[When science becomes technology: epistemological and ethical consequences of the Adduction]. / Quando la scienza diviene tecnologia: conseguenze epistemologiche ed etiche della Adduzione.

Notwithstanding that the sciences are every day closest to technology, the Philosophy of Science has not yet well realized the epistemological and ethical differences that make different the "Traditional Naturalistic Science" (TNS) and the technological, artefactual, intrusive science that I called: "Post-Modern Meta-Naturalistic Science" (P-MM-NS). The first type of science has as a primary scope the knowledge of nature, using a methodology that departs from the methodic doubt, realizes a hypothesis, defines the aim(s), adopts a protocol, interprets and discusses the results, inferentially derives the conclusions, according to the classical philosophical reasonings of induction, deduction, abduction. In my philosophical reasoning, I realized that P-MM-NS follows an absolutely different epistemological procedure. The technological science prefigures a scope, produces a non-natural technically-modified object, gives for sure the occurrence of the effect for which the object has been manufactured. This means that only "in retrospect" it will ascertain whether or not the promised effect has occurred, considering that any technical artifact could be rejected by that natural environment in which it has been, acritically, delivered, without knowing how to remedy in case of an unexpected effect. In such a circumstance, the technological science has totally failed in its scope and effect, The potential failure of the predicted effect will prove that P-MM-NS follows a logical reasoning that is substantially and formally "sui generis" with respect to the epistemology and ethics of NS. This divergence from the classic reasoning of induction, deduction, abduction, has been called by me: "Adduction", because of the following considerations: the scientific procedure doesn't depart from the methodic doubt and hypothesis, only declares a scope, for which it is produced a technically-manufactured object, and gives for sure which will be the expected effect, but, not knowing how to remedy to negative results in case of a failure. It is, thus, clearly visible that the adduction is a type of logical reasoning that is self-referential and tautogical, being only based on a declaration of intents, adducted for justifying the production of a technical artifact, assuring an effect without suspecting that it could not respond to the promised scope.

[Measuring the instant]. / Misurare l'istante.

The instant is the infinitesimal fraction of time nearest to zero. Its computational measurement is not feasable in that it should be an infinitesimal commensurable portion of infinite time, which is incommensurabile by principle. The philosophical implication is that the instant has to be intended as an abstract entity belonging to metaphysical, transcendent, supranormal, suprasensitive, infinite time. In other words, the instant does not represent an experential deduction of our intellect, but an aprioristic innate idea letting us to be aware of physical, immanent, natural, sensible, finite temporality.

[An essay on phonetic and semantic neologisms in scientific language]. / Saggio sui neologismi fonetici e semantici nel linguaggio scientifico.

Science has the commitment to formulate pertaining neologisms coherently with the new acquisitions derived from the basic and applied research. The elaboration of scientific neologisms has to be phonetically done on a semantic basis dictated by the ontological substance or formal phenomenology of the object discovered. The article explains the reasons for which it is advisable to avoid a linguistic formulation based on merely phonetic abstractions.

[An essay on science, cosmogenesis and religion]. / Saggio su scienza, cosmogenesi e religione.

