Summary
Background
Placebo‐controlled studies in maintaining remission of symptomatic uncomplicated diverticular disease (SUDD) of the colon are lacking.
Aim
To assess the effectiveness of mesalazine ...and/or probiotics in maintaining remission in SUDD.
Methods
A multicentre, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled study was conducted. Two hundred and ten patients were randomly enrolled in a double‐blind fashion in four groups: Group M (active mesalazine 1.6 g/day plus Lactobacillus casei subsp. DG placebo), Group L (active Lactobacillus casei subsp. DG 24 billion/day plus mesalazine placebo), Group LM (active Lactobacillus casei subsp. DG 24 billion/day plus active mesalazine), Group P (Lactobacillus casei subsp. DG placebo plus mesalazine placebo). Patients received treatment for 10 days/month for 12 months. Recurrence of SUDD was defined as the reappearance of abdominal pain during follow‐up, scored as ≥5 (0: best; 10: worst) for at least 24 consecutive hours.
Results
Recurrence of SUDD occurred in no (0%) patient in group LM, in 7 (13.7%) patients in group M, in 8 (14.5%) patients in group L and in 23 (46.0%) patients in group P (LM group vs. M group, P = 0.015; LM group vs. L group, P = 0.011; LM group vs. P group, P = 0.000; M group vs. P group, P = 0.000; L group vs. P group, P = 0.000). Acute diverticulitis occurred in six group P cases and in one group L case (P = 0.003).
Conclusion
Both cyclic mesalazine and Lactobacillus casei subsp. DG treatments, particularly when given in combination, appear to be better than placebo for maintaining remission of symptomatic uncomplicated diverticular disease. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01534754).
The Mediterranean Sea hosts two subduction systems along the convergent Africa-Eurasia plate boundary that have produced strong ground shaking and generated tsunamis. Based on historical descriptions ...and sedimentary records, one of these events, in 365 CE, impacted a broad geographical area, including tsunami evidence for distances of 700-800 km from the source event, qualifying it as a 'megatsunami'. Understanding how megatsunamis are produced, and where they are more likely, requires a better understanding of the different secondary processes linked to these events such as massive slope failures, multiple turbidity current generation, and basin seiching. Our sedimentary records from an extensive collection of cores located in distal and disconnected basins, identify turbidites which are analyzed using granulometry, elemental (XRF), micropaleontological, and geochemical data in order to reconstruct their coastal or marine source. The results show that the 365 CE basin floor sediments are a mixture of inner shelf and slope materials. The tsunami wave produced multiple far-field slope failures that resulted in stacked basal turbidites. It also caused transport of continent-derived organic carbon and deposition over basal turbidites and into isolated basins of the deep ocean. The composition of sediment in isolated basins suggests their deposition by large-scale sheet like flows similar to what has been caused by the Tohoku earthquake associated tsunamis. This is significant for rectifying and resolving where risk is greatest and how cross-basin tsunamis are generated. Based on these results, estimates of the underlying deposits from the same locations were interpreted as possible older megatsunamis.
Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2011; 33: 358–365
Summary
Background Ulcerative colitis with diverticulosis (UCD), segmental colitis associated with diverticulosis (SCAD) and acute uncomplicated ...diverticulitis (AUD) may affect the same colonic regions, but the real incidence of these entities in clinical practice is unknown.
Aim To assess the incidence and the endoscopic findings of UCD, SCAD and AUD.
Methods From January 2004 to June 2009, 8525 consecutive colonoscopies were performed. Diagnosis of the diseases was based on specific endoscopic and histological (UCD and SCAD), and on endoscopic and radiological (AUD) patterns.
Results Ulcerative colitis with diverticulosis was diagnosed in 25 patients (0.3%), SCAD was diagnosed in 129 patients (2%) and AUD was diagnosed in 130 patients (2%). In UCD, the inflammation in colonic area harbouring diverticula always affects the overall colonic mucosa in all cases, involving also diverticular orifices. The endoscopic characteristic of SCAD is that inflammation is mainly detected within the inter‐diverticular mucosa without involvement of the diverticular orifices. In AUD, the inflammation affects primarily diverticular orifice and peri‐diverticular mucosa.
Conclusions In clinical practice, the incidence of mucosal inflammation in the presence of colonic diverticular disease is low and endoscopy is the mainstay of differential diagnosis.
Nowadays, asbestos-containing wastes (ACW) still represent an important environmental problem and a severe health hazard due to the well known pulmonary diseases derived from asbestos fibers ...inhalation. Except for a very few cases, ACW are currently confined in controlled landfills, giving rise to increasingly high amounts of still hazardous wastes. A promising alternative to landfill confinement is represented by ACW inertization, but the high cost of the inertization processes so far proposed by the scientific community have hampered the creation of actually operative plants. In this paper, we explore the possibility to use an innovative process that ensures the obtainment of asbestos-free inert material in an exceptionally short processing time, thus greatly reducing cost-related problems. The efficacy of the inertization process has been verified through accurate mineralogical investigations on both chrysotile and crocidolite de-activated fibers, through X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Overall mineralogical, microstructural and granulometric characteristics of the inert bulk material suggest that it could be successfully re-used as a secondary raw material in ceramic industries. This innovative inertization procedure could therefore provide an effective and economically sustainable solution for ACW management.
Display omitted
•Asbestos-bearing wastes deriving from fiber-cement roofing slates.•Economically sustainable and fast thermal inertization process.•Thermal decomposition of chrysotile and crocidolite asbestos fibers.•Circular economy: from wastes to second raw materials for the ceramic industry.
