Carbon Dioxide Emissions of the City Center of Firenze, Italy: Measurement, Evaluation, and Source Partitioning

AbstractAn eddy covariance station was installed in the city center of Firenze, Italy, to measure carbon fluxes at half-hourly intervals over a mostly homogeneous urban area. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission observations made over an initial period of 3.5 months were compared with indirect estimates of CO2 emissions based on inventory data sources of vehicle circulation and natural gas consumption for domestic heating and cooking. Such a comparison provided proper evaluation of the measurements. Using seasonal dynamics of observed fluxes, the overall CO2 source of the city center was partitioned into its major components (i.e., road traffic and domestic heating). Results were directly compared with CO2 source estimates based on inventory sources

The Ebola virus disease outbreak in Tonkolili district, Sierra Leone: a retrospective analysis of the Viral Haemorrhagic Fever surveillance system, July 2014–June 2015

In Sierra Leone, the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak occurred with substantial differences between districts with someone even not affected. To monitor the epidemic, a community event-based surveillance system was set up, collecting data into the Viral Haemorrhagic Fever (VHF) database. We analysed the VHF database of Tonkolili district to describe the epi- demiology of the EVD outbreak during July 2014–June 2015 (data availability). Multivariable analysis was used to identify risk factors for EVD, fatal EVD and barriers to healthcare access, by comparing EVD-positive vs. EVD-negative cases. Key-performance indicators for EVD response were also measured. Overall, 454 EVD-positive cases were reported. At multivariable analysis, the odds of EVD was higher among those reporting contacts with an EVD-positive/ suspected case (odds ratio (OR) 2.47; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.44–2.50; P < 0.01) and those attending funeral (OR 1.02; 95% CI 1.01–1.04; P < 0.01). EVD cases from Kunike chief- dom had a lower odds of death (OR 0.22; 95% CI 0.08–0.44; P < 0.01) and were also more likely to be hospitalised (OR 2.34; 95% CI 1.23–4.57; P < 0.05). Only 25.1% of alerts were gen- erated within 1 day from symptom onset. EVD preparedness and response plans for Tonkolili should include social-mobilisation activities targeting Ebola/knowledge-attitudes-practice dur- ing funeral attendance, to avoid contact with suspected cases and to increase awareness on EVD symptoms, in order to reduce delays between symptom onset to alert generation and consequently improve the outbreak-response promptness

Vaccine coverage and determinants of incomplete vaccination in children aged 12-23 months in dschang, west region, cameroon: a cross-sectional survey during a polio outbreak

Inadequate immunization coverage with increased risk of vaccine preventable diseases outbreaksremains a problem in Africa. Moreover, different factors contribute to incomplete vaccination status. This study wasperformed in Dschang (West Region, Cameroon), during the polio outbreak occurred in October 2013, in order toestimate the immunization coverage among children aged 12–23 months, to identify determinants for incompletevaccination status and to assess the risk of poliovirus spread in the study population.Methods:A cross-sectional household survey was conducted in November-December 2013, using the WHOtwo-stage sampling design. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information fromconsenting parents of children aged 12–23 months. Vaccination coverage was assessed by vaccination card andparents’recall. Chi-square test and multilevel logistic regression model were used to identify the determinants ofincomplete immunization status. Statistical significance was set atp90 %, and 73.4 % children completedthe recommended vaccinations before 1-year of age. In the final multilevel logistic regression model, factorssignificantly associated with incomplete immunization status were: retention of immunization card (AOR: 7.89;95 % CI: 1.08–57.37), lower mothers’utilization of antenatal care (ANC) services (AOR:1.25; 95 % CI: 1.07–63.75),being the≥3rdborn child in the family (AOR: 425.4; 95 % CI: 9.6–18,808), younger mothers’age (AOR: 49.55;95 % CI: 1.59–1544), parents’negative attitude towards immunization (AOR: 20.2; 95 % CI: 1.46–278.9), and poorerparents’exposure to information on vaccination (AOR: 28.07; 95 % CI: 2.26–348.1). Longer distance from the vaccinationcenters was marginally significant (p=0.05).Conclusion:Vaccination coverage was high; however, 1 out of 7 children was partially vaccinated, and 1 out of 4 didnot complete timely the recommended vaccinations. In order to improve the immunization coverage, it is necessary tostrengthen ANC services, and to improve parents’information and attitude towards immunization, targeting youngerparents and families living far away from vaccination centers, using appropriate communication strategies. Finally, theestimated OPV-3 coverage is reassuring in relation to the ongoing polio outbrea

meningococcal c conjugate vaccine effectiveness before and during an outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease due to neisseria meningitidis serogroup c cc11 tuscany italy