The relationships between science and religion are not easy from both the parts. But, the major controversy deals with the cosmogenesis and, thus, the existence of God. Science excludes the hypothesis of a divine creation, while theology assumes the origin of universe as a mere supernatural act. In my opinion, the scientific negation of the existence of God is a merely fideistic position, being founded on the hypothesis that the Bing Bang was an episode governed by casuality. An hypothesis that is more dogmatic that the Plato's idea of a demiurge as the creator of universe. As a matter of fact, nobody, among the scientists, has never explained how something of concrete can be created from Nothingness, i.e., 1. how the primitive Black Hole could have had its origin; 2. how the primordial Black Hole was physically filled up by raw matter, energy, space and time; 3. in which space and time the black hole was located assuming that the both the physical space and time were resident inside its context; 4. why the physical time is immaterial in its essence. All these interrogatives can be better explained by assuming the existence of a divine Creator, existing in a metaphysical spatial and temporal setting, whose omnipotence only can be effective in giving origin to a novel physical matter, energy, space and time. Additionally, the epistemology of science pretends that the scientific negation of something has to be derived by undisputable observational or experimental or theoretic evidences. Finally, it is important to stress that the modern science has its base of knowledge in the statistical probabilistic certainty. With respect to this the fideistic probability that God really exists, is only apparently equivalent to the fideistic probability that God does not exist. Blaise Pascal has clearly demonstrated that is more logical to believe in God than the opposite, because it is important to remember that in the presence of equivalent probabilities, the choice has to be conceived to the existence of God which is more apologetically convincing and intellectually convenient. Affirming the existence of God means to gain the eternal life in a transcendental reality. The atheistic negation of God means nothing and implies the conclusion that the life of human beings has no meaning, as no meaning has the nature as well as the universe. It is, thus, more confortable that the theological positivism should prevail on the scientific negativism.

[An essay about science and linguistics]. / Saggio su scienza e linguaggio.

Both the methodology and epistemology of science provided the criteria by which the scientific research can describe and interpret data and results of its observational or experimental studies. When the scientist approaches the conclusive inference, it is mandatory to think that both the knowledge and truth imply the use of words semantically and etymologically (semiologically) appropriate, especially if neologisms are required. Lacking a vocabulary, there will be the need of popularizing the inference to the linguistics of the context to which the message is addressed. This could imply a discrepancy among science, knowledge, truth and linguistics, that can be defined "semiologic bias". To avoid this linguistic error, the scientist must feel the responsibility to provide the scientific community with the new words that are semantically and etymologically coherent with what it has been scientifically discovered.

[Identification and description of a new epistemological category of inferential reasoning related to meta-naturalistic science]. / Identifi cazione e descrizione di una nuova categoria epistemologica di ragionamento inferenziale della scienza meta-naturalista.

Modern science underwent a substantial shift of methodology passing from naturalistic science to meta-naturalistic science, the latter addressed to introduce "Technologically Modified Beings or Objects" (TMB - TMO) in nature, with the intention to utilize them for some endpoints. Classically, naturalistic science draws epistemological inferences using the traditional criteria of induction, deduction or abduction. The question arises: "What is the epistemological criterion of inference used by meta-naturalistic science?". Meditating on this question, I have identified the new epistemological category of reasoning that characterizes the meta-naturalistic science, calling it: "Adduction". Adduction can be defined as "A new epistemological category of inferential reasoning, beside induction, deduction, abduction, currently used in meta-naturalistic science, that consists in deriving inferences to what it has not been yet scientifically experimented, demonstrated and validated, simply by adducing, as a support to the inference, the motivation itself for which the scientists were exerted to produce their meta-naturalistic artifacts. In so doing, the inference is no other than an aprioristic, adubitative assertion of a thesis that gives an authorization to the scope and a certainty to the results, without knowing whether or not the promised endpoints will be fulfilled. In conclusion, adduction is a convolute (sometime, tautological and para-sylogistic) process of reasoning that makes "prospective prophecies" because of its inference to the predicted premises rather than to the demonstrated conclusions".

[Diagnosing silent cardiac dysautonomia via ambulatory blood pressure monitoring: early diagnosis shown by the lack of heart rate circadian rhythm in type 1 diabetes mellitus]. / Studio della disautonomia cardiaca silente mediante monitoraggio ambulatorio della pressione arteriosa: diagnosi tramite la scomparsa del ritmo circadiano della frequenza cardiaca nei pazienti con diabete mellito tipo 1.

