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This study explores the controversy over priests practicing medicine in 18th-century Milan. The analysis of existing norms, exceptions, and contemporary reflections highlights the tensions between ecclesiastical directives, civil laws, and the practical and social needs of the period. Among the issues addressed are the role of the state in regulating the professions, the relationship between religion and medicine, and the challenges associated with reconciling spiritual ideals with human and social needs.

Electrochemotherapy is an effective treatment for various cutaneous tumors and could be translated into treatment of deep-seated tumors. With this aim, a prospective clinical phase I/II study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility and safety of intraoperative Electrochemotherapy (ECT) in locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma: the preliminary results are reported in this study. The secondary endpoint was to assess treatment response in terms of morphological and functional criteria based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Eleven consecutive patients were enrolled in a clinical phase I/II study approved by the Ethics Committee of the National Cancer Institute G. Pascale Foundation - IRCCS of Naples. Electrochemotherapy with bleomycin was performed during open surgery. All patients underwent MR and CT scan, before and after ECT treatment, using morphological and functional imaging. RECIST criteria were used to evaluate ECT response on CT and MR images. Functional parameters were also used to evaluate ECT response on MR images. No acute (intraoperative) and/or postoperative serious adverse events related to electrochemotherapy were observed; no clinically significant electrocardiographic, hemodynamic, or serum biologic changes were noted. No clinically relevant elevation of amylase or lipase levels was observed and no bleeding or damage to surrounding viscera occurred. Electrochemotherapy of locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma proved to be a feasible and safe treatment modality. Dynamic and diffusion MR imaging is more suitable to assess ECT treatment response than CT imaging and morphological MR alone, after one month of treatment.

Conformational analysis of fluorinated copolymers of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) is performed by taking into account only intramolecular effects (isolated-chain model). In particular, variations of the chain conformation, which are induced by incorporating different side groups, such as -Cl, -CF3, -OCF3, -OCF2CF3, and -OCF(CF3)2, are investigated and discussed with respect to qualitative correlations between conformation, crystal structure, and supramolecular morphology.

It is shown that the rearrangement of phenylacetic acid hydrazides obtained from 8-substituted N-amino-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines under the influence of PCl5 proceeds through a step involving the formation of a cyclohexadienoneimine derivative (which was isolated and characterized), which is formed by attack on the 10 position of the tetrahydroquinoline ring. A subsequent 1,3-sigmatropic shift of the cyanobenzyl group leads to nitriles of [6-(8-R-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolyl)]phenylacetic acids. The possibility of their formation through another cyclohexadienoneimine intermediate (formed as a result of attack at the 8 position) is assumed. The nature and pathways for the formation of the side products in the rearrangement were ascertained.

A review of the literature data on the Fischer synthesis of indoles from 2,6-disubstituted arylhydrazones is given. As a result of their own experimental studies of the indolization of hydrazones from 8-R-N-amino-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines the authors established that no less than five different transformations of the cyclohexadienoneimine intermediate, including 1,2 and 1,4 shifts and splitting out of the substituent, may follow attack on the 8 position of the tetrahydroquinoline ring. Attack in the 10 position of the tetrahydroquinoline ring leads to another cyclohexadienoneimine, which undergoes indolization with the loss of apropylamine chain via a different mechanism. It was proved by experiments with labeled compounds that 1,3 migration of the methyl group (R=CH3) is the result of a double 1,2 shift, while the 1,4 shift is a direct reaction.

Plasma levels of clozapine and its major metabolites,N-desmethylclozapine and clozapine-N-oxide, were measured in 18 schizophrenic patients at different times (4, 6 and 24 weeks) during the course of treatment with multiple doses of the drug, by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV detection. Plasma levels of clozapine andN-desmethylclozapine were significantly higher in females than in males after 4 and 6 weeks, but not after 24 weeks, of treatment. No sex difference was found at any time with respect to plasma levels of clozapine-N-oxide.

The reactions of Cp2MtMeCl (Cp = η5-C5H5, Mt = Ti, Zr, Me = CH3) with AlMe3 and with MeAl[OAl2H4]2O, as a model of the cocatalytic site of methylalumoxane (MAO), were studied by means of DFT quantum-mechanical calculations. The energy required to form the Cp2MtMe⁺ cation from dissociation of Cp2MtMeCl·AlMe3 and different kinds of chlorine-bridged and oxygen-bridged Cp2MtMeCl· MAO model adducts accounts for the higher cocatalytic activity exhibited by methylalumoxane with respect to AlMe3 in olefin polymerization. Both the presence of highly acidic aluminum atoms and negative charge dispersion power of XMAO^- macroanions (X = Cl, Me) are essential features in determining low dissociation energies. Possible key roles played by monomer and AlMe3 content of MAO in affecting active species formation are suggested. The computational results support the idea that, in the absence of degradative side reactions, titanium and zirconium MAO-based systems should exhibit comparable catalytic activity.

