LCA to start and perform green public procurement for funeral products

AMNU S.p.A. is an Italian multi-utility company, whose owner are local municipalities, which operates basically in the territory of the Province of Trento in urban waste collection and transport. In the last years AMNU has started the “new” activity of funeral service that has a wide public concern and is a source of deep connection with the the territory. Funeral services and cemetery\u27s management are becoming more and more important and therefore AMNU has moved forward in the environmental path and this is the objective of this work: to integrate procurement tenders for the funeral products industry by inserting environmental purchasing criteria. To achieve this, we have performed a LCA study, because it has scientific and legal bases, focusing on sector of inhumation. The aim is to determine criteria that may characterize funerary products from an environmental point of view. Moreover, AMNU is related to the GPP (= Green Public Procurement) which is an instrument of european environmental policy and aims to encourage the market for green products and services, starting from the public administration. It is important to note that the GPP is no longer a voluntary instrument in Italy and that the cost of procurement of goods and services in Italy, operated by different Public Authorities (PA), each year is around 50 billion euro (ISTAT data): PA can push towards a more green economy and a more sustainable market. To propose an invitation to tender for the first time characterized by green criteria for funeral products, an environmental assessment has been performed for the use of three types of products: 1) coffin, 2) padding, 3) absorbent pad which is often added between the coffin and the padding to absorb the body fluids of the deceased. THE RESULTS 1) The LCA study helped to identify nine criteria (5 applied to the first product and 4 to the other two) that have allowed to identify and choose products that provide the best environmental impact. 2) Furthermore, the assessment based on the Carbon Footprint has provided interesting directions: in the case of the first product, the difference between the best possible product and the worst is about 40 times of CO2eq. while it is much smaller, with a maximum difference of impact of about 4 times, if referred to the other two products. So, in an LCA perspective, it is more important to focus on coffin rather than padding or absorbent pad. 3) The tender has been compiled with the new requirements and it has been published and now it is available to suppliers (totale value: more than 200.000 euro) who have to contend with these new criteria for the next delivery; consider that the part of the technical bid means 60% of the contract notice and environmental section is the more important

Macro-Scale Underground Geomechanical and Thermal Mapping for Very Shallow Geothermal Applications

The document is an extended abstract presented at "GeoENV 2016", the 11th International Conference on Geostatistics for Environmental Application Conference, 6-8 July 2016, Lisbon, Portugal

Acquired Hemophilia in a Patient With Rheumatoid Arthritis: Case Report and Literature Review

Acquired hemophilia (AH) is a rare bleeding disorder caused by the spontaneous development of autoantibodies against coagulation factors, most commonly factor (F) VIII (acquired hemophilia A, AHA). The clinical manifestation of AHA includes mostly spontaneous hemorrhages into skin, mucous membranes, muscles, soft tissues, or joints. AHA should be suspected when a patient with no history of hemorrhages presents with bleeding and an unexplained prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time. The diagnosis is based on the clinical picture, the presence of low FVIII activity and evidence of FVIII inhibitor. In around half of patients, an underlying disorder (rheumatic diseases, malignancy, infections) or taking some drugs are associated with AHA; the remaining cases are idiopathic. Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory condition, marked by swelling and tenderness of small joints; it is usually treated with steroid and immunosuppressive drugs such as methotrexate, TNF-alpha inhibitors, and other biologic therapies (abatacept, tocilizumab, rituximab).We presented a patient with rheumatoid arthritis who developed acquired hemophilia A with hemarthroses; starting from this case, we focused on the literature about AHA in rheumatic diseases. We found 35 cases, 15 in systemic lupus erythematosus and 12 in rheumatoid arthritis, while the remaining cases were reported in Sjögren's syndrome, polymyalgia rheumatica, systemic sclerosis, and psoriatic arthritis. Ecchymosis and cutaneous hematomas were the main clinical features while hemarthroses was quite a rare condition, shown in just three patients