INTRODUCTION: Diabetes mellitus (DM) can be complicated by an involvement of Neurovegetative System (NVS), conventionally and non-invasively diagnosed by the means of Ewing's test and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) analysis. It is well known that the NVS is physiologically responsible, via biological clocks, for the regulation of Circadian Rhythms (CR) characterizing the majority of biological functions. Therefore, this study is aimed at investigating the CR of Heart Rate (HR) and Blood Pressure (BP) in DM, postulating that the diagnosis of Silent Cardiac Dysautonomia (SCD) could be facilitated by detecting anomalous rhythmometric changes, including the worse one, i.e., the lose of a CR. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study has been performed on 30 clinically healthy subjects (CHS), 10 patients with DM1 and 30 patients with DM2, who underwent an ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) collecting data equidistantly every 30 minutes, under standardized conditions of lifestyle. The group specific monitored values of systolic (S), diastolic (D) BP, as well as HR have been analyzed via: 1. a conventional analysis of their intradiem variability; 2. a chronobiometric analysis (Cosinor method) of their CR. RESULTS: The conventional analysis disclosed that in CHS, DM1 and DM2, both the HR and BP show an intradiem variability that is significant (p less than 0.001). The chronobiological analysis showed that in CHS and DM2, both the HR and BP show a significant CR (p less than 0.001), viceversa in DM1 HR is characterized by a non significant CR (p=0.124), notwithstanding that the SBP and DBP maintain a significant CR (p less than 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The disappearance of HR CR in DM1 reveals the involvement of neurovegetative biological clock that selectively controls the HR CR, as it is demonstrated by the pathophysiological finding of an internal desynchronization between the HR and BP CR. The selective lose of HR CR in DM1 leads to conclude that the ABPM, along with its Cosinor analysis, might be a practical, repeatable, low cost, low risk technique for diagnosing the SCD, at least in DM1.

[History of scientific truth: from Determinism, through Indeterminism to Probabilism]. / Storia della verità scientifica: dal Determinismo all'Indeterminismo al Probabilismo.

In this article it is reported a historical-philosophical "excursus" on the schools of thought followed by science in order to provide the highest degree of truth to the knowledge of natural reality.

Exploiting the ambulatory blood pressure monitoring via chronobiometric and chaosbiometric methods for a more exhaustive diagnostic approach to arterial hypertension.

Presently, the ambulatory (A) blood (B) pressure (P) monitoring (M) is mainly used for diagnosing arterial hypertension (AH) in some special clinical conditions in which the causal sphygmomanometry appears not to be enough exhaustive. However, it must be pointed out that the actual approach to ABPM is almost simplistic, only consisting in a biometric analysis of discrete raw temporal values for systolic (S) and diastolic (D) BP and heart rate (HR). It must be stressed that BP and HR are hemodynamic variables characterized by a well established circadian rhythm (C) in their 24-h physiological values. Therefore, an appropriate chronobiometric approach, via Single Cosinor method, can improve the diagnostic value, its optimal oscillatory curve reducing all the biometric information to three parameters, i.e., MESOR (M, mean level of oscillation), Amplitude (A, extent of oscillation from M) and Acrophase (phi, timing of A with respect to local midnight). Accordingly, one can detect whether the BP CR is still manifest, as it is in essential hypertension (EH), or altered , as it is in secondary hypertension (SH). Therefore, by using the discriminant analysis for the three multivariate parameters, M, A, phi, of the BP cosine curve, one can statistically predict whether a new monitored hypertensive patient has a significant probability to be affected by EH or SH. Interestingly, by applying a further chronobiometric integration analysis, i.e., the Cosint analysis, it is possible to estimate the area under the BP oscillatory curve, for calculating the overall, diurnal, nocturnal, hourly pressure load (Baric Impact, BI) in terms respectively of mm2 Hg/24-h, mm2 Hg/16-h, mm2Hg/8-h, mm2 Hg/1-h. By comparing the overall BI of the new monitored hypertensive patient to its upper reference limit, one can estimate how much is the Baric Excess (Hyperbaric Impact, HI) caused by the personal hypertensive regimen. Finally, by using the chaos method of fractal interpolation to BP 24-h values, it is possible to establish whether or not the monitored hypertensive subject is presumably at risk of unpredictable high BP values (presumable risk of hypertensive crisis).

