the aquifer using GIS analysis of many stratigraphic, chemical and hydrogeological data, collected from 2004 to 2012 in six aqueduct wells; • implementation of a groundwater flow and transport numerical model using the MODFLOW 88/96 and MT3D code and the graphical user interface GroundWaterVistas 5. The conceptual model hypothesizes a multilayer aquifer in the coastal plain extended to the sandy-clay hills, recharged by rainfall and by the Cecina River. The aquifer shows important hydrodynamic features affecting both the contamination spreading, due to the presence of a perched and heavily polluted layer separate from the underlying productive aquifer, and the hydrological balance, due to a thick separation layer that limits exchanges between the river and the second groundwater aquifer. The numerical model, built using increasingly complex versions of the initial conceptual model, has been calibrated using monitoring surveys conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency of Regione Toscana (ARPAT), in order to obtain possible forecast scenarios based on the minimum and maximum flow periods, and it is currently used as a tool for decision support regarding the reclamation and/or protection of the aquifer. Future developments will regard the implementation of the multilayer transport model, based on a new survey, and the final coupling with the regional hydrological model named MOBIDIC

Intrinsic absorption in 3C 279 at GeV-TeV energies and consequences for estimates of the EBL

We revisit the limits of the level of the extragalactic background light (EBL) recently reported by the MAGIC collaboration based on the observed gamma-ray spectrum of the quasar 3C279, considering the impact of absorption of high-energy gamma-ray photons inside the broad line region (BLR) of the quasar. We use the photoionization code CLOUDY to calculate the expected optical-UV radiation field inside the BLR and the optical depth to gamma-rays for a relatively extended set of the parameters. We found that the absorption of gamma-ray photons, though important for the estimate of the true radiative output of the source, does not produce an important hardening of the spectrum of 3C279 in the energy band accessible by MAGIC, supporting the method used to infer the upper limits to the level of the EBL.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

SIAIP position paper: provocation challenge to antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in children

Drug hypersensitivity reactions (DHRs) in childhood are mainly caused by betalactam or non-betalactam antibiotics, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Laboratory tests for identifying children who are allergic to drugs have low diagnostic accuracy and predictive value. The gold standard to diagnose DHR is represented by the drug provocation test (DPT), that aims of ascertaining the causative role of an allergen and evaluating the tolerance to the suspected drug. Different protocols through the administration of divided increasing doses have been postulated according to the type of drug and the onset of the reaction (immediate or non immediate reactions). DPT protocols differ in doses and time interval between doses. In this position paper, the Italian Pediatric Society for Allergy and Immunology provides a practical guide for provocation test to antibiotics and NSAIDs in children and adolescents

A frailty index predicts post-liver transplant morbidity and mortality in HIV-positive patients

Background: We hypothesized that frailty acts as a measure of health outcomes in the context of LT. The aim of this study was to explore frailty index across LT, as a measure of morbidity and mortality. This was a retrospective observational study including all consecutive 47 HIV+patients who received LT in Modena, Italy from 2003 to June 2015. Methods: frailty index (FI) was constructed from 30 health variables. It was used both as a continuous score and as a categorical variable, defining 'most frail' a FI > 0.45. FI change across transplant (deltaFI, \uce\u94FI) was calculated as the difference between year 1 FI (FI-Y1) and pre-transplant FI (FI-t0). The outcomes measures were mortality and "otpimal LT" (defined as being alive without multi-morbidity). Results: Median value of FI-t0 was 0.48 (IQR 0.42-0.52), FI-Y1 was 0.31 (IQR 0.26-0.41). At year five mortality rate was 45%, "optimal transplant" rate at year 1 was 38%. All the patients who died in the post-LT were most frail in the pre-LT. \uce\u94FI was a predictor of mortality after correction for age and MELD (HR = 1.10, p = 0.006) and was inversely associated with optimal transplant after correction for age (HR = 1.04, p = 0.01). Conclusions: We validated FI as a valuable health measure in HIV transplant. In particular, we found a relevant correlation between FI strata at baseline and mortality and a statistically significant correlation between, \uce\u94FI and survival rate

Early-stage dynamics of metallic droplets embedded in the nanotextured Mott insulating phase of V2 O3

Unveiling the physics that governs the intertwining between the nanoscale self-organization and the dynamics of insulator-to-metal transitions (IMTs) is key for controlling on demand the ultrafast switching in strongly correlated materials and nanodevices. A paradigmatic case is the IMT in V2O3, for which the mechanism that leads to the nucleation and growth of metallic nanodroplets out of the supposedly homogeneous Mott insulating phase is still a mystery. Here, we combine x-ray photoemission electron microscopy and ultrafast nonequilibrium optical spectroscopy to investigate the early-stage dynamics of isolated metallic nanodroplets across the IMT in V2O3 thin films. Our experiments show that the low-temperature monoclinic antiferromagnetic insulating phase is characterized by the spontaneous formation of striped polydomains, with different lattice distortions. The insulating domain boundaries accommodate the birth of metallic nanodroplets, whose nonequilibrium expansion can be triggered by the photoinduced change of the 3d-orbital occupation. We address the relation between the spontaneous nanotexture of the Mott insulating phase in V2O3 and the timescale of the metallic seeds growth. We speculate that the photoinduced metallic growth can proceed along a nonthermal pathway in which the monoclinic lattice symmetry of the insulating phase is partially retained

