Monitoring High-Quality Wine Production using Wireless Sensor Networks

This work reports the experience on the design and deployment of a WSN-based system for monitoring the productive cycle of high-quality wine in a Sicilian winery. Besides providing the means for pervasive monitoring of the cultivated area, the project described here is aimed to support the producer in ensuring the overall quality of their production, in terms of accurate planning of interventions in the field, and preservation of the stored product. Wireless Sensor Networks are employed as the sensing infrastructure of a distributed system for the control of a prototypal productive chain; nodes have been deployed both in the field and in the cellar, where wine aging is performed, and data i…

Iperplasia nodulare focale: detenzione dell’aspetto a “ruota di carro” e della cicatrice centrale all’ecografia con mezzo di contrasto

Unusual case of continuous urinary dribbling in a young female due to unknown complex urogenital malformation: magnetic resonance features

Congenital anomalies of kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) occur in up to 3.2% of infants, and in almost one third of cases they are associated to genital aberrations. DMSA renal scintigraphy is considered the gold standard in CAKUT patients, to assess renal function, depict and locate ectopic kidney and to guide eventual surgical management. Recent cases have shown the noticeable limit of scintigraphy in detecting poorly functional renal moieties and associated genital anomalies; thus leading to a substantial delay in therapy, and, in females, to severe uro-gynecological complications. We herein describe a case of a young girl with unusual urinary dribbling, where DSMA scintigraphy was not d…

Valutazione dei parametri volumetrici e funzionali cardiaci

Cabazitaxel in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients Progressing after Docetaxel: A Prospective Single-Center Study

<b><i>Purpose:</i></b> The present study aims to evaluate the efficacy of cabazitaxel in combination with prednisone treatment in Italian patients affected by hormone-refractory metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) previously treated with docetaxel plus prednisone. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Thirty patients with mCRPC were enrolled between June 2013 and January 2016 (the last follow-up was in January 2016). Cabazitaxel was used according to the summary of product characteristics and administered at a dose of 25 mg/m<sup>2</sup> every 3 weeks plus oral prednisone at a dose of 5-mg tablets twice a day continuously. The…

DIGITAL CINERADIOGRAPHIC STUDY OF SWALLOWING IN PATIENTS WITH AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS

Purpose. This study was performed to evaluate the usefulness of digital cineradiography in detecting swallowing disorders in dysphagic patients affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with a view to planning an adequate therapeutic approach. Material and methods. From January 2005 to September 2006, 23 patients (10 men and 13 women; mean age 41.3±8.6 years) affected by ALS were evaluated with digital cineradiography to assess the grade of dysphagia. All patients were classified using the Hillel ALS Severity Scale (ALSSS). All examinations were performed with radiocontrolled equipment provided with a digital C-arm. Results. The cineradiographic technique enabled us to differentiate p…

Multi-sensor Fusion through Adaptive Bayesian Networks

Common sensory devices for measuring environmental data are typically heterogeneous, and present strict energy constraints; moreover, they are likely affected by noise, and their behavior may vary across time. Bayesian Networks constitute a suitable tool for pre-processing such data before performing more refined artificial reasoning; the approach proposed here aims at obtaining the best trade-off between performance and cost, by adapting the operating mode of the underlying sensory devices. Moreover, self-configuration of the nodes providing the evidence to the Bayesian network is carried out by means of an on-line multi-objective optimization.

A Framework for Parallel Assessment of Reputation Management Systems

Several distributed applications running over the Internet use Reputation Management Systems (RMSs) to guarantee reliable interactions among unknown agents. Because of the heterogeneity of the existing RMSs, their assessment in terms of correctness and resistance to security attacks is not a trivial task. This work addresses this issue by presenting a novel parallel simulator aimed to support researchers in evaluating the performances of a RMS since the design phase. Preliminary results obtained by simulating two different attacks confirm the suitability of the proposed framework to evaluate different RMSs.

Role of Imaging in the Assessment of Age Estimation

Age assessment by skeletal age estimation of unknown individuals is of paramount importance in forensic science, both for assessing imputability (if the author of a crime is old enough to be tried and judged), both in case of unaccompanied minors, or whether refugees and asylum seekers are adults or juveniles, which implies different legal issues and procedures. The aim of this article is to review the age estimation methods used in forensic practice.

Detecting faulty wireless sensor nodes through Stochastic classification

In many distributed systems, the possibility to adapt the behavior of the involved resources in response to unforeseen failures is an important requirement in order to significantly reduce the costs of management. Autonomous detection of faulty entities, however, is often a challenging task, especially when no direct human intervention is possible, as is the case for many scenarios involving Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), which usually operate in inaccessible and hostile environments. This paper presents an unsupervised approach for identifying faulty sensor nodes within a WSN. The proposed algorithm uses a probabilistic approach based on Markov Random Fields, requiring exclusively an ana…

An Adaptive Bayesian System for Context-Aware Data Fusion in Smart Environments

The adoption of multi-sensor data fusion techniques is essential to effectively merge and analyze heterogeneous data collected by multiple sensors, pervasively deployed in a smart environment. Existing literature leverages contextual information in the fusion process, to increase the accuracy of inference and hence decision making in a dynamically changing environment. In this paper, we propose a context-aware, self-optimizing, adaptive system for sensor data fusion, based on a three-tier architecture. Heterogeneous data collected by sensors at the lowest tier are combined by a dynamic Bayesian network at the intermediate tier, which also integrates contextual information to refine the infe…

Knowledge Extraction from Environmental Data Through a Cognitive Architecture

Wireless Sensor Networks represent a novel technology which is expected to experience a dramatic diffusion thanks to the promise to be a pervasive sensory means; however, one of the issues limiting their potential growth relies in the difficulty of managing and interpreting huge amounts of collected data. This paper proposes a cognitive architecture for the extraction of high-level knowledge from raw data through the representation of processed data in opportune conceptual spaces. The presented framework interposes a conceptual layer between the subsymbolic one, devoted to sensory data processing, and the symbolic one, aimed at describing the environment by means of a high level language. T…

Conventional Radiology in the Evaluation of the Small Bowel

For many years, the small bowel has been considered as the “black box” of the gastrointestinal system because it could not be evaluated through endoscopy. For this reason, the conventional radiological methods, such as small bowel enteroclysis and small bowel follow-through, have been considered the standard approach for the evaluation of the small bowel in the diagnosis and management of Crohn’s disease for years. However, due to technological limits, the study of small bowel through conventional radiology has been focused mainly on its function than on its anatomy. To date, the conventional examination with the study of intestinal transit is now rarely used, if not obsolete, but it has st…

Virtopsy and Living Individuals Evaluation Using Computed Tomography in Forensic Diagnostic Imaging

The applications of forensic radiology involve both Virtopsy both studies on living people - to demonstrate bone age, search for foreign bodies, such as voluntary injection of drug ovules or surgical sponges accidentally forgotten, to assess gunshot wounds, to evaluate injuries by road accidents, and cases of violence or abuse (both in adults and in children). Computed tomography is the most used imaging tool used in forensic pathology and its indications are mainly focused on cases of unnatural deaths or when a crime is suspected. It is preferred over the standard autopsy in selected cases, such as in putrefied, carbonized or badly damaged bodies; or as a preliminary evaluation in mass dis…

Focal hepatic intrinsically hyperattenuating lesions at unenhanced CT: Not always calcifications.

Due to the growing use of CT, there has been an increase in the frequency of detecting focal liver lesions. Intrinsically hyperattenuating hepatic lesions or pseudolesions are not uncommon at unenhanced CT. Hyperattenuating hepatic lesions can be divided into non-calcified and calcified. Causes of intrinsic hyperattenuation include hemorrhage, thrombosis, and calcifications. Focal liver lesions can show hyperattenuation on unenhanced CT in case of severe liver steatosis. Recognition of etiologies associated with hyperattenuation on unenhanced CT can help the radiologist in characterizing focal liver lesions and pseudolesions. In this paper, we describe the spectrum of intrinsically hyperatt…

Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of solitary thyroid nodules with contrast-enhanced ultrasound: Initial results

Minor hepatic resection using heat coagulative necrosis

Intra- and postoperative bleeding represents an extremely serious and frequent complication of hepatic surgery. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of a radiofrequency (RF) device using heat to cause coagulative necrosis of the hepatic parenchyma to control hemostasis in minor hepatic resection. Between December 2005 and November 2007, a study was conducted of 21 patients undergoing 22 hepatic resections with the RF-assisted technique. Sixteen of these were affected by hepatocellular carcinoma and five had liver metastases from colorectal cancer. Intraoperative blood loss, the need for blood transfusion, the complication rates, operating times, and the duration of postoperative h…

Influenza della concentrazione iodica dei mezzi di contrasto sulla caratterizzazione della placca aterosclerotica coronarica valutata mediante TC Multistrato in un modello umano ex-vivo

Il menisco “galleggiante”: importante segno RM di distacco meniscale dal piatto tibiale. Implicazioni chirurgiche.

OBIETTIVO: In questo lavoro descriviamo un segno poco noto, detto menisco “galleggiante”, cioè menisco circondato da fluido, per rottura o distrazione dei legamenti coronari. E’ importante identificare tale reperto, in quanto un menisco “galleggiante” andrebbe operato e riattaccato il prima possibile, al fine di evitare possibili complicanze. MATERIALE E METODI: Abbiamo analizzato in maniera retrospettiva 2500 esami di ginocchio nel periodo compreso tra Gennaio 2006 e Marzo 2007. Tutti gli esami sono stati eseguiti su un magnete da 1,5 T (Signa Excite, GE Healthcare) o su un magnete da 0,2 T (Arto-Scan C, Esaote). Come criterio diagnostico è stato usato uno spessore maggiore di 3 mm del seg…

Role of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in the Assessment of Splenic Hemangiomas

Towards a Smart Campus Through Participatory Sensing

In recent years, the percentage of the population owning a smartphone has increased significantly. These devices provide users with more and more functions that make them real sensing platforms. Exploiting the capabilities offered by smartphones, users can collect data from the surrounding environment and share them with other entities in the network thanks to existing communication infrastructures, i.e., 3G/4G/5G or WiFi. In this work, we present a system based on participatory sensing paradigm using smartphones to collect and share local data in order to monitor make a campus 'smart'. In particular, our system infers the activities performed by users (e.g., students) in a campus in order …

An Ambient Intelligence System for Assisted Living

Nowadays, the population's average age is constantly increasing, and thus the need for specialized home assistance is on the rise. Smart homes especially tailored to meet elderly and disabled people's needs can help them maintaining their autonomy, whilst ensuring their safety and well-being. This paper proposes a complete context-aware system for Ambient Assisted Living (AAL), which infers user's actions and context, analyzing its past and current behavior to detect anomalies and prevent possible emergencies. The proposed system exploits Dynamic Bayesian Networks to merge raw data coming from heterogeneous sensors and infer user's behavior and health conditions. A rule-based reasoner is ab…

Aspetti normali e patologici delle valvole cardiache studiate mediante TC Multistrato cardiosincronizzata

A SIR based method for pancreas iron burden measurement in MRI T2* GRE sequences.

[Diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of "myocardial bridging": state of the art and unresolved issues].

The current gold standard for the diagnosis of myocardial bridging is conventional coronary angiography; however, it shows only indirect signs of the disease, due to the systolic compression of the artery caused by the myocardial bridge with narrowing of the lumen and diastolic relaxation. On the other hand, computed tomography coronary angiography, even though exposing to radiation, clearly demonstrates the intramural course, the overlying muscular bands and the surrounding tissues also in asymptomatic patients and in absence of systolic compression. The prognosis of patients with myocardial bridge is usually good, but further studies are needed to evaluate the long-term prognosis of these…

Real-time detection of twitter social events from the user's perspective

Over the last 40 years, automatic solutions to analyze text documents collection have been one of the most attractive challenges in the field of information retrieval. More recently, the focus has moved towards dynamic, distributed environments, where documents are continuously created by the users of a virtual community, i.e., the social network. In the case of Twitter, such documents, called tweets, are usually related to events which involve many people in different parts of the world. In this work we present a system for real-time Twitter data analysis which allows to follow a generic event from the user's point of view. The topic detection algorithm we propose is an improved version of…

Aortic valve and vascular calcium score in pre-TAVI CT: correlation with early post-procedural complications

Abstract Purpose The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of early complications after Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) and their correlation with the Calcium Score (CS) of the aortic valve, aorta and ilio-femoral arteries derived from pre-procedural computed tomography (CT). Materials and methods We retrospectively reviewed 226 patients (100 males, mean age 79.4 ± 6.7 years) undergoing 64-slice CT for pre-TAVI evaluation from January 2018 to April 2021. The population was divided into CS quartiles. Results Overall, 173 patients underwent TAVI procedure, of whom 61% presented paravalvular leak after the procedure, 28% presented bleeding or vascular complications, 25…

Hepatocellular cancer response to radiofrequency ablation: contrast-enhanced ultrasound

An Adaptive Routing Mechanism for Efficient Resource Discovery in Unstructured P2P Networks

The widespread adoption of large-scale decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) systems imposes huge challenges on distributed search and routing. Decentralized and unstructured P2P networks are very attractive because they require neither centralized directories, nor precise control over network topology or data placement. However their search mechanisms are extremely unscalable, generating large loads on the network participants. In this paper, to address this major limitation, we propose and evaluate the adoption of an innovative algorithm for routing user queries. The proposed approach aims at dynamically adapting the network topology to peer interests, on the basis of query interactions among …

Structured reporting of rectal cancer staging and restaging: A consensus proposal

Background: Structured reporting (SR) in oncologic imaging is becoming necessary and has recently been recognized by major scientific societies. The aim of this study was to build MRI-based structured reports for rectal cancer (RC) staging and restaging in order to provide clinicians all critical tumor information. Materials and Methods: A panel of radiologist experts in abdominal imaging, called the members of the Italian Society of Medical and Interventional Radiology, was established. The modified Delphi process was used to build the SR and to assess the level of agreement in all sections. The Cronbach’s alpha (Cα) correlation coefficient was used to assess the internal consistency of ea…

Human Mobility Simulator for Smart Applications

Several issues related to Smart City development require the knowledge of accurate human mobility models, such as in the case of urban development planning or evacuation strategy definition. Nevertheless, the exploitation of real data about users' mobility results in severe threats to their privacy, since it allows to infer highly sensitive information. On the contrary, the adoption of simulation tools to handle mobility models allows to neglect privacy during the design of location-based services. In this work, we propose a simulation tool capable of generating synthetic datasets of human mobility traces; then, we exploit them to evaluate the effectiveness of algorithms which aim to detect…

Prognostic outcome of routine clinical noninvasive Multidetector row Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography in Patients with suspected coronary artery disease: a 2-years follow-up study.

The aim of the study was to assess the prognostic value of multidetector-row CT coronary angiography (MDCT-CA) in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) in a routine clinical context.A total of 125 patients (82 men, age 57.4±10.3 years) with suspected CAD underwent MDCT-CA. All patients were assessed for cardiovascular risk factors, symptoms and coronary calcium score. A 2-year follow-up study for the occurrence of major adverse cardiac events was performed.According to the Morise pretest score, 76 patients (60.8%) were at intermediate risk. Patients with suspected CAD presented the following prognostic outcome (p0.0001): in 41 patients with normal coronary arteries at MDCT-C…

Hemoperitoneum following mild blunt abdominal trauma: First presentation of Crohn's disease

Introduction: Inflammatory bowel diseases are heterogeneous in their presentation. Crohn's disease (CD) has been described as an unusual cause of massive lower gastrointestinal bleeding. We present a patient with CD whose first presentation was hemoperitoneum following mild blunt abdominal trauma Case presentation: A 54-year-old woman came to the emergency room with a blunt abdominal trauma. The patient underwent an abdominal CT scan with i.v. contrast medium injection, which showed hemoperitoneum with stenotic strictures of the small bowel and active massive bleeding from ileocolic artery. The rapid anemia onset and the CT report induced us to perform blood transfusion and an emergency exp…

Radiology for Postmortem

Thanatology deals with the study of early and postmortem changes in relation to the estimation of the time since death. These normal postmortem changes depend on internal and external factors, such as body temperature, preexisting conditions, underlying disease or injury, and the postmortem interval.

A Platform for the Evaluation of Distributed Reputation Algorithms

In distributed environments, where unknown entities cooperate to achieve complex goals, intelligent techniques for estimating agents' truthfulness are required. Distributed Reputation Management Systems (RMSs) allow to accomplish this task without the need for a central entity that may represent a bottleneck and a single point of failure. The design of a distributed RMS is a challenging task due to a multitude of factors that could impact on its performances. In order to support the researcher in evaluating the RMS robustness against security attacks since its beginning design phase, in this work we present a distributed simulation environment that allows to model both the agent's behaviors…

Multi-robot Interacting Through Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper addresses the issue of coordinating the operations of multiple robots in an indoor environment. The framework presented here uses a composite networking architecture, in which a hybrid wireless network, composed by commonly available WiFi devices, and the more recently developed wireless sensor networks. Such architecture grants robots to enhance their perceptive capabilities and to exchange information so as to coordinate actions in order to achieve a global common goal. The proposed framework is described with reference to an experimental setup that extends a previously developed robotic tour guide application in the context of a multi-robot application.

Exploiting the Human Factor in a WSN-Based System for Ambient Intelligence

Practical applications of ambient intelligence cannot leave aside requirements about ubiquity, scalability, and transparency to the user. An enabling technology to comply with this goal is represented by wireless sensor networks (WSNs); however, although capable of limited in-network processing, they lack the computational power to act as a comprehensive intelligent system. By taking inspiration from the sensory processing model of complex biological organisms, we propose here a cognitive architecture able to perceive, decide upon, and control the environment of which the system is part. WSNs act as a transparent interface that allows the system to understand human requirements through impl…

Efficient Tree Construction for the Multicast Problem

SmartBuildings: An AmI system for energy efficiency

Nowadays, the increasing global awareness of the importance of energy saving in everyday life acts as a stimulus to provide innovative ICT solutions for sustainability. In this scenario, the growing interest in smart homes has been driven both by socioeconomic and technological expectations. One of the key aspects of being smart is the efficiency of the urban apparatus, which includes, among others, energy, transportation and buildings. The present work describes SmartBuildings, a novel Ambient Intelligence system, which aims at reducing the energy consumption of "legacy" buildings by means of artificial intelligence techniques applied on heterogeneous sensor networks. A prototype has been …

Un package di ottimizzazione per la riconfigurazione delle reti elettriche di distribuzione

L'ESSENZIALE NELL'IMAGING RM DI DIFFUSIONE, COLLO

The Know-how to Apply an Appropriate Reconstruction Filtering in MSCT Coronary Angiography.

Right atrium compression by a renal cyst: a tomographic diagnosis.

Gesture Recognition for Improved User Experience in a Smart Environment

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is a new paradigm that specifically aims at exploiting sensory and context information in order to adapt the environment to the user's preferences; one of its key features is the attempt to consider common devices as an integral part of the system in order to support users in carrying out their everyday life activities without affecting their normal behavior. Our proposal consists in the definition of a gesture recognition module allowing users to interact as naturally as possible with the actuators available in a smart office, by controlling their operation mode and by querying them about their current state. To this end, readings obtained from a state-of-the-art…

Occupational Diseases: Asbestosis and Mesothelioma in Forensic Practice

Diagnosis of occupational diseases, a strong collaboration between radiologic and clinical features with related occupational history and literature supporting, and an association between the exposure and the disease process are requested. Further pathological findings emerging at biopsy or autopsy, which are considered ancillary examination techniques, may assist in the judgment related to causal chain reconstruction.

Interpretation of Diagnostic Imaging for Medicolegal Issues

Forensic radiology is a relative recently emergent part of forensic medicine characterized by the application of radiological methods in criminal investigations, such as the forensic M.E’s radiological reports in civil or penal matters for judicial technical advice. The various imaging modalities like X-rays, Computed Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and ultrasonography can be used depending on various forms of cases and their requirements in routine investigations.

Prognostic outcome of atherosclerotic plaques in patients with suspected coronary artery disease assessed with Multislice Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography: a 30-month follow-up study

Aorta addominale e vasi splancnici

Human Activity Recognition Process Using 3-D Posture Data

In this paper, we present a method for recognizing human activities using information sensed by an RGB-D camera, namely the Microsoft Kinect. Our approach is based on the estimation of some relevant joints of the human body by means of the Kinect; three different machine learning techniques, i.e., K-means clustering, support vector machines, and hidden Markov models, are combined to detect the postures involved while performing an activity, to classify them, and to model each activity as a spatiotemporal evolution of known postures. Experiments were performed on Kinect Activity Recognition Dataset, a new dataset, and on CAD-60, a public dataset. Experimental results show that our solution o…

A Simulation Framework for Evaluating Distributed Reputation Management Systems

In distributed environments, where interactions involve unknown entities, intelligent techniques for estimating agents’ reputation are required. Reputation Management Systems (RMSs) aim to detect malicious behaviors that may affect the integrity of the virtual community. However, these systems are highly dependent of the application domain they address; hence the evaluation of different RMSs in terms of correctness and resistance to security attacks is frequently a tricky task. In this work we present a simulation framework to support researchers in the assessment of a RMS. The simulator is organized in two logic layers where network nodes are mapped to system processes that implement the i…

Radiological Follow-Up of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic gastrointestinal diseases that typically affect the young working-age population. Patients with IBD, both asymptomatic and symptomatic, often develop complications during their clinical course. This is particularly true in patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) and biological signs of inflammation, despite being asymptomatic. In addition, it seems clear that the absence of symptoms does not imply an absence of inflammation. For all the above mentioned reasons, patients should be followed up and objectively evaluated. IBD are idiopathic diseases characterized by periods of remission and frequent exacerbations. To appreciate the impact of disease pr…

Interoperable real-time symbolic programming for smart environments

Smart environments demand novel paradigms offering easy configuration, programming and deployment of pervasive applications. To this purpose, different solutions have been proposed ranging from visual paradigms based on mashups to formal languages. However, most of the paradigms proposed in the literature require further external tools to turn application description code into an executable program before the deployment on target devices. Source code generation, runtime upgrades and recovery, and online debugging and inspection are often cumbersome in these programming environments. In this work we describe a methodology for real-time and on-line programming in smart environments that is co…

Caso 37 Patologia Aortica

Clinical case

Diagnostic value of hypoenanced miocardial region observed in MSCT-CA: comparison with other diagnostic tools

VPP: A Communication Schema for Population Protocols in VANET

Population protocols are a new paradigm that aims to model distributed systems composed of randomly interacting mobile agents. The main advantage of this model is that, when certain theoretical assumptions hold, it is possible to formally demonstrate their convergence. We consider the problem of adopting Population Protocols in a real-world scenario that does not guarantee these assumptions. In particular, we consider the application domain of Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs) which are characterized by dynamic network topologies, and where wireless communications can be affected by interferences and errors. In this work, we analyze the main features of VANET agents and the communications …

Imaging of Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors: From Diagnosis to Evaluation of Therapeutic Response

Once considered an obscure tumor entity with poor prognosis, gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are nowadays recognized as the most common mesenchymal tumors of the alimentary tract. GISTs differ from other mesenchymal neoplasms at pathology since 90% of them exhibit strong immunohistochemical staining for KIT, a tyrosinase kinase growth factor receptor. In the early 2000s, the ability of imatinib mesylate, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, to inhibit KIT established a new paradigm for cancer treatment. A reduction in lesion size may not be observed or may appear many months after therapy; thus, tumor response criteria alternative to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors were dev…

Radiological Features of Gastrointestinal Lymphoma.

Gastrointestinal lymphomas represent 5–20% of extranodal lymphomas and mainly occur in the stomach and small intestine. Clinical findings are not specific, thus often determining a delay in the diagnosis. Imaging features at conventional and cross-sectional imaging must be known by the radiologist since he/she plays a pivotal role in the diagnosis and disease assessment, thus assisting in the choice of the optimal treatment to patients. This review focuses on the wide variety of imaging presentation of esophageal, gastric, and small and large bowel lymphoma presenting their main imaging appearances at conventional and cross-sectional imaging, mainly focusing on computed tomography and magne…

Diabetic foot syndrome as a possible cardiovascular marker in diabetic patients

Diabetic foot ulcerations have been extensively reported as vascular complications of diabetes mellitus associated with a high degree of morbidity and mortality; in fact, some authors showed a higher prevalence of major, previous and new-onset, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular events in diabetic patients with foot ulcers than in those without these complications. This is consistent with the fact that in diabetes there is a complex interplay of several variables with inflammatory metabolic disorders and their effect on the cardiovascular system that could explain previous reports of high morbidity and mortality rates in diabetic patients with amputations. Involvement of inflammatory marke…

Diagnosi di osteonecrosi mediante WB-MRI in paziente con Linfoma di Hodgkin resistente trattato con BEACOPP: Case Report.

Hodgkin's lymphoma is a very common haematological neoplasm with high possibilities of response to treatment. On the other hand, therapies are often responsible for clinically relevant complications. Among these is osteonecrosis, generally determined by the high dosages of corticosteroids included in the chemotherapeutic protocols, which lead to bone ischemia through multifactorial mechanisms such as hypercoagulability and increase of intraosseous pressure due to hyperplasia of the adipose component. We report the case of a 29-year-old man with resistant Hodgkin's lymphoma undergoing chemotherapy which determined the appearance of multifocal osteonecrosis detected by Magnetic Resonance whol…

Esame radiologico del torace nell’invecchiamento cardiaco

L’invecchiamento e un processo fisiologico, definito omeostenosi caratterizzato da un progressivo declino dell’omeostasi di diversi organi e apparati in assenza di segni e/o sintomi di malattia. Le modificazioni anatomo-patologiche a carico dell’apparato cardiocircolatorio iniziano a comparire gia dalla terza decade di vita con incremento del grasso pericardico, progressivo irrigidimento delle valvole cardiache con segni di insufficienza e/o stenosi. Nella parete cardiaca si puo documentare ipertrofia del miocardio con incremento volumetrico delle fibrocellule muscolari lisce, prevalentemente a carico del distretto sinistro. Analoghe modificazioni sono riscontrabili nella parete vasale del …

Role of multidetector-CT enteroclysis (MSCT-E) in complications of advanced Crohn's disease (CD) patients

Patient centring and scan length: how inaccurate practice impacts on radiation dose in CT colonography (CTC).

Objective: The aim of this study was to acknowledge errors in patients positioning in CT colonography (CTC) and their effect in radiation exposure. Materials and methods: CTC studies of a total of 199 patients coming from two different referral hospitals were retrospectively reviewed. Two parameters have been considered for the analysis: patient position in relation to gantry isocentre and scan length related to the area of interest. CTDI vol and DLP were extracted for each patient. In order to evaluate the estimated effective total dose and the dose to various organs, we used the CT-EXPO ® software version 2.2. This software provides estimates of effective dose and doses to the other vario…

Response Assessment to Cancer Therapy

Cancer generically refers to a group of diseases showing an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells potentially having the ability to invade, through the blood and lymph systems, nearby tissues or spread to other parts of the body.

Intelligent Management Systems for Energy Efficiency in Buildings: A Survey

In recent years, reduction of energy consumption in buildings has increasingly gained interest among researchers mainly due to practical reasons, such as economic advantages and long-term environmental sustainability. Many solutions have been proposed in the literature to address this important issue from complementary perspectives, which are often hard to capture in a comprehensive manner. This survey article aims at providing a structured and unifying treatment of the existing literature on intelligent energy management systems in buildings, with a distinct focus on available architectures and methodology supporting a vision transcending the well-established smart home vision, in favor o…

A Middleware to Develop and Test Vehicular Sensor Network Applications

The Smart city ecosystem is composed of several networked devices that provide services to citizens and improve their quality of life. Basic services, which must be exposed by the underlying software infrastructure, require efficient networking and communication protocols to coordinate and manage all the system components. In particular, Vehicular Sensor Networks (VSNs) are envisioned as key components of smart cities. Verification is crucial in such a highly dynamic scenario to ensure operation correctness and to reduce the development cost of smart applications. However, the rigidity of existing middlewares makes development, reconfiguration, and testing rather difficult. In this work, we…

Valutazione radiografica mirata dello spazio articolare femoro-tibiale in pazienti affetti da patologia artrosica ed artritica

OBIETTIVO: Scopo del nostro lavoro è quello di valutare lo spazio articolare dell’articolazione del ginocchio utilizzando una proiezione specifica con paziente in decubito ortostatico. MATERIALE E METODI: Dal Settembre 2006 al Febbraio 2007 sono stati valutati 30 pazienti (18 M/ 12 F; età media 56 anni) per patologia artrosica o artritica del ginocchio. Come gruppo di controllo sono stati utilizzati 10 pazienti con pregresso trauma del ginocchio. In tutti i pazienti è stato acquisito un radiogramma del ginocchio con tecnica convenzionale ed un radiogramma con tecnica mirata allo valutazione dello spazio articolare (posizione ortostatica con ginocchia leggermente flesse, proiezione PA e fasc…

Can 3D Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) improve breast malignant pathology detection? A case-to-case imaging comparison between 3D DBT and 2D Mammographic images

Learning objectives Background Findings and procedure details Conclusion Personal information References

Utilizzo di TAC multistrato nella ricostruzione dei tramiti intracranici da colpi d'arma da fuoco

virtopsy

AN INNOVATIVE SYSTEM FOR VINEYARD MANAGEMENT IN SICILY

The aim of this study was to monitor the micro-climate of the grapevine in order to detect the adversities of the spring period (especially April and May), while reducing the operating costs of the vineyard, and increasing the overall quality of grapes. For this purpose a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) was used. Furthermore, a comparison was performed between data measured by the wireless sensors and data provided by the fixed meteorological station of the Regione Siciliana (SIAS).

Imaging features of pancreatic metastases: A comparison with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Purpose: To compare imaging features of pancreatic metastases (PM) with those of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC). Methods: CT and MR scans of 24 patients with 54 PM and 30 patients with PDAC were reviewed to evaluate the imaging features, which were compared by using a Chi square test. Results: We found a statistically significant difference between PM and PDAC based on location (P < 0.001), margins (P < 0.001), arterial enhancement (P = 0.004), rim enhancement (P < 0.001), pancreatic duct dilatation (P = 0.01), common bile duct dilatation (P = 0.003), vascular involvement (P = 0.02), parenchymal atrophy (P < 0.001), peripancreatic fluid (P = 0.03). Conclusion: Imaging features mig…

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST): 40-row multislice computed tomography findings

Pitfalls on Postmortem Imaging: The Need of Blending Conventional and Virtual Autopsy on Burnt-Charred Body

Joining forensic traditional autopsy and CT-MR postmortem virtual approach may assist forensic experts in adequate reconstruction of cause, manner, and way of death, significantly to find evidence of found wound/fracture and relative interpretation. Evaluation of criminal burning is often a difficult challenge in the view of misinterpretation of wound/fracture victims and usually poor case history of this criminal offense. In this scenario, a strong collaboration between imaging and classical forensic techniques is helpful.

Relationship between anxiety level and radiological investigation. Comparison among different diagnostic imaging exams in a prospective single-center study

Objective: Every patient could feel anxious when he waits in a radiological department to undergo diagnostic exams. The aim of our study is to evaluate the impact of the radiological exams on patient anxiety. Materials and methods: We evaluated 343 patients (mean age 54.83 years) who underwent different types of diagnostic exams in the Department of Diagnostic Imaging at our Hospital from April 2013 to August 2014. We administered to patients the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory Test, which detected with high sensitivity both state anxiety and trait anxiety. A team of clinical psychologists and radiologists evaluated the scores obtained. Results: 83 out of 343 patients were excluded becaus…

Urban Air Quality Monitoring Using Vehicular Sensor Networks

The quality of air is a major concern in modern cities as pollutants have been demonstrated to have significant impact on human health. Networks of fixed monitoring stations have been deployed in urban areas to provide authorities with data to define and enforce dynamically policies to reduce pollutants, for instance by issuing traffic regulation measures. However, fixed networks require careful placement of monitoring stations to be effective. Moreover, changes in urban arrangement, activities, or regulations may affect considerably the monitoring model, especially when budget constraints prevent from relocating stations or adding new ones to the network. In this chapter we discuss a diffe…

Swallowing impairment in neurologic disorders: The role of videofluorographic swallowing study

Patients with neurologic diseases almost inevitably develop various degrees of swallowing disorders during their life. Dysphagia is one of the main negative prognostic factors in this class of patients, leading to severe morbidity (i.e. aspiration pneumonia, dehydration, malnutrition, and life quality deterioration) and to a noticeable increase in public health spending. Videofluorographic swallowing study is considered the gold standard technique for swallowing impairment assessment. It is aimed at early identification of the risk of aspiration, definition of the kind and grade of dysphagia, and an indication to suspend oral nutrition and adopt other feeding strategies, and define when the…

Forensic study of Neolithic and Punic skulls with MSCT

Learning objectives Background Imaging findings OR Procedure details Conclusion References Personal Information

Valvular Heart Disease

Valvular heart disease (VHD) refers to a wide spectrum of cardiac disorders that affect a large number of patients. Echocardiography is still considered the pivotal imaging method to evaluate the cardiac valves. However, echocardiography has some intrinsic limitations due to operator dependence and patient habitus. In the last two decades three-dimensional techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) have provided valuable assessment of VHD. MRI overcomes the limitation of the poor acoustic window of echocardiography without ionizing radiation. Nowadays, MRI aims to be considered as the reference standard for imaging cardiac valves because of the improved…

Smartphone data analysis for human activity recognition

In recent years, the percentage of the population owning a smartphone has increased significantly. These devices provide the user with more and more functions, so that anyone is encouraged to carry one during the day, implicitly producing that can be analysed to infer knowledge of the user’s context. In this work we present a novel framework for Human Activity Recognition (HAR) using smartphone data captured by means of embedded triaxial accelerometer and gyroscope sensors. Some statistics over the captured sensor data are computed to model each activity, then real-time classification is performed by means of an efficient supervised learning technique. The system we propose also adopts a …

Triple arterial phase in the dynamic post-contrastografic MRI study of liver lesions: comparative study

The objective of our work was to assess the accuracy in terms of spatial and contrast resolution, respiratory movement artifacts and synchronization of the “triple arterial phase” (TAP) sequence and compare it with the conventionally acquired arterial phase (AP). Between June 2021 and September 2021 16 patients underwent liver MRI for characterization and/or follow-up of focal hepatic lesions, and the TAP sequence was used. With the aim to obtain a TAP sequence we applied the KEYHOLE technique (modified to 35%) and the CENTRA-Keyhole method (Contrast Enhanced Timing Robust Angiography) for the K-space sampling, to the basic e-THRIVE sequence. 6/16 patients had previous MRI examinations perf…

A kernel support vector machine based technique for Crohn’s disease classification in human patients

In this paper a new technique for classification of patients affected by Crohn’s disease (CD) is proposed. The proposed technique is based on a Kernel Support Vector Machine (KSVM) and it adopts a Stratified K-Fold Cross-Validation strategy to enhance the KSVM classifier reliability. Traditional manual classification methods require radiological expertise and they usually are very time-consuming. Accordingly to three expert radiologists, a dataset composed of 300 patients has been selected for KSVM training and validation. Each patient was codified by 22 extracted qualitative features and classified as Positive or Negative as the related histological specimen result showed the CD. The eff…

CENTRIFUGAL (INSIDE-OUT) ENHANCEMENT OF LIVER HEMANGIOMAS: A POSSIBLE ATYPICAL APPEARANCE ON CONTRAST-ENHANCED US

Violence and Abuse: Battered Child

Battered child is a crucial social and medical issue, which represents a major cause of morbidity and mortality among children. The ‘child abuse syndrome’ is a clinical condition in young children who have received serious physical abuse, and should be considered in any child exhibiting evidence of fracture of any bone, subdural haematoma, failure to thrive, soft tissue swellings or skin bruising, in any child who dies suddenly, or where the degree and type of injury is at variance with the history given regarding the occurrence of the trauma. A clinical-radiological-forensic collaboration is crucial for its identification.

