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a b s t r a c t Background: Data on the efficacy of Peg-interferon/ribavirin therapy for chronic hepatitis C are mostly derived from treatment of selected patients enrolled in clinical trials. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of Peg-interferon/ribavirin therapy in “real world” chronic hepatitis C patients in Italy. Methods: Independent observational multicentre study including consecutive patients receiving Peginterferon/ribavirin in the 18 months before (retrospective phase) and after (prospective phase) the start of the study. Results: 4176 patients were eligible. The final study population consisted of 2051 patients in the retrospective and 2073 in the prospective phase. Sustained virological response was achieved by 1036 patients (50.5%) during the retrospective phase: 325 were genotypes 1/4 (34.1%) and 684 were genotypes 2/3 (67.2%) and by 800 patients (38.6%) during the prospective phase: 300 were genotypes 1/4 (28.4%) and 473 were genotypes 2/3 (51.5%). During multivariate analysis genotypes 2/3 were significantly associated with higher sustained virological response rates; cirrhosis and -glutamil-transpeptidase >2 times the normal limit were associated with poorer response. Conclusions: The response to Peg-interferon/ribavirin therapy in “real world” clinical practice is distinctly lower than in registration trials. The difference in response rates was more pronounced among easy-totreat than among difficult-to-treat hepatitis C virus genotypes.

In Sudafrica esistono zone di quarantena per i cavalli al fine di poterli movimentare verso paesi esteri senza esportare la African Horse Sickness (Peste Equina), patologia che prevede lo stesso vettore della febbre catarrale degli ovini. Tali zone sono caratterizzate da abbondanza di terreni prevalentemente salmastri. Questo dato, nonchè le osservazioni raccolte in Sardegna durante le diverse ondate epidemiche susseguitesi nel periodo 2000- 2007, che hanno fatto rilevare come alcuni allevamenti di specifici territori (penisola del Sinis, Giara di Gesturi, ecc.) mostravano una morbilità - mortalità estremamente ridotta rispetto agli allevamenti circostanti - se non addirittura rappresentano una sorta di enclave circoscritta -, hanno suggerito di effettuare specifici sopralluoghi finalizzati alla valutazione geologica dei suoli. È stata anche valutata la compatibilità di questi territori con l’habitat ideale per l’insetto vettore e contemporaneamente con gli altri fattori di rischio noti, correlati allo sviluppo di Culicoides imicola e, di conseguenza, all’ingresso del virus e al possibile sviluppo di focolai di Blue Tongue. Dalla verifica dei suoli e dalla sovrapposizione delle mappe della mortalità osservata nel corso della prima epidemia di Blue Tongue (2000-2001), si è rilevato che il danno osservato nei focolai non era distribuito omogeneamente nel territorio. Al fine di validare il presupposto scientifico citato in premessa (terreni salmastri), si è verificato puntualmente quanto accaduto durante la prima epidemia in alcuni comuni della Sardegna, per i quali si era in possesso della georeferenziazione degli allevamenti sede di focolaio, verificando il tipo di suolo nel quale tali allevamenti insistevano. Dall’analisi dei dati è emerso che esistono forti correlazioni tra la tipologia di pH del suolo, unito alla granulometria e al drenaggio dello stesso. I tipi di suolo sono individuabili in Acidi o sub acidi (AC) e Neutri, Subalcalini o Alcalini (AK). Si sono individuate in funzione del tipo di suolo due categorie di allevamenti sede di focolaio ed è stata verificata la differenza esistente tra le somme dei danni totali osservate negli allevamenti appartenenti ai due gruppi (AC vs AK), che si è mostrata statisticamente significativa. Questo dato di estremo interesse pare confermare l’assunto teorico basato sulla ipotesi che certi terreni sono meno favorenti lo sviluppo di C. imicola, con una forte correlazione con il pH del terreno stesso. L’applicazione pratica di tale osservazione è quella che si sta cercando di attuare in Sardegna ovvero quella di “alcalinizzare” i siti considerati di massimo rischio per la riproduzione dell’insetto vettore situati in prossimità di allevamenti ovicaprini, attraverso l’utilizzo di alcune sostanze (es. latte di calce), in quantità e modalità valutate in funzione della tipologia di suolo e della relativa permeabilità dello stesso. Viene descritta l’esperienza in un sito pilota e i risultati preliminari ottenuti.

