Smoothing of Slug Tests for Laboratory Scale Aquifer Assessment—A Comparison Among Different Porous Media

A filtering analysis of hydraulic head data deduced from slug tests injected in a confined aquifer with different porous media is proposed. Experimental laboratory tests were conducted in a large-scale physical model developed at the University of Calabria. The hydraulic head data were deduced from the records of a pressure sensor arranged in the injection well and subjected to a processing operation to filter the high-frequency noise. The involved smoothing techniques are the Fourier transform and two types of wavelet transform. The performances of the filtered hydraulic heads were examined for different slug volumes and four model layouts in terms of optimal fitting of the Cooper’s analytical solution. The hydraulic head variations in the confined aquifer were analyzed using wavelet transform in order to discover their energy contributions and frequency oscillations. Finally, the raw and smoothed hydraulic heads were adopted to calculate the hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer

Macrophage Autophagy and Oxidative Stress: An Ultrastructural and Immunoelectron Microscopical Study

The word autophagy broadly refers to the cellular catabolic processes that lead to the removal of damaged cytosolic proteins or cell organelles through lysosomes. Although autophagy is often observed during programmed cell death, it may also serve as a cell survival mechanism. Accumulation of reactive oxygen species within tissues and cells induces various defense mechanisms or programmed cell death. It has been shown that, besides inducing apoptosis, oxidative stress can also induce autophagy. To date, however, the regulation of autophagy in response to oxidative stress remains largely elusive and poorly understood. Therefore, the present study was designed to examine the ratio between oxidative stress and autophagy in macrophages after oxidant exposure (AAPH) and to investigate the ultrastructural localization of beclin-1, a protein essential for autophagy, under basal and stressful conditions. Our data provide evidence that oxidative stress induces autophagy in macrophages. We demonstrate, for the first time by immunoelectron microscopy, the subcellular localization of beclin-1 in autophagic cells

Prognostic Impact of the Indexation of Left Ventricular Mass in Patients Undergoing Dialysis

n/

Sightings and successful reproduction of allochthonous reptiles in Calabria

This paper reports information about the presence of three allochthonous reptiles species in Calabria: Testudo marginata, Trachemys scripta elegans and Chamaeleo chamaeleon. The first one was found in three sites located in the Catena Costiera Massif and in the Crati Valley (Northern Calabria). The slider turtle was found in seven different sites throughout all the region. It massively colonised the Angitola artificial lake: here, this turtle lives in natural conditions and its reproduction was confirmed by the presence of nests, eggs and hatchlings. C. chamaeleon is present in sandy coastal habitats near Palmi and Gioia Tauro (Southern Calabria). From a conservationistic point of view, serious damages to autochtonous species could be caused by the spreading of T. scripta elegans: this species has already determined the local extinction of Angitola’s Emys orbicularis populations

Spatiotemporal patterns of distribution of large predatory sharks in Calabria (central Mediterranean, southern Italy)

During the 2000-2009, a survey study on the spatiotemporal patterns of distribution of large predatory sharks was carried out in the Calabria region. A total of 12 species were recorded and among them the blue shark Prionace glauca and the bluntnose sixgill shark Hexanchus griseus were the most common ones. Also of interest was the frequency of species such as Carcharodon carcharias, Sphyrna zygaena and Cetorhinus maximus. 57% of all reported records derived from the Tyrrhenian side of the region and 43% on the Ionian side. A significant relationship between season of the year versus number of records was found, but this could be related to the small number of observers that were active during the winter months. The presence of Sphyrna lewini is reported for the study area; this species was previously recorded only in the western part of the Mediterranean Sea. This paper also provides evidence of the second and first documented accounts of white shark predation upon Tursiops truncatus and Stenella coeruleoalba, respectively, in the Mediterranean Sea. The recover ing of Ionian Sphyrna zygaena populations and the declining of Lamna nasus populations were also noted

Asymmetric Dimethylarginine, L-Arginine, and Endothelial Dysfunction in Essential Hypertension

ObjectivesWe investigated the relationship between ADMA plasma levels and endothelium-dependent vasodilation in 36 never-treated essential hypertensives and in 8 normotensive healthy subjects.BackgroundIt has been demonstrated that endothelium-dependent vasodilatation is impaired in essential hypertension. The potential contribution of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) to endothelial dysfunction of hypertensive humans has received poor attention.MethodsEndothelial function was measured during intra-arterial infusion of acetylcholine (ACh), alone and during co-infusion of L-arginine, and sodium nitroprusside at increasing doses. Concentrations of ADMA and L-arginine in plasma were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography.ResultsHypertensive subjects had significantly higher ADMA and L-arginine plasma concentrations than normotensive healthy controls; ACh-stimulated forearm blood flow (FBF) was significantly reduced in hypertensive subjects in comparison to normotensive control subjects (p < 0.0001). Intra-arterial coinfusion of L-arginine induced a further significant enhancement in ACh-stimulated vasodilation in hypertensive patients. In these, ADMA was strongly and inversely associated with the peak increase in FBF. In a multivariate model, only ADMA and L-arginine were independent correlates, accounting for 33.9% and 8.9% of the variability in the peak FBF response to ACh (p < 0.0001), respectively.ConclusionsThe main finding in this study is that in essential hypertensives the L-arginine and endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, ADMA, are inversely related to endothelial function

Chlamydia pneumoniae, overall and cardiovascular mortality in end-stage renal disease (ESRD)

n/

Curiosity or aggressivity? Surface predatory behavior of the great white shark

The Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is an important top predator; however a little is known about its behaviour. During five study expeditions surface behaviour of Great White Sharks living in Dyer Island (South Africa) was observed. Aims of the research were to give more data in order to confirm the hypothesis that this area could be considered as a “training place”, where young sharks can learn new predator techniques, and to understand what is shark approach to a unnatural, floating and passive prey. By comparing behaviours performed by young and mature specimens, our data showed that latters exhibited more complex ethograms. Sharks showed also a curiosity approach to passive preys employed for this studies, with a strong predominance of the parading