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Purpose: To indirectly evaluate the effect of androgens on neuromuscular system in humans we analyzed if an induced short-term hypogonadal state (serum total testosterone-TT.

The recent studies on Permian captorhinomorph (non-diapsid eureptile) footprints from North America, North Africa, and Europe raised the interest on their taxonomic and biostratigraphic significance. They seem to radiate in the late Early Permian, but the scarcity of absolute dating in the classic sections bearing these trace fossils is not helpful in order to unravel their distribution. The continental Collio Formation cropping out extensively in the central Southern Alps of Italy can cover this gap of knowledge, since it preserves a rich testimony of these trace fossils ( Erpetopus , Hyloidichnus , Varanopus ) and it is well-constrained from radiometric datings and fossil content. For this and because of the huge amount of stored but unanalyzed material, a revision was necessary, through careful taxonomic assignations. These taxa are here confirmed and/or identified as being: Amphisauropus kablikae , cf. Batrachichnus isp., Dromopus lacertoides , Erpetopus cassinisi , Hyloidichnus bifurcatus , Limnopus heterodactylus and Varanopus isp. The occurrence of Erpetopus at the base of the Collio Formation (Kungurian base) suggests its minimum age of first appearance in a global context: this is a very important presence in order to build a reliable tetrapod footprint biostratigraphy during the Permian. The quantity of material yielded in the different facies of the Collio and Dosso dei Galli Formations also permit new insights on the paleoenvironments and climatic settings.

Blood interacts in compliance with the vessels it flows in, determining effects of fluid-structure interaction (FSI). Using this approach, the present paper analyses the blood flow and its pathological conditions before diagnostic (Doppler catheters) or pathological (stenoses) obstacles. Catheters are concentric cylinders with defined vessels, whereas stenoses are shaped as triangles, trapeziums or hemi-ellipses. Rather than a basic/rigid case, three models were adopted to describe the artery wall dynamics: elastic (Hooke), hyper-elastic Mooney-Rivley 1 (MR1) and hyper-elastic Mooney-Rivley 2 (MR2). Blood has non-Newtonian rheological properties (Casson fluid. The numerical study used the CFD code Comsol Multiphysics, version 3.4. The FSI effect was studied through 3 physical parameters with reference to the blood flow: minimum velocity (re-circulation), maximum velocity (the mechanical stress on the obstacle) and the disturbance length. Results show a strong dependence of the FSI effect on the characteristics of the obstacle considered and on the kind of elastic/hyper-elastic model chosen. In a few cases, however, the results of the old rigid-vessel approach were reasonably accurate.

Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is an interesting technology for biogas upgrading, due to compactness of the equipment, low energy requirements, low capital cost, and safety and simplicity of operation. Unfortunately, some shortcomings penalize its diffusion in comparison with other technologies; in particular, conventional PSA has a low methane recovery and cannot compete in this field with other processes such as amine scrubbing; furthermore, it produces an off gas stream with a significant methane content, which requires further treatment to avoid the emission of residual methane into the atmosphere. In this framework, this study focuses on the feasibility of a PSA based separation process able to obtain a biomethane stream suitable to be injected in the natural gas grid (CO 2 2 stream (CO 2 > 99%). The proposed process uses Zeolite 5A as adsorbent material in two PSA units; the biogas is fed to the first unit which produces biomethane; the off gas of the first unit is sent to a second PSA unit which separates carbon dioxide from a residual gas stream, recycled to the first to enhance methane recovery. A dynamic non-isothermal model, based on the linear driving force approximation, is employed to demonstrate the technological feasibility of the separation units and to assess the performance of the whole process. In particular a methane recovery greater than 99% can be obtained with energy consumption of about 1250 kJ per kg of biomethane.

