New estimation of the post little ice age relative sea level rise

The study area is located in NW Sardinia Island (Italy), Mediterranean Sea. Sardinia is considered stable since the late Pliocene with a negligible subsidence of about 0.01 mm/y. It is therefore normally used to reconstruct the Pleistocene and Holocene sea level curves. Our research focusses on the sea-facing city of Alghero that from 1353 to 1720 was under the Spanish government. During this time, the city was renovated and new buildings edified. Dimension stones were quarried all around Alghero both in the nearby inland and along the coast. Coastal quarries were considered the most suitable for both rock quality and the easiest way to transport the quarried material by boat. The quarried rocks are late Pleistocene dune and beach sandstones deposited from the 132 ka (Marine Isotopic Stage-MIS5) to about 65 ka (MIS4). Sandstones crop out from few cm to 3 m above the present sea level and underwent several consolidation processes related to loading and marine weathering. This latter favoured dissolution and circulation of calcium carbonate which cemented the rocks. It is reported that the Spanish were looking for these "marine" sandstones for their high geotechnical characteristics. Different rules were adopted through time for the size of the dimension stones and this has allowed us to establish a quarry exploitation chronology. For example, "40 x 60 x 20" cm was the size of the dimension stones used for the Alghero Cathedral dated at 1505-1593. Nowadays most of the coastal Spanish quarry floors are 30 centimetres below mean sea level (tidal range is 30 cm). Accordingly, we infer that relative sea level from 1830 AD (and of the Little Ice Age) rose in about 200 years to the present level at the rate of about 1.4 mm/y. Considering that relative sea level rise during the Medieval warm period was of 0.6 mm/y over a period of about 400 years, we may deduce that human influence was strong enough to lead to a relative sea-level rise faster and in shorter time

Lo stato dell’arte per la conoscenza: l’impiego dello stucco in Sardegna in periodo barocco

Come specificato nella nota * sono da riferire esclusivamente a Fiorino D.R. i contenuti relativi alle parti riguardanti le province di Cagliari e di Oristano, anche per i paragrafi ove questo non è esplicitamente rimarcato (“I materiali e le tecniche” (pp. 147-148), e “Le maestranze” (pp. 151-152), “Teoria e prassi, piano e progetto: due dimensioni lontane” e “Conclusioni” sono da riferire a tutti gli autori

Italian experience of Management Plan for the historical towns of the World Heritage List: San Gimignano (Tuscany)

The aim of this paper is to show the Management Plan of San Gimignano (Tuscany), highlighting the reasons that have led to this plan. It comes from the will of the Town’s Council during the redaction of the Structural-Town Plan, because it is considered highly useful for an appropriate grow of the town in agreement with the Unesco’s suggestions, and also in order to be ready for the next Unesco checking

Evaluating diagnostic accuracy of anti-tissue Transglutaminase IgA antibodies as first screening for Celiac Disease in very young children

Background: Small bowel biopsy is the gold standard for Celiac Disease (CD) diagnosis, nevertheless serum assays are the first step in ascertaining a diagnosis of CD. New ESPGHAN Criteria 2012 (European Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition) suggest using exclusively anti-tissue Transglutaminase IgA antibodies (anti-tTGA) as initial approach to symptomatic subjects. The aim of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of anti-tTGA as initial screening assay for CD in a large cohort of pediatric patients. Methods: We selected 730 subjects aged between 6. months and 4. years ("Group A") and 348 subjects younger than 2. years (which are part of the 730 subjects) ("Group B"). We performed anti-Deamidated Gliadin Peptides IgA and IgG antibodies (a-DGP IgA/IgG) and anti-tTGA assays by ELISA test. We evaluated the agreement between anti-tTGA and a-DGP IgA/IgG assays and compared the diagnostic accuracy of a-DGP IgA/IgG with that of anti-tTGA in both groups of patients. Results: There was a substantial agreement between anti-tTGA and a-DGP IgA in "Group A" and an almost perfect agreement in "Group B" the strength of agreement between anti-tTGA and a-DGP IgG was moderate in "Group A" and substantial in "Group B".anti-tTGA were more sensitive and specific than a-DGP IgA/IgG in both groups. Conclusions: anti-tTGA could be used as initial screening assay for CD in all subjects from 6. months of age according to ESPGHAN Criteria 201

Dosaggio del mercurio nel liquido amniotico umano

Obiettivo. L'amalgama d'Ag contiene, tra i suoi componenti, il mercurio che, con i suoi derivati organici, è in grado di passare in organi e fluidi biologici. Un aspetto di questo passaggio, che desta preoccupazione e interesse, è la possibilità che possa, superando la barriera placentare, raggiungere il feto. Scopo del lavoro è la valutazione delle concentrazioni del mercurio totale nel liquido amniotico umano e confrontarle con il numero e l'estensione occlusale delle otturazioni di amalgama d'Ag. Metodi. Sono state selezionate 56 donne gravide destinate all'amniocentesi. Ogni paziente è stata sottoposta a visita odontostomatologica per individuare numero ed estensione delle otturazioni in amalgama. Nel liquido amniotico le concentrazioni di mercurio sono state determinate con lo spettrofotometro ad assorbimento atomico e tecnica FIAS-amalgama. Risultati. Le concentrazioni del mercurio nei campioni esaminati variavano da un minimo di 0,00 ng/ml ad un massimo di 2,55 ng/ml, valore medio di 0,44±0,53 ng/ml. Le correlazioni tra le variabili esaminate sono state valutate calcolando il valore del coefficiente di regressione lineare. Nessuna relazione diretta è stata trovata con la concentrazione del mercurio. I valori ottenuti sono stati inseriti anche per la costruzione di un modello di regressione logistica che ha evidenziato un valore statistico poco significativo (p=0,05) tra il numero delle otturazioni e le quantità di mercurio, mentre l'estensione occlusale dei restauri è risultata essere in rapporto significativo (p ¾0,05) con le concentrazioni del metallo. Conclusioni. Gli Autori consigliano grande cautela nell'uso dell'amalgama d'argento in corso di gravidanza.</br

Point-shear wave elastography predicts liver hypertrophy after portal vein embolization and postoperative liver failure.

To correlate point-shear wave elastography (SWE) with liver hypertrophy after right portal vein embolization (RPVE) and to determine its usefulness in predicting postoperative liver failure in patients undergoing partial liver resection. Point-SWE was performed the day before RPVE in 56 patients (41 men) with a median age of 66 years. The percentage (%) of future remnant liver (FRL) volume increase was defined as: %FRL &lt;sub&gt;post&lt;/sub&gt; -%FRL &lt;sub&gt;pre&lt;/sub&gt; %FRL &lt;sub&gt;pre&lt;/sub&gt; ×100 and assessed on computed tomography performed 4 weeks after RPVE. Median (range) %FRL &lt;sub&gt;pre&lt;/sub&gt; and %FRL &lt;sub&gt;post&lt;/sub&gt; was respectively, 31.5% (12-48%) and 41% (23-61%) (P&lt;0.001), with a median %FRL volume increase of 25.6% (-8; 123%). SWE correlated with %FRL volume increase (P=-0.510; P&lt;0.001). SWV (P=0.003) and %FRL &lt;sub&gt;pre&lt;/sub&gt; (P&lt;0.001) were associated with %FRL volume increase at multivariate regression analysis. Forty-three patients (77%) were operated. Postoperative liver failure occurred in 14 patients (32.5%). Median SWE was different between the group with (1.68m/s) and without liver failure (1.07m/s) (P=0.018). The AUROC of SWE predicting liver failure was 0.724 with a best cut-off of 1.31m/s, corresponding to a sensitivity of 21%, specificity of 96%, positive predictive value 75% and negative predictive value of 72%. SWE was the single independent preoperative variable associated with liver failure. SWE assessed by point-SWE is a simple and useful tool to predict the FRL volume increase and postoperative liver failure in a population of patients with liver tumor