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The multi-hazard risk is assessed for different scenarios and different levels was based on an exposure and vulnerability for each of the natural hazards and the influence of additional criteria to the overall risk in homogenous zones. Knowledge and awareness of the risks generated by natural hazards are essential requirements for the enhancement of communities' resilience to disasters. Soldati et al. [[14]] proposes a qualitative multi-hazard risk analysis methodology in the case of combined seismic and flood risk, using PROMETHEE, a multiple-criteria decision analysis technique. These weights were subsequently integrated into a flood risk assessment computation which resulted in a flood risk map. [Extracted from the article]

Simple Summary: Canine inflammatory protein-losing enteropathy caused by immunosuppressive-responsive enteropathy (IRE-PLE) is associated with a time-consuming diagnostic workup and a guarded prognosis. In human medicine, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, albumin to globulin ratio and C-reactive protein to albumin ratio are routinely available biomarkers that have been shown to correlate with several clinical parameters and a poor prognosis. Scattered information exists on the use of these three biomarkers in dogs with IRE-PLE. This study evaluated the clinical significance of these biomarkers in a population of dogs with IRE-PLE at the time of diagnosis and after therapy. Increased values of all three biomarkers were detected in dogs with IRE-PLE at the time of diagnosis, and correlations were observed between some of these biomarkers and the existing chronic enteropathy activity index. After therapy, changes in all three biomarkers were observed. Further studies are needed to assess their clinical significance at a longer follow-up. Few routinely available biomarkers are clinically useful in assessing dogs with inflammatory protein-losing enteropathy caused by immunosuppressive-responsive enteropathy (IRE-PLE). Only the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been studied, while no information exists on the use of the albumin to globulin ratio (AGR) and C-reactive protein to albumin ratio (CRP/ALB). We aimed to evaluate the clinical significance of the NLR, AGR and CRP/ALB in a population of dogs with IRE-PLE. The medical records of 53 IRE-PLE dogs were reviewed at the time of diagnosis (T0) and 1 month after the initiation of immunosuppressants (T1). A control group of 68 healthy dogs was used for comparison. At T0, the median values of the NLR and AGR of sick dogs were significantly higher and lower than those of healthy dogs, respectively. With the increase in the chronic enteropathy activity index, AGR and CRP/ALB significantly decreased and increased, respectively. At T1, NLR and AGR significantly increased, while CRP/ALB significantly decreased. NLR, AGR and CRP/ALB did not differ significantly between dogs classified as responders and nonresponders according to the chronic enteropathy activity index. Further studies are needed to provide more information on this subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multi-hazard risk assessment of urban areas represents a comprehensive approach that can be used to reduce, manage and overcome the risks arising from the combination of different natural hazards. This paper presents a methodology for multi-hazard risk assessment based on Spatial Multi-Criteria Decision Making. The PROMETHEE method was used to assess multi-hazard risks caused by seismic, flood and extreme sea waves impact. The methodology is applied for multi-hazard risk evaluation of the urban area of Kaštel Kambelovac, located on the Croatian coast of the Adriatic Sea. The settlement is placed in a zone of high seismic risk with a large number of old stone historical buildings which are vulnerable to the earthquakes. Being located along the low-lying coast, this area is also threatened by floods due to climate change-induced sea level rises. Furthermore, the settlement is exposed to flooding caused by extreme sea waves generated by severe wind. In the present contribution, the multi-hazard risk is assessed for different scenarios and different levels, based on exposure and vulnerability for each of the natural hazards and the influence of additional criteria to the overall risk in homogenous zones. Single-risk analysis has shown that the seismic risk is dominant for the whole pilot area. The results of multi-hazard assessment have shown that in all combinations the highest risk is present in the historical part of Kaštel Kambelovac. This is because the historical part is most exposed to sea floods and extreme waves, as well as due to the fact that a significant number of historical buildings is located in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Serum protein electrophoresis (SPE) is a laboratory test used to separate different protein fractions. It is used to investigate animals with hyperglobulinemia and to distinguish between monoclonal and polyclonal gammopathies. SPE can also highlight acute or chronic inflammation patterns which are useful in disease monitoring. SPE