One of the difficulties nurses experience in clinical practice in relation to ethical issues in connection with young oncology patients is moral distress. In this descriptive correlational study, the Moral Distress Scale-Paediatric Version (MDS-PV) was translated from the original language and tested on a conventional sample of nurses working in paediatric oncology and haematology wards, in six north paediatric hospitals of Italy. 13.7% of the total respondents claimed that they had changed unit or hospital due to moral distress. The items with the highest mean intensity in the sample were almost all connected with medical and nursing competence and have considerably higher values than frequency. The instrument was found to be reliable. The results confirmed the validity of the MDS-PV (Cronbach's alpha = 0.959). This study represents the first small-scale attempt to validate MDS-PV for use in paediatric oncology-ematology nurses in Italy.

Images obtained by the Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System (OSIRIS) cameras onboard the Rosetta spacecraft reveal that asteroid 21 Lutetia has a complex geology and one of the highest asteroid densities measured so far, 3.4 ± 0.3 grams per cubic centimeter. The north pole region is covered by a thick layer of regolith, which is seen to flow in major landslides associated with albedo variation. Its geologically complex surface, ancient surface age, and high density suggest that Lutetia is most likely a primordial planetesimal. This contrasts with smaller asteroids visited by previous spacecraft, which are probably shattered bodies, fragments of larger parents, or reaccumulated rubble piles.

The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission encountered the main-belt asteroid (2867) Steins while on its way to rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Images taken with the OSIRIS (optical, spectroscopic, and infrared remote()imaging system) cameras on board Rosetta show that Steins is an oblate body with an effective spherical diameter of 5.3 kilometers. Its surface does not show color variations. The morphology of Steins is dominated by linear faults and a large 2.1-kilometer-diameter crater near its south pole. Crater counts reveal a distinct lack of small craters. Steins is not solid rock but a rubble pile and has a conical appearance that is probably the result of reshaping due to Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) spin-up. The OSIRIS images constitute direct evidence for the YORP effect on a main-belt asteroid.

Chronic renal failure (CRF) due to calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) nephrotoxicity is one of the most serious side effects influencing mortality and morbidity after liver transplantation (LTx). One way to offer a longer survival and better quality of life to LTx recipients who develop CRF is kidney transplantation, though this is not feasible for all candidates due to the shortage of organs. With changes in the characteristics of the global donor pool, which includes increasing number of elderly donors, both kidneys from one older donor are transplanted into the same adult recipient (dual kidney transplantation, DKT) to offset the lower nephron mass. DKT might be an option after LTx to rescue a patient from dialysis, with consequent survival benefits. We report on two cases of DKT after LTx in patients with CRF who were on dialysis due to CNI nephrotoxicity.

The total tannin concentration was determined, using two different SPF methods, in 35 dust powdered wood species, both hard and softwood. Using direct reading-method (280 nm) the concentration varied from 2485 mg/g for Swedish pine to 35,843 mg/g for European oak (quercus robur, hardwood). The data obtained with the second method (Folin-Chocalteau) were well correlated (y = 0.9885x + 4.3373; r = 0.84; n=35) with the data obtained with the first method. The measured concentrations are usually higher in hardwood than softwood tested. Finally, a simple HPLC-DAD method was tested for gallic acid (GA), recently proposed as a marker for oak dust.

A series of dispersed CuO catalysts supported on modified silica supports with Al2O3 (SA), TiO2 (ST), and ZrO2 (SZ) were prepared optimising the adsorption method of copper deposition assisted by ultrasound treatment, already reported in a previous paper (S. Bennici, A. Gervasini, V. Ragaini, Ultrason. Sonochem. 10 (2003) 61). The obtained catalysts were characterized in their bulk (atomic absorption, X-ray diffraction, temperature programmed reduction) and surface (N2 adsorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy) properties. The morphology of the finished materials was not deeply modified compared with that of the relevant supports. The employed complemented techniques evidenced a well dispersed CuO phase with a copper-support interaction on the most acidic supports (SA and SZ). The catalyst performances were studied in the reaction of selective catalytic reduction of NOx with ethene in oxidizing atmosphere in a flow apparatus under variable times (0.360-0.072 s) and temperatures (200-450 degrees C). The catalysts prepared on the most acidic supports (SA and SZ) were the most active and selective towards N2 formation. They showed a particular interesting activity in the reaction of NO2 reduction besides that of NO reduction.

