The verification of wildland-urban interface fire evacuation models.

This paper introduces a protocol for the verification of multi-physics wildfire evacuation models, including a set of tests used to ensure that the conceptual modelling representation of each modelling layer is accurately implemented, as well as the interactions between different modelling layers and sub-models (wildfire spread, pedestrian movement, traffic evacuation, and trigger buffers). This work presents a total of 24 verification tests, including (1) 4 tests related to pedestrians, (2) 15 tests for traffic evacuation, (3) 5 tests concerning the interaction between different modelling layers, along with 5 tests for wildfire spread and trigger buffers. The evacuation tests are organized in accordance with different core components related to evacuation modelling, namely Population, Pre-evacuation, Movement, Route/destination selection, Flow constraints, Events, Wildfire spread and Trigger buffers. A reporting template has also been developed to facilitate the application of the verification testing protocol. An example application of the testing protocol has been performed using an open wildfire evacuation modelling platform called WUI-NITY and its associated trigger buffer model k-PERIL. The verification testing protocol is deemed to improve the credibility of wildfire evacuation model results and stimulate future modelling efforts in this domain. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11069-023-05913-2.

A scoping review of public building accessibility.

BACKGROUND: The built environment needs to be designed so that all people can participate in the activities they want and need to do. Yet, accessibility is difficult to put into practice, and accessibility issues tend to be overlooked in the building and planning processes. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this scoping review was to summarize the research front in the area of accessibility to public buildings. Specific aims were to identify knowledge gaps, to identify access activities in relation to environmental features and to link to predominant activities in terms of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). METHODS: A literature search was performed in PubMed, PsycINFO, Inspec, Embase and Cochrane databases. Articles in English based on original empirical studies investigating accessibility of public buildings for adults aged ≥18 years with functional limitations were considered. RESULTS: Of the 40 articles included, ten involved study participants, while 30 only examined buildings using instruments to assess accessibility. In addition, the psychometric properties were only tested for a few of them. All articles concerned mobility and several visual limitations, while few addressed cognitive or hearing limitations. Ten main access activities were identified, from using parking/drop-off area to exiting building. CONCLUSIONS: By using the ICF and theoretically relating the accessibility problems to activities, the results revealed that there are large knowledge gaps about accessibility to public buildings for older people and people with functional limitations and that there is a need for more methodological considerations in this area of research.

Multipolar symmetric squaraines with large two-photon absorption cross-sections in the NIR region.

The two-photon absorption (TPA) properties of two extended symmetric squaraine dyes are thoroughly characterized from the experimental and quantum-chemical point of view. The two molecules are specially engineered to have a multipolar structure with increasing complexity, D-π-A-π-D and A'-π-D-π-A-π-D-π-A', respectively. The experimental TPA spectra, measured by means of the Z-scan technique in the femtoseconds regime, display considerably high values of TPA cross sections (σ(TPA)) for both molecules. In particular, the squaraine with the more extended structure shows the highest value of σ(TPA) ever reported for this class of molecules. CIS and TDDFT calculations of the one and two-photon absorption properties are carried out to clarify the origin of the observed TPA properties and fully characterize the electronic properties of these compounds. The calculations, in good agreement with the experimental data, suggest that the origin of this exceptionally high σ(TPA) can be ascribed to the presence of a peripheral A' group, that increases the density of excited states involved in the TPA process.

A neutron camera system for MAST.

A prototype neutron camera has been developed and installed at MAST as part of a feasibility study for a multichord neutron camera system with the aim to measure the spatial and time resolved 2.45 MeV neutron emissivity profile. Liquid scintillators coupled to a fast digitizer are used for neutron/gamma ray digital pulse shape discrimination. The preliminary results obtained clearly show the capability of this diagnostic to measure neutron emissivity profiles with sufficient time resolution to study the effect of fast ion loss and redistribution due to magnetohydrodynamic activity. A minimum time resolution of 2 ms has been achieved with a modest 1.5 MW of neutral beam injection heating with a measured neutron count rate of a few 100 kHz.

Gain stabilization control system of the upgraded magnetic proton recoil neutron spectrometer at JET.

Burning plasma experiments such as ITER and DEMO require diagnostics capable of withstanding the harsh environment generated by the intense neutron flux and to maintain stable operating conditions for times longer than present day systems. For these reasons, advanced control and monitoring (CM) systems will be necessary for the reliable operation of diagnostics. This paper describes the CM system of the upgraded magnetic proton recoil neutron spectrometer installed at the Joint European Torus focusing in particular on a technique for the stabilization of the gain of the photomultipliers coupled to the neutron detectors. The results presented here show that this technique provides good results over long time scales. The technique is of general interest for all diagnostics that employ scintillators coupled to photomultiplier tubes.