Ultrafast orbital manipulation and Mott physics in multi-band correlated materials

Multiorbital correlated materials are often on the verge of multiple electronic phases (metallic, insulating, superconducting, charge and orbitally ordered), which can be explored and controlled by small changes of the external parameters. The use of ultrashort light pulses as a mean to transiently modify the band population is leading to fundamentally new results. In this paper we will review recent advances in the field and we will discuss the possibility of manipulating the orbital polarization in correlated multi-band solid state systems. This technique can provide new understanding of the ground state properties of many interesting classes of quantum materials and offers a new tool to induce transient emergent properties with no counterpart at equilibrium. We will address: the discovery of high-energy Mottness in superconducting copper oxides and its impact on our understanding of the cuprate phase diagram; the instability of the Mott insulating phase in photoexcited vanadium oxides; the manipulation of orbital-selective correlations in iron-based superconductors; the pumping of local electronic excitons and the consequent transient effective quasiparticle cooling in alkali-doped fullerides. Finally, we will discuss a novel route to manipulate the orbital polarization in a a k-resolved fashion

Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in patients with decompensated cirrhosis: a case series

Objectives: Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) incidence is increasing in people without HIV. Decompensated liver cirrhosis is not currently considered a risk factor for PCP. The aim of this paper is to describe a case series of patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis and PCP. Methods: All consecutive patients hospitalized with decompensated cirrhosis and microbiology-confirmed PCP at Policlinico Modena University Hospital from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2021 were included in our series. Results: Eight patients were included. All patients had advanced-stage liver disease with a model for end-stage liver disease score above 15 (6/8 above 20). Four were on an active orthotopic liver transplant waiting list at the time of PCP diagnosis. Five patients did not have any traditional risk factor for PCP, whereas the other three were on glucocorticoid treatment for acute-on-chronic liver failure. All patients were treated with cotrimoxazole, except two who died before the diagnosis. Five patients died (62.5%), four of them within 30 days from PCP diagnosis. Of the remaining three, one patient underwent liver transplantation. Conclusion: Although further studies are needed, liver cirrhosis can be an independent risk factor for PCP in patients with decompensated cirrhosis that is mainly due to severe alcoholic hepatitis and who are on corticosteroids therapy, and primary prophylaxis for PCP should be considered

Nanoscale self-organization and metastable non-thermal metallicity in Mott insulators

Mott transitions in real materials are first order and almost always associated with lattice distortions, both features promoting the emergence of nanotextured phases. This nanoscale self-organization creates spatially inhomogeneous regions, which can host and protect tran- sient non-thermal electronic and lattice states triggered by light excitation. Here, we combine time-resolved X-ray microscopy with a Landau-Ginzburg functional approach for calculating the strain and electronic real-space configurations. We investigate V2O3, the archetypal Mott insulator in which nanoscale self-organization already exists in the low-temperature monoclinic phase and strongly affects the transition towards the high-temperature corundum metallic phase. Our joint experimental-theoretical approach uncovers a remarkable out-of- equilibrium phenomenon: the photo-induced stabilisation of the long sought monoclinic metal phase, which is absent at equilibrium and in homogeneous materials, but emerges as a metastable state solely when light excitation is combined with the underlying nanotexture of the monoclinic lattice

3C66B as a TeV radiogalaxy

The MAGIC collaboration reported the detection of a new VHE source, MAGIC J0223+430, located close to the position of the blazar 3C66A, considered a candidate TeV blazar since a long time. A careful analysis showed that the events with energies above 150 GeV are centered on the position of the FRI radiogalaxy 3C66B (at 6 arcmin from 3C66A), with a probability of 95.4% (85.4% including systematic uncertainties) that the source is not related to 3C66A. We present a model for the possible emission of 3C66B based on the structured jet model already used to interpret the TeV emission of the radiogalaxy M87. The model requires parameters similar to those used for M87 but a larger luminosity for the layer, to account for the more luminous TeV emission. We also show that the spectrum obtained by MAGIC can be interpreted as the combined emission of 3C66B, dominating above ~200 GeV, and of 3C66A. The high-energy emission from the latter source, being strongly attenuated by the interaction with the extragalactic background light, can only contribute at low energies. If we were to see the jet emission of 3C 66B at small viewing angles we would see a spectral energy distribution closely resembling the one of S5 0716+714, a typical blazar.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication by MNRA