is effective in humans with intestinal bowel disease (IBD) and chronic liver diseases. In addition, hypergammaglobulinemia is a marker of extraintestinal manifestations in human IBD patients, which often includes hepatic and pancreatic disease. Concurrent pancreatic and/or hepatic diseases in cats with chronic enteropathy (CE) have often been found, which may contribute to SPE alterations. The present study investigated the relationship between SPE and endoscopy, histopathology, and hepatic and pancreatic ultrasonographic findings in ninety-nine cats diagnosed with CE. No significant differences were observed between SPE and endoscopic and histopathological severity scores. Cats with concurrent pancreatic and/or hepatic ultrasonographic alterations showed lower albumin, lower α-globulin, and higher γ-globulin levels than cats diagnosed with enteropathy alone. This study suggests that hepatic and/or pancreatic alterations may influence SPE fractions in cats with CE, and should form the basis for further prospective studies on cats with diaditis and triaditis. Few studies have investigated total protein (TP) and serum protein electrophoresis (SPE) in cats with chronic enteropathy (CE). Cats diagnosed with CE were evaluated to investigate the relationships between TP, SPE and endoscopy, histopathology, and extraintestinal involvement. Medical records were searched for cats with a history of chronic gastrointestinal signs and a final diagnosis of CE. Information on signalment, TP, SPE, endoscopic score, histopathological diagnosis and score, and concurrent hepatic or pancreatic ultrasonographic alterations was collected. Relationships between protein profiles and other variables were investigated. Ninety-nine cats were included in the study, 63 diagnosed with various degrees of bowel inflammation and 36 with small-cell alimentary lymphoma. The most common TP alteration was hypoproteinemia (24%). No significant differences were observed between protein profiles and endoscopic and histopathological severity scores. Forty-five cats showing concurrent pancreatic and/or hepatic ultrasonographic alterations, had significantly lower albumin, lower α-globulin, and higher γ-globulin levels than cats not showing concurrent alterations. Disease severity scores did not seem to influence the protein profile in cats with CE. Extraintestinal involvement may be suspected in cats with lower albumin and α-globulins and higher γ-globulins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seismic risk assessment of existing urban areas provides important information for the process of seismic risk reduction in different phases of planning and emergency management. Between different large-scale assessment approaches, a vulnerability index method is often used for the first screening of the buildings and vulnerability classification. However, this method cannot fully predict the effects of a specific seismic action on buildings. This paper fully extends the scale of the settlement and properly upgrades a methodology previously proposed by authors to predict seismic damage and the risk to a restricted number of masonry buildings in the Croatian settlement Kaštel Kambelovac located along the Adriatic coast. The proposed approach is based on a hybrid empirical-analytical procedure that combines seismic vulnerability indices with critical peak ground accelerations for different limit states computed through a non-linear pushover analysis. The procedure's outcomes are the computation of a relationship linking vulnerability indices to peak ground acceleration for a series of states, corresponding to damage limitation, significant damage, and near collapse. The described methodology is used to estimate seismic risk in terms of damage and the index of seismic risk for selected return periods. The general methodology has allowed a full seismic vulnerability assessment of the whole Croatian settlement of Kaštel Kambelovac. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social vulnerability is deeply affected by the increase in hazardous events such as earthquakes and floods. Such hazards have the potential to greatly affect communities, including in developed countries. Governments and stakeholders must adopt suitable risk reduction strategies. This study is aimed at proposing a qualitative multi-hazard risk analysis methodology in the case of combined seismic and flood risk using PROMETHEE, a Multiple-Criteria Decision Analysis technique. The present case study is a multi-hazard risk assessment of the Ferrara province (Italy). The proposed approach is an original and flexible methodology to qualitatively prioritize urban centers affected by multi-hazard risks at the regional scale. It delivers a useful tool to stakeholders involved in the processes of hazard management and disaster mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: The protection of built heritage in historic cities located in seismically active areas is of great importance for the safety of inhabitants. Systematic care and planning are necessary to detect the seismic vulnerability of buildings, in order to determine priorities in rehabilitation projects