Comparison of floor sanitation methods.

Two methods for cleaning waxed polyvinylchloride and porcelain grès hospital room floors were compared in order to determine their decontamination capacity: dry wiping followed by damp washing, and damp washing followed by dry wiping. Dry wiping followed by damp washing did not produce any significant reduction in the average bacterial load. However, damp washing followed by dry wiping reduced the bacterial load for both types of flooring. The difference was statistically significant.

Analysis of the chaotic component of the sinusal R-R intervals as a tool for detecting a silent cardiac dysautonomia in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

This study explores the heart rate (HR) variability (V) in order to detect whether the chaotic component of the sinusal R-R intervals (SRRI) can be interpreted as an early indicator of a silent cardiac neurovegetative dysautonomia in apparently uncomplicated Type 2 diabetic patients (DP). The SRRI were provided by the 24-h Holter ECG of 10 Type 2 DP (5 M and 5 F, mean age = 41 +/- 5 years). Control data were obtained by the 24-h Holter ECG of 10 clinically healthy subjects (CHS, 5 M and 5 F, mean age = 38 +/- 6 years). The chaotic component of HRV was investigated via the correlation dimension (CD) analysis (A) of the SRRI, performed per each hour of the ECG recording. The hourly-qualified series of SRRI, HR and CD index (I) were, in turn, analyzed via methods of conventional statistics and chronobiology, the latter ones for assessing the circadian rhythm (CR). The CDI CR was found to peak during the night in CHS, and to be unphysiologically rotated to the diurnal hours of the day in Type 2 DP. The diurnal inversion of the CDI CR in Type 2 DP suggests that the chaotic component of HRV shows an abnormal rhythnic pattern over the day-night period. Considering that the investigated Type 2 DP were lacking of documentable signs of cardiac neuropathy, it is hypothesized that the diurnal phase of shift CDI CR might be a potential indicator of a silent autonomic cardiac dysfunction in Type 2 DP. Such a hypothesis waits for further confirmations.

A lower level of entropy in circadian rhythm of the sinus R-R intervals suggests a prevalence of the cardiac sympathetic regulation in early physiological pregnancy.

The study estimates the unpredictable disorder (chaos) within the 24 h pattern of sinus R-R intervals (SRRI) in clinically healthy pregnant women (CHPW) and clinically healthy non-pregnant women (CHNPW), in order to evaluate the early gestational changes in neurovegetative cardiac pacing. SRRI were provided by the 24-h Holter ECG of 10 CHPW and 10 CHNPW. SRRI were investigated by descriptive conventional statistics by means of the Time and Frequency Domain Analysis, and subsequently, in their chaotic component by means of entropy analysis. Both the SRRI and entropy were tested via the Cosinor method to better decipher whether or not the periodic disorder in heart rate variability is modified in pregnancy as a result of a gestational tonic resetting of the cardiac sympatho-vagal regulation. Cosinor analysis documented that the circadian rhythm of both the SRRI and entropy were preserved in CHNPW and CHPW. However, the circadian rhythm of SRRI and entropy in CHPW exhibited a significantly decreased 24 h mean. Via the analysis of the rhythmicity of entropy, this study has documented that the chaos in the 24 h pattern of SRRI is less prominent in CHPW than in CHNPW. Such a reduction of level in the deterministic periodic chaos of heart rate variability provides evidence that, in early pregnancy, a tonic elevation of the sympathetic activity regulates cardiac pacing.

