560 research outputs found
Fish survey in Angitola lake: in field non-invasive evaluation of weight
The Angitola FISH2O project, granted by Calabria FEP 2007-13 (Code 02/BA/12), aim to survey biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems, in which fishes should represent the main trophic resource within the various food chains relative to the Angitola lake. The final objective is to obtain a monitoring of various species by means of non-invasive techniques. According to Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), capturing and manipulations of animals were minimized, and the subjects captured were promptly released. Two areas, unequivocally identified by GPS coordinate, were selected at 4 and 10 meters of depths, in which fishing nets1 were positioned. Captured fishes were all manipulated as follows: 1) removed by nets by cutting wires and minimizing stress; 2) placed in basins filled with water; 3) weighted, with an electronic scale, and measured; 4) photographed; 5) clinically evaluated; 6) released as soon as possible. The dead subjects (n=28) were preserved in a portable fridge; they belonged to the following species: Carassius carassius (n=10), Perca fluviatilis (n=8), and Squalius cephalus (n=10).
Data collected allowed developing a linear relation between length and weight. The resulting prediction equations and the correlation coefficients (r2) are summarized in table 1.
Such equations are intended to have the precision reported only in the species and the sizes described. Even if a more accurate method, which might include all three dimensions of fishes, should be analyzed, accuracy of this method, proved by the high values of r2 is fully acceptable not only in common species but even more in vulnerable and endangered species
The mito-hormetic mechanisms of ozone in the clearance of SARS-CoV2 and in the COVID-19 therapy
An increasing body of evidence in the literature is reporting the feasibility of using medical ozone as a possible alternative and adjuvant treatment for COVID-19 patients, significantly reducing hospitalization time, pro-inflammatory indicators, and coagulation markers and improving blood oxygenation parameters. In addition to the well-described ability of medical ozone in counteracting oxidative stress through the upregulation of the main anti-oxidant and scavenging enzymes, oxygen-ozone (O2-O3) therapy has also proved effective in reducing chronic inflammation and the occurrence of immune thrombosis, two key players involved in COVID-19 exacerbation and severity. As chronic inflammation and oxidative stress are also reported to be among the main drivers of the long sequelae of SARS-CoV2 infection, a rising number of studies is investigating the potential of O2-O3 therapy to reduce and/or prevent the wide range of post-COVID (or PASC)-related disorders. This narrative review aims to describe the molecular mechanisms through which medical ozone acts, to summarize the clinical evidence on the use of O2-O3 therapy as an alternative and adjuvant COVID-19 treatment, and to discuss the emerging potential of this approach in the context of PASC symptoms, thus offering new insights into effective and safe nonantiviral therapies for the fighting of this devastating pandemic
Angitola lake sediments: preliminary data and biotic indices
The Angitola lake is an artificial basin located in Calabria Region, in South Italy, part of the
“Natural Regional Park of Serre”. Its surface area is 1.96 km2 and it is approximately 3 km away
from Sant’Eufemia gulf. The basin was created in 1966 by damming the homonymous river. Four
major rivers enter the lake: three in the far southeast, the fourth, smaller and active only during the
winter period, in the southwest area. The international Ramsar Convention includes the basin and
surroundings; in light of the Rio Convention, its directives have been transposed in the “Birds
Directive” (BD) and “Habitats Directive” (HD).
The Angitola lake, entrusted to the WWF Calabria, is one of the 2299 Italian SIC (code IT9340086):
this area significantly contributes in maintaining and restoring the endangered freshwater habitat
listed in HD, in protecting biodiversity of the region and it is part of the Natura 2000 network. The
present study is part of the Angitola FISH2O project (European Fisheries Fund/FEP code 02/BA/12)
and it aimed to examine the benthic macro-invertebrates community of the southeast part of
Angitola lake. The first 15 cm in depths of sediments have a very variable composition, from fine
sand to mud (rich in organic matter). This variability can be explained by the different characteristic
of the chosen sampling transepts. Fauna sampling, carried out by core drills and plankton nets,
shows presence of Diptera and Tricoptera larvae and some Nematoda, Polichaeta and Mollusca.
Preliminary conclusion is that the Angitola lake is a diversified environment in which areas with
different anthropic interference are present. The benthic macro-invertebrates community might be
involved by possible disturbances induced by chemicals (e.g. water pollution) and/or physical
variations (e.g. high sedimentation). Medium and long-term investigations are imperative to protect
and promote the lake biodiversity, to verify the effects of seasonal fluctuations and how these are
related to human activities such as tourism, demographic increase and industrial activities
Energy deposition studies for the Upgrade II of LHCb at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
The Upgrade II of the LHCb experiment is proposed to be installed during the
CERN Long Shutdown 4, aiming to operate LHCb at 1.5x that
is 75 times its design luminosity and reaching an integrated luminosity of
about by the end of the High Luminosity LHC era. This increase of
the data sample at LHCb is an unprecedented opportunity for heavy flavour
physics measurements. A first upgrade of LHCb, completed in 2022, has already
implemented important changes of the LHCb detector and, for the Upgrade II,
further detector improvements are being considered. Such a luminosity increase
will have an impact not only on the LHCb detector but also on the LHC magnets,
cryogenics and electronic equipment placed in the IR8. In fact, the LHCb
experiment was conceived to work at a much lower luminosity than ATLAS and CMS,
implying minor requirements for protection of the LHC elements from the
collision debris and therefore a different layout around the interaction point.
