370 research outputs found
Oncological and Functional Outcomes of Radical Cystectomy and Orthotopic Bladder Replacement in Women. Editorial comment
No full textDuring the last decades, orthotopic bladder substitution (OBS) after radical cystectomy for bladder cancer in women has been increasingly proposed. Meanwhile, strict patient selection criteria, improved surgical techniques, long-term follow-up in large patient cohorts, and validated evaluation have defined the role of OBS in men. Several issues must be clarified in women: oncological outcome, complication rates, functional results, quality of life, and sexual function. As a matter of fact, the results of OBS in women are substantially unchanged in the last decade as stated in this paper.
From the oncological standpoint, the patient outcome seems objectively satisfactory but selection criteria are different in the published series. Fortunately, the problem of urethra recurrence seems less relevant in properly selected patients.
However several issues are still a matter of debate. Functional results in terms of continence and hypercontinence are still unsatisfactory because the optimal way to reconstruct the pelvic anatomy is still undefined. Early and late complication rates are poorly evaluated. Little data are also available about the quality of life and sexual function.
Validated evaluation criteria in a large patient cohort are needed to objectively evaluate the results and to improve the substantially unchanged results reported in last decade. It's time to move forward!!
Taphonomy and evolution of Lower Jurassic lithiotid bivalve accumulations in the Apennine Carbonate Platform (southern Italy)
No full textLower Jurassic Tethyan and Panthalassan marine shallow-water successions are characterized by aberrant li- thiotid bivalves belonging to the Lithiotis Fauna. Their widespread occurrence, often in rock-forming abundance, represents a global biofacies, mostly restricted to the Pliensbachian–early Toarcian. Despite their wide occur- rence and their prominent role as carbonate producers in shallow-water platforms, the biogeographic and stratigraphic distribution of this group of bivalves and their evolutionary history are obscure, mostly because they commonly have not been identified at the generic or specific level. In particular, their evolution and demise in relation to important global palaeoenvironmental perturbations, such as the Pliensbachian-Toarcian boundary event and the early Toarcian oceanic anoxic event are not yet known in detail.
In the Apennine Carbonate Platform of southern Italy, the Lithiotis Member, in the upper part of the Lower Jurassic Palaeodasycladus Limestones Formation, is characterized by the abundant occurrence of lithiotid bi- valves. They disappear abruptly in the lowermost beds of the overlying Oolitic-oncolitic Limestones Formation, at the onset of the early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event. More than 60 lithiotid bivalve concentrations occur in a nearly 120 m-thick succession spectacularly exposed on freshly cut walls in a quarry west of Mercato San Severino (Salerno). Field observations on the taxonomic composition and fabric of the shell beds (packing, maximum shell size, degree of shell articulation and fragmentation) allowed to distinguish four taphofacies (A–D). Taphofacies A records the appearance and spreading of the lithiotids, with accumulations characterized mainly by small-sized and loosely packed shells. Taphofacies B records the acme of lithiotid bivalves, with densely packed accumulations of large shells. These two taphofacies yield prevailing articulated individuals, commonly in life position. Taphofacies C records a decrease of the shell packing and frequency of articulated shells. However, it is not clear whether this represents the beginning of a prolonged crisis or just the local response to less favourable environmental conditions around a sequence boundary. Taphofacies D consists of three shell beds, one in the uppermost part of the Lithiotis Member and two within the lowermost part of the Oolitic-oncolitic Limestones Formation, in the stratigraphic interval characterized by the negative carbon iso- tope excursion of the early Toarcian OAE. The bivalve shells of these two beds consist exclusively of dis- articulated and fragmented shells, possibly reworked from underlying levels. The demise of the lithiotids car- bonate factory in the Apennine Carbonate Platform and the extinction of the largest aberrant bivalves of the Lithiotis Fauna at the onset of the early Toarcian anoxic event were probably due to the physiological stress imposed by ocean acidification and increased nutrient input
Maximizing energy transfer and RES integration using dynamic thermal rating. Italian TSO experience
No full textThe production of electricity from wind and other renewable sources is rapidly increasing all over the world, causing significant changes in the management of electrical systems. The current structural asset is not adequate to manage this growing generation of energy. The hypothesis of construction of new power lines would mean taking into consideration economic, political and social problems. The following paper reports the experience gained by the Italian TSO, Terna S.p.A, on the use of the DTR (Dynamic Thermal Rating), which is able to dynamically calculate the real transport capacity of an overhead power line. The results obtained are en- couraging as they show how it is possible to increase, in safety, the energy flows on the lines compared to the static limit evaluations. There are many advantages for electric systems: optimizing energy vectors, reducing congestions, increasing reliability, developing smart grids. In this document, after a brief illustration of the architecture of the DTR system, the authors report the results of two successful applications in the Italian HV electrical system for RES integration: a wind case and a hydroelectric one
Crambus varii Bassi & I- & To 2012, n.sp.