Carnitine deficiency in patients with coeliac disease and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) and coeliac disease (CD) are two pathological conditions which may lead, by different mechanisms, to malabsorption of various micronutrients, including carnitine, active in cardiac metabolism. The aim of the present investigation was primarily to evaluate differences in serum concentrations of total carnitine between IDCM patients and patients with IDCM associated with CD and then also to evaluate, in the latter, the effect of a gluten-free diet on serum concentrations of total carnitine. METHOD AND RESULTS: Serum carnitine was determined by enzymatic spectrophotometric assay in three groups of individuals: group A, 10 patients (5 males, 5 females), mean age 46.5+/-10.8 years, presenting isolated IDCM; group B, 3 patients (2 males, 1 female), mean age 34+/-8 years, with IDCM+CD; and group C, 10 healthy subjects (5 males, 5 females), mean age 38.6+/-11.1 years. All patients with IDCM belonged to class NYHA I-II. Mean concentrations of total serum carnitine in the group of patients with isolated IDCM (group A) were found to be lower than in the controls (group C). The concentrations in patients with IDCM associated with CD (group B) were lower than in the control group and also lower than in the isolated IDCM (group A). After 2 years on a gluten-free diet, patients presenting IDCM associated with CD showed a progressive increase in mean serum carnitine levels compared to values observed prior to the diet. CONCLUSIONS: Patients presenting IDCM associated with CD show a greater decrease in serum total carnitine levels than patients presenting the isolated form of IDCM. A gluten-free diet, in these patients, leads to a progressive increase in serum levels of this substance.

[Circadian rhythm of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system: a summary of our research studies]. / Funzione ritmica circadiana del sistema renina-angiotensina-aldosterone: consuntivo delle nostre ricerche.

The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) is characterized by a circadian rhythm (CR) whose acrophase is detectable early in the morning. The prorenin and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) show a CR as well. However, while the prorenin is in phase with the RAAS the ACE shows its circadian acrophase in the afternoon suggesting a negative feed-back. The RAAS CR is influenced by many factors. Its mesor is modified by sodium intake. The physical activity and rest affect both the mesor and acrophase. The variations in mesor amplitude and acrophase in aged subjects are conditioned by sex and physical activity. Moreover, the RAAS CR seems to be influenced by the race. In addition, it is abolished by the beta-adrenergic blockade, suggesting the existence of an adrenergic clock. Interestingly, the RAAS CR seems not to be a pacemaker for the blood pressure CR, whose acrophase is early in the afternoon. The RAAS CR is not substantially modified has in essential hypertension. However, the CR of plasma renin activity is disappeared in the low-renin essential hypertension, while the CR of plasma aldosterone is detectable. On the contrary, the aldosterone CR is not detectable in ascitic liver cirrhosis; but, it is restored when the ascites is removed by peritoneal-jugular shunt. No significant variation of the RAAS CR seems to occur in obesity and Cushing's syndrome. The RAAS CR has disappeared in Conn's disease as well as in Bartter's syndrome and Liddle's syndrome. The administration of indomethacine in Bartter's syndrome and of triamterene in Liddle's syndrome is able to restore the RAAS CR. Finally, the RAAS CR is not detectable in the heart or kidney transplanted patients; such a phenomenon could be attributed to cyclosporine and corticosteroids administration and to the denervation of the transplanted organs.

[Claude Bernard: a personal scientific fame that he probably would have not appreciated]. / Claude Bernard: una fama scientifica personale che probabilmente non avrebbe gradito.

