Determining the Permeability of Porous Bioceramic Scaffolds: Significance, Overview of Current Methods and Challenges Ahead.

The "architectural suitability" of scaffolds for bone tissue engineering is commonly evaluated by assessing the pore volume and the mean pore size (or pore size distribution, if possible) and comparing these values with the reference ranges of human cancellous bone. However, these two parameters cannot precisely describe the complex architecture of bone scaffolds and just provide a preliminary comparative criterion. Permeability is suggested as a more comprehensive and significant parameter to characterize scaffold architecture and mass transport capability, being also related to bone in-growth and, thus, functional properties.

Design, Stereolithographic 3D Printing, and Characterization of TPMS Scaffolds.

Anatomical and functional tissue loss is one of the most debilitating problems and involves a great cost to the international health-care sector. In the field of bone tissue, the use of scaffolds to promote tissue regeneration is a topic of great interest. In this study, a combination of additive manufacturing and computational methods led to creating porous scaffolds with complex microstructure and mechanical behavior comparable to those of cancellous bone.

Occurrence of Legionella in showers at recreational facilities.

Critical environments, including water systems in recreational settings, represent an important source of Legionella pneumophila infection in humans. In order to assess the potential risk for legionellosis, we analyzed Legionella contamination of water distribution systems in 36 recreational facilities equipped with swimming pools. One hundred and sixty water samples were analyzed from shower heads or taps located in locker rooms or in bathrooms.

Measuring the thickness of soap bubbles with phase-shift interferometry.

A model for the optical path difference introduced by a soap bubble in transmission is described. The model is then used with interferometric data to solve for the fringe order, and to define a procedure to extract the global film thickness in presence of turbulence flows occurring during the drainage process due to gravity. Experimental results on soap bubbles examined in single-pass phase-shift interferometry are presented.

Analytical solution for the modeling of the natural time-dependent reduction of waterborne viruses injected into fractured aquifers.

We propose an analytical solution in order to explain the processes that determine the fate and behavior of the viruses during transport in a fractured aquifer at Salento (Italy). The calculations yield the efficiency of filtration in fractures at a site near Nardò (Southern Italy) in reducing the numbers of enteric viruses (i.e.

A rare case of acral myxoinflammatory fibroblastic sarcoma at the hand.

One case of acral myxoinflammatory fibroblastic sarcoma is presented. Most of the soft tissue tumefactions of the distal extremities are benign. Sarcomas are rare and usually high grade.

The total anterior tenoarthrolysis in the treatment of the stiffness in flexion of the fingers.

The total anterior tenoarthrolysis (TATA) allows tenolysis, arthrolysis and skin repair in the same operation, avoiding combined different surgical procedures. The authors present a series of personal and original indications and propose a partial anterior tenoarthrolysis (PATA) for the treatment of isolated stiffness of the proximal interphalangeal joint or in the presence of less severe flexion contractures. The etiology was wide various, and the TATA revealed to be extremely useful also in tetraplegia or spasticity, permitting respectively the following tendon transfer and the hygienic improvement, and in the presence of global stiffness following complex lesions, reflex sympathetic algodystrophy or psychotic contracture.

[The birth of nanobiotechnologies: new nanomaterials, potential uses, toxic effects and implications for public health].

Nanotechnologies hold considerable promise of advances in many sectors especially the biomedical field, since the materials used are of the appropriate dimensions to interact with important biological matter such as proteins, DNA and viruses. In this field the use of nanotechnologies will probably be second in importance only to biotechnologies. However many characteristics of nanomaterials that make them so promising from a technological point of view may also lead to negative effects on the environment and human health.

Presence and environmental circulation of enteric viruses in three different wastewater treatment plants.

Aims: The aim of the work was to evaluate the circulation of the viruses and to determine a correlation between faecal indicators and viruses.

Methods And Results: Raw wastewater and effluent samples were collected from three wastewater treatment plants, during three sampling periods, and analysed, using cultural and molecular methods, to determine bacteria and virus presence. The results show a removal of bacterial indicators, but a limited reduction of the phages.

[Virus removal in conventional wastewater treatment process].

Little has been published in the scientific literature on the distribution of pathogenic viruses and on their removal in the different treatment phases in wastewater treatment plants in Italy. Recent advances in molecular biology have reduced analytic costs and allowed the detection of virus directly in the environment. This study evaluates the presence of enteric viruses and their removal in three treatment plants of different sizes and which use different treatment methods.

Enteric viruses in molluscan shellfish.

One hundred and thirty-seven bivalves were collected for environmental monitoring and the market; all the samples were analysed by RT-PCR test. Bacteriological counts meeting the European Union shellfish criteria were reached by 69.5% of all the samples, whereas the overall positive values for enteric virus presence were: 25.

Influence of enteric viruses on gastroenteritis in Albania: epidemiological and molecular analysis.