Validating TRANSP simulations using neutron emission spectroscopy with dual sight lines.

A method to generate modeled neutron spectra from bulk and fast ion distributions simulated by TRANSP has been developed. In this paper, modeled data generated from fuel ion distributions modeled with TRANSP is compared to measured data from two neutron spectrometers with different lines of sight; TOFOR with a radial one and the MPRu with a tangential one. The information obtained from the analysis of the measured neutron spectra such as the relative intensity of the emission from different ion populations places additional constraints on the simulation and can be used to adjust the parameters of the simulation.

A neural networks framework for real-time unfolding of neutron spectroscopic data at JET.

A determination of fast ion population parameters such as intensity and kinetic temperature is important for fusion reactors. This becomes more challenging with finer time resolution of the measurements, since the limited data in each time slice cause increasing statistical variations in the data. This paper describes a framework using Bayesian-regularized neural networks (NNs) designed for such a task. The method is applied to the TOFOR 2.5 MeV fusion neutron spectrometer at JET. NN training data are generated by random sampling of variables in neutron spectroscopy models. Ranges and probability distributions of the parameters are chosen to match the experimental data. Results have shown good performance both on synthetic and experimental data. The latter was assessed by statistical considerations and by examining the robustness and time consistency of the results. The regularization of the training algorithm allowed for higher time resolutions than simple forward methods. The fast execution time makes this approach suitable for real-time analysis with a time resolution limit in the microsecond time scale.

[Education of the hypertensive patient: are educational booklets useful?]. / L'educazione del paziente iperteso: sono utili gli opuscoli informativi?

A good level of knowledge about hypertension can improve patients' compliance to treatment so achieve better therapeutic results. The aim of our study was to evaluate the degree of knowledge about their disease in hypertensives followed in a hospital out-patient unit; and whether an informative booklet could increase this awareness. The patients were presented a questionnaire on the following items: 1. their interest in health news as presented by the mass-media and their judgement on physicians' willingness to provide information about hypertension; 2. the health hazards of being hypertensive; 3. the importance of a family history of hypertension; 4. life style and blood pressure; 5. the reasons for treating hypertension and the length of treatment. Upon completion of the questionnaire, the patients were handed out a booklet in which these same topics were analyzed. At the next follow-up visit, they were invited to answer a set of questions quite similar to the first ones, but presented in a different verbal form. 200 patients completed the first questionnaire; 159, both of them. Basically, they show a high degree of correct knowledge about their disease, giving between 77% and 94% of correct answers to the different questions. After the booklet, for most of the questions the percentage of correct answers remains the same; when it does change, this is usually for the worse. Simply handing out a booklet doesn't help patients to better understand their disease. On the contrary it may have an opposite effect, inducing some degree of confusion.

Genetic testing: policy issues for the new millennium.

The purpose of this article is to provide a brief overview of the policy considerations underlying the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) workshop, "Genetic Testing: Policy Issues for the New Millennium," which was organised and hosted by the governments of the United Kingdom (UK) and Austria in Vienna, 23-25 February 2000, with the support of the European Commission (EC). It reviews the various topics presented at the meeting and offers a brief summary of its main conclusions.

Effects of low-dose aspirin on clinic and ambulatory blood pressure in treated hypertensive patients. Collaborative Group of the Primary Prevention Project (PPP)--Hypertension study.

Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs may affect blood pressure (BP) control in hypertensive patients receiving drug treatment, but data on the effects of low-dose aspirin are scanty. This study assessed the effects of chronic treatment with low doses of aspirin (100 mg/day) on clinic and ambulatory systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) BP in hypertensives on chronic, stable antihypertensive therapy. The study was conducted in the framework of the Primary Prevention Project (PPP), a randomized, controlled factorial trial on the preventive effect of aspirin or vitamin E in people with one or more cardiovascular risk factors. Fifteen Italian hypertension units studied 142 hypertensive patients (76 men, 66 women; mean age 59 +/- 5.9 years) treated with different antihypertensive drugs: 71 patients were randomized to aspirin and 71 served as controls. All patients underwent a clinic BP evaluation with an automatic sphygmomanometer and a 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring, at baseline and after 3 months of aspirin treatment. At the end of the study the changes in clinic SBP and DBP were not statistically different in treated and untreated subjects. Ambulatory SBP and DBP after 3 months of aspirin treatment were similar to baseline: deltaSBP -0.5 mmHg (95% confidence intervals [CI] from -1.9 to +2.9 mm Hg) and deltaDBP -1.1 mm Hg (95% CI from -2.5 to +0.3 mm Hg). The pattern was similar in the control group. No interaction was found between aspirin and the most used antihypertensive drug classes (angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and calcium antagonists). Despite the relatively small sample size our results seem to exclude any significant influence of low-dose aspirin on BP control in hypertensives under treatment.