Many theoretical and experimental studies have been carried out in order to study the flow and heat transfer in microchannels. In the recent years, numerical simulation has been applied to investigate the problem under a variety of conditions. However, much of the focus has been on steady-state problems and time-dependent transport has received relatively minor attention, despite its importance in practical electronic devices and systems. Employing a versatile commercial code, this paper aims to examine heat removal from straight rectangular microchannels affected by a time-dependent heat flux input. Both cosinusoidal variation and step-change application and removal of a uniform heat source are studied to determine the response time of the system. For the fluid phase, the two-dimensional momentum and energy equations are solved, considering temperature dependent properties and viscous dissipation. The effects of the amplitude of the heat flux variation, inlet velocity, and geometry, including the thickness of the heat sink, are investigated. Channels of smaller width are found to be more sensitive to the heat flux source, especially for higher input values. The velocity represents the most important parameter for channels of greatest width considered here, as it directly affects the fluid dynamics and the pressure drop when a time-dependent heat source is applied to the system.

New dinosaur tracks have been found near Bisceglie (Bari, Apulia), on loose blocks ascribed to the Corato Member (late Bedoulian to early Gargasian) of the Calcare di Bari Fm. The material consists of isolated footprints as well as of short trackways of quadrupedal and bipedal dinosaurs. The new tracksite has yielded a quite differentiated dinosaur ichnocoenosis, including theropod, sauropod, thyreophoran and ornithopod footprints. The discovery of early Aptian dinosaur footprints in the limestone of the carbonate platform of southern Italy gives new insights on dinosaur distribution, and new palaeontological constraints for the palaeogeographic reconstruction of the Mediterranean Tethys during the Cretaceous. The analysis of this and others ichnosites of the periadriatic carbonate platforms, gives evidence of repeated emersions and of widespread land-vertebrates dwelling. The characteristics of the associations suggest that the trackmakers did not constitute a real coevolved association but the occasional co-occurrence of taxa after migration. The results emphasize the need of both structural and environmental continuity and walking ways between a southern continent and the periadriatic carbonate platforms during the Early Cretaceous.

Lacertoid footprints are the largest component of the Upper Permian Arenaria di Val Gardena Formation ichnofauna that contains hundreds of specimens mostly referred to the ichnogenus Rhynchosauroides Maidwell 1911. In this paper, we analyzed unpublished material and re-examined the Rhynchosauroides footprints of that ichnofauna, in particular the figured specimens. Analysis of Rhynchosauroides and its type ichnospecies R. rectipes Maidwell 1911 was first necessary. This preliminary investigation highlighted several problems, including ichnospecies named on the basis of poorly preserved material and in some cases significantly different from the type ichnospecies. The study allowed for recognition of three ichnotaxa referred to Rhynchosauroides: Rhynchosauroides pallinii Conti et al., 1977, Rhynchosauroides isp.1 and Rhynchosauroides isp.2 and Ganasauripus ladinus igen. et isp. nov. Other material previously referred to Rhynchosauroides is herein regarded as unclassifiable, in the light of present ichnolog...

A really unexpected finding of sauropod and theropod footprints in southern Latium raises to four the number of the trampled levels recognized in central and southern Italy. After the recent findings in Latest Jurassic and Early, mid and Late Cretaceous carbonate platform deposits of the Periadriatic region, dinosaur footprints seem to provide very important paleogeographic constraints for reconstructing the geodynamic history of the Mediterranean area. The presence of a varied ichnoassociation makes acceptance of the current paleogeographic models concerning the relative and absolute position of the Laziale-Abruzzese-Campano and of Apulian-Dinaric domains during the Late Cretaceous more and more problematic. Dinosaur footprints, combined with other paleontological data, demonstrate that these areas were never completely pulled apart by deep seaways, while frequent or continuous links between them, and to southern and northern mainlands, probably persisted. These data also allowed us to improve our unders...

