High-fiber diet supplementation is commonly used in IBS, although it poses several management problems. Partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG) has shown beneficial effects in animal and human studies, but its potential role in IBS symptom relief has not been evaluated yet. We investigated PHGG in IBS patients and compared it to a wheat bran diet. Abdominal pain, bowel habits, and subjective overall rating were longitudinally evaluated in 188 adult IBS patients (139 women and 49 men) for 12 weeks. Patients were classified as having diarrhea-predominant, constipation-predominant, or changeable bowel habits and were randomly assigned to groups receiving fiber (30 g/day of wheat bran) or PHGG (5 g/day). After four weeks, patients were allowed to switch group, depending on their subjective evaluation of their symptoms. Significantly more patients switched from fiber to PHGG (49.9%) than from PHGG to fiber (10.9%) at four weeks. Per protocol analysis showed that both fiber and PHGG were effective in improving pain and bowel habits, but no difference was found between the two groups. Conversely, intention-to-treat analysis showed a significantly greater success in the PHGG group (60%) than in the fiber group (40%). Moreover, significantly more patients in the PHGG group reported a greater subjective improvement than those in the Fiber group. In conclusion, improvements in core IBS symptoms (abdominal pain and bowel habits) were observed with both bran and PHGG, but the latter was better tolerated and preferred by patients, revealing a higher probability of success than bran and a lower probability of patients abandoning the prescribed regimen, suggesting that it can increase the benefits deriving from fiber intake in IBS, making it a valid option to consider for high-fiber diet supplementation.

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Conservation of heritage buildings has become a very important issue in many countries, as it is in Italy, where a great number of existing buildings of historical–artistic importance are seismically vulnerable. To improve existing building behavior, researchers focus on the design of retrofit interventions. This paper presents the application of energy dissipation devices in the retrofit of two existing Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings, both irregular in plan and along their heights, designed for gravitational loads only. These buildings are representative of Italian public housing built in the 1960s and early 1970s. Technical information and mechanical properties of materials are presented, and non-linear analyses are carried out to evaluate the buildings’ behavior under earthquake loads. Many of their structural members do not satisfy the verifications required by the Italian Building Code. Retrofit interventions with buckling-restrained axial dampers in one building and viscous fluid dampers in the other are proposed. The verifications of the retrofitted buildings and the amount of the energy absorbed by the devices with respect to that absorbed by the unretrofitted buildings show the effectiveness of the proposed interventions. Moreover, it is demonstrated that adequate dispositions of the dissipative devices in plan and along the height increase the torsional stiffness of the buildings, improving their structural response under seismic action.

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