The GENIUS web portal--an easy way to access the Grid.

OBJECTIVE: The development of computational Grids is making huge amounts of computing power and data storage available for a lot of scientific applications. At this stage of development, the use of the Grid is mainly based on Command Line Interface (CLI) tools that are not very friendly and can be considered an obstacle to the use of these powerful tools. The objective of this paper is to present a solution to this problem. METHODS: To ease the access of new users to the grid the GENIUS (Grid Enabled web eNvironment for site Independent User job Submission) grid portal has been jointly developed by INFN and NICE within the context of both the Italian INFN Grid and the European DataGrid Projects. Here we devote particular care to the description of job creation and submission and the services for transparent access to user's data and applications. RESULTS: Using GENIUS, the obstacle of complicated CLI can be overtaken and simple web interfaces can be built for specific user communities and applications. Here we show examples in the field of bio-medical applications. CONCLUSIONS: The use of Grid can be made easy with the use of Grid portals such as GENIUS.

[B-cell lymphoma (MALToma) of the stomach and Helicobacter pylori infection]. / Linfoma a cellule B (maltoma) dello stomaco ed infezione da Helicobacter pylori.

The authors, after illustrating physiopathologic aspects of gastric MALTomas, examine the H.P. infections and the possible relations between this kind of bacterium and gastric MALTomas. They hypothesize that H.P. infection represents an important predisposition to gastric lymphoma, due to anatomopathological modifications over gastric mucosa. They conclude that a decreasing of gastric lymphoma could be correlatable an opportune eradication of H.P. despite of at moment it's impossible hypothesize a marked decreasing of lymphoma by an eradication of H.P.

[The immune changes in the patient with obstructive jaundice: their onset and reversibility after drainage]. / Alterazioni immunitarie nel paziente con ittero ostruttivo: insorgenza e reversibilità dopo drenaggio.

Several clinical and experimental studies have demonstrated that the high incidence of septic complications and the high mortality of surgery and invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures (ERCP and PTC) in obstructive jaundiced patients are mostly secondary to immune impairment (deficit of Kupffer's cells phagocytic activity and of cell-mediated immunity). The fundamental role of endotoxaemia, that's tightly related to stopped defluxion of biliary salts into the bowel, with bacterial flora increase and secondary passage of germs and toxins into portal and systemic circulation, has recently been demonstrated in the pathogenesis of the main homeostatic alterations in cholestasis (immunodeficiency, disorders of coagulation and renal functionality). This pathogenetic hypothesis explains not only high morbidity and mortality rates, but also the failures of external biliary drainage. The only treatment able to oppose endotoxaemia is internal biliary drainage, endoscopic or percutaneous. These techniques allow the defluxion of biliary salts into the bowel and a relatively quick restore of homeostasis. The authors after having treated high-risk jaundiced patients with internal endoscopic biliary drainage and surgical treatment (after 20-30 days), report excellent results.

[Short-term and long-term surgical prophylaxis with pefloxacin]. / Short-term e long-term profilassi chirurgica con pefloxacina.

In the present study the efficacy and safety of pefloxacin (400 mg/5 ml vial) intravenously administrated for surgical prophylaxis was assessed. Nine hundred and fifty-two patients were treated (599 M, 343 F), with a mean age of 57.9 years +/- 18.6 SD, and in all cases surgical prophylaxis was carried out according to the following scheme: short-term with 2 vials (800 mg) 1 h before the operation, repeated at 12 and 24 hours after the operation; long-term 2 vials (800 mg) 1 h before the operation repeated at 12 and 24 hours after the operation and followed by 1 vial every 12 h for other 2 days. The choice between the two schemes was conditioned by the type of operation and by the basic conditions of the patient. Pefloxacin was seen to be effective in preventing the onset of post-surgical infections (97%), also maintaining the clinical parameters considered within normal limits. Safety was also highly satisfactory, since only 22 (2.3%) cases of side effects occurred, particularly involving the gastro-intestinal system. Thus, in conclusion, the validity of pefloxacin in surgical prophylaxis, with special emphasis on its efficacy in elderly and compromised patients is asserted.

The use of somatostatin in acute pancreatitis--results of a multicenter trial.

This study involves a multicenter trial aimed at evaluating the comparative beneficial therapy of somatostatin and traditional symptomatic therapy in the management of acute pancreatitis. According to our final data somatostatin has not proved to be any better than traditional medical treatment. Nevertheless, in our opinion, the advantage of a single and expeditious therapy makes somatostatin administration preferable to the combined employment of several therapeutic measures usually applied in these circumstances.