In this work we report the ongoing characterization of the Sos Enattos former mine (Sardinia, Italy), one of the two candidate sites for the Einstein Telescope (ET), the European third-generation ...underground interferometric detector of Gravitational Waves. The Sos Enattos site lies on a crystalline basement, made of rocks with good geomechanical properties, characterized by negligible groundwater. In addition, the site has a very low seismic background noise due to the absence of active tectonics involving Sardinia. Finally, the area has a low population density, resulting in a reduced anthropic noise even at the ground level. This location was already studied in 2012-2014 as a promising site for an underground detector. More recently, in March 2019, we deployed a new network of surface and underground seismometers at the site, that is currently monitoring the local seismic noise. Most of the energy carried by the seismic waves is due to the microseisms below 1 Hz, showing a significant correlation with the waves of the west Mediterranean sea. Above 1 Hz the seismic noise in the underground levels of the mine approaches the Peterson's low noise model. Exploiting mine blasting works into the former mine, we were also able to perform active seismic measurements to evaluate the seismic waves propagation across the area. In conclusion we also give a first assessment about the acoustic and magnetic noise in this underground site.
Background & Aims: In our modern society, there is a growing and increasing prevalence of overweight, obesity and eating disorders and young female subjects frequently ask for nutritional ...counselling. Resting energy expenditure (REE) is essential to provide a sound diet to subjects seeking nutritional support. We perform a critical selection of accurate and reliable prediction equations employed on normal-weight, overweight and obese young women.
Methods: REE of 157 young women of Caucasian race (18–35 years)was measured with indirect calorimetry and was compared with the principal prediction equations (Harris and Benedict, Owen, Mifflin, WHO, Bernstein and Robertson and Reid). The statistical analysis used to compare measured and the predicted REE was paired
t -test, ±95% confidence interval and Bland and Altman method. The influence of weight loss on the prediction error was estimated in 31 subjects. An additional REE measurement was performed on patients who had lost ≥5% of the initial body weight due to a sound low-calorie diet.
Results: The equations more reliable in our study are Owen's equation in normal-weight subjects, Bernstein's equation in overweight subjects and Robertson and Reid's equation in obese subjects. Weight was a significant variable according to the stepwise regression analysis resulting in the following equation: 542.2 + 11.5 kg;
R
2 : 0.59. Weight loss decisively increased the overestimation of the equations and only Owen's equation maintained the error of prediction within acceptable limits.
Conclusions: The equation of Owen in normal weight, Bernstein in overweight and of Robertson and Reid in obese subjects should be chosen when we have to predict REE in young women. Due to metabolic adaptation occurring during therapeutic or spontaneous energy restriction, we suggest to use Owen' s equation.
The patients with intensive pain caused by the vertebra body fracture were treated by application of low viscosity cement (LVC), (Vertebroplastic, DePuy) and high viscosity cement (HVC), (Confidence, ...DePuy,) into the body, by means of diascopy through unilateral transpendicular approach. Application of LVC was made in 75 patients, on 109 vertebrae, and HVC was applied in 12 patients on 14 vertebrae. Application of LVC was performed on 48 thoracic and 61 lumbar vertebrae and 5 thoracic and 9 lumbar vertebrae were stabilized with HVC. 43 patients were treated for malignancy and in 38 for osteoporosis. For LVC, preoperative VAS score was 8.32 and 2.23 (p < 0.00001) 24 hours after surgery, and it remained stable 3 month later. For HVC, preoperative VAS score was 7.99 and it was 2.5 (p < 0.00001) 24 hours after surgery and 3 months later. In the group of patients treated with LVC, there was 1 serious complication, a paraparesis caused by the leakage of cement into the spinal canal, which was partially recovered after decompression and rehabilitation treatment and 2 superificial infections with S. epidermidis which were cured by means of antibiotics. In 32 vertebrae (32) cement leakage extra ossal, either into vein plexus or intradiscal during surgery were noticed. When HVC was applied, intradiscal leakage occurred in one case only (8%). By means od Wilcoxon paired test a significant difference was found between the preoperative VAS, and the values immediately after surgery and 3 months later (Z = 7.52, p < 0.00001) when LVC was applied., and with HVC it was ( Z = 3.04, p < 0.00001), which indicates that the fast achieved pain reduction remained stable during the 3 month follow-up. The vertebroplasty is a safe and efficient surgical method in treatment of compressive vertebrae fractures which do not react to the conventional method of treatment. This method, when HVC is applied, shows significantly less complications related to cement leakage.