Spectroscopic investigations on the electronic structure of thin films of various Zn-porphyrinato/Pt assemblies, consisting of a Zn-porphyrinato (ZnPf) macrocycle inserted between bis(phosphine)platinum(II) centres, were carried out by means of synchrotron radiation-induced near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy at the third-generation storage ring ELETTRA and at SuperACO, The spectra of the monomeric ZnPf and of the porphyrin-free base were also investigated for comparison. Modifications occur mainly at the N K-edge, when Zn metallation is carried out, arising from nitrogen deprotonation, and significant changes are also observed upon linkage between subunit.

The dramatic changes in land use observed in Europe in the last fifty years have generally resulted in improvement of human welfare and economic development. On the other hand, they have caused serious environmental problems. There is therefore a need for approaches that help to understand in an integrative way the economic, environmental and societal impacts that land use changes have on sustainability. Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA), which assesses the impact of policies on sustainability, addresses this challenge. SIA partly builds on the concept of the multifunctionality of land which helps to deal with the complexity of interactions between different land uses, their temporal and spatial changes, and finally how policies might steer those changes towards sustainability. Following this need for true integration of economic, environmental and societal issues across policy areas at a meaningful spatial scale, an nterdisciplinary team in the SENSOR project has developed an innovative conceptual framework to assess the impact of policies on land sustainability at various levels of spatial aggregation i.e. the Land Use Functions (LUFs) framework. LUFs are the goods and services provided by the different land uses that summarise the most relevant economic, environmental and societal issues of a region. The LUFs framework integrates the changes observed in a large set of impact indicators into nine Land Use Functions (LUFs), which are balanced among the three pillars of sustainability. The LUFs framework makes it possible for policy makers, scientists and stakeholders to identify at a glance those functions of the land which are hindered or enhanced under various scenarios of land use change, and makes it possible to explore the trade-offs between them. The LUFs framework allows therefore the building of assessment across disciplines, sectors and the three sustainability dimensions. It has proved to be very helpful for the systematisation of relevant sustainability indicators within SENSOR and is intended to be further used in other projects as a tool for Sustainability Impact Assessment. The rationale leading to the LUFs concept, its definition and the conceptual framework is described in this chapter. We conclude that the concept of LUFs allows users to make explicit the analytical links between multifunctional land use and sustainable development, and therefore to look at multifunctionality as a way towards sustainability.; Dans le cadre du projet SENSOR, une équipe interdisciplinaire a développé un cadre conceptuel pour l'évaluation des impacts des politiques sur la durabilité des usages de l'espace. Il repose sur l'identification de diverses fonctions assurées par l'espace et permet d'évaluer les effets des changements des usages de l'espace sur ces fonctions. Le concept permet de mettre en relation la multifonctionnalité des usages de l'espace et la durabilité du développement : maintenir la première conditionne la seconde.

The central objective of this report is to review the concept and meaning of « threshold » in the context of SENSOR project, taking into consideration all three pillars of sustainability, namely the environmental, social and economic aspects. Notions such as equilibrium disturbance, breakpoint or area of change define some common ground of the threshold concept that is shared by all three pillars. However, due to the pillars differences in terms of their scientific orientation and history, there is no single commonly shared and unified view on thresholds. In environmental research especially in ecology thresholds are closely associated with certain system-inherent processes, and are linked to the principle of (eco-)system resilience. In social and economic approaches, on the other hand, thresholds are considered to be closely related to an optimum value (e.g. costs/benefits relation to society) linked to social preference, pressure, market context or even policy decision but also the idea of substitutability between human and natural capital.

Five cases of furuncular myiasis due to Cordylobia anthropophaga are reported in Italian tourists coming from Senegal. People who go to tropical and sub-tropical regions should be aware from now on to the possibility and the way to acquire myiasis.