IntroductionIn the Horseshoe chain, mainly com-prising volcanic seamounts, the Gor-ringe Bank (36 N, 11 W; hereafterreferred to as GB) is an exception,because it consists of suboceanic man-tle peridotites and gabbros. The otherpeculiarity of this seamount is thegreat bathymetric gradient betweenthe summit of the bank, at )30 m,and the surrounding abyssal plains,Tagus and Horseshoe at )5000 m(Fig. 1). The GB is a N60 -trendingridge, 200 km long and 80 km wide,with two summits, the Gettysburg inthe south-west and the Ormonde inthe north-east (Beauzart et al., 1979).The two summits, separated by a deep(800 m) saddle, consist of igneousrock outcrops with very thin or absentsedimentary cover.The first exploration of the GB wasmade by the Glomar Challenger in1970 (120 DSDP sites; Ryan et al.,1973). This and some subsequentexplorations with manned submersi-bles along the flanks of the ridge in the0–3000 m bathymetric range (Auzen-de et al., 1978; Lagabrielle andAuzende, 1982), and more recently atgreater depths (Girardeau et al.,1998), have indicated that the GBrepresents a remarkable example of aseamount comprising lower oceaniccrust⁄upper mantle rocks.In December 2002 to January 2003duringtheGorringe_2003 expedition,on board R⁄V Urania (NationalResearch Council, Italy), swath bathy-metry, seismo-magnetic survey, exten-sive bottom samplings and some ROV(remotely operating vehicle) dives overthe top of the GB were carried out (deAlteriis et al., 2004). A further aim ofthe cruise was to study the bioclasticsediments recorded during previousexpeditions (Auzende et al., 1978; Gir-ardeau et al., 1998) at shallow depths.The location and physiography of theGB guaranteed that these sedimentswere totally autochthonous anduncontaminated by other sources.The only previous analyses availablefromthesesedimentswereprovidedbyAvila and Malaquias (2003).Geological and stratigraphic resultsThe multibeam and geophysical sur-vey, extended to 500 m depth overboth summits, revealed that Gettys-burg seamount has an almost subcir-cular summit, elongated N–S for8–10 km. The shelf area is somewhatconvex from )60 to )175 m. At thecentre of the summit the igneousbasement crops out between depthsof )29 and )60 m. The rocky outcropconsists of roughly N–S-trending rid-ges consisting of foliated serpentinitesand gabbros completely surroundedby a blanket of bioclastic sands andgravels down to )140 m, where a cleardepositional shelf break appears(Figs 1 and 2). Pockets of these sandsare also hosted in the inter ridgedepressions. Sands consist of skeletalcalcareous algae, forams, bryozoansand molluscs. The heterozoan associ-ation (James, 1997) is dominated byForamol facies (Lees and Buller,1972) over the entire shelf area withthe typical absence of allochthonousnon-skeletal grains. Some exhumedEarly Pliocene foraminifers, Globoro-talia margaritae (Bolli & Bermudez),are also present in the fine fraction.Lithoclasts are generally rare andmainly consist of serpentinized ultra-mafics and gabbros.Samplings and ROV observationsconfirm that modern bioclastic mate-rial is continually produced by thebenthic ecosystem that characterizesthis and other Atlantic seamountsas temperate carbonate factories.Detailed bathymetry and subbottomprofiling allow us to establish that theaverage thickness of this material doesnot exceed a few metres in the shelfareas and in the pockets. TheseABSTRACT

Fluid overload is a common finding in patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) and this condition has been linked to adverse cardiovascular effects and increased mortality (1). The variation of body weight and blood pressure, usually used for clinical evaluation of volume, may not be sufficient for the adjustment of volemia; therefore, regular and precise measurement of hydration and body composition is needed (2). It is believed that volume control in PD patients is harder to achieve compared to hemodialysis patients, as they receive home treatment with monthly monitoring only, and have greater autonomy in their care (3). Bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) is a tool for detecting longitudinal changes in the hydration status of this population. The body composition monitor (BCM) (Fresenius Medical Care, Germany) is a validated and non-invasive method that combines BIS with a physiological tissue model developed for dialysis patients (4). Describing the body composition and hydration profile of PD patients is essential for clinical evaluation; however, the possible interference of dialysate in the intraperitoneal cavity on BCM results is an underexplored question in the literature. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare body composition and volume variables with the dialysis fluid in the peritoneal cavity and also after its drainage, using BCM methodology.

