showing 36 of ~574560 from 574555 documents
Editorial for Special Issue “Fine Art Pattern Extraction and Recognition”
2021
Cultural heritage, especially the fine arts, plays an invaluable role in the cultural, historical, and economic growth of our societies [...]
Arteriosclerosis and other diseases in heads of government and its consequences for the population.
2021
Abstract Heads of government with cerebrovascular arteriosclerosis and other diseases in key historical moments have led to decisions that have marked the destiny of countries not always in a beneficial direction. Severe diseases in political leaders in power have often been hidden from citiziens with the collaboration of personal physicians. The confidentiality of the patient-doctor relationship in special political circumstances should be re examined and subjected to debate. Legal provisions to ensure total transparency of medical information about the health of heads of government should be implemented. Transparency ensures the trust of citizens.
(Re)creating “society in silico” : surveillance capitalism, simulations and subjectivity in the Cambridge Analytica data scandal
2021
This article provides a different angle to understand the Cambridge Analytica (CA) data scandal. It focuses on the role of models and simulations in the big data campaigning tools CA allegedly used, and their epistemological and ontological potential to produce and reproduce voters' digital doubles that would first colonise and eventually replace the analogue selves they were related to. By integrating and revising Zuboff's surveillance capitalism framework with Debord's classic theory of the Spectacle, the article argues that the dystopian simulations played as real life experiments by surveillance capitalist firms such as CA have the ultimate goal of replacing analogue humanity with digit…
Compromised nuclear envelope integrity drives TREX1-dependent DNA damage and tumor cell invasion
2021
Although mutations leading to a compromised nuclear envelope cause diseases such as muscular dystrophies or accelerated aging, the consequences of mechanically induced nuclear envelope ruptures are less known. Here, we show that nuclear envelope ruptures induce DNA damage that promotes senescence in non-transformed cells and induces an invasive phenotype in human breast cancer cells. We find that the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated exonuclease TREX1 translocates into the nucleus after nuclear envelope rupture and is required to induce DNA damage. Inside the mammary duct, cellular crowding leads to nuclear envelope ruptures that generate TREX1-dependent DNA damage, thereby driving the …
Tonsillectomy in IgA Nephropathy - Clinical Case
2021
Abstract This article presents the clinical case of IgA nephropathy of a patient hospitalized in order to investigate a nephritic syndrome, apparently with acute onset, discovered in the following circumstances: recurrent macroscopic hematuria, decreased urinary volume, the first episode occurring about a month ago in the context of an acute infection of upper airways, remitted under antibiotic therapy, with reappearance every 2 weeks, also accompanied by odynophagia and decreased urinary volume.
Parietal Cortex Connectivity as a Marker of Shift in Spatial Attention Following Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation
2021
Non-invasive brain stimulation is a useful tool to probe brain function and provide therapeutic treatments in disease. When applied to the right posterior parietal cortex (PPC) of healthy participants, it is possible to temporarily shift spatial attention and mimic symptoms of spatial neglect. However, the field of brain stimulation is plagued by issues of high response variability. The aim of this study was to investigate baseline functional connectivity as a predictor of response to an inhibitory brain stimulation paradigm applied to the right PPC. In fourteen healthy adults (9 female, aged 24.8 ± 4.0 years) we applied continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) to suppress activity in the …
Network Pharmacology of Red Ginseng (Part I): Effects of Ginsenoside Rg5 at Physiological and Sub-Physiological Concentrations
2021
Numerous in vitro studies on isolated cells have been conducted to uncover the molecular mechanisms of action of Panax ginseng Meyer root extracts and purified ginsenosides. However, the concentrations of ginsenosides and the extracts used in these studies were much higher than those detected in pharmacokinetic studies in humans and animals orally administered with ginseng preparations at therapeutic doses. Our study aimed to assess: (a) the effects of ginsenoside Rg5, the major “rare” ginsenoside of Red Ginseng, on gene expression in the murine neuronal cell line HT22 in a wide range of concentrations, from 10−4 to 10−18 M, and (b) the effects of differentially expressed genes on cellular …
The Particularities of Pharmaceutical Care in Improving Public Health Service during the COVID-19 Pandemic
2021
Nowadays, humanity is confronted with one of the most difficult challenges. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was identified for the first time in Hubei, China in December 2019 and produced the COVID-19 pandemic, a devastating disease that led to many complications and deaths. The authorities and the global healthcare system have been alerted regarding the prevention and treatment of this pathology. Even though worldwide quarantine was declared, health care professionals, including pharmacists, have been at the frontline in this war. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the authorities relied on the involvement of the community, hospital, or clinical pharmacists i…