Near-infrared (J, H and K bands) spectra of nine dark asteroids (chosen among a sample of supposed primitive objects between C and D classes) have been obtained at the Mauna Kea Observatory (Hawaii) with the 2.2-m telescope using KSPEC as spectrograph. The aim of this work was to search for evidence of the presence of organic materials in these objects as found in other planetary bodies as 5145 Pholus, and in some cometary nuclei. A careful analysis of the data has revealed flat or slightly redder spectra than the solar one for all observed asteroids. No evidence of distinct absorption features was found.

A thyroid hemiagenesis in association with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and mild hypofunction in a 40 years woman, is described. It is an unusual association. The clinical, hormonal, immunological, instrumental and cytological diagnosis has been established. The importance of the scintigraphic pattern and the differential diagnosis with other pathological situations, such as Plummer's disease and several destroying processes, is emphasized. It is suggested that thyroid hemiagenesis has not to be regarded as clinically insignificant, in consideration of a possible association with pathologies of the normally developed lobe (Graves' disease, myxoedema, goiter, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and especially neoplastic degeneration) or with nonthyroid diseases (hyperparathyroidism).

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), especially during acute exacerbations of their disease, show a greater incidence of cardiac arrhythmias than healthy subjects of the same age. The type of arrhythmias found may be supraventricular (premature atrial beats, paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, multifocal atrial tachycardia, atrial flutter, atrial fibrillation) or ventricular (premature ventricular beats, sustained ventricular tachycardia, torsades de pointes, ventricular fibrillation) that may lead to sudden cardiac death. The pathogenesis of arrhythmias is complex and many factors may be involved such as hypoxemia, hypercapnia, respiratory acidosis, metabolic and respiratory alchalosis, hypokalemia, concomitant ischemic heart disease, chronic cor pulmonale, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. Remarkable attention has been drawn to the possible arrhythmogenic effect of drugs such as theophylline, beta-adrenergic stimulants and digitalis which are commonly used in the therapy of COPD. Both of the main classes of bronchodilators (methylxanthynes and beta-adrenergic agonists), even when used together, apparently do not increase the incidence of dangerous cardiac arrhythmias. However, these drugs should be used with caution in the elderly, in patients with preexisting cardiac arrhythmias, with heart disease or with reduced hepatic function. In these cases Holter monitoring, repeated measurements of plasma drugs concentration and prompt hospitalization of high risk patients in Intensive Care Unit may be needed.

A case of rhabomyolysis with attendant severe acute renal failure, arisen in a 59-year-old male treated with haloperidol-decanoate, is presented. The patient has been affected by paranoia schizophrenia since childhood, and he was treated with electroshock and successively with neuroleptics p.o. Four years before our observation, a therapy with haloperidol decanoate (50 mg i.m. monthly) was started. After some time, catatonic like episodes appeared, which got more and more frequent, until they appeared weekly. In occasion of the last of them, he was admitted to our hospital. At the objective examination he presented psychomotory arrest, perspiration, mytacism, severe muscle rigidity, moderate oedems to lower limbs. Laboratory findings showed a pattern consistent with rabdomyolysis and severe renal failure. After that haloperidol decanoate was stopped and rehydration and intensive diuretic therapy was started, the clinical and laboratory pattern went normal, persisting however a light creatinine increase. Probably the rhabdomyolysis was induced by the haloperidol decanoate, and renal failure by secondary severe hyvolemia. This case comes into the so-called neuroleptic malignant syndrome which can rarely arise in patients treated with antipsycotic agents and which causes high mortality, particularly when there are rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure.