Macro- and microdefinitions of fragility of hydrogen-bonded glass-forming liquids.

In the present paper, the nature of the fragility of liquids with a developed H-bond network is investigated. It is shown that the effective activation energy of the shear viscosity eta and the fragility parameter defined as m=d log eta/d(Tg/T)|t=t+g are immediately connected with the average number nH(T) of the H-bond per molecule. The consistency of the macroscopic (m) and the microscopic [M=d(u(2)(0)/2)>loc)/d(Tg/T)|T=T+8, where 2>loc=2>anharm - 2>harm] definitions of the fragility is established.

[Programmed rehabilitation of infarct patients. Methods and results]. / La riabilitazione programmata dell'infartuato. Metodi e risultati.

Rehabilitation is now regarded as an integral part of the treatment of myocardial infarctees. The programme followed by the cardiological institutions of the Udine regional hospital and physical medicine and rehabilitation is described. Divided into four stages, it is put into effect after careful assessment of the patient's physical capability and psychological profile. The results of three years' work are presented.

Tetrahedral order in homologous disaccharide-water mixtures.

The present work aims at evidencing the "kosmotrope" nature of trehalose through the analysis of inelastic neutron scattering measurements on trehalose and sucrose water solutions at different temperatures. Neutron spectra were collected by using the spectrometer MARI at the ISIS pulsed neutron source of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (Chilton, UK). To study the structural modifications induced on the tetrahedral hydrogen-bond network of water by homologous disaccharides, as a first step, the vibrational properties of pure water at different temperatures have been investigated. In particular, the temperature behavior of the intramolecular OH stretching mode has been analyzed. Successively, the vibrational properties for pure water have been compared with those of the sugar water solutions focusing the attention on the tetrahedral network-forming tendency. Finally, the obtained findings have been compared with previous Raman scattering evidences, and the results interpreted in the frame of recent molecular dynamics simulation works.

Human relations as a coronary risk factor.

Psychological variables are significant in the evolution of coronary heart disease (CHD). Two types of personality have been identified as constituting coronary risk: Type 1 which is hypercompetitive and anxious, and Type 2 which is overscrupulous and guilt prone. Both these behavioural types are formed during infancy, and are thought to be neurotic. In rehabilitation it is therefore necessary to take into consideration the psychological as well as the physiological aspects, and so the evaluation of the patient's suitability for return to work, should be, at least in part, psychosomatic. The approach used by the Cardiac Rehabilitation Centre of Udine seems to point towards a successful strategy. The aim of the strategy is to improve the chances of secondary prevention, to correct risk factors on a long-term basis, and to arrive at safe and reliable criteria for return to work.

Fragility by elastic incoherent neutron scattering.

The present work furnishes an operative definition for the fragility degree by using elastic incoherent neutron scattering (EINS). Such a definition is based on the relation between viscosity, a macroscopic quantity, and the atomic mean-square displacement, which refers to a nanoscopic property. This procedure has been used to analyze a set of glass-forming systems and it allows to obtain a linear dependence of the fragility parameter M, obtained by EINS, on the fragility parameter m, obtained by viscosity measurements.

[Theoretical bases of health education in cardiology: the secondary prevention of ischemic heart disease]. / Le basi dottrinali dell'educazione sanitaria in cardiologia: prevenzione secondaria della cardiopatia ischemica.

The secondary prevention of ischemic heart disease must, at the right time, recognize and efficaciously treat the categories of the illness (myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, heart failure, arrhythmias, sudden death) and restrain its development. The success of such a preventive program involves the active cooperation of the patient who, for this reason, has to be motivated by suitable information. So a proper cardiac information technique is indispensable; it has to involve: the patient, his family, his physician and, more generally, politicians, medical workers, employers. The Authors explain the education and counseling program, started 15 years ago, in accordance with the following scheme: users, goals, educational and counseling methods.

Mean-square displacement relationship in bioprotectant systems by elastic neutron scattering.

Neutron intensity elastic scans on trehalose, maltose, and sucrose/H(2)O mixtures as a function of concentration, temperature, and exchanged wave vector are presented. The experimental findings show a crossover in molecular fluctuations between harmonic and anharmonic dynamical regimes. A new operative definition for the degree of fragility of glass-forming systems is furnished by using explicitly the connection between viscosity and mean-square displacement. The procedure is tested for the investigated mixtures and for a set of glass-forming systems. In this frame, the stronger character of trehalose/H(2)O mixture indicates a better attitude in respect to maltose and sucrose/H(2)O mixtures to encapsulate biostructures in a more rigid matrix.

[Prajmalium bitartrate in hyperkinetic ventricular arrhythmias in infarct patients during rehabilitation]. / Il prajmalio bitartrato nelle aritmie ipercinetiche ventricolari dell'infartuato in riabilitazione.