Inhaled amikacin versus placebo to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia: the AMIKINHAL double-blind multicentre randomised controlled trial protoc…
2021
IntroductionPre-emptive inhaled antibiotics may be effective to reduce the occurrence of ventilator-associated pneumonia among critically ill patients. Meta-analysis of small sample size trials showed a favourable signal. Inhaled antibiotics are associated with a reduced emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. The aim of this trial is to evaluate the benefit of a 3-day course of inhaled antibiotics among patients undergoing invasive mechanical ventilation for more than 3 days on the occurrence of ventilator-associated pneumonia.Methods and analysisAcademic, investigator-initiated, parallel two group arms, double-blind, multicentre superiority randomised controlled trial. Patients invasi…
HER2 Signaling and Breast Cancer Stem Cells: The Bridge behind HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Aggressiveness and Therapy Refractoriness
2021
Simple Summary Breast cancer (BC) is not a single disease, but a group of different tumors, and altered HER2 expression defines a particularly aggressive subtype. Although HER2 pharmacological inhibition has dramatically improved the prognosis of HER2-positive BC patients, there is still an urgent need for improved knowledge of HER2 biology and mechanisms underlying HER2-driven aggressiveness and drug susceptibility. Emerging data suggest that the clinical efficacy of molecularly targeted therapies is related to their ability to target breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs), a population that is not only self-sustaining and able to differentiate into distinct lineages, but also contributes to tum…
Il difficile cammino verso la parità di genere nell’accesso alle cariche elettive
2021
The aim of this paper is to analyse the evolution of gender balance in the Italian Constitutional system with respect to electoral representation. Even if Art. 51th of the Italian Constitution provides that “Any citizen of either sex is eligible for public offices and elected positions on equal terms, according to the conditions established by law. To this end, the Republic shall adopt specific measures to promote equal opportunities between women and men”, effective achieving of electoral representation has been heavily difficult for women in Italy. The Italian Constitutional Court in 1995 (judg. no. 422) declared the use of electoral quotas in lists of candidates unconstitutional, even if…
The B3 Maturity Model, SCIROCCO Tool and SCIROCCO Knowledge Management Hub: facilitating the capacity-building support for integrated care
2021
Introduction SCIROCCO Exchange is an EU Health Programme project that builds upon the preliminary achievements of the B3 Action Group on Integrated Care of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) that first developed the concept of an Integrated Care Maturity Model. Through the activities of the SCIROCCO project, the Model has been further refined and is supported by a validated self-assessment tool (SCIROCCO Tool). SCIROCCO is an online participatory tool that helps stakeholders to understand: 1) The context requirements of a particular good practice; 2) The level of maturity required for a care system to adopt and scale-up integrated care; 3) The acti…
The transnational migration of mindfulness: a call for reflective pause in sport and exercise psychology
2021
Abstract Objectives Research on transnational migration has flourished in recent years, but the transnational movement of ideas, practices, and cultural norms, especially within the sport and exercise psychology community, has received scant attention. We explored the transnational migration of mindfulness to understand how the concept has been culturally adapted to fit the mainstream sport and exercise psychology research and practice. Method Sport-based mindfulness interventions, journal articles in Psychology of Sport and Exercise in 2008–2020, and sessions of the FEPSAC 2019 Congress were examined to reflect on the current positionality of mindfulness within sport and exercise psycholog…
Fra endowment e entitlement: il confine dei diritti delle donne nigeriane nello sfruttamento sessuale in Italia
2021
Negli ultimi anni l’aumento dei flussi migratori verso la rotta centrale del Mediterraneo ha sfidato il sistema di asilo e accoglienza italiano. In linea con il Regolamento di Dublino, l’Italia è stata obbligata a fornire una risposta emergenziale ai flussi misti, questi ultimi costituiti da vittime di tratta, minori non accompagnati e richiedenti asilo. Fra le diverse categorie vulnerabili, enorme attenzione è stata data all’aumento significativo di donne nigeriane. Nel 2016 l’OIM (2017) ha identificato su un numero di ingressi di donne nigeriane di 11.009 unità, ben 8.277 potenziali vittime di tratta. L’intrecciarsi della categoria di “vittima di tratta” con quella di “richiedente asilo” …
Performance Study of Twisted Darrieus Hydrokinetic Turbine With Novel Blade Design
2021