Background:
The vertebral hemangiomas are benign vascular lesions occurring in spine. Although uncommon, symptomatic vertebral hemangiomas can be painful and can limit daily activities. A number of ...methods have been used in the treatment of symptomatic and aggressive vertebral hemangioma, but none of them is optimal. Treatment with cement vertebroplasty showed very good results. This study aims to illustrate the validity of the treatment with cement vertebroplasty in patients with painful vertebral hemangiomas.
Patients and Methods:
From January 2000 to January 2007, 24 patients were treated by percutaneous vertebroplasty because of hemangioma: 16 thoracic, 8 lumbar. There were 11 males and 13 females. The average age at the time of surgery was 48 years. All the patients complained of a pain syndrome resistant to continuing medication. All patients underwent X-ray examination, CT-scan and MR of the involved level preoperatively. A unipedicular approach under fluoroscopic guidance has been performed in all patients. All procedures have been carried out under the local anesthesia. The mean follow-up was 5.8 years.
Results:
In all the patients a successful outcome has been observed with a complete resolution of pain symptom. Extravertebral vascular cement leakage has been observed in 3 patients, without any clinical radicular syndrome onset due to the epidural diffusion. Clinical and radiological follow-up showed stability of the treatment and absence of pain in all patients.
Conclusion:
Percutaneous treatment with vertebroplasty for symptomatic vertebral hemangiomas is a valuable, less-invasive, and a quick method that allows a complete and enduring resolution of the painful vertebral symptoms without findings of the vertebral body's fracture.
Eating disorders (EDs) affect an increasing proportion of young women in western countries. Psychometric questionnaires represent valuable tools to investigate various and critical areas directly ...involved in the pathogenesis of EDS and to support diagnosis and therapeutic decisions.
162 young women (16-35 years old) seeking diet therapy were recruited. We classified subjects in normal eating behaviour (NEB) (n = 87), binge eating disorder (BED) (n = 12) and bulimic EDNOS (Eating Disorders not Otherwise Specified) (n = 63). The SCOFF, Eating Attitudes Test (EAT 26) and Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) were administered. Body mass index (BMI) was utilised to assess the nutritional status. An analysis of the reliability and validity (sensitivity and specificity) of the SCOFF, EAT 26 and TFEQ was performed.
Body mass index (BMI) of NEB, BED and bulimic EDNOS was 27.7, 35 and 31.1, respectively. BED showed the highest values at the dishinibition, hunger and food preoccupation scales but conversely, they were the least restrained group. The SCOFF was significantly associated with the dishinibition (r = 0.31), hunger (0.31), dieting (r = 0.34) and food preoccupation scales (r = 0.34). The reliability analysis showed that the SCOFF, EAT 26 and TFEQ had a Cronbach alpha of 0.47, 0.85 and 0.75, respectively. The ROC curves identified cut off points of 3, 10 and 25 as the best compromise between specificity and sensitivity for the SCOFF, EAT 26 and TFEQ, respectively.
The SCOFF is a valuable tool for the screening of abnormal eating behaviours but the diagnosis should be always confirmed and supported by the administration of other questionnaires and structured interviews. We have also confirmed the high reliability of the EAT 26 and TFEQ even though the utilisation of these questionnaires has generated some issues about their application in populations characterised by loss of control and overeating episodes.
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study was to explore the influence of maternal eating behaviour on a clinical population of young women compared with a non-clinical one.
METHODS:
A group of 59 young women ...(age 16-30 yr) attending a weight-loss Clinic and their mothers (n=59; age 37–64 yr) were enrolled. They were compared with a group of female students (n=59; age 18–36 yr) and their mothers (n=59; age 41–67 yr). Body weight and height were measured and body mass index (BMI) calculated. Eating behaviour was assessed by using the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI), Eating Inventory (EI) and Eating Attitude Test 26 (EAT-26).