Gastroenteritis is one of the most important diseases in developing country and viral infections are well documented. To understand better the epidemiological aspect of gastroenteritis in Albania and especially viral gastroenteritis, one-year study was carried out with the cooperation of physicians working in the Paediatric Hospital in University Hospital Center "Mother Thereza" in Tirana. Three hundred thirteen stool samples were collected from children with diarrhoea and a questionnaire was filled by the health personnel for each child.

Comparison of the Innofluor certican assay with HPLC-UV for the determination of everolimus concentrations in heart transplantation.

Objectives: Therapeutic monitoring of everolimus with chromatographic methods (HPLC) enabled effective immunosuppression while limiting the incidence of drug-related adverse events. A fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) has been recently developed for the assessment of everolimus levels. The present study was designed to evaluate FPIA performance and to compare it to HPLC.

[AIDS and forensic medicine: II. the particular issues].

The article deals with some issues of forensic medicine relevance, as well as ethical one, about HIV+/AIDS condition, which still represent open problems in regulations and in the case-law. Particularly, in the light of the specific Italian regulations (namely, the Law 5 June 1990 no. 135), the Authors address the juridical fundaments of the care of HIV+/AIDS patients, reaffirming the obligation for all the healthcare professionals to give care in every case of infection from HIV.

[AIDS and forensic medicine. I. The framework of the debate].

The ethical debate regarding the AIDS is very rich both at the theoretical and practical level, but--unlike what it is happening for other sectors, e.g. the euthanasia--these two aspects are integrated, shaping a true interdisciplinary job of ethical evaluation, in which clinicians, medical examiners, ethicists, nurses, clinical psychologists, economists and politicians are met.

Identification and sequence analysis of hepatitis A virus detected in market and environmental bivalve molluscs.

In Italy in 1998, hepatitis A virus (HAV) was responsible for an infectious disease transmitted by contaminated bivalve molluscs. To determine the presence of HAV in the bivalves collected during a 1-year follow-up study, hepatitis A RNA was extracted and amplified by a nested reverse transcriptase-PCR method overlapping the VP1/2A region. The HAV genome was detected in 24 (14.

[Enteric viruses and bacteriological parameters in molluscs].

Eighty-seven samples of shellfish were collected considering: type of mollusc, origin, growing area, monitoring or for human purpose. The bacteriological parameters were: Fecal Coliforms, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella; whereas the virological parameters included: Hepatitis A and E virus, Rotavirus, Astrovirus and Enterovirus. In total, 63.

Nucleotide correlation between HAV isolates from human patients and environmental samples.

Hepatitis A disease is endemic in Albania even though records from the Medical Authority show outbreaks involving only limited numbers of people. In the city of Lac, 200 people became ill following an outbreak of hepatitis A started on November 2002. The age distribution of the cases shows a peak in the age group 5-9 (43.

Waterborne gastroenteritis outbreak in Albania.

Three different studies are reported concerning the environmental pollution caused by viruses in Albania. The first study describes an outbreak of gastroenteritis in the capital city, involving 2,722 children attending the Paediatric Unit of Tirana Hospital. The age group with the highest morbidity was 0-5 years, with 89.

Hepatitis in Albanian children: molecular analysis of hepatitis A virus isolates.

Hepatitis A is a common disease in developing countries and Albania has a high prevalence of this disease associated to young age. In spite of the occurrence of a unique serotype there are different genotypes classified from I to VII. Genotype characterisation of HAV isolates circulating in Albania has been undertaken, as well as the study of the occurrence of antigenic variants in the proteins VP3 and VP1.

A large infantile gastroenteritis outbreak in Albania caused by multiple emerging rotavirus genotypes.

By the end of December 2000, the epidemiological system 'Alert' of the Public Health Institute in Tirane reported an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis. The outbreak involved children in Tirane and in the rural area. In total, 2722 children were seen in Tirane Hospital and 982 (56.

[Virus transmission in drinking water].

Several epidemiological data confirm the presence of enteric viruses in drinking water. The present paper deals with several problems tied to the virological analysis, such as the concentration of the samples, the isolation and the identification of enteric viruses.

Concomitant poliovirus infection during an outbreak of hepatitis A.

Aim Of The Study: The present study was designed to evaluate the possible co-infection, with other enteric viruses, during an outbreak of hepatitis A (HA).

Material And Methods: Forty-two stool samples and sera were collected during an outbreak of hepatitis A. Sera were analysed by the Abbott test for IgG-IgM anti-HAV antibodies.

HAV and HEV infection in hospitalised hepatitis patients in Alexandria, Egypt.

A total of 202 serum and stool samples from acute hepatitis patients attending the Fever Hospital of Alexandria, Egypt, have been studied to reveal markers of hepatitis virus infection. Anti-HAV IgM were detected in 21 out of 202 sera (10.4%), whereas 201 sera (99.