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We provide here a first-hand description of the coseismic surface effects caused by the Mw 6.4 Petrinja earthquake that hit central Croatia on 29 December 2020. This was one of the strongest seismic events that occurred in Croatia in the last two centuries. Field surveys in the epicentral area allowed us to observe and map primary coseismic effects, including geometry and kinematics of surface faulting, as well as secondary effects, such as liquefaction, sinkholes and landslides. The resulting dataset consists of homogeneous georeferenced records identifying 222 observation points, each of which contains a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 14 numeric and string fields of relevant information. The earthquake caused surface faulting defining a typical ‘conjugate’ fault pattern characterized by Y and X shears, tension cracks (T fractures), and compression structures (P shears) within a ca. 10 km wide (across strike), NW–SE striking right-lateral strike-slip shear zone (i.e., the Petrinja Fault Zone, PFZ). We believe that the results of the field survey provide fundamental information to improve the interpretation of seismological, GPS and InSAR data of this earthquake. Moreover, the data related to the surface faulting may impact future studies focused on earthquake processes in active strike-slip settings, integrating the estimates of slip amount and distribution in assessing the hazard associated with capable transcurrent faults.

This study is focused on potential evidence of capable faulting affecting Southern Tuscany-Northern Latium, a region of high heat flow and moderate to low seismicity. Here we refer to this region as Tuscia, the Latin name for the land of the Etruscans. The review of the evidence for active tectonics in this area has allowed us to identify several potentially active/capable faults, mapped using a combination of analysis of digital terrain models with remote sensing and local geological information derived from bibliographic data and different scale maps. Active and capable faulting is certainly more evident in the eastern sector of Tuscia (Chianti-Cetona Ridge, Pienza, Amiata and Bolsena caldera). However, even in the western Tuscia (e.g. Colline Metallifere and Tyrrhenian coast), capable faulting may be hypothesized along numerous structural elements. The characterization of active faulting potential, in terms of geometry, slip types and rates, in such a high heat-flow environment, beyond its usefulness in improving the assessment of fault displacement and earthquake hazard, also helps to improve knowledge of the stress field and structural setting of the many geothermal fields in the area. This allows new useful insights into geothermal exploitation and hazard (e.g., induced-triggered seismicity). Moreover, this new knowledge of active tectonics and capable faults of the hinterland sector of the Northern Apennines may also provide useful insights into the siting processes of highly hazardous and strategic structures and, more generally, in land use planning and management of infrastructures, especially during emergencies.

The San Demetrio fault is a NW-SE trending normal fault at the south-eastern tip of the L'Aquila Basin fault zone (Central Apennines, Italy). Detailed field surveys and geophysical investigations, performed in the frame of seismic microzonation studies after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake in the San Demetrio ‘ne Vestini territory, have clearly indicated that it is a capable fault. This paper illustrates the results of paleoseismic investigations along this fault, confirming its capability. At least five surface faulting events took place during the Holocene and latest Pleistocene, with variable offsets from a few centimetres (four events, the latter one most likely occurred in historical time) to about 50 cm (one event occurred between 16,430–16010 BCE and 7030–6570 BCE). These results are consistent, in terms of displacement per event, with the paleoseismic data collected on adjacent faults (i.e., the Paganica, Roccapreturo, Mt. Pettino and Mt Marine faults). Concerning seismic hazard, being the San Demetrio fault the southeastern tip of the L'Aquila fault system, its Holocene reactivations should be associated to paleoearthquakes with epicentre located to the northwest centered in the L'Aquila basin, and minimum magnitude ranging between 6.0 and 6.3. Elsewhere, considering its position close to the transfer zone to the Subequana Valley faults system, another option is that surface faulting is sympathetic to larger ruptures produced by the reactivation of this latter faults system. Based on fault scaling relationships, the offset of 0.5 m occurred before the Holocene may indicate an earthquake of M > 6.5, never replicated afterwards on the San Demetrio fault.

The review of all available contemporary documents, i.e., technical and photographic reports, newspapers, and other archive material, of the 1908, M 7.1, Messina–Reggio Calabria earthquake has allowed to recognize and classify a large number (365) of independent environmental effects of the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami. The effects have been categorized as slope movement, ground settlement, ground vertical movement and coastal retreat, liquefaction, ground crack, hydrological anomaly, gas emission, light, and rumble. No undisputable evidence of surface faulting has been pointed out. Nevertheless, the widespread and rather homogeneous subsidence of the coastal area of Messina (40–70 cm) might have been caused by slip along a NNE–SSW-trending, east-dipping fault, corresponding to the here proposed Messina Lineament. Likewise, slips along the Reggio Calabria, Armo and Motta San Giovanni faults, suggested by coastal subsidence and slides, ground cracks, and leveling data, cannot be ruled out. A large part of the achieved information has allowed to evaluate the epicentral intensity and local intensities at 74 sites, by applying the environmental seismic intensity scale ESI 2007. This study has led to the most comprehensive picture of the distribution and characteristics of coseismic environmental effects of that earthquake, a crucial knowledge to better estimate the future impact of a similar earthquake on a region that has seen a broad, and often poorly concerned, urban and infrastructural development since then.