The genus Laevitomaria is reviewed and its palaeobiogeographical history is reconstructed based on the re-examination of its type species L. problematica, the study of material stored at the National Natural History Museum of Luxembourg, and an extensive review of the literature. The systematic study allows ascribing to Laevitomaria a number of Jurassic species from the western European region formerly included in other pleurotomariid genera. The following new combinations are proposed: Laevitomaria allionta, L. amyntas, L. angulba, L. asurai, L. daityai, L. fasciata, L. gyroplata, L. isarensis, L. joannis, L. repeliniana, L. stoddarti, L. subplatyspira, and L. zonata. The genus, which was once considered as endemic of the central part of the western Tethys, shows an evolutionary and palaeogeographical history considerably more complex than previously assumed. It first appeared in the Late Sinemurian in the northern belt of the central western Tethys involved in the Neotethyan rifting, where it experience...

Studies on Early Permian tetrapod ichnofauna emphasized the scarcity of forms from Italian sites. A revision work on the entire collections revealed the presence of Hyloidichnus bifurcatus Gilmore, 1927 and Limnopus heterodactylus (King, 1845). The ichnoassociation now lists seven ichnogenera: Amphisauropus, Batrachichnus, Dromopus, Erpetopus, Hyloidichnus, Limnopus, Varanopus. These new data enlarge the ichnoceonosis, adding tracks of medium-size captorhinomorphs (Hyloidichnus) and temnospondyls (Limnopus) to the Italian ichnofauna, previously characterized by scarcity of predators and amphibians. Radiometric ages give a strong age constraint to the ichnoassociation (Early Kungurian), allowing useful correlations to contemporary successions all over the world. The main difference is the absence of Ichniotherium and Dimetropus, and this could have a stratigraphic or paleoenvironmental significance. The fauna is similar in two main basins, Collio and Orobic. It differs solely in the proportions between ich...

The study of droplet evaporation is applied to many and varied fields: the present approach is oriented to sprinkler irrigation. This paper examines a parametric study on the evaporation in air of a single droplet, with the aim of highlighting the influence of each parameter alone on the evaporative process. Four parameters are investigated:air temperature, droplet initial velocity, droplet initial diameter, diffusion coefficient of vapour in air. Droplet evaporation is studied through numerical-CFD simulation employing STAR-CCM+ version 5.04.012 software, which treats the evaporative phenomenon hypothesizing quasi-steady conditions, given the interface low liquid-gas vapour concentration gradients. The results are provided as time- and space-dependent in-percentage evaporation rates, the latter ones after defining a specific distance, from the injection point, to be covered. Apart from a qualitatively predictable effect of air temperature and diffusion coefficient of vapour in air, droplet initial velocity and above all droplet initial diameter prove not at all to be negligible when managing an irrigation process, the latter being inversely proportional to droplet mass evaporation. These results prove that droplet evaporation is a complicate fluid dynamic effect and cannot be simply regarded as a diffusive process. The final discussion provides some practical remarks useful to irrigation operators.

The Hettangian to earliest Sinemurian Vetigastropoda, Patellogastropoda, and Neritimorpha housed in the National Museum of Natural History of Luxembourg are studied. Most of the species comes from the Luxembourg Sandstone Formation. This deposit formed along the southern margin of the London-Brabant-Ardennes Landmass, in a region that during the earliest Jurassic constituted a seaway connecting the Paris Basin with the epicontinental seas of the Netherlands and northern Germany. The systematic analysis revealed high diversity of the studied fauna; we identified twenty-two species, eleven genera, nine families, and six superfamilies. A new genus, Meiersia gen. nov., and three new species, Anodomaria schroederi sp. nov., Meiersia disarmata sp. nov., and Spirocirrus weisi sp. nov. are described. The fauna is dominated by pleurotomarioideans representing the genera Ptychomphalus, Pleurotomaria, and Trochotoma, and by the patellogastropod genus Scurriopsis both in number of species and specimens. The neritimor...