The present study was designed to assess the antiarrhythmic Prajmalium Bitartrate (PB) efficacy in the long term treatment of 22 patients with recent myocardial infarction and persistent, frequent, polimorphous, repetitive (two or more in a row) ventricular premature complexes (VPCs). VPCs were exposed by means of 24-hours ambulatory monitoring. The acute drug testing with a single dose of PB (30 mg) was followed by multiple maintenance therapy with a dose decreasing from 60 to 40 mg every day. Than, the long term antiarrhythmic action was evaluated by both monitoring and exercise stress testing (EST), symptom self-limited, in a 7 months and 28 days follow-up. A favorable therapeutic effect, with a reduction of VPCs frequency greater than 85% and the suppression of their greater Lown degrees, was obtained in 13 cases (59.2%) using PB alone and in 6 cases (27.2%) using PB associated with Amiodarone in 5 patients and with Metoprololo in one. No VPCs were present or they were less than 2 every 3 minutes during EST. Fourteen patients reported a recurrence of VPCs when the drug was stopped for 24-28 hours, after 3-5 months of the treatment. In 3 patients (13.6%) the PB was uneffective. In a case there was, during the acute drug testing, a paradox increasing of the arrhythmias, and in the other two an abnormal lengthening of QTc interval, while arrhythmia was unchanged. PB, alone or associated with other antiarrhythmic drugs, appears a well tolerated, handy and effective agent and it can be proposed as a drug of first choice for controlling VPCs.

[The Caceres-USPHS (version HP-3) computer program. Evaluation of automatic analysis of 40,000 ECG (author's transl)]. / Il programma Caceres -USPHS (versione HP-3)9 Considerazioni sullanalisi automatica di 40.000 ECG

The main features of Caceres-USPHS (version HP-3) program for automatic analysis of the ECG are reviewed. Our experience at the Ospedale Regionale di Udine has now reached a total of 40,000 tracings analyzed by such a program and with an HP 1530-A computer system. In a detailed study of 1,000 consecutive computer-analyzed tracings reviewed by three experienced cardiologists, 534 were normal and 466 abnormal. A high degree of specificity was detected in the normal group (only 1.5% of false negatives) while the sensivity was rather low. In the abnormal group there were 18.1% of false positives and while the agreement was 100% in complete bundle branch block and some types of infarction, it was 56% in atrial fibrillation and 47% in incomplete right bundle branch block. Program errors were more common in measurements and pattern recognition; they were unusual in the program logic (0.3%). A significant improvement over comparable data obtained one year previously was attributed to a better quality control in data recording and to increase physician acceptance of the program diagnostic criteria. On the current and past figures of accuracy, it is concluded that the version HP-3 of Caceres-USPHS program represents a step forward in computer-derived ECG interpretation. However more progress is still needed for a larger and more profitable clinical application of this ECG computer program.

[Combination of quinidine polygalacturonate and prajmalium bitartrate in the prevention of disabling paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Description of a case]. / Associazione di chinidina poligalatturonato e prajmalio bitartrato nella profilassi della fibrillazione atriale parossistica invalidante. Descrizione di un caso.

The Authors refer on the antiarrhythmic efficacy of quinidine polygalacturonate and prajmalium bitartrate combination for the treatment of refractory recurrent paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, in one patient.

Experimental study of the hydration properties of homologous disaccharides.

To get some insight into the hydration mechanisms of homologousdisaccharides, we report measurements on trehalose, maltose, and sucroseaqueous solutions. The interest on these systems is mainly due to theextraordinary properties of disaccharides and especially of trehalose, themost effective bio-protector against freezing and dehydration. To carry outthis study we have investigated the volumetric properties of the threedisaccharide solutions, by performing density and ultrasonic velocitymeasurements at different concentration and temperature values. Whatemerges from these studies is that trehalose shows, in comparison withmaltose and sucrose, the greatest structural sensitivity to temperaturechanges and the smallest values of the partial molar volume in all theinvestigated temperature range, this circumstance being indicative of a morepacked conformational arrangement.

Nature of self-diffusion and viscosity in supercooled liquid water

The nature of the simplest transport processes in water, namely, self-diffusion and shear viscosity, is analyzed on the basis of a version of the microinhomogeneous structure model. The study predicts the existence of locally ordered groups of molecules, taking into account considerations of acoustic properties, light scattering, and computer simulation findings. In particular, it is shown that the anomalous properties of water in supercooled states are mainly connected with the existence of quasiordered regions, which we call clusters. Furthermore, the spatial sizes and evolution times of the crystal-like clusters, as well as the temperature dependence of their fraction volume, are established. Special invariants of the characteristic parameters of molecular motion are pointed out. Finally, it is shown that the self-diffusion in supercooled water is caused by the processes of formation and destruction of crystal-like clusters, while the processes of internal partial reconstruction give the main contribution to the shear viscosity coefficient.