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Accurate staging of early non-small cell lung cancer is fundamental for selecting the best treatment. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for nodal upstaging after video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy for clinical T1-3N0 tumors.From 2014 to 2017, 3276 thoracoscopic lobectomies were recorded in the prospective database "Italian VATS Group". Linear and multiple logistic regression models were adapted to identify independent predictors of nodal upstaging and factors associated with progression in postoperative N status.Nodal upstaging was found in 417 cases (12.7%), including 206 cases (6.2%) of N1-positive nodes, 81 cases of N2 nodes (2.4%), and 130 cases (4%) of involvement of both N1 + N2 nodes. A total of 241 (7.3%) patients had single-station nodal involvement, whereas 176 (5.3%) had multiple-station involvement. In the final regression model, the tumor grade, histology, pathologic T status, and 12 resected nodes were independent predictors of nodal upstaging.The number of resected lymph nodes seems to predict nodal upstaging better than the type of intraoperative lymph node management. Other preoperative risk factors correspond to those for which the current guidelines of the European Society of Thoracic Surgery recommend more extensive preoperative mediastinal staging.

We present an initiative aimed at fulfilling the requirement of the Ordnance 3274 (20 March 2003, Annex 1) of the Italian Prime Minister. This law established that a new seismic hazard map of the Italian territory be prepared within one year (April 2004) and stated the general compilation criteria. To comply with this request, INGV involved scientists and engineers from Italian scientific institutions along with its own researchers. Despite the tight schedule, the initiative utilised and further elaborated original information and knowledge acquired during the past few years. In particular, we compiled a new set of source zones (ZS9) - acknowledging new evidence of active faulting and recently acquired evaluations on seismogenic potential - and a new earthquake catalogue (CPTI04) extended to 2002. A limited-scale logical tree approach was adopted to explore epistemic uncertainties related to: i) the assessment of catalogue completeness based on historical and statistical methods; ii) the evaluation of seismicity rates, based on activity rates and G-R rates; iii) the assessment of Mmax, partly constrained by geological evidence; iv) the ground-motion attenuation models, where regional relationships have been used to complement the classical European and Italian relationships. The results consists of a map displaying the median values of 16 weighted branches in terms of PGA with 10% exceedance probability in 50 years, related to very stiff soil conditions. Although in many steps we made conservative choices, the resulting PGA distribution exhibits lower maximum values with respect to previous country-scale hazard maps. This is mainly due to: a) magnitude re-assessment; b) larger size of the source zones; c) more realistic completeness time-intervals; d) use of different depth in the source zones. The map was compiled under the review of an international board and will serve as input

The article outlines the main findings and conclusions of the QUAKER research project and other related studies on the behaviour of foundations built on top of a rupturing dip-slip fault. Although emphasis is placed on normal faults, the derived conclusions are valid for reverse faults, as well. A key conclusion is that it is quite feasible to design a foundation to withstand an underneath rupturing fault. Practical design recommendations suitable for developing future Code requirements on the subject, are developed on the basis of the presented conclusions.

A revision is presently under way to upgrade the status of the 'Design recommendations for earthquake resistance of structures', commonly referred to as Eurocode 8 (or EC8). In order to improve the definition of the design elastic response spectra (ERS) as defined in the Eurocode 8 - Part 1 (Draft May 2001), the values of the soil amplification factors have been calculated for sites on sedimentary soils, both stiff (category B) and soft (category C), with respect to rock sites (category A), such as contemplated in EC8. The work was performed by a systematic study of response spectra as a function of magnitude and site conditions, using records from the European Strong-Motion Database. The results confirm the occurrence of systematic spectral amplification on sedimentary soils with respect to reference rock in a large set of European strong motion data. Such amplification has been quantified through a measure derived from the Housner Spectrum Intensity definition. The values of the soil coefficients recommended in the current version of EC 8 are shown to be realistic for category C, in the case of a moderate seismicity context. However the values for subsoil class B need to be significantly increased both for the moderate and high seismicity context.