and to continuously provide funds for the reconstruction of the buildings. (2) Methods: In this study, the seismic vulnerability of the buildings in the historic center of Kaštel Kambelovac, a Croatian settlement located along the Adriatic coast, has been assessed through an approach based on the calculation of vulnerability indexes. The center consists of stone masonry buildings built between the 15th and 19th centuries. The seismic vulnerability method was derived from the Italian GNDT approach, with some modifications resulting from the specificity of the buildings in the investigated area. A new damage–vulnerability–peak ground acceleration relation was developed using the vulnerability indexes and the yield and collapse accelerations of buildings obtained through non-linear static analysis. (3) Results: A seismic vulnerability map, critical peak ground accelerations for early damage and collapse states, and damage index maps for two return periods have been predicted using the developed damage curves. (4) Conclusions: The combination of the vulnerability index method with non-linear pushover analysis is an effective tool for assessing the damage of a building stock on a territorial scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a multifactorial chronic inflammatory disorder leading to structural changes in the intestinal wall. In humans, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been proposed as a promising marker of IBD. This study evaluated the possible clinical and prognostic significance of the NLR in dogs with IBD. This retrospective study enrolled 41 dogs diagnosed with IBD presented to University of Pisa from January 2017 to January 2018. For each dog, age, sex, canine chronic enteropathy clinical activity index (CCECAI), endoscopic and histopathological grading were recorded. Complete blood count, serum total protein, albumin, cholesterol, and C-reactive protein at the time of endoscopy were recorded. A control group (CG) of healthy dogs from a blood donor database was built. NLR was calculated for both IBD and CG as the ratio between absolute neutrophils and lymphocytes. Presence of crypt distension, lacteal dilation (LD), mucosal fibrosis, intraepithelial lymphocytes was recorded. Follow-up information was obtained from electronic medical records and dogs were classified as responders and non-responders based on CCECAI variation between admission and the first recheck. IRE dogs showed higher NLR compared to healthy dogs. NLR correlated negatively with total protein, albumin, and cholesterol and correlated positively with CCECAI. Dogs with LD showed higher NLR than dogs without LD. Non-responders showed higher NLR compared to responders. In conclusion, as in IBD human patients, the NLR acts as an inflammatory marker providing further information on severity of the disease and could be useful in predicting treatment response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regularized Heaviside and Dirac delta function are used in several fields of computational physics and mechanics. Hence the issue of the quadrature of integrals of discontinuous and singular functions arises. In order to avoid ad-hoc quadrature procedures, regularization of the discontinuous and the singular fields is often carried out. In particular, weight functions of the signed distance with respect to the discontinuity interface are exploited. Tornberg and Engquist (Journal of Scientific Computing, 2003, 19: 527-552) proved that the use of compact support weight function is not suitable because it leads to errors that do not vanish for decreasing mesh size. They proposed the adoption of non-compact support weight functions. In the present contribution, the relationship between the Fourier transform of the weight functions and the accuracy of the regularization procedure is exploited. The proposed regularized approach was implemented in the eXtended Finite Element Method. As a three-dimensional example, we study a slender solid characterized by an inclined interface across which the displacement is discontinuous. The accuracy is evaluated for varying position of the discontinuity interfaces with respect to the underlying mesh. A procedure for the choice of the regularization parameters is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Chronic intestinal inflammation in dogs is a challenging disease to manage. Most studies about prognostic factors and follow-up data are only available for small populations or with short-term follow-up. The aim of this study of 165 dogs with chronic intestinal inflammation was to identify clinical and haematological factors associated with mortality, clinical response and relapse, with long-term follow-up. Nine per cent of dogs did not respond to therapy at 1 month follow-up. Most dogs with chronic intestinal inflammation had a good clinical course in most cases, and the non-response or relapse rate was 9–11%. A reduction of body condition (loss of weight), lower serum albumin concentration and presence of lacteal dilatation on intestinal histology at diagnosis were identified as factors associated with a decreased response rate, higher mortality and lower chance of