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International audience; A public water supply well field, composed by 8 wells attaining a depth between 32 and 62 m b.g.s. and pumping out more than 400 L/s to about 300.000 inhabitants (Pescara province, Abruzzo region, Central Italy), has been involved for more than 20 years, from the opening in 1984 to the decomissioning in 2007, by a contamination of chlorinated aliphatics (PCE, TCE, TCM, CT). The well field is located in the narrow and long alluvial valley of the Pescara river surrounded by important limestone aquifers of Central Apennines. About 2 km upstream, at the confluence of the Tirino river with the Pescara river, is located one of the oldest chemical and petrochemical plant (Bussi sul Tirino plant) in Italy. It dates back to the end of the nineteenth century and with a production of chloromethanes active from the 60's to 2007. On 2005, a huge illegal dump of industrial wastes (more than 3 hectares in size) was discovered in the alluvial valley floor of the Pescara river during an investigation of the public prosecutor of the Pescara court. The valley of the Pescara river is filled with a complex assemblage of porous (alluvial gravels and sands, debris) and fractured (travertines) high permeability aquifers intermingled with silts and clays of lacustrine or alluvial origin. The lateral recharge from the Pescara river and/or surrounding limestones is such to induce a high dilution effect to the dissolved contaminants originated at the source. In order to apportion the source of contamination, in terms of location and of process of wastes generation, in range of the action at the Court of Assizes of Chieti, an hydrogeological investigation has been performed, supported by the Italian Attorney General. CSIA (Carbon Stable Isotope Analysis) of chlorinated compounds, integrated by chlorine fingerprinting on PCE, was adopted as a main tool of source apportionment of chlorinated pitches production process. In order to enhance the mass recovery of chlorinated compounds by low flow sampling on 25 boreholes between the source and the receptor, a preliminary flowmeter survey was performed. This allowed to identify the proper sampling location along the screen of the boreholes. The isotopic affinity of the compounds, detected at the well field, with the production process of chlorinated pitches has been clearly put in evidence as a consequence of the strong deplenishment of delta13C values. Borehole flowmetering and isotopic fingerprinting support source apportionment of a public water supply well field contaminated by chlorinated pitches (Bussi sul Tirino site, Abruzzo Region, Italy) | Request PDF. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282314549_Borehole_flowmetering_and_isotopic_fingerprinting_support_source_apportionment_of_a_public_water_supply_well_field_contaminated_by_chlorinated_pitches_Bussi_sul_Tirino_site_Abruzzo_Region_Italy [accessed Oct 15 2018].

BACKGROUND: Dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy is a hereditary neurodegenerative disease prevalently reported in Japan but rare in Caucasians. The objective of this study was to reconstruct the pedigree of Italian dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy familial cases describing their clinical features. METHODS: We investigated 6 apparently unrelated dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy families comprising a total of 51 affected individuals: 13 patients were clinically examined, and for 38 patients clinical data were collected from clinical sources. The dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy diagnosis was genetically confirmed in 18 patients. Genealogical data from historical archives were analyzed. RESULTS: All 6 families were unified in a large pedigree deriving from a founder couple originating from Monte San Giuliano (Italy) in the late 1500s, with 51 affected subjects over the last 4 generations. Wide phenotypical variability in age at onset and clinical features was confirmed. Epilepsy was more frequent in juvenile cases than in late adults, with cognitive/psychiatric and motor disorders observed regardless of age at onset. CONCLUSIONS: We have described the largest Caucasian dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy pedigree from a single founder couple. The introduction of the dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy gene in Italy could have arisen as a result of trade relationships between the Spanish or Portuguese and the Japanese in the 1500s. © 2019 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

L’intervento di ricostruzione dei centri urbani dell’Isola d’Ischia all’indomani del sisma del 1883 costituì la prima grande occasione per il giovane Regno d’Italia di dar prova delle proprie capacità e di rodare la macchina governativa a fronte di un evento naturale disastroso. Noto come il terremoto di Casamicciola, dalla denominazione del paese più colpito, il terribile sisma seminò terrore e morte anche a Lacco Ameno, Forio, Serrara Fontana e Barano, interessando un ambito territoriale ben più ampio di quello già devastato dall’ analogo forte evento registrato appena due anni prima (1881). Il danno al patrimonio edilizio isolano fu talmente grande da poter legittimamente pensare ad una vera e propria rifondazione delle città colpite piuttosto che alla semplice ricostruzione di corpi di fabbrica danneggiati. Tale rifondazione comportò l’edificazione di numerosi rioni di abitazioni e opifici con sistemi costruttivi e tecniche realizzative poi non più utilizzate a seguito della diffusione del cemento armato; trattasi dell’ultimo caso in Italia in cui furono costruite palazzine asismiche con il sistema baraccato e della prima volta di una ricostruzione post-sisma in cui si propone il ricorso a case di tipo seriale prefabbricate brevettate. Il presente studio prende in esame una significativa casistica di edifici realizzati nel periodo immediatamente a valle del citato evento sismico, al fine di evidenziare le caratteristiche dei sistemi costruttivi, individuare elementi utili per la riconoscibilità dei tipi e fornire linee guida per il corretto progetto di recupero e conservazione.