Abstract Twisted Darrieus water turbine is receiving growing attention for small-scale hydropower generation. Accordingly, the need for raised water energy conversion incentivizes researchers to focus on the blade shape optimization of twisted Darrieus turbine. In view of this, experimental analysis has been performed to appraise the efficiency of a spiral Darrieus water rotor in the present work. To better the performance parameters of the studied water rotor with twisted blades, three novel blade shapes, namely U-shaped blade, V-shaped blade, and W-shaped blade, have been numerically tested using a computational fluid dynamics three-dimensional numerical model. The maximum power coefficie…
Effects of different electrical stimulation currents and phase durations on submaximal and maximum torque, efficiency, and discomfort: a randomized c…
2021
Abstract Background Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is an important therapeutic tool for rehabilitation. However, best stimulation parameters remain to be determined. Objective To determine the influence of different electrical stimulation currents and phase durations on torque, efficiency, and discomfort. Methods Using a cross-over design, kHz frequency alternating currents (KFAC) and pulsed currents (PC) with narrow (200 µs) or wide (500 µs) phase durations were randomly applied on knee extensor muscles of healthy participants with a minimum of seven days between sessions. The NMES-evoked torque, NMES-efficiency, and discomfort (visual 0−10 cm analogue scale) were measured for…
Effects of gender and the representations about the importance of parenthood in the emotional adjustment in couples undergoing assisted reproductive …
2021
Infertility is defined as “the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse” [1]. The emotional adjustment of couples undergoing ART has been widely studied, evidencing the experience of infertility and its treatment have negative effects on the psychological well-being in many cases [2,3]. However, few studies were dedicated to study the role of the intrapersonal attributes of adjustment to infertility, such as attitudes toward parenthood, among this population. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the relationship between emotional adjustment and representations about the importance of parenthood (rejection of childfree lifest…
The COVID-19 Assessment for Survival at Admission (CASA) Index: A 12 Months Observational Study
2021
Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a disease with a high rate of progression to critical illness. However, the stratification of patients at risk of mortality is not well defined. In this study, we aimed to define a mortality risk index to allocate patients to the appropriate intensity of care.Methods: This is a 12 months observational longitudinal study designed to develop and validate a pragmatic mortality risk score to stratify COVID-19 patients aged ≥18 years and admitted to hospital between March 2020 and March 2021. Main outcome was in-hospital mortality.Results: 244 patients were included in the study (mortality rate 29.9%). The Covid-19 Assessment for Survival at Admi…
Toll Like Receptors as Sensors of the Tumor Microbial Dysbiosis: Implications in Cancer Progression
2021
Microbiota is a complex ecosystem of active microorganisms resident in the body of mammals. Although the majority of these microorganisms resides at the distal gastrointestinal tract, high-throughput DNA sequencing technology have made possible to understand that several other tissues of the human body host their own microbiota, even those once considered sterile, such as lung tissue. These bacterial communities have important functions in maintaining a healthy body state and the host immune system has evolved multiple mechanisms by which maintaining a symbiotic relationship with the microbiota. The maintenance of this dialogue allows the induction of protective responses to pathogens and r…
976Screening for cervical cancer with Human Papillomavirus testing: stand-alone is preferable over co-testing with cytology
2021
Abstract Background Cervical cancer screening can be conducted with cytology and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) testing but few studies have compared the latter directly to concomitant testing (co-testing). We compared these strategies to determine appropriate screening. Methods Within a randomised population-based cohort study conducted around Mainz, Germany, eligible women (≥30 years) were screened via Pap smear, liquid-based cytology (LBC) and HPV testing (HC2) and HPV genotyped post hoc (PCR). These tests formed three strategies: cytology (Pap or LBC) and HPV (HC2 or PCR) stand-alone and co-testing. Screen positives and 5% negative women were invited to colposcopy. Absolute and relative sen…
Need for Orthodontic Treatment in Pupils Aged between 12 and 15 in the Valencian Region (Spain)
2021
The World Health Organization recommends carrying out periodic epidemiological studies in order to provide a basis for the evaluation of the state of health of the population at any given time
Correction to: A new approach to modelling the input–output structure of regional economies using non‑survey methods
2021
Hubris manageriale e diversificazione d’impresa
2021
La presente ricerca propone un framework interpretativo del ruolo del Chief Executive Officer (CEO) hubristico nei processi di diversificazione.
