Ancient hydraulic systems for collection, transport and storage of water in karst settings of southern Italy.

The karst landscapes of southern Italy, even though showing lack or scarce presence of water at the surface, host a variety of ancient hydraulic works realized to collect and store water resources, at the advantage of the local settlements and for agricultural purposes. Ancient populations were forced to gain a deep knowledge of the territory in order to exploit the few available water resources, and developed at this aim several techniques, until reaching a high level of capability to collect, transport, and distribute water, even at long distances. Many areas in southern Italy still nowadays present hydraulic works of remarkable interest and historical values, which are briefly described in the present paper, together with other features used for water storage in karst

Collecting, transporting and storing water in karst settings of southern Italy: Some lessons learned from ancient hydraulic systems

The karst landscapes of southern Italy, even though they show a lack or scarce presence of water at the surface, host a variety of ancient hydraulic works realized to collect and store water resources, to the advantage of the local settlements and for agricultural purposes as well. Ancient populations were forced to gain a deep knowledge of the territory in order to exploit the few available water resources, and developed for this aim several techniques, reaching a high level of capability to collect, transport, and distribute water, even at long distances. Many areas in southern Italy still nowadays present hydraulic works of remarkable interest and historical value, which are briefly described in the present paper, together with other features used for water storage in karst. Studying these ancient works, and safeguarding them, should be a priority aimed at educating the young generations toward a sustainable use of the water resource. © IWA Publishing 2013

N-3 fatty acids in patients with multiple cardiovascular risk factors

BACKGROUND: Trials have shown a beneficial effect of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in patients with a previous myocardial infarction or heart failure. We evaluated the potential benefit of such therapy in patients with multiple cardiovascular risk factors or atherosclerotic vascular disease who had not had a myocardial infarction. METHODS: In this double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, we enrolled a cohort of patients who were followed by a network of 860 general practitioners in Italy. Eligible patients were men and women with multiple cardiovascular risk factors or atherosclerotic vascular disease but not myocardial infarction. Patients were randomly assigned to n-3 fatty acids (1 g daily) or placebo (olive oil). The initially specified primary end point was the cumulative rate of death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and nonfatal stroke. At 1 year, after the event rate was found to be lower than anticipated, the primary end point was revised as time to death from cardiovascular causes or admission to the hospital for cardiovascular causes. RESULTS: Of the 12,513 patients enrolled, 6244 were randomly assigned to n-3 fatty acids and 6269 to placebo. With a median of 5 years of follow-up, the primary end point occurred in 1478 of 12,505 patients included in the analysis (11.8%), of whom 733 of 6239 (11.7%) had received n-3 fatty acids and 745 of 6266 (11.9%) had received placebo (adjusted hazard ratio with n-3 fatty acids, 0.97; 95% confidence interval, 0.88 to 1.08; P=0.58). The same null results were observed for all the secondary end points. CONCLUSIONS: In a large general-practice cohort of patients with multiple cardiovascular risk factors, daily treatment with n-3 fatty acids did not reduce cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Copyright © 2013 Massachusetts Medical Society