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Assessing the environmental status of Protected Areas (PAs) is a challenging issue. To indicate that status, the identification of a common set of variables that are scientifically sound, and easy to assess and monitor by the PA practitioners, is particularly important. In this study, a set of 27 Essential Variables (EVs) for PA management was selected in a bottom-up process from 67 harmonised variables that describe the status of Ecosystem Functions and Structures, Ecosystem Services, and Threats in PAs. This bottom-up process involved 27 internationally recognised PAs, mostly European, with different level of protection, different extent, and a wide range of human-nature interactions. The EVs were selected by more than 120 practitioners, i.e. PA managers and rangers, as well as scientists, working in terrestrial and aquatic PAs. Across both terrestrial and aquatic PAs, scientists and practitioners largely identified the same variables as important. Data availability for these 27 EVs varied between PAs and av eraged 67% across all studied PAs. As this set of EVs for PAs is defined through a bottom-up approach considering variables already in use both in management and research, it is more than for previous EVs likely to be adopted, applied and developed to record the status and changes in the ecological and socio-economic conditions of PAs and to forecast future changes. Thereby, the EVs for PAs present a common vocabulary and tool to enhance in a uniform way the (inter)national communication, exchange and comparison of information on the status of PAs between policy makers, scientists and PA managers. The perceived status of the EVs, on an average 3.6 on a scale to a maximum of 5, indicates the surveyed PAs are in a moderate to good environmental condition. Moreover, the EVs for PAs form a cost- and time-efficient tool for PA managers to monitor developments in essential elements of their PAs, including the potential for Societal Goods and Benefits (SG&B), and to (pro-)actively tackle the potential threats that may arise in their area. Likewise, for policy makers EVs for PAs may support decision making on ecosystem management, spatial planning, and predictive modelling on the future status and requirements of PAs in their country or region., Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, 14

Background: Candidates for bariatric surgery undergo a multidisciplinary evaluation in the pre-operative phase, including a psychiatric visit aimed at the screening for psychiatric comorbidities, including feeding and eating disorders (FEDs), which are shortcomings to the intervention or predictors of worse prognosis. The presence of FEDs, such as Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and Bulimia Nervosa (BN), is associated with higher rates of other psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, there is evidence of the association between obesity and Depressive Disorders, as well as B and C Cluster Personality Disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of psychiatric comorbidities among a population of candidates for bariatric surgery. Subjects and methods: Subjects were recruited at the outpatient service of the Section of Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology and Rehabilitation of the General Hospital/University of Perugia after being referred by surgeons. Psychiatric comorbidities were investigated by means of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Disorders. Subjects underwent specific assessment with scales for the evaluation of FEDs, namely Binge Eating Scale, Obesity Questionnaire, Bulimia Test-Revised and Body Shape Questionnaire. Results: The sample consisted of 101 subjects: 43 (42.6%) were diagnosed with at least one psychiatric disorder, including FEDs. In particular, 30 subjects (29.7%) presented at least one FED, among which the most frequent were FED not otherwise specified (24.1%) and BED (6.8%). Moreover, 26 subjects (25.7%) were diagnosed with at least one psychiatric disorder other than FEDs, such as Personality Disorders (17.1%), with a higher prevalence of B and C Cluster Disorders. Depressive Disorders were detected in 5% of the sample. Conclusions: Subjects undergoing bariatric surgery often display psychiatric comorbidities, more frequently one or more FEDs. The systematic screening of these conditions should be implemented in the clinical practice in order to provide early intervention strategies and adequate monitoring.

Background When advanced, oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) may involve adjacent non-epithelial structures, and the prognosis is worse for bone invasion. Human relaxin-2 is a peptide hormone that has recently been associated with cancer. It can induce human osteoclast differentiation and activation, suggesting a role in tumor-driven osteolysis. This study was a preliminary assessment of the prognostic role of relaxin-2 in surgical specimens of OSCC tissue and adjacent but uninvolved mandibular/maxillary bone. Methods Relaxin-2 immunohistochemical expression and reaction intensity were assessed in tumor and uninvolved adjacent mandibular/maxillary bone specimens from 23 operated OSCC patients. Results All OSCC specimens were positive for relaxin-2. The intensity of its reaction in OSCC correlated significantly with the pattern of the tumor's invasion front (p = 0.02), being higher with the infiltrative pattern. Mean relaxin-2 immunohistochemical expression was higher in patients whose OSCC recurred after treatment than those experiencing no recurrence (81.3% ± 22.6% vs. 59.5% ± 29.7%, respectively). A significant direct association emerged between relaxin-2 expression in OSCC specimens and recurrence rate (p = 0.049). Conclusions Relaxin-2 expression in OSCC should be further investigated as a potentially useful marker for identifying patients at higher risk of recurrence, who might benefit from closer follow-up and more aggressive adjuvant therapy. In other oncological settings, increasing evidence of relaxin being produced by cancer cells is prompting efforts to synthesize human relaxin-2 analogs capable of acting as antagonists and limiting tumor growth.