A Logical Architecture for Active Network Management

This paper focuses on improving network management by exploiting the potential of “doing” of the Active Networks technology, together with the potential of “planning,” which is typical of the artificial intelligent systems. We propose a distributed multiagent architecture for Active Network management, which exploits the dynamic reasoning capabilities of the Situation Calculus in order to emulate the reactive behavior of a human expert to fault situations. The information related to network events is generated by programmable sensors deployed across the network. A logical entity collects this information, in order to merge it with general domain knowledge, with a view to identifying the roo…

Diffusion-weighted MRI of colo-rectal liver metastases treated by new anti-angiogenetic chemotherapy

Distributed algorithms for multicast tree construction

Verification of Symbolic Distributed Protocols for Networked Embedded Devices

The availability of versatile and interconnected embedded devices makes it possible to build low-cost networks with a large number of nodes running even complex applications and protocols in a distributed manner. Common tools used for modeling and verification, such as simulators, present some limitations as application correctness is checked off-board and only focuses on source code. Execution in the real network is thus excluded from the early stages of design and verification. In this paper, a system for modeling and verification of symbolic distributed protocols running on embedded devices is introduced. The underlying methodology is rooted in a symbolic programming paradigm that makes …

Role of 64-slices MDCT-enterography in the evaluation of patients with suspected small bowel neoplasm.

Purpose Methods and Materials Results Conclusion References Personal Information

The Videofluorographic Swallowing Study in Rheumatologic Diseases: A Comprehensive Review

Autoimmune connective tissue diseases are a heterogeneous group of pathologies that affect about 10% of world population with chronic evolution in 20%–80%. Inflammation in autoimmune diseases may lead to serious damage to other organs including the gastrointestinal tract. Gastrointestinal tract involvement in these patients may also due to both a direct action of antibodies against organs and pharmacological therapies. Dysphagia is one of the most important symptom, and it is caused by failure of the swallowing function and may lead to aspiration pneumonia, malnutrition, dehydration, weight loss, and airway obstruction. The videofluorographic swallowing study is a key diagnostic tool in the…

Malattia diverticolare e carcinoma del colon, esiste una correlazione eziopatogenetica?

Context-awareness for multi-sensor data fusion in smart environments

Multi-sensor data fusion is extensively used to merge data collected by heterogeneous sensors deployed in smart environments. However, data coming from sensors are often noisy and inaccurate, and thus probabilistic techniques, such as Dynamic Bayesian Networks, are often adopted to explicitly model the noise and uncertainty of data. This work proposes to improve the accuracy of probabilistic inference systems by including context information, and proves the suitability of such an approach in the application scenario of user activity recognition in a smart home environment. However, the selection of the most convenient set of context information to be considered is not a trivial task. To thi…

The burnout phenomenon among student radiographers: a single centre experience

Burnout syndrome is a condition that may occur not only for staff in human service sectors/jobs, involving intensive interactions with others, but also people that are engaged in activities psychologically similar to work, such as students. Radiographers in training suffer double stress, first linked to the status of being a university student and secondly as early career workers who have relations with the public of the health system. Aim of our study was to investigate the prevalence and levels of burnout syndrome among radiographers in training in an University Hospital.In order to gain a better understanding of nature of the burnout syndrome a modified version of Maslach's questionnaire…

Progressive multi-organ expression of immunoglobulin G4-related disease: A case report.

A 63-year-old Caucasian man presented with a cholestatic syndrome, renal failure and arthralgias. A laboratory examination revealed high immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgG4 levels (5.95 g/L; normal range: 0.08-1.4 g/L), pointing to a diagnosis of systemic IgG4-related disease, with definite radiological evidence of biliary and pancreatic expression, and plausible renal, articular, salivary and lacrimal glands involvement. Due to the rarity of the condition, there are currently no random control trials to point to the optimal therapeutic approach. The patient has been on steroid therapy with the subsequent introduction of azathioprine, with a complete resolution of all symptoms, a rapid reductio…

Gaining insight by structural knowledge extraction

The availability of increasingly larger and more complex datasets has boosted the demand for systems able to analyze them automatically. The design and implementation of effective systems requires coding knowledge about the application domain inside the system itself; however, the designer is expected to intuitively grasp the most relevant features of the raw data as a. preliminary step. In this paper we propose a framework to get useful insight about a set of complex data, and we claim that a shift in perspective may be of help to tackle with the unaddressed goal of representing knowledge by means of the structure inferred from the collected samples. We will present a formulation of knowle…

Imaging findings of hepatic Focal Nodular Hyperplasia (FNH) in Gadoxetic Acid vs Gadobenate Dimeglumine-enhanced MR: preliminary results

A Fog-Based Application for Human Activity Recognition Using Personal Smart Devices

The diffusion of heterogeneous smart devices capable of capturing and analysing data about users, and/or the environment, has encouraged the growth of novel sensing methodologies. One of the most attractive scenarios in which such devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers, or activity trackers, can be exploited to infer relevant information is human activity recognition (HAR). Even though some simple HAR techniques can be directly implemented on mobile devices, in some cases, such as when complex activities need to be analysed timely, users’ smart devices can operate as part of a more complex architecture. In this article, we propose a multi-device HAR framework that exploits the fog c…

Errors in imaging patients in the emergency setting

Emergency and trauma care produces a "perfect storm" for radiological errors: uncooperative patients, inadequate histories, time-critical decisions, concurrent tasks and often junior personnel working after hours in busy emergency departments. The main cause of diagnostic errors in the emergency department is the failure to correctly interpret radiographs, and the majority of diagnoses missed on radiographs are fractures. Missed diagnoses potentially have important consequences for patients, clinicians and radiologists. Radiologists play a pivotal role in the diagnostic assessment of polytrauma patients and of patients with non-traumatic craniothoracoabdominal emergencies, and key elements …

Tumori gastrointestinali stromali: Aspetti con tomografia computerizzata multidetettore (40-strati)

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to describe the findings and evaluate the role of multidetector (40-slice) computed tomography (MDCT) in the preoperative assessment of gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs). Materials and methods. Thirteen patients with histologically proven GIST (size: 4-30 cm; mean: 9 cm) underwent 40-slice MDCT after the ingestion of 1,000 ml of water. Images were obtained before and 70 s after intravenous injection of 120 ml of iodinated contrast agent. Two experienced radiologists reviewed the CT findings to evaluate lesion site, size, margins, attenuation, growth pattern, enhancement pattern, ascites, lymphadenopathy, direct invasion to adjacent organs and di…

Smart Auctions for Autonomic Ambient Intelligence Systems

The main goal of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is to support users in their daily activities by satisfying and anticipating their needs. To achieve such goal, AmI systems rely on physical infrastructures made of heterogenous sensing devices which interact in order to exchange information and perform monitoring tasks. In such a scenario, a full achievement of AmI vision would also require the capability of the system to autonomously check the status of the infrastructure and supervise its maintenance. To this aim, in this paper, we extend some previous works in order to allow the self-management of AmI devices enabling them to directly interact with maintenance service providers. In particular,…

A Fast and Interactive Approach to Application Development on Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks

In Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks (WSANs) sensor and actuator devices are connected through radio links to perform tasks in many different contexts. Conven- tionally, applications for WSANs are developed using traditional operating systems which application code is linked with at the end of a cross-compilation process. We propose instead an alternative approach for building applications on WSANs that is based on interactivity and does not require time consuming cross-compilation phases. In our development methodology, it is possible to define procedures and services according to the application target, simultaneously test them and reprogram the nodes interactively when needed, even a…

Incidence of new foci of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in patients who underwent radiofrequency ablation of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Role of MDCT

A multi‐agent system for itinerary suggestion in smart environments

Abstract Modern smart environments pose several challenges, among which the design of intelligent algorithms aimed to assist the users. When a variety of points of interest are available, for instance, trajectory recommendations are needed to suggest users the most suitable itineraries based on their interests and contextual constraints. Unfortunately, in many cases, these interests must be explicitly requested and their lack causes the so‐called cold‐start problem. Moreover, lengthy travelling distances and excessive crowdedness of specific points of interest make itinerary planning more difficult. To address these aspects, a multi‐agent itinerary suggestion system that aims at assisting t…

The “geographic” liver

A symbolic distributed event detection scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks

Due to the possibility of extensive and pervasive deployment of many tiny sensor devices in the area of interest, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) result particularly suitable to detect significant events and to react accordingly in industrial and home scenarios. In this context, fuzzy inference systems for event detection in WSNs have proved to be accurate enough in treating imprecise sensory readings to decrease the number of false alarms. Besides reacting to event occurrences, the whole network may infer more information to enrich the event semantics resulting from reasoning processes carried out on the individual nodes. Contextual knowledge, including spatial and temporal relationships, …

Three-year follow-up of patients at intermediate probability of coronary artery disease assessed with Multislice Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography

Purpose Methods and Materials Results Conclusion References Personal Information

ESAME RADIOLOGICO DEL TORACE NELL’INVECCHIAMENTO CARDIACO

Structural Knowledge Extraction from Mobility Data

Knowledge extraction has traditionally represented one of the most interesting challenges in AI; in recent years, however, the availability of large collections of data has increased the awareness that “measuring” does not seamlessly translate into “understanding”, and that more data does not entail more knowledge. We propose here a formulation of knowledge extraction in terms of Grammatical Inference (GI), an inductive process able to select the best grammar consistent with the samples. The aim is to let models emerge from data themselves, while inference is turned into a search problem in the space of consistent grammars, induced by samples, given proper generalization operators. We will …

Preoperative assessment of GI stromal tumors with 40-row multislice CT

Imaging della coartazione aortica mediante angiografia con Tomografia Computerizzata Multistrato cardiosincronizzata

Low bone mineral density in HIV-positive young Italians and migrants.

Background Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected individuals may have osteoporosis. We aimed to evaluate the bone mineral density (BMD) in naïve antiretroviral (ARV) treated HIV positive patients comparing native Italian group (ItG) to a Migrants group (MiG) upon arrival in Italy. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study on 83 HIV patients less than 50 years old. We used the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) within six months from the HIV diagnosis. Participants were categorized as having low BMD if the femoral neck or total lumbar spine Z-score was– 2 or less. Results MiG showed low BMD more often than ItG (37.5% vs.13.6%), especially for the female gender (16.7% vs. 0.0%). …

MRI Enteroclysis and Enterography

Magnetic Resonance is actually the most complete and less invasive imaging technique in the evaluation of Crohn’s disease. Compared to Computed Tomography and Ultrasound, Magnetic Resonance allows both a morphological and qualitative evaluation of the disease at the same time, thus allowing an evaluation of its extension in the gastrointestinal tract and of its grade of activity, obtaining an accurate relation with the clinical status of the patient. This is possible thanks to its intrinsic characteristics, as multiplanarity, high contrast resolution, and the possibility to make a functional assessment; moreover, there is no use of ionizing radiation. For all these reasons, this technique h…

Role of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the characterization of incidentally discovered focal liver lesions

Combined hepatectomy and radiofrequency ablation for multifocal hepatocellular carcinoma: a case report

Introduction: At the present time, the best possible choice for the local management of a multifocal hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) developing on liver cirrhosis is multimodal treatment of the disease. Combined approach based on simultaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) together with limited surgical resection represents a valid choice of treatment. Case presentation: A 75-year-old white female patient affected of HCV-associated cirrhosis in BChild-Pugh’s functional class A5, developed a bifocal HCC. The patient had undergone a limited surgical resection together with simultaneous RFA, without intraoperative and postoperative surgical complications. At 36 months after surgery, still shows …

Autonomic behaviors in an Ambient Intelligence system

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) systems are constantly evolving and becoming ever more complex, so it is increasingly difficult to design and develop them successfully. Moreover, because of the complexity of an AmI system as a whole, it is not always easy for developers to predict its behavior in the event of unforeseen circumstances. A possible solution to this problem might lie in delegating certain decisions to the machines themselves, making them more autonomous and able to self-configure and self-manage, in line with the paradigm of Autonomic Computing. In this regard, many researchers have emphasized the importance of adaptability in building agents that are suitable to operate in real-wor…

MR Imaging of Perianal Crohn Disease: The Role of Contrast-enhanced Sequences

The MR imaging protocol described by the authors includes contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging with fat saturation in all patients except those with poor renal function. Horsthuis et al demonstrated in 2009 the usefulness of contrast-enhanced MR imaging for determining disease activity. Contrast agent administration is also required in case of suspicion of neoplastic tissue complicating fistulas. The joint European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation–European Society of Gastointestinal and Abdominal Radiology guidelines report that T2-weighted images and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images are included in the MR imaging protocol for the evaluation of perianal CD. However, as we have demonstr…

Monitoring wireless sensor networks through logical deductive processes

This paper proposes a distributed multi-agent architecture for wireless sensor networks management, which exploits the dynamic reasoning capabilities of the Situation Calculus in order to emulate the reactive behavior of a human expert to fault situations. The information related to network events is generated by tunable agents installed on the network nodes and is collected by a logical entity for network managing where it is merged with general domain knowledge, with the aim of identifying the root causes of faults, and deciding on reparative actions. The logical inference system has being devised to carry out automated isolation, diagnosis, and, whenever possible, repair of network anoma…

Vulnerability evaluation of distributed reputation management systems

In distributed environments, Reputation Management Systems (RMSs) aim to estimate agents' trustworthiness by exploiting different sources of information. The distributed nature of these systems makes them vulnerable to several types of security attacks, and the response provided by a specific RMS depends on various factors, such as the algorithms adopted for estimating the reputation values and the communication protocols used to enable the cooperation among agents. This work examines the most important security attacks against RMSs and proposes a set of metrics for a quantitative evaluation of the RMS vulnerabilities. A parallel simulation framework is used to automatically give a vulnerab…

Comparison of US Strain Elastography and Entero-MRI to Typify the Mesenteric and Bowel Wall Changes during Crohn’s Disease: A Pilot Study

Purpose. To evaluate and compare the mesenteric and bowel wall changes during Crohn’s disease (CD) on ultrasonography (US) Strain Elastography (SE) and Enterography Magnetic Resonance Imaging (E-MRI). Methods. From July 2014 to September 2016, 35 patients with ileocolonoscopy diagnosis of CD were prospectively examined with E-MRI and in the same time with US and SE. Results. A total of 41 affected bowel segments and 35 unaffected bowel segments in 35 patients were evaluated. US-SE color-scale coding showed a blue color pattern in the fibrotic mesentery and bowel wall in 15 patients and a green color pattern in the edematous ones in 20 patients. The signal of the bowel wall and mesenteric fa…

“Visual guidebook” of coronary atherosclerotic plaque features by Multislice CT Coronary Angiography

Ischemic and non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy

Abstract Dilated Cardiomyopathy is a high-incident disease, which diagnosis of and treatments are clinical priority. The aim of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic potential of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging; echocardiography and the biochemical parameters that can help us differentiate between the post-ischemic and non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. Materials and methods. The study enrolled 134 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy: 74 with the post-ischemic form and 60 with the non-ischemic one. All patients underwent a coronary imaging test, with echocardiogram, cardiac magnetic resonance and a blood test. Pro-inflammatory cytokines were evaluated using Luminex kit. Data …

An efficient distributed algorithm for generating and updating multicast trees

As group applications are becoming widespread, efficient network utilization becomes a growing concern. Multicast transmission represents a necessary lower network service for the wide diffusion of new multimedia network applications. Multicast transmission may use network resources more efficiently than multiple point-to-point messages; however, creating optimal multicast trees (Steiner Tree Problem in networks) is prohibitively expensive. This paper proposes a distributed algorithm for the heuristic solution of the Steiner Tree Problem, allowing the construction of effective distribution trees using a coordination protocol among the network nodes. Furthermore, we propose a novel distribut…

Post-mortem Foetal Imaging

The gold standard for the diagnosis of foetal death is known to be the autopsy examination, which is sometimes supplemented by chromosomal and/or genetic studies. Nevertheless, autopsy rates are continuously declining, due to multifactorial and complex reasons, even anatomical, social and psychological ones, thus impacting the rate of radiological post-mortem foetal examinations.

