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Background: Cataract surgery is the most common operation performed worldwide. A fixed topical corticosteroid-antibiotic combination is usually prescribed in clinical practice for 2 or more weeks to treat post surgical inflammation and prevent infection. However, this protracted schedule may increase the incidence of corticosteroid-related adverse events and notably promote antibiotic resistance. Methods: This International, multicentre, randomized, blinded-assessor, parallel-group clinical study evaluated the non-inferiority of 1-week levofloxacin/dexamethasone eye drops, followed by 1-week dexamethasone alone, vs. 2-week gold-standard tobramycin/dexamethasone (one drop QID for all schedules) to prevent and treat ocular inflammation and prevent infection after uncomplicated cataract surgery. Non-inferiority was defined as the lower limit of the 95% confidence interval (CI) around a treatment difference >–10%. The study randomized 808 patients enrolled in 53 centres (Italy, Germany, Spain and Russia). The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients without anterior chamber inflammation on day 15 defined as the end of treatment. Endophthalmitis was the key secondary endpoint. This study is registered with EudraCT code: 2018-000286-36. Results: After the end of treatment, 95.2% of the patients in the test arm vs. 94.9% of the control arm had no signs of inflammation in the anterior chamber (difference between proportions of patients?=?0.028; 95% CI: -0.0275/0.0331). No case of endophthalmitis was reported. No statistically significant difference was evident in any of the other secondary endpoints. Both treatments were well tolerated. Conclusions: Non-inferiority of the new short pharmacological strategy was proven. One week of levofloxacin/dexamethasone prevents infection, ensures complete control of inflammation in almost all patients and may contain antibiotic resistance.

Abstract

This article discusses the modeling of liquid flow inside nanotube membranes. Applying known simplifications to the classical fluid model leads to the so-called Hagen–Poiseuille equation, which predicts no flow for diameters up to 1 nm, and very modest flows in nanochannels up to 100 nm. The main feature of classical fluid dynamics that negates the possibility of high flow is the assumption that fluid molecules closest to the channel wall stick to it, the no-slip boundary condition. In the past 10 years, a wealth of experimental evidence has, on the contrary, demonstrated significant water flow in nanotubes with diameters equal to or smaller than 1 nm, opening the possibility of nanotube membranes capable of high flows and fine separation. These high flows have also been observed in molecular dynamics simulations, particularly for water flowing through carbon nanotubes, showing the presence of strong water slip near the walls of the nanotubes. The term “flow enhancement” has been introduced to refer to the ratio of predicted (or measured) flows and the no-slip Hagen–Poiseuille equation. Both experimental and modeling results point to a strong effect on flow enhancement of the interaction between the fluid and the tube’s wall, particularly the wall surface chemistry and structure.

This paper presents the overall concept and the first stage of a research project focused on the Mediterranean Diet as opportunity and a valuable tool for the sustainable development of the Inner Areas. The goal is to contribute to the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria planning and the methodology is based on the definition of a evaluative-oriented tool that allows the identification of the correct assets of knowledge and planning towards the cultural landscape valorization. The scope is to design and share a project of knowledge able to help in enhancing the contexts of local products, preserving the “tangible” elements bringing this “intangible” lifestyle named Mediterranean Diet, in order to produce specific effective impacts on territories and communities.

The large scale works that most deeply mark the fate of a territory are certainly the transport infrastructure (broad lines of road and rail links, ports, airports, intermodal nodes), which have important economic implications for the entire production and commercial apparatus located in the industrial and urban areas.

This paper is the result of an activity of still being tested research. It aims to provide a tool for the synthetic estimate of recovery costs for historic buildings in the phase of planning of measures, to be used in situations where it is not possible to have the necessary information for the application of more sophisticated instruments. The estimation method proposed arises from the need to program the recovery plans for old towns, especially those which are abandoned. This will take on a particular importance in view of their considerable potential new functions aimed at the sustainable development of territories as they fall, constituting an important part of the cultural landscape that characterizes the Inner Areas: areas in which identity resources, such as historical buildings, still remain and are a tool that can also give an economic perspective for these territories.

