Rabies postexposure prophylaxis in routine practice in view of the new centers for disease control and prevention and world health organization recommendations.

Background. New recommendations for rabies postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) were published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization in 2010. In view of these new recommendations, we investigated the adequacy of rabies PEP among patients consulting our travel clinic. Methods. A retrospective analysis of the files of all patients who consulted for rabies PEP at the Travel Clinic of the University Hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland, between January 2005 and August 2011 was conducted. Results. A total of 110 patients who received rabies PEP were identified. The median age of the patients was 34 years (range, 2-79 years), and 53% were women. Ninety subjects were potentially exposed to rabies while travelling abroad. Shortcomings in the management of these patients were (1) late initiation of rabies PEP in travelers who waited to seek medical care until returning to Switzerland, (2) administration of human rabies immunoglobulin (HRIG) to only 7 of 50 travelers (14%) who sought care abroad and for whom HRIG was indicated, and (3) antibody levels <0.5 IU/mL in 6 of 90 patients (6.7%) after 4 doses of vaccine. Conclusions. Patients do not always receive optimal rabies PEP under real-life conditions. A significant proportion of patients did not develop adequate antibody levels after 4 doses of vaccine. These data indicate that the measurement of antibody levels on day 21 of the Essen PEP regimen is useful in order to verify an adequate immune response.

Absence of snapshot memory of the target view interferes with place navigation learning by rats in the water maze

Contribution of visual and nonvisual mechanisms to spatial behavior of rats in the Morris water maze was studied with a computerized infrared tracking system, which switched off the room lights when the subject entered the inner circular area of the pool with an escape platform. Naive rats trained under light-dark conditions (L-D) found the escape platform more slowly than rats trained in permanent light (L). After group members were swapped, the L-pretrained rats found under L-D conditions the same target faster and eventually approached latencies attained during L navigation. Performance of L-D-trained rats deteriorated in permanent darkness (D) but improved with continued D training. Thus L-D navigation improves gradually by procedural learning (extrapolation of the start-target azimuth into the zero-visibility zone) but remains impaired by lack of immediate visual feedback rather than by absence of the snapshot memory of the target view.

A reflection about the social and technological aspects in flood risk management - the case of the Italian Civil Protection

The right of a person to be protected from natural hazards is a characteristic of the social and economical development of the society. This paper is a contribution to the reflection about the role of Civil Protection organizations in a modern society. The paper is based in the inaugural conference made by the authors on the 9th Plinius Conference on Mediterranean Storms. Two major issues are considered. The first one is sociological; the Civil Protection organizations and the responsible administration of the land use planning should be perceived as reliable as possible, in order to get consensus on the restrictions they pose, temporary or definitely, on the individual free use of the territory as well as in the entire warning system. The second one is technological: in order to be reliable they have to issue timely alert and warning to the population at large, but such alarms should be as "true" as possible. With this aim, the paper summarizes the historical evolution of the risk assessment, starting from the original concept of "hazard", introducing the concepts of "scenario of event" and "scenario of risk" and ending with a discussion about the uncertainties and limits of the most advanced and efficient tools to predict, to forecast and to observe the ground effects affecting people and their properties. The discussion is centred in the case of heavy rains and flood events in the North-West of Mediterranean Region.

Evaluating solutions to process, view and listen mathematical formula within an accessible context

Proves de conversió de fòrmules matemàtiques des d'editors de text ofimàtics i des de Làtex. Visionat en HTML i MathML. El millor resultat s'aconsegueix amb MSWord+MathType i IE+MathPlayer.

Effects of cage size and obstructed view from cage on use of resting platforms by farmed silver foxes

Selostus: Häkin koon ja häkissä olevien näköesteiden vaikutus tarhattujen hopeakettujen makuuhyllyn käyttöön

The central Sesia-Lanzo zone (Western Italian Alps) - New field observations and lithostratigraphic subdivisions

An extensive study of the central part of the Sesia Lanzo Zone has been undertaken to identify pre-Alpine protoliths and to reconstruct the lithologic and tectonic setting of this part of the Western Alps. Three main complexes have been defined: 1) the Polymetamorphic Basement Complex, corresponding to the lower unit of the Sesia Lanzo Zone after COMPAGNONI et al. (1977), is further subdivided into the three following units: a) an Internal Unit characterized by eo-Alpine high pressure (HP) assemblages (DAL PIAZ et al., 1972) (Eclogitic Micaschists); b) an Intermediate Unit where HP parageneses are partially re-equilibrated under greenschist conditions and c) an External Unit where the main foliation is defined by a greenschist paragenesis (Gneiss Minuti auct.). 2) the Monometamorphic Cover Complex, subdivided into the followings: a) the Bonze Unit, composed of sheared metagabbros, eclogitized metabasalts with MORB geochemical affinity and related metasediments (micaschists, quartzites and Mn-cherts) and b) the Scalaro Unit, containing predominantly metasediments of supposed Permo-Triassic age (yellow dolomitic marbles, calcschists and conglomeratic limestones, micaschists and quartzites with thin levels of basic rocks with within plate basalts [WPB] geochimical affinity). Multiple lithostratigraphic sequences for the Monometamorphic Cover Complex are proposed. The contact between the Bonze and Scalaro Units is defined by repetitions of dolomitic marbles and metabasalts; the ages of the metasediments have been assigned solely by analogy with other sediments of the Western Alps, due to the absence of fossils. The Monometamorphic Cover Complex can be considered as the autochthonous cover of the Sesia Lanzo Zone because of the primary contacts with the basement and because of the presence of preAlpine HT basement blocks in the cover sequences. 3) The pre-Alpine high temperature (HT) Basement Complex (or `'Seconda Zona Diorito-Kinzigitica''), comprises HT Hercynian rocks like kinzigites, amphibolites, granulites and calcite marbles; this Complex is always located between the Internal and the External Units and can be followed continuously for several kilometers south of the Gressoney Valley to the Orco Valley. A schematic evolution for the Sesia Lanzo Zone is proposed; based on available data together with new geochronological data, this study shows that the internal and external parts of the polymetamorphic basement of the Sesia Zone experienced different cooling histories .