achieving long-term remission. A multicentre prospective study was performed to assess whether clinical, hematobiochemical, endoscopic and histopathological parameters were associated with mortality, clinical response and relapse of disease in short- and long-term follow-up of a total of 165 dogs with chronic inflammatory enteropathy, of which 150 had immunosuppressant responsive enteropathy (IRE), and 15 had non-responsive enteropathy (NRE) dogs. Clinical severity (CCECAI) was evaluated from presentation (T0) to 18 months (T18) from diagnosis. T0 body condition score (BCS), selected haematological parameters and endoscopic and histopathological scores were evaluated. Presence/absence of histopathological duodenal lesions was recorded. Responders were evaluated using CCECAI at T1. Relapse was evaluated from T3 to T18. Long-term responders included dogs who responded at T1 and showed no relapse. Dogs were divided into responders/non-responders, survivors/non-survivors and relapsed/non-relapsed. At T1, 15/165 dogs (9%) were considered NRE. Sixteen dogs (11%) were considered relapsed at T3, 8% at T6 and 10% at T12, and none of 96 dogs relapsed at T18. NREs showed significantly lower BCS than IREs. Non-survivors showed a significantly lower serum albumin concentration and BCS than survivors. Non-responders, relapsed or non-survivors had higher presence of lacteal dilatation compared to long-term responders. Dogs with IRE showed a good clinical course with a low relapse rate, with only a few dogs in the NRE group. Reduction of BCS, albumin and lacteal dilatation at diagnosis may be considered negative prognostic factors for response, mortality and long-term disease remission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In human patients with intestinal inflammation, many other diseases may occur due to it, but their presence in dogs is rarely described. The aim of the study was to prove if antibodies against red blood cells (RBC) were present in dogs with chronic intestinal inflammation (IBD), as it is demonstrated for humans, and to described other RBC abnormalities. IBD was diagnosed using the current consensus and a disease severity score was assessed for each dog, as well as score from endoscopy and intestinal histology. Our results showed that most of dogs had antibodies against RBC and 50% of dogs showed RBC regeneration in addition to chronic inflammation hematologic findings. In IBD dogs, the presence of anti-RBC antibodies and the other RBC alterations may suggest a subclinical RBC damaged (hemolysis). Several extra-intestinal manifestations, including immune-mediated cytopenias, are reported in human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), whereas they are poorly documented in dogs. Hypothesizing that immune-mediated subclinical anemia can occur in canine IBD, the study aim was to evaluate the erythrogram and the presence of anti-RBC antibodies in dogs with IBD. IBD was diagnosed according to the following criteria: chronic gastrointestinal signs, ruling out of extra-intestinal diseases, no improvement with diet trial, histological evidence of inflammatory infiltration, and improvement after immunosuppressant therapy. Canine Chronic Enteropathy Clinical Activity Index (CCECAI) endoscopic and histopathological scores were assessed for each dog. Twenty-five dogs were enrolled, and each dog had a CBC evaluation prior to endoscopy. The CBC was performed using laser hematology analyzer and blood smears were carefully reviewed for the presence of nucleated RBC, anisocytosis, polychromasia, and Howell–Jolly bodies. IgG and IgM anti-RBC antibodies were evaluated with flow cytometry. A high frequency of positive cases for anti-RBC antibodies in dogs with IBD (17/25 dogs) was ascertained. Approximatively 50% of dogs showed some hematologic features of RBC regeneration in addition to hematologic findings consistent with chronic inflammation. Anti-RBC antibodies and signs of erythroid regeneration may suggest possible subclinical chronic immune-mediated hemolysis that can cause anemia in dogs with IBD, together with the chronic inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the seismogenic mechanical effects induced by oil & gas activities is a socially impacting issue of environmental engineering as well as a challenging task in computational geomechanics. It requires the solution of a coupled problem governed by poroelastic and fluid flow equations in a faulted domain in the presence of in situ stress fields. As a viable alternative to state-of-the-art academical computational models, the present study contributes a simplified methodology based on a commercial Finite Element multiphysics software. The focus is on the evaluation of the link between the oil & gas activities of the Cavone oilfield reservoir, located in North Italy and adjacent to the Mirandola fault, and the recent seismic sequence that struck Emilia in May 2012. An operational coupled fluid-geomechanical procedure is developed where the Cavone reservoir is subjected to the typical in situ stresses, and the nearby Mirandola fault is modelled as an impervious thin layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]