Metabolic Syndrome: From Molecular Mechanisms to Novel Therapies
2021
The metabolic syndrome (MetS) consists of a cluster of metabolic abnormalities including central obesity, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, hypertension, and atherogenic dyslipidemia [...]
Sull'essenza di Virgilio. Caratteri pedagogici della Divina Commedia
2021
Negli studi e nel corso di lezioni dedicati a Dante, Romano Guardini passa in rassegna le più importanti guide che figurano al fianco del poeta nella Divina Commedia. La prima di esse è Virgilio, poeta dell’antichità classica, eletto ad accompagnatore nel primo tratto del viaggio dantesco attraverso i regni dell’aldilà: l’Inferno. Nell’ assolvere alcune funzioni riconducibili alle principali figure educative, Virgilio lascerà intravedere alcuni tratti pedagogici del poema. Mediante l’esperienza di un simile incontro significativo, nel mezzo d’una vita esaurita dal dolore, Dante potrà proseguire nel cammino di ricerca di sé e di Dio.
Comparison of MeSH terms and KeyWords Plus terms for more accurate classification in medical research fields. A case study in cannabis research
2021
Abstract KeyWords Plus and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) are widely used in bibliometric studies for topic mapping. The objective of this study is to compare the two description systems in documents about cannabis research to find the concordance between systems and establish whether there is neutrality in topic mapping. A total of 25,593 articles from 1970 to 2019 were drawn from Web of Science's Core Collection and Medline and analyzed. The tidytext library, Zipf's law, topic modeling tools, the contingency coefficient, Cramer's V, and Cohen's kappa were used. The results included 10,107 MeSH terms and 28,870 KeyWords Plus terms. The Zipf distribution of the terms was different for each…
PD-1/PD-L1 Checkpoints and Resveratrol: A Controversial New Way for a Therapeutic Strategy
2021
Simple Summary Over the last decade, immunotherapies using antibodies targeting the programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) checkpoint or its ligand, programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1), have emerged as promising therapeutic strategies against cancer. However, some current limitations include a relatively low rate of “responders”, the high cost of the treatment, and a rare risk of hyper-progression. Currently, the main challenge is, therefore, to improve these therapies, for instance, by using combined approaches. Here, we summarize the accumulating evidence that resveratrol (RSV) plays a role in the modulation of the PD-1/PD-L1 axis in cancer cells, suggesting the potential of therapeutic strategies …
Scopolamine analysis in beverages: Bicolorimetric device vs portable nano liquid chromatography
2021
Abstract Scopolamine (SCP) is often involved in sexual assaults and robberies, particularly in recreational environments. Therefore, analytical tools are required for the analysis of this compound amenable for the field. In this work, a sensor for SCP is described based on the entrapment of KMnO4 into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The possibility of using KMnO4 in combination with the reagent 1,2-naphtoquinone-4-sulfonate (NQS) giving a double sensor acting as a bicolorimetric device is also demonstrated. In contact with the sample, the PDMS composite delivers MnO4−, which reacts rapidly with SCP under basic conditions causing a change of the color of the solution that can be related to the …
Un programa de entrenamiento para familiares de pacientes con trastorno límite de la personalidad basado en la terapia dialéctica comportamental
2021
espanolLos familiares de pacientes con trastorno limite de la personalidad (TLP) experimentan ansiedad y depresion, y estan inmersos en un clima familiar disfuncional. Aunque existen tratamientos eficaces para el TLP, se ha prestado menos atencion a los familiares. El objetivo de este trabajo fue adaptar para familiares el entrenamiento grupal en habilidades de la terapia dialectica comportamental, en 14 sesiones. La muestra estuvo formada por 12 familiares: 50% madres, 41,7% padres y 8,3% parejas. Se evaluaron los niveles de depresion (BDI-II), ansiedad (OASIS) y emocion expresada (LEE-S) antes y despues de la intervencion. Los resultados indican que tras la intervencion se produce una mej…
