Neogene-Quaternary intraforeland transpression along a Mesozoic platform-basin margin: The Gargano fault system, Adria, Italy

We analyzed field structural data and an offshore seismic-reflection profile and compared them with previously published geological and geophysical data to constrain the tectonic evolution of the Gargano fault system, the kinematics of which have been the subject of contradictory interpretations. Field analyses show that the Gargano fault system consists of NW- to W-striking folds, thrusts, and left-lateral transpressional and strike-slip faults. A set of NW-striking solution cleavage supports the inference of an overall left-lateral kinematic regime for the Gargano fault system. Some synsedimentary structures indicate Miocene-Pliocene contractional and transpressional activity along the Gargano fault system, whereas strike-slip faults affecting Pleistocene conglomerates support a recent, left-lateral, strike-slip activity. The seismic-reflection data show that the offshore prolongation of the Gargano fault system consists of an anticline cut by high-angle faults arranged in a positive flower-like structure, which has mostly grown since middle-late Miocene times along a Mesozoic platform-basin margin. We have schematically reconstructed the tectonic evolution of the Gargano fault system between the middle-late Miocene and the present day. During this period, the Gargano fault system has mostly accommodated contractional to left-lateral transpressional and strike-slip displacements. These displacements are consistent with the regional, Neogene-Quaternary, contractional tectonics across Adria and the Apennines and Dinarides-Albanides fold-and-thrust belts. Some evidence suggests that the Gargano fault system is presently accommodating extensional or left-lateral transtensional displacements. We interpret the Neogene-Quaternary, strike-slip displacements on the Gargano fault system to be connected with the segmentation of the subducted Adriatic slab beneath the Apennines fold-and-thrust belt and with the noncylindrical evolution of this slab (i.e., differential retreating motions), which has undergone differential flexural movements in the adjacent, northern and southern Adriatic compartments

The e-Psychonauts’ ‘Spiced’ World; Assessment of the Synthetic Cannabinoids’ Information Available Online

© 2020 Bentham Science. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1570159X18666200302125146.Background: A wide range of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) is regularly searched and discussed online by web-based drug enthusiasts (i.e. the e-psychonauts). Among NPS, the range of synthetic cannabinoids (SC; ‘Spice’) currently represents a challenge for governments and clinicians. Methods: Using a web crawler (i.e. the NPS.Finder®), the present study aimed at assessing psychonauts’ fora/platforms to better understand the online mentions of SC. Results: The open-web crawling/navigating software identified here some 1,103 synthetic cannabinoids. Of these, 863 molecules were not listed in either the international or the European NPS databases. Conclusion: A web crawling approach helped here in identifying a large range of unknown SC likely to possess a misuse potential. Most of these novel/emerging molecules are still relatively unknown. This is a reason for concern; each of these analogues potentially presents different toxicodynamic profiles and there is a lack of docking, preclinical, and clinical observations. Strengthening multidisciplinary collaboration between clinicians and bioinformatics may prove useful in better assessing SC-associated public health risks.Peer reviewe

Group B Streptococcus early-onset disease and observation of well-appearing newborns

Background International guidelines lack a substantial consensus regarding management of asymptomatic full-term and late preterm neonates at risk for early-onset disease (EOS). Large cohorts of newborns are suitable to increase the understanding of the safety and efficacy of a given strategy. Methods This is a prospective, area-based, cohort study involving regional birth facilities of Emilia-Romagna (Italy). We compared cases of EOS (at or above 35 weeks\u2019 gestation) registered in 2003\u20132009 (baseline period: 266,646 LBs) and in 2010\u20132016, after introduction of a new strategy (serial physical examinations, SPEs) for managing asymptomatic neonates at risk for EOS (intervention period: 265,508 LBs). Results There were 108 cases of EOS (baseline period, n = 60; intervention period, n = 48). Twenty-two (20.4%) remained asymptomatic through the first 72 hours of life, whereas 86 (79.6%) developed symptoms, in most cases (52/86, 60.5%) at birth or within 6 hours. The median age at presentation was significantly earlier in the intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP)exposed than in the IAP-unexposed neonates (0 hours, IQR 0.0000\u20130.0000 vs 6 hours, IQR 0.0000\u201315.0000, p<0.001). High number of neonates (n = 531) asymptomatic at birth, exposed to intrapartum fever, should be treated empirically for each newborn who subsequently develops sepsis. IAP exposed neonates increased (12% vs 33%, p = 0.01), age at presentation decreased (median 6 vs 1 hours, p = 0.01), whereas meningitis, mechanical ventilation and mortality did not change in baseline vs intervention period. After implementing the SPEs, no cases had adverse outcomes due to the strategy, and no cases developed severe disease after 6 hours of life. Conclusions Infants with EOS exposed to IAP developed symptoms at birth in almost all cases, and those who appeared well at birth had a very low chance of having EOS. The risk of EOS in neonates (asymptomatic at birth) exposed to intrapartum fever was low. Although definite conclusions on causation are lacking, our data support SPEs of asymptomatic newborns at risk for EOS. SPEs seems a safe and effective alternative to laboratory screening and empirical antibiotic therapy

Data-driven clustering of combined Functional Motor Disorders based on the Italian registry

Functional Motor Disorders (FMDs) represent nosological entities with no clear phenotypic characterization, especially in patients with multiple (combined FMDs) motor manifestations. A data-driven approach using cluster analysis of clinical data has been proposed as an analytic method to obtain non-hierarchical unbiased classifications. The study aimed to identify clinical subtypes of combined FMDs using a data-driven approach to overcome possible limits related to "a priori" classifications and clinical overlapping

