Headache disorders as risk factors for sleep disturbances in school aged children.

Several epidemiological studies have shown the presence of comorbidity between various types of sleep disorders and different headache subtypes. Migraine without aura is a sensitive risk factor for disorders of initiating and maintaining sleep (odds ratio (OR) 8.2500), and chronic tension-type headache for sleep breathing disorders (OR 15.231), but headache disorder is a cumulative risk factor for disorders of excessive somnolence (OR 15.061). This result has not been reported in the clinical literature. © Springer-Verlag Italia 2005

Numerical analysis of run-up oscillations under dissipative conditions

This paper presents laboratory and numerical simulations of run-up induced by irregular waves breaking on a gentle-sloping planar beach. The experimental data are well reproduced by a numerical model based on the nonlinear shallow water equations. By extending the incoming wave conditions considered in the laboratory experiments, the model is applied to study the run-up variability under highly energetic incoming conditions. The numerical results support the idea that, for cases characterized by the same incident peak frequency, infragravity run-up increases almost linearly with the offshore significant wave height. Moreover, the most energetic conditions lead to an upper limit of the swash similarity parameter of about 1.8. © 2014 Elsevier B.V

Sediment transport dynamics in the swash zone under large-scale laboratory conditions

A laboratory experiment was carried out to study sediment transport dynamics occurring in the swash zone of a coarse-sandy beach built in a large-scale wave flume. Hydro- and morpho-dynamic as well as sediment transport data were collected using sensors mounted on a scaffold rig deployed in the lower swash zone close to the moving bed. The high resolution of near-bed data permitted quantitative evaluation of suspended and sheet flow contributions to the total sediment transport. Although sheet flow sediment fluxes were higher than suspended fluxes, the vertically integrated suspended sediment load overcame the sheet flow load during uprush and it was on the same order of magnitude during backwash. The observed cumulative sediment transport was generally larger than the morphological changes occurring shoreward of the rig location implying either an underestimation of the offshore sediment transport or an overestimation of the onshore fluxes obtained from concentration and velocity profile data. Low correlations were found between net swash profile changes and runup parameters suggesting that local hydrodynamic parameters provide little or no predictability of accretion and erosion of an upper beach which is near equilibrium. The balance between erosion and deposition induced by individual swash events brought a dynamic equilibrium with small differences between the profiles measured at the start and at the end of the run

Melatonin in wake-sleep disorders in children, adolescents and young adults with mental retardation with or without epilepsy: a double-blind, cross-over, placebo-controlled trial

The aim of the present study was to verify the clinical efficacy of melatonin (MLT) in children, adolescents and young adults with wake– sleep disorder and mental retardation, most of them on chronic anticonvulsant therapy for epileptic seizures, by means of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over trial. Twenty-five patients (16 males, nine females), aged from 3.6 to 26 years (mean 10.5 years), all affected with mental retardation mostly with epileptic seizures, were randomized to oral synthetic fast-release MLT or placebo. Melatonin was initiated at the daily dose of 3 mg, at nocturnal bedtime. In case of inefficacy, MLT dose could be titrated up to 9 mg the following 2 weeks at increments of 3 mg/week, unless the patient was unable to tolerate it. The analysis of all the sleep logs disclosed a significant treatment effect of melatonin on sleep latency (P ¼ 0:019). Melatonin was well tolerated in all patients and no side effects were reported. In conclusion, our study supports the efficacy of MLT in young patients with mental disabilities and epileptic seizures in improving the wake– sleep disorders such as time to fall asleep. Overall, MLT appeared to influence the seizure frequency poorly, though there may be occasional seizure worsening or improving. Such a dual effect requires further studies in young epileptic patients

Natural vs. Anthropic influence on the multidecadal shoreline changes of mediterranean urban beaches: Lessons from the Gulf of Cagliari (Sardinia)

Urban Mediterranean beaches are often characterized by a fragile and unstable equilibrium that can be easily altered by ongoing climate change and by the increase in human pressure. This may pose serious threats to the survival of beach systems that cannot accommodate these modifications. In this paper, the spatio-temporal shift of the shoreline was investigated along two urban beaches in the Gulf of Cagliari (Poetto and Giorgino; southern Sardinia, western Mediterranean Sea) across a time frame of 62 years (1954–2016). The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) ArcGIS™ extension was used to extract different statistical parameters which allowed us to quantify the erosion and accretion rates. These data were further examined in relation to a number of anthropic and natural forcings in order to disentangle the factors controlling shoreline evolution. Eight sectors with interchanging net erosive and accretion trends were identified along the Poetto and Giorgino beaches. In six decades, some sectors of the two study sites appeared to have undergone great shoreline modification as a result of the intense anthropogenic activities impacting these coastal areas. The westernmost portions of both beaches were found to be the most vulnerable to erosion processes; such conditions were likely controlled by the interplaying of local hydrodynamics and by the intense coastal development which affected these sectors. The highest retreat rates (mean end point rate (EPR) = −0.51/year) were recorded in the western limit of Giorgino beach. Along the western limit of Poetto beach, EPR erosion rates (mean EPR = −2.92/year) considerably increased in the years after the artificial beach nourishment carried out in 2002, suggesting that the majority of the nourished material was lost offshore or partly redistributed along the beach. Coastal structures, urban development, river catchment modification, industrial and port activities, beach cleaning and touristic and recreational activities have been identified as the ongoing causes of coastal alteration. If these factors remain constant, under projected climate change scenarios, these beaches are at risk of further increased flooding and erosion. In this context, the application of DSAS appeared as an essential tool, supporting a monitoring system able to provide understanding and, potentially, predictions of the short-to long-term evolution of these beach systems

Sediment transport partitioning in the swash zone of a large-scale laboratory beach

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Sediment transport partitioning in the swash zone of a large-scale laboratory beach journaltitle: Coastal Engineering articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2015.11.001 content_type: article copyright: © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

A multi-element psychosocial intervention for early psychosis (GET UP PIANO TRIAL) conducted in a catchment area of 10 million inhabitants: study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial

Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have mostly been conducted in non-epidemiologically representative samples, thereby raising the risk of underestimating the complexities involved in treating FEP in 'real-world' services

Computed tomography-guided trans-sternal percutaneous lung biopsies

The article describes a new technique for lung biopsy, using a CT guided trans-sternal approac