A cheap protocol for colour measure and for diagnostic in planning a cultural heritage restoration. Case study: main façade of Palazzo Governi (Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy).

Due to the bad state of conservation, "Palazzo Governi", a seventeenth-century building located in the old town district of "Stampace" in Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy), was subjected to restoration. Thus, according to the Italian Law n. 1089, the main façade colour must be reproduced, and therefore, its identification was required. The available samples looked fairly degraded, in particular as an easy plaster to crumble; so, some other analyses able to identify the degradation cause were performed. Two different approaches were adopted to attain the first goal, the visual colour assessment by a sensory panel (subjective) and the instrumental measurement by colorimetry (objective). Ion chromatography and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy analyses, as well as conductivity and pH measurements, were performed to evaluate the presence of water-soluble salts inside the plaster, as possible cause of degradation; the binder/aggregate ratio was also evaluated. A full mineralogical and petrographic characterisation of the materials constituting the samples, as well as the identification of their stratigraphy and some other morphologic and structural features suitable to highlight eventual forms of degradation, were performed by optical microscopy. Scanning electron microscopy coupled to X-ray microanalysis was been also used in order to confirm and/or to integrate data obtained by optical microscopy. The samples have been compared with two samples coming from two other buildings, also located in Sardinia, that looked in good conservation state. The results evidenced that the causes of degradation come from a high salt (especially sulphate) content and a scarce presence of binder in the plaster that can be imputed to a wrong initial composition and/ or to a leaching by acidic rain.

Twin pregnancy achieved through TESE in an adult male exstrophy.

Bladder exstrophy is a rare anomaly, it compromises bladder functions, and in males it occurs with an impairment of reproductive functions, because of erectile and ejaculatory deficit. Advancements in the surgical treatment of bladder exstrophy have allowed an improvement of the bladder functions while spontaneous conception is still impaired. This is a case report of a pregnancy and subsequent birth of twins following testicular sperm extraction, on a man born with classical bladder exstrophy with infertility due to an ejaculation.

[Fertilization in vitro and microinsemination. 6 years of experience in the Ospedale Microcitemico of Cagliari]. / Fecondazione in vitro e microinseminazione. Sei anni di esperienza nell'Ospedale Microcitemico di Cagliari.

BACKGROUND: In this study the results of six years experience (1993-1998) in IVF, ICSI and assisted hatching on 442 sterile couples for a total of 868 cycles are reported. Since 1997 ICSI has also been carried out in cases of azoospermia extracting mobile spermatozoa from the epididymal (MESA) or from the testicle (TESE). METHODS: Ages ranged from 20 to 48 and mean years sterility was 5.868 cycles were carried out of which 153 (17.62%) were for IVF, 705 (81.22%) for ICSI and 10 (1.15%) for MESA and TESE. Assisted hatching was performed through "partial zona dissection" in 329 cases on a total of 987 embryos. RESULTS: The pregnancy rates per embryo transfer in IVF and ICSI cycles were 22.4 and 19.96% respectively. Results considering patients age were: 33.87% below 35, 29.55% between 35 and 38 and 6.60% above 38. In the group of 189 assisted hatching patients the evolutive pregnancy rate rose from 15.78 to 26.40% and multiple pregnancies from 28.63 to 42%. CONCLUSIONS: ICSI has offered high rates of fertilization and pregnancy even in extreme cases of oligoasthenospermia or cases of azoospermia adopting MESA or TESE techniques. A decisive factor on pregnancy rates is age, very low over 38 years. Assisted Hatching further increased the pregnancy rates.

Psychological implications and acceptability of preimplantation diagnosis.

The aim of this study was to ascertain the degree of acceptability of preimplantation diagnosis with blastocentesis in 180 women at risk for beta-thalassaemia awaiting chorionic villus sampling (CVS). The women were asked to fill in a questionnaire some days before sampling. All women who had had previous therapeutic abortion found blastocentesis acceptable. Only 30% of women who had not had previous therapeutic abortion chose blastocentesis, whilst 25% of primigravid women opted for blastocentesis. From these preliminary data it seems that obstetric experience is an important factor in the reproductive choice of women at high genetic risk.

