Search

The measurement of sodium intake may be important for the management of hypertension. Dietary surveys and 24-h urinary collection are often unreliable and/or impractical. We hypothesized that urinary sodium excretion can be accurately estimated through multiple spot urine samples from different days. All enrolled subjects were children of the coauthors of the study. Fifty-two 24-h urinary collections (4 per subject) for measuring sodium excretion and the 297 related urinary samples (1 per voiding) were collected for calculating the urinary sodium/urinary creatinine ratio in 13 children. The mean of 4 measured sodium excretions served as the individual "gold standard". Twenty-four urinary collections were used to generate the equation predicting the mean measured sodium excretion from the mean of 4 urinary sodium/urinary creatinine [= 0.016 × urinary sodium (mmol/L) / urinary creatinine (mmol/L) ratio + 3.3)]; the remaining 28 urinary collections and 153 urinary samples were used for the external validation. All subjects underwent an additional validation procedure involving 12 urinary samples randomly collected on different days 6 months apart. The performance of sodium excretion calculated from a total of over 22,000 possible means of 4 out of all the available urinary samples, randomly taken on different days, was analyzed as to precision (by means of the coefficient of variation) and as to accuracy (by means of the P30). The coefficients of variations of measured vs. calculated sodium excretion were 25.3% vs. 25.8%, and the P30 of calculated sodium excretion was 100%. The excellent performance of calculated sodium excretion was confirmed both by external validation and by samples collected 6 months apart with mean P30s, all between 86 and 100%.Conclusion: In the described experimental conditions, urinary sodium excretion was estimated with equal precision and more accurately (and practically) by the mean of 4 urinary sodium/urinary creatinine ratios from random samples from different days than by a single urinary collection. In real life, with several errors systematically affecting urinary collection, the superiority of calculated sodium excretion is likely to be even greater. What is Known: • The measurement of sodium intake with the current standards of care (dietary survey or 24-h urinary collection) is laborious and can be inaccurate. What is New: • The study provides evidence that sodium intake can be estimated equally precisely, more accurately and more practically with the urinary sodium-to-urinary creatinine ratio from 4 urine samples taken on different days than with a single urinary collection.

BackgroundColorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common tumor of the gastrointestinal tract. Anastomotic leak (AL) and prolonged postoperative ileus (PPOI) are two important complications of colorectal surgery. In this observational retrospective study, we evaluated the positive effects of transanal tube No Coil®in patients with CRC undergoing low anterior resection (LAR) and left hemicolectomy (LC).MethodsThirty-eight cases and forty controls resulted eligible for the final sample. No Coil®placement (SapiMed Spa, Alessandria, Italy) was considered an inclusion criteria for the case group. No Coil®was placed immediately after the end of surgical treatment.ResultsPPOI was significantly more frequent in the control group. AL was evident in 1 patient (2.6%) of cases and 3 patients (7.5%) of controls. No statistical difference was found in AL occurrence between groups. POI days and AL resulted associated with hospital stay. POI days were negatively associated with No Coil placement and positively with AL.ConclusionWith our preliminary data, we suggest that No Coil®placement can be considered as a valuable procedure assisting colorectal surgery, but further studies are required to confirm and enlarge actual evidence.

The Divertor Tokamak Test facility (DTT) is the new tokamak whose construction is starting in Frascati (Italy), with the main aim of testing different divertor magnetic configurations and technologies in view of DEMO. In the present design, the DTT heating mix includes one Negative Neutral Beam Injector (NBI), with a power injected in the plasma of 10 MW and a beam energy of 500 keV. The NBI conceptual design is under development and includes solutions already adopted for ITER (RF-driven ion source, gas neutralizer, electrostatic Residual Ion Dump), but with some simplifications to reduce costs and complexity deemed feasible for DTT. In particular, the beam source is air-insulated and fed by the gas-insulated Transmission Line through gas-air bushings. This paper presents the status of the conceptual design of the main power supplies of the DTT NBI. The main ratings are collected from physics requirements and NBI design. On this basis, the reference technical solutions are selected, considering the experience gained at the ITER Neutral Beam Test Facility in Padova (Italy), the specific design of the DTT NBI and the layout constraints of the DTT Site. For the Acceleration Grid Power Supply, besides the ITER-like design, an innovative approach based on the Modular Multilevel Converter technology, never adopted in this application, is considered; pros and cons of the two solutions are evaluated.

