Improving indoor conditions in an Italian historical Church: the case study of Donnaregina Vecchia

Preserving the historical and artistic heritage is a topic of central interest, especially in countries that have particularly old heritage such as Italy. This study concerns the monitoring of environmental conditions of an ancient church in the center of Naples, a beautiful example of Italian Gothics, which, besides the absolute value of the architecture, even preserves works of art of special significance. The measurement campaign, performed during two typical winter weeks, was necessary to calibrate a dynamic energy model of the church. Then, a radiant floor was designed, to provide a space heating service for the Choir, used for conferences and events, so that the improvement of microclimatic conditions, in winter, can contribute to preserving artifacts (e.g., too cold conditions can induce cracks of wooden materials) and improve occupants' thermal comfort, without compromising the historical/artistic value of the church. The monitoring revealed that the indoor microclimatic conditions do not satisfy the ideal ranges for the conservation of the artistic heritage, and that the indoor environment is uncomfortable for the occupants. The positive effects of the new heating systems were also evaluated, by means of simulations performed starting from the calibrated energy model

Impact of therapeutic choices on outcome of osteomyelitis caused by MRSA

Fifty-four patients with chronic osteomyelitis sustained by methicillin-resistant staphylococcus were treated with daptomycin, linezolid, or teicoplanin and observed over time. Median time to CRP normalization was 7 weeks for daptomycin, 8 weeks for linezolid, and 12 weeks for teicoplanin (X2 =14.1; p < 0.001). Cure rate (intention to treat analysis) was 83% for the cases receiving teicoplanin, 77% for those receiving linezolid and 92% for those receiving daptomycin. We conclude that daptomycin and linezolid have to be considered at least equivalent to teicoplanin for the treatment of MRSA osteomyelitis

Generation of human antibody fragments recognizing distinct epitopes of the nucleocapsid (N) SARS-CoV protein using a phage display approach

BACKGROUND: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV is a newly emerging virus that causes SARS with high mortality rate in infected people. Successful control of the global SARS epidemic will require rapid and sensitive diagnostic tests to monitor its spread, as well as, the development of vaccines and new antiviral compounds including neutralizing antibodies that effectively prevent or treat this disease. METHODS: The human synthetic single-chain fragment variable (scFv) ETH-2 phage antibody library was used for the isolation of scFvs against the nucleocapsid (N) protein of SARS-CoV using a bio panning-based strategy. The selected scFvs were characterized under genetics-molecular aspects and for SARS-CoV N protein detection in ELISA, western blotting and immunocytochemistry. RESULTS: Human scFv antibodies to N protein of SARS-CoV can be easily isolated by selecting the ETH-2 phage library on immunotubes coated with antigen. These in vitro selected human scFvs specifically recognize in ELISA and western blotting studies distinct epitopes in N protein domains and detect in immunohistochemistry investigations SARS-CoV particles in infected Vero cells. CONCLUSION: The human scFv antibodies isolated and described in this study represent useful reagents for rapid detection of N SARS-CoV protein and SARS virus particles in infected target cells

Role for substance p-based nociceptive signaling in progenitor cell activation and angiogenesis during ischemia in mice and in human subjects

Our data highlight the role of SP in reparative neovascularization. Nociceptive signaling may represent a novel target of regenerative medicine

Effects of Music Therapy On Hospitalized Patients with Severe Mental Illnesses

Previous studies reported that music therapy (MT) exerts a positive effect on many medical and neuropsychiatric disorders. The use of MT has been proposed also for patients with severe mental illnesse (SMI), altrough further studies are still needed. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects on a structured MT program on clinical and social functioning indices of patient with SMI, hospitalized in an psychiatric emergency ward. The MT intervention followed the Benenzon model of MT and was delivered biweekly to 61 patients consecutively admittted to the psychiatric emergency ward. Subjects who did not complete the two-week MT intervention (N=45) were considered as the control group. all subjects were administred the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) to evaluate the general psychopatology, the Hospital Anxiety And Depression Scale (HADS) for affective symptomatology, the Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI-S) for severity of symptoms and the Global Assestment of Functioning (GAF) for psychosocial functioning. A repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that patients who unerwent the MT intervention had a statistically significant reduction of general and affective psychopatology scores and of symptoms severity with respect to the control group, after observation period. Our result are in line with previous studies confirming that MT may exert positive effects on psychopatology (in particular, on affective symptomatology) of patient with SMI, and extend this observation to an emergency setting, with short period of hospital stay

Echocardiographic predictors of early in-hospital heart failure during first ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction: does myocardial performance index and left atrial volume improve diagnosis over conventional parameters of left ventricular function?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) has been considered a major determinant of early outcome in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Myocardial performance index (MPI) has been associated to early evolution in AMI in a heterogeneous population, including non ST-elevation or previous AMI. Left atrial volume has been related with late evolution after AMI. We evaluated the independent role of clinical and echocardiographic variables including LVEF, MPI and left atrial volume in predicting early in-hospital congestive heart failure (CHF) specifically in patients with a first isolated ST-elevation AMI.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Echocardiography was performed within 30 hours of chest pain in 95 patients with a first ST-elevation AMI followed during the first week of hospitalization. Several clinical and echocardiographic variables were analyzed. CHF was defined as Killip class ≥ II. Multivariate regression analysis was used to select independent predictor of in-hospital CHF.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Early in-hospital CHF occurred in 29 (31%) of patients. LVEF ≤ 0.45 was the single independent and highly significant predictor of early CHF among other clinical and echocardiographic variables (odds ratio 17.0; [95% CI 4.1 - 70.8]; p < 0.0001). MPI alone could not predict CHF in first ST-elevation AMI patients. Left atrial volume was not associated with early CHF in such patients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>For patients with first, isolated ST-elevation AMI, LVEF assessed by echocardiography still constitutes a strong and accurate independent predictor of early in-hospital CHF, superior to isolated MPI and left atrial volume in this particular subset of patients.</p

Coronary artery bypass surgery in high-risk patients

BACKGROUND: In high-risk coronary artery bypass patients; off-pump versus on-pump surgical strategies still remain a matter of debate, regarding which method results in a lower incidence of perioperative mortality and morbidity. We describe our experience in the treatment of high-risk coronary artery patients and compare patients assigned to on-pump and off-pump surgery. METHODS: From March 2002 to July 2004, 86 patients with EuroSCOREs > 5 underwent myocardial revascularization with or without cardiopulmonary bypass. Patients were assigned to off-pump surgery (40) or on-pump surgery (46) based on coronary anatomy coupled with the likelihood of achieving complete revascularization. RESULTS: Those patients undergoing off-pump surgery had significantly poorer left ventricular function than those undergoing on-pump surgery (28.6 ± 5.8% vs. 40.5 ± 7.4%, respectively, p < 0.05) and also had higher Euroscore values (7.26 ± 1.4 vs. 12.1 ± 1.8, respectively, p < 0.05). Differences between the two groups were nonsignificant with regard to number of grafts per patient, mean duration of surgery, anesthesia and operating room time, length of stay intensive care unit (ICU) and rate of postoperative atrial fibrillation CONCLUSION: Utilization of off-pump coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) does not confer significant clinical advantages in all high-risk patients. This review suggest that off-pump coronary revascularization may represent an alternative approach for treatment of patients with Euroscore ≥ 10 and left ventricular function ≤ 30%