Calabria region (Southern Italy) has become the nerve center of historical events, decisive for the Mediterranean sea destiny, because of its geographical position, its centrality in the Mediterranean area, the peculiarities of the district and the wealth of natural resources. The effects of its role in the Mediterranean history are still visible in its natural, urban and social structure, thus giving the region a large number of cultural and environmental values, which find root in the three preceding millennia. The paper, starting from the most historic routes that have affected the Calabrian coast, aims to highlight the one that has the greatest impact on the culture of the region trying to figure out if it is possible to identify, protect and promote a cultural route according to the ICOMOS Charter of Cultural Routes criteria, devised by the ICOMOS’ international Scientific Committee of Cultural Routes (CIIC) and ratified by the 16th General Assembly of ICOMOS, in Quebec (Canada), October 4, 2008.

In Italy, southern cities are often characterized by widespread phenomena of illegal settlements, that have resulted among other things in a worsening of the quality of life of the urban-rural interface, and the decline of the considerable architectural interest of the entire city. .The goal of this paper is to propose an approach that would help requalify what is already built, to make the best of what has been realized by focusing on the quality and liveability of the city. This approach is based on a particular methodology based on the promotion of Urban Complex Programs (PUC), which provide a system of development rights resulting from the demolition of unfinished illegal settlements . The benefits of this approach are many, including improvements in efficiencies and safety, meeting demands of environmental protection and reducing consumption of energy, responding to the highest standards of protection and seismic risk prevention. They can be obtained only on one condition: that they are based on a system of collective and public conveniences in accordance with the principle of sustainability in multiple dimensions (environmental, cultural, technological, political, institutional, social and economic). But for this approach to be viable it needs also to be convenient for the private actors as well. With this paper we hope to provide first an original approach that can improve the conditions of cities burdened with the problems of illegal settlements that is both sustainable and convenient and, second, an instrument that can provide information for both the public and private sectors on the fairness of the procedure and their mutual interest in pursuing this approach.

The gradual shift of the economic centre of gravity to the east, with the consequent marginalization of the majority parts of Europe, requires an approximation, in a short time, for the Mediterraneans peoples and their cultures to create a common space that will strengthen the interdependencies and complementarities.

Metropolitan Cities are considered a subject crucial to the development of the territories, for "... modernize the public administration, and respond with a streamlined structure and efficient response to the growing expectations of businesses and citizens" [.They should, therefore, be able to improve the competitiveness and attractiveness of the territories also through innovative forms of governance, able to used most effectively administrative action.This paper aims to deepen the reflection on the most appropriate tools whose metropolitan cities should have in order to respond to its founding purpose.

This paper discuss the thematic of public-private economic negotiation in the realization of urban regeneration programs. The Complex Urban Programs (PUC) represent a generation of planning instruments generally in variation to ordinary instruments of general planning (PRG). These instruments found its legitimacy on new forms of concerted planning, in which the objectives are the effectiveness and efficiency of the public administration and the most important point of view are the quality and transparency of the negotiation between public and private. In these circumstances for the purposes of the feasibility, the arguments of urban planning must necessarily be supported by economic-financial considerations resulting from appraisals of the benefits financial and the new real estate values generated by the decision to promote the program in PRG variant. Particular attention must be paid on the modality for consultation between the public government, the owners and the developers when they comparing on mutual convenience as part of the PUC: the negotiation activities is the time during which the public body can capture a portion of land value generated by the choices of modify the PRG. The aim of this paper is the presentation of the economic negotiation between public and private that the Municipality of Reggio Calabria (Italy), with the technical and scientific support of the university laboratory of economic and appraisal evaluation (LaborEst) has promoted in recent years through two PUC. The two Complex Urban Programs are both located in the south of cities of Reggio Calabria (Italy). The paper describes in particular the model for appraisal of extrastandard charged by private entities participating in the two programs. The model developed by both authors is the result of their common research.

