Endometriosis is a chronic disease that affects women of reproductive age. Chronic pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea, and dyspareunia are its main symptoms; pain alters the quality of life of the patient and affects her health. Since pain is a highly subjective experience, the purpose of this study is to assess the sensory component of pain perception in endometriosis, alongside the affective-emotional and cognitive aspects. These aspects were linked with anamnestic data, anxiety, and depression. We administered appropriate instruments in order to assess these dimensions (QUID — Italian Pain Questionnaire, Biberoglu's Scale, and the HADS Scale), and we evaluated their relationships.

In the Sassari area (north-western Sardinia, Italy), the Miocene Porto Torres sub-basin sequences represent the complex multistorey mixed carbonate-siliciclastic submarine feature called the Sassari Channel. During the late Burdigalian–early Serravallian, repeated terrigenous supplies from uplifted Paleozoic crystalline substrata fed the Sassari Channel system by means of turbidity and locally hyper-concentrated turbidity flows. Shelfal areas were the source of terrigenous clasts, but open shelf rhodalgal/foramol carbonate areas were very productive and largely also contributed to the channel infilling. Re-worked sands and skeletal debris were discontinuously re-sedimented offshore as pure terrigenous, mixed and/or carbonate deposits. Major sediment supply was introduced between the latest Burdigalian and the start of the middle Langhian, during which a large amount of carbonate, mixed and siliciclastic sediments reached the Porto Torres Basin (Sassari Channel I). Contributions from shallow proximal source areas typify the lower intervals (Unit A) in marginal sectors of the channel. Upward, these evolve into autochthonous rhodolith deposits, winnowed by strong currents in relatively shallow well lit settings within a complex network of narrow tidally-controlled channels (Unit D) locally bearing coral assemblages. Conversely, re-sedimented rhodoliths from the Units B and C accumulated under conditions of higher turbidity. In deeper parts of the channel taxonomically diversified rhodoliths point to the mixing of re-deposited skeletal components from different relatively deep bathmetric settings. In the latest early Langhian, major re-sedimentation episodes, resulting in large prograding bodies (Unit D), triggered by repeated regression pulses in a frame of persistent still stand. During these episodes photophile assemblages dwelled in the elevated margin sectors of the channel. A significant latest early Langhian drop in relative sea-level resulted in impressive mass flows involving early cemented channel-margin and levee blocks and culminated in the formation of major erosional surface (ER-E). Such events seemingly correlate with the long-term global cooling trend of the mid-Miocene climatic transition. Episodes of middle Langhian re-sedimentation concluded with the channel abandon phase after which new erosive episodes followed. Overall, this led to a shift in the Sassari Channel II, with phases presumably started during the earlymost Serravallian, subsequent to the major sea-level drop at the Langhian–Serravallian boundary.

Paleocene ephemeral alluvial and palustrine deposits have been recognized in several small outcrops in southern Sardinia. Three sedimentary units have been distinguished: the basal one, mainly terrigenous, made up of alluvial pedogenized deposits, the intermediate one, entirely carbonate, made up of pedogenized fresh water deposits, and the third one, terrigenous-carbonate, recording the beginning of the Thanetian marine ingression in Sardinia. The carbonate deposits are the most developed and are mainly characterized by the presence of Microcodium, both with corn-cob aggregates, in some cases forming palisades or reef-like buildups, and with disarticulated grains forming resedimented deposits; charophyte stems and gyrogonites and stromatolites are also present, in some cases frequent. Deposits rich in charophyte stems indicate the presence of perennial water ponds. Alternances of humid and dry periods favoured erosive fluctuations, as indicated by the frequence of resedimented intraclasts of fresh water sediments, biotic remains as charophytes and stromatolites and, over all, detrital disaggregated Microcodium grains. The studied small outcrops are the only remnants of a probably wide Paleocene continental sedimentary cover, and provide informations on a variety of depositional facies, which are useful proxies for depicting a landscape with wetlands and detrital Microcodium deposits, similar to the coheval continental landscape widespread in southern France and in northeastern Spain.