We captured post-seismic deformation close to the surface rupture of the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake (M6.3, central Italy) using repeat terrestrial laser scan (TLS) methods. From 8 to 126 d after the earthquake, we repeatedly laser scanned four road surfaces that intersected the earthquake surface rupture. We modelled vertical near-field deformation, at millimetre-level precision, by comparing subsequent laser scan data sets to the first acquired at each site. The horizontal post-seismic deformation at each site was measured between reflectors paired across the rupture. The TLS data were supplemented by total station data from a fifth site which measured the vertical and horizontal components of post-seismic deformation between two points spanning the rupture. We find post-seismic deformation increased between 44 and 126 d at the southeastern end of the rupture, beneath which a significant gradient in coseismic slip exists within the fault zone. The location, rate of decay and spatially-localized nature of the post-seismic deformation, within tens of metres of the surface rupture suggests it is due to afterslip in the fault zone, driven by increased shear stresses at the edges of regions which slipped coseismically. We note that the magnitude of post-seismic deformation in the far field obtained from InSAR and GPS is not significantly greater than the deformations we have measured close to the rupture. We suggest that shallow, localized afterslip within the fault zone is responsible for the majority of the regional post-seismic deformation field.

Among lifestyle factors, nutrition is one of the most important determinants of health, and represents a pivotal element of cancer risk. Nonetheless, epidemiological evidences of the relationship between several cancers and specific foods and nutrients is still inadequate, and solid conclusions are missing. Several epidemiological studies related increased consumption of high fat diet and the risk to develop different types of cancer. Indeed, caloric restriction without malnutrition is associated to cancer prevention, due to the reduction in the activity of pro-aging pathways, of inflammation in precancerous cells, and to the increase of the apoptosis of damaged cells. Food may be also the primary route of exposure to contaminants from multiple chemical classes such as metals, persistent organic pollutants, and pesticides. Exposure-disease associations and the interplay with genetic susceptibility requires further fundamental knowledge and studies on genetic variation, environment, lifestyle, and chronic disease, that are pivotal to provide insights into disease etiology at the population level, in order to eliminate and reduce associated health risks, that contributing to improve health outcomes for the population. A primary nutritional approach for Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA) has been developed by the Nutrition group of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on AHA that could prove effective also to sustainable cancer prevention strategies. A comprehensive approach to adequate nutrition is very important to public health, in order to identify and implement the best possible and fair strategies. The working group on lifestyles of the Italian Ministry of Health has been working in this direction. The group used a consensus methodology to collect and integrate the available evidences from the literature and from the Italian experiences at the regional level, to provide a framework aimed at raising the interest of other experts and relevant stakeholders to outline and scale-up joint strategies for a primary nutritional approach to cancer prevention.

To clarify the impairment of the GH/IGF-I axis in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), in 13 adult male patients with OSAS (OSA) as well as 15 weight-matched patients with simple obesity (OB) and 10 normal lean male subjects (NS), we studied: 1) the GH response to GHRH (1 micro g/kg iv) plus arginine (30 g iv); and 2) the IGF-I and IGF binding protein-3 responses to a very low dose recombinant human (rh)GH treatment (5.0 microg/kg sc per day for 4 d). The GH response to arginine plus GHRH in OSA was lower than in OB (P < 0.05), which in turn was lower than in NS (P < 0.001). Basal IGF-I levels in OSA were lower than in OB (P < 0.05), which in turn were lower than in NS (P < 0.03). As opposed to OB and NS, in OSA a very low rhGH dose did not affect IGF-I. Adjusting for age and basal values, rhGH-induced IGF-I rise in OSA was lower than in OB (P < 0.01). IGF binding protein-3, glucose, and insulin levels in the three groups were not modified by rhGH. OSA show a more marked impairment of the maximal secretory capacity of somatotroph cells together with reduced IGF-I sensitivity to rhGH stimulation. These findings suggest that OSAS is connoted by a concomitant impairment of GH secretion and sensitivity.

