SULFIDIC GROUND-WATER CHEMISTRY IN THE FRASASSI CAVES, ITALY

A year-long study of the sulfidic aquifer in the Frasassi caves (central Italy) employed chemical analysis of the water and measurements of its level, as well as assessments of the concentration of H(2)S, CO(2), and O(2) in the cave air. Bicarbonate water seepage derives from diffuse infiltration of meteoric water into the karst surface, and contributes to sulfidic ground-water dilution, with a percentage that varies between 30% and 60% during the year. Even less diluted sulfidic ground water was found in a localized area of the cave between Lago Verde and nearby springs. This water rises from a deeper phreatic zone, and its chemistry changes only slightly with the seasons with a contribution of seepage water that does not exceed 20%. In order to understand how the H(2)S oxidation, which is considered the main cave forming process, is influenced by the seasonal changes in the cave hydrology, the sulfide/total sulfur ratio was related to ground-water dilution and air composition. The data Suggest that in the upper phreatic zone, limestone corrosion due to H(2)S oxidation is prominent in the wet season because of the high recharge of O(2)-rich seepage water, while in the dry season, the H(2)S content increases, but the extent of oxidation is lower. In the cave atmosphere, the low H(2)S content in ground water during the wet season inhibits the release of this gas, but the H(2)S concentration increases ill the dry season, favoring its oxidation in the air and the replacement of limestone with gypsum on the cave walls

Hadron detection with a dual-readout fiber calorimeter

In this paper, we describe measurements of the response functions of a fiber-based dual- readout calorimeter for pions, protons and multiparticle "jets" with energies in the range from 10 to 180 GeV. The calorimeter uses lead as absorber material and has a total mass of 1350 kg. It is complemented by leakage counters made of scintillating plastic, with a total mass of 500 kg. The effects of these leakage counters on the calorimeter performance are studied as well. In a separate section, we investigate and compare different methods to measure the energy resolution of a calorimeter. Using only the signals provided by the calorimeter, we demonstrate that our dual-readout calorimeter, calibrated with electrons, is able to reconstruct the energy of proton and pion beam particles to within a few percent at all energies. The fractional widths of the signal distributions for these particles (sigma/E) scale with the beam energy as 30%/sqrt(E), without any additional contributing terms

Lepton Polarization Asymmetry in B l l(bar) decays in R-parity violating Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model

We study the implication of R-parity violating Rp Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) model in lepton polarization asymmetry ALP in B l l(bar) decays . The analysis show that the ALP is significant in a certain phenomenological parametric region of Yukawa couplings. We have also placed indirect bounds on Lambda' lambda couplings as obtained from B t t(bar).Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures Changes of notation in Eq(8-11,17-19),Eq.20 adde

Bronchodilating effects of extrafine beclometasone dipropionate and formoterol fumarate via pressurized metered dose inhaler in asthmatic children

Introduction: in asthmatic children older than 5 years, the GINA guidelines 2012 update recommend to add inhaled long-acting b2- agonists (LABA) when the disease is not adequately controlled with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) alone. Controlled studies have shown that fixed combination therapies are as effective as giving each drug separately and may increase patients’ compliance. A paediatric extrafine fixed combination of beclometasone dipropionate (BDP) and formoterol fumarate (FF) via pressurized metered dose inhaler (pMDI) containing 50mg of BDP and 6mg of FF per actuation (CHF1535) was developed by Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A. (Parma, Italy)

Effects of physical exercise associated with a diet enriched with natural antioxidants on cerebral hypoperfusion and reperfusion injury in spontaneously hypertensive rats

Oxidative stress is implicated in the pathogenesis of arterial hypertension. The reduction in the bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO) causes endothelial dysfunction, altering the functions of cerebral blood vessels. Physical exercise and intake of antioxidants improve the redox state, increasing the vascular NO production and/or the decrease in NO scavenging by reactive oxygen species (ROS). The present study was aimed at assessing the effects of physical exercise associated with a diet enriched with antioxidants from the Annurca apple in preventing the microvascular damage due to cerebral hypoperfusion and reperfusion injury in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). The rat pial microcirculation was investigated by intravital fluorescence microscopy through a parietal closed cranial window. As expected, SHRs subjected to physical exercise or an antioxidants-enriched diet showed a reduction of microvascular permeability, ROS formation, and leukocyte adhesion to venular walls, with a major effect of the antioxidants-enriched diet, when compared to untreated SHRs. Moreover, capillary perfusion was preserved by both treatments in comparison with untreated SHRs. Unexpectedly, the combined treatments did not induce higher effects than the single treatment. In conclusion, our results support the efficacy of physical activity or antioxidant supplement in reducing the microvascular alterations due to hypertension and ascribe to an antioxidants-enriched diet effective microvascular protection in SHRs

Use of an Online Platform to Evaluate the Impact of Social Distancing Measures on Psycho-Physical Well-Being in the COVID-19 Era