Several recent hydrocarbon discoveries were detected in extensional areas located around fault-bounded tectonic highs. These tectonically-controlled mini-basins are diffusely characterised by terrestrial and shallow-marine successions with complex geometrical relationships. The degree of seismic resolution and the punctual well-log lithostratigraphic data do not allow suitable reconstructions of these plays and, thus, the use of good outcrop analogues is crucial in their reservoir characterisations.In this paper, we present the results of a sedimentological study carried on continental deposits filling a segment of the Oligo-Miocene south-eastern basin margin of the Sardinia Graben System, in the central-western Mediterranean. This well-exposed terrestrial succession results from the erosion of Palaeozoic metamorphic and magmatic basement rocks exposed along the basin margin. Continental, coarse-grained eluvio-colluvial, alluvial and fluvial sediments exhibit changes both in thickness and lateral extensions due to the existence of several endorheic depocentres, which were aligned along major normal faults.Based on the stratigraphic and sedimentological analysis of a number of exposed stratigraphic sections, the main depositional processes are identified for each specific facies association. Due to the grain-size of the dominant deposits, porosity is estimated by using an image analysis software on high-resolution digital photographs from a number of outcrop samples. The results show how porosity changes dramatically across the reconstructed sections due to the complexity of the reciprocal geometrical passages among all these lithofacies.The dominance of colluvial/alluvial fans or river braidplain systems and the different nature of sediment occupying each depositional areas are interpreted as the response to the interplay between the capacity generated by the vertical tectonic displacement of major normal-faults and the interception of the base-level with the topography of these mini-basins. Our observations suggest six possible depositional scenarios that resume as many reservoir types in fault-controlled half-grabens with dominant continental lithofacies.

The properties of seven ferruginous paleosols, formed in alluvial continental deposits of Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene age in central-southern Sardinia (Italy), were examined to understand their genesis. Particular attention has been addressed to their paleoenvironmental and paleogeographic significance, also in comparison with similar paleosols in southern France, and to their potential to represent good pedostratigraphic markers for a larger area. The paleosols are characterized by petroplinthic, pisoplinthic, plinthic or pisolithic horizons. Their genesis started under a warm and humid tropical climate, with distinct wet and dry seasons, of the Latest Maastrichtian-Lower Paleocene and continued, under increasingly dry conditions, during the Middle to Upper Paleocene. The major differences that occur among the paleosols can be related to differences in geomorphic position, parent material characteristics and drainage conditions. The pisolithic paleosols of central-southern Sardinia show a structure and composition comparable to those of the coeval ones in southern France, which were formed under similar climatic conditions. On the basis of the constant stratigraphic position, the large geographic extent and the supposed former lateral continuity, the studied ferruginous paleosols can be considered to be a good pedostratigraphic marker in central-southern Sardinia and in southern France and are informally named as the "Monte Maraconis geosol". This allows extensive chronostratigraphic correlations as well as regional-scale morphostratigraphic correlations and represents, with its typical pedofacies, a pedostratigraphic unit worthy of consideration in future regional geological mapping. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Objective: To describe a patient with a double pathogenetic mutation of C9ORF72 and TARDBP genes. Background Several genes have been found to be related to ALS; however, patients carrying two different pathogenetic genetic mutations have never been described. Design/Methods: We are performing a study of genetic determinants of familial ALS in Italy. All patients undergo mutational analysis for SOD1, FUS and TARDBP and OPTN . Repeat primer PCR to screen the presence of the hexanucleotide expansion in the first intron of C9ORF72 is performed. Results: The index case was a year-old man who at 43 developed bulbar-onset ALS with behavioural frontemporal dementia (FTD) occurring one year later. He deceased 34 months after the onset of ALS. He carried both a A382T missense mutation of the TARDBP gene and a hexanucleotide repeat expansion of C9ORF72 gene. His father, who also had a hexanucleotide repeat expansion of C9ORF72 gene, developed spinal onset ALS at 64, and behavioural FTD two years later. He deceased 78 months after the onset of ALS. His mother developed spinal onset ALS at 69 and a mild FTD six months later. She deceased at 73. She carried a A382T missense mutation of the TARDBP gene. The proband9s brother developed ALS at 33 and deceased 75 months after the onset of ALS, without cognitive impairment. No DNA is available of this patients. Conclusions: The proband had two mutations pathogenetic for ALS and FTD, one ( TARDBP ) transmitted from the maternal line, and the other ( C9ORF72 ) from the paternal line. He developed ALS with FTD at 43 years, much earlier than his parents, and had a more severe clinical course. The presence of two pathogenetic mutations in this patients indicates that multiple genetic factors should be considered in pathogenesis of ALS and are likely to modify the clinical course of the disease. Disclosure: Dr. Calvo has nothing to disclose. Dr. Borghero has nothing to disclose. Dr. Cannas has nothing to disclose. Dr. Marrosu has received personal compensation for activities with Biogen Idec and Merck Serono. Dr. Marrosu has received personal compensation in an editorial capacity for Neurological Sciences. Dr. Marrosu has received research support from Serono Foundation, Biogen Idec, Schering Italy, and Sanofi Aventis. Dr. Murru has nothing to disclose. Dr. Floris has nothing to disclose. Dr. Traynor has received personal compensation in an editorial capacity for the journal Neurology. Dr. Renton has nothing to disclose. Dr. Moglia has nothing to disclose. Dr. Canosa has nothing to disclose. Dr. Ilardi has nothing to disclose. Dr. Cammarosano has nothing to disclose. Dr. Brunetti has nothing to disclose. Dr. Ossola has nothing to disclose. Dr. Restagno has nothing to disclose. Dr. Chio has nothing to disclose.

