Deterioration trends of asphalt pavement friction and roughness from medium-term surveys on major Italian roads

Deterioration models are the key factor for effective Pavement Management Systems, helping out road agencies to assess the actual pavement condition and forecast future performance of the asset. Among pavement condition characteristics, friction should be taken into account due to its important effect on user safety, while roughness could be used to express user comfort. The purpose of this study was to provide a reasonable case study for future improvements of Italian road management, even if the length of the analyzed highways was not intended to be representative of the overall Italian network.This research studied the friction trend (Side Force Coefficient) depending on traffic levels (ESALs) and pavement aging for Italian highways, combining the data with roughness and macrotexture. Surface characteristics were monitored during a seven-year time span. A selection of different road sections with homogeneous traffic levels, similar environmental conditions and surface material was performed and high-speed/high-quality road surveys were used for distress data collection. Pavement deterioration models for Italian road sectors were developed at project level, as starting point to advance pavement management practices in Italy. Degradation curves showed the same trends for similar pavement structures, materials and traffic levels; on the other hand, differences in pavement characteristics, increased ESALs and various maintenance treatments significantly altered those trends. Keywords: Pavement Management System, Deterioration models, Friction, Roughness, MPD, High-speed monitorin

UV-254 degradation of nicotine in natural waters and leachates produced from cigarette butts and heat-not-burn tobacco products.

Summarization: Nicotine is an important emerging contaminant widely detected in water resources. The main nicotine sources are human excretions from users and leaching from discarded tobacco product waste, which represents the most commonly littered item in urban areas and coasts. In this study, the UV254 photolytical fate of nicotine in natural water and leachates produced from conventional cigarettes (CCs) and the new generation heat-not-burn (HnBs) tobacco products is examined for the first time. The effect of UV254 irradiation on nicotine depletion in ultrapure water was initially studied. The reaction was pseudo first-order with respect to nicotine concentration at low concentrations and shifted to lower order at higher concentrations, an effect associated to absorption saturation. Although nicotine removal was fast, only 9.5% of the total organic carbon was removed after irradiation due to the formation of by-products. The chemical structures of six photo-products were derived by means of liquid and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The photodegradation kinetics was found to depend on pH and faster kinetics were recorded when the monoprotonated form of nicotine was dominant (pH = 5–8). The presence of humic acids was found to slightly delay kinetics as they competed with nicotine for lamp irradiance, whereas the presence of salt had no effect on the direct photolysis of nicotine. Direct photolysis studies were also performed using natural waters. Compared to ultra-pure water, photodegradation was found to proceed slightly slower in river water, in similar kinetics in seawater, and relatively faster in rain water. The later was assumed to be due to the lower pH compared to the rest of the natural water tested. Leachates from used HnBs and smoked CCs were also submitted to UV254 irradiation and direct photolysis was found to proceed fast despite the high complexity of these matrices. Nonetheless, the total organic carbon in the system remained the same after irradiation due to the abundance of organics and photo-products formed. We take advantage of the present investigations and report the leaching behavior of nicotine from HnBs and CCs. Among others, we found that in HnBs ~70% of the total and bioavailable nicotine content remains in the tobacco sticks after operation and this percentage drops to 15% in CCs due to the reduction in mass after smoking. This finding demonstrated the importance of properly disposing tobacco product waste to prevent nicotine leaching in water bodies. Presented on: Environmental Researc

Early seizures in patients with acute stroke: Frequency, predictive factors, and effect on clinical outcome

Andrea Alberti, Maurizio Paciaroni, Valeria Caso, Michele Venti, Francesco Palmerini, Giancarlo AgnelliStroke Unit and Division of Internal and Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, ItalyBackground: Early seizure (ES) may complicate the clinical course of patients with acute stroke. The aim of this study was to assess the rate of and the predictive factors for ES as well the effects of ES on the clinical outcome at hospital discharge in patients with first-ever stroke.Patients and methods: A total of 638 consecutive patients with first-ever stroke (543 ischemic, 95 hemorrhagic), admitted to our Stroke Unit, were included in this prospective study. ES were defined as seizures occurring within 7 days from acute stroke. Patients with history of epilepsy were excluded.Results: Thirty-one patients (4.8%) had ES. Seizures were significantly more common in patients with cortical involvement, severe and large stroke, and in patient with cortical hemorrhagic transformation of ischemic stroke. ES was not associated with an increase in adverse outcome (mortality and disability). After multivariate analysis, hemorrhagic transformation resulted as an independent predictive factor for ES (OR = 6.5; 95% CI: 1.95–22.61; p = 0.003).Conclusion: ES occur in about 5% of patients with acute stroke. In these patients hemorrhagic transformation is a predictive factor for ES. ES does not seem to be associated with an adverse outcome at hospital discharge after acute stroke.Keywords: seizures, stroke, cortical involvement, hemorrhagic transformatio

Extended Adhesion-Sparing Liver Eversion during Kasai Portoenterostomy for Infants with Biliary Atresia

Background: Despite the fact that Kasai portoenterostomy (KPE) is the primary treatment for biliary atresia (BA), liver transplantation (LT) remains the ultimate surgery for two-thirds of these patients. Their true survival rate with the native liver reflects the original KPE and the burden of post-operative complications. We report an original modification of the adhesion-sparing liver eversion (ASLE) technique during KPE that facilitates the total native hepatectomy at time of transplantation. Methods: All consecutive patients with BA who underwent KPE at our department and subsequent LT at Paediatric Liver Transplant Centre at Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital between 2010-2018 were retrospectively enrolled. All patients underwent ASLE during KPE. Patients' demographic data, type of KPE, total transplant time (TTT), hepatectomy time (HT), intra-operative packed red blood cells and plasma transfusions, intra- and post-operative complications were noted. Results: 44 patients were enrolled. Median TTT and HT were 337 and 57 min, respectively. The median volume of packed red blood cell transfusion was 95 mL. No patients presented bowel perforation during the procedure or in the short post-operative course. No mortality after LT was recorded. Conclusions: In addition to the well-known advantages of the standard liver eversion technique, ASLE reduces the formation of intra-abdominal adhesions, lowering significantly the risk of bowel perforation and bleeding when liver transplantation is performed for failure of KPE