Fast uplift or subsidence rates, related to intense tectonic-seismic activity, affect the Mediterranean coasts, especially in its eastern sector and Calabria, whereas other areas appear relatively stable. Along the southern Italian coast, the most widely distributed and therefore useful reference datum is the paleo sea level related to isotopic substage 5e (125 ky). In the present study, this marker (inner edge of marine terrace or notch) has been safely identified along three sectors of the Italian coast generally considered tectonically stable: eastern Sardinia, southern Latium and northwestern Sicily. In Latium the top of the Eutyrrhenian transgression was found to vary between −5 and +9.8 m a.s.l. along a 100 km long coast. A well carved Eutyrrhenian notch can be followed for ca. 35 km along the coast of Orosei in Sardinia, gradually varying in elevation between 7.7 and 10.5 m a.s.l., thus indicating a regional tilt. In Sicily, the inner edges of the Eutyrrhenian terrace and marine notches are at elevations between 8 and 13.9 m a.s.l. In all these areas the stage 5e marker has shown a significant local mobility demonstrating its utility for detailing either areal or linear tectonic activity during the last 125 ky along the Tyrrhenian Sea coasts.

Methods To examine the inflammatory process in chronic bronchitis, we evaluated the cell and cytokine profile in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from 12 chronic bronchitis patients who smoked, six chronic bronchitis patients who did not smoke, 10 subjects control subjects without pulmonary diseases who smoked and eight control subjects who did not smoke. Results Chronic bronchitis patients who smoked had increased numbers of macrophages, neutrophils, eosinophils, mast cells and activated CD8+ T lymphocytes and predominantly expressed interleukin-8, tumour necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-2 genes and proteins. The number of macrophages and neutrophils and the expression of interleukin 8 were also increased in control subjects who smoked compared with healthy subjects who did not smoke. Chronic bronchitis patients who did not smoke had increased numbers of eosinophils, mast cells and activated CD4+ T lymphocytes and predominantly expressed interleukin-5 and granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor genes and proteins. Conclusion Thus, the cellular and molecular characteristics of the inflammatory process in chronic bronchitis patients who smoke and do not smoke are different, suggesting a different pathogenesis of the disease.

The increasing damage caused by natural hazards in the last decades in Europe, amplified by recent events including landslides (Messina, Sicily, September 2009), earthquakes (L’Aquila, Abruzzo, April 2009), forest fires (Greece, 2008) and floods (Central Europe) in the last years, points out the need for interoperable added-value services to support environmental safety and human protection. Many environmental analyses, e.g. monitoring seismic sequences, early warning systems for the evolution of intense rainstorms, the path of forest fires, cannot be performed without considering the evolution, over time, of geographic features. For this reason, providing access to harmonized data is only one of several steps towards delivering adequate support to risk assessment reduction and management. Scope of the present work is to present the implemented risk reduction and management pilots developed by BRISEIDE’s team project.

Using 3D terrestrial laser scan (TLS) technology, we have recorded postseismic deformation on and adjacent to the surface rupture formed during the 6th April 2009 L'Aquila normal faulting earthquake (Mw 6.3). Using surface modeling techniques and repeated surveys 8–124 days after the earthquake, we have produced a 4D dataset of postseismic deformation across a 3 × 65 m area at high horizontal spatial resolution. We detected millimetre-scale movements partitioned between discrete surface rupture slip and development of a hangingwall syncline over 10's of meters. We interpret the results as the signal of shallow afterslip in the fault zone. We find 52% of the total postseismic hangingwall vertical motion occurs as deformation within 30 m of the surface rupture. The total postseismic vertical motions are approximately 50% that of the coseismic. We highlight the importance of quantifying partitioned postseismic contributions when applying empirical slip-magnitude datasets to infer palaeoearthquake magnitudes.

The traditional approach for seismic intensity assessment based mostly on effects on humans and manmade structures often results poorly constrained, especially in the epicentral area of strong-to-large earthquakes (intensity degree >IX) when the intensity scales are afflicted by saturation, and in sparsely populated areas. The application of the recent ESI intensity scale, which uses characteristics and distribution of earthquake environmental effects to evaluate seismic intensity, has confirmed that this approach provides more complete and reliable images of earthquakes, being its environmental effects more closely related to the earthquake size. Remote sensing techniques (multispectral images, hi-res DEMs from IFSAR and LIDAR data, D-InSAR and PS-InSAR) play a crucial role in mapping earthquake environmental effects. Therefore, seismic intensity assessments based on environmental effects are expected to strongly benefit from the regular application of remote sensing techniques to recent earthquakes and, in perspective, to the earthquakes that will occur in the next future.

The September–October 1997 seismic sequence in the Umbria–Marche regions of Central Italy has been one of the best studied from the seismological, macroseismic and geological point of view. Numerous papers have been published in the period immediately after the seismic sequence, providing a significant database of effects triggered by the earthquake on natural environment. In the following years, further studies have provided additional pieces of evidence that allow to better relate the seismic sequence with its geological background. Moreover, recent developments in the characterization of coseismic environmental effects provide new horizons in seismic hazard assessment (SHA) procedures, which should take into account even long term geomorphological and geological features resulting from repeated characteristic earthquakes (concept of “seismic landscape”). This paper reviews the current state of knowledge on the 1997 Umbria–Marche seismic sequence, with particular regard to coseismic environmental effects (primary and secondary), that have been used for ESI seismic intensity assessment, in order to verify if i) they are consistent with geological, seismological and macroseismic data in the location and characterization of the seismogenic structure, and ii) if they fit the “seismic landscape” features that mark the epicentral area of Colfiorito.