RESULTS:
The EDI-2 scales significantly different between the groups were drive for thinness, bulimia, body dissatisfaction, inadequacy, enteroceptive awareness and insecurity. The EI scales values were all different between the groups and consistently higher in the clinical populations. The differences between groups were even more striking for the EAT-26 scales; the clinical young women had the highest scores. The daughter-mother correlation for each scale in the clinical and non-clinical groups showed that the EDI-2 scales assessing eating behaviour, drive for thinness, bulimia and body dissatisfaction, were significantly related in the non clinical group but not in the clinical group. On the other side, the clinical group showed correlation for the scales assessing psychopathological traits such as perfectionism, interpersonal disrupt, enteroceptive awareness, impulsivity and insecurity. For EI scales the correlation was significant for disinhibition in the non clinical group. A correspondence was observed for dieting in the non clinical group and for food preoccupation in the clinical group. EDI-2, EI and EAT-26 scales assessing eating behaviour were strongly predictive of BMI in both groups.
CONCLUSIONS:
Maternal eating behaviour influences the young women; in particular mothers-daughters of the clinical group showed some problems, for which they still had to grow up and stand out. Finally, the control population revealed some eating disorders as well.
The Horizontal Access Module Seismic Attenuation System (HAM-SAS) is a mechanical device expressly designed to isolate a multipurpose optical table and fit in the tight space of the LIGO HAM ...Ultra-High-Vacuum chamber. Seismic attenuation in the detectors' sensitivity frequency band is achieved with state of the art passive mechanical attenuators. These devices should provide an attenuation factor of about 70dB above 10Hz at the suspension point of the Advanced LIGO triple pendulum suspension. Automatic control techniques are used to position the optical table and damp rigid body modes. Here, we report the main results obtained from the full scale prototype installed at the MIT LIGO Advanced System Test Interferometer (LASTI) facility. Seismic attenuation performance, control strategies, improvements and limitations are also discussed.
The behavioural factors that drive a normal weight woman to embark on a diet and to look for nutritional support in weight loss clinics are still not completely understood. A pilot cross-sectional ...study was carried out in 70 young (age range: 18-35 yr), normal weight women attending a weight loss clinic in South of Italy (Naples). They were compared to a population of 94 normal weight students (age range:17-23 yr) who had never attended a weight loss clinic. Subjects with eating disorders have been excluded. Weight and height were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Eating behaviour was assessed using a validated Italian version of the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI) questionnaire. The two groups were matched for BMI (22.4 vs 22.1 kg/m2), smoking and physical activity. Students were more educated and less likely to be on a diet at the time of the study. Students had statistically significant lower scores for drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, inadequacy and interpersonal disrupt. The bulimia scale was the only significant predictor (p<0.05) of BMI in the patients' group; body dissatisfaction (p<0.05) predicted BMI in the control group. This study has shown that weight concern and health awareness are not the only factors that lead a normal weight woman to look for nutritional counselling but there is an underlying substrate of psychological and social distress behind the request, which should be properly assessed before starting any nutritional therapy in the clinical practice.
Anti-epileptic drugs are increasingly used in the treatment of pain syndromes and neuropathic pain. Sodium channel blockers can be effective in the treatment of pain. The object of our interest is ...the efficiency of lamotrigine in treating the pain. A MEDLINE search was conducted to identify pertinent studies, case reports, letters, and reviews in English published from 1986 to May 2007. The search has indicated efficiency in treating a number of painful syndromes and neuropathic pain; central pain, trigeminal neuralgia and trigeminal neuralgia in multiple sclerosis, pain in multiple sclerosis, SUNCT syndrome, cluster headache, glossopharyngeal neuralgia, neuropathic pain, allodynia, neuralgia after nerve section, postherpetic neuralgia, HIV-associated neuropathy. Further researches are required on the role of lamotrigine in treating the spinal cord injury pain, neuralgia after nerve section, postoperative analgesic requirement, and in migraine (Tab. 1, Ref. 46). Full Text (Free, PDF) www.bmj.sk.
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