[Materials for construction sector]. / Materiali per l'edilizia.

The construction sector is characterized by high complexity due to several factors. There are a lot of processes within the building sites and they need the use of different materials with the help of appropriate technologies. Traditional materials have evolved and diversified, meanwhile new products and materials appeared and still appear, offering services which meet user needs, but that often involve risks to the health of workers. Research in the field of materials, promoted and carried out at various levels, has led to interesting results, encoded in the form of rules and laws.

[Laboratory of construction research - ALS Bergamo - Lombardy Region]. / Laboratorio di approfondimento costruzioni - ASL Bergamo - Regione Lombardia.

The Regional Board of Construction Examination has established guidelines in health and safety matter to be adopted in yards during realization of works to elevated economic and/or strategic importance. The Regional Board's aim was to design an organizational model that can ensure every stage of construction design and realization safeguards the health and safety of workers. This can be achieved by implementing suitable preventive measures and adopting a set of coordinated tools for the safety officers in charge of the yard. Hence, the Regional Board designed an "ideal" model of the prevention and safety system. A significant decrease in the frequency and severity of accidents was observed in the yards, where the above-mentioned safety measures were implemented.

[Training and information in construction in Italy]. / La formazione ed informazione in edilizia in Italia.

The formation and the information are at the base of the prevention of the accidents and the professional illnesses: this principle is very present in all the European directives that consider the problems regarding safety and health in the places of job, from the mother directive (take in together to other important European milestone with our legislative decree 626/94) to the building site directive and to the machine directive. Focusing the attention on the sector of the constructions, it appears immediate to think about the formation and the information addressed to the workers, that is, to those people that realize the work in first person and that could be object to accidents and job illnesses. Correctly the building site directive (and the correspondent legislative decree 494/96) involve other people of the productive process who, with their choices, their behaviors, their awareness--and therefore their formation--strongly influence the safety conditions: it deals with the coordinators in planning and in executive phase that offer, through their competence, support to the safety during the whole productive process with specific professionalisms (from the planning to the execution, from the maintenance to the demolition), with the person responsible of the firm that has to have the abilities in the job organization and in the formation of his own employees, with the buyer that, extraneous up to the 494/96 emanation to the technical-productive problem list, has to create the fittest conditions to build, to manage and maintain the work under safety conditions.

[Planning and building a new hospital: how to reach adequate preventive standards]. / Progettazione e realizzazione di un nuovo ospedale: come raggiungere adeguati livelli preventivi.

Communication deals with the complexity of planning a new hospital. We considered basic requirements needed to build this kind of settlement according to regulations in force and standards, with particular care to patients and workers safety and health, both during normal activity periods and in case of ordinary and extraordinary maintenance.

[Safety in planning]. / La sicurezza nella progettazione.

Our communication wants to stress the importance of choices which must be carried out during the planning stage in order that building works (and especially building hospitals) are realized in a safe environment. It is particularly emphasized the relationship between the regulation in force in matter of public building contracts and that in matter of safety in building process, both in case of new buildings and in case of ordinary and extraordinary maintenance.

A mutation in the DE loop of the VP1 protein that prevents polyomavirus transcription and replication.

Natural mutants of the DE loop of the Polyomavirus (Py) major coat protein VP1 have been previously shown to display an altered host specificity (L. Ricci, R. Maione, C. Passananti, A. Felsani, and P. Amati, 1992, J. Virol. 66, 7153-7158). To better understand the role of this outfacing loop of the VP1 protein in Py infectivity, we constructed and characterized a Py mutant (Py M17) harboring a deletion of 7 AA within the tip of the DE loop. The mutant virions obtained after DNA transfection were unable to replicate and initiate early transcription in fibroblast cells. Complementation experiments performed to rescue the deficient M17 replication by means of wt functions revealed the cis-dominance of the mutation. In situ cell fractionation experiments demonstrated that the Py mutant, like the Py wt, enters the cells, reaches the nucleus and that both the viral DNA and VP1 protein are found tightly bound to the nuclear matrix. These data suggest that the VP1 protein, associated to the viral DNA, conditions early viral gene expression and that the DE loop of the protein must be involved in this process.

Serum-soluble E-cadherin fragments in lung cancer.