Long-term prognosis of patients with a zero calcium score assessed by Multislice Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography.

Purpose Methods and Materials Results Conclusion References Personal Information

Development of an IoT Environmental Monitoring Application with a Novel Middleware for Resource Constrained Devices

In this paper the development of a Mobile Health monitoring system is described. The system combines user location data with air quality information provided by a heterogeneous sensing infrastructure providing users with advises about their daily exposure to air pollutants. The highly dynamic integration of different kind of nodes, mostly characterized by rather constrained resources, of this application is crucial to implement the Internet of Things vision, and requires powerful and effective programming methodologies to abstract implementation of high-level distributed processing from hardware dependencies. We then describe our programming methodology and our novel middleware supporting d…

Uno Smart Campus per UniPA

L’accesso pervasivo alla rete ha avviato una profonda trasformazione del tessuto sociale e culturale, incidendo profondamente anche sui processi di erogazione dei servizi della Pubblica Amministrazione. L’Università degli Studi di Palermo si inserisce in tale contesto, avendo recentemente intrapreso un percorso di innovazione che mira ad espandere i confini della didattica, della divulgazione del sapere scientifico, della creazione di nuova scienza e cultura, al fine di creare uno Smart Campus pronto ad accogliere gli studenti ormai “nativi digitali”.

Role of virtopsy in the post-mortem diagnosis of drowning.

Purpose: Due to admitted limits of autopsy-based studies in the diagnosis of drowning, virtopsy is considered the new imaging horizon in these post-mortem studies. The aim of our study was to evaluate the role of virtopsy performed through computed tomography (CT) in the forensic diagnosis of drowning. Materials and methods: We retrospectively examined the CT data of four cadavers recovered from sea water and suspected to have died by drowning. Each patient underwent a full-body post-mortem CT scan, and then a traditional autopsy. Conclusion: To date, there are no autopsy findings pathognomonic of drowning. This study proves that virtopsy is a useful tool in the diagnosis of drowning in tha…

Extrabiliary and extrapancreatic incidental findings at MRCP: a 4 years’ Italian experience

Aims and objectives Methods and materials Results Conclusion Personal information References

Hepatocellular cancer response to radiofrequency tumor ablation: contrast-enhanced US

A Grid Enabled Parallel Hybrid Genetic Algorithm for SPN

This paper presents a combination of a parallel Genetic Algorithm (GA) and a local search methodology for the Steiner Problem in Networks (SPN). Several previous papers have proposed the adoption of GAs and others metaheuristics to solve the SPN demonstrating the validity of their approaches. This work differs from them for two main reasons: the dimension and the features of the networks adopted in the experiments and the aim from which it has been originated. The reason that aimed this work was namely to assess deterministic and computationally inexpensive algorithms which can be used in practical engineering applications, such as the multicast transmission in the Internet. The large dimen…

Swallowing disorders after thyroidectomy: What we know and where we are. A systematic review.

Abstract Introduction Dysphagia and hoarseness are possible complications that can be observed in patients undergoing thyroidectomy or other neck surgery procedures. These complaints are usually related to superior and inferior laryngeal nerves dysfunction, but these can appear even after uncomplicated surgical procedure. Methods We reviewed the current literature available on MEDLINE database, concerning the swallowing disorders appearing after the thyroidectomy. The articles included in the review reported pathophysiology and diagnostic concerns. Results Twenty articles were selected for inclusion in the review. Depends on the possible causes of the difficulty swallowing (related to nerve…

Postmortem Computed Tomography: From Acquisition to Reporting

PMCT in a noninvasive, fast, and quite available method which coroners and forensic experts tend to use more and more often, especially when a crime is suspected. PMCT proved to be an excellent tool for detection and assessment of bone fracture injuries due to sharp trauma and bullet trajectories.

Cognitive meta-learning of syntactically inferred concepts

This paper outlines a proposal for a two-level cognitive architecture reproducing the process of abstract thinking in human beings. The key idea is the use of a level devoted to the extraction of compact representation for basic concepts, with additional syntactic inference carried on at a meta-level, in order to provide generalization. Higher-level concepts are inferred according to a principle of simplicity, consistent with Kolmogorov complexity, and merged back into the lower level in order to widen the underlying knowledge base.

Morpho-volumetric assessment of the right ventricle: a comparison between three-dimensional echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance

The morpho-volumetric assessment of the right ventricle (RV) is useful in the diagnosis and prognosis of many congenital and acquired cardiovascular diseases. The complexity of the right ventricular shape does not allow an adequate and satisfactory evaluation of the RV. Two-dimensional (2D) echocardiography is the most used tool for the assessment of RV function, as it is a noninvasive, reproducible and widespread technique, but the geometric assumptions required for measurement of RV volumes reduce its accuracy. At present, cardiac magnetic resonance is the gold standard for the evaluation of RV volumes because it does not need any assumption and is reproducible, though not always availabl…

User Activity Recognition for Energy Saving in Smart Homes

Abstract Energy demand in typical home environments accounts for a significant fraction of the overall consumption in industrialized countries. In such context, the heterogeneity of the involved devices, and the non negligible influence of the human factor make the optimization of energy use a challenging task; effective automated approaches must take into account basic information about users, such as the prediction of their course of actions. Our proposal consists in learning customized structural models for common user activities for predicting the trend of energy consumption; the approach aims to lower energy demand in the proximity of predicted peak loads so as to keep the overall cons…

Smart Assistance for Students and People Living in a Campus

Being part of one of the fastest growing area in Artificial Intelligence (AI), virtual assistants are nowadays part of everyone's life being integrated in almost every smart device. Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, and Cortana are just few examples of the most famous ones. Beyond these off-the-shelf solutions, different technologies which allow to create custom assistants are available. IBM Watson, for instance, is one of the most widely-adopted question-answering framework both because of its simplicity and accessibility through public APIs. In this work, we present a virtual assistant that exploits the Watson technology to support students and staff of a smart campus at the University of Pa…

FIRST

Thanks to the collective action of participating smartphone users, mobile crowdsensing allows data collection at a scale and pace that was once impossible. The biggest challenge to overcome in mobile crowdsensing is that participants may exhibit malicious or unreliable behavior, thus compromising the accuracy of the data collection process. Therefore, it becomes imperative to design algorithms to accurately classify between reliable and unreliable sensing reports. To address this crucial issue, we propose a novel Framework for optimizing Information Reliability in Smartphone-based participaTory sensing (FIRST) that leverages mobile trusted participants (MTPs) to securely assess the reliabil…

Probabilistic Anomaly Detection for Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are increasingly gaining popularity as a tool for environmental monitoring, however ensuring the reliability of their operation is not trivial, and faulty sensors are not uncommon; moreover, the deployment environment may influence the correct functioning of a sensor node, which might thus be mistakenly classified as damaged. In this paper we propose a probabilistic algorithm to detect a faulty node considering its sensed data, and the surrounding environmental conditions. The algorithm was tested with a real dataset acquired in a work environment, characterized by the presence of actuators that also affect the actual trend of the monitored physical quantities.

Diagnosis and definition of biventricular non-compaction associated to Ebstein's anomaly

Abstract Background Non-compaction of ventricular myocardium is a rare congenital cardiomyopathy characterized by the presence of an extremely thickened endocardial layer with prominent trabeculations and deep recesses in communication with ventricular chamber and determining the typical spongeous aspect. The diagnosis of non-compaction of ventricular myocardium is possible through the identification of morphological alterations by echocardiographic evaluation. Ebstein's anomaly is a rare congenital cardiac disease, defined as the significant apical displacement of the part of the tricuspid valve causing significant tricuspid regurgitation and reduction of the functional right ventricle, ri…

Intravenous Contrast Agent in Abdominal CT: Is It Really Needed to Identify the Cause of Bowel Obstruction? Proof of Concept

Background. To compare sensitivity of unenhanced computed tomography (CT) and contrast-enhanced CT for the identification of the etiology of bowel obstruction.Materials and Methods. We retrospectively evaluated abdominal CT scans of patients operated for bowel obstruction from March 2013 to October 2017. Two radiologists evaluated CT scans before and after contrast agent in two reading sessions. Then, we calculated sensitivity of CT in the diagnosis of bowel obstruction and determined in which cases the etiology of bowel obstruction was detected on both unenhanced and enhanced CT or on enhanced CT only. The reference standard was defined as the final diagnosis obtained after surgery.Results…

A fog-assisted system to defend against Sybils in vehicular crowdsourcing

Technological advancements in vehicular transportation systems have led to the growth of novel paradigms, in which vehicles and infrastructures collaborate to infer high-level knowledge about phenomena of interest. Vehicular Social Network (VSN) is one such paradigm in which vehicular network entities are considered as part of an Online Social Network (OSN), paving the way for new services derived from social context. Although vehicular crowdsourcing has tremendous benefits, its deployment in real systems requires to solve important challenges including defense against Sybil attacks. This paper proposes a novel fog-assisted system that uses SybilDriver to minimize the presence of Sybil enti…

Extrabiliary and extrapancreatic incidental findings on magnetic resonance cholangio-pancreatography: A single centre experience in 1000 patients.

What links BRAF to the heart function? new insights from the cardiotoxicity of BRAF inhibitors in cancer treatment

The RAS-related signalling cascade has a fundamental role in cell. It activates differentiation and survival. It is particularly important one of its molecules, B-RAF. B-RAF has been a central point for research, especially in melanoma. Indeed, it lacked effective therapeutic weapons since the early years of its study. Molecules targeting B-RAF have been developed. Nowadays, two classes of molecules are approved by FDA. Multi-target molecules, such as Sorafenib and Regorafenib, and selective molecules, such as Vemurafenib and Dabrafenib. Many other molecules are still under investigation. Most of them are studied in phase 1 trials. Clinical studies correlate B-RAF inhibitors and QT prolonga…

An Integrated Architecture for Surveillance and Monitoring in an Archaeological Site

This paper describes an on-going work aimed at designing and deploying a system for the surveillance and monitoring of an archaeological site, namely the "Valley of the Temples" in Agrigento, Italy. Given the relevance of the site from an artistical and historical point of view, it is important to protect the monuments from malicious or simply incautious behavior; however, the vastity of the area to be monitored and the vague definition of its boundaries make it unpractical to provide extensive coverage through traditional sensors or similar devices. We describe the design of an architecture for the surveillance of the site and for the monitoring of the visitors' behavior consisting in an i…

Role of MSCT scan in management of patients with primary epiploic appendagitis; our experience

Purpose Methods and Materials Results Conclusion References Personal Information

Principi tecnici ed applicazioni dei filtri di ricostruzione in angiografia coronarica mediante TC Multistrato

Outcome of LR-3 and LR-4 observations without arterial phase hyperenhancement at Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI follow-up

Objective: The aim of this study was to retrospectively analyze the outcome of LR-3 and LR-4 without arterial phase hyperenhancement (APHE), and identify which features could predict LR-5 progression on serial Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI follow-up. Methods: Forty-nine cirrhotic patients with 55 LR-3 and 19 LR-4 without APHE were evaluated. Observations were classified as decreased, stable or increased in category at follow-up. Observation size and LI-RADS major and ancillary features were evaluated. Results: Seventeen/fifty-five (31%) LR-3 and 8/19 (42%) LR-4 progressed to LR-5 at follow-up. Baseline LI-RADS major and ancillary features were not significantly different among LR-3 and LR-4. A d…

A Decisional Multi-Agent Framework for Automatic Supply Chain Arrangement

In this work, a multi-agent system (MAS) for supply chain dynamic configuration is proposed. The brain of each agent is composed of a Bayesian Decision Network (BDN); this choice allows the agent for taking the best decisions estimating benefits and potential risks of different strategies, analyzing and managing uncertain information about the collaborating companies. Each agent collects information about customer's orders and current market prices, and analyzes previous experiences of collaborations with trading partners. The agent therefore performs a probabilistic inferential reasoning to filter information modeled in its knowledge base in order to achieve the best performance in the sup…

An Optimization Package for Electrical Distribution Network Reconfiguration

Sensor9k : A testbed for designing and experimenting with WSN-based ambient intelligence applications

Ambient Intelligence systems are typically characterized by the use of pervasive equipment for monitoring and modifying the environment according to users' needs, and to globally defined constraints. Our work describes the implementation of a testbed providing the hardware and software tools for the development and management of AmI applications based on wireless sensor and actuator networks, whose main goal is energy saving for global sustainability. A sample application is presented that addresses temperature control in a work environment, through a multi-objective fuzzy controller taking into account users' preferences and energy consumption.

Human-ambient interaction through Wireless Sensor Networks

Recent developments in technology have permitted the creation of cheap, and unintrusive devices that may be effectively employed for instrumenting an intelligent environment. The present work describes a modular framework that makes use of a class of those devices, namely wireless sensors, in order to monitor relevant physical quantities and to collect users' requirements through implicit feedback. A central intelligent unit extracts higher-level concepts from raw sensory inputs, and carries on symbolic reasoning based on them. The aim of the reasoning is to plan a sequence of actions that will lead the environment to a state as close as possible to the users' desires, taking into account b…

Knowledge-based verification of concatenative programming patterns inspired by natural language for resource-constrained embedded devices

We propose a methodology to verify applications developed following programming patterns inspired by natural language that interact with physical environments and run on resource-constrained interconnected devices. Natural language patterns allow for the reduction of intermediate abstraction layers to map physical domain concepts into executable code avoiding the recourse to ontologies, which would need to be shared, kept up to date, and synchronized across a set of devices. Moreover, the computational paradigm we use for effective distributed execution of symbolic code on resource-constrained devices encourages the adoption of such patterns. The methodology is supported by a rule-based sys…

A Logical Reasoning Architecture for Computer Network Management

Contrazione attiva del quadricipite. Nuove possibilità nello studio RM del dolore anteriore del ginocchio.

OBIETTIVO: Valutare l’effetto della contrazione attiva del muscolo quadricipite a 30° di flessione del ginocchio, in pazienti con dolore anteriore, per una migliore classificazione del tilt patellare rispetto all’esame basale. MATERIALE E METODI: Da Marzo 2006 a Febbraio 2007 sono stati valutati 60 pazienti (43 M, 27 F) con dolore anteriore del ginocchio, e sottoposti ad esame RM del ginocchio (Artoscan-C, Esaote). L’articolazione femoro-rotulea è stata esaminata a 30° di flessione, sia a riposo che dopo contrazione attiva del quadricipite, nelle immagini assiali centrate sulla rotula. Sono stati misurati 3 tipi di angoli: angolo del tilt patellare (PTA), angolo del solco (SA), ed angolo di…

Small Bowel Perforations: What the Radiologist Needs to Know

The incidence of small bowel perforation is low but can develop from a variety of causes including Crohn disease, ischemic or bacterial enteritis, diverticulitis, bowel obstruction, volvulus, intussusception, trauma, and ingested foreign bodies. In contrast to gastroduodenal perforation, the amount of extraluminal air in small bowel perforation is small or absent in most cases. This article will illustrate the main aspects of small bowel perforation, focusing on anatomical reasons of radiological findings and in the evaluation of the site of perforation using plain film, ultrasound, and multidetector computed tomography equipments. In particular, the authors highlight the anatomic key notes…

PREVALENCE OF MYOCARDIAL BRIDGING AND CORRELATION WITH CORONARY ATHEROSCLEROSIS STUDIED WITH 64-SLICE CT CORONARY ANGIOGRAPHY

IMAGING IN RISONANZA MAGNETICA NELLE FISTOLE PERIANALI

Ruolo dell’ecografia con mezzo di contrasto nella valutazione degli angiomi splenici

A Knowledge Management System using Bayesian Network

In today's world, decision support and knowledge management processes are strategic and interdependent activities in many organizations. The companies' interest on a correct knowledge management is grown, more than interest on the mere knowledge itself. This paper proposes a Knowledge Management System based on Bayesian networks. The system has been tested collecting and using data coming from projects and processes typical of ICT companies, and provides a Document Management System and a Decision Support system to share documents and to plan how to best use firms' knowledge.

