474 research outputs found
Takayasu’s arteritis: a cell mediated large vessel vasculitis
No full textTakayasu's arteritis is an idiopathic, systemic inflammatory disease, typically involving the aorta and its main branches. Cell-mediated autoimmunity has been strongly implicated in its pathogenesis. Early or active-stage pathology consists of continuous or patchy granulomatous inflammation, which progresses to intimal and adventitial fibrosis and scarring of the media. Multiple focal or segmental stenoses result and aneurysms may occasionally occur. Clinical presentation is heterogeneous, ranging from asymptomatic to catastrophic. In some patients, constitutional signs and symptoms indicating a systemic inflammatory response are observed, usually in the early stages. Specific features reflect arterial involvement, and result from end-organ or limb ischemia; they include vascular, neurological, cardiac, and pulmonary manifestations. The course of Takayasu's arteritis usually extends for many years with varying degrees of activity. Takayasu's arteritis has a worldwide distribution, with the greatest prevalence in eastern countries. Women of reproductive age are preferentially affected, but the illness is being recognized with increasing frequency in males. Variable phenotypes are recently emerging in different ethnic groups. Diagnosis is based on clinical features and vascular imaging studies that document typical patterns of stenoses or aneurysms of the aorta and its primary branches. Assessment of the activity of Takayasu's arteritis is imprecise, in that clinical features and acute-phase reactants do not accurately reflect active blood vessel inflammation. High-dose corticosteroids alone or a cytotoxic agent in addition to a corticosteroid may be effective in treating active disease. Critical lesions may require correction by surgery or interventional radiology
Application of Multivariate Analysis Techniques for Selecting Soil Physical Quality Indicators: A Case Study in Long-Term Field Experiments in Apulia (Southern Italy)
No full textLong-term field experiments and multivariate analysis techniques represent research tools that may improve our knowledge on soil physical quality (SPQ) assessment. These techniques allow us to measure relatively stable soil conditions and to improve soil quality judgment, thereby reducing uncertainties. A monitoring of SPQ under long-term experiments, aimed at comparing crop residue management strategies (burning vs. incorporation of straw, FE1) and soil management (minimum tillage vs. no tillage, FE2), was established during the crop growing season of durum wheat. The relationships between five SPQ indicators (bulk density [BD], macroporosity [PMAC], air capacity [AC], plant available water capacity [PAWC], and relative field capacity [RFC]) were evaluated, and two techniques of multivariate analysis (principal component analysis and stepwise discriminant analysis) were applied to select key indicators for SPQ assessment. According to the used indicators, an SPQ from optimal to intermediate (i.e., not definitely poor) was detected in 65% of the observations in FE1 and in 54% in FE2. The main results showed a significant negative relationship between RFC and AC, and multivariate analysis identified RFC as a key SPQ indicator, mainly in FE2. Plant available water capacity and BD showed the highest discriminating capability in the FE1 dataset. The highest scores of RFC assessment were highlighted for burning and minimum tillage treatments (+1 and +2). An optimal AC range, derived from optimal RFC limits, was obtained and was suggested to better assess the AC of agricultural soils (0.10 ≤ AC ≤ 0.26 cm3 cm-3). © 2019 The Author(s)
Different Suitability of Olive Cultivars Resistant to Xylella fastidiosa to the Super-Intensive Planting System
No full textUntil today, only Leccino and Fs-17 (=Favolosa®) olive cultivars proved resistant to Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca (Xfp) due to a low presence of bacteria in the xylem. Integrated disease management in olive growing areas threatened by the spread of Xfp is crucial to overcoming the environmental, economic and social crisis. Since the EU Decision allows for the plantation of resistant olive cultivars in infected areas, there is a need to define a suitable plantation system for these cultivars. The adoption of new planting systems, such as intensive and super-intensive (SHD), could compensate for the economic losses and restore the olive agroecosystem. The aim is to ascertain the suitability of the available Xfp-resistant cultivars to SHD planting systems that demonstrate the best economic and environmental sustainability. Hence, a five-year study was established in an experimental SHD olive orchard (Southern Italy) in order to analyse the main vegetative and productive traits of Leccino and Fs-17, together with four other Italian cultivars (Cipressino, Coratina, Frantoio and Urano), compared with the well-adapted cultivars to SHD orchards (Arbequina and Arbosana), by means of the von Bertalanffy function. The results indicated that cv. Fs-17 showed sufficient suitability for SHD planting systems, giving the best-accumulated yield despite some canopy growth limitations, whereas cv. Leccino did not show satisfactory results in terms of both vegetative and yield parameters, confirming its suitability for intensive planting systems. These results are useful for optimizing integrated resistance management in Xfp-infected areas by planting resistant host plants
Improved Beerkan run methodology to assess water impact effects on infiltration and hydraulic properties of a loam soil under conventional- and no-tillage
No full textBeerkan infiltration experiments with three water pouring heights (low, L = 3 cm; intermediate, M = 100 cm; high, H = 200 cm) were performed on both a no-tilled (NT) and a conventionally tilled (CT) bare loam soil to determine the surface soil hydraulic properties by the BEST-steady algorithm. Saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, Ks, significantly and monotonically decreased from the L to the H runs (from 236 to 37 mm h‒1) and lower Ks values were detected under CT (163–23 mm h‒1) than NT (346–51 mm h‒1) for each water pouring height. For both soil management practices, the gravitational potential energy, Ep, of the water used for the infiltration runs, explained most of the variance in the mean Ks values. According to the fitted relationships, an increase of Ep from 50 to 3,327 J m‒2 determined a Ks decrease by a factor of 9.5 in the CT soil and 6.3 in the NT soil. The CT soil was 2.1 and 3.3 times less conductive than the NT soil with the lowest and the highest energy, respectively. The water retention scale parameter, hg, only varied between non-perturbing (L) and perturbing (M, H) runs because |hg| increased from 55 to 93–100 mm. Therefore, water impact can greatly influence hydrodynamic properties of the upper soil layer regardless of the management practice. The tested infiltration methodology looks promising to mimic effects of relatively high energy rainfall events and to determine the hydraulic properties of the exposed soil layer under different management practices
Hygienic sustainability of site-location of wastewater treatment plants. I. Estimating odour emission impact
No full textBy reference to the wastewater treatment plant of Taranto (Apulia Region, S. Italy), a typical Mediterranean city, an odour impact assessment has been carried out in order to evaluate the annoyance for the population living in the neighbourhood. In adverse weather conditions ("worst scenario"), the study indicated a limited off-site odour impact at the 300 m setback distance dictated by local regulation
- …