Early transabdominal chorionic villus sampling in couples at high genetic risk.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the feasibility and safety of transabdominal chorionic villus sampling before 9 weeks' gestation. STUDY DESIGN: Two hundred pregnancies at risk for beta-thalassemia (n = 198) or Duchenne muscular dystrophy (n = 2) underwent transabdominal CVS at 6 through 8 weeks. Sampling success and fetal loss are expressed in percentages. RESULTS: Sampling was successful in all cases (100%). Forty-eight fetuses were affected by beta-thalassemia and one by Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The percentage of fetal loss, expressed as a proportion of continuing pregnancies, was 4.0%. All women (n = 144) have been delivered, and no misdiagnoses have occurred. We observed one anencephalus and one mild limb defect consisting of absence of distal phalanges of index and little fingers of both hands and distal phalanges of both little toes. CONCLUSION: Transabdominal CVS before 9 weeks is a reliable and relatively safe method for prenatal diagnosis in patients at high risk for genetic diseases. However, further studies are necessary to assess the risk to the fetus.

[Ambulatory measurement of arterial pressure. Diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic value]. / Mesure ambulatoire de la pression artérielle. Intérêt diagnostique, pronostique et thérapeutique.

The invasive and non-invasive techniques now available for automatic monitoring of blood pressure have provided new sets of physiological as well as diagnostic and therapeutic data. Recordings of blood pressure variations over a 24-hour period have shown that it increases during the day and decreases at night, that these physiological changes are more pronounced in the elderly than in young subjects and also that they depend on the degree of physical activity. The clinical applications of these techniques rest on the possibility of recording a blood pressure-activity profile over time, in order to speak, ultimately, in terms of blood pressure load activity. By reference to a normal blood pressure profile, genuinely hypertensive subjects can be differentiated better from those overactive, hyperemotional subjects who are perhaps not suffering from true hypertension. Finally, 24-hour recordings repeated over periods of several days or weeks enable the clinicians to assess therapeutic effectiveness and to envisage an authentic chronotherapy.

[Ambulatory measurement of arterial pressure by a noninvasive procedure. Study of its variability in 18 normotensive subjects and 25 hypertensive patients. Research on criteria of normality]. / Mesure de la tension artérielle en ambulatoire par procédé non invasif. Etude de sa variabilité chez 18 normotendus et 25 hypertendus. Recherche de critères de normalité.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring by an automatic non-invasive procedure allows the measurement of a large number of blood pressures and provides information in the variations of blood pressure during normal activity. The development of a programme on a minicomputer has helped simplify the expression of the results by: --a graphical representation of the evaluation of the blood pressure with respect to time (chronogramme); --a histogramme showing the distribution of the blood pressure values; --a representation of the pressure load with respect to time. By stocking the individual results a statistical study could be undertaken of the whole population. Eighteen normotensives, 15 borderline hypertensives and 12 permanent hypertensives were monitored for 24 hours. A circadien variation of blood pressure was observed in all three groups. Over an arbitrary chosen period (9 am-9 pm) the mean blood pressures and heart rates were: --Normotensives: SBP = 134 +/- 19; DBP = 79 +/- 11; HR = 79 +/- 14; --Borderline hypertensives: SBP = 151 +/- 30; DBP = 90 +/- 16; HR = 86 +/- 18; --Permanent hypertensives: SBP = 157 +/- 27; DBP = 102 +/- 17; HR = 83 +/- 17. An interpretation of these results requires information about the normality of the blood pressure levels during normal activities which remains to be studied. Resting values measured in the doctor's surgery need to be compared to ambulatory values in these three groups in order to judge the real significance of this method of measurement, and, in particular, to determine if the resting values are predictive of the blood pressure levels during activity.

[Changes in heart rate and blood pressure in a series of normotensive subjects before and after beta-blocker treatment (double-blind) during physical, dynamic, static and psychosensorial stress]. / Evolution des valeurs de la fréquence cardiaque et de la tension artérielle chez une série de sujets normotendus avant et après traitement par bêta-bloquants (double aveugle) lors de contraintes physiques, dynamiques, statiques et psycho-sensorielles.

23 normotensive subjects in good health are submitted to a "test de l'exposé" and 17 others are submitted to a test on an ergometric bicycle and a hand grip stress test. These tests are performed twice at one week interval, with or without treatment with acebutolol, in double blind. HR,SBP and DBP are measured simultaneously before, during and after each test. Every stress is responsible for a marked increase in the parameters according to different modalities. With ACEBUTOLOL treatment, during the test described and during dynamic stress on ergometric bicycle, HR and SBP are always less elevated. The decreases are dependent either on the stress level or on the reactivity of the subjects. DBP is however basely modified. Under static stress, there is a decrease in HR, in SBP, but also in DBP; actually increase in this parameter is important during this type of stress.