Some of the weathering deposits that formed during the emersive phase, which in Sardinia lasted from Late Cretaceous to Palaeocene-Early Eocene, consist today of ferruginous palaeosols (ferricretes), sometimes overlain by palustrine limestones. In this article, the two outcrops at Nuxis and Guardia Pisano, containing a ferricrete composed of subspherical goethitic-hematitic concretions, are studied in detail. The main components are Fe, Al, Si, along with Ba, which is very abundant in the Nuxis outcrop. With the exception of the barite, the pisolithic ferricretes of Sardinia can be compared, for their chemical and mineralogical composition, with the pisoplinthites that form in modern tropical soils. They are also comparable with the pisolithic ferricretes cropping out in southern France, that formed around the K/T boundary. The pisolithic ferricretes of southern France and Sardinia can be interpreted as the weathering product of identical warm and humid climatic conditions and, reasonably, of the same climatic event. Therefore, they provide further evidence that Sardinia and southern France formed part of the same palaeogeographic province. A tropical environment is, on the other hand, consistent with the barite leaching from the Palaeozoic substratum and with its reprecipitation into the iron pisoliths. Micro- and nanostructures, observed using SEM analysis within and between the concentric layers of the pisoliths, are consistent with biological processes involving bacteria during their deposition. (c) 2011 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

e11047 Background: The achievement of pCR correlates with significantly better outcomes irrespective of common clinical prognostic factors. By contrast less than pCR (<pCR) identifies a heterogeneo...

The main sedimentary and architectural patterns of Miocene carbonate successions laid down in the Miocene Sardinia Rift Basin are described, and the controls on sedimentation, fades distribution and sequence development are evaluated. Three case-histories from different physiographic settings are described which correspond to: (1) narrow rift-related submerged valleys; (2) isolated fault-blocks in the axial portion of the rift; and (3) small basins located at the edge of the rift itself. Facies distribution and depositional architectures appear to have been controlled mainly by palaeophysiography and in turn by pre- and synsedimentary tectonics. These also played a leading role in dictating the type and evolution of the benthic communities and thus the location and morphology of the carbonate factories. Both coral-dominated and foramol-rhodalgal assemblages are recognized. These developed peculiar depositional architectures and had remarkably different responses to relative sea-level variations. Depending primarily on the palaeophysiography, the resulting carbonate successions occur as isolated carbonate lenses or as sedimentary bodies up to a few hundred metres thick.In sectors close to the rift axis, coral-dominated factories developed on the side of isolated fault-blocks that faced the open sea. The geometry of the coral-dominated sequences suggests biostromal sedimentary accumulations rather then true reefs. These coral-dominated deposits interfinger with foramol-dominated sequences that were laid down in deeper sectors of the carbonate factories. Following a major regressive event, probably associated with climatic change, the coral-dominated factories were shut down and replaced by red algae and bivalve-dominated factories. Close to the margins of the rift-systems carbonate factory development was mainly controlled by the type and the rate of siliciclastic sedimentation. In submerged rift-related valleys with high siliciclastic input, small lenticular carbonate factories, locally forming small patch-reefs, developed during phases of stasis between fresh floods. In other areas, relatively thick carbonate sequences accumulated at the top of prograding siliciclastic wedges and on hinterland-facing fault-blocks.