AIMS AND BACKGROUND: E-cadherin, also known as uvomorulin or cell-CAM 120/80, is one of the subclasses of cadherins, CA(2+)-dependent cell adhesion molecules. Several recent studies have suggested that loss of E-cadherin may be associated with tumor progression, such as in lung, gastric, hepatocellular, breast and prostatic carcinoma. Assessment of E-cadherin serum levels in lung cancer showed a relation to histologic type. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: Using an enzyme immunoassay, we determined E-cadherin serum levels in 79 patients affected with lung cancer (stage I-IV), 9 patients with breast cancer, 23 patients with different benign diseases, and 20 healthy patients. RESULTS: At a specificity level of 90%, E-cadherin diagnostic sensitivity was 66.6%, 47.6% and 43.7% in patients affected with squamous cell carcinoma, small cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary results suggest the use of serum E-cadherin as a prospective tumor marker.

Corrective transduction of human epidermal stem cells in laminin-5-dependent junctional epidermolysis bullosa.

Laminin-5 is composed of three distinct polypeptides, alpha3, beta3, and gamma2, which are encoded by three different genes, LAMA3, LAMB3, and LAMC2, respectively. We have isolated epidermal keratinocytes from a patient presenting with a lethal form of junctional epidermolysis bullosa characterized by a homozygous mutation of the LAMB3 gene, which led to complete absence of the beta3 polypeptide. In vitro, beta3-null keratinocytes were unable to synthesize laminin-5 and to assemble hemidesmosomes, maintained the impairment of their adhesive properties, and displayed a decrease of their colony-forming ability. A retroviral construct expressing a human beta3 cDNA was used to transduce primary beta3-null keratinocytes. Clonogenic beta3-null keratinocytes were transduced with an efficiency of 100%. Beta3-transduced keratinocytes were able to synthesize and secrete mature heterotrimeric laminin-5. Gene correction fully restored the keratinocyte adhesion machinery, including the capacity of proper hemidesmosomal assembly, and prevented the loss of the colony-forming ability, suggesting a direct link between adhesion to laminin-5 and keratinocyte proliferative capacity. Clonal analysis demonstrated that holoclones expressed the transgene permanently, suggesting stable correction of epidermal stem cells. Because cultured keratinocytes are used routinely to make autologous grafts for patients suffering from large skin or mucosal defects, the full phenotypic reversion of primary human epidermal stem cells defective for a structural protein opens new perspectives in the long-term treatment of genodermatoses.

Liver function test abnormalities in early Lyme disease.

OBJECTIVE: Lyme disease is a widespread, tick-borne, spirochetal infection with multiple organ system involvement Hepatic dysfunction has not been emphasized in the literature. We report clinical findings and laboratory abnormalities in 73 patients with the pathognomonic erythema migrans rash early in the course of the illness. DESIGN: Case series. SETTING: Offices of family physicians in private practice and the model offices of a family practice residency program in the lower Connecticut River valley, an area to which Lyme disease is endemic. PATIENTS: Thirty-seven female and 36 male patients with erythema migrans who had not yet been treated with antimicrobial agents. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Liver function tests. RESULTS: Twenty patients (27%) had liver function abnormalities. Elevation of gamma-glutamyltransferase was the most common finding. Only seven patients (9%) had a positive titer in response to the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for Lyme disease. Other laboratory and clinical findings are described. CONCLUSION: Subclinical hepatitis is a common finding in early Lyme disease.

Echocardiographic evaluation of the dimensions and systolic properties of the left ventricle in freshman athletes during physical training.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the early anatomic and functional changes of the left ventricles in junior freshman non-professional athletes just beginning specific regular training programs for 6 different types of sport. Forty-nine males (mean age 20 +/- 6 years) and 9 sedentary controls were studied by means of sequential M-mode echocardiograms, before and after a 10 to 12 week training period: 13 athletes started bicycle-riding (aerobic category), 6 sprint (anaerobic category), 6 weight-lifting (strength category), 13 soccer (mixed category), 11 rifle-shooting (manual dexterity category). Resting heart rate, blood pressure, left ventricular diameter (LVID), left ventricular posterior wall and interventricular septum thickness (LVPWT, IVST), left ventricular mass (LVMI), relative wall thickness (h/r ratio) and fractional shortening (FS%) of the LVID, cardiac index (CI) and stroke volume (SV) were comparable in all groups initially. After the training period, the cyclists, the sprinters and the soccer-players showed an increased LVID, LVMI and FS%. The cyclists and the soccer players also showed a decreased h/r ratio. The weight-lifters showed a slight increase of their LVMI, with an increased h/r ratio. We have, thus, documented that even after a relatively short non-strenuous training period, specific anatomical and functional changes occurred in the hearts of young athletes practising sports for recreational purposes, according to the type of sport.