Halyomorpha halys in Emilia, prime risposte dal monitoraggio

OSSERVAZIONI IN CAMPO CONDOTTE NEL 2013-2014. Dopo la sua comparsa in Italia, accertata nel 2012, è stato attivato nella zona di ritrovamento un programma di monitoraggio teso a studiare l’insetto e il suo comportamento nell’ambiente. La specie desta maggiori preoccupazioni nel settore frutticolo, dove il danno rappresentato dalle tipiche deformazioni può giungere al 100

Halyomorpha halys in Italy: first results of field monitoring in fruit orchards

The invasive pest Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) Halyomorpha halys (Heteroptera, Pentatomidae) was detected for the first time in Italy in September 2012 in Modena province (Northern Italy) during an insect collection for educational purposes. A survey performed in 2013 allowed to detect its presence in Emilia Romagna, Lombardy and Piedmont regions. In 2014, in the provinces of Modena, Reggio Emilia and Bologna a periodical active field monitoring was performed using tree beating, sweep-net and visual observations in selected orchards and vineyards, recording numbers of BMSB adults and nymphs, and of other Heteroptera. Besides, fruit injury and crop loss were recorded at harvest. Partial results from field data obtained between April and July 2014 are presented, indicating that BMSB is already becoming an important pest of fruit orchards and that special attention should be deserved to monitor its spread all over the region and the whole Italian country

Spring honey bee losses in Italy

Honey bee poisoning incidents and monitoring schemes Background: During last years several cases of bee losses have been reported during the period of corn sowing in different European countries. In Italy an institutional system for bee losses survey does not exist and therefore some Italian regions decided to organise an official network to collect data and analyse dead bee samples. Results: Collected data indicate that the higher number of bee losses events occurred in intensively cultivated flat areas, located in the North of Italy, mainly during or after corn sowing. The chemical analyses of dead bees revealed the presence of three neonicotinoid residues: imidacloprid was found in 25.7% of the sample, thiamethoxam in 2.8%, clothianidin in 25.7%, both imidacloprid and thiamethoxam in 4.7%. The visual examination and the virological analyses excluded pathological causes. Conclusion: The spatial and temporal correlation between hive damages and corn sowing and the presence of residues of active ingredients used for seed dressing (imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin) in almost half of the samples confirms the connection between spring mortality and the sowing of corn seed dressed with neonicotinoids. Keywords: honeybee mortality, neonicotinoids, seed dressing, corn sowing, dust dispersion.      

Practical approach to vasculitides in adults: an overview of clinical conditions that can mimic vasculitides closely

Primary systemic vasculitides are rare diseases affecting blood vessel walls. The type and patterns of distribution of the organs affected usually reflect the size of the vessels predominantly involved, and the patterns of clinical manifestations are generally useful to reach a specific diagnosis. However, presenting symptoms may lack adequate specificity for a prompt diagnosis, leading to a diagnostic (and therapeutic) delay, often causing irreversible damage to the affected organs. Due to their rarity and variable clinical presentation, the diagnosis of primary vasculitides could be challenging for physicians. Vasculitis mimickers, i.e. the clinical conditions that could be likely mistaken for vasculitides, need to be carefully ruled out, especially before starting the immunosuppressive therapy. We present here a practical approach to the diagnosis of primary systemic vasculitides involving large, medium and small size vessels, and reviewed most of the conditions that could mimic primary systemic vasculitides

Are multiple-choice questions a good tool for the assessment of clinical competence in Internal Medicine?

There are many feasible tools for the assessment of clinical practice, but there is a wide consensus on the fact that the simultaneous use of several different methods could be strategic for a comprehensive overall judgment of clinical competence. Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are a well-established reliable method of assessing knowledge. Constructing effective MCQ tests and items requires scrupulous care in the design, review and validation stages. Creating high-quality multiple-choice questions requires a very deep experience, knowledge and large amount of time. Hereby, after reviewing their construction, strengths and limitations, we debate their completeness for the assessment of professional competence