Modelling interdependencies among critical infrastructures at urban scale

Modern urban areas are transforming into sophisticated systems integrating both structures and infrastructures. This interconnection significantly increases the risk of disasters, which involves typical urban areas at different levels with structural, social, psychological and economic consequences. Therefore, improving emergency preparedness and mitigating possible disaster-induced losses of populous modern cities is becoming crucial. Critical infrastructure, e.g. the transportation, electric and water networks, can be damaged due to inherent fragility with respect to the initiating external hazard (e.g. earthquake). Buildings collapse after strong earthquakes is the typical source of malfunctioning for connected critical infrastructures. In this work, the effect of debris after structural collapse or extensive damages on related networks is studied. A new formula to evaluate the debris affected area as function of the geometric characteristics of the masonry buildings is proposed. This strategy can be implemented in a virtual city model that is recognized useful for decision makers to quantify the performance of critical infrastructures following a disaster and to plan better resilience strategies in order to limit losses and downtime

Exploring simulation tools for urban seismic analysis and resilience assessment

Nowadays, the refined models of simulation to evaluate the seismic damage in an urban area are becoming of paramount interest for the scientific community. Regional seismic damage simulation can potentially provide valuable information that can facilitate decision making, enhance planning for disaster mitigation, and reduce human and economic losses. However, the application of refined models is limited because of their high computational cost and needs of highly experienced users. For these reasons, these approaches remain academic experiences. This study proposes a straightforward approach to the problem, at the same time competitive, to simulate the seismic response and to assess the degree of damage at urban scale. At first, the simulation of the standard building is performed using an equivalent single degree of freedom model. Subsequently, the same approach is extended to a number of regular buildings from a virtual city sample for time-history seismic response analysis. The first part of this work is devoted to present the methodology to prepare the one-degree-of-freedom model of the standard building by comparing it with a refined multi degrees of freedom model as a target. Finally, a seismic damage simulation of a virtual city sample is implemented to demonstrate the capacity and advantages of the proposed method at increasing seismic intensities for damage assessment. It is the starting phase for further multi-hazards analyses at the regional scale through agent-based models

Amniotic Fluid Embolism: An Update of the Evidence

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Seismic Damage Assessment of a Virtual Large Scale City Model

Recent social developments and economic transformation have changed the engineering design approach from building design level towards community design level (city, region, country). The latter approach involves modeling of interconnections between different systems (buildings, transportation, water network, etc.) rather than designing the buildings individually. Thus, new analysis tools are expected to be developed to simulate the complex response of a community subsequently to disasters. The need of such rational tools is the object of this research work. Two different numerical approaches to simulate the response of a large-scale built envi-ronment after a seismic scenario are explored by developing multipurpose numerical codes. A district of a vir-tual city is considered as a case study and the level of damage for built environment is estimated. This work could be the first step for further urban loss analysis, e.g. through agent-based models that could be updated online with the proposed simulation

The role of hysteroscopy in the diagnostic work-up of infertile asymptomatic patients

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Pro-inflammatory M1/Th1 type immune network and increased expression of TSG-6 in the eutopic endometrium from women with endometriosis

Objective The study aimed to explore the type 1 and type 2 cytokines expression in the endometrium from women affected by endometriosis compared to controls. The expression of TSG-6, a multifunctional protein involved in several inflammatory disease, was also evaluated. Study Design Setting Experimental clinical study. Patients 10 patients affected by endometriosis and 11 controls. Interventions Patients underwent to an ultrasound transvaginal examination and a diagnostic hysteroscopy in order to exclude any uterine abnormality. All patients underwent endometrial biopsy using a Novak's curette. Main outcome measures The endometrial expression of type 1 (IL- 1 β TNF-α, IL-8) and type 2 (IL-10) cytokines, and of TSG-6 was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and by real time PCR. The expression of TSG-6 was confirmed by western blot. Results Results of PCR analysis and of immunohistochemistry revealed an increased expression of IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-8 and of TSG-6 in the endometrium of endometriosic patients. IL-10 expression did not show any difference. Conclusions An increased expression of pro-inflammatory type 1 cytokines was demonstrated in the endometrium from endometriosic patients, suggesting an endometrial environment harmful for implantation due to the prevalence of Th1 related immunity. An increased expression of TSG-6 was also demonstrated for the first time. Our findings concur to better define the inflammatory imbalance and the abnormal endometrial receptivity, reported in literature, of the eutopic endometrium of women affected by endometriosis

Simple hysterectomy versus radical hysterectomy in early-stage cervical cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: This systematic review (SR) and meta-analysis aims to compare the surgery-related results and oncological outcomes between SH and RH in patients with early-stage cervical cancer. Method: We systematically searched databases including PubMed, Embase and Cochrane to collect studies that compared oncological and surgery-related outcomes between SH and RH groups in patients with stage IA2 and IB1 cervical cancer. A random-effect model calculated the weighted average difference of each primary outcome via Review Manager V.5.4. Result: Seven studies comprising 6977 patients were included into our study. For oncological outcomes, we found no statistical difference in recurrence rate [OR = 0.88; 95% CI (0.50, 1.57); P = 0.68] and Overall Survival (OS) [OR = 1.23; 95% CI (0.69, 2.19), P = 0.48]. No difference was detected in the prevalence of positive LVSI and lymph nodes metastasis between the two groups. Concerning surgery-related outcomes, the comprehensive effects revealed that the bladder injury [OR = 0.28; 95% CI (0.08, 0.94), P = 0.04] and bladder disfunction [OR = 0.10; 95% CI (0.02, 0.53), P = 0.007] of the RH group were higher compared to the SH group. Conclusion: This meta-analysis suggested there are no significant differences in terms of both recurrence rate and overall survival among patients with stage IA2-IB1 cervical cancer undergoing SH or RH, while the SH group has better surgery-related outcomes. These data confirm the need to narrow the indication for RH in early-stage cervical cancer

Serum IgG antibodies from pregnant women reacting to mimotopes of simian virus 40 large T antigen, the viral oncoprotein

Simian virus 40 (SV40) large T antigen (LT) coding sequences were revealed in different human samples, whereas SV40 antibodies (Ab) were detected in human sera of cancer patients and healthy individuals, although with a lower prevalence. Previous studies carried out by the neutralization assay gave a SV40 seroprevalence, in the general population, up to 8%, although higher rates, 12%, were detected in kidney transplant children, in a group of HIV-positive patients, and in healthy females. In this study, serum samples from pregnant women, together with those from non-pregnant women, were analyzed to check the prevalence of IgG Ab reacting to SV40 LT antigens. Serum samples were collected from pregnant and non-pregnant women, with the same mean age. Women were in the range of 15-48 years old. Samples were assayed by an indirect ELISA employing specific SV40 LT mimotopes as antigens, whereas functional analysis was performed by neutralization of the viral infectivity in cell cultures. As a control, sera were analyzed for Ab against BK polyomavirus (BKPyV), which is a human polyomavirus homologous to SV40. Statistical analyses employed chi-square with Yates' correction, and Student's t tests. Indirect ELISAs indicated that pregnant women tested SV40 LT-positive with a prevalence of 17% (23/134), whereas non-pregnant women had a prevalence of 20% (36/180) (P > 0.05). Ab against BKPyV were detected with a prevalence of 80% in pregnant women and with a prevalence of 78% in non-pregnant women. These data indicate that SV40 infects at a low prevalence pregnant women. We may speculate that SV40, or a close human polyomavirus still undetected, could be transmitted from mother to fetus