Abstract Introduction In Tuscany, Italy, where a universal immunization program with monovalent meningococcal C conjugate vaccine (MCC) was introduced in 2005, an outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) due to the hypervirulent strain of Neisseria meningitidis C/cc11 occurred in 2015–2016, leading to an immunization reactive campaign using either the tetravalent (ACWY) meningococcal conjugate or the MCC vaccine. During the outbreak, IMD serogroup C (MenC) cases were also reported among vaccinated individuals. This study aimed to characterize meningococcal C conjugate vaccines (MenC-vaccines) failures and to estimate their effectiveness since the introduction (2005–2016) and during the outbreak (2015–2016). Methods MenC cases and related vaccine-failures were drawn from the National Surveillance System of Invasive Bacterial Disease (IBD) for the period 2006–2016. A retrospective cohort-study, including the Tuscany' population of the birth-cohorts 1994–2014, was carried out. Based on annual reports of vaccination, person-years of MenC-vaccines exposed and unexposed individuals were calculated by calendar-year, birth-cohort, and local health unit. Adjusted (by birth-cohort, local health unit, and calendar-year) risk-ratios (ARR) of MenC invasive disease for vaccinated vs unvaccinated were estimated by the Poisson model. Vaccine-effectiveness (VE) was estimated as: VE = 1-ARR. Results In the period 2006–2016, 85 MenC-invasive disease cases were reported; 61 (71.8%) from 2015 to 2016. Twelve vaccine failures occurred, all of them during the outbreak. The time-interval from immunization to IMD onset was 20 days in one case, from 9 months to 3 years in six cases, and ≥7 years in five cases. VE was, 100% (95%CI not estimable, p = 0.03) before the outbreak (2006–2014) and 77% (95%CI 36–92, p  Conclusions In Tuscany, MenC-vaccine failures occurred exclusively during the 2015–2016 outbreak. Most of them occurred several years after vaccination. VE during the outbreak-period was rather high supporting an effective protection induced by MenC-vaccines

Fate of soil organic carbon and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a vineyard soil treated with biochar

The effect of biochar addition on the levels of black carbon (BC) and polcyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a vineyard soil in central Italy was investigated within a two year period. Hydropyrolysis (HyPy) was used to determine the contents of BC (BCHyPy) in the amended and control soils while the hydrocarbon composition of the semi-labile (non-BCHyPy) fraction released by HyPy was determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, together with the solvent-extractable PAHs. The concentrations of these three polycyclic aromatic carbon reservoirs, changed and impacted differently on the soil organic carbon over the period of the trial. The addition of biochar (33 ton dry biochar ha-1) gave rise to a sharp increase in soil organic carbon which could be accounted for by an increase of BCHyPy. Over time, the concentration of BCHyPy decreased significantly from 36 to 23 mg g-1, and as a carbon percentage from 79% to 61%. No clear time trends were observed for the non-BCHyPy PAHs varying from 39 to 34 µg g-1 in treated soils, not significantly different from control soils. However, the concentrations of extractable PAHs increased markedly in the amended soils, and decreased with time from 153 to 78 ng g-1 remaining always higher than those in untreated soil. The extent of the BCHyPy loss was more compatible with physical rather than chemical processes

Retrieving soil moisture in rainfed and irrigated fields using Sentinel-2 observations and a modified OPTRAM approach

Abstract Surface soil water content plays an important role in driving the exchange of latent and sensible heat between the atmosphere and land surface through transpiration and evaporation processes, regulating key physiological processes affecting plants growth. Given the high impact of water scarcity on yields, and of irrigated agriculture on the overall withdrawal rate of freshwater, it is important to define models that help to improve water resources management for agricultural purposes, and to optimize rainfed crop yield. Recent advances in satellite-based remote sensing have led to valuable solutions to estimate soil water content based on microwave or optical/thermal-infrared data. This study aims at improving soil water content estimation at high spatial and temporal resolution, by means of the Optical Trapezoid Model (OPTRAM) driven by Copernicus Sentinel-2 data. Two different model variations were considered, based on linear and nonlinear parameters constraints, and validated against in situ soil water content measurements made with time domain reflectometry (TDR) on irrigated maize in central Italy and on rainfed maize and pasture in northern Italy. For the first site the non-linear model shows a better correlation between measured and estimated soil water content values (r = 0.80) compared to the linear model (r = 0.73). In both cases the modeled soil moisture tends to overestimate the measured values at medium to high water content level, while both models underestimate soil moisture at low water content level. Estimated versus measured normalized surface soil water for rainfed pasture plots from nonlinear OPTRAM parametrized based on irrigated maize parameterization (SIM1), and site-specific parametrization for rainfed pasture (SIM2), indicate that both models (SIM1 and SIM2) are comparable for rotational grazing pasture (RMSEsim1 = 0.0581 vs. RMSEsim2 = 0.0485 cm3 cm-3) and the continuous grazing pasture (RMSEsim1 = 0.0485 vs. RMSEsim2 = 0.0602 cm3 cm-3), while for the rainfed maize plots SIM1 shows lower RMSE (average for all plots RMSE = 0.0542 cm3 cm-3) compared to the site-specific calibration model (SIM2 – average for all plots RMSE = 0.0645 cm3 cm-3). Finally, OPTRAM estimations are close to in situ measurement values while Surface Soil Moisture at 1 km (SSM1 km) tends to underestimate the measurements during maize crop growing season. Soil moisture retrieval from high-resolution Sentinel-2 optical images allows water stress conditions to be effectively mapped, supporting decision making in irrigation scheduling and other crop management