Multiphoton Quantum Optics and Quantum State Engineering

We present a review of theoretical and experimental aspects of multiphoton quantum optics. Multiphoton processes occur and are important for many aspects of matter-radiation interactions that include the efficient ionization of atoms and molecules, and, more generally, atomic transition mechanisms; system-environment couplings and dissipative quantum dynamics; laser physics, optical parametric processes, and interferometry. A single review cannot account for all aspects of such an enormously vast subject. Here we choose to concentrate our attention on parametric processes in nonlinear media, with special emphasis on the engineering of nonclassical states of photons and atoms. We present a detailed analysis of the methods and techniques for the production of genuinely quantum multiphoton processes in nonlinear media, and the corresponding models of multiphoton effective interactions. We review existing proposals for the classification, engineering, and manipulation of nonclassical states, including Fock states, macroscopic superposition states, and multiphoton generalized coherent states. We introduce and discuss the structure of canonical multiphoton quantum optics and the associated one- and two-mode canonical multiphoton squeezed states. This framework provides a consistent multiphoton generalization of two-photon quantum optics and a consistent Hamiltonian description of multiphoton processes associated to higher-order nonlinearities. Finally, we discuss very recent advances that by combining linear and nonlinear optical devices allow to realize multiphoton entangled states of the electromnagnetic field, that are relevant for applications to efficient quantum computation, quantum teleportation, and related problems in quantum communication and information.Comment: 198 pages, 36 eps figure

Psychiatry today

The conception of psychiatry in\ud neuroscience is a blind alley that\ud leads to the loss of all that is human\ud beyond diagnostic calcification and the\ud designation of behaviour. On the other\ud hand, psychoanalysis has failed in its\ud potential for giving new life to\ud psychiatry, and has created a false\ud dichotomy between scientific blindness\ud and fictional speculation. The article\ud offers no third way but rather offers\ud an interpretation of Freud and Lacan\ud that entails a solid conception of\ud language, and one that respects and\ud accounts for the variables in\ud subjective expressions through which\ud all human expressiveness is necessarily\ud made manifest. This means it is\ud essential for psychoanalysis to\ud interact with philosophy and, in\ud particular, with so‐called negative\ud philosophies

Neogene-Quaternary intraforeland transpression along a Mesozoic platform-basin margin: The Gargano fault system, Adria, Italy

Original field structural data and an offshore seismic reflection profile are here analyzed and compared with published earthquake and GPS data to constrain the tectonic evolution of the Gargano Fault Belt (GFB, Adria, Italy) whose kinematics has been contradictorily interpreted in the past. Field analyses show that the GFB consists of NW-striking to W-striking folds, thrusts, and left-lateral transpressional and strike-slip faults. The occurrence of a set of NW-striking solution cleavage supports the inference of an overall left-lateral kinematics for the GFB. Some synsedimentary structures indicate Miocene-Pliocene contractional and transpressional activity along the GFB, whereas strike-slip faults affecting some conglomerates dubiously dated back to Pleistocene times suggest a recent strike-slip activity. The seismic reflection data show that the offshore prolongation of the GFB consists in an anticline cut by high-angle faults arranged in a positive flower-like structure and grown mostly since Miocene times along a Mesozoic platform-basin margin. From the original and published data, at least three major tectonic phases can be inferred for the GFB: (1) a middle-late Miocene phase; (2) a middle-late Pliocene phase; and (3) a Quaternary phase including the recent and present seismic activity. All these phases are mainly characterized by contractional to left-lateral transpressional and strike-slip displacements. These displacements are consistent with the regional contractional tectonics occurred within the framework of Africa-Eurasia convergence. The estimated horizontal displacement for the GFB suggests that such deformation zone is not a first-order plate boundary across Adria unless this boundary is still incipient

Impact of the mechanical stratigraphy on fracture pattern predictions in reservoirs: Application of HCA numerical modeling to contractional structures.

It has long been recognised that a direct relation does exist between the kinematics of thrust-related fold evolution and the 4-D distribution of deformational features in the folds themselves. Templates of deformation patterns associated to contractional fault-bend and fault-propagation folding have been commonly produced by using geometrical modelling. This technique is only valid for roughly reproducing the first order distribution of deformational feature in fault-related anticlines, because it neglects the role of rock mechanics and rheology. Deformation patterns produced by geometrical modelling typically consist of an array of deformation panels limited by either active or fixed axial surfaces. The distribution of deformational features within deformation panels is assumed to be homogeneous. This is a major limitation when attempting to closely predict the actual distribution of deformational features, and in particular fracturing, in natural thrust-related anticlines. Mechanical stratigraphy exerts a first order control on deformation patterns in fault-related folds and can significantly alter the distribution of deformational features predicted by geometrical modelling. The fundamental impact of fracture distributions in hydrocarbon exploration and development imposes further efforts for substantially improving our predictive capability by implementing parameters such as mechanical stratigraphy in more sophisticated predictive tools. Our approach to the prediction of the geometrical and deformational architectures of fault-related structures includes the use of a specifically developed numerical tool, the Hybrid Cellular Automata (HCA). This real time forward modelling technique allows a step forward in the numerical simulation of the behaviour of natural rock multilayers undergoing deformation at shallow crustal levels, by merging specific properties of cellular automata and finite elements techniques, and by providing the possibility of simulating bed thickness lower than one centimetre. Input parameters used for describing the mechanical rock properties in the undeformed numerical multilayers are directly obtained from seismic datasets.In this contribution, we present results of HCA numerical experiments designed to highlight the impact of the mechanical stratigraphy on fracture predictions in reservoirs. In particular, we illustrate a working methodology for implementing quantitative fracture data from field analogues into HCA numerical models of fault-related folds imaged in reflection seismic profiles and developed in similar natural rock multilayers