REINFORCED GLULAM: AN INNOVATIVE BUILDING TECNOLOGY

Wood represents one of the few renewable natural resource: coniferous timber is reproduced in nature with a quite short cycle allowing wide cultivation. Glulam is an evolved technology: an industrial product that overcomes the defects of wood trough technological production. In the last decade, glulam has become a valid alternative to the more usual and traditional technologies of reinforced concrete and steel in the planning and in the realization of engineering works. Since this technology has been widely available, one of the problems that needs to be overcome is the limited rigidity of the elements. Up to now, glulam stiffening techniques have only been developed successfully in very si…

La profilassi antibiotica nell’agobiopsia prostatica

PSA reduction (after antibiotics) permits to avoid or postpone prostate biopsy in selected patients

Microscopic foci of prostatitis may induce prostate-specific antigen (PSA) increase. PSA reduction after antibiotics might identify those patients in whom biopsy can be avoided. Ninety-nine patients received ciprofloxacin for 3 weeks, of whom 59 showed PSA reduction. Histology detected small foci of prostatitis in 65% of cases. Carcinoma was found in 40 and 20.3% of patients with unchanged or decreased PSA, respectively (P=0.03). No cancer was detected if PSA decreased below 4 ng/ml or more than 70%. Biopsy can be postponed, with a low risk of missing a cancer, if PSA decreases more than 70% or below 4 ng/ml.

Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Prostate Biopsy

Introduction Prostate biopsy is nowadays one of the most frequent diagnostic procedures in urology. The incidence of bacteraemia, bacteriuria and infective complications is higher after the transrectal procedure than after the transperineal one. A survey demonstrated that 98% of the urologists in USA use antibiotics to prevent infective complications. The transrectal prostate biopsy is the only diagnostic intervention procedure in urology for which an antibiotic prophylaxis is recommended, also for low-risk patients, by the guidelines of the European Association of Urology. If the perineal route is adopted, the antibiotic prophylaxis is recommended only in high-risk patients. Materials and …