In the framework of Porri's mechanism for the 1,2 and cis-1,4 diene polymerizations, a geometrical and nonbonded energy analysis on possible catalytic intermediates, which include a cyclopentadienyl group coordinated to the transition metal, is presented. Besides pre-insertion intermediates, post-insertion intermediates presenting a “back-biting” coordination of the growing chain are considered. The post-insertion minimum energy intermediates are structurally very close to the endo−endo pre-insertion intermediates (presenting endo coordinations for both the allyl group of the growing chain and diene monomer), independently of the kind of insertion (1,2 or cis-1,4) and of the diene (butadiene, 4-methyl-1,3-pentadiene or (Z)-pentadiene). In our hypothesis the energy differences between the considered post-insertion intermediates are close to those present in the transition states, and this assures the isospecificity and the syndiospecificity of the models for the cis-1,4 polymerization (of 4-monosubstituted monomers) and for the 1,2 polymerization, respectively. This is in qualitative agreement with the stereoregularities of the polymers obtained with a catalytic system based on cyclopentadienyltitanium trichloride. Support for a 1,2 insertion mechanism for butadiene involving an endo−endo pre-insertion intermediate is given by comparison between the calculated minimum energy post-insertion intermediate and the crystalline structure of a catalytic cobalt complex.

Extracapsular cataract extraction with posterior chamber lens implantation and trabeculectomy was performed on 15 cataractous eyes in 15 patients: 5 were affected with chronic closed angle glaucoma and 10 with primary open angle glaucoma. This procedure offers the intraocular pressure control expected after trabeculectomy and, at the same time, gives the patients all visual benefits that cataract extraction with intraocular lens implantation warrants, without the introduction of new complications.

Abstract: Laboratory studies of the arrhenotokous braconid wasp,Microctonus aethiops (Nees) were conducted relative to maximizing parasitoid production without adversely affecting sex ratios of the progeny. The influence of hostHypera postica (Gyllenhal) and parasitoid densities on parasitoid productivity was evaluated. Maximum production or a mean 25.8M. aethiops progeny were obtained per female when the host parasitoid ratio was 50∶1. More than one parasitoid per rearing cage resulted in fewer parasitoid progeny per female and increased host mortality. Oviposition significantly increased when female parasitoids were exposed to 25 different weevils every 24 hours. The most intense ovipositional activity usually occurred during the first 48 hours of exposure. However, superparasitism occurred if exposure to 25 hosts continued for more than 24 hours. Continuous and discontinuous oviposition patterns did not affect the numbers of parasitoid progeny produced. However, fewer females were produced when new weevils were provided every 24 hours as in the continuous oviposition group.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of a new galenic injectable form of bromocriptine (Parlodel LA), characterized by sustained release of bromocriptine for 4–6 weeks, in 3 patients with prolactin-secreting macroadenomas through a 42-day follow-up. The following parameters were considered: decrease of plasma prolactin levels, reduction of tumor size studied by seriate CT scan controls and recovery of eventual visual fields impairments. Parlodel LA induced a sharp decrease of plasma prolactin levels for at least 42 days, without reaching normal values. This treatment also caused a rapid and marked shrinkage of tumors in all patients. Moreover, in two patients with constriction of visual fields a clear and progressive improvement in one and only a slight amelioration in the other were observed. There were almost no side effects except for mild nausea in one patient and transient orthostatic in another. These results demonstrate that Parlodel LA produces a long-lasting reduction of plasma prolactin levels and a rapid shrinkage of the tumor with almost no side effects.

The authors recorded pattern electroretinograms at different spatial frequencies in 16 patients affected with ocular hypertension. In 12 of these subjects the electroretinograms dropped in amplitude around 2 cycles/degree. The authors attributed this finding to ocular hypertension, hypothesizing ischemic damage at the head of the optic nerve with consequent fiber atrophy and degeneration of ganglion cells.

The glass-transition temperature of ethylene/propylene statistical copolymers is evaluated by using the pseudostereochemical equilibrium approach; i.e., the partition function of a copolymer chain with interactions between neighboring conformations is formally obtained from a fictitious homopolymer wherein the two comonomer units are in equilibrium, with proper conformational constraints to produce the existing amounts of unit pairs. The resulting formalism enables us to avoid the difficult task of evaluating the geometrical average of the partition functions of different chains. The Gibbs−DiMarzio theory is extended to off-lattice models with any stereochemical structure; the rotational-isomeric-state entropy is supplemented with the contribution from fluctuations of the bond rotation angles around their energy minima. Allowing for rotational fluctuations in the glassy state enables one to account for a larger-than-crystalline entropy through the rms fluctuation angle, treated as an adjustable parameter. Although additional experimental data are awaited, the observed trend of Tg vs composition for propylene-rich copolymers is correctly reproduced. It is predicted that copolymers tending to alternation (rErP ~ 0) should have a Tg lower by more than 20 °C than those with unit blocks (rErP > 1), in qualitative agreement with what is observed for vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropene copolymers.