Kromos: Ontology based information management for ICT societies

Over the last few years, several projects for the development of innovative systems capable of collecting and sharing information have been carried out, following the increasing companies' interest on a correct knowledge management. ICT companies' managers have realized that knowledge and its management, more than the mere data, constitute fundamental part of their activities. This paper proposes a Knowledge Management System whose main feature is an underlying ontological knowledge representation. This data representation allows the specialization of the reasoning capabilities and the provision of ad hoc behaviors. The system has been designed for the management of projects and processes a…

Whole-Body Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Current Role in Patients with Lymphoma.

Imaging of lymphoma is based on the use of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG-PET/CT) and/or contrast-enhanced CT, but concerns have been raised regarding radiation exposure related to imaging scans in patients with cancer, and its association with increased risk of secondary tumors in patients with lymphoma has been established. To date, lymphoproliferative disorders are among the most common indications to perform whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Whole-body MRI is superior to contrast-enhanced CT for staging the disease, also being less dependent on histology if compared to 18F-FDG-PET/CT. As well, it does not require exposure to i…

Modeling Efficient and Effective Communications in VANET through Population Protocols

Vehicular Ad-hoc NETworks (VANETs) enable a countless set of next-generation applications thanks to the technological progress of the last decades. These applications rely on the assumption that a simple network of vehicles can be extended with more complex and powerful network infrastructure, in which several Road Side Units (RSUs) are employed to achieve application-specific goals. However, this assumption is not always satisfied as in many real-world scenarios it is unfeasible to have a conspicuous deployment of RSUs, due to both economic and environmental constraints. With the aim to overcome this limitation, in this paper we investigate how the only Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communicati…

Creazione di un plug-in per il software open-source di visualizzazione di immagini DICOM OsiriX per lo studio delle variazioni dimensionali e densitometriche di metastasi epatiche in TCMS

Presentiamo la nostra esperienza riguardo la progettazione e l'utilizzo di un plug-in per il software open-source di visualizzazione di immagini DICOM (OsiriX 32-bit; GNU General Public License) per la valutazione dei criteri dimensionali e densitometrici di metastasi epatiche in TCMS.

Interference and Communications among Active Network Applications

Ischemic stroke subtypes and the implications for stroke management

Internal Medicine & Cardioangiology Ward, Dipartimento Biomedico di Medicina Interna & Specialistica, University of Palermo, Italy *Author for correspondence: Tel.: +39 091 6552197; bruno.tuttolomondo@unipa.it

Adaptive Collision Avoidance through Implicit Acknowledgments in Wireless Sensor Networks

Videofluorography swallow study of patients with systemic sclerosis

PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to evaluate the role of the videofluorographic (VFG) swallow study in patients with systemic sclerosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Over a 23-month period, 45 women (mean age 58 years, range 27-76 years) with a known diagnosis of systemic sclerosis and a history of dysphagia underwent a dynamic and morphological study of the oral, pharyngeal and oesophageal phases of swallowing with videofluorography. All examinations were performed with a remote-controlled digital C-arm device with 16-in image intensifier, 0.6- to 1.2-mm focal spot range and maximum tube voltage of 150 kVp in fluorography and 120 kVp in fluoroscopy. Cineradiographic sequences were acquired for…

SpADe: Multi-Stage Spam Account Detection for Online Social Networks

In recent years, Online Social Networks (OSNs) have radically changed the way people communicate. The most widely used platforms, such as Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram, claim more than one billion monthly active users each. Beyond these, news-oriented micro-blogging services, e.g., Twitter, are daily accessed by more than 120 million users sharing contents from all over the world. Unfortunately, legitimate users of the OSNs are mixed with malicious ones, which are interested in spreading unwanted, misleading, harmful, or discriminatory content. Spam detection in OSNs is generally approached by considering the characteristics of the account under analysis, its connection with the rest of …

Hyaline fibromatosis syndrome (juvenile hyaline fibromatosis): whole-body MR findings in two siblings with different subcutaneous nodules distribution.

Abstract: Hyaline fibromatosis syndrome (juvenile hyaline fibromatosis) is a rare, progressive, autosomal recessive disorder whose main hallmark is the deposition of amorphous hyaline material in soft tissues, with an evolutionary course and health impairment. It may present involvement of subcutaneous or periskeletal soft tissue, or may develop as a visceral infiltration entity with poor prognosis. Very few radiological data about this inherited condition have been reported, due to the extreme rarity of disease. We herein present a case of two siblings, affected by different severity of the disease, with different clinical features. They were examined by whole-body MR (WBMR) in order to as…

An Efficient Retransmission Strategy for Data Gathering in Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper introduces a new strategy for data gathering in wireless sensor networks that takes into account the need for both energy saving and for a reasonable tradeoff between robustness and efficiency. The proposed algorithm implements an efficient strategy for retransmission of lost packets by discovering alternative routes and making clever use of multiple paths when necessary; in order to do that we use duplicate and order insensitive aggregation functions, and by taking advantage of some intrinsic characteristics of the wireless sensor networks, we exploit implicit acknowledgment of reception and smart caching of the data.

Patologie renali chirurgiche

An Osirix based plug-in for the study of dimensional and densitometric changes of hepatic metastases on CT images

Aims and objectives Methods and materials Results Conclusion Personal information References

Adaptive distributed outlier detection for WSNs.

The paradigm of pervasive computing is gaining more and more attention nowadays, thanks to the possibility of obtaining precise and continuous monitoring. Ease of deployment and adaptivity are typically implemented by adopting autonomous and cooperative sensory devices; however, for such systems to be of any practical use, reliability and fault tolerance must be guaranteed, for instance by detecting corrupted readings amidst the huge amount of gathered sensory data. This paper proposes an adaptive distributed Bayesian approach for detecting outliers in data collected by a wireless sensor network; our algorithm aims at optimizing classification accuracy, time complexity and communication com…

Myocardial bridging and related coronary atherosclerotic burden by 64-slice CT coronary angiography

A Simulation Software for the Evaluation of Vulnerabilities in Reputation Management Systems

Multi-agent distributed systems are characterized by autonomous entities that interact with each other to provide, and/or request, different kinds of services. In several contexts, especially when a reward is offered according to the quality of service, individual agents (or coordinated groups) may act in a selfish way. To prevent such behaviours, distributed Reputation Management Systems (RMSs) provide every agent with the capability of computing the reputation of the others according to direct past interactions, as well as indirect opinions reported by their neighbourhood. This last point introduces a weakness on gossiped information that makes RMSs vulnerable to malicious agents’ intent …

Up-to-date imaging review of paediatric soft tissue vascular masses, focusing on sonography

The purpose of this article is to provide an up-to-date overview on imaging of paediatric vascular soft tissue masses, including both neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions. We describe the-often challenging-imaging diagnosis-mainly performed by ultrasound (and secondarily by MRI) and differential diagnosis of vascular soft tissue lesions in children. We underline how important it is to determine whether a vascular anomaly has a regional vascular origin, or if there are other entities, ranging from benign to malignant lesions, which have flow-signal or blood degradation products. Even though clinical examination and patient's history are the first and indispensable steps in the initial diagn…

The starry sky liver: multiple biliary hamartomas on MR cholangiopancreatography

The starry sky liver: multiple biliary hamartomas on MR cholangiopancreatography

The abnormal hepatic morphology: not always cirrhosis

Learning objectives Background Findings and procedure details Conclusion Personal information References

Effects of PPARγ agonists on the expression of leptin and vascular endothelial growth factor in breast cancer cells.

The obesity hormone leptin has been implicated in breast cancer development. Breast cancer cells express the leptin receptor and are able to synthesize leptin in response to obesity-related stimuli. Furthermore, leptin is a positive regulator of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and high levels of both proteins are associated with worse prognosis in breast cancer patients. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) ligands are therapeutic agents used in patient with Type 2 diabetes and obesity which have recently been studied for their potential anti-tumor effect. Here, we studied if these compounds, ciglitazone and GW1929, can affect the expression of leptin and VEGF in b…

Role of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the assessment of hemangiomas of the spleen

Secure random number generation in wireless sensor networks

The increasing adoption of wireless sensor networks as a flexible and inexpensive tool for the most diverse applications, ranging from environmental monitoring to home automation, has raised more and more attention to the issues related to the design of specifically customized security mechanisms. The scarcity of computational, storage, and bandwidth resources cannot definitely be disregarded in such context, and this makes the implementation of security algorithms particularly challenging. This paper proposes a security framework for the generation of true random numbers, which are paramount as the core building block for many security algorithms; the intrinsic nature of wireless sensor no…

Communicating with the hepatobiliary surgeon through structured report

Communicating radiological findings to hepatobiliary surgeons is not an easy task due to the complexity of liver imaging, coexistence of multiple hepatic lesions and different surgical treatment options. Recently, the adoption and implementation of structured report in everyday clinical practice has been supported to achieve higher quality, more reproducibility in communication and closer adherence to current guidelines. In this review article, we will illustrate the main benefits, strengths and limitations of structured reporting, with particular attention on the advantages and challenges of structured template in the preoperative evaluation of cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients with fo…

Your friends mention It. What about visiting it? A mobile social-based sightseeing application

In this short poster paper, we present an application for suggesting attractions to be visited by users, based on social signal processing techniques.

Neoplasie dei surreni

An Ambient Intelligence Architecture for Extracting Knowledge from Distributed Sensors

Precisely monitoring the environmental conditions is an essential requirement for AmI projects, but the wealth of data generated by the sensing equipment may easily overwhelm the modules devoted to higher-level reasoning, clogging them with irrelevant details. The present work proposes a new approach to knowledge extraction from raw data that addresses this issue at different levels of abstraction. Wireless sensor networks are used as the pervasive sensory tool, and their computational capabilities are exploited to remotely perform preliminary data processing. A central intelligent unit subsequently extracts higher-level concepts represented in a geometrical space and carries on symbolic re…

A Hybrid Framework for Soft Real-Time WSN Simulation

The design of a wireless sensor network is a chal- lenging task due to its intrinsically application-specific nature. Although a typical choice for testing such kind of networks requires devising ad-hoc testbeds, this is often impractical as it depends on expensive, and hard to maintain deployment of nodes. On the other hand, simulation is a valuable option, as long as the actual functioning conditions are reliably modeled, and carefully replicated. The present work describes a framework for supporting the user in early design and testing of a wireless sensor network with an augmented version of TOSSIM, the de-facto standard for simulators, that allows merging actual and virtual nodes seaml…

A fog-based hybrid intelligent system for energy saving in smart buildings

In recent years, the widespread diffusion of pervasive sensing devices and the increasing need for reducing energy consumption have encouraged research in the energy-aware management of smart environments. Following this direction, this paper proposes a hybrid intelligent system which exploits a fog-based architecture to achieve energy efficiency in smart buildings. Our proposal combines reactive intelligence, for quick adaptation to the ever-changing environment, and deliberative intelligence, for performing complex learning and optimization. Such hybrid nature allows our system to be adaptive, by reacting in real time to relevant events occurring in the environment and, at the same time, …

Umbilical venous catheters placement evaluation on frontal radiogram: application of a simplified flow-chart for radiology residents

Background: Umbilical Venous Catheter (UVC) are commonly used in neonatal period; they can be not correctly positioned and could be associated with complications. The purpose of this article is to suggest a flow-chart to evaluate the placement of UVC, testing it in young radiologists-in-training. Method: We developed a simple flow-chart to asses, steps by step, UVC placement considering its course and tip location (ideally placed in the atriocaval junction). We tested the flow-chart impact asking to 20 residents to evaluate the placement of 10 UVC before and after they familiarized with the flow-chart and the anatomical findings of a newborn. The agreement among the 20 students was evaluate…

Simulation and Test of UAV Tasks With Resource-Constrained Hardware in the Loop

Simulations are indispensable to reduce costs and risks when developing and testing algorithms for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) especially for applications in high risk scenarios like search and rescue (SAR) operations and post-disaster damage assessment. Many UAV applications require real-time tasks for which the timeliness of computations is fundamental. However, standard simulation tools are not guaranteed to run in sync with real-time events, leading to unreliable assessments of the ability of the target hardware to perform specific tasks. In this work we present a simulation and test system able to run UAV tasks on resource-constrained target hardware possibly adopted in these applic…

Spontaneous Resorption of an Occipital Meningocele: Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evaluation

Cranial meningocele is a very rare variant of encephalocele. Meningocele can be associated with other disorders and may cause complications. Therapy is usually based on surgical treatment. To our knowledge, we describe the first case of spontaneous resorption of an occipital meningocele in a full-term newborn boy. A full-term newborn was noted to have a large non-skin covered, semitransparent cystic lump in the occipital bone. He underwent computed tomography and a diagnosis of meningocele was proposed. After a few hours, the cystic lump spontaneously readsorbed. After 1 week the patient underwent magnetic resonance. Histology confirmed the diagnosis.

Assisted labeling for spam account detection on twitter

Online Social Networks (OSNs) have become increasingly popular both because of their ease of use and their availability through almost any smart device. Unfortunately, these characteristics make OSNs also target of users interested in performing malicious activities, such as spreading malware and performing phishing attacks. In this paper we address the problem of spam detection on Twitter providing a novel method to support the creation of large-scale annotated datasets. More specifically, URL inspection and tweet clustering are performed in order to detect some common behaviors of spammers and legitimate users. Finally, the manual annotation effort is further reduced by grouping similar u…

Patologia gastrointestinale neoplastica

I tumori benigni del faringe interessano prevalentemente la parete posteriore del mesofaringe, le vallecule glosso-epiglottiche e i seni piriformi. Frequentemente originano dal tessuto epiteliale (adenomi e papillomi), mentre meno sovente dal tessuto connettivo (lipomi, angiomi, fibromi) o dal tessuto nervoso (neurinomi). Tutte le lesioni benigne sono spesso paucisintomatiche, manifestandosi con lieve disfagia e, meno frequentemente, disfonia. La diagnosi radiologica si fonda sull’esame radiografico dell’ipofaringe che prevede l’utilizzo di mezzi di contrasto baritati (MDC) ad alta densita, al fine di ottenere una tenace aderenza del velo baritato alle pareti del faringe, e necessita di un’…

Dysphagia and dysphonia in patients with thyroid goiter before and after thyroidectomy: Possibly related to the pharyngo-esophageal reflux laryngitis? Videofluorographic evaluation

Dysphagia and dysphonia in patients with thyroid goiter before and after thyroidectomy: Possibly related to the pharyngo-esophageal reflux laryngitis? Videofluorographic evaluation

CT enterography as a powerful tool for the evaluation of inflammatory activity in Crohn’s disease: relationship of CT findings with CDAI and acute-phase reactants

Few studies have correlated computed tomography enterography (CTE) findings with Crohn’s disease (CD) clinical and biochemical activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate correlations between CTE findings with CD activity. The CTE datasets from 62 patients were retrospectively reviewed for different parameters: bowel wall thickening and hyperenhancement, mesenteric alterations, abdominal free fluid and complications related to the disease (fistulas, strictures, abscesses). Activity was assessed using the Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and some biochemical markers (C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, alpha 2-globulins, fibrinogen, platelets, haemoglobin). Correlati…

Understanding the Environment through Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper presents a new cognitive architecture for extracting meaningful, high-level information from the environment, starting from the raw data collected by a Wireless Sensor Network. The proposed framework is capable of building rich internal representation of the sensed environment by means of intelligent data processing and correlation. Furthermore, our approach aims at integrating the connectionist, data-driven model with the symbolic one, that uses a high-level knowledge about the domain to drive the environment interpretation. To this aim, the framework exploits the notion of conceptual spaces, adopting a conceptual layer between the subsymbolic one, that processes sensory data, a…

Local neck symptoms before and after thyroidectomy: a possible correlation with reflux laryngopharyngitis

Objective Local symptoms in the neck such as swallowing, voice disorders and throat discomfort might be related to a goiter if present, but are also reported by patients suffering from reflux laryngopharyngitis. The aim of our study was to investigate the presence of reflux laryngopharyngitis in patients with nodular goiter before and after uncomplicated total thyroidectomy (TT) in order to evaluate if its presence could have any role in the origin of swallowing and voice alterations and throat discomfort. Study Design case series prospective study Setting hospitalized care in University Hospital Patients and Methods We consider twenty-five patients, affected by non-toxic nodular goiter and…

A distributed Bayesian approach to fault detection in sensor networks

Sensor networks are widely used in industrial and academic applications as the pervasive sensing module of an intelligent system. Sensor nodes may occasionally produce incorrect measurements due to battery depletion, dust on the sensor, manumissions and other causes. The aim of this paper is to develop a distributed Bayesian fault detection algorithm that classifies measurements coming from the network as corrupted or not. The computational complexity is polynomial so the algorithm scales well with the size of the network. We tested the approach on a synthetic dataset and obtained significant results in terms of correctly labeled measurements.