Toarcian radiolaria from Mt. Mangart (Slovenian-Italian border) and their paleoecological implications

Diverse and well-preserved Toarcian radiolarians have been recovered from a succession of organic-rich shale with intercalations of siliceous limestone. The succession is located at the Slovenian-Italian border in the Julian Alps and was deposited on a subsided block pertaining to the south Tethyan passive continental margin. Twenty spumellarian and 17 nassellarian genera were found in total. Thirty-six taxa were identified to species level and one new species, Bistarkum mangartense n. sp., is described. The assemblages show a high predominance of spumellarians over nassellarians. Spongy spumellarians, especially Orbiculiforma ?, are markedly abundant. Pantanelliidae are generally rare but reach a pronounced peak of 13% in one stratigraphic level. Among nassellarians, Parahsuum is the most abundant but members belonging to Syringocapsidae are scarce to absent. In addition to paleolatitude and water column depth, ecological conditions accompanying the early Toarcian global anoxic event may have to a considerable extent determined the specific taxonomic composition of these radiolarian faunas. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Inaugural adress: The concept of biostratigraphy: the view point of a stratigrapher

Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen. My presence here is due to accidental circumstances and I must confess that I feel a little embarassed by the fact Both your scientific quality and the worlwide acceptance of the results achieved by you in your research fields make me prudent and, to a certain extent, cautious.

From the Apennines to the Alps: colonization genetics of the naturally expanding Italian wolf (Canis lupus) population

Wolves in Italy strongly declined in the past and were confined south of the Alps since the turn of the last century, reduced in the 1970s to approximately 100 individuals surviving in two fragmented subpopulations in the central-southern Apennines. The Italian wolves are presently expanding in the Apennines, and started to recolonize the western Alps in Italy, France and Switzerland about 16 years ago. In this study, we used a population genetic approach to elucidate some aspects of the wolf recolonization process. DNA extracted from 3068 tissue and scat samples collected in the Apennines (the source populations) and in the Alps (the colony), were genotyped at 12 microsatellite loci aiming to assess (i) the strength of the bottleneck and founder effects during the onset of colonization; (ii) the rates of gene flow between source and colony; and (iii) the minimum number of colonizers that are needed to explain the genetic variability observed in the colony. We identified a total of 435 distinct wolf genotypes, which showed that wolves in the Alps: (i) have significantly lower genetic diversity (heterozygosity, allelic richness, number of private alleles) than wolves in the Apennines; (ii) are genetically distinct using pairwise F(ST) values, population assignment test and Bayesian clustering; (iii) are not in genetic equilibrium (significant bottleneck test). Spatial autocorrelations are significant among samples separated up to c. 230 km, roughly correspondent to the apparent gap in permanent wolf presence between the Alps and north Apennines. The estimated number of first-generation migrants indicates that migration has been unidirectional and male-biased, from the Apennines to the Alps, and that wolves in southern Italy did not contribute to the Alpine population. These results suggest that: (i) the Alps were colonized by a few long-range migrating wolves originating in the north Apennine subpopulation; (ii) during the colonization process there has been a moderate bottleneck; and (iii) gene flow between sources and colonies was moderate (corresponding to 1.25-2.50 wolves per generation), despite high potential for dispersal. Bottleneck simulations showed that a total of c. 8-16 effective founders are needed to explain the genetic diversity observed in the Alps. Levels of genetic diversity in the expanding Alpine wolf population, and the permanence of genetic structuring, will depend on the future rates of gene flow among distinct wolf subpopulation fragments.

Une vue globale du secteur ambulatoire: étude structurelle et fonctionnelle dans les cantons de Vaud et Fribourg. [A general view of the ambulatory care sector: Structural and functional study in the cantons of Vaud and Fribourg].

The project "Quantification and qualification of ambulatory health care", financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation and covering the Cantons of Vaud and Fribourg, has two main goals: --a structural study of the elements of the ambulatory care sector. This is done through inventories of the professions concerned (physicians, public health nurses, physiotherapists, pharmacists, medical laboratories), allowing to better characterize the "offer". This inventory work includes the collect and analysis of existing statistical data as well as surveys, by questionnaires sent (from September 1980) to the different professions and by interviews. --a functional study, inspired from the US National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and from similar studies elsewhere, in order to investigate the modes of practice of various providers, with particular regard to interprofessional collaboration (through studying referrals from the ones to the others). The first months of the project have been used for a methodological research in this regard, centered on the use of systems analysis, and for the elaboration of adequate instruments.