Background : Obstructive urinary tract disease in horses is a rare and low prevalence pathology in the species, but potentially severe. It is an emergency condition that presents variable clinical signs and depends on the anatomical location of the obstruction. The bladder calculus are the most common followed by the urethra and less commonly seen are the kidney or ureteral. The main crystalloid component of uroliths in horses is calcium carbonate. The higher prevalence of urolithiasis in male horses is justified by some anatomical differences between genders. The urethra of males is narrower and longer than that of females. The tissue injury is the most important factor for the development of uroliths in horses. Desquamation of epithelial cells, presence of leukocyte and necrotic cell debris are relevant contributors to crystal growth. Urinary stasis favors nucleation by increasing the chance of contact between crystalloid material and urinary epithelium. Once crystal growth has begun, the urine alkalinity of the equines favors the crystallization and further deposition of other components, especially calcium carbonate. Typical clinical signs of urolithiasis include tenesmus, dysuria, strangury and polaquiuria. Hematuria is often present, mainly observed after exercise and at the end of urination. In addition signs of colic are quite frequent in the acute bladder and urethral urolithiasis due to bladder distension. Upper urinary tract surgery may be technically challenging due to limited structural exposure, especially in adult horses The prognosis for horses with urolithiasis depends on the location of the urolith and the degree of renal injury that occurred. Case : This report aims to describe a rare case of obstructive urolithiasis in a 8-year-old castrated male horse with 24 h evolution. The horse was expressing signs of abdominal pain and during the transretal examination through palpation, it was possible to notice great distension and turgidity of the bladder, in addition to a high pain sensitivity to the palpation of the kidneys. Was perform urethral catheterization, but it was unproductive. The diagnosis was made through perineal ultrasonography and treated surgically by perineal urethrotomy. The animal presented an excellent evolution after being discharged after 10 days of hospitalization and did not present any complication or recurrence of the disease after one year of the procedure. Discussion : Urolithiasis in horses has a prognosis dependent on the location of the urolith and the degree of renal damage. Cases of obstructive urolithiasis in horses are rare and require prompt and appropriate intervention. Therefore, a rapid and accurate diagnosis is directly related to the success of the treatment. In the present case, the animal had characteristic clinical signs of an acute abdomen. Transrectal palpation, for evaluation of the intestinal portions, was important to diagnose an excessively distended urinary vesicle with no intestinal changes. Transcutaneous ultrasonography of the perineum allowed visualization of the calculus, and then a case of perineal urolithiasis was diagnosed. The choice for perineal urethrotomy was performed because of the ease of palpation of the calculus through the skin below the anus and because it is a non-invasive technique. The urethra was sutured to guide the cicatricial process and the urethral catheter was maintained, reducing the risks of occlusion of the urethral lumen.

BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer is one of the most common invasive cancers, and it is responsible for considerable physical and psychosocial morbidity specially in older patients. However, only few reports focused on quality of life, cost-effectiveness and clinical outcomes of rectal cancer patients undergone to surgery. This retrospective study compares short-term and long-term outcomes in rectal cancer patients with more and less than 75 years of age. METHODS Four hundred consecutive patients underwent radical surgery for rectal adenocarcinoma and they were collected in a prospective institutional database and divided into two groups: group 1 (≥75 years, N.=98); group 2 (

