Performance of a narrow buffer strip in abating agricultural pollutants in the shallow subsurface water flux.

The performance of a narrow buffer strip in abating dissolved P, electrical conductivity and herbicides (terbuthylazine, alachlor, nicosulfuron, pendimethalin, linuron) in subsurface water coming from cropland was tested in an experiment carried out on the low plains of the Veneto Region (NE Italy). The experiment lasted from December 1997 to June 1999, monitoring subsurface water quality entering and exiting a buffer composed of a grass strip (5 m wide) and 1 m wide row of trees. Dissolved phosphorus concentrations were reduced by almost 100% passing through the buffer and in most cases exiting water satisfied the limit for avoiding eutrophication.

Abatement of NO3-N concentration in agricultural waters by narrow buffer strips.

The performance of narrow buffer strips in abating the NO3-N concentrations in the water coming from cropland was tested in an experiment carried out on the low plains of the Veneto Region (northeast Italy). The buffer was composed of a 5-m wide grass strip and a 1-m wide row of trees. Maize and wheat were cultivated in the neighbouring field during the monitoring period (December 1997-June 1999).

Prevention of postsurgical adhesions with an autocrosslinked hyaluronan derivative gel.

Background: ACP gel is a new crosslinked derivative of hyaluronic acid (HA) that displays the biocompatibility properties of its original polymer but has a higher viscosity. It has been demonstrated in an animal model that the gel reduces adhesions after gynecological surgery. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the efficacy of ACP gel in increasing viscosity for the prevention of adhesions after abdominal surgery.

Efficacy of a hyaluronan derivative gel in postsurgical adhesion prevention in the presence of inadequate hemostasis.

Background: We previously demonstrated that an auto-cross-linked hyaluronan-based antiadhesion agent (auto-cross-linked polysaccharide [ACP] gel) was effective in postsurgical adhesion prevention after open laparotomy and laparoscopic surgery with adequate hemostasis in animal models. This study assessed the ability of different preparations of ACP gel to prevent adhesions in the presence of bleeding or inadequate hemostasis.

Methods: Ninety-seven female rabbits were subjected to a standardized surgical lesion with subsequent exudative abdominal bleeding (oozing model), and 97 animals were subjected to a standardized surgical lesion with severe abdominal bleeding (bleeding model).

Nerve growth factor (NGF) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients with various neurological disorders.

It has been recently shown that NGF is not only involved in the survival and development of sympathetic and neural crest-derived sensory neurons, but also in some mechanisms of the immune system. For this reason, we studied the content of NGF in CSF samples from patients with diseases in which neuroimmunological mechanisms seem to be involved (multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer disease, chronic relapsing polyradiculoneuritis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and tumors of the nervous system), as well as from a number of normal control subjects. We setup an ELISA aimed at the beta subunit of NGF, obtaining good validation tests and a detection limit of 28 pg beta NGF per ml.