Medical use of cannabis: italian and european legislation

This review illustrates some brief considerations of the medical use of cannabis recently issued in Italy. History and uses of cannabis throughout centuries and different countries are illustrated together with a description of botany and active phytocannabinoids. Then, medical use of cannabis anti-pain treatment for patients resistant to conventional therapies is described in case of chronic neuropathic pain, spasticity, for anticinetosic and antiemetic effect in nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, for appetite stimulating effect in cachexia, anorexia, loss of appetite in cancer patients or patients with AIDS and in anorexia nervosa, hypotensive effect in glaucoma resistant to conventional therapies and for reduction of involuntary body and facial movements in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. Italian most recent legislation on medical cannabis is detailed with some law proposals, also showing the inconsistent legislation within European Union. Some final considerations of future studies are also reported

Selberg integrals in 1D random Euclidean optimization problems

We consider a set of Euclidean optimization problems in one dimension, where the cost function associated to the couple of points $x$ and $y$ is the Euclidean distance between them to an arbitrary power $p\ge1$, and the points are chosen at random with flat measure. We derive the exact average cost for the random assignment problem, for any number of points, by using Selberg's integrals. Some variants of these integrals allows to derive also the exact average cost for the bipartite travelling salesman problem.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Ethical and medico-legal remarks on uterus transplantation: may it solve uterine factor infertility?

Uterus transplantation was firstly tested with animal trials sixty-five years ago. Despite several successful attempts in human subjects, the different procedures still lay at the experimental stage, in need of further studies and investigations before they can be considered as standard clinical practices. Uterus transplant cannot be regarded as a life-saving procedure, but rather a method to restore woman ability to procreate, when lost, thus improving her quality of life. Uterus transplant is a complex surgical procedure and presents significant health threats. Medical staff should therefore always obtain informed consent from patients, emphasizing such risks. Before that, women undergoing uterine transplants should be thoroughly informed about the hazards inherent to the procedure and especially about the dangers of immunosuppressant drugs, administered after the surgery which may injure the fetus, eventually formed in the restored organ and even lead to its death, thus nullifying the purpose of the transplant itself. Therefore, the risk-benefit ratio of uterus transplantation needs to be carefully assessed and described

Relaxation of spherical systems with long-range interactions: a numerical investigation

The process of relaxation of a system of particles interacting with long-range forces is relevant to many areas of Physics. For obvious reasons, in Stellar Dynamics much attention has been paid to the case of 1/r^2 force law. However, recently the interest in alternative gravities emerged, and significant differences with respect to Newtonian gravity have been found in relaxation phenomena. Here we begin to explore this matter further, by using a numerical model of spherical shells interacting with an 1/r^alpha force law obeying the superposition principle. We find that the virialization and phase-mixing times depend on the exponent alpha, with small values of alpha corresponding to longer relaxation times, similarly to what happens when comparing for N-body simulations in classical gravity and in Modified Newtonian Dynamics.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted in the International Journal of Bifurcation and Chao

The influence of a new clinical motion for endodontic instruments on the incidence of postoperative pain

Previous studies showed that motor motions play an important role in determining apical extrusion of debris. Therefore a new clinical motion (MIMERACI) has been proposed. The basic idea is to progress slowly (1mm advancement), and after each 1mm, to remove the instrument from the canal, clean flutes and irrigate. The aim of the study was to prove whether the clinical use of MIMERACI technique would influence or not postoperative pain.MATERIALS AND METHODS: 100 teeth requesting endodontic treatment were selected for the study and divided into two similar groups based on anatomy, pre-operative symptoms and vitality, presence or absence of periapical lesion. All teeth were shaped, cleaned and obturated by the same operator, using the same NiTi instruments. The only difference between the two groups was the instrumentation technique: tradional (group A) vs MIMERACI (group B). Assessment of postoperative pain was performed 3 days after treatment. Presence, absence and degree of pain were recorded with a visual analogue scale (VAS), validated in previous studies. Collected data statistically analyzed using one-way ANOVA post hoc Tukey test. RESULTS: For VAS pain scores MIMERACI technique showed significantly better results than group A (p=0,031). Overall, both incidence and intensity of symptoms were significantly lower. Flare ups occurred in 3 patients, but none treated with the MIMERACI Technique. CONCLUSIONS: Since extruded debris can elicit more postoperative pain, results obtained by using MIMERACI technique are probably due to many factors: better mechanical removal and less production of debris and more efficient irrigation during instrumentation