Effects of vitamin E on clinic and ambulatory blood pressure in treated hypertensive patients. Collaborative Group of the Primary Prevention Project (PPP)--Hypertension study.

A randomized controlled open trial studied the effect of vitamin E supplementation (300 mg/day) on clinic and 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (BP) in 142 treated hypertensive patients. After 12 weeks, clinic BP decreased whether or not patients were randomized to vitamin E. Ambulatory BP showed no change in systolic BP and a small decrease in diastolic BP (-1.6 mm Hg, 95% confidence intervals from -2.8 to -0.4 mm Hg), approaching statistical significance in comparison to the control group (P = .06). Vitamin E supplementation thus seems to have no clinically relevant effect on BP in hypertensive patients already under controlled treatment.

[Rhabdomyolysis caused by improper intraoperative positioning. Clinical and medico-legal aspects]. / Rabdomiolisi da malposizionamento intraoperatorio. Aspetti clinici e medicolegali.

The etiology, diagnosis, pathology and treatment of rhabdomyolysis due to intraoperative malpositioning and the medico-legal implications of physicians involved in the surgical treatment and anesthesia of the patient are described. According to the Italian law, the anesthesiologist is the only physician of the surgery-anesthesia team responsible for the patient's positioning. The anesthesiologist must assume primary responsibility for protecting the patient from iatrogenic injuries due to improper positioning, and/or inadequate preventive measures.

Genistein in the control of breast cancer cell growth: insights into the mechanism of action in vitro.

Genistein significantly inhibited cell growth (IC50 around 10 microM) of MCF-7, MDAMB-231 and HBL-100 cell lines, but not of skin-derived fibroblasts and counteracted the growth-stimulatory effects exerted by estradiol and growth factors. It abolished the paracrine stimulation observed in MCF-7 cells in co-culture with MDAMB-231 or fibroblasts. Genistein-treated cells accumulated in the S and G2/M phases of the cell cycle and underwent apoptosis. Genistein decreased tyrosine phosphorylation induced upon treatment with transforming growth factor-alpha. Finally, genistein bound the estrogen receptor (ER) (relative affinity constant Kd = 4 nM), induced pS2 and cathepsin-D transcription and increased nuclear ER levels.

Effects of photoperiod on brain corticosteroid receptors and the stress response in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus).

Following exposure to short daylengths, in golden hamsters, changes in basal adrenal glucocorticoid secretion are associated with a significant increase in Type I receptor binding, and are preceded by alterations in the stress-induced release of glucocorticoids, which is one of the major modes of operation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA). These results lend support to the hypothesis that corticosteroid receptors, and in particular the Type I receptor subtype, play a central role in the regulation of circadian and circannual rhythms of the HPA.

[Anesthesiologic incidents from esophageal intubation. Presentation of three cases and medico-legal evaluation]. / Incidenti anestesiologici da intubazione esofagea. Presentazione di tre casi clinici e valutazione medico-legale.

Undiagnosed esophageal intubation is still prominently in anesthesia-related morbidity and mortality. Three cases of undiagnosed esophageal intubation taken into consideration for possible anesthesiologic malpractice are presented. A review of the international anesthetic-related morbidity and mortality statistics indicates that this misadventure remains a problem even among anesthesia personnel, a medical population specifically trained in such a procedure. It is not only the frequency of this misadventure but the potential catastrophic consequences for the patient that underline the importance of being able to recognise and correct an esophageal intubation. The reliability of commonly prescribed methods of assessing tracheal tube position is reviewed and the conclusion is drawn that continuous end-tidal carbon dioxide measurement during anesthesia is perhaps the most reliable means under all circumstances for determining proper tube position and should be employed routinely whenever possible.