e11047 Background: The achievement of pCR correlates with significantly better outcomes irrespective of common clinical prognostic factors. By contrast less than pCR ( 2). None of the other factors affected significantly the prognosis. Conclusions: Overall, ER+ status is predictor for better DFS in patients

RIASSUNTO - Durante il Maastrichtiano sommitale-Paleocene la Sardegna e stata interessata da una fase di continentalita che e stata parzialmente interrotta solo dall’ampia trasgressione marina del Thanetiano superioreYpresiano inferiore (= Ilerdiano). In questa nota v engono descritti tutti gli affioramenti continentali ferruginosi, la cui formazione e attribuibile a questa fase, finora rinvenuti nella Sardegna centro-meridionale e di cui solo alcuni sono finora noti. La discreta numerosita degli affioramenti (sette), la loro comune caratterizzazione di paleosuoli ferruginosi e la loro ampia distribuzione areale ne individuano il significato di testimoni residuali di un’antica diffusa copertura dell’isola da parte di un paleosuolo ferruginoso plintitico, connesso ad una prolungata fase climatica caldo-umida, necessaria per la sua formazione, con condizioni climatiche analoghe a quelle delle attuali zone tropicali pluviali. I paleosuoli plintitici della Sardegna mostrano, inoltre, caratteri di tessitura, composizione chimico-mineralogica e contesto deposizionale confrontabili con quelli dei depositi ferruginosi noti nella Francia meridionale e attribuiti al Maastrichtiano superiore-Paleocene inferiore. L’appartenenza della Sardegna alla stessa paleo-provincia della Francia meridionale durante il Cretacico e l’intero Paleogene, permette di ipotizzare un contesto paleoclimatico e deposizionale unitario per tutto il bordo meridionale paleo-europeo, caratterizzato da condizioni climatiche tropicali-subtropicali umide a partire dal Maastrichtiano superiore e probabilmente prolungatesi anche nella prima parte del Paleocene. PAROLE CHIAVE: depositi continentali ferruginosi, Maastrichtiano sommitale-Paleocene, Sardegna centro-meridionale, Italia.

11069 Background: Several studies have demonstrated the importance of achieving pCR both in the breast and axilla, in terms of DFS and OS. We previously demonstrated that no difference exists between microscopic residual (pTm) and no invasive residual (pT0) tumour in the breast in terms of DFS and OS in breast cancer (BC) patients (pts) following primary chemotherapy (CHT). Nevertheless, when pN0 is achieved, we observed a statistical significant advantage for pT0 in comparison to pTm pts (DFS 94.7% vs 80%, p=0.03; OS 100% vs 86%, p=0.08). Aim of the present study was to investigate the clinical significance of pTm in the breast when there is residual tumour in the axilla. Methods: We analysed 48 out of 287 pts with clinical T2–4 BC, who achieved pCR, according to Sataloff’s classification, following different kinds of neoadjuvant CHT. One pt was considered not valuable for clinical outcomes, because lost to follow up. Median age was 47 years (29–68), clinical TN stage was T4 in approximately half of the pts (22/48, 45.8%) and N+ in 11/48 (22.9%). Hormone receptor status was ER- in 20 pts (41.7%) and PR- in 26 (54.2%). All pts received anthracycline-based neoadjuvant CHT, even standard (Q21 days) or intensified (Q14). Median number of administered cycles was 3 (2–6). Median follow up was 89 months (9–189). Results: Thirteen pts (27.6%) had residual disease in the axilla at the end of primary CHT, of whom 6 achieved pT0 and 7 pTm in the breast. Surprisingly, pTm pts had a significant better DFS and OS in comparison to pT0 pts. Results are shown in Table 1 . Conclusions: Our data indicate that the achievement of pT0 in the breast is not of clinical significance when there is residual tumour in the axilla. These results, even if affected by the small number of pts, could be explained by the fact that less aggressive treatments have been delivered to pT0 pts due to the complete clearance of the tumour. [Table: see text] No significant financial relationships to disclose.