Climate change impact assessment on Veneto and Friuli Plain groundwater. Part I: an integrated modeling approach for hazard scenario construction.

Climate change impacts on water resources, particularly groundwater, is a highly debated topic worldwide, triggering international attention and interest from both researchers and policy makers due to its relevant link with European water policy directives (e.g. 2000/60/EC and 2007/118/EC) and related environmental objectives. The understanding of long-term impacts of climate variability and change is therefore a key challenge in order to address effective protection measures and to implement sustainable management of water resources. This paper presents the modeling approach adopted within the Life+ project TRUST (Tool for Regional-scale assessment of groUndwater Storage improvement in adaptation to climaTe change) in order to provide climate change hazard scenarios for the shallow groundwater of high Veneto and Friuli Plain, Northern Italy. Given the aim to evaluate potential impacts on water quantity and quality (e.g. groundwater level variation, decrease of water availability for irrigation, variations of nitrate infiltration processes), the modeling approach integrated an ensemble of climate, hydrologic and hydrogeologic models running from the global to the regional scale. Global and regional climate models and downscaling techniques were used to make climate simulations for the reference period 1961-1990 and the projection period 2010-2100. The simulation of the recent climate was performed using observed radiative forcings, whereas the projections have been done prescribing the radiative forcings according to the IPCC A1B emission scenario. The climate simulations and the downscaling, then, provided the precipitation, temperatures and evapo-transpiration fields used for the impact analysis. Based on downscaled climate projections, 3 reference scenarios for the period 2071-2100 (i.e. the driest, the wettest and the mild year) were selected and used to run a regional geomorphoclimatic and hydrogeological model. The final output of the model ensemble produced information about the potential variations of the water balance components (e.g. river discharge, groundwater level and volume) due to climate change. Such projections were used to develop potential hazard scenarios for the case study area, to be further applied within climate change risk assessment studies for groundwater resources and associated ecosystems. This paper describes the models' chain and the methodological approach adopted in the TRUST project and analyzes the hazard scenarios produced in order to investigate climate change risks for the case study area.

[Multicenter study on the effectiveness of Tension Vaginal Tape (TVT) in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence]. / Studio multicentrico sull'efficacia del Tension Free Vaginal Tape (TVT) nella terapia della incontinenza urinaria da sforzo.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of Tension Free Vaginal Tape (TVT) for the surgical treatment of stress urinary incontinence. METHODS: The design was an open multicenter study including six Italian hospitals. Between January 1998 and November 1999, 429 stress incontinent women were enrolled in the study. Before surgery subjects had been studied through their history, urine culture, physical examination, cotton swab test, cough provocation test and urodynamic evaluation including: uroflowmetry, water cystometry and urethral profilometry. Incontinence inconvenience has been quantified through a 10-grade visual analogue scale (VAS). Postoperatively patients were assessed after 6, 12 and 24 months. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients considered was 57 years (range 31-83) and 78 of them had undergone a previous operation for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence or genital prolapse. Out of the 429 patients, 371 were followed for a minimum of 6 months, 11 were lost to follow-up and 47 had been operated recently. After surgery 355 subjects (96%) were subjectively cured and no leakage of urine was observed in 97% of the patients during the postoperative cough provocation test. CONCLUSIONS: This study carried out on a great number of patients demonstrates that TVT is a safe and effective procedure for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence.

[Transmural distribution of hexokinase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and glutamate-oxalacetate transaminase in the left ventricle of the rat]. / Distribuzione transmurale di esochinasi, glucoso-6-fosfato deidrogenasi e transaminasi glutammico-ossalacetica nel ventricolo sinistro del ratto.

The changes in hexokinase (HK), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6P-DH) and glutamate aspertate aminotransferase (GOT) activities with the location of tissue within the left ventricle wall have been explored in the rat myocardium. The hearts were cut in 100 micron thick serial sections (see 4) and all sections spectrophotometric procedures (5). No significant transmural gradient in HK activity was observed but the levels of G6P-DH and of GOT activities were significantly higher in the subepicardial tissue and were at their lowest levels in the midmyocardial layers. Our data and previous observations (3,6) indicate that adptions to regional differences in the cardiac work load occurred in the left ventricle wall but that the transmural patterns of enzyme distribution may change with the different animal specie.