Adenomyomatosis of the gallbladder in childhood: A systematic review of the literature and an additional case report

To investigate the diagnostic and therapeutic assessment in children with adenomyomatosis of the gallbladder (AMG)

Enhancement of TiO2 NPs Activity by Fe3O4 Nano-Seeds for Removal of Organic Pollutants in Water

The enhancement of the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs), synthesized in the presence of a very small amount of magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles, is here presented and discussed. From X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses, the crystallinity of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) seems to be affected by Fe3O4, acting as nano-seeds to improve the tetragonal TiO2 anatase structure with respect to the amorphous one. Photocatalytic activity data, i.e., the degradation of methylene blue and the Ofloxacin fluoroquinolone emerging pollutant, give evidence that the increased crystalline structure of the NPs, even if correlated to a reduced surface to mass ratio (with respect to commercial TiO2 NPs), enhances the performance of this type of catalyst. The achievement of a relatively well-defined crystal structure at low temperatures (Tmax = 150 \u25e6C), preventing the sintering of the TiO2 NPs and, thus, preserving the high density of active sites, seems to be the keystone to understand the obtained results

Early Hemorrhagic Transformation of Brain Infarction: Rate, Predictive Factors, and Influence on Clinical Outcome

Background and Purpose— Early hemorrhagic transformation (HT) is a complication of ischemic stroke but its effect on patient outcome is unclear. The aims of this study were to assess: (1) the rate of early HT in patients admitted for ischemic stroke, (2) the correlation between early HT and functional outcome at 3 months, and (3) the risk factors for early HT. Methods— Consecutive patients with ischemic stroke were included in this prospective study in 4 study centers. Early HT was assessed by CT examination performed at day 5±2 after stroke onset. Study outcomes were 3-month mortality or disability. Disability was assessed using a modified Rankin score (≥3 indicating disabling stroke) by neurologists unaware of the occurrence of HT in the individual cases. Outcomes in patients with and without early HT were compared by χ 2 test. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors for HT. Results— Among 1125 consecutive patients (median age 76.00 years), 98 (8.7%) had HT, 62 (5.5%) had hemorrhagic infarction, and 36 (3.2%) parenchymal hematoma. At 3 months, 455 patients (40.7%) were disabled or died. Death or disability was seen in 33 patients with parenchymal hematoma (91.7%), in 35 patients with hemorrhagic infarction (57.4%) as compared with 387 of the 1021 patients without HT (37.9%). At logistic regression analysis, parenchymal hematoma, but not hemorrhagic infarction, was independently associated with an increased risk for death or disability (OR 15.29; 95% CI 2.35 to 99.35). At logistic regression analysis, parenchymal hematoma was predicted by large lesions (OR 12.20, 95% CI 5.58 to 26.67), stroke attributable to cardioembolism (OR 5.25; 95% CI 2.27 to 12.14) or to other causes (OR 6.77; 95% CI 1.75 to 26.18), high levels of blood glucose (OR 1.01; 95% CI 1.00 to 1.01), and thrombolytic treatment (OR 3.54, 95% CI 1.04 to 11.95). Conclusions— Early HT occurs in about 9% of patients. Parenchymal hematoma, seen in about 3% of patients, is associated with an adverse outcome. Parenchymal hematoma was predicted by large lesions attributable to cardioembolism or other causes, high blood glucose, and treatment with thrombolysis

Antibacterial activity of standard and N-doped titanium dioxide-coated endotracheal tubes: an in vitro study

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa of two nanoparticle endotracheal tube coatings with visible light-induced photocatalysis. Methods: Two types of titanium dioxide nanoparticles were tested: standard anatase (TiO2) and N-doped TiO2 (N-TiO2). Nanoparticles were placed on the internal surface of a segment of commercial endotracheal tubes, which were loaded on a cellulose acetate filter; control endotracheal tubes were left without a nanoparticle coating. A bacterial inoculum of 150 colony forming units was placed in the endotracheal tubes and then exposed to a fluorescent light source (3700 lux, 300-700 nm wavelength) for 5, 10, 20, 40, 60 and 80 minutes. Colony forming units were counted after 24 hours of incubation at 37\ub0C. Bacterial inactivation was calculated as the percentage reduction of bacterial growth compared to endotracheal tubes not exposed to light. Results: In the absence of light, no relevant antibacterial activity was shown against neither strain. For P. aeruginosa, both coatings had a higher bacterial inactivation than controls at any time point (p < 0.001), and no difference was observed between TiO2 and N-TiO2. For S. aureus, inactivation was higher than for controls starting at 5 minutes for N-TiO2 (p = 0.018) and 10 minutes for TiO2 (p = 0.014); inactivation with N-TiO2 was higher than that with TiO2 at 20 minutes (p < 0.001), 40 minutes (p < 0.001) and 60 minutes (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Nanosized commercial and N-doped TiO2 inhibit bacterial growth under visible fluorescent light. N-TiO2 has higher antibacterial activity against S. aureus compared to TiO2

Therapeutic Value and Innovation of a Drug and Criteria for Evaluation: A Multidisciplinary Experience in the Veneto Region

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