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We reply to the comments of De Natale and Pino (2013) on the paper ‘Are the source models of the M 7.1 1908 Messina Straits earthquake reliable? Insights from a novel inversion and sensitivity analysis of levelling data’ by Aloisi et al. (2012, Geophys. J. Int., 192, 1025– 1041). We entirely reject their speculative comments and confirm our viewpoint about the impossibility of discriminating between the two oppositely dipping fault models on the basis of the levelling data alone;we state again that their role as a keystone formodellers is untenable. The comments of De Natale and Pino (2013) are welcomed insofar they give us the possibility to improve our previous analysis, and to criticize the mainstream hypothesis favouring to a low-angle East dipping fault in the Sicilian side of the Messina Straits as responsible of the 1908 destructive earthquake.

For decades, many authors have attempted to define the location, geometry and kinematics of the causative fault for the 1908 December 28, M 7.1 earthquake that struck the Messina Straits between Sicily and Calabria (southern Italy). The coseismic displacement caused a predominant downwarping of the Straits and small land uplift away from it, which were documented by levelling surveys performed 1 yr before and immediately after the earthquake. Most of the source models based on inversion of levelling data suggested that the earthquake was caused by a low angle, east-dipping blind normal fault, whose upper projection intersects the Earth surface on the Sicilian (west) side of the Messina Straits.An alternative interpretation holds that the causative fault is one of the high-angle, west-dipping faults located in southern Calabria, on the eastern side of the Straits, and may in large part coincide with the mapped Armo Fault. Here, we critically review the levelling data with the aim of defining both their usefulness and limits in modelling the seismogenic fault. We demonstrate that the levelling data alone are not capable of discriminating between the two oppositely dipping fault models, and thus their role as a keystone for modellers is untenable. However, new morphotectonic and geodetic data indicate that the Armo Fault has very recent activity and is accumulating strain. The surface observations, together with appraisal ofmacroseismic intensity distribution, available seismic tomography and marine geophysical evidence, lends credit to the hypothesis that the Armo and possibly the S. Eufemia faults are part of a major crustal structure that slipped during the 1908 earthquake.

To assess the natural story of HIV-associated affective and cognitive disorders and the relationship with clinical, pharmacological, immunological and behavioural factors.

The 'RISchio CArdiovascolare nei pazienti afferenti all' Area Vasta In Dialisi' (RISCAVID) study is an observational and prospective trial including the whole chronic haemodialysis (HD) population in the northwest part of Tuscany (1.235 million people). The aim of the study was to elucidate the relevance of traditional and non-traditional risk factors of mortality and morbidity in HD patients as well as the impact of different HD modalities.A total of 757 HD patients (mean age 66 +/- 14 years, mean dialytic age 70 +/- 76 months, diabetes 19%) were prospectively followed up for 30 months and all-cause mortality, cardiovascular (CV) mortality and non-fatal CV events (acute myocardial infarction and stroke) were registered. At the time of the enrolment, demographic, clinical and laboratory data of the whole population were entered into a centralized database. Serum albumin, high-sensitive C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) were centrally determined at the start of the study. Patients were stratified into three groups according to the HD modality: standard bicarbonate HD (BHD) (n = 424), haemodiafiltration (HDF) with sterile bags (n = 204) and online HDF (n = 129). The Cox proportional hazards regression assessed adjusted differences in CV morbidity and mortality risk; a multivariate analysis was also performed.All-cause and CV mortality was 12.9%/year and 5.9%/year, respectively. Patients with combined high levels of CRP and pro-inflammatory cytokines showed an increased risk for CV (RR 1.9, P0.001) and all-cause mortality (RR 2.57, P0.001). Multivariate analysis adjusted for comorbidity and demographic showed CRP as the most powerful mortality predictor (P0.001) followed by IL-6. The Cox proportional hazards regression assessed that online HDF and HDF patients had a significantly increased adjusted cumulative survival than BHD (P0.01).Data at 30 months from this study showed the synergic effect of CRP and pro-inflammatory cytokines as the strong predictors of all-cause and CV mortality. HDF was associated with an improved cumulative survival independent of the dialysis dose.

We present an improved rendition of the geodetic velocity and strain fields in Sicily and southern Calabria obtained through the analysis of 18 years of GPS observations from continuous and survey station networks. The dense spatial coverage of geodetic data provides precise quantitative estimates of previously established first-order active kinematic features, including: i) a narrow east-west-elongated belt of contraction (1–1.5 mm/yr) extending offshore northern Sicily from Ustica to Stromboli across the Aeolian Islands; ii) a narrow east-west-trending contractional belt located along the northern rim of the Hyblean Plateau in southern Sicily, with shortening at up to 4.4 mm/yr; iii) right motion (3.6 mm/yr) on the Aeolian-Tindari-Letojanni fault (ATLF) system, a main shear zone extending from the Aeolian Islands to the Ionian coast of Sicily, with significant transpression and transtension partitioned between discrete sectors of the fault; iv) transtension (1 mm/yr) across the Sicily Channel between Sicily and North Africa. We use geodetic observations coupled to geological constraints to better elucidate the interplay of crustal blocks revealed in the investigated area. In particular, we focus on the ATLF, which forms the primary boundary between the Sicilian and Calabrian blocks. The ATLF juxtaposes north-south contraction between Sicily and the Tyrrhenian block with northwest-southeast extension in northeastern Sicily and Calabria. Contraction between Sicily and Tyrrhenian blocks probably arises from the main Europe-Nubia convergence, although Sicily has a component of lateral motion away from Nubia. We found that convergence is not restricted to the northern offshore, as commonly believed, but is widely accommodated between the frontal belt and the northern rim of the Hyblean foreland in southern Sicily. Geodetic data also indicate that active right shear on the ATLF occurs to the southeast of the mapped fault array in northern Sicily, suggesting the fault cuts through till the Ionian coast of the island. The small geodetic divergence between the Hyblean and Apulian blocks rimming on both sides the Calabria block and subjacent Ionian slab, coupled with marine geophysical evidences in the Ionian Sea lends credit to the proposed deep root of the ATLF and to a fragmentation of the Ionian domain.

REWAS'04 - Global Symposium on Recycling, Waste Treatment and Clean Technology -- 26 September 2004 through 29 September 2004 -- Madrid -- 66513 In the present work, the vitrification of flotation waste from Turkish copper production plant was studied. Two batches were obtained by mixing the flotation waste with blast furnace slag and zeolite tuff, and with glass cullet, sand and limestone, respectively. The melting was carried out at 1400°C for 30-40 min. One of the glasses showed a high crystallization trend and was used to obtain glass-ceramics by bulk crystallization; the other composition was characterised by low crystallization ability and was used to obtain a granite- like sintered material. The crystallization was evaluated by DTA while the crystal phases formed were identified by XRD. The structure of the final materials was observed by optical and scanning electron microscopy.