Several dinosaur footprints were discovered on three different levels cropping out in the CO.L.MAR quarry, south of the village of Borgo Celano in the Gargano Promontory (Apulia, southern Italy). The track-bearing levels belong to a carbonate inner platform succession referred to the Lower Cretaceous (upper Hauterivian-lower Barremian). This paper describes only the lowest dinoturbated bed, where footprints are preserved as natural cast. Forty footprints, mostly tridactyl, have been attributed to medium-sized theropods. Tridactyl tracks are similar to Kayentapus Welles, 1971 regarding ichnotaxonomy. Round shaped footprints, previously not described from this site, are found in association with tridactyl footprints and are related to ornitischian dinosaurs., Rivista italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia, Vol 114, No 1

Three loose blocks, rich in dinosaur footprints, were found in a small pier at Mattinata (Gargano Promontory, Foggia, Italy), most probably quarried from the Upper Jurassic Sannicandro Formation. All of the footprints in the blocks are ascribed to medium-sized theropod trackmakers. Recent track discoveries from both the Early Cretaceous San Giovanni Rotondo Limestone and the Late Cretaceous Altamura Limestone, as well as this new discovery, reveal the consistency of terrestrial associations along the southern margin of the Tethys Ocean in the peri-Mediterranean area at the end of Jurassic through Cretaceous times. The presence of these dinosaur-track-rich levels within marine sediments of the Apulia Platform underlines the relevance of dinosaur footprints as a means of constraining paleogeographic reconstructions.

This systematic study considers twenty-four gastropod species recovered in the Upper Aalenian-Lower Bajocian sediments of the Central High Atlas. Twenty-one species belong to archaeogastropod groups and three species are assigned to two caenogastropod families. A new genus, Sadkia nov. gen. (family Eucyclidae), and two new species, Sadkia richensis nov. sp. and Pirper ouchenensis nov. sp., are described. This gastropod fauna is compared with the coeval faunas known from other regions in order to define better the palaeobiogeographical history of the western Tethyan gastropods during the Jurassic. The generic/subgeneric and specific palaeogeographical distributions indicate a close resemblance between the gastropod faunas of the Central High Atlas and those of the European continental seas. On the other hand, there are no evidences of relationships with the faunas of the inner area of the western Tethys.

Introduction: Aims: to measure the association between Celiac Disease (CD) and affective disorders, particularly Bipolar Disorder (BD), since it has not been studied yet, and to measure how much the quality of life (QoL) of a person with CD is affected by comorbidity with these disorders. Methods: Design: Case-control study. Cases: 60 consecutive patients with CD. Controls: 240 subjects without CD, randomly selected after sex- and age-matching from a database of an epidemiological study. Psychiatric diagnoses according to DSM-IV carried out by physicians using structured interview tools (ANTAS-SCID). QoL was measured by means of SF-12. Results: The lifetime prevalence of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) was higher in CD than in controls (30.0% vs 8.3%, Pvs 5.4%, Pvs 0.4%, P). Patients with CD show a lower mean score than controls on SF12 (35.8±5.7 vs. 38.2±6.4; p=0.010), but those without comorbidity with MDD, PD and BD do not. The attributable burden of CD in worsening QoL - when comorbid with these disorders - was found comparable to that of serious chronic diseases like Wilson’s Disease, and lower than Multiple Sclerosis only. Conclusion: MDD, PD and BD are strictly associated with CD. The comorbidity with these disorders is the key determinant of impaired quality of life in CD. Thus a preventive action on mood and anxiety disorders in patients suffering from CD is required. Moreover a screening for CD in people with affective disorders and showing key symptoms or family history of CD is recommended.