Search results for " wedge"

Wedge-shaped bricks spires and domes. Construction and decorative aspects

2018

The use of maiolica bricks as artefact for surface decoration is widespread both in monumental and ordinary architectures in the Mediterranean regions, harmonizing the local construction traditions with the Islamic influences. This study presents an in-depth analysis of examples of spires and domes in Sicily featuring earthenware maiolica cladding serving both as decoration and structural element. Due to the limited knowledge of these artefacts, incautious construction operations led to an alteration of their material and technical features, putting at risk a centuries-old heritage. The systematic investigation on more than a hundred samples categorises these architectural polychrome elemen…

Current Practices in the Management of Pulmonary Ground-Glass Opacities: A Survey of SICT Members

2018

Background Several gray areas and controversies exist concerning the management of pulmonary ground-glass opacities (GGOs), and there is a lack of consensus among clinicians on this topic. One of the main aims of the Italian Society of Thoracic Surgery is to promote education and research, so we decided to perform a survey on this topic to estimate current trends in practice in a large sample of thoracic surgeons. Methods A total of 160 thoracic surgeons responded, namely, completed our questionnaire (response rate, 53%; 160 of 302). The survey was composed of 36 questions divided into six subsections: (1) demographic characteristics of the respondents; (2) terminology and taxonomy; (3) rad…

Pathophysiology of Impaired Right and Left Ventricular Function in Chronic Embolic Pulmonary Hypertension

2000

Study objectives: This study sought to evaluatethe pathophysiology of left and right heart failure in patients withchronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) who werehospitalized to undergo pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE). Design: Thirty-nine patients (16 women and 23 men;mean ± SD age, 55 ± 12 years) with severe CTEPH were examinedbefore and 13 ± 8 days after PTE by way of transthoracicechocardiography and right heart catheterization. Measurements and results: Examination resultsconfirmed in all cases that before surgery the right ventricles wereenlarged and systolic function was impaired. Moderate to severetricuspid valve regurgitation was observed. Left ventriculareccent…

Postoperative non-invasive assessment of pulmonary vascular resistance using Doppler echocardiography.

2011

Non-invasive monitoring of pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) in postoperative cardiac surgery patients might be useful, particularly for management of pulmonary hypertension. For this purpose, we sought to assess Doppler echocardiography in the intensive care setting. In 73 patients, hemodynamics was measured using both, invasive gold standard (pulmonary artery catheter), and non-invasively by Doppler echocardiography. Four Doppler parameters: (1) tricuspid regurgitant velocity/time-velocity-integral of right ventricular outflow tract (TRV/VTI(RVOT)), (2) tricuspid annular systolic velocity (S'), (3) tricuspid annular strain, and (4) tricuspid annular strain rate, were compared with invas…

Techniques and outcomes of pulmonary endarterectomy for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.

2006

Cardiopulmonary function in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension can almost be normalized by pulmonary endarterectomy. The procedure involves the removal of organized and incorporated fibrous obstructive tissue from the pulmonary arteries during circulatory arrest under deep hypothermia. Mortality rates reported for patients who have undergone pulmonary endarterectomy range from 4 to 24%. The operation is not an embolectomy but a true endarterectomy. After proximal intrapericardial pulmonary artery incision, the correct endarterectomy plane is established and circumferentially followed down to the lobar, segmental, and sometimes subsegmental pulmonary artery branches …

Seismic stratigraphy of the north-westernmost area of the Malta Plateau (Sicily Channel): The Middle Pleistocene-Holocene sedimentation in a tidally …

2022

In this study we present the results of a seismic-stratigraphic analysis of sub-bottom profiles in the north-westernmost area of the Malta Plateau in order to define the depositional mechanisms for the upper Quaternary sequences. During this interval the morphology of the Malta Plateau was characterized by a ramp and bathymetries not exceeding 200 m. Two major unconformities, related to MIS 6 and MIS 2 (the latter corresponding to the Last Glacial Maximum, LGM), characterize the upper Quaternary sequences. The geometries of the recognized seismic units indicate as depositional mechanisms were controlled by subsidence and sea-level fluctuations. In detail, deposits related to the last glacia…

Re-enrichment of cratonic lithospheric mantle beneath an evolving rift: Mantle xenoliths from East Antarctica

2006

In vitro perception of low-contrast features in digital, film, and digitized dental radiographs: A receiver operating characteristic analysis

2005

Objective To compare experimentally the image quality of charged-coupled device (CCD)-based digital, flatbed scanner digitized, and dental film radiographs. Study design High-contrast standardized radiographs of an aluminum step wedge containing boreholes were obtained on dental radiographic film (F) and a CCD receptor (D). Digitization (S) was done with a flatbed scanner. Each radiograph was separated into 23 single images, 18 of which showed a dark spot. Thirty observers indicated their confidence on the visibility of the spots for a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results Mean Az values (area beneath the ROC curves) differed significantly (P < .05), being highest for D …

Burial and thermal evolution of the Sicilian fold-and-thrust belt: preliminary results from the Scillato wedge top basin (central-northern Sicily, It…

2016

Wedge top basins are key elements for unravelling the tectonic evolution of fold-and-thrust belts. In detail, their thermal signature and sedimentary fill records modes and time of exhumation of their edges. The Scillato basin is a wedge-top basin located in the central-northern sector of the Sicilian fold-and-thrust belt (western sector of the Madonie Mts). Upper Serravallian-upper Tortonian succession composed by up to 1,200 m thick delta-river to open marine siliciclastic sediments, fills the basin. This succession lies on a deformed substrate made up of thrust sheets composed of Numidian Flysch, Sicilidi and Imerese units stacked with a SW tectonic transport. The basin fill records a po…

Time Markers for the Evolution and Exhumation History of a Late Palaeozoic Paired Metamorphic Belt in North-Central Chile (34°-35°30'S)

2005

A multi-method geochronological approach is applied to unravel the dynamics of a paired metamorphic belt in the Coastal Cordillera of central Chile. This is represented by high-pressure - low-temperature rocks of an accretionary prism (Western Series), and a low-pressure- high-temperature overprint in the retro-wedge with less deformed metagreywackes (Eastern Series) intruded by magmas of the coeval arc. A pervasive transposition foliation formed in metagreywackes and interlayered oceanic crust of the Western Series during basal accretion near metamorphic peak conditions (∼350-400°C, 7-11 kbar) at 292-319 Ma (