Severity in biliary peritonitis

Objective. To analyze clinical and laboratory findings in order to find variables predictive of severity of Biliary Peritonitis (BP). Patients and methods. Physical findings, course of illness, imaging and laboratory data were evaluated in 42 patients with BP, and statistically analysed to assess their prognostic significance. Results. Serious illness and worse outcome were associated with: age ≥ 60 years (P=0.034), long time between onset of symptoms and treatment (P=0.025), fever > 38°C (P=0.009), WBC count > 17,000 cell/mm³ (P=0.043), diffuse abdominal pain (P=0.034), and infected bile (P=0.048). Conclusions. Most patients become severely ill due to supervening infection, while early bile drainage avoids serious complications. In addition, abdominal pain, fever and WBC count are also predictive of severity of BP.

Biliary duct injuries in the laparoscopic era: our experience

Aim. The main aim of our study is to evaluate the incidence, the type, the causes and the therapy of biliary duct injuries which occurred after the video laparoscopic cholecystectomies performed in our Department during the period from 1990 to 2012. Patients and methods. A retrospective analysis of 1186 VLC has been made in our Department from March 1990 to June 2012. Before the cholecystectomy all patient were evaluated with trans abdominal echography. Beyond the incidence of BDI was evaluated damaging mechanism, etiology, therapy and time of diagnosis. Results. From 1990 to 2012 a total of 9 BDIs occurred, with an incidence of 0,75%. Out of 9 patients 4 had major lesions and 5 had minor lesions; the most common BDI was Strasberg A (45%), the most common etiology was the presence of anatomical variations. In four cases the diagnosis has been intraoperative, in five cases has been postoperative. Conclusions. Our clinical experience shows that the main cause of BDI are the surgeon experience and the bile ducts anatomical variation.

Engraulis encrasicolus (Linnaeus, 1758): technical report about extraction and recognition of the digestive tract contents in early stages of the life cycle

The study of ichthyio-plankton stages and its relations with the environment and other organisms is therefore crucial for a correct use of fishery resources. In this context, the extraction and the analysis of the content of the digestive tract, is a key method for the identification of the diet in early larval stages, the determination of the resources they rely on and possibly a comparison with the diet of other species. Additionally this approach could be useful in determination on occurrence of species competition. This technique is preceded by the analysis of morphometric data (Blackith & Reyment, 1971; Marcus, 1990), that is the acquisition of quantitative variables measured from the morphology of the object of study. They are linear distances, count, angles and ratios. The subsequent application of multivariate statistical methods, aims to quantify the changes in morphological measures between and within groups, relating them to the type and size of prey and evaluate if some changes appear in food choices along the larvae growth.