Programming distributed applications with symbolic reasoning on WSNs

Programming Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is a complex task for which existing approaches adopt rigid architectures that are only suitable for specific application fields. In previous papers we introduced a programming methodology and a lightweight middleware based on high-level programming and executable code exchange for distributed processing on WSNs. In this paper, we show how high-level programming can be effectively used on WSNs to implement symbolic reasoning. In order to prove the feasibility of our approach, we present a Fuzzy Logic system where the value updates and the rule evaluations are performed in a distributed way. Through the proposed methodology, we discuss the developm…

Characterization of hypoechoic focal hepatic lesions in patients with fatty liver: diagnostic performance and confidence of contrast-enhanced ultrasound

Magnetic resonance in the assessment of myocardial perfusion: A reliable alternative to myocardial scintigraphy?

coronary-artery disease

Adaptable data models for scalable Ambient Intelligence scenarios

In most real-life scenarios for Ambient Intelligence, the need arises for scalable simulations that provide reliable sensory data to be used in the preliminary design and test phases. This works present an approach to modeling data generated by a hybrid simulator for wireless sensor networks, where virtual nodes coexist with real ones. We apply our method to real data available from a public repository and show that we can compute reliable models for the quantities measured at a given reference site, and that such models are portable to different environments, so as to obtain a complete, scalable and reliable testing environment.

A Knowledge Management System based on Ontologies

Recently the companies’ interest on a correct knowledge management is grown, more than interest on the mere knowledge itself. In the last few years, several projects have been carried out, with the aim of the development of innovative systems capable of collecting and sharing information. This paper proposes a Knowledge Management System, whose main feature is an ontological knowledge representation. The ontological representation of data allows of specializing the reasoning capabilities and of providing ad hoc behaviors. The system has been tested collecting and using data coming from projects and processes typical of ICT companies, and provides a Document Management System and an Expert S…

Closing the sensing-reasoning-actuating loop in resource-constrained WSANs through distributed symbolic processing

Many issues in creating complex applications for pervasive environments are primarily due to the effort required to integrate perception, reasoning and actuating tasks in an efficient and homogeneous way, especially when the underlying infrastructure consists of wirelessly networked embedded devices. To mitigate the complexity of the actual implementation, satisfactory programming paradigms supporting the integration and coordination among heterogeneous devices are required. In this paper we show how a distributed symbolic processing approach that is particularly suited for resource constrained devices, such as the nodes of a Wireless Sensor and Actuator Network (WSAN), may be apt to the pu…

Role of Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound in the Characterization of Incidentally Discovered Focal Liver Lesions

A mobile application for assessment of air pollution exposure

In this paper the architecture of a mobile air quality monitoring system is introduced. A mobile application will act as a personal assistant, monitoring and giving advices about gas pollutants daily exposure. Currently in development stage as part of a larger air quality monitoring system project, the application will enable users to monitor their daily exposure to gas pollutants by combining user location data and urban air quality information provided by the network of fixed monitoring stations of the city of Palermo.

Value of hypoenhanced myocardial region detected in MDCT-CA in comparison with other diagnostic tools to predict coronary artery disease

Ambient Intelligence for Energy Efficiency in a Complex of Buildings

A Lightweight Middleware Platform for Distributed Computing on Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract The peculiar features of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) suggest to exploit the distributed computing paradigm to perform complex tasks in a collaborative manner, in order to overcome the constraints related to sensor nodes limited capabilities. In this context, we describe a lightweight middleware platform to support the development of distributed applications on WSNs. The platform provides just a minimal general-purpose software layer, while the application components, including communication and processing algorithms, as well as the exchanged data, are described symbolically, with neither preformed syntax nor strict distinction between data and code. Our approach allows for inte…

The “central dot sign” in acute epiploic appendagitis

Epiploic appendagitis is the acute inflammation and infarction of epiploic appendages, commonly secondary to torsion. It is a great mimicker as its clinical manifestation may be similar to appendicitis, diverticulitis, or colitis. Focal abdominal pain, tenderness, and mild pyrexia are clinical features of the condition [1]. Epiploic appendages are pedunculated adipose structures which extend from the serosal surface of the colon, along the free taenia and taenia omentalis. They are abundant in the caecum and sigmoid colon and absent in the rectum

Distributed Symbolic Network Quality Assessment for Resource-constrained Devices

After a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is deployed it is subject to significant variations of the quality of its radio links during its lifetime. Knowledge of the condition of the wireless links can be useful to optimize power consumption and increase the reliability of the network. However, resource-constrained nodes may not be able to spare the storage space for network monitoring code. Also, reprogramming deployed nodes can be costly or unfeasible. In this work, we show how an approach based on the exchange of symbolic executable code among nodes enables the assessment of the network status in terms of Packet Reception Rate (PRR) with no extra storage requirements on deployed networks. We…

A Context-Aware System for Ambient Assisted Living

In the near future, the world's population will be characterized by an increasing average age, and consequently, the number of people requiring for a special household assistance will dramatically rise. In this scenario, smart homes will significantly help users to increase their quality of life, while maintaining a great level of autonomy. This paper presents a system for Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) capable of understanding context and user's behavior by exploiting data gathered by a pervasive sensor network. The knowledge inferred by adopting a Bayesian knowledge extraction approach is exploited to disambiguate the collected observations, making the AAL system able to detect and predict…

Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors: Diagnosis, Follow-up and Role of Radiomics in a Single Center Experience

: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) arise from the interstitial cells of Cajal in the gastrointestinal tract and are the most common intestinal tumors. Usually GISTs are asymptomatic, especially small tumors that may not cause any symptoms and may be found accidentally on abdominal CT scans. Discovering of inhibitor of receptor tyrosine kinases has changed the outcome of patients with high-risk GISTs. This paper will focus on the role of imaging in diagnosis, characterization and follow-up. We shall also report our local experience in radiomics evaluation of GISTs.

64-MDCT ECG gating in the evaluation of pre and post-operative ascending aorta: what is essential to know and necessary to report?

Secure random number generation in wireless sensor networks

The increasing adoption of wireless sensor networks as a flexible and inexpensive tool for the most diverseapplications, ranging from environmental monitoring to home automation, has raised more and more atten-tion to the issues related to the design of specifically customized security mechanisms. The scarcity ofcomputational, storage, and bandwidth resources cannot definitely be disregarded in such context, and thismakes the implementation of security algorithms particularly challenging. This paper proposes a securityframework for the generation of true random numbers, which are paramount as the core building blockfor many security algorithms; the intrinsic nature of wireless sensor nodes …

Cumulative doses analysis in young trauma patients: a single-centre experience

Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) represents the main source of radiation expo- sure in trauma patients. The radiation exposure of young patients is a matter of considerable medical concern due to possible long-term effects. Multiple MDCT stud- ies have been observed in the young trauma population with an increase in radiation exposure. We have identi- fied 249 young adult patients (178 men and 71 women; age range 14-40 years) who had received more than one MDCT study between June 2010 and June 2014. According to the International Commission on Radio- logical Protection publication, we have calculated the cumulative organ dose tissue-weighting factors by using CT-EXPO software ® . We…

Role of apparent diffusion coefficient values in prostate diseases characterization on diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate if normal and pathological prostate tissue can be distinguished by using apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to understand if it is possible to differentiate among pathological prostate tissues using ADC values.METHODS:Our population consisted in 81 patients (mean age 65.4 years) in which 84 suspicious areas were identified. Regions of interest were placed over suspicious areas, detected on MRI, and over areas with normal appearance, and ADC values were recorded. Statistical differences between ADC values of suspicious and normal areas were evaluated. Histopathological diagnosis, obtained from targeted biopsy using MRI-…

A TRNG Exploiting Multi-Source Physical Data

In recent years, the considerable progress of miniaturization and the consequent increase of the efficiency of digital circuits has allowed a great diffusion of the wireless sensor network technology. This has led to the growth of applications and protocols for applying these networks to several scenarios, such as the military one, where it is essential to deploy security protocols in order to prevent opponents from accessing the information exchanged among sensor nodes. This paper analyzes security issues of data processed by the WSN and describes a system able to generate sequences of random numbers, which can be used by security algorithms and protocols. The proposed True Random Number G…

Wireless Sensor Networks for Marine Environment Monitoring

A cardiac fibroma in a 7-year-old asymptomatic girl admitted for ECG anomalies

Time-Constrained Node Visit Planning for Collaborative UAV-WSN Distributed Applications.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are often studied as tools to perform data collection from Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Path planning is a fundamental aspect of this endeavor. Works in the current literature assume that data are always ready to be retrieved when the UAV passes. This operational model is quite rigid and does not allow for the integration of the UAV as a computational object playing an active role in the network. In fact, the UAV could begin the computation on a first visit and retrieve the data later. Potentially, the UAV could orchestrate the distributed computation to improve its performance, change its parameters, and even upload new applications to the sensor network…

Sensor Networks for Energy Sustainability in Buildings

Ruolo dell’ecografia con mezzo di contrasto nella caratterizzazione delle lesioni focali epatiche riscontrate incidentalmente

A Dynamic Distributed Algorithm for Multicast Path Setup

In the past few years, there has been a considerable work on multicast route selection techniques, with the aim to design scalable protocols which can guarantee an efficient use of network resources. Steiner tree-based multicast algorithms produce optimal trees, but they are prohibitively expensive. For this reason, heuristic methods are generally employed. Conventional centralized Steiner heuristics provide effective solutions, but they are unpractical for large networks, since they require a complete knowledge of the network topology. In this paper, we propose a new distributed approach that is efficient and suitable for real network adoption. Performance evaluation indicates that it outp…

Useless and limits of Postmortem CT (PMCT) in a complex case of preterm infant murder

The present case-report empathizes the usefulness of post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) in the detection of live birth signs in a baby found dead, comparing the results with standard autoptic, histologic and immunohistochemical examinations.The report describes the case of a new-born who was thrown out on the footpath from a window of the fifth floor according to the investigative police, whilst the mother has hidden herself immediately after childbirth.PMCT showed diffusely aerated lung parenchyma with signs of severe lung distress, air in the airways with no fluid inside, and air in the upper gastro-intestinal tract, in absence any resuscitation manoeuvres performed on the baby at del…

Centrifugal (inside-out) enhancement of liver hemangiomas: a possible atypical appearance on contrast-enhanced US.

Abstract Objective To report the prevalence and to describe the atypical centrifugal (inside-out) appearance of contrast-enhancement of liver hemangiomas on contrast-enhanced sonography. Materials and methods Baseline and SonoVue ® -enhanced ultrasonography of 92 patients with 158 liver hemangiomas – considered atypical at grey-scale examination and confirmed by computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound follow-up – were reviewed in consensus by two experienced radiologists, who evaluated baseline echogenicity and the dynamic enhancement pattern of each lesion looking for the presence of central enhancing foci in the arterial phase followed by a centrifugal (inside-out) …

A framework for real-time Twitter data analysis

A framework for real-time Twitter data analysisWe propose improvements to the Soft Frequent Pattern Mining (SFPM) algorithmThe stream of tweets is organized in dynamic windows whose size depends both on the volume of tweets and timeThe set of keywords used to query Twitter is progressively refined to highlight the user's point of viewComparisons with two state of the art systems Twitter is a popular social network which allows millions of users to share their opinions on what happens all over the world. In this work we present a system for real-time Twitter data analysis in order to follow popular events from the user's perspective. The method we propose extends and improves the Soft Freque…

Modeling and Verification of Symbolic Distributed Applications Through an Intelligent Monitoring Agent

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) represent a key component in emerging distributed computing paradigms such as IoT, Ambient Intelligence, and Smart Cities. In these contexts, the difficulty of testing, verifying, and monitoring applications in their intended scenarios ranges from challenging to impractical. Current simulators can only be used to investigate correctness at source code level and with limited accuracy. This paper proposes a system and a methodology to model and verify symbolic distributed applications running on WSNs. The approach allows to complement the distributed application code at a high level of abstraction in order to test and reprogram it, directly, on deployed network…

Collateral findings at 40-slices computed tomography enteroclysis

A Federated Learning Approach for Distributed Human Activity Recognition

In recent years, the widespread diffusion of smart pervasive devices able to provide AI-based services has encouraged research in the definition of new distributed learning paradigms. Federated Learning (FL) is one of the most recent approaches which allows devices to collaborate to train AI-based models, whereas guarantying privacy and lower communication costs. Although different studies on FL have been conducted, a general and modular architecture capable of performing well in different scenarios is still missing. Following this direction, this paper proposes a general FL framework whose validity is assessed by considering a distributed activity recognition scenario in which users' perso…

Detection of Points of Interest in a Smart Campus

Understanding users' habits is a critical task in order to develop advanced services, such as personalized recommendation and virtual assistance. In this work, we propose a novel approach to detect Points of Interest visited by users of a campus, by using mobility traces collected through users' smartphones. Our method takes advantage of the intentional and recurrent nature of human movements to build up mobility profiles, and combines different machine learning methods to merge sensory information with the past users' behavior. The proposed approach has been validated on a synthetic dataset and the experimental results show its effectiveness.

Anal Fistula in Crohn’s Disease

Transmural bowel inflammation in Crohn’s disease (CD) is associated with the development of fistulas, which are tracts or communications that connect two epithelial-lined organs. Common sites for fistulas connect the intestine to bladder (enterovesical), to skin (enterocutaneous), to bowel (enteroenteric), and to the vagina (enterovaginal).

Predictive models for energy saving in Wireless Sensor Networks

ICT devices nowadays cannot disregard optimizations toward energy sustainability. Wireless Sensor Networks, in particular, are a representative class of a technology where special care must be given to energy saving, due to the typical scarcity and non-renewability of their energy sources, in order to enhance network lifetime. In our work we propose a novel approach that aims to adaptively control the sampling rate of wireless sensor nodes using prediction models, so that environmental phenomena can be consistently modeled while reducing the required amount of transmissions; the approach is tested on data available from a public dataset.

Postmortem Imaging in Drowning

The diagnosis of drowning is one of the most difficult in the field of forensic medicine since the autopsy findings are often not specific and the laboratory examinations are controversially appreciated by the scientific community. In a cadaver recovered from water, it is of utmost importance to differentiate antemortem and postmortem drowning. This chapter fully investigates biological/thanato-chemical, pathological and imaging findings which may guide the definitive diagnosis.

A hybrid system for malware detection on big data

In recent years, the increasing diffusion of malicious software has encouraged the adoption of advanced machine learning algorithms to timely detect new threats. A cloud-based approach allows to exploit the big data produced by client agents to train such algorithms, but on the other hand, poses severe challenges on their scalability and performance. We propose a hybrid cloud-based malware detection system in which static and dynamic analyses are combined in order to find a good trade-off between response time and detection accuracy. Our system performs a continuous learning process of its models, based on deep networks, by exploiting the growing amount of data provided by clients. The prel…

Role of Bisoprolol in Patients with Long QT Syndrome

Background Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a disorder of ventricular repolarization usually treated with β-blockers, mostly with propanolol and nadolol. The aim of our study was to evaluate the role of bisoprolol in LQTS patients. Methods A total of 34 patients were evaluated in an average follow-up time of 93 months: 31 months without treatment, 31 months in treatment with nadolol or propanolol and 31 months in treatment with bisoprolol. The average age of patients at diagnosis was 17.3 years. The enrolled patients were followed through a semiannual electrocardiogram and an annual 24-hour Holter monitoring. All patients underwent genotyping, routine hematologic tests, and an echocardiogram. Res…

High-level Programming and Symbolic Reasoning on IoT Resource Constrained Devices

While the vision of Internet of Things (IoT) is rather inspiring, its practical implementation remains challenging. Conventional programming approaches prove unsuitable to provide IoT resource constrained devices with the distributed processing capabilities required to implement intelligent, autonomic, and self-organizing behaviors. In our previous work, we had already proposed an alternative programming methodology for such systems that is characterized by high-level programming and symbolic expressions evaluation, and developed a lightweight middleware to support it. Our approach allows for interactive programming of deployed nodes, and it is based on the simple but effective paradigm of …

Use of ICT to support epidemiological surveillance on a community of university students during SARS-CoV-2 phase 3 pandemic

Populations documenting to date low incidence rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection are immunologically susceptible and at high exposure risk of new COVID-19 outbreaks during phase 3 of the pandemic. Following the experience documented by other countries with regard to the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) to counteract the current pandemic, Italy has implemented a contact tracing system based on a mobile application. In this work, we describe the proposal of a complementary ICT-based prototypal model of COVID-19 prevention and surveillance system, involving the university students as sentinels acting both in the academic community and the general population.

