In situ measurements of the physical characteristics of Titan's environment.

On the basis of previous ground-based and fly-by information, we knew that Titan's atmosphere was mainly nitrogen, with some methane, but its temperature and pressure profiles were poorly constrained because of uncertainties in the detailed composition. The extent of atmospheric electricity ('lightning') was also hitherto unknown. Here we report the temperature and density profiles, as determined by the Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI), from an altitude of 1,400 km down to the surface. In the upper part of the atmosphere, the temperature and density were both higher than expected. There is a lower ionospheric layer between 140 km and 40 km, with electrical conductivity peaking near 60 km. We may also have seen the signature of lightning. At the surface, the temperature was 93.65 +/- 0.25 K, and the pressure was 1,467 +/- 1 hPa.

Natural killer cell cytotoxicity is enhanced by very low doses of rIL-2 and rIFN-alpha in patients with renal cell carcinoma.

Very low doses of recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) and interferon-alpha (rIFN-alpha) induce, in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) clinical response rate and median survival time comparable to other protocols, other than immunological response in terms of expansion of NK cells and cT lymphocytes. The aim of this pilot study was to verify whether very low dose immunotherapy can enhance NK cell cytotoxicity against tumoral target cells. Eight patients with advanced and 13 patients with localised disease received 4-week cycles of rIL-2 (total dose per week 7 MIU/m(2), s.c.) and rIFN-alpha (total dose per week 3.6 MUI/m(2), i.m.) according to the scheme proposed by Buzio et al. Neutrophils, monocytes, eosinophils, NK cells (CD56+bright, CD56+dimmer, CD3-CD56 +), NK-T cells (CD3+CD56+), Th-lymphocytes, cT-lymphocytes, HLA-DR+ and CD25+ lymphocytes and NK cell cytotoxicity were evaluated before and after cycle. The treatment led to the significant expansion of eosinophils (P < 0.001), NK cells (P < 0.001), CD56+bright (P < 0.001), CD56+dimmer (P < 0.001), Th-lymphocytes (P = 0.001), cT-lymphocytes (P = 0.014), HLA-DR+ (P = 0.007) and CD25+(P = 0.002) cells. Neutrophils significantly decreased (P = 0.001), whereas no significant effect was observed on monocytes (P = 0.22) or NK-T cells (P = 0.20). Patients with localised disease responded significantly better to treatment than metastatic patients in terms of the expansion of CD56+bright (P = 0.038), DR+ (P = 0.021), CD25+ (P = 0.006) and Th-lymphocytes (P = 0.014). The NK cell cytotoxicity was significantly increased by the immunotherapy in the whole population (P = 0.021) and similarly in the two groups of patients (P = 0.860); a reverse relation, even if not significant, was seen between the variation of NK-T cells and NK cells cytotoxicity (r = -0.39; P = 0.074).

Comments to the paper "do we really need new medical information about the Turin Shroud?".

Following the interesting arguments raised in a recent letter to the editor, about a paper recently published in this journal, the authors are happy to take a cue from them to clarify some facts that have not been sufficiently treated for space. After a description of the methods used, arguments regarding a blunt trauma on the right shoulder with consequent dislocation, the position of the hands on the pubis with brachial plexus injury, and the wrist nailing that caused retracted thumbs are discussed in detail.

[Emergency surgical treatment of ulcerative rectocolitis and Crohn's disease of the colon]. / Il trattamento chirurgico d'urgenza della rettocolite ulcerosa e del morbo di Crohn del colon.

We examine the indications and the operative options for proceeding to emergency surgery in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Emergency surgery is absolutely mandatory in case of generalized peritonitis due to bowel perforation. Other life-treating complications are acute disease not responding to medical treatment, toxic megacolon, bowel obstruction and massive hemorrhage. Early medical treatment of these conditions often prevents most severe clinical expressions and improves the prognosis. However surgery should be performed immediately if there is no improvement within 5 days of medical management in case of acute colitis, within 24-48 hours in case of toxic megacolon, within 48-72 hours in patients with intestinal obstruction or severe bleeding, or if the patient deteriorates during this period. In such circumstances, subtotal colectomy with ileostomy and mucous fistula of distal sigmoid colon is the best procedure. That is because it is relatively easy to perform and consents a simpler restorative operation than other procedures preserving the rectum. Moreover it leads to lower morbidity and mortality than the total proctocolectomy that should be reserved to patients with severe rectal disease or sphincter lesion. The most important factors influencing outcome of complicated or severe inflammatory bowel disease are the choice of the appropriate timing for surgery and the procedure performed.

Do we really need new medical information about the Turin Shroud?