Within the framework of the COST action 625 “ 3D monitoring of active tectonic structures” , a Task Group, composed of a large number of authors from many countries, whose contribution is acknowledged here, has been focused on the compilation of a “ Map of active faults of the Adria region” . The results presented here are the outcome of this task group. The project has proven an extremely complex task, due to the vast heterogeneity or even complete lack of information regarding seismogenic structures. At least, more or less detailed and reliable data have been collected, trying to adapt to a common legend based on the ITHACA capable fault mapping project developed by APAT, for the following countries of the region so far participating to the project: Italy, Greece, Albania, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Hungary, Bulgaria. No data could be obtained at all about Bosnia or Serbia, which are areas of high historical seismicity (Bosnia in particular has hosted some of the most devastating earthquakes of the former Yugoslavia). Also the knowledge about fault activity in the Adriatic and Ionian seas is still scarce, notwithstanding the efforts now ongoing, requiring major attention, due to the certainly non trivial tsunamigenic potential of the already known but poorly characterized submarine faults. The present compilation of fault and seismicity data, highlighting the zones of weak knowledge together with the tectonic structures of already ascertained high capability, has been conceived as a basic essential tool to call for attention from the European Community, which just now has welcomed several countries of the Adriatic area and to plan new necessarily coordinated efforts among the largest possible number of specialists of this highly seismic region.

To examine the inflammatory process in chronic bronchitis, we evaluated the cell and cytokine profile in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from 12 chronic bronchitis patients who smoked, six chronic bronchitis patients who did not smoke, 10 subjects control subjects without pulmonary diseases who smoked and eight control subjects who did not smoke.Chronic bronchitis patients who smoked had increased numbers of macrophages, neutrophils, eosinophils, mast cells and activated CD8+ T lymphocytes and predominantly expressed interleukin-8, tumour necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-2 genes and proteins. The number of macrophages and neutrophils and the expression of interleukin 8 were also increased in control subjects who smoked compared with healthy subjects who did not smoke. Chronic bronchitis patients who did not smoke had increased numbers of eosinophils, mast cells and activated CD4+ T lymphocytes and predominantly expressed interleukin-5 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor genes and proteins.Thus, the cellular and molecular characteristics of the inflammatory process in chronic bronchitis patients who smoke and do not smoke are different, suggesting a different pathogenesis of the disease.

RANTES is a cytokine produced by activated T-lymphocytes that has been shown to exert chemotactic activity for memory-type CD4 T-lymphocytes and eosinophils. In this study, RANTES caused directional migration of human mast cells. When compared to other potential chemoattractants of the same cells, RANTES was found to be more potent than fibronectin and the c-kit receptor ligand, on a molar basis. This cytokine may be a common mechanism in allergic reactions which culminate in the selective migration of memory CD4 T-lymphocytes, eosinophils and mast cells at the tissue site. Asthma and allergic rhinitis may represent possible clinical examples.

This study evaluated immunoreactivity for several cytokines in bronchial tissue of asthmatic patients and related this to the clinical and functional characteristics. Patients were allocated into two different groups on the basis of their atopic status (atopic and nonatopic), with two subgroups of symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects in each. Five healthy volunteers were tested as control subjects. After clinical and functional assessment, all of the subjects underwent bronchoscopy. Several biopsy specimens were obtained for immunohistochemical and immunoelectron microscopic evaluation. Symptomatic asthmatic subjects had increased expression of immunoreactive interleukin (IL) 1 beta, IL-2, IL-3, IL-5, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) when compared to the asymptomatic patients or normal control subjects. The cell sources of IL-1 beta were monocytes and dendritic cells in atopic patients and monocytes alone in nonatopic asthmatic subjects. The CD4+ T lymphocytes from atopic asthmatic subjects predominantly expressed IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, and GM-CSF immunoreactivity, whereas CD4+ T cells from nonatopic patients predominantly expressed IL-2, IL-3, and IL-5, and GM-CSF immunoreactivity. Mast cells showed immunoreactivity for TNF alpha, IL-3, IL-5, and GM-CSF. Immunostaining for TNF alpha and GM-CSF was also detected in bronchial epithelial cells and monocytes. Tissue eosinophilia and the level of airway hyperresponsiveness more closely correlated with IL-5 immunoreactivity in atopic asthmatic subjects and with IL-2 and GM-CSF immunoreactivity in nonatopic patients.