Vibration monitoring of buildings in the urban environment is a relevant issue for health survey and early damaging detection in sustainable and enhanced resilient cities. To this end, we explore the potentialities of vibration monitoring by motion magnification analysis that acts like a microscope for motion in video sequences, but affecting only some groups of pixels. The magnified motion is a new discipline in the field of the analysis of mechanical structures and buildings. It was developed from the analysis of small motions in videos. The motion magnification uses the spatial resolution of the video camera to extract physical properties from images to make inferences about the dynamical behavior of the observed object. The methodology does not rely on optics, but on algorithms capable to amplify only the tiny changes in the video frames, while the large ones remain. Recently, a number of experiments conducted on simple geometries like rods and other small objects, as well as on bridges, showed the reliability of this methodology compared to accelerometers and laser vibrometers. The extension of magnified motion to monitoring of buildings would provide many advantages: a clear, simple, immediate and intuitive diagnosis of the structure, flexibility, predictive potentialities, ease of use, low costs. But also some difficulties still do exist and are discussed. Here we give an introduction to the methodology and some case-studies, both in laboratory and in the real-world (see videos from the link): applications to the short-term urban resilience is straightforward. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018.

In the present paper an integrated approach of a wide range of non-destructive tests (NDTs) was applied to study an archeological ruined building located in Rome, the so-called Temple of Minerva Medica. Applied NDTs focused on the monument properties and environmental conditions affecting its structural behavior (geometry, thermal and mechanical properties, microclimatic monitoring, ambient vibration response). Two surveys were performed in August and December 2016 combining 3D laser scanning, thermal infrared, air temperature and relative humidity acquisitions. In addition, high resolution digital images were acquired and processed by stereo-photogrammetry Structure from Motion (SfM) methodology, carried out for detailed reconstruction of the crack pattern of the monument. In order to obtain information on the integrity and consistency of the masonry, a sonic testing of each pillar was also performed. The integration of the above NDTs provided quite complete and comprehensive understanding of the structural behavior and state of the building, reducing the amount of invasive measurements further needed.

In this paper, a novel Energy Management System (EMS) is proposed for a hybrid energy system with photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage system for a smart house. The EMS is designed to control the shiftable loads, the air conditioning and the electric storage system. The aim is to reduce the electrical energy consumption cost without compromising the end-user comfort. Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) is used to estimate the optimal size of the hybrid system considering energy saving and investment costs. Simulations results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed EMS in decreasing the electrical energy consumption and costs. The proposed method for the sizing of the hybrid system is also able to select the best size of the PV-battery system in smart houses.

Background. Angiogenesis is a complex process involved in both growth and progression of several human and animal tumours. Tryptase is a serin protease stored in mast cells granules, which plays a role in tumour angiogenesis. Mast cells (MCs) can release tryptase following c-Kit receptor (c-KitR) activation.Method. In a series of 25 gastric cancer patients with stage T3N2-3M0(by AJCC for Gastric Cancer 7th Edition), immunohistochemistry and image analysis methods were employed to evaluate in the tumour tissue the correlation between the number of mast cells positive to tryptase (MCPT), c-KitR expressing cells (c-KitR-EC), and microvascular density (MVD).Results. Data demonstrated a positive correlation between MCPT, c-KitR-EC, and MVD to each other. In tumour tissue the mean number of MCPT was 15, the mean number of c-KitR-EC was 20, and the mean number of MVD was 20. The Pearson test correlating MCPT and MVD, c-KitR-EC and MVD was significantly (r=0.64,P=0.001;r=0.66,P=0.041, resp.).Conclusion. In this pilot study, we suggest that MCPT and c-KitR-EC play a role in gastric cancer angiogenesis, so we think that several c-KitR or tryptase inhibitors such as gabexate mesilate and nafamostat mesilate might be evaluated in clinical trials as a new antiangiogenetic approach.