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) and the worldwide health crisis have significantly changed both people's habits and lifestyles. Most of the studies found in the literature were carried out on specific professional categories in the socio-health sector, taking into consideration psychological disorders in relation to work. The purpose of this study was to analyze the psychological impact on a portion of the normal population subjected to lockdown. Methods: A questionnaire was distributed in the period between 23 March 2020 and 18 May 2020 (during Italian lockdown) using an online platform. The scales GAD-7, IES-r, PHQ-9 and MANSA were used to investigate the level of anxiety, the presence of post-traumatic stress disorder, the severity of depression and the perceived quality of life, respectively. Results: Four hundred and eight Italian subjects responded. Females and younger people were more affected by anxiety and depression. Post-traumatic stress disorder affected about 40% of the population sample, significantly young people and women, thus attesting to an important psychopathological response. About one-fifth of the sample population recorded an unsatisfactory quality of life. Conclusions: The results highlight the need to set up preventive interventions (primary and secondary), trying to focus on the most fragile group of subjects from a psychosocial point of view, in order to obtain a significant reduction in psychophysical damage in terms of relapses and outcomes

IGIENE E SICUREZZA DEGLI ALIMENTI: INDAGINE SU CONOSCENZE E ATTEGGIAMENTI DEL PERSONALE DI CUCINA DI NAVI DA CARICO

INTRODUZIONE Esiste una differenza rilevante tra l'insorgenza di problemi di salute a bordo delle navi piuttosto che a terra, il tutto dovuto anche alla difficoltà di fornire un trattamento medico adeguato e rapido durante la navigazione, in particolare quando si considerano le navi da carico. In particolare, per quanto concerne la ristorazione, la salute di queste comunità è molto legata alle corrette operazioni di manipolazione, cottura, conservazione degli alimenti. Da qui la necessità di valutare il livello di conoscenza della sicurezza alimentare del personale dei servizi di ristorazione di tali navi. METODI La raccolta dei dati è stata effettuata attraverso un questionario anonimo autosomministrato contenente domande specifiche circa l'igiene e la sicurezza alimentare. RISULTATI Sono stati compilati 51questionari. La percentuale di risposte corrette è stata del 62,1%. Punteggi elevati sono stati ottenuti nella sezione di igiene personale (80%) e di prevenzione contaminazioni crociate (70,3%). I lavoratori che avevano seguito un corso di formazione hanno ottenuto un più alto punteggio totale rispetto ai lavoratori non specificamente addestrati (p<0.05). Una differenza significativa è stata osservata anche nel punteggio totale ottenuto dai cuochi rispetto al personale di supporto (53,6 vs 50,7; p<0.05). CONCLUSIONI E’ preoccupante che una rilevante percentuale degli intervistati non conosca correttamente alcuni aspetti relativi sia alla manipolazione degli alimenti che ad eventuali problemi di sicurezza alimentare. Sarebbero auspicabili iniziative ed interventi specifici atti a migliorare le conoscenze del personale del servizio di ristorazione (lifelong learning e monitoraggio continuo). Creando più consapevolezza sull’importanza del ruolo ricoperto da tali figure professionali e fornendo educazione continua, si può ottenere una più appropriata conoscenza nel settore dell’igiene degli alimenti necessaria al raggiungimento di un elevato livello di salute. Parole chiave: igiene degli alimenti; conoscenze; servizio ristorazione; navi da caric

Charged kaon lifetime at KLOE

Preliminary result on the charged kaon lifetime, obtained by the KLOE experiment operating at DA$\Phi$NE, the Frascati $\phi$-factory, is presentedComment: 3 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the proceedings of 42nd Rencontres de Moriond on Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories, La Thuile, Aosta Valley, Italy, 10-17 Mar 200

Lifestyles and discomfort in a sample of young Romanian students

Introduction. The 40.3% of the Romanian youth population is at risk of poverty or social exclusion, and, in addition, the abuse of substances increases. It was interesting to evaluate the attitudes shared by pupils as well as their knowledge of these substances with a view to analyzing causes and types of risky behaviour in young people. Methods. This is an observational study on the harassment influence in the lifestyle of a sample of Craiova high-school students The Fagerstr\uf6m Test was applied to evaluate the degree of nicotine dependence, and the data processed to assess the Odds Ratio. Results. The sample was composed by 1,980 students with an average age of 17, of which 1,727 correctly responded to the questionnaire. The 37.4% of students admit to smoke, and the 67% to drink alcohol. The Fagerstr\uf6m test showed that the 68.2% of respondents are not highly addicted to smoke while the 31.8% was associated with a middle-to-high addiction level. A worrying weekly consumption of beer has been registered in the students. Regarding psychological distress caused by harassment a high Odds Ratio was recorded between the smokers and the drug users. Conclusions. More than half of students did not know about the health consequences of smoking, and the same result was recorded about the consumption of alcohol. A special attention should be done to the understanding of harassment problem in the young people. In fact, almost all the respondents declared to have suffered abuse and admits to use drug and cigarettes

Determination of CP and CPT violation parameters in the neutral kaon system using the Bell-Steinberger relation and data from the KLOE experiment

We present an improved determination of the CP and CPT violation parameters Re(epsilon) and Im(delta) based on the unitarity condition (Bell-Steinberger relation) and on recent results from the KLOE experiment. We find Re(epsilon) = (159.6 \pm 1.3)10^-5 and Im(delta) = (0.4 \pm 2.1)10^-5, consistent with no CPT violation.Comment: Submitted to JHE