Geological and Geochemical Setting of Natural Hydrocarbon Emissions in Italy

none3Hydrocarbons are contained in underground geological formations where they can slowly migrate under the action of tectonic activity. For this reason spontaneous hydrocarbon emissions may be detected on earth’s surface and they have historically attracted man’s attention, even often being the subject of health or religious cults. In nearly the whole of all Italy the various levels of interest aroused by hydrocarbons in local populations and in economic and industrial structure are recognizable in the historical and archeological documentation. During 19th and 20th centuries many hydrocarbon emissions were recorded and described but unfortunately over past few decades they have been erased by roads and towns building Scientific literature has only recently turned its attention to the databases of gas or oil natural emissions, while a possible loss of knowledge of geosites related to hydrocarbons has occurred. In recent years, some authors have recovered information about the occurrence and chemical composition of gaseous hydrocarbons bubbling in mud volcanoes. Present-day scientific literature has devoted its attention to hydrocarbon spontaneous emissions but part of the flowing methane and oil emissions have not been completely listed. A recovery attempt of the available historical and recent information on natural hydrocarbon emissions has been carried out, comparing them with the updated findings on the geological features of Italy. Surface hydrocarbon occurrences are represented by gas seeps, oil seeps and mud volcanoes. At times gas seeps are accompanied by cold or warm water springs due to gas interaction with less deep groundwater circulation paths. Mud volcanoes are mainly related to areas of tectonic compression characterized by thick sedimentary sequences. Their occurrence is limited to the continental Apenninic chain and Sicily. Some hydrocarbon seeps, sinkholes and mud volcanoes have been reported offshore within a few kilometers of the coast and their origin has been seen to be similar to continental hydrocarbon emissions. The mapping of most important gas emissions shows that the hydrocarbon domain is chiefly located in the core of the raised Apennine belt immediately behind the chain front at the boundary of and its related Plio-Quaternary foredeep, whereas CO2 emissions are located in the Apennine backdeep area. The geographic distribution of important gas accumulations in Italy does not show a highly significant correlation between surface seepages and the exploited reservoirs and it could also suggest the existence of other still unknown deep reservoirs or their small remnants difficult to be checked up. The majority of the hydrocarbon wells is characterized by biogenic gases, while thermogenic methane is predominant in surface seeping, confirming the sealed condition of most of the biogenic reservoirs and that they still have not experienced the complete evolution of organic matter towards the thermogenic terms induced by pressure and temperature.the study is permanently available at : http://www.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/geological-and-geochemical-setting-of-natural-hydrocarbon-emissions-in-italy . It was submitted to a referees check (Website: http://www.intechopen.com/) The electronic form allows the study to be immediately known and read out all over the world. This is the first complete review for the natural seeps in the entire Italy over the last fourty years, thus it will surely be usefull as a general overview for students and researcher of this specific topic.openMartinelli G.; Cremonini S.; Samonati E.Martinelli G.; Cremonini S.; Samonati E

Current therapeutic approaches for plantar fasciitis

Nicolò Martinelli, Carlo Bonifacini, Giovanni RomeoDepartment of Ankle and Foot Surgery, IRCCS Galeazzi Orthopaedic Institute, Milan, ItalyAbstract: Almost 1 million Americans are affected by plantar fasciitis (PF), which is the commonest cause of chronic heel pain. This condition is often managed conservatively, and many rehabilitation protocols, some with the aid of orthoses, have been adopted, with good-to-excellent clinical results. Although most cases of chronic PF can be successfully managed with a conservative approach, alternative treatments, including high-energy shock wave therapy and corticosteroid injections, are commonly accepted as second-line treatment when traditional conservative therapy fails. However, surgery is still an important mode of treatment. Recently, new minimally invasive surgical techniques that offer numerous advantages (faster recovery time, early weight-bearing, lower postoperative pain) over standard surgical approaches have been proposed, with good results and low complication rates. The purpose of this review is to report new conservative and surgical techniques for the treatment of PF. A literature search for articles about plantar fasciitis was conducted on the PubMed database in order to identify publications addressing the treatments of PF. The literature suggests that, initially, traditional conservative treatments consisting of rest, oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, foot orthotics, and stretching exercises can be tried for several weeks. In patients with chronic recalcitrant PF, extracorporeal shock wave therapy or corticosteroid injection can be considered. Surgery (minimally invasive techniques) should be considered only after failure of the conservative treatments.Keywords: heel pain, surgery, plantar fasciosi

"Pre-Earthquake" Micro-Structural Effects Induced by Shear Stress on α-Quartz in Laboratory Experiments

This paper presents the results of measurements performed on α-quartz subjected to shear stress in dry conditions, to understand the relationship between the shear intensity and the resulting physical and chemical effects. If a shear stress of intensity higher than 100 MPa is applied continuously to alpha quartz crystals, they will tend to lose their crystallinity, progressively reduce their friction coefficient (Cof) and change into a low-order material, apparently amorphous under X-ray diffraction, but with a structure different from silica glass. Raman and Pair Distribution Function analyses suggested a structure like cristobalite, a silica polymorph well-known for its auxetic behavior, i.e., having a negative Poisson ratio. This elastic parameter pre-eminently controls the friction coefficient of the material and, if it is negative, the Cof lowering. As a result, the increase in low crystallinity cristobalite is sufficientto explain the lowering of the quartz friction coefficient up to values able to contribute, in principle, to the triggering processes of active faults. This allows hypothesizing a slip induction mechanism that does not include the need to have the interposition of layers of hydrated silica, as invoked by many authors, to justify the low friction coefficients that are achieved in shear stress tests on rocks abundant in quartz

