611 research outputs found
Chest ultrasound in italian geriatric wards: Use, applications and clinicians’ attitudes
Background and aims. Bedside chest ultrasound has emerged as a versatile and accurate diagnostic tool for the management of respiratory conditions in several clinical settings, integrating traditional imaging. The current utilization of this technique in geriatric hospital wards is still unknown. Our aim was to assess availability, uses and applications of chest ultrasonography in a convenience sample of 25 Italian geriatric wards. Methods. A questionnaire, based on the current literature state-of-the-art, was e-mailed to head doctors of geriatric wards of Italian hospitals. The questionnaire explored ultrasound equipment availability, practice of chest ultrasound, expertise of ward physicians, clinical indications, and perceived impact on patient care. Results. Ultrasound equipment was available in 92% of wards, and chest ultrasound was performed in 82% of cases. Among the wards where chest ultrasound was performed, it was considered as routine assessment in only 52% of cases, mainly for diagnosis of pleural effusions (95%) and acute heart failure (89%), assessment of volemic state (79%), and assistance to invasive procedures (79%). It was used in emergency/ urgency assessment of acute dyspnea in only 53% of cases. In most wards, only three or less physicians were able to perform chest ultrasound. In 53% of cases, head doctors declared that they perceived benefits of chest ultrasound in patient care in only selected cases. Conclusions. Chest ultrasound utilization in Italian geriatric wards is inhomogeneous, and the number of trained physicians is still limited. Geriatricians’ attitude towards chest ultrasound is generally cautious. Research and training programs are needed to spread the correct use of this technique in geriatric practice
Rickettsia typhi and Haemophagocytic Syndrome
Appropriate therapy (dexamethasone, cyclosporin,
and etoposide) could save the patient in those cases in which the
pathogen-direct therapy has not been sufficient by itself to control
the disease
ACALCULOUS CHOLECYSTITIS IN A PATIENT WITH PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM MALARIA AND CYTOMEGALOVIRUS INFECTION
Acalculous cholecystitis is a syndrome of gallbladder inflammation without gallstones, recognized within the setting of critically ill patients. Acalculous cholecystitis associated with infectious agents is reported in the literature to be rare. Herein we describe a case of acalculous cholecystitis in a patient with malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum and apparent cytomegalovirus infection, and discuss the possible role of CMV in the pathogenesis of acalculous cholecystitis in patients with malaria
Integral Field Spectroscopy of 23 Spiral Bulges
We have obtained Integral Field Spectroscopy for 23 spiral bulges using
INTEGRAL on the William Herschel Telescope and SPIRAL on the Anglo-Australian
Telescope. This is the first 2D survey directed solely at the bulges of spiral
galaxies. Eleven galaxies of the sample do not have previous measurements of
the stellar velocity dispersion (sigma*). These data are designed to complement
our Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph program for estimating black hole
masses in the range 10^6-10^8M_sun using gas kinematics from nucleated disks.
These observations will serve to derive the stellar dynamical bulge properties
using the traditional Mgb and CaII triplets. We use both Cross Correlation and
Maximum Penalized Likelihood to determine projected sigma* in these systems and
present radial velocity fields, major axis rotation curves, curves of growth
and sigma* fields. Using the Cross Correlation to extract the low order 2D
stellar dynamics we generally see coherent radial rotation and irregular
velocity dispersion fields suggesting that sigma* is a non-trivial parameter to
estimate.Comment: 11 pages, 30 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
REVISITING ANTHROPOZOONOSES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN. A SINGLE-CENTRE PERSPECTIVE. A SOUTHERN ITALIAN EXPERIENCE
Zoonoses, often better defined with the term anthropozoonoses, are diseases that can be transmitted to humans either by direct contact with animals or through arthropod vector intervention. Microbial interaction between humans and animals constitutes an important public health challenge, particularly in the Mediterranean basin. The main reasons this challenge is still relevant today include the phenomenon of migration, of both humans and animals, and climate change, which tend to alter the geographical distribution of zoonosis or the zoonotic agent, as well as the distribution range of potential vectors. The Mediterranean area seems to be affected by plentiful and widely distributed zoonoses, the main diseases being rickettsiosis, leishmaniasis, brucellosis, hydatid disease and viral zoonoses. The aim of this study is to revisit the prevalence and main clinical features of anthropozoonoses observed at the Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother & Child Care, University of Palermo, Sicily, Southern Italy
Ultra-deep Large Binocular Camera U-band Imaging of the GOODS-North Field: Depth vs. Resolution