A new perspective on traditional energy minimization problems is provided by a connection between statistical thermodynamics and combinatorial optimization (finding the minimum of a function depending on many variables). The joint use of a new method for uncovering the global minimum of intramolecular potential energy functions, based on following the asymptotic behavior of a system of stochastic differential equations, and an iterative-improvement technique, whereby a search for relative minima is made by carrying out local quasi-Newton minimizations starting from many distinct points of the energy hypersurface, proved most effective for investigating the low-energy conformational space of molecules.

Summary Previous reports by our group and by others showed that the human pineal gland is unresponsive to stress-induced systemic sympathetic activation either during the day or 3 hrs after the beginning of darkness. In the present study, we investigated whether a longer period of dark exposure is required to demonstrate a stimulatory effect of stress-induced sympathetic activation on the human pineal gland. For this purpose, plasma melatonin levels were measured in six healthy men (aged 25–34 yrs) both in resting condition and before and after a physical exercise performed between 02.40 and 03.00 h, 30 min after exposure to bright light (2000 lux). Light exposure lasted from 02.10 h up to 04.00 h. The exercise consisted in bicycling on a bicycle ergometer at 50% of the personal maximum work capacity (MWC) for 10 min, followed by another 10min of bicycling at 80% of the MWC. In the same subjects, plasma melatonin levels were measured also without exposure to light and with no exercise (control dark condition). The results showed that physical exercise, although inducing a rapid and short-term general sympathetic activation (as shown by significant changes in cardiovascular parameters) was able to increase light-depressed plasma melatonin levels only 5 hrs after the end of the stress (p < 0.0001, group X time interaction, two-way ANOVA with repeated measures). These findings suggest that the human pineal gland is responsive to systemic sympathetic activation induced by physical stress in the second half of the dark phase.

For the followers of criminal anthropology, during the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the association “anatomical anomaly – psyche anomaly” represented an immediate diagnostic tool to identify mental illness and consequently the tendency to become a criminal. In this article, we analyse a clinical report published in 1900 in which the author, Dr. Saporito, described five brains of alienated criminals from the Aversa asylum.

Aims Patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACSs) who are managed without coronary revascularization represent a mixed and understudied population that seems to receive suboptimal pharmacological treatment. Methods and results We assessed patterns of antithrombotic therapies employed during the hospitalization and in-hospital clinical events of medically managed patients with ACS enrolled in the prospective, multicentre, nationwide EYESHOT (EmploYEd antithrombotic therapies in patients with acute coronary Syndromes HOspitalized in iTalian cardiac care units) registry. Among the 2585 consecutive ACS patients enrolled in EYESHOT, 783 (30.3%) did not receive any revascularization during hospital admission. Of these, 478 (61.0%) underwent coronary angiography (CA), whereas 305 (39.0%) did not. The median GRACE and CRUSADE risk scores were significantly higher among patients who did not undergo CA compared with those who did (180 vs. 145, P < 0.0001 and 50 vs. 33, P < 0.0001, respectively). Antithrombotic therapies employed during hospitalization significantly differ between patients who received CA and those who did not with unfractioned heparin and novel P2Y12 inhibitors more frequently used in the first group, and low-molecular-weight heparins and clopidogrel in the latter group. During the index hospitalization, patients who did not receive CA presented a higher incidence of ischaemic cerebrovascular events and of mortality compared with those who underwent CA (1.6 vs. 0.2%, P = 0.04 and 7.9 vs. 2.7%, P = 0.0009, respectively). Conclusion Almost one-third of ACS patients are managed without revascularization during the index hospitalization. In this population, a lower use of recommended antiplatelet therapy and worse clinical outcome were observed in those who did not undergo CA when compared with those who did. Clinical Trial Registration Unique identifier: NCT02015624, http://www.clinicaltrials.gov.

Various carbonyl arylhydrazones such as (I), (IV), (VI), (VII), (IX), (X), (XII), or (XV) are shown to undergo rearrangement reactions in polyphosphoric acid to give products such as (II) + (III), (V) (either from (IV) or (VI)), (VIII) (either from (VII) or (IX)), (XI), (XIII) + (XIV), or (XVI).

Gypsy moth larvae and pupae (91,902) were collected in 1st cycle populations along the leading edge of the infestation in Pa. from 1974–1977. More than 14,600 parasites were recovered. Parasite associations with pre-culminating, culminating, and post-culminating host populations are given. B. pratensis was recovered most frequently during the pre-culmination phase, B. intermedia during the culmination phase and P. silvestris during the post-culmination phase. Relatively low rates of parasitism were observed in the pre-culmination and culmination phases. Much higher rates were detected in the post-culmination phase. Parasite effectiveness is discussed.

A new method for the synthesis of indazoles, e.g. (IV) and (VI), is described as outlined in the reaction scheme.

Coupling of the anilines (I) with the chlorohydrazones (II) forms the aminohydrazones (III) which are oxidized and then cyclized, yielding the benzotriazepines (V), together with benzotriazines such as (VI).