Background: Cancer Registries (CRs) remain the gold standard for providing official epidemiological estimations. However, due to CRs’ partial population coverage, hospitalization records might represent a valuable tool to provide additional information on cancer occurrence and expenditures at national/regional level for research purposes. The Epidemiology of Cancer in Italy (EPIKIT) study group has been built up, within the framework of the Civic Observers for Health and Environment: Initiative of Responsibility and Sustainability (COHEIRS) project under the auspices of the Europe for Citizens Program, to assess population health indicators. Objective: To assess the burden of all cancers in Italian children and adults. Methods: We analyzed National Hospitalization Records from 2001 to 2011. Based on social security numbers (anonymously treated), we have excluded from our analyses all re-hospitalizations of the same patients (n = 1,878,109) over the entire 11-year period in order to minimize the overlap between prevalent and incident cancer cases. To be more conservative, only data concerning the last five years (2007–2011) have been taken into account for final analyses. The absolute number of hospitalizations and standardized hospitalization rates (SHR) were computed for each Italian province by sex and age-groups (0–19 and 20–49). Results: The EPIKIT database included a total of 4,113,169 first hospital admissions due to main diagnoses of all tumors. The annual average number of hospital admissions due to cancer in Italy has been computed in 2362 and 43,141 hospitalizations in pediatric patients (0–19 years old) and adults (20–49 years old), respectively. Women accounted for the majority of cancer cases in adults aged 20–49. As expected, the big city of Rome presented the highest average annual number of pediatric cancers (n = 392, SHR = 9.9), followed by Naples (n = 378; SHR = 9.9) and Milan (n = 212; SHR = 7.3). However, when we look at SHR, minor cities (i.e., Imperia, Isernia and others) presented values >10 per 100,000, with only 10 or 20 cases per year. Similar figures are shown also for young adults aged 20–49. Conclusions: In addition to SHR, the absolute number of incident cancer cases represents a crucial piece of information for planning adequate healthcare services and assessing social alarm phenomena. Our findings call for specific risk assessment programs at local level (involving CRs) to search for causal relations with environmental exposures.

The paper presents the development of a mechanical actuator using a shape memory alloy with a cooling system based on the thermoelectric effect (Seebeck–Peltier effect). Such a method has the advantage of reduced weight and requires a simpler control strategy as compared to other forced cooling systems. A complete mathematical model of the actuator was derived, and an experimental prototype was implemented. Several experiments are used to validate the model and to identify all parameters. A robust and nonlinear controller, based on sliding-mode theory, was derived and implemented. Experiments were used to evaluate the actuator closed-loop performance, stability, and robustness properties. The results showed that the proposed cooling system and controller are able to improve the dynamic response of the actuator.

As ligas com memória de forma (Shape Memory Alloy - SMA) consistem em um grupo de materiais metálicos que possuem a habilidade de retornar a um formato ou tamanho previamente definido quando submetidas a um ciclo térmico adequado. Os efeitos de memória de forma ocorrem devido a mudanças na estrutura cristalina do material, dependentes da temperatura e da tensão ao qual está sujeito. A fase de Martensita, estado presente a baixas temperaturas, apresenta comportamento plástico, com maior facilidade para deformações permanentes. A fase de Austenita, que ocorre a altas temperaturas, apresenta comportamento elástico com alta rigidez. A mudança na estrutura cristalina do material não é um processo termodinamicamente reversível, apresentando, conseqüentemente, histerese. Portanto, a característica principal destes materiais é a habilidade de sofrer grandes deformações plásticas e, em seguida, recuperar sua forma original quando a carga é removida ou o material é aquecido. Assim, pode-se utilizar esse fenômeno para construir atuadores leves e silenciosos, como verdadeiros músculos metálicos. O desenvolvimento de atuadores com as SMAs apresenta grande atrativo para diversos campos da engenharia, principalmente na área de robótica, substituindo os atuadores convencionais de grande peso e ruidosos, como motores, válvula solenóides, etc. Entretanto, para o bom desempenho de atuadores SMA requer-se um complexo sistema de controle e resfriamento, reduzindo-se o tempo de resposta do atuador e minimizando-se os efeitos da histerese. Nesse trabalho, propõe-se um inovador sistema de resfriamento, baseado em pastilha termo-elétrica (efeito Seebeck-Peltier). Este método possui a vantagem de ser mais compacto e simples que outros métodos de resfriamento forçado. Um modelo matemático completo é também desenvolvido, e um protótipo experimental foi construído. Diversos experimentos foram utilizados para a validação do modelo e para a identificação de todos seus parâmetros. Em um próximo trabalho, um sistema de controle será desenvolvido e implementado no protótipo, baseado no modelo matemático ora proposto.

