Euromediterranean Biomedical Journal: the renewed journal of young doctors aims even higher.

In January 2006, a new journal, Capsula Eburnea, was born in the Italian scientific pub-lishing scene, with the initial goal of creating, at the same time, “an open scientific forum and a blog”. Until December 2009, the vast majority of manuscripts was still published in Italian, restricting the number of readers. From the end of 2009, the journal has undergone extensive changes, becoming indexed in the main scientific search engines (Scopus, Directory of Open Access Journal, Google Scholar, Ulrich Periodical Directory), and renewing its Editorial Team with a role reassign-ment and expanding the Editorial Board to up to 40 young doctors with proven scientific experience from 15 countries around the world, working as researchers, PhD students, senior medical staff, research fellows or doctors in specialist training. Finally, the journal has progressively encouraged the publication of articles in English, through an endorsed English translation service provided by native English speaking translators. This service became mandatory for all peer-reviewed articles accepted by the Journal in 2011. At the same time, the Editorial Board unanimously decreed to change the name of the journal into “Euromediterranean Biomedical Journal for young doctors (formerly: Capsula Eburnea)” from January 2012. Today, the journal is fully open access (including the archives of Capsula Eburnea) with the possibility to download articles for free, and the publication process involves a blind peer review of each article by at least two scientists. During its first two years of activity, the Euromediterranean Biomedical Journal (EMBJ) published 48 scientific articles (17 origi-nal articles, 14 reviews, 13 case report, two technical reports and two commentaries) and one edition of Conference Proceedings

EFFECTS OF SHIFT WORK ON CARDIOVASCULAR ACTIVITY, SERUM CORTISOL AND WHITE BLOOD CELLS COUNT IN A GROUP OF ITALIAN FISHERMEN

We analyzed the effects of working activity and working shifts on the circadian rhythmicity and circadian phase relations of serum cortisol level, white blood cells count, resting heart rate and systolic/diastolic blood pressure in a group of italian fishermen. We observed a shift-induced displacement of cortisol secretion and a modification in leukocyte count. Moreover, systolic/diastolic blood pressure and resting heart rate were markedly influenced by the night shift, whereas no appreciable changes were observed after the morning and afternoon shifts, compared to pre-working values. These data suggest that the human circadian system is greatly influenced by shift work, and serum cortisol level, leukocyte count, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and resting heart rate are sensitive indicators of the biological responses to a stress workload in shift workers, especially after a night shif

Effect of suturing the femoral portion of a four-strand graft during an ACL reconstruction.

Purpose A suture passed along the part of the graft that will be inserted into the femoral tunnel is widely used by surgeons, because it could prevent the graft sliding on the femoral fixation device during pulling from the tibial side. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biomechanical effects of suturing the intratunnel femoral part of the graft during an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Methods Bovine digital extensor tendons and tibias were harvested from 20 fresh-frozen mature bovine knees ranging in age from 18 to 24 months. Quadruple-strand bovine tendons were passed through the tibial tunnel and secured distally with a bioabsorbable interference screw. In one half of all grafts (N = 10), the looped-over part of the graft was sutured in a whipstitch technique over a distance of 30 mm (Group 1). In one half of all grafts (N = 10), the looped-over part was left free from any suture (Group 2). The grafts were preconditioned at 50 N for 10 min, fol- lowed by cyclic loading at 1 Hz between 50 N and 250 N for 1,000 cycles. Load-to-failure test was then carried out at a rate of 1 mm/s. Results There was no statistically significant difference between mean stiffness at pullout and yield load between the two groups. In all specimens on Group 1, failure occurred following to partial breaking and then slipping of the tendons between the screw and the tunnel. Concerning Group 2, in six cases failure occurred as described for Group 1 specimens. In the remaining four cases, failure occurred entirely through the ligament mid-substance. Conclusions Suturing in a whipstitch fashion the femoral portion of the graft doesn’t affect the mechanical proprie- ties of the ACL graft. When suspension fixation device is used, suturing the looped-over part of the graft could be helpful in order to provide equal tension in all of the strands of the graft at time of tibial fixation