This paper presents the theoretical analysis and the experimental evaluation of a new switched beam antenna designed to operate at 2.45 GHz. The antenna enables direction of arrival estimation using ...six directional planar elements arranged to form a platonic solid geometry. It also supports polarization diversity, and it is suitable for single-anchor indoor positioning applications. We adopt the Cramer-Rao bound to study the estimation accuracy of the proposed antenna in absolute 2-D target positioning using received signal strength measurements. First, we describe the design principles for the radiators, we provide an extensive characterization of the switched antenna prototype, and we discuss positioning applications. We then report experimental data that support the results of the theoretical analysis and show consistency between theoretical expectation and the measurements. Finally, we discuss results from proof-of-concept operative indoor positioning example, showing an average localization error as low as 1.7 m.
The products of cement–asbestos treated in air at 1100 °C were characterized by a multi-methodological approach to determine: (i) the effective deactivation of harmful asbestos fibers; (ii) the ...mineralogy and microstructure of the inert product and its possible use as a secondary raw material (SRM); and (iii) any potential health hazard of the SRM. For this purpose, energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRF), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), scanning, and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) analyses were performed. The powdered SRM was also analyzed by dynamic laser scattering and solution leaching experiments, to determine grain size distribution and possible elements release. Our results confirm the deactivation of crocidolite and chrysotile asbestos fibers, but at the same time evidence a significant fraction of nanoparticles in the SRM and some critical releases of SO
4
2–
, F
–
and Cr
6+
in solution. Both the nanoparticle fraction and the critical elemental release may pose human health concern and adversely affect potential applications of the SRM. Strategies to control the grain size distribution through adjusted thermal treatment conditions and microwave-assisted grinding operations are discussed. Possible routes to safely reuse the SRM are indicated.
The depositional history of the Storfjorden and Kveithola trough-mouth fans (TMFs) in the northwestern Barents Sea has been investigated within two coordinated Spanish and Italian projects in the ...framework of the International Polar Year (IPY) Activity 367, NICE STREAMS. The investigation has been conducted using a multidisciplinary approach to the study of sediment cores positioned on high-resolution multibeam bathymetry and TOPAS/CHIRP sub-bottom profiles.
Core correlation and the age model were based on 27 AMS 14C samples, rock magnetic parameters, lithofacies sequences, and the presence of marker beds including two oxidized layers marking the post Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) inception of deglaciation (OX-2) and the Younger Dryas cold climatic event (OX-1).
Sediment facies analysis allowed the distinction of a number of depositional processes whose onset appears closely related to ice stream dynamics and oceanographic patterns in response to climate change. The glacigenic diamicton with low water content, high density, and high shear strength, deposited during glacial maxima, indicates ice streams grounded at the shelf edge. Massive release of IRD occurred at the inception of deglaciation in response to increased calving rates with possible outer ice streams lift off and collapse. The presence of a several-meter-thick sequence of interlaminated sediments deposited by subglacial outbursts of turbid meltwater (plumites) indicates rapid ice streams' melting and retreat. Crudely-layered and heavily-bioturbated sediments were deposited by contour currents under climatic/environmental conditions favorable to bioproductivity.
The extreme sedimentation rate of 3.4cma−1 calculated for the plumites from the upper-slope area indicates a massive, nearly instantaneous (less than 150years), terrigenous input corresponding to an outstanding meltwater event. We propose these interlaminated sediments to represent the high-latitude marine record of MeltWater Pulse 1a (MWP-1a). Different bathymetric and oceanographic conditions controlled locally the mode of glacial retreat, resulting in different thickness of plumites on the upper continental slope of the Storfjorden and Kveithola TMFs. It is possible that the southern part of Storfjorden TMF received additional sediments from the deglaciation of the neighboring Kveithola ice stream.
•Post-LGM sedimentary processes were defined through a multidisciplinary approach.•Glacio-dynamic and oceanographic factors controlled the mode of glacial retreat.•High sedimentation rate interlaminated deposits were associated to MWP-1a.
Symptomatic uncomplicated diverticular disease (SUDD) affects 50% of people having diverticulosis. We performed a pilot study assessing the effect of current treatments on fecal microbiota and ...metabolome in SUDD. Thirteen consecutive females with SUDD were treated with a 2-week therapeutic trial of 30 g/day fiber supplementation (3 patients), 1.6 g/day of mesalazine (3 patients), 900 billion/day of probiotic mixture VivoMixx® (3 patients), or 800 mg/day of rifaximin (4 patients). Stool samples were collected at entry (T0), at the end of the 2-week therapeutic course (T1), and 30 (T2) and 60 days (T3) after the end of the therapeutic course. Real-time PCR quantified targeted microorganisms. Fecal metabolome patterns were studied by high-resolution proton NMR spectroscopy. At cumulative analysis, symptoms significantly decreased at each time point during follow-up (p less than 0.0001), and only left-lower quadrant pain increased again at T3. The overall bacterial quantity was not altered by the treatments. The amount of
species was significantly reduced at T1 (p=0.017) and at T2 (p=0.026), while at T3 the reduction was not significant in comparison to enrollment (p=0.090). Fecal molecular profile showed significant changes at T1 and T2, while at T3 it became similar to that of T0. Differences were found for 18 of the quantified molecules (tryptophan, phenylalanine, tyrosine, 4-hydroxyphenylacetate, urocanate, X-6.363, X-5.779, uridylate, galactose, X-4.197, threonine, sarcosine, methionine, 2-oxoisocaproate, 5-aminolevulinate, alanine, leucine, valerate). Metabolome and microbiota changed in patients with SUDD under treatment, confirming a possible role of dysbiosis/dysmetabolome in the pathology.
PDF