We present a study of the trade-off between depth and resolution using a
large number of U-band imaging observations in the GOODS-North field
(Giavalisco et al. 2004) from the Large Binocular Camera (LBC) on the Large
Binocular Telescope (LBT). Having acquired over 30 hours of data (315 images
with 5-6 mins exposures), we generated multiple image mosaics, starting with
the best atmospheric seeing images (FWHM 0.8"), which constitute
10% of the total data set. For subsequent mosaics, we added in data with
larger seeing values until the final, deepest mosaic included all images with
FWHM 1.8" (94% of the total data set). From the mosaics, we
made object catalogs to compare the optimal-resolution, yet shallower image to
the lower-resolution but deeper image. We show that the number counts for both
images are 90% complete to . Fainter than
27, the object counts from the optimal-resolution image start to
drop-off dramatically (90% between = 27 and 28 mag), while the deepest
image with better surface-brightness sensitivity ( 32
mag arcsec) show a more gradual drop (10% between 27
and 28 mag). For the brightest galaxies within the GOODS-N field, structure and
clumpy features within the galaxies are more prominent in the
optimal-resolution image compared to the deeper mosaics. Finally, we find - for
220 brighter galaxies with 24 mag - only marginal
differences in total flux between the optimal-resolution and lower-resolution
light-profiles to 32 mag arcsec. In only 10% of
the cases are the total-flux differences larger than 0.5 mag. This helps
constrain how much flux can be missed from galaxy outskirts, which is important
for studies of the Extragalactic Background Light.Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures, submitted to PASP, comments welcom
Physical and morphological properties of z~3 LBGs: dependence on Lyalpha line emission
We investigate the physical and morphological properties of LBGs at z ~2.5 to
~3.5, to determine if and how they depend on the nature and strength of the
Lyalpha emission. We selected U-dropout galaxies from the z-detected GOODS
MUSIC catalog, by adapting the classical Lyman Break criteria on the GOODS
filter set. We kept only those galaxies with spectroscopic confirmation, mainly
from VIMOS and FORS public observations. Using the full multi-wavelength
14-bands photometry, we determined the physical properties of the galaxies,
through a standard spectral energy distribution fitting with the updated
Charlot & Bruzual (2009) templates. We also added other relevant observations,
i.e. the 24mu m observations from Spitzer/MIPS and the 2 MSec Chandra X-ray
observations. Finally, using non parametric diagnostics (Gini, Concentration,
Asymmetry, M_20 and ellipticity), we characterized the rest-frame UV morphology
of the galaxies. We then analyzed how these physical and morphological
properties correlate with the presence of the Lyalpha line in the optical
spectra. We find that, unlike at higher redshift, the dependence of physical
properties on the Lyalpha line is milder: galaxies without Lyalpha in emission
tend to be more massive and dustier than the rest of the sample, but all other
parameters, ages, SFRs, X-ray emission as well as UV morphology do not depend
strongly on the presence of the line emission. A simple scenario where all LBGs
have intrinsically high Lyalpha emission, but where dust and neutral hydrogen
content (which shape the final appearance of the Lyalpha) depend on the mass of
the galaxies, is able to reproduce the majority of the observed properties at
z~3. Some modification might be needed to account for the observed evolution of
these properties with cosmic epoch, which is also discussed.Comment: Accepted for publication on A&
The role of quenching time in the evolution of the mass-size relation of passive galaxies from the WISP survey
We analyze how passive galaxies at z 1.5 populate the mass-size plane
as a function of their stellar age, to understand if the observed size growth
with time can be explained with the appearance of larger quenched galaxies at
lower redshift. We use a sample of 32 passive galaxies extracted from the Wide
Field Camera 3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel (WISP) survey with spectroscopic
redshift 1.3 z 2.05, specific star-formation rates lower
than 0.01 Gyr, and stellar masses above 4.5 10
M. All galaxies have spectrally determined stellar ages from fitting of
their rest-frame optical spectra and photometry with stellar population models.
When dividing our sample into young (age 2.1 Gyr) and old (age 2.1
Gyr) galaxies we do not find a significant trend in the distributions of the
difference between the observed radius and the one predicted by the mass-size
relation. This result indicates that the relation between the galaxy age and
its distance from the mass-size relation, if it exists, is rather shallow, with
a slope alpha -0.6. At face value, this finding suggests that
multiple dry and/or wet minor mergers, rather than the appearance of newly
quenched galaxies, are mainly responsible for the observed time evolution of
the mass-size relation in passive galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters; 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl
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