The luminosity target proposed for the Upgrade II requires to review the layout
of the entire insertion region in order to ensure safe operation of the LHC
magnets and to mitigate the risk of failure of the electronic devices. The
objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the implications of the
Upgrade II of LHCb in the experimental cavern and in the tunnel with a focus on
the LHCb detector, electronic devices and accelerator magnets
The use and beauty of ultra-high-resolution seismic reflection imaging in Late Quaternary marine volcaniclastic settings, Bay of Naples, Italy
A Nápolyi-öbölben felvett ultra nagy felbontású egycsatornás (IKB-Seistec™) reflexiós szeizmikus szelvények korábbi geológiai és geofizikai vizsgálatok eredményeivel együtt kivételes, eddig soha nem látott felbontású szeizmikus leképezését nyújtják a Flegrei-mezők és a Somma-Vezúv felszín alá süllyedt késő-pleisztocén–holocén rétegtani felépí - tésének. A szeizmikus szelvényeken látott geometria és gravitációs magvevővel nyert üledékek adatainak összevetéséből Campania partközeli kontinentális talapzatán számos olyan üledékes és vulkáni szerkezet, valamint hidrotermális jelenség került leképezésre, melyek a legutolsó glaciális maximum (kb. 18 000 év) óta keletkeztek. A Pozzuoli-öbölben mért Seistec szelvények jól mutatják a beomlott kaldera gyűrűs vetőjét, a kb. 15 ezer éves Nápolyi Sárga Tufa (NYT) lerakódáshoz vezető kitöréskor felújuló boltozatot, és alátámasztják a deformáció későnegyedidőszaki korára és stílusára vonatkozó hipotéziseket. A szeizmikus szelvényeken látható a NYT rétegeinek töréses szerkezete, valamint hidrotermális fluidum-feláramlások és vulkáni/szubvulkáni intrúziók a gyűrűs vetők mentén. A Somma-Vezúv rétegvulkán előterében a kontinentális talapzat felett mért szeizmikus szelvények leképezték a Vezúv i.sz. 79-es kitörésekor Herculaneum városát elpusztító piroklaszt-ár tengervízbe érésekor keletkező, gravitációsan összeomló homokhullámok szerkezetét is. A Somma-Vezúv és a Pozzuoli-öböl közti, buckás felszínű Banco della Montagna területén mért szelvények és fúrómagok vulkanoklasztos diapírok sorát tárták fel. Ezeket a konszolidálatlan horzsakőből álló testeket a fluidum - feláramlás és aktív kigázosodás hatására kialakult mélybeli túlnyomás hozta fel a tengerfenékre.Very high-resolution, single channel (IKB-Seistec™) reflection seizmic profiles acquired in the Bay of Naples, com - plemented with geological and geophysical data from the literature, provide unprecedented, superb seismic imaging of the latest Pleistocene–Holocene stratigraphic architecture of the submerged sectors Campi Flegrei and Somma-Vesuvius volcanic districts. Seismic profiles were calibrated by gravity core data and document a range of depositional systems, volcanic structures and hydrothermal features that evolved after the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (~ 18 ka BP) over the continental shelf on the Campania coastal zone. Seistec profiles from the Pozzuoli Bay yield high-resolution images of the shallow structure of the collapse caldera-ring fault — resurgent dome system associated with the eruption of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) (ca 15 ka) and support a working hypothesis to assess the timing and the styles of deformation of the NYT resurgent structure throughout the latest Quaternary. Seismic images also revealed the nature of the fragile deformation of strata along the NYT ring fault system and the occurrence of hydrothermal fluids and volcanic/subvolcanic intrusions ascending along the ring fault zone. Seismic data acquired over the continental shelf off the Somma-Vesuvius stratovolcano, display evidence of gravit - ational instability of wavy bedforms representing the submarine prosecution of pyroclastic flows originated from the Vesuvius during the eruption that destroyed the Roman city of Herculaneum in 79 CE. At the Banco della Montagna, a hummocky seafloor knoll located between the Somma-Vesuvius and the Pozzuoli Bay, seismic profiles and gravity core data revealed the occurrence of a field of volcaniclastic diapirs formed by the dragging and rising up of unconsolidated pumice, as a consequence of fluid overpressure at depth associated with active degassing and fluid venting at the seafloor
Predictive value of nodal metastases on local recurrence in the management of differentiated thyroid cancer. Retrospective clinical study
Overview of the FLUKA code
Abstract The capabilities and physics models implemented inside the FLUKA code are briefly described, with emphasis on hadronic interaction. Examples of the performances of the code are presented including basic (thin target) and complex benchmarks, and radiation detector specific applications. In particular the ability of FLUKA in describing existing calorimeter performances and in predicting those of future ones, as well as the use of the code for neutron and mixed field radiation detectors will be demonstrated with several examples
Italian intersociety consensus on management of long covid in children
