Assessing of detached breakwaters and beach nourishment environmental impacts in Italy: a review.

Coastal regions are exposed to natural phenomena such as sea waves, sea level rise, climate change, and flooding events. These factors, along with human pressures, lead to an increase in coastal erosion. In response, hard engineering measures were realized as breakwaters and groins, to oppose erosion processes along the sandy beaches of the Italian coastline.

In Vitro and In Vivo Biocompatibility Studies on Engineered Fabric with Graphene Nanoplatelets.

To produce clothes made with engineered fabrics to monitor the physiological parameters of workers, strain sensors were produced by depositing two different types of water-based inks (P1 and P2) suitably mixed with graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) on a fabric. We evaluated the biocompatibility of fabrics with GNPs (GNP fabric) through in vitro and in vivo assays. We investigated the effects induced on human keratinocytes by the eluates extracted from GNP fabrics by the contact of GNP fabrics with cells and by seeding keratinocytes directly onto the GNP fabrics using a cell viability test and morphological analysis.

Round-Robin Tests with Relocatable Coverslips Improve Asbestos Fibre Counting.

Asbestos fibre counting by phase-contrast microscope is subject to many sources of variation, including those dependent on the analyst. In this study, asbestos sample slides prepared with relocatable coverslips have been used for fibre counting among voluntary analysts to evaluate their proficiency. One slide of amosite and one of chrysotile were distributed to all the analysts, and three proficiency testing rounds were conducted for amosite and four for chrysotile.

Label-free magnetic nanoparticles-based electrochemical immunosensor for atrazine detection.

This work presents the realization of a label-free electrochemical immunosensor for the quick, cheap, and straightforward determination of atrazine. This biodevice is based on developing a technological platform where a gold screen printed electrode (Au-SPE) surface was modified by the electrodeposition of a highly porous gold layer. As an internal probe redox, a Prussian Blue thin layer (PB) was then electrosynthetized onto the modified Au-SPE.

Comparison of MRI, PET, and 18F-choline PET/MRI in patients with oligometastatic recurrent prostate cancer.

Objectives: The aims of the study were (i) to examine the PCa detection rate of 18F-choline (FCH) PET/MRI and (ii) to assess the impact of PET/MRI findings in patients with PCa who develop OMD using PSA response as a biomarker.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a cohort of 103 patients undergoing FCH PET/MRI for biochemical recurrence of PCa. The inclusion criteria were (1) previous radical prostatectomy (RP) with or without adjuvant radiotherapy (RT); (2) PSA levels available at the time of PET; (3) OMD, defined as a maximum of 5 lesions on PET/MRI; and (4) follow-up data available for at least 6 months after PET.

Analysis of major pollutants and physico-chemical characteristics of PM2.5 at an urban site in Rome.

Air quality data from a one year study at an urban roadside location in Rome are reported for major pollutants. Continuous concentration data of carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, aromatic hydrocarbons and natural radioactivity were measured in the urban air of Rome from January 2016 to January 2017. Moreover, PM mass concentration and physico-chemical characteristics of single constituent particles are herein reported.

AuNPs-functionalized PANABA-MWCNTs nanocomposite-based impedimetric immunosensor for 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid detection.

In this work, we developed an impedimetric label-free immunosensor for the detection of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxy Acetic Acid (2,4-D) herbicide either in standard solution and spiked real samples. For this purpose, we prepared by electropolymerization a conductive polymer poly-(aniline-co-3-aminobenzoic acid) (PANABA) then we immobilized anti-2,4-D antibody onto a nanocomposite AuNPs-PANABA-MWCNTs employing the carboxylic moieties as anchor sites. The nanocomposite was synthesized by electrochemical polymerization of aniline and 3-aminobenzoic acid, in the presence of a dispersion of gold nanoparticles, onto a multi-walled carbon nanotubes-based screen printed electrode.

Ultrasonographic evaluation of piecemeal deglutition in normal adults.

Objectives: To evaluate the range of multiple swallowing in normal subjects by ultrasonography.

Methods: Twenty-two normal subjects swallowed 5 or 10 ml of tap water or a semisolid meal.