Claude Bernard has been a great medical physiologist of the ninenteenth century, who was able to convince biologists and physicians that the "experimental method" can and must be applied to the phenomena of living matter, as it is applied in physics and chemistry. With the concept of the "universality of the experimental method", the Modern Experimental Medicine begun to exist. However, C. Bernard deserves of further honor, having identified and promulgated a law of the living matter, i.e., the law concerning the "constancy of the interior biological environment". Such a law was later consacrated in 1929 by G.W. Cannon with the term "homeostasis". The homeostatic conception of biological functions had a great epistemological impact in the history of biology and medicine. As a matter of fact, all the modern biologists and physicians are today educated at the light of the homeostatic systems. Accordingly, C. Bernard is celebrated in his fame as the tutor of scientific medicine. Reading, however, what C. Bernard has written on the personalism and the eponimy of scientific ideas, one is prone to think that he would have not appreciated the dogmatic exaltation, the cult of his ideas on the biological constancy. He was aware that "... it is a fundamental rule in science to modify and change the ideas going on". And again "... But, since these ideas are not immutable verities, one must be ready to abandon and modify them when they cease to represent the reality". And again "The systems and doctrines are personal and pretend to be immortal and to preserve their personality. The experimental method, however, is impersonal; it zeroes the individuality and sacrifices the particular ideas of the a single person in favor of a general verity, which is established by means of the experimental criterion". And again "The great persons have never been promoters of absolute ed eternal verities in experimental sciences". And again "Any person who made the science to proceed, never pretended to define the limits; this person is destined to be surpassed and left apart by the progress of the future generations". And again "One of the most important obstacle that is encountered by humans along the course of knowledge is represented by the tendency of human acquisitions to be transformed into systems". With the discovery of chaos and biological systems in living matter, the law of homeostasis must be now revised.

The orexigram in patients affected by morbid obesity: a preliminary report on daily hunger sensation before bariatric surgery.

OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated the orexigram, the time-qualified self-rated estimate of hunger sensation (HS), in patients affected by morbid obesity (MO) with the aim of detecting how daily HS behaves before morbidly obese patients (MOP) undergo bariatric surgery (BS). This article is therefore a preliminary report as it is necessary to make subsequent comparisons with post-BS orexigrams. Preoperative orexigrams may be helpful in selecting the MOPs who are candidates for surgical treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten MOPs (five males and five females, with a mean age of 34 +/- 11 yr and a mean BMI of 49.32 +/- 7.26 kg/m2), and 19 clinically healthy control subjects (CHS: nine males and ten females, with a mean age of 24 +/- 2 yr and a mean BMI of 21.00 +/- 1.70 kg/m2) gave their informed consent to participate in the study. All of the study participants were asked to compile a 24-h orexigram, which was then biometrically analysed by means of: 1) conventional methods for parametric statistics; 2) rhythm analysis for their circadian rhythms; and 3) spectral analysis for their harmonic structure. RESULTS: The orexigrams of the MOPs had significantly increased mean daily levels (daily hyperorexia), retained their circadian periodicity despite an increase in mesor, and were consistently modified in their ultradian spectral harmonic components. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that the studied MOPs complain of a daily hyperorexia that is still perceived circadically. This perception is a structured abnormality, as demonstrated by the consistent changes in the spectral analysis, and so MOPs can be diagnosed as being affected by so-called "hyperorectic obesity". It will be interesting to see whether or not presurgical hyperorexia in MOPs is corrected by BS: if so, hyperorexia may become an additional indication, and presurgery orexigrams could be suggested as an additional means of selecting the hyperorectic MOPs who are candidates for surgical treatment.

Hospital use of decontaminating mats.

Decontaminating mats made of several layers of adhesive sheets (water-based acrylic 6 g/m2) supplemented with a bactericidal agent (3-1 benzoisothiazolin) at a concentration of 25% were placed in the passages providing access to the operating rooms of an orthopaedic service. Contact plates containing tryptone soy agar were used to assess bacterial concentration at specific points in front of and beyond the mats. For trolley passageways two areas were defined: central and lateral paths, corresponding to the areas walked upon by the personnel pushing the trolleys and to the paths covered by the trolley wheels, respectively. In order to exclude a simple mechanical effect, a comparison of bacterial loads at defined sites beyond the mats was carried out in the presence and in the absence of decontaminating mats. Bacterial colony counts in the presence of decontaminating mats were substantially and statistically significantly reduced compared with the absence of mats. The lower mean number of colony-forming units detected at points located beyond the mats parallels this finding; this difference is also statistically significant. We thus conclude that decontaminating mats are potentially useful in decreasing micro-organism carry-over due to personnel or the passage of trolleys into areas at high risk of infection such as operating rooms.