Ecosystem services indicators are important to measure the trends and state of ecosystem service delivery; with recent years seeing a wide indicator base being developed. Indicators are powerful tools to inform and improve the knowledge base on ecosystems and ecosystem services, which are useful for decision makers at any spatial scale for basing their decisions on evidence and also at a higher levels. A selection of Protected Areas (PAs) from mountain, coast and marine, and arid ecosystems were used as case study areas to investigate a selection of ecosystem indicators and how they can be used to monitor ecosystem services in PAs. In total twelve PAs participated in this report, five from mountain areas, two from arid/semi-arid areas and five from coastal/marine areas. The types of ecosystem service are concurrent with the CICES classification, but the selection of most relevant ecosystem service varies between different PAs. Where possibly, supply, demand and beneficiaries were defined for each of the ecosystem service.

Objectives. The objective of this study was to assess the effect that triple therapy (anticoagulation plus CS plus plasma exchange and/or IVIGs) has on the mortality risk of patients with catastrophic APS (CAPS) included in the CAPS Registry. Methods. Patients from the CAPS Registry were grouped based on their treatments: triple therapy; drugs included in the triple therapy but in different combinations; and none of the treatments included in the triple therapy. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to compare mortality risk between groups. Results. The CAPS Registry cohort included 525 episodes of CAPS accounting for 502 patients. After excluding 54 episodes (10.3%), a total of 471 patients with CAPS were included [mean (S.D.) age 38.5 years (17); 68.2% female primary APS patients 62%]. Overall, 174 (36.9%) patients died. Triple therapy was prescribed in 189 episodes (40.1%), other combinations in 270 (57.3%) and none of those treatments in 12 episodes (2.5%); the mortality rate in the three groups was 28.6, 41.1 and 75%, respectively. Triple therapy was positively associated with a higher chance of survival when compared with non-treatment [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 9.7, 95% CI: 2.3, 40.6] or treatment with other combinations of drugs included in the triple therapy (adjusted OR = 1.7, 95% CI: 1.2, 2.6). No statistical differences were found between patients that received triple therapy with plasma exchange or IVIGs (P = 0.92). Conclusion. Triple therapy is independently associated with a higher survival rate among patients with CAPS. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology.

L’articolo ha lo scopo di descrivere la metodologia e la procedura di calcolo sviluppata per valutare gli effetti inquinanti derivanti dall’utilizzo di combustibili di natura rinnovabile. Si è fatto quindi riferimento alla normativa europea, che introduce l’approccio noto col nome di Effetti Incrociati, metodo basato sull’uso di indici di valutazione ambientale. Si sono quindi valutate e comparate, tramite tali indici, le emissioni inquinanti di diversi impianti installati in Emilia Romagna.

The hole-drilling method is one of the most used techniques for the experimental analysis of the residual stresses in mechanical components. For both through-thickness uniform and non-uniform residual stresses, its practical application is standardised by the ASTM E837-08. For uniform residual stresses, to which the present work deals with, the use of the method in accordance with the ASTM limitations, leads to results with a bias of about 10%. Unfortunately, although some experimental parameters can be frequently out of the corresponding standard limitation, the user does not have appropriate procedures to correct the obtained results which, in accordance with the ASTM standard, have to be considered qualitative. In order to overcome such drawbacks as well as to permit the estimation of the stress uncertainty, in the present work, the procedures for the correction of the effects of the main error sources and for the stress uncertainty estimation are proposed. The practical application of such procedures is carried out by using a calculation code properly implemented in Matlab environment. The use of this tool permits to highlight the relative magnitude of the error and stress uncertainty of the main influence parameters.

Viene presentata una sintesi dell’attività svolta dal Gruppo di lavoro AIAS “Tensioni Residue” nel periodo dal 2006 al 2009. Lo scopo dell’attività è stata l’elaborazione del metodo AIAS - TR 01 per la misura delle tensioni residue con il metodo del foro incrementale. La normativa tecnica esistente sull’argomento (ASTM E 837-08) [1] ha un campo di applicabilità ristretto; infatti essa non considera alcuni effetti che possono influenzare l’accuratezza della misura. Il metodo di prova (AIAS - TR 01) fornisce una visione d’insieme del metodo della rosetta forata, aggiornata all’attuale stato dell’arte (2009) sia a livello tecnologico che a livello teorico. Le principali innovazioni riguardano la determinazione della profondità di zero (contatto iniziale), l’effetto del raggio di raccordo a fondo foro e le correzioni nei casi di plasticizzazione locale al bordo del foro e di eccentricità foro – rosetta. I contributi presentati nel lavoro riflettono soprattutto i risultati dell’attività svolta su questi argomenti da parte dei ricercatori italiani sia in campo teorico-sperimentale che nella realizzazione di nuovi strumenti di misura.