Available resources to public policies are always limited: those intended for culture, too often considered non-essential to the development of the community, they are often essential in particular way. Ignoring the economic value of cultural resources, their conservation, costs and total benefits of cultural policies and investment projects with a strong cultural component, can lead to non-optimal allocation of resources, to degradation of cultural capital and to failure to exploit opportunities for development.Another important aspect is the use of resources for the physical recovery and reuse of assets, without adequate attention to the phase of management: too often you find yourself with assets recovered but unused due to the lack of resources for management. A method tested recently is the involvement of private companies in these activities: in economically stronger and more advanced realities, the size of the most significant tourist flows allows to reach levels of return on investment and so makes this a feasible solution.Cultural resources in the rural settings of the most economically disadvantaged areas are characterized by a not elevated number of visitors not spread in the same way throughout the whole year: in these conditions, because of their different costs structures, a company may not have sufficient profit margins, but a private non-profit organizations can achieve a balanced budget that allows the usability of assets of fundamental importance into development strategies based on cultural tourism.This paper focuses on the main economic appraisal aspects and illustrates a management model, economically sustainable, for the tourist value of cultural and environmental resources, particularly suitable to be applied in rural contexts and in economically disadvantaged realities; the analyzed case study is indeed located in Gerace, ionic inland town of Calabria, region of southern Italy.

Abstract. Six normal women, in the follicular phase of their menstrual cycle, and 6 normal men received orally 40, 60 and 100 mg doses of piribedil, a dopamine receptor agonist, or placebo. The effects of piribedil on anterior pituitary hormone release was evaluated. In normal women a dose-related decrease in Prl levels was observed, while in men the Prl decrement was not related to the dose employed. In women an increase in serum hGH occurred after administration of the lowest (40 mg) dose of piribedil. In normal men, on the contrary, a modest hGH stimulation was present after administration of all doses of the drug. No consistent changes in serum TSH, LH and FSH concentrations were observed and no side effects were reported.The results from this study indicate that piribedil can exert differential effects on hypophyseal trophic hormone release and that these effects are sex-related. It is possible that the differences observed in men and women after the administration of piribedil are due to a different endogenous dopaminergic tone, induced by the different sexual steroid environment.

Aims and background Malignant mesothelioma is associated with a median survival of 4 to 12 months. Data from the literature indicate that single modality treatment (surgery or intrapleural and/or systemic chemotherapy) does not significantly affect survival.Methods We therefore evaluated a combined approach consisting of surgery (pleurectomy + diaphragmatic or pericardial resection), intrapleural chemotherapy with cisplatin (100 mg/m2) and cytarabine (1,000 mg/m2) for 4 h immediately after pleurectomy, and systemic chemotherapy consisting of epirubicin (60 mg/m2) and mitomycin-C (10 mg/m2) day 1 every 4 weeks for 4 cycles.Results Twenty patients were enrolled in the study and were evaluable. Thirteen cases had residual gross disease after pleurectomy and 7 patients only minimal disease. Median time to disease progression was 7.4 months, and median survival was 11.5 months (range, 2-25+). No treatment-related death have been observed. Side effects after intracavitary chemotherapy included renal toxicity, anaemia and pain. Myelosuppression and alopecia were recorded during systemic chemotherapy.Conclusions The results of the study indicate that the schedule is feasible, with encouraging results in terms of survival for patients with minimal residual disease after surgery.

Symptomatic cases of Bochdalek's hernia (BH) are uncommon in adults; symptoms arise only due to complications. Most of symptomatic cases are related to a left-sided hernia. Right colon herniation in adults has never been reported. We present a case of a 70-year-old woman with right BH-containing colon. The patient was successfully treated by combined laparoscopic and thoracoscopic approach.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis is a serious complication in immunocompromised patients. In those unresponsive to pharmacological treatment, or when drug toxicity is excessive, surgery may resolve the condition. A 48-year-old woman with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis after renal transplantation underwent resection of the right upper lobe and the apical segment of the inferior lobe, followed by complete recovery.

The paper is the result of the joint work of the three authors. Scientific responsibility is attributable equally to Calabrò, Meduri, Tramontana.

The paper is the result of the joint work of the three authors. Scientific responsibility is attributable equally to Alessandro Rugolo, Francesco Calabrò, Raffaele Scrivo