Radiologic team performance index: A new paradigm in KPI evaluating radiology examination volumes department performance: Results of Sicilian regional healthcare system survey

Background: Efficient management of Radiologic Operative Units (ROU) because population health needs increase while healthcare systems provide less resources expendable in technologies and employee. Purpose: Create a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) defined Radiologic Team Performance Index (RTPI) able to compare the activity and efficiency of ROU operating under different environments and with different resources. Methodology/Approach: A survey was conducted in Sicilian Public Healthcare System on behalf of Sicilian Group of Italian Society of Medical Radiology (SIRM) for a total of 63 investigated ROU. Obtained informations concern workforce, emergency care organization, technologies avail…

Lie Detection: fMRI

Objective detection of deception was extensively studied, starting from polygraph to more modern techniques, the functional MR (fMRI), and they are based on neural (sympathetic) activation that is evoked in stressful conditions, such as lying. The role of fMRI in neurophysiology has been extensively developed and studied, and its principles lie in the correlation between the brain demand of energy during determined task and its supply. Although being extensively studied, its role for judiciary purpose presents many shortcomings.

Evaluation of anxiety level in patients wating to undergo to diagnostic radiological exams

Aims and objectives Methods and materials Results Conclusion Personal information References

Esophageal Motility Changes after Thyroidectomy; Possible Associations with Postoperative Voice and Swallowing Disorders: Preliminary Results

Objective Swallowing and voice impairment are common after thyroidectomy. We evaluated short-term functional changes in esophageal motility in a series of patients who had undergone total thyroidectomy. Several studies have investigated these symptoms by means of interviews or questionnaires. Study Design Prospective study. Setting Academic research. Materials and Methods Thirty-six consenting patients were prospectively recruited. Eligibility criteria were thyroid volume ≤60 mL, benign disease, and age between 18 and 65 years. Exclusion criteria were previous neck surgery, severe thyroiditis, hyperthyroidism, and pre- or postoperative vocal cord palsy. Voice impairment score, swallowing im…

Requisiti hardware e software: preparazione del paziente

Comparison of iodinated contrast media for the assessment of atherosclerotic plaque attenuation values by CT coronary angiography: observations in an ex vivo model

Objective: To compare the influence of different iodinated contrast media with several dilutions on plaque attenuation in an ex vivo coronary model studied by multislice CT coronary angiography. Methods: In six ex vivo left anterior descending coronary arteries immersed in oil, CT (slices/collimation 64x0.625 mm, temporal resolution 210 ms, pitch 0.2) was performed after intracoronary injection of a saline solution, and solutions of a dimeric isosmolar contrast medium (Iodixanol 320 mgl ml(-1)) and a monomeric high-iodinated contrast medium (Iomeprol 400 mgl ml(-1)) with dilutions of 1/80 (low concentration), 1/50 (medium concentration), 1/40 (high concentration) and 1/20 (very high concent…

Diabetic foot syndrome: Immune-inflammatory features as possible cardiovascular markers in diabetes

Diabetic foot ulcerations have been extensively reported as vascular complications of diabetes mellitus associated with a high degree of morbidity and mortality. Diabetic foot syndrome (DFS), as defined by the World Health Organization, is an "ulceration of the foot (distally from the ankle and including the ankle) associated with neuropathy and different grades of ischemia and infection". Pathogenic events able to cause diabetic foot ulcers are multifactorial. Among the commonest causes of this pathogenic pathway it's possible to consider peripheral neuropathy, foot deformity, abnormal foot pressures, abnormal joint mobility, trauma, peripheral artery disease. Several studies reported how …

Motion sensors for activity recognition in an ambient-intelligence scenario

In recent years, Ambient Intelligence (AmI) has attracted a number of researchers due to the widespread diffusion of unobtrusive sensing devices. The availability of such a great amount of acquired data has driven the interest of the scientific community in producing novel methods for combining raw measurements in order to understand what is happening in the monitored scenario. Moreover, due the primary role of the end user, an additional requirement of any AmI system is to maintain a high level of pervasiveness. In this paper we propose a method for recognizing human activities by means of a time of flight (ToF) depth and RGB camera device, namely Microsoft Kinect. The proposed approach is…

Atherosclerotic pattern of coronary myocardial bridging assessed with CT coronary angiography

The aim of our study was to evaluate the atherosclerotic pattern of patients with coronary myocardial bridging (MB) by means of CT Coronary Angiography (CT-CA). 254 consecutive patients (166 male, mean age 58.6 +/- A 10.3) who underwent 64-slice CT-CA according to current clinical indications were reviewed for the presence of MB and concomitant segmental atherosclerotic pattern. Coronary plaques were assessed in all patients enrolled. 73 patients (29%) presented single (90%) or multiple (10%) MB, frequently (93%) localized in the mid-distal left anterior descending artery. The MB segment was always free of atherosclerosis. Segments proximal to the MB presented: no atherosclerotic disease (n…

Role of virtopsy in the postmortem diagnosis of drowning

Aims and objectives Methods and materials Results Conclusion Personal information References

Evaluation of Cardiac Volumetric and Functional Parameters

Prevalence and clinical relevance of collateral findings in a cohort of patients with suspected coronary artery disease assessed with Multislice Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography

Inferring Business Rules from Natural Language Expressions

This paper proposes a mapping technique for automatically translating rules expressed in a format based on natural language, i.e. Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules (SBVR) standard, into production rules that can be executed by a computer (i.e. Rule engine). The proposed approach achieves a twofold purpose: on the one hand non IT skilled people (i.e. Domain expert) can effectively focus on business rules definition by using statements in natural language, and on the other hand the IT staff will have to manage business rules in a format ready to be executed by a rule engine. The main goal is to overcome some weaknesses in the software development process that could produce i…

Prognostic Value of Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography in Patients with Suspected Coronary Artery Disease: Five Years’ Experience at a Single Center

Mesenteric inflammation on multidetector computed tomography enterography in Crohn’s disease versus Crohn disease activity index: does a correlation exist?

A Knowledge Management and Decision Support Model for Enterprises

We propose a novel knowledge management system (KMS) for enterprises. Our system exploits two different approaches for knowledge representation and reasoning: a document-based approach based on data-driven creation of a semantic space and an ontology-based model. Furthermore, we provide an expert system capable of supporting the enterprise decisional processes and a semantic engine which performs intelligent search on the enterprise knowledge bases. The decision support process exploits the Bayesian networks model to improve business planning process when performed under uncertainty. Copyright © 2011 Patrizia Ribino et al.

Sicilian Byzantine Icons through the Use of Non-Invasive Imaging Techniques and Optical Spectroscopy: The Case of the Madonna dell&rsquo;Elemosina

The iconographic heritage is one of the treasures of Byzantine art that have enriched the south of Italy, and Sicily in particular, since the early 16th century. In this work, the investigations of a Sicilian Icon of Greek-Byzantine origin, the Madonna dell’Elemosina, is reported for the first time. The study was carried out using mainly non-invasive imaging techniques (photography in reflectance and grazing visible light, UV fluorescence, infrared reflectography, radiography, and computed tomography) and spectroscopic techniques (X-ray fluorescence and infrared spectroscopy). The identification of the constituent materials provides a decisive contribution to the correct historical and arti…

Valutazione del grado di attivita’ del morbo di Crohn tramite clisma-RM con sequenza in perfusione.

Adversarial Machine Learning in e-Health: Attacking a Smart Prescription System

Machine learning (ML) algorithms are the basis of many services we rely on in our everyday life. For this reason, a new research line has recently emerged with the aim of investigating how ML can be misled by adversarial examples. In this paper we address an e-health scenario in which an automatic system for prescriptions can be deceived by inputs forged to subvert the model's prediction. In particular, we present an algorithm capable of generating a precise sequence of moves that the adversary has to take in order to elude the automatic prescription service. Experimental analyses performed on a real dataset of patients' clinical records show that a minimal alteration of the clinical record…

Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis and follow-up of multicentric infantile myofibromatosis: A case report

Myofibromatosis is an uncommon disorder of infancy, characterized by proliferation of myofibroblasts in solitary or multiple nodules. The clinical characteristics depend on the involved sites: Myofibromatosis may develop as a musculoskeletal form, with non-painful swellings and eventual mass effect symptoms, or as a generalized form with visceral involvement and organ failure. Prognosis and therapy vary between the abovementioned patterns. When there is no visceral involvement, the tumors may regress spontaneously; however, the visceral form may represent a lifethreatening condition with poor outcome and it requires aggressive management. Imaging assessment of disease spread is mandatory to…

Designing Ontology-Driven Recommender Systems for Tourism

Nowadays, Internet users may experience some difficulty in finding the information they need from the huge multitude of existing web pages. A possible solution to this problem might lie in delegating some of the search tasks to machines, or in other words, in building a Semantic Web in which information could be processed automatically by intelligent software agents. Given the constantly increasing growth of the tourism industry, it might be particularly helpful to develop virtual assistants capable of planning trips on the basis of a user’s interests. If so, adopting Semantic Web technologies would make it possible to provide a more customized service to each user and thus satisfy their re…

Descrizione degli aspetti qualitativi e quantitativi della placca aterosclerotica coronarica mediante angiografia coronarica con TC a 64 strati

An Autonomic System for Estimating Human Presence through Bayesian Networks

In the Ambient Intelligence (AmI) context, a relevant research topic is represented by the methods for determining users' presence in order to design context-aware systems capable of monitoring the environment in which they operate, and of timely reacting to changes. This work describes an autonomic software agent comprising a double-level reasoning. At the lower level, a Bayesian network merges the available sensory information related to the users' presence, whereas the upper level performs a meta-reasoning on the system performance and configuration in order to enable the system self-assessment. Experimental results show the validity of the proposed method on a sample scenario.

Bayesian Modeling for Differential Cryptanalysis of Block Ciphers: A DES Instance

Encryption algorithms based on block ciphers are among the most widely adopted solutions for providing information security. Over the years, a variety of methods have been proposed to evaluate the robustness of these algorithms to different types of security attacks. One of the most effective analysis techniques is differential cryptanalysis, whose aim is to study how variations in the input propagate on the output. In this work we address the modeling of differential attacks to block cipher algorithms by defining a Bayesian framework that allows a probabilistic estimation of the secret key. In order to prove the validity of the proposed approach, we present as case study a differential att…

A machine learning approach for user localization exploiting connectivity data

The growing popularity of Location-Based Services (LBSs) has boosted research on cheaper and more pervasive localization systems, typically relying on such monitoring equipment as Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), which allow to re-use the same instrumentation both for monitoring and for localization without requiring lengthy off-line training. This work addresses the localization problem, exploiting knowledge acquired in sample environments, and extensible to areas not considered in advance. Localization is turned into a learning problem, solved by a statistical algorithm. Additionally, parameter tuning is fully automated thanks to its formulation as an optimization problem based only on co…

Are we overusing abdominal computed tomography scans in young patients referred in an emergency for acute abdominal pain?

Purpose: The primary objective was to assess the frequency of appropriateness of computed tomography (CT) for acute abdominal pain (AAP) in the emergency department; the secondary aim was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound (US) and CT in the diagnosis of the aetiology of AAP for diseases that can be diagnosed by US; and the third objective was to assess extent to which inappropriate CT examinations for AAP result in ionizing radiation exposure. Material and methods: In this retrospective single-centre study, we included patients aged between 15 and 46 years referred to the emergency department for AAP in 2016 and submitted to abdominal CT scans, collecting a total of 586 patie…

SMCP: a Secure Mobile Crowdsensing Protocol for fog-based applications

Abstract The possibility of performing complex data analysis through sets of cooperating personal smart devices has recently encouraged the definition of new distributed computing paradigms. The general idea behind these approaches is to move early analysis towards the edge of the network, while relying on other intermediate (fog) or remote (cloud) devices for computations of increasing complexity. Unfortunately, because both of their distributed nature and high degree of modularity, edge-fog-cloud computing systems are particularly prone to cyber security attacks that can be performed against every element of the infrastructure. In order to address this issue, in this paper we present SMCP…

DRESS: A Distributed RMS Evaluation Simulation Software

Distributed environments consist of a huge number of entities that cooperate to achieve complex goals. When interactions occur between unknown parties, intelligent techniques for estimating agent reputations are required. Reputation management systems (RMS's) allow agents to perform such estimation in a cooperative way. In particular, distributed RMS's exploit feedbacks provided after each interaction and allow prediction of future behaviors of agents. Such systems, in contrast to centralized RMSs, are sensitive to fake information injected by malicious users; thus, predicting the performance of a distributed RMS is a very challenging task. Although many existing works have addressed some c…

Spectrum of non-cardiac collateral findings in patients with suspected coronary artery disease assessed with Multislice Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography

MR imaging of perianal fistulas in Crohn's disease: Sensitivity and specificity of STIR sequences

Introduction Although some studies proved the role of STIR sequences in the evaluation of perianal fistulas in Crohn's Disease (CD), contrast medium is still injected in many institutions since there is not a validated reference MR protocol. Our purpose was to evaluate the role of the STIR sequence in the detection and characterization of perianal fistulae comparing it to the post-contrast T1 sequence and correlating it with rectal examination under anesthesia. Materials and methods We retrospectively reviewed all clinical records of 31 CD patients, suspected of having perianal fistulas, who had been submitted to an MR study before and after contrast medium injection and surgical exploratio…

A Novel Recruitment Policy to Defend against Sybils in Vehicular Crowdsourcing

Vehicular Social Networks (VSNs) is an emerging communication paradigm, derived by merging the concepts of Online Social Networks (OSNs) and Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs). Due to the lack of robust authentication mechanisms, social-based vehicular applications are vulnerable to numerous attacks including the generation of sybil entities in the networks. We address this important issue in vehicular crowdsourcing campaigns where sybils are usually employed to increase their influence and worsen the functioning of the system. In particular, we propose a novel User Recruitment Policy (URP) that, after extracting the participants within the event radius of a crowdsourcing campaign, detects …

MR imaging of perianal Crohn’s disease: Is contrast medium necessary?

Purpose Methods and Materials Results Conclusion References Personal Information

TAS-102 in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC): efficacy, tolerability, and quality of life in heavily pretreated elderly patients: a real-life study

Background: TAS-102 is an oral monotherapy, combining trifluridine and tipiracil hydrochloride, indicated for the treatment of pretreated metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). The aim of this real-life study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of TAS-102 in heavily pretreated elderly patients with mCRC whose disease has progressed with standard therapies. Methods: In this retrospective observational study, we enrolled 50 elderly patients &gt;70 years of age (median age 78 years) with a diagnosis of mCRC who were previously treated or were not considered candidates for treatment with other available therapies. Patients aged &gt;70 years with advanced colorectal cancer and with an ECOG perf…

An Efficient Retransmission Strategy for Data Gathering in Wireless Sensor Networks Authors

This paper introduces a new strategy for data gathering in wireless sensor networks that takes into account the need for both energy saving and for a reasonable tradeoff between robustness and efficiency. The proposed algorithm implements an efficient strategy for retransmission of lost packets by discovering alternative routes and making clever use of multiple paths when necessary; in order to do that we use duplicate and order insensitive aggregation functions, and by taking advantage of some intrinsic characteristics of the wireless sensor networks, we exploit implicit acknowledgment of reception and smart caching of the data.