No full textCrambus varii n.sp. Figs 10, 24, 26 HOLOTYPE: TMSA, without registration number; ♀; [RSA, Western Cape, 33°57’S, 22°32’E] Saasveld George, C [ape] P[rovince], South Africa, H. Geertsema; 26.8.1964; Holotype Crambus varii n. sp. G. Bassi det. 1995, TMSA, (not dissected). PARATYPES (all from RSA): TMSA, without registration number; 1♀; same data as holotype. - TMSA, without registration number; 1♀; idem, 2.2.[19]65 - TMSA, without registration number; 1♀; idem, 1-10.II.1965. - TMSA, without registration number; 1♀; idem, 5.I.1965. - TMSA, without registration number; 13; idem, 26.XII.1964. - TMSA, without registration number; 13; idem, 1.1.1965. - TMSA, without registration number; 1♀; idem, 16.9.1964, De Fin. - TMSA, without registration number; 13; Kogelberg C [ape] P[rovince], Nature Reserve; 6-13.III.1983; Kroon & Molekane, GS 3330 GB. - TMSA, without registration number; 13; Cape Prov[ince], Kogelberg (34 18 BD), 23 Mar[ch] 1981, D.M. Kroon, GS 4193 GB. - TMSA, without registration number; 13; Stellenbosch; 3.3.’[19]21; Ch. K. Brain. - TMSA, without registration number; 13; 1♀, Vyeboom, Caledon Distr[ict]; 10.II.1954; L. Vári, GS 3300 GB. - TMSA, without registration number; 1♀; Saasveld; 5.I.[19]65. - MFNB, without registration number; 2♀♀; RSA, Bontebok NP, Swellendam; 14. 16.XI.1993; leg. Mey & Ebert. - CB, without registration number; 13; Saasveld, C.P.; 23.XII.1964; H. Geertsema, GS 5235 GB. - CB, without registration number; 1♀; Algeria Forestry, Clanwilliam Distr.; 4-10.III.1969; Potgieter & Strydom, GS 5240 GB. - MHNG, without registration number; 1♀, Worcester, Amandel spruit; 18.X.1966; Vári & Potgieter. – TMSA and CB (13), without registration number; 233; 2♀♀, Tsitsikam[m]a Goesabos Forestry; 13-22.III.1979; Potgieter & Scoble. - TMSA, without registration number; 1♀; Cape Prov[ince], Tsitsikam[m]a forest, Goesabos, 33 23 DD; 13-22 Mar 1979; J. Potgieter & M. Scoble, GS 3850 GB. - TMSA, without registration number; 1♀; Tsitsikam [m]a, Ou-brug; 17.III.1979; Potgieter & Scoble. ETYMOLOGY: The species is dedicated to Lajos Vári of the TMSA, author of very valuable entomological collections in Southern Africa. DIAGNOSIS: The combination of forewings without separated submarginal area, male genitalia with fully developed uncus, phallus with dorsoapical tooth and strong cornuti, and female genitalia with very large and strongly sclerotized ostium characterize this species among African Crambus. DESCRIPTION (Fig. 10): Wingspan: male 20-21 mm, female 25-27 mm. Labial palpi 4 X longer than widest diameter of eye, with inner side white and outer side brown with upper margin and tip white. Maxillary palpi white with brown basis. Frons clearly produced, rounded, white. Antennae brown, with silvery costa, serrate in male, simple in female. Ocelli and chaetosemata moderately developed. Head white, with few chestnut brown scales in middle. Patagium laterally brown, white medially. Tegulae dark brown. Thorax white. Abdomen bronze brown to whitish, suffused brown. Forewings ground color bronze brown, lighter in dorsal area; costal area white, wide, and white suffused with chestnut brown toward apex; female with more pointed apex; medial stripe wide, white, reaching outer margin; veins marked by white scales toward outer margin; outer margin with seven subterminal dots, more developed in female; fringes with both short and long scales white with silvery bronzed tip, thus appearing white with medial and terminal lines silvery bronzed. Hindwings white with brown suffusion; fringes white. Fore and midlegs bronze brown; hindlegs whitish, suffused bronze brown. MALE GENITALIA (Fig. 26): Uncus long, sinuous, pointed, moderately bent downward and sclerotized. Two large and spatulate socii cover up to two thirds of length of uncus. Gnathos one third longer than uncus, with apex rounded and bent downward. Tegumen with large base, partially fused with vinculum. Vinculum stout, with large subtriangular dorsal extension. Pseudosaccus small. Valva wide, with membranous cucullus, with well developed and pointed costal and saccular processes and small medial process lamellar. Phallus slightly shorter than whole apparatus, with large subapical tooth; vesica with 5 subtriangular cornuti. FEMALE GENITALIA (Fig. 24): Papillae anales divided into two lobes and apophyses posteriores of medium size. Apophyses anteriores absent. Abdominal segment VIII with narrow tergite and strong and complex sternite. Ostium bursae very large and sclerotized. Ductus bursae longer than corpus bursae, sinuous, sclerotized in proximal two thirds, then fibrous. Ostium and ductus bursae spiculate. Ductus seminalis opening in distal third of ductus bursae. Corpus bursae with two well developed signa. DISTRIBUTION: RSA, Western Cape and Eastern Cape at Tsitsikamma. REMARKS: The presence of socii and both costal and saccular processes relates this species to C. pascuella; female genitalia are also reminiscent of some other Crambus, such as heringiellus Herrich-Schäffer.Published as part of Bassi, Graziano, 2012, New Afrotropical species of the genus Crambus Fabricius, 1798 (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae, Crambinae), pp. 269-286 in Revue suisse de Zoologie 119 (3) on pages 284-286, DOI: 10.5962/bhl.part.150195, http://zenodo.org/record/611826