Adipose stem cell spheroids-laden hydrogels for minimally invasive bone and cartilage regeneration interventions
2021
Stereoselective Synthesis and Pharmacological Evaluation of 2,4-Bridged Piperidine Derivatives Designed to Activate the κ-Opioid Receptor
2021
Stadification ganglionnaire lombo-aortique dans les cancers du col de stade supérieur ou égal à IB2: comparaison des performances du PETscan au 18FDG…
2021
Resume Introduction Les recommandations actuelles (ASCO, ESTRO, ESGO) preconisent la realisation d’un curage lombo-aortique (CLAO) de stadification ganglionnaire en cas de negativite au PETscan d’evaluation initiale dans les cancers du col localement avance (CCLA), afin d’adapter les champs d’irradiation de la radiochimiotherapie. L’objectif principal etait de comparer la survie globale (SG) entre deux groupes (iN- au PETscan versus iN- et pN- au PETscan et CLAO) qui different par leur technique de stadification ganglionnaire lombo-aortique: stadification par imagerie seule versus imagerie et chirurgie. Les objectifs secondaires etaient de determiner la survie sans recidive (SSR), le taux d…
Parametric estimation of non-crossing quantile functions
2021
Quantile regression (QR) has gained popularity during the last decades, and is now considered a standard method by applied statisticians and practitioners in various fields. In this work, we applied QR to investigate climate change by analysing historical temperatures in the Arctic Circle. This approach proved very flexible and allowed to investigate the tails of the distribution, that correspond to extreme events. The presence of quantile crossing, however, prevented using the fitted model for prediction and extrapolation. In search of a possible solution, we first considered a different version of QR, in which the QR coefficients were described by parametric functions. This alleviated th…
R-Score: A New Parameter to Assess the Quality of Variants’ Calls Assessed by NGS Using Liquid Biopsies
2021
Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has enabled a deeper knowledge of the molecular landscape in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), identifying a growing number of targetable molecular alterations in key genes. However, NGS profiling of liquid biopsies risk for false positive and false negative calls and parameters assessing the quality of NGS calls remains lacking. In this study, we have evaluated the positive percent agreement (PPA) between NGS and digital PCR calls when assessing EGFR mutation status using 85 plasma samples from 82 EGFR-positive NSCLC patients. According to our data, variant allele fraction (VAF) was significantly lower in discordant calls and the median of the absolute va…
Management of Listeria monocytogenes on Surfaces via Relative Air Humidity: Key Role of Cell Envelope
2021
International audience; Although relative air humidity (RH) strongly influences microbial survival, its use for fighting surface pathogens in the food industry has been inadequately considered. We asked whether RH control could destroy Listeria monocytogenes EGDe by envelope damage. The impact of dehydration in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at 75%, 68%, 43% and 11% RH on the bacterial envelope was investigated using flow cytometry and atomic force microscopy. Changes after rehydration in the protein secondary structure and peptidoglycan were investigated by infrared spectroscopy. Complementary cultivability measurements were performed by running dehydration–rehydration with combinations o…
Relationship between volume of submandibular salivary stones in vivo determined with cone-beam computer tomography and in vitro with micro-computer t…
2021
Background Successful removal of salivary stones depends on exact pretreatment information of the location, the size and shape of the stones. This study aimed to compare the volume of submandibular sialoliths determined by preoperative Cone-Beam Computer Tomography (CBCT) scans with the volume of the removed stones on micro-Computer Tomography (micro-CT) scans. Material and Methods In this study, using twenty-one submandibular sialoliths, the pretreatment volumes in-vivo measured on CBCT were compared to the volumes of removed stones determined by micro-CT scans. The volume measured on micro-CT scans served as the gold standard. Pre-operative CBCT’s and in-vitro micro-CT’s were converted in…