Background: Two sequelae of pediatric COVID-19 have been identified, the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) and the long COVID. Long COVID is much less precisely defined and includes all the persistent or new clinical manifestations evidenced in subjects previously infected by SARS-CoV-2 beyond the period of the acute infection and that cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis. In this Intersociety Consensus, present knowledge on pediatric long COVID as well as how to identify and manage children with long COVID are discussed. Main findings: Although the true prevalence of long COVID in pediatrics is not exactly determined, it seems appropriate to recommend evaluating the presence of symptoms suggestive of long COVID near the end of the acute phase of the disease, between 4 and 12 weeks from this. Long COVID in children and adolescents should be suspected in presence of persistent headache and fatigue, sleep disturbance, difficulty in concentrating, abdominal pain, myalgia or arthralgia. Persistent chest pain, stomach pain, diarrhea, heart palpitations, and skin lesions should be considered as possible symptoms of long COVID. It is recommended that the primary care pediatrician visits all subjects with a suspected or a proven diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection after 4 weeks to check for the presence of symptoms of previously unknown disease. In any case, a further check-up by the primary care pediatrician should be scheduled 3 months after the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection to confirm normality or to address emerging problems. The subjects who present symptoms of any organic problem must undergo a thorough evaluation of the same, with a possible request for clinical, laboratory and / or radiological in-depth analysis in case of need. Children and adolescents with clear symptoms of mental stress will need to be followed up by existing local services for problems of this type. Conclusions: Pediatric long COVID is a relevant problem that involve a considerable proportion of children and adolescents. Prognosis of these cases is generally good as in most of them symptoms disappear spontaneously. The few children with significant medical problems should be early identified after the acute phase of the infection and adequately managed to assure complete resolution. A relevant psychological support for all the children during COVID-19 pandemic must be organized by health authorities and government that have to treat this as a public health issue
Severe asthma features in children: A case–control online survey
Background: Very few studies have explored the distinguishing features of severe asthma in childhood in Europe, and only one study was conducted in Southern Europe. The aim of this study was to provide a detailed characterization of children with severe asthma treated in specialized pediatric asthma centers across Italy. Methods: We conducted a web-based data collection of family, environmental, clinical and laboratory characteristics of 41 patients aged 6–17 years with severe asthma, defined according to the recent guidelines of the European Respiratory Society and the American Thoracic Society, and 78 age-matched peers with non-severe persistent asthma. The patients have been enrolled from 16 hospital-based pediatric pulmonology and allergy centers in Northern, Central, and Southern Italy. Logistic regression analysis assessed the relationship between patients’ characteristics and severe asthma or non-severe persistent asthma. Results: Features independently and significantly associated with severe asthma included lifetime sensitization to food allergens [Odds ratio (OR), 4.73; 95% Confidence Interval (CI), 1.21–18.53; p = 0.03], lifetime hospitalization for asthma (OR, 3.71; 95% CI, 1.11–12.33; p = 0.03), emergency-department visits for asthma during the past year (OR = 11.98; 95% CI, 2.70–53.11; p = 0.001), and symptoms triggered by physical activity (OR = 12.78; 95% CI, 2.66–61.40; p = 0.001). Quality-of-life score was worse in patients with severe asthma than in subjects with non-severe persistent asthma (5.9 versus 6.6, p = 0.005). Self-perception of wellbeing was compromised in more than 40% of patients in both groups. Children with severe asthma had lower spirometric z scores than non-severe asthmatic peers (all p < 0.001), although 56% of them had a normal forced expiratory volume in 1 s. No differences were found between the two groups for parental education, home environment, patients’ comorbidities, adherence to therapy, exhaled nitric oxide values, and serum eosinophils and IgE. Conclusions: As expected, children with severe asthma had more severe clinical course and worse lung function than peers with non-severe persistent asthma. Unlike previous reports, we found greater sensitization to food allergens and similar environmental and personal characteristics in patients with severe asthma compared to those with non-severe persistent asthma. Psychological aspects are compromised in a large number of cases and deserve further investigation
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