Most advantages that the smart grid will bring derive from its capability of improving reliability performance and customers' responsiveness and encouraging greater efficiency decisions by the customers. In this optic, the paper presents an innovative Energy Management System for smart houses, allowing the optimization of the electricity cost and electrical energy consumption and, at the same time, preserving the end-user comfort.

This paper proposes an innovative exhaustive search method for the optimal placement of wind turbines (WTs) in electrical distribution systems taking into account wind speed and load demand uncertainty, and the variability of electrical energy prices within a distribution network operator (DNO) acquisition market environment. The method combines Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) and market-based optimal power flow (OPF) to maximize the net present value (NPV) related to the investment made by WTs' developers over a planning horizon. In particular, the MCS data feed the market-based OPF problem with inter-temporal constraints in order to find the most convenient WTs allocation and priority on the network, based on distribution-locational marginal prices (D-LMPs) in a competitive electricity market. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated with an 84-bus 11.4-kV radial distribution system.

The abandoned mine openings (AMO) mapping project has a goal to locate a number estimated of 1000 coal mine openings. Within an experimental area 173 abandoned openings were mapped, surrounding the city of Criciuma, in southern portion of Santa Catarina State in Brazil. A total of 18 of these openings discharge, in average, 1,334 m³/hour of acid mine drainage (AMD) that flows to watersheds carrying high level of metals, acidity and sulfates. A model of underground water flow was established through structural geology, and a digital terrain model (DTM) from the surface and mine floor, aiming to identify openings that collect surface water, and openings that discharge AMD. Openings started to be closed according to risks to safety, health and the environment. A monitoring program has been established since 2002 to quantify physical and chemical characteristics, and flow rates from discharges. A pilot water treatment plant was being installed near a portal (SS16), with the purpose to define treatment procedures and costs, aiming to use this treated water to supply the nearby community.

BackgroundVoiding dysfunctions are common complications afterrectal cancer resection, secondary to injury to the auto-nomic nervous plexus. In locally advanced rectal cancernervous damage can be necessary in order to obtaincurative resection. However, the development of a newsurgical technique such as Total Mesorectal Excision,nerve sparing dissection (and about multivisceral resec-tions bladder- sparing operations) and greater under-standing of the regional anatomy has improved survivaland decreased voiding and sexual dysfunction rates [1].Material and methodsBetween January and December 2003, 35 patients under-went surgery for colorectal cancer (10 left hemicolectomies21 anterior resections and 4 abdomino-perineal resections).All patients underwent multichannel urodynamic evalua-tion. The data collected were: bladder capacity and compli-ance, sensitivity and contractility, and obstruction outlet.ResultsTwelve months after surgery, urodynamic alterationswere found in 14 patients (40%); the most frequent pat-terns were detrusor overactivity (4 pts), vesico-sphincterdyssynergia (5 pts) and neurogenic bladder (2 pts).However, in six patients (5 of left hemicolectomygroup and 1 of Miles’ group) obstruction outlet due tobenign prostatic hypertrophy was discovered.ConclusionsThe optimal way to objectively describe urinary dysfunc-tions is by careful urologic history and urodynamicinvestigation before and after the operation.In males over the age of 65, minimal neural damageduring surgery may complicate any pre-existing blad-der outlet obstruction from benign prostatic hyper-trophy [2].Laparoscopic rectal resection doesn’t adversely affectbladder function, but isn’t indicated for local rectalcancer [3]. Bladder dysfunction after colorectal surgerycan be avoided by identifying and preserving the pelvicautonomic nerves, according to oncologic radicality inperforming total mesorectal excision and, if possible,preferring bladder-sparing surgery respect to pelvect-omy [4].

A low‐energy emission band has been observed in Ge‐doped GaAs layers grown by liquid‐phase epitaxy. 77 °K electroluminescence of junctions with Ge‐doped p regions and 80 °K photoluminescence of the p layers show the band to be at about 9200 A (1.35 eV).