Verso una politica del limite? Note sul potere e l’azione nel lessico politico di Hannah Arendt
No full textThe starting point of this essay is the Arendtian critique of violence taken as the main interpretative key of the “immense polemic" entertained by the author with the Western philosophical-political tradition. Following this theoretical path, the paper intends to discuss some recurring terms in Arendt’s lexicon. Identifying in Montesquieu and then in Rosa Luxemburg two essential references for the author of The Human Condition, the essay analyzes the questions of the limit and the divisibility of power. The thesis is that, if inserted
in this interpretative frame, Arendt does not belong to the liberal tradition. The theory of action, the praise of the councils and the historical experiences of self-government along with a relational and non-violent conception of power and law are elements that allow us to identify clear radical and libertarian tendencies in Hannah Arendt's thought
Verso una politica del limite? Note sul potere e l’azione nel lessico politico di Hannah Arendt
No full textThe starting point of this essay is the Arendtian critique of violence taken as the main interpretative key of the “immense polemic" entertained by the author with the Western philosophical-political tradition. Following this theoretical path, the paper intends to discuss some recurring terms in Arendt’s lexicon. Identifying in Montesquieu and then in Rosa Luxemburg two essential references for the author of The Human Condition, the essay analyzes the questions of the limit and the divisibility of power. The thesis is that, if inserted in this interpretative frame, Arendt does not belong to the liberal tradition. The theory of action, the praise of the councils and the historical experiences of self-government along with a relational and non-violent conception of power and law are elements that allow us to identify clear radical and libertarian tendencies in Hannah Arendt's thought
Andrea Caffi e Hannah Arendt. Appunti per un dialogo postumo [Andrea Caffi and Hannah Arendt. Notes for a Posthumous Dialogue]
No full textThe current paper primarily compares Caffi’s essay Violence and Sociability (1946) to Arendt’s essay On Violence (1969). Starting from the historical context of «politics», the journal that published Violence and Sociability and for which Arendt was a contributor, I will reconstruct the common themes that emerge from their reflections. Through demonstrating the comparability of Caffi’s thought with Arendtian political theory, the aim is to argue that Caffi is an author unjustly condemned to oblivion
Ola Segnestam Larsson, Standardizing Civil Society: Interpreting organizational development in the tension between instrumentalism and expressivism, Santérus Academic Press, Stockholm, 2011, pp. 280
No full textThe author checks his hypothesis against three case studies of international cooperation in Nicaragua selected from the Sida database, which, in the period 2004–2010, had 500 worldwide projects focused on ‘‘organizational development’’.
The first project—‘‘Strengthening an organization of people with disabilities’’— consisted of an organizational mixture including an organization in Sweden, a federative civil society organization in Sweden, a Danish intermediate organization,
a consortium of Nicaraguan civil society organizations and a civil society organization in Nicaragua. The main aim was to enhance the ‘‘administrative, organizational, labour and technical capacity’’ of the Nicaraguan organization. The
second project—‘‘Supporting an independent, democratic trade union’’—involved two labour organizations for teachers (one Swedish and one Nicaraguan), and a policy organization in Sweden. The focus was on institutional support to the
Nicaraguan organization in order to improve its capacity of recruiting members, affiliating more local labour organizations and strengthening the role of women. The third project—‘‘Empowering a Christian youth organization’’—aimed at training youth leaders. It was based on the collaboration between two Christian youth organizations: one from Sweden and the other from Nicaragua. A Swedish policy organization was also involved
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