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• ECMWF EPS members have been downscaled by the high-resolution WRF model. • The high-resolution downscaling added value is quantified via statistical indices. • Model skills of both precipitation intensity and localization have been evaluated. • The added value of WRF-based downscaling clearly emerges. We have considered the most severe flood events that affected Liguria region (northwestern Italy) in the last decade, between October 2010 and October 2019. High-resolution numerical simulations of six events have been performed with the state-of-the-art non–hydrostatic Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale model. For each selected case study, 50 WRF simulations have been performed corresponding to the downscaling of the 50 EPS-ECMWF members. The main aim of the present work has been to answer the question on whether high-resolution ensemble forecasts bring an added value with respect to the original EPS forecasts. To answer this question, suitable statistical indices have been considered in order to assess model performance both in terms of mean properties of the ensemble and in terms of its spread. As a result of our study, the added value of WRF-based downscaling clearly emerged in relation both to the forecast of the intensity of the extreme precipitation considered in the present study and to their spatial localization. For example, a significant added value of the downscaling process emerges being the Continuous Ranked Probability Score (CRPS) skill score for the precipitation maxima well above 20 % for all considered events, with the exception of the event belonging to the year 2019 for which the improvement, although presents, is considerably lower. Nevertheless, the downscaled ensemble still remains underdisperive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malpractice is the responsible for the greatest number of legal claims. At the present time, legal actions against physicians in Italy are 15,000 per year, and a stunning increase about costs to refund patients injured by therapeutic and diagnostic errors is expected. The method for the medical prevention is "Risk Management", that is the setting-up of organizational instruments, methods and actions that enable the measurement or estimation of medical risk; it allows to develop strategies to govern and reduce medical error. In the present work, the reconstruction about the history of risk management in Italy was carried out. After then the latest initiatives undertaken by Italy about the issue of risk management were examined.

The management of traumatic retroperitoneal haematomas is still a much debated question. Although the diagnosis has become easier using CT with contrast medium, the therapeutic decisions are still difficult because of the great variability of the lesions, which may be simple but very often complicated. Our study is based on 1086 treated patients, 29.5% of the 3682 critical abdominal polytrauma seen in 35 years. Mortality has been 12.9% with a medium ISS (Injury Severity Score) of 23.4. 71.4% of the cases were closed traumas, 28,6% were open traumas. The most common single lesions have been pelvic (43%), followed by the renal traumas (39%). Regarding the associated lesions, the thoracic traumas cause an increment of the ISS score up to 26.2% and of mortality up to 14.6%. The maxillofacial traumas associated with traumatic retroperitoneal haematomas represent 11%, mainly associated with motorcycle accidents, which have increased in the last years from 2,4% in the 70s to 32% these days. Our approach to these patients has been basically conservative. Following the indications obtained by the CT, we widely used interventional angiography, especially for renal lesions and, after pelvic stabilization, for pelvic haematomas. We have chosen surgery considering the kind of traumas (open or closed), the location of the haematoma and especially, the clinical course of the patient's hemodynamic condition.

Kidney transplantation was first introduced in Italy in 1966 by the II Surgical Pathology of the University of Rome giving a great contribution to the development of the transplant surgery in this country. The authors report their 25-year experience analyzing the results obtained in more than 700 kidney allografts. A progressive refinement in the surgical transplant technique both from cadaver and live as well as clinical trials on new immunosuppressive protocols characterized their work.