RET/PTC3 translocation in a rare hemorrhagic brain metastasis of papillary thyroid cancer post Chernobyl radiation affects vessels ultrastructure

Abstract Background Slow progression and good prognosis are the usual characteristics of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). The presence of brain metastases (0.4–1.2%) is suggestive of a worse prognosis. RET/PTC rearrangements were particularly prevalent in PTCs developed after Chernobyl nuclear accident. Case description A 50-year-old woman born in Slovakia, exposed to radiation resulting from the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, affected since 2017 by papillary thyroid cancer and in therapy at our hospital, experimented cerebral hemorrhagic metastasis. Biopsy analyses revealed a RET/PTC3 rearrangement, so our aim was to find possible morphological relation between hemorrhagic metastasis and RET/PTC3 translocation. Results Immunohistochemical analysis showed diffuse and intense positivity for VEGF in endothelial cells of the neoplasm’ vascular network. Transmission electron microscopy images showed vessels with unorganized pattern and uneven diameters. In particular, metastasis endothelial cells (MECs) showed irregular shape and size, thickened cytoplasm and swelling of endoplasmic reticulum. MECs organized in irregular monolayers or multiple layers, surrounded by a thickened but unstructured extracellular matrix. Absence of strong junctional complexes among MECs resulted in a further weakened vessels wall. Conclusion RET/PTC3 translocation causes VEGF overexpression via STAT3 signaling cascade and the increased amount of VEGF adds to the greater amount of VEGFRs expressed by MECs. Our ultrastructural investigation show that this condition creates a massive growth of altered vessels prone to bleeding. The clinical significance of our study consists in alert oncologist and surgeons on possible arising of hemorrhagic brain metastases in patients with PTC and RET/PTC3 translocation exposed to ionizing radiation as people living in areas caught up in Chernobyl or Fukushima disasters

Baseline haematological and biochemical reference values for healthy male adults from Mali

Introduction: Haematological reference values are very important for diagnostic orientation and treatment decision. The aim of this study was to establish haematological reference values for Malian healthy adults. Methods: A cross-sectional study including 161 male Malians aged between 19 and 54 years old was performed. Median and reference ranges were calculated for haematological and biochemical parameters. Parametric student's t-test was used to determine any statistically significant differences by age, smoker status, body mass index (BMI) and occupation. Ranges were further compared with those reported for other African, Afro-American and Caucasian populations. Results: Increased levels of MCV, MCH, PLT and EOS were found in younger Malians who had abnormal BMI and altered platelets parameters. Notably, significantly lower eosinophil and monocyte counts were observed in Malians compared to Europeans The smoking status did not seem to directly affect RIs. Conclusion: This is the first study to determine normal laboratory parameters in Malian adult males. Our results underscore the necessity of establishing region-specific clinical reference ranges that would allow clinicians and practitioners to manage laboratory tests, diagnosis and therapies. These data are useful not only for the management of patients in Mali, but also to support European and American clinicians in the health management of asylum seekers and migrants from Mali

Increased incidence of invasive meningococcal disease of serogroup C / clonal complex 11, Tuscany, Italy, 2015 to 2016

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Impacto de modelos regionales de clima acoplados océano-atmósfera y de la alta resolución en la simulación de medicanes sobre el mar Mediterráneo: análisis multimodelo con las simulaciones de EURO-CORDEX y Med-CORDEX

Ponencia presentada en: XXXIV Jornadas Científicas de la AME y el XVII Encuentro Hispano Luso de Meteorología celebrado en Teruel, del 29 de febrero al 2 de marzo de 2016