[Automatic measure of arterial pressure using the oscillometric method (Dynamap 845)]. / Mesure automatique de la pression artérielle par méthode oscillométrique (Dynamap 845).

The reproducibility and reliability of measurements performed with an automatic blood pressure measuring device based on the oscillometric method were assessed by comparison with the results obtained by the indirect auscultation using a mercury manometer. The results of the mean values, of the correlation between successive values and of the variation of the values of systolic and diastolic blood pressure show that the readings obtained by the automatic method are very reproducible.

[Physiological variations of arterial pressure and heart rate in the first 5 minutes after moving from a supine to an upright position]. / Variations physiologiques de la pression artérielle et de la fréquence cardiaque dans les cinq premières minutes qui suivent le passage de la position couchée à la position debout.

The physiological variations of blood pressure and heart rate were studied in the first five minutes of orthostatism in conditions identical to those encountered in clinical medicine. An increase in heart rate and diastolic blood pressure was observed from the first minute. The value of systolic blood pressure decreased as the subject got up and then rose to the value measured when lying down. At the fourth and fifth minute the three parameters were stable at significantly higher values than observed when lying down for the heart rate and diastolic blood pressure, but at an identical level for the systolic blood pressure. This study shows the necessity of measuring the orthostatic blood pressure using a precise technique which detects postural abnormalities when measured in the minute of orthostatism and which gives an assessment of the standing blood pressure when measured at the fifth minute.

[Value of continous 12-hour electrocardiography during the rehabilitation period in patients convalescing from myocardial infarction. Apropos of 40 cases]. / Intérêt de l'enregistrement électrocardiographique continu sur 12 heures de sujets convalescents d'infarctus du myocarde en période de réadaptation. A propos de 40 sujets.

The results of continuous 12-hour electrocardiography in 40 convalescent patients after myocardial infarction undergoing a programme of readaptation on average 4 weeks after the initial infarction are reported. The frequency and alarming nature of the VES observed in 75% patients who had already undergone selection for the coronary readaptation programme, 30% of whom were receiving antiarrhythmic therapy, is emphasized. The observation of a progressive increase in the number of VES during the day prompts the following suggestions: the possibility of limited continuous ECG monitoring at the end of the day, the need to adapt the dosage of antiarrhythmic drugs during this most critical period. The comparison of the results of continuous ECG with those of repeated exercise ECG seems very positive, but some reservations are made and it would seem logical to associate these two complementary methods of investigation.

[Reproducibility of measurements of arterial pressure and heart rate during exercise test: its significance and application]. / Reproductibilité des mesures de la tension artérielle et de la fréquence cardiaque lors de l'épreuve d'effort. Intérêt et applications.

The authors report their findings from a study of the reproductibility of measurements of blood pressure and heart rate both at rest and during exercise (work on a bicycle ergometer) in 19 patients who were tested on two occasions with a mean interval of 9.8 days. A study of the correlations, of variability, and of the findings on applying Student's "t" test, have led us to the conclusion that these parameters are more reproduceable on exercise than at rest, and become increasingly reproduceable as exercise increases. These conclusions support the use of an induced hypertension test under exercise.

[Data from systematic electrocardiographic study during exercise in hypertensive patients. Apropos of 307 cases]. / Données de l'étude électrocardiographique systématique à l'effort de sujets hypertendus. A propos de 307 cas

The authors report the data of a systematic electrocardiographic study of 307 subjects suffering from hypertension. They analyse the EKG anomalies at rest and after exercise and study the relationships likely to exist between these anomalies and other parameters such as age, blood pressure, etc. They stress the diagnostic but also discriminatory value of this type of investigation in hypertension.

[Test of provoked arterial hypertension. Value and limitations of the static exercise of prolonged handgrip]. / Epreuve d'hypertension artérielle provoquée. Intérêt et limite d'une épreuve statique de préhension prolongée

The used of a test of prolonged grip and recording the changes in arterial blood-pressure and heart rate is suggested as a way of studing the blood-pressure changes of effort in hypertensives. This test provides a real screen for provoqued hypertension: it allows --to define a normal profile of reference for blood-pressure, --to check the fluctuations at rest of blood-pressure, --to determine the severity of haemodynamic dissorders, --to judge the efficiency of hypotensive therapy.