Axion phenomenology and θ\theta-dependence from Nf=2+1N_f = 2+1 lattice QCD

We investigate the topological properties of $N_f = 2+1$ QCD with physical quark masses, both at zero and finite temperature. We adopt stout improved staggered fermions and explore a range of lattice spacings $a \sim 0.05 - 0.12$ fm. At zero temperature we estimate both finite size and finite cut-off effects, comparing our continuum extrapolated results for the topological susceptibility $\chi$ with predictions from chiral perturbation theory. At finite temperature, we explore a region going from $T_c$ up to around $4\, T_c$, where we provide continuum extrapolated results for the topological susceptibility and for the fourth moment of the topological charge distribution. While the latter converges to the dilute instanton gas prediction the former differs strongly both in the size and in the temperature dependence. This results in a shift of the axion dark matter window of almost one order of magnitude with respect to the instanton computation.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables, final version published in JHE

Recent progress on QCD inputs for axion phenomenology

The properties of the QCD axion are strictly related to the dependence of strong interactions on the topological parameter theta. We present a determination of the topological properties of QCD for temperatures up to around 600 MeV, obtained by lattice QCD simulations with 2+1 flavors and physical quark masses. Numerical results for the topological susceptibility, when compared to instanton gas computations, differ both in size and in the temperature dependence. We discuss the implications of such findings for axion phenomenology, also in comparison to similar studies in the literature, and the prospects for future investigations.Comment: Invited talk at XII Quark Confinement, 29 August - 3 September, 2016, Thessaloniki, Greece, 9 pages, 6 figure

Secondary haematological malignancies after radioimmunotherapy

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Novel agents for acute myeloid leukemia

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a complex hematological disease characterized by genetic and clinical heterogeneity. Recent advances in the understanding of AML pathogenesis have paved the way for the development of new agents targeting specific molecules or mechanisms that contribute to finally move beyond the current standard of care, which is \u201c3 + 7\u201d regimen. In particular, new therapeutic options such as targeted therapies (midostaurin and enasidenib), monoclonal antibodies (gemtuzumab ozogamicin), and a novel liposomal formulation of cytarabine and daunorubicin (CPX-351) have been recently approved, and will be soon available for the treatment of adult patients with AML. In this review, we will present and describe these recently approved drugs as well as selected novel agents against AML that are currently under investigation, and show the most promising results as monotherapy or in combination with chemotherapy. The selection of these emerging treatments is based on the authors\u2019 opinion

Nuclear factor kB as a target for new drug development in myeloid malignancies.

The transcription nuclear factor k B (NF-kB) can intervene in oncogenesis through to its capacity to regulate the expression of a large number of genes that regulate apoptosis, cell proliferation and differentiation as well as inflammation, angiogenesis and tumor migration. Impaired NF-kB activity has been demonstrated not only in solid cancers but also in various types of hematologic malignancies including acute myeloid leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia and in a subset of myelodysplastic syndromes. The underlying mechanisms, illustrated in the text and although quite diverse in different diseases, provide the rationale for new therapeutic strategies combining different NF-kB or proteasome inhibitors. It has, therefore, been proposed that inhibition of NF-kB could be an adjuvant therapy for cancer and many phase I/II clinical studies are ongoing with different inhibitors. This review highlights the in vitro and in vivo results of NF-kB inhibition in myeloid malignancies

Efficacy of imatinib mesylate as maintenance therapy in adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in first complete remission

Seven Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ALL) patients in first complete remission received maintenance therapy with imatinib alone. Two-year progression-free survival was 75%. Quantitative polymerase-chain-reaction (qPCR) monitoring of BCR-ABL showed that: (i) persisting molecular complete response (CR) was associated with long-lasting CR; (ii) molecular relapse did not invariably mean hematologic relapse; (iii) only the wide and rapid increment of BCR-ABL values was predictive of leukemia relapse

Aurora kinase inhibitors: which role in the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia patients resistant to imatinib?

At present, there are no compounds in clinical development in the field of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) or Philadelphia-positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that have been documented to harbor significant activity against the imatinib-resistant T315I mutation. Recent reports on the pre-clinical activity of some emerging tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as ON012380, VX-680 and PHA-739358 promise possible clinical efficacy against this specific Bcr-Abl mutant form. Here, we focus on the role of aurora kinase inhibitor VX-680 and PHA-739358 in blocking the leukemogenic pathways driven by wild-type and T315I-Bcr-Abl in CML or Ph+ ALL by reviewing recent research evidence. We also discuss the possibility of employing aurora kinase inhibitors as a promising new therapeutic approach in the treatment of CML and Ph+ ALL patients resistant to first and second generation TK inhibitors