Human Being Detection from UWB NLOS Signals: Accuracy and Generality of Advanced Machine Learning Models

This paper studies the problem of detecting human beings in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions using an ultra-wideband radar. We perform an extensive measurement campaign in realistic environments, considering different body orientations, the obstacles’ materials, and radar– obstacle distances. We examine two main scenarios according to the radar position: (i) placed on top of a mobile cart; (ii) handheld at different heights. We empirically analyze and compare several input representations and machine learning (ML) methods—supervised and unsupervised, symbolic and non-symbolic—according to both their accuracy in detecting NLOS human beings and their adaptability to unseen cases. Our study proves the effectiveness and flexibility of modern ML techniques, avoiding environment-specific configurations and benefiting from knowledge transference. Unlike traditional TLC approaches, ML allows for generalization, overcoming limits due to unknown or only partially known observation models and insufficient labeled data, which usually occur in emergencies or in the presence of time/cost constraints

Changes in carbonyl compounds in Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon wines as a consequence of malolactic fermentation

To study changes in carbonyl compounds in Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon wines as a consequence of malolactic fermentation (MLF), wines were fermented by inoculation of commercial strains of Oenococcus oeni, and compared with unfermented (control) wines. Carbonyl compounds were determined by GC/MS analysis on the basis of their O-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl)-hydroxylamine derivatives after sample preparation on an ion exchange column to remove pyruvic acid. With MLF, marked changes were revealed, particularly with regard to diacetyl, acetoin and aliphatic saturated aldehydes; the presence of unsaturated aldehydes was also revealed. A significant increase in glycoladehyde was observed, which is presumed to be part of a reduction system with glyoxal. Higher acetoin/diacetyl ratios were found in Chardonnay and higher glycolaldehyde/glyoxal ratios in Cabernet Sauvignon.

Experimental assessment on exploiting low carbon ethanol fuel in a light-duty dual-fuel compression ignition engine

Compression ignition (CI) engines are widely used in modern society, but they are also recognized as a significative source of harmful and human hazard emissions such as particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Moreover, the combustion of fossil fuels is related to the growing amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, such as carbon dioxide (CO2). Stringent emission regulatory programs, the transition to cleaner and more advanced powertrains and the use of lower carbon fuels are driving forces for the improvement of diesel engines in terms of overall efficiency and engine-out emissions. Ethanol, a light alcohol and lower carbon fuel, is a promising alternative fuel applicable in the dual-fuel (DF) combustion mode to mitigate CO2 and also engine-out PM emissions. In this context, this work aims to assess the maximum fuel substitution ratio (FSR) and the impact on CO2 and PM emissions of different nozzle holes number injectors, 7 and 9, in the DF operating mode. The analysis was conducted within engine working constraints and considered the influence on maximum FSR of calibration parameters, such as combustion phasing, rail pressure, injection pattern and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). The experimental tests were carried out on a single-cylinder light-duty CI engine with ethanol introduced via port fuel injection (PFI) and direct injection of diesel in two operating points, 1500 and 2000 rpm and at 5 and 8 bar of brake mean effective pressure (BMEP), respectively. Noise and the coefficient of variation in indicated mean effective pressure (COVIMEP) limits have been chosen as practical constraints. In particular, the experimental analysis assesses for each parameter or their combination the highest ethanol fraction that can be injected. To discriminate the effect on ethanol fraction and the combustion process of each parameter, a one-at-a-time-factor approach was used. The results show that, in both operating points, the EGR reduces the maximum ethanol fraction injectable; nevertheless, the ethanol addition leads to outstanding improvement in terms of engine-out PM. The adoption of a 9 hole diesel injector, for lower load, allows reaching a higher fraction of ethanol in all test conditions with an improvement in combustion noise, on average 3 dBA, while near-zero PM emissions and a reduction can be noticed, on the average of 1 g/kWh, and CO2 compared with the fewer nozzle holes case. Increasing the load insensitivity to different holes number was observed