Results: With water multiple swallows were seen in 41% of the subjects examined and was related to the volume of the bolus:18% of the cases were 5 ml and 36% were 10 ml.

Physiology of oral swallowing studied by ultrasonography.

The aim of the study was to identify a number of sonographic landmarks in the evaluation of the oral phase of swallowing. Forty non-dysphagic adults (average age 38 years) and 20 normal bottle-fed newborns (average age 13 days) were submitted to videorecorded sonographic examination using two types of transducers (5 and 7.5 MHz).

[Radiology of chronic intestinal insufficiency].

Impaired intestinal function, negatively affecting food digestion and absorption, is called chronic intestinal failure (CIF). The clinical conditions leading to CIF are: fistulas, wide resections and severe damage to small bowel, and chronic intestinal stasis. In the etiology of CIF, the most frequent conditions are: Crohn's disease, postoperative peptic ulcer, mesenteric arteriopathy, radiation enteropathy, acute pancreatitis, jejunoileal diverticulosis and intestinal pseudo-obstruction.

[Intestinal tuberculosis. The radiologic aspects of a disease not to be overlooked].

Intestinal tuberculosis still exists in the Western world, where it is usually underestimated and often mistaken for Crohn's ileo-colitis or cancer. The authors report the results of 4 cases of intestinal tuberculosis observed between 1983 and 1988. The cases are discussed in the light of the epidemiological data emerging from a review of recent medical literature.

[Radiologic assessment of extent of ulcerative colitis in acute phase].

One of the major reference points for both prognosis and treatment of ulcerative colitis is the assessment of its extent. Plain abdominal radiographs were performed on 97 patients previously diagnosed, by means of rectoscopy and histobiopsy, as having acute ulcerative colitis. Within the following 36 hours they underwent either full colonoscopy or colectomy.

[Rehabilitation of oro-pharyngeal dysphagia of neurogenic etiology using radiological examination: preliminary results].

Dysphagia is more frequently observed in patients with neurologic diseases (stroke, bulbar or pseudo-bulbar syndrome, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, cranial trauma). Furthermore, the presence of this pathology is obviously more frequently noted in the light of the increase in the length of the human life span. It has become evident that alternative feeding procedures such as the nasogastric tube or gastrostomy may bring about complications and deprive patients of the oral phase of deglutition which plays a leading role in stimulating digestive functions.

[The echographic visualization of the lingual bolus. The reference point in a study of dysphagia].

The videotape recording of the cinefluorographic images obtained with barium swallowing, proved to be very useful in studying pharyngo-esophageal motility. On the contrary, the method failed to be exhaustive in the study of the oral phase of swallowing. In 1983 Shawker et al.

[Diverticula of the pharyngoesophageal area].

Hypopharyngeal diverticula are relatively unknown, with the exception of Zenker's diverticulum. Spot-camera and videorecording techniques were employed for the examination of 95 dysphagic and 250 asymptomatic patients. On the whole, 345 cases.

[The extent of Crohn's disease. Radiological measurements. Correlation with surgical findings].

Twenty-three patients with small intestinal Crohn's disease were studied by barium-methylcellulose infusion. All patients underwent surgery within 1-24 months (average 7 months). The extent of the lesions and the small bowel length were radiologically evaluated by means of a map measurer.

Small bowel length measured by radiography.

The jejunoileal length was measured on double-contrast small bowel enema radiographs, obtained from 10 patients who had been investigated for abdominal pain. Previous endoscopic and radiologic examinations had excluded lesions of the upper and lower GI tract. The length of the small bowel ranged from 230 to 370 cm, with an average length of 280 cm.

[Double-contrast study of the small intestine using enteroclysis. Considerations on the results in 250 patients].

The value of double contrast small bowel enema via duodenal intubation using barium sulphate and methylcellulose as contrast media was assessed in 250 patients. In cases of small bowel obstruction it represented the first-line investigation after a plain abdominal film. It was performed electively in patients of painful bowel syndrome, in cases of malabsorption, in cases of endoscopically or radiologically diagnosed colitis and in patients with Crohn's disease.