Oral doxophylline in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Doxophylline, or 2-(7'-theophyllinemethyl)1,3-dioxolane, is a theophylline derivative which has shown interesting bronchodilating activity, and it appears to determine few adverse effects. The aim of the present investigation was to evaluate clinical therapeutic effects of the drug in the treatment of 2 groups of patients suffering from moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease differing in acute response to the inhaled beta 2-agonist salbutamol and to compare changes of lung function tests to serum concentration of doxophylline. We studied 67 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (median age 63 years, 9 females and 58 males) who were all clinically stable at the time of the study. Patients were separated into 2 groups on the basis of their reaction to inhalation of 200 micrograms of salbutamol: those with an increased FEV1 of more than 20% from baseline value (group 1), and those with no increase (group 2). Doxophylline was administered orally at the dose of 400 mg 3 times daily. Serum levels of doxophylline were determined by high-pressure liquid chromatography. Spirometry and blood gas analysis were performed before and 10 days after treatment. Four patients stopped drug assumption because of side effects (3 for dyspepsia and 1 for anxiety). In group 1 (34 patients), a significant increase in SVC, FVC, FEV1, FEF 25-75% and PEFR was observed. In group 1 (29 patients), only PEFR significantly increased. No modifications in blood gas analysis were observed. The mean serum level of doxophylline was 14 micrograms/ml in group 1 and 9 micrograms/ml in group 2: the difference was statistically significant. The relation between serum levels of doxophylline and FVC showed an increase in the parameter up to the concentration of 12-13 micrograms/ml, after which a plateau phase was observed. On the basis of our data, doxophylline appears to have an interesting bronchodilating effect in patients responsive to the inhaled beta 2-agonist salbutamol. The lower limit of the therapeutic range seems to be 12-13 micrograms/ml. The upper limit of the therapeutic range was not determined because it was not possible to obtain serum samples when side effects occurred.

Adverse events in the treatment of hypertensive patients.

We evaluated frequency and type of adverse events (AE) and measures adopted in outpatients attending a hospital hypertension unit in a two-part study: (1) a retrospective review of the charts of the 412 patients seen in 1991 with at least one follow-up visit and (2) a prospective study of the 491 patients seen in 1993 with at least one follow-up visit for whom physicians were asked to fill out an AE form. In 1991 18.6% of patients spontaneously reported an AE; those with an AE were older (p<0.001) than those without and included a greater proportion of females (p<0.002). This retrospective analysis of AE is reproducible as demonstrated by a blind review of 30 randomly selected charts undertaken by two independent observers (McNemar's test:p=ns). In 1993 AE were reported by 24.4% of patients who had more follow-up visits (p<0.001) and included a higher proportion of females (p=0.016) than the subgroup without AE. AE were different in the two studies (p<0.001), more specific and drug-related in 1993. AE were usually considered as mild or moderate (87.4%), the drugs most often involved were calcium antagonists and ACE-inhibitors and the measure adopted was switching to another substance (44%). The frequency of AE reporting varied widely between different physicians.

Expression of exogenous genes transferred into the avian limb in ovo.

We report on a simple method of direct gene transfer which allows the ectopic expression of proteins and the study of mesoderm-specific genes in the chick embryo. We microinjected into the avian embryonic limb several plasmids containing reporter genes under the control of various promoter sequences, including a minimal chicken muscle acetylcholine receptor alpha-subunit promoter [Klarsfeld, A., Daubas, A., Bourachot, B. and Changeux, J.P., Mol. Cell. Biol., 7 (1987) 951-955]. Gene expression is detectable for 3 days, is reproducible, is restricted to the site of injection, and correlates with the amount of DNA injected. Our observations indicate that it is possible to transfer and express genes in ectodermal and mesodermal cells of the chick limb by direct DNA injection and that the method can be used to analyze promoter sequences in vivo during specific windows of development.

Influence of diabetic treatment regimens on vitamin D metabolism in elderly patients.

The influence of diabetic treatment regimens on vitamin D metabolism and on bone mineral content has been explored in 41 elderly patients with normal renal and hepatic functions. The data obtained suggest that oral treatment with hypoglycemic compounds exerts a negative influence on vitamin D metabolism. It is possible that the reduction of 25-OH-hydroxy-vitamin D levels depends on a high conversion rate to the active 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D, as a consequence of parathormone-stimulated increase of 1-alpha-hydroxylase activity. On the other hand, no differences in bone mineral densities were observed in correlation with the diabetic treatment regimens. Therefore, oral treatment with hypoglycemic compounds can only be associated with an accelerated vitamin D metabolism.