A Fuzzy Approach for the Network Congestion Problem

Multicast Routing Tree Optimisation

Median arcuate ligament syndrome, a rare case of chronic abdominal pain

The median arcuate ligament syndrome (MALS) is a rare disease characterized by abdominal pain caused by the external compression of the celiac artery by the median arcuate ligament. Surgical treatment is indicated, but given the non-specific symptoms, these patients are often hospitalized in the Departments of Internal Medicine where the diagnosis may be unknown. We present a case of MALS admitted to our Internal Medicine Division. An abdominal ultrasound in a woman with longstanding abdominal pain showed elevated celiac artery velocities during forced expiration. Computed tomography angiography (CTA) of the abdomen showed stenosis of the origin of the celiac artery and confirmed the diagno…

Automatic Volumetric Liver Segmentation Using Texture Based Region Growing

In this paper an automatic texture based volumetric region growing method for liver segmentation is proposed. 3D seeded region growing is based on texture features with the automatic selection of the seed voxel inside the liver organ and the automatic threshold value computation for the region growing stop condition. Co-occurrence 3D texture features are extracted from CT abdominal volumes and the seeded region growing algorithm is based on statistics in the features space. Each CT volume is composed by 230 slices, having 512 x 512 pixels as spatial resolution, and 12-bit gray level resolution. In this initial feasible study, 5 healthy volunteer acquisitions has been used. Tests have been p…

Role of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the characterization of incidentally discovered focal liver lesions

Mimicking biological mechanisms for sensory information fusion

Current Artificial Intelligence systems are bound to become increasingly interconnected to their surrounding environment in the view of the newly rising Ambient Intelligence (AmI) perspective. In this paper, we present a comprehensive AmI framework for performing fusion of raw data, perceived by sensors of different nature, in order to extract higher-level information according to a model structured so as to resemble the perceptual signal processing occurring in the human nervous system. Following the guidelines of the greater BICA challenge, we selected the specific task of user presence detection in a locality of the system as a representative application clarifying the potentialities of …

A Web Application for the Remote Control of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are receiving an increasing attention from the research and industry community, and today they are adopted for several civilian and military applications. However, state of the art technologies are still based on a single UAV either directly controlled by the human operator or supervised through the manual definition of a flight plan. As a result, scalability is still a significant limitation for such systems, especially when large areas need to be monitored. In this paper we propose a web based application for the control of multiple UAVs. The application has three layers. The first layer allows the user to remotely submit a monitoring mission through a web …

Computed tomography of bowel obstruction: Tricks of the trade

Bowel obstruction (BO) is a frequent cause of hospitalization and surgical consultation for acute abdominal pain. It is usually suspected at physical examination, but clinical and laboratory data are often nonspecific. Thus, computed tomography plays a crucial role in a correct diagnosis of BO. Indeed, computed tomography can confirm a diagnosis of BO, and identify the location and cause of the obstruction. In this review, the computed tomography appearances of common and uncommon causes of BO and pseudo-obstruction are reviewed.

SecureBallot: A secure open source e-Voting system

Abstract Voting is one of the most important acts through which a community can make a collective decision. In recent years, many works have focused on improving traditional voting mechanisms and, as a result, a wide range of electronic voting (e-Voting) systems have been proposed. Even though some approaches have achieved a proper level of usability, the main challenges of e-Voting are essentially still open: protect the privacy of participants, guarantee secrecy, anonymity, integrity, uniqueness, and authenticity of votes, while making e-Voting as trustful as voting. In order to address this issue, we present SecureBallot, a secure open-source e-Voting system that completely decouples the…

Patologie renali chirurgiche

Preventable fatal injury during rally race: a multidisciplinary approach

Abstract Introduction The motor vehicle crash (MVC) constitutes an important challenge for forensic pathology in order to identify the manner and cause of death. Our study focuses on a fatal accident during a rally race corresponding to MVC sub-category. Materials and method Postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) was performed before the conventional autopsy. Autoptic and PMCT data were compared. Data collection allowed analyzing biomechanical dynamics of the incident and post-traumatic injuries through qualitative-statistics and solicitation quantitative indices. Results Photo and circumstantial evidence analysis showed a wrong installation of double shoulder belt system of head and neck su…

GI/Liver/Biliary/Pancreas

Concordance of Radiological, Laparoscopic and Laparotomic Scoring to Predict Complete Cytoreduction in Women with Advanced Ovarian Cancer

Objective: To identify the best method among the radiologic, laparoscopic and laparotomic scoring assessment to predict the outcomes of cytoreductive surgery in patients with advanced ovarian cancer (AOC). Methods: Patients with AOC who underwent pre-operative computed tomography (CT) scan, laparoscopic evaluation, and cytoreductive surgery between August 2016 and February 2021 were retrospectively reviewed. Predictive Index (PI) score and Peritoneal Cancer Index (PCI) scores were used to estimate the tumor load and predict the residual disease in the primary debulking surgery (PDS) and interval debulking surgery (IDS) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) groups. Concordance percentages we…

Parallel Genetic Algorithms for the Tuning of a Fuzzy AQM Controller

This paper presents the results of the application of a parallel Genetic Algorithm (GA) in order to design a Fuzzy Proportional Integral (FPI) controller for active queue management on Internet routers. The Active Queue Management (AQM) policies are those policies of router queue management that allow the detection of network congestion, the notification of such occurrences to the hosts on the network borders, and the adoption of a suitable control policy. Two different parallel implementations of the genetic algorithm are adopted to determine an optimal configuration of the FPI controller parameters. Finally, the results of several experiments carried out on a forty nodes cluster of workst…

Hepatic focal nodular hyperplasia: detection of spoke-wheel sign and central scar at contrast-enhanced ultrasound

Postmortem Imaging in Mass Disasters

The term “mass casualty” in the forensic field refers to a sudden tragic event involving a large number of people; such an event determines the need to perform a large number of autopsy exams, possibly in a short time. Mass casualties tend to involve emergencies that are unexpected and result in stressful situation when even those with no or scarce interest or experience could be called to play a role. Radiology could be helpful in the task of identifying victims, in cooperation with a multidisciplinary team, usually headed by a forensic specialist.

An efficient adaptive strategy for searching in peer-to-peer networks

One of the main technical challenges in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks is how to efficiently locate desired resources. Although structured systems, based on distributed hash tables, can achieve fair effectiveness, they are not suitable for widely deployed Internet applications. In fact, this kind of systems shows many severe limitations, such as ignoring the autonomous nature of peers, and supporting only weakly semantic functions. Unstructured P2P networks are more attractive for real applications, since they can avoid both the limitations of centralized systems, and the drawbacks of structured approaches. However, their search algorithms are usually based on inefficient flooding schemes, tha…

Imaging findings of hepatic focal nodular hyperplasia in Gd-EOB-DTPA vs Gd-BOPTA -enhanced MR: preliminary results.

Esophageal cineradiography in patients affected by Sclerodermia

An execution, monitoring and replanning approach for optimal energy management in microgrids

abstract This work develops a new approach for optimal energy management of electrical distribution ‘smart-grids’. Optimality aims at improving sustainability through the minimization of carbon emissions and atreducing production costs and maximizing quality. Input data are the forecasted loads and productionsfrom renewable generation units, output data are a set of control actions for the actuators. Theconsidered electrical distribution system includes storage units that must be considered over a 24 h timeinterval, to consider an entire charge and discharge cycle. The objectives for the optimal management ofdistributed (renewables and not) generation are technical, economical and environme…

WSNs for structural health monitoring of historical buildings

Monitoring structural health of historical heritage buildings may be a daunting task for civil engineers due to the lack of a pre-existing model for the building stability, and to the presence of strict constraints on monitoring device deployment. This paper reports on the experience maturated during a project regarding the design and implementation of an innovative technological framework for monitoring critical structures in Sicily, Italy. The usage of wireless sensor networks allows for a pervasive observation over the sites of interest in order to minimize the potential damages that natural phenomena may cause to architectural or engineering works. Moreover, the system provides real-tim…

Surgical Neuropelveology: Lateral Femoral Cutaneous Nerve Endometriosis. Laparoscopic Resection and Nerve Transplantation

ABSTRACT Study Objective To demonstrate the application of surgical neuroanatomic principles for the diagnosis and treatment of deep infiltrating endometriosis involving the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve. Design Video demonstration of laparoscopic lateral femoral cutaneous endometriosis resection with nerve transplant. Setting Endometriosis infiltrating somatic nerves is a poorly known condition, which can cause severe neuropathic symptoms [1] and is often unrecognized with a subsequent treatment delay [1] . Intimate knowledge of pelvic neuroanatomy and expertise in minimally invasive surgery are essential to manage this challenging surgical scenario 2 , 3 , 4 . Interventions Thirty-six y…

Reputation Management for Distributed Service-Oriented Architectures

Nowadays, several network applications require that consumer nodes acquire distributed services from unknown service providers on the Internet. The main goal of consumer nodes is the selection of the best services among the huge multitude provided by the network. As basic criteria for this choice, service cost and Quality-of-Service (QoS) can be considered, provided that the underlying Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) be augmented in order to support the declaration of this information. The correct behavior of such new SOA platforms, however, will depend on the presence of some mechanisms that allow consumer nodes to evaluate trustworthiness of service providers. This work proposes a new…

Role of post mortem computed tomography in diagnosis of upper cervical fractures in child due to road accident: A case report and literature review

The upper cervical spine has unique anatomical features that distinguish it from the remainder of the cervical spine. Its motion segments make up a large amount of total cervical spine motion and, as a result,predispose it to a unique set of injuries. Cervical spine trauma is a common problem with a wide range of severity from minor ligamentous injury to section of the spinal cord. The use of post mortem CT (PMCT), and the subsequent multi-planar and volume rendering reconstruction techniques can provide non-invasive, objective operator-independent imaging data set that may be further reviewed by other specialists. and can substantially add to forensic examinations of the skeleton, especial…

A Fuzzy Adaptive Controller for an Ambient Intelligence Scenario

The definition of effective energy saving strategies capable of satisfying users’ requirements for environmental wellness is a complex task that requires the definition of well-tuned optimization algorithms. Sensory information depends on the environments observed, hence the model adopted to describe it should be adaptive and dynamic. This chapter presents a methodology for the tuning of a fuzzy controller capable of minimizing energy consumption while maximizing the users comfort in an Ambient Intelligence Scenario. A meta-heuristic search algorithm produces different sets of fuzzy rules depending on the needs of the system. An ontology has been developed to describe the configurations of …

64-detector Computed Tomography in Reoperative Assessment of Vascular Anatomy of Middle Colic Artery in Left-sided Colon Cancer

QoS-Aware Fault Detection in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are a fundamental building block of many pervasive applications. Nevertheless the use of such technology raises new challenges regarding the development of reliable and fault-tolerant systems. One of the most critical issues is the detection of corrupted readings amidst the huge amount of gathered sensory data. Indeed, such readings could significantly affect the quality of service (QoS) of the WSN, and thus it is highly desirable to automatically discard them. This issue is usually addressed through “fault detection” algorithms that classify readings by exploiting temporal and spatial correlations. Generally, these algorithms do not take into account QoS re…

A Methodology for Graphical Modeling of Business Rules

This work proposes a novel methodology based on the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) standard capable of graphically modeling business rules. A set of new representation patterns allows business analysts to map processes described through BPMN into conditions and actions of business rules. Our approach exploits Domain Specific Language techniques in order to make the methodology independent from the programming language supported by the specific rule engine. Moreover, this work proposes a web graphical editor, instantiated on a specific sample scenario, where the selected rule engine is Drools, one of the most used open source products. The developed editor allows business analysts…

The “bouquet of flowers” appearance in medullary sponge kidney

The “bouquet of flowers” appearance is a radiological finding described for the intravenous pyelography (IVP) diagnosis of medullary sponge kidney (MSK). It refers to contrast pooling in dilated tubular structures in renal papillae, giving a striated pattern to the renal medulla, which resembles a “bouquet of flowers”

The Random Neural Network Model for the On-line Multicast Problem

In this paper we propose the adoption of the Random Neural Network Model for the solution of the dynamic version of the Steiner Tree Problem in Networks (SPN). The Random Neural Network (RNN) is adopted as a heuristic capable of improving solutions achieved by previously proposed dynamic algorithms. We adapt the RNN model in order to map the network characteristics during a multicast transmission. The proposed methodology is validated by means of extensive experiments.

Noncompaction of the Right Ventricle

Noncompaction of the ventricular myocardium is a disease characterized by an increase of the ventricular trabecular meshwork caused by arrest of the normal endomyocardial morphogenesis (Figs. 1, 2, 3). In accordance with the normal human anatomy, the left ventricular wall is well compacted with a few thin trabeculae; on the contrary, the normal right ventricular wall is furrowed by many trabeculae (the trabecula of the marginal septum as well as other ones). For this reason, the term ‘‘noncompaction’’ usually refers to an exclusive or prevalent disease of the left ventricle [1–16]. Recently Song and Aragona et al. [1–3] reported two cases of isolated right-ventricular noncompaction. Accordi…

A Rule-Based System for Hardware Configuration and Programming of IoT Devices

Simplifying programming, deployment, and configuration of heterogeneous networked IoT devices requires networking, hardware, representation of knowledge and concepts, design and programming skills. In fact, IoT applications are mostly built by adopting different existing paradigms and technologies on a case-by-case basis. As a result, programming tools hinder adaptability and interoperability of applications with their rigidity. In this paper, we propose a rule-based system that configures and programs IoT devices automatically. The rule base holds formal specifications about hardware platforms, networking protocols, physical world concepts, and applications. Provided with a high-level appl…

Visualizzazione non invasiva delle anomalie coronariche tramite TC multidetettore.

On-board Energy Consumption Assessment for Symbolic Execution Models on Embedded Devices

Internet of Things (IoT) applications operate in several domains while requiring seamless integration among heterogeneous objects. Regardless of the specific platform and context, IoT applications demand high energy efficiency. Adopting resource-constrained embedded devices for IoT applications means ensuring low power consumption, low maintenance costs and possibly longer battery life. Meeting these requirements is particularly arduous as programmers are not able to monitor the energy consumption of their own software during development or when applications are finally deployed. In this paper, we discuss on-board real-time energy evaluation of both hardware and software during the developm…

Twitter Analysis for Real-Time Malware Discovery

In recent years, the increasing number of cyber-attacks has gained the development of innovative tools to quickly detect new threats. A recent approach to this problem is to analyze the content of Social Networks to discover the rising of new malicious software. Twitter is a popular social network which allows millions of users to share their opinions on what happens all over the world. The subscribers can insert messages, called tweet, that are usually related to international news. In this work, we present a system for real-time malware alerting using a set of tweets captured through the Twitter API’s, and analyzed by means of a Bayes naïve classifier. Then, groups of tweets discussing th…

Patients with acute chest pain, elevated troponin and normal coronary arteries, could be the Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance advantageous?

A Lightweight Network Discovery Algorithm for Resource-constrained IoT Devices

Although quite simple, existing protocols for the IoT suffer from the inflexibility of centralized infrastructures and require several configuration stages. The implementation of these protocols is often prohibitive on resource-constrained devices. In this work, we propose a distributed lightweight implementation of network discovery for simple IoT devices. Our approach is based on the exchange of symbolic executable code among nodes. Based on this abstraction, we propose an algorithm that makes even IoT resource-constrained nodes able to construct the network topology graph incrementally and without any a priori information about device positioning and presence. The minimal set of executab…

Prevalenza e rilevanza clinica dei reperti collaterali non coronarici in corso di Angiografia Coronarica mediante TCMS.

DC4CD

In this article, we present Distributed Computing for Constrained Devices (DC4CD), a novel software architecture that supports symbolic distributed computing on wireless sensor networks. DC4CD integrates the functionalities of a high-level symbolic interpreter, a compiler, and an operating system, and includes networking abstractions to exchange high-level symbolic code among peer devices. Contrarily to other architectures proposed in the literature, DC4CD allows for changes at runtime, even on deployed nodes of both application and system code. Experimental results show that DC4CD is more efficient in terms of memory usage than existing architectures, with which it also compares well in te…

WSN Design and Verification Using On-Board Executable Specifications

The gap between informal functional specifications and the resulting implementation in the chosen programming language is notably a source of errors in embedded systems design. In this paper, we discuss a methodology and a software platform aimed at coping with this issue in programming resource-constrained wireless sensor network nodes (WSNs). Whereas the typical development model for the WSNs is based on cross compilation, the proposed approach supports high-level symbolic coding of abstract models and distributed applications, as well as their test and their execution, directly on the target hardware. As a working example, we discuss the application of our methodology to specify the func…

IncentMe: Effective Mechanism Design to Stimulate Crowdsensing Participants with Uncertain Mobility

Mobile crowdsensing harnesses the sensing power of modern smartphones to collect and analyze data beyond the scale of what was previously possible with traditional sensor networks. Given the participatory nature of mobile crowdsensing, it is imperative to incentivize mobile users to provide sensing services in a timely and reliable manner. Most importantly, given sensed information is often valid for a limited period of time, the capability of smartphone users to execute sensing tasks largely depends on their mobility pattern, which is often uncertain. For this reason, in this paper, we propose IncentMe, a framework that solves this core issue by leveraging game-theoretical reverse auction …

MDCT Enteroclysis and Enterography

Since the first studies suggesting its possible role in the management of Crohn’s disease patients, multidetector computed tomography has usually been considered a useful diagnostic technique in Crohn’s disease for the detection of extraenteric complications, as intra-abdominal abscesses, the study of strictures, prestenotic dilatations, fistulas, and postsurgical complications. Moreover, it is a widely available technique and is considered the gold standard in emergency.

Water-siphon test associated to barium study in the diagnosis of Gastro-Esophageal Reflux: a novel statistical approach

Imaging Assessment of Gastroduodenal Perforations.

Gastroduodenal perforation is an emergency situation that usually requires early recognition and well-timed surgical treatment. It can arise from different natural, iatrogenic, or traumatic causes, and it can present with various symptoms especially in the early phase. This article reviews the role of the different imaging techniques in the diagnosis of gastroduodenal perforation, focusing on the direct and indirect signs that are encountered in conventional radiography and computed tomography; our personal experience is also provided.