Image processing of the Turin Shroud (TS) shows that the Man represented in it has undergone an under glenoidal dislocation of the humerus on the right side and lowering of the shoulder, and has a flattened hand and enophthalmos; conditions that have not been described before, despite several studies on the subject. These injuries indicate that the Man suffered a violent blunt trauma to the neck, chest and shoulder from behind, causing neuromuscular damage and lesions of the entire brachial plexus. The posture of the left claw-hand is indicative of an injury of the lower brachial plexus, as is the crossing of the hands on the pubis, not above the pubis as it would normally be, and are related to traction of the limbs as a result of the nailing to the patibulum. The disappearance of the thumbprints is because of entrainment of the flexor pollicis longus tendons while the nails were driven through the wrists. The blunt chest trauma, which resulted in the body falling forwards, was the direct cause of a lung contusion and haemothorax, confirmed by the post-mortem leakage of clots and serum from the chest caused by the stabbing with the spear, and was a likely cause of cardiac contusion. All the evidence is in favour of the hypothesis that the TS Man is Jesus of Nazareth.

How was the Turin Shroud Man crucified?

As the literature is not exhaustive with reference to the way the Turin Shroud (TS) Man was crucified, and it is not easy to draw significant information from only a "photograph" of a man on a linen sheet, this study tries to add some detail on this issue based on both image processing of high resolution photos of the TS and on experimental tests on arms and legs of human cadavers. With regard to the TS Man hands, a first hypothesis states that the left hand of the TS Man was nailed twice at two different anatomical sites: the midcarpal joint medially to the pisiform between the lunate/pyramidal and capitate/uncinate bones (Destot's space) and the radiocarpal joint between the radio, lunate and scaphoid; also the right hand would have been nailed twice. A second hypothesis, preferred by the authors, states that the hands were nailed only once in the Destot's space with partial lesion of the ulnar nerve and flexion of the metacarpophalangeal joint of the thumbs. With regard to the TS Man feet, the imprint of the sole of the right foot leads to the conclusion that TS Man suffered a dislocation at the ankle just before the nailing. The entrance hole of the nail on the right foot is a few inches from the ankle, and excludes a double nailing. The nail has been driven between the tarsal bones. The TS Man suffered the following tortures during crucifixion: a very serious and widespread causalgia due to total paralysis of the upper right limb (paradoxical causalgia); a nailing of the left wrist with damage to the ulnar nerve; a similar nailing of the right wrist; and a nailing to both feet using one only nail that injured the plantaris medialis nerves. The respiratory limitation was probably not sufficient to cause death by asphyxiation. Also considering the hypovolemia produced by scourging and the many other tortures detectable on the TS, the principal cause of death can be attributed to a myocardial infarction.

Relationship between body mass index, age and hypoxemia in patients with extremely severe obesity undergoing bariatric surgery.

BACKGROUND: Morbid obesity is frequently accompanied by serious co-morbidity, enclosed obstructive sleep apnea and hypoventilation syndrome, and thus many morbidly obese patients require surgical interventions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between arterial oxygen (pO2) and carbon dioxide (pCO2) partial pressure, age, loss of excess weight, and body mass index (BMI) in obese patients scheduled to undergo bariatric surgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A group of 11 patients (4 men, 7 women, median age 38 years, range 23-58 years) with extremely severe obesity (BMI>50 kg/m²) underwent laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. Preoperatively, BMI, pO2, and pCO2 were 52.7±2.4 kg/m², and 70.9±5.3 and 43.1±6.5 mmHg, respectively. Hypoxemia (pO2<75 mmHg) was present in all patients, but no relationship between BMI and age (R=-0.24, p=0.44) or between BMI and pO2 (R=0.09, p=0.77) was found. RESULTS: As expected, there was a significant correlation between age and both pO2 (R=-0.58, p=0.04) and pCO2 (R=0.85, p=0.0004), while no relationship between BMI and age (R=-0.24, p=0.44), nor between BMI and pO2 (R=0.09, p=0.77) was found. Finally, there was a significant correlation between pO2 and loss of excess weight (R=-0.69, p=0.02). No intra- or postoperative complications were observed, and 12 months after surgery BMI decreased to 32.5±2.7 kg/m² (p<0.001) and pCO2 to 37.9±5.3 mmHg (p=0.05), while pO2 reached 85.8±6.8 (p<0.001) mmHg. CONCLUSIONS: In obese patients, the severity of hypoxemia is mainly related to age. The amount of weight reduction, rather than lower baseline BMI values, may justify the significant postoperative pO2 improvement.

S.A.M., the Italian Martian simulation chamber.

The Martian Environment Simulator (SAM "Simulatore di Ambiente Marziano") is a interdisciplinary project of Astrobiology done at University of Padua. The research is aimed to the study of the survival of the microorganisms exposed to the "extreme" planetary environment. The facility has been designed in order to simulate Mars' environmental conditions in terms of atmospheric pressure, temperature cycles and UV radiation dose. The bacterial cells, contained into dedicated capsules, will be exposed to thermal cycles simulating diurnal and seasonal Martian cycles. The metabolism of the different biological samples will be analysed at different phases of the experiment, to study their survival and eventual activity of protein synthesis (mortality, mutations and capability of DNA repairing). We describe the experimental facility and provide the perspectives of the biological experiments we will perform in order to provide hints on the possibility of life on Mars either autochthonous or imported from Earth.