Search results for " applications."
showing 10 items of 4344 documents
Computational fluid dynamics simulation to evaluate aortic coarctation gradient with contrast-enhanced CT
2014
Coarctation of aorta (CoA) is a narrowing of the aorta leading to a pressure gradient (Delta P) across the coarctation, increased afterload and reduced peripheral perfusion pressures. Indication to invasive treatment is based on values of maximal (systolic) trans-coarctation Delta P. A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) approach is herein presented for the non-invasive haemodynamic assessment of Delta P across CoA. Patient-specific CFD simulations were created from contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) and appropriate flow boundary conditions. Computed Delta P was validated with invasive intravascular trans-CoA pressure measurements. Haemodynamic indices, including pressure loss coeffic…
An Insight into the Role of Postmortem Immunohistochemistry in the Comprehension of the Inflammatory Pathophysiology of COVID-19 Disease and Vaccine-…
2021
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic due to the spread of COVID-19 from Wuhan, China, causing high mortality rates all over the world. The related disease, which mainly affects the lungs, is responsible for the onset of Diffuse Alveolar Damage (DAD) and a hypercoagulability state, frequently leading to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and multiorgan failure, particularly in old and severe-critically ill patients. In order to find effective therapeutic strategies, many efforts have been made aiming to shed light on the pathophysiology of COVID-19 disease. Moreover, following the late advent of vaccination campaigns, the need for the comprehension …
The Dual Role of the GABAA Receptor in Peripheral Inflammation and Neuroinflammation: A Study in Hyperammonemic Rats
2021
Cognitive and motor impairment in minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) are mediated by neuroinflammation, which is induced by hyperammonemia and peripheral inflammation. GABAergic neurotransmission in the cerebellum is altered in rats with chronic hyperammonemia. The mechanisms by which hyperammonemia induces neuroinflammation remain unknown. We hypothesized that GABAA receptors can modulate cerebellar neuroinflammation. The GABAA antagonist bicuculline was administrated daily (i.p.) for four weeks in control and hyperammonemic rats. Its effects on peripheral inflammation and on neuroinflammation as well as glutamate and GABA neurotransmission in the cerebellum were assessed. In hyperammone…
Typical asymmetry in the hemispheric activation during an fMRI verbal comprehension paradigm is related to better performance in verbal and non-verba…
2018
Chronic exposure to seizures in patients with left hemisphere (LH) epileptic focus could favor higher activation in the contralateral hemisphere during language processing, but the cognitive effects of this remain unclear. This study assesses the relationship between asymmetry in hemispheric activation during language fMRI and performance in verbal and non-verbal tasks. Whereas prior studies primarily used fMRI paradigms that favor frontal lobe activation and less prominent activation of the medial or superior temporal lobes, we used a verbal comprehension paradigm previously demonstrated to activate reliably receptive language areas. Forty-seven patients with drug-resistant epilepsy candid…
The Role of Endothelium in COVID-19
2021
The 2019 novel coronavirus, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is causing a global pandemic. The virus primarily affects the upper and lower respiratory tracts and raises the risk of a variety of non-pulmonary consequences, the most severe and possibly fatal of which are cardiovascular problems. Data show that almost one-third of the patients with a moderate or severe form of COVID-19 had preexisting cardiovascular comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypertension, heart failure, or coronary artery disease. SARS-CoV2 causes hyper inflammation, hypoxia, apoptosis, and a renin–angiotensin system imbalance …
Head–Neck Cancer Delineation
2021
Head–Neck Cancer (HNC) has a relevant impact on the oncology patient population and for this reason, the present review is dedicated to this type of neoplastic disease. In particular, a collection of methods aimed at tumor delineation is presented, because this is a fundamental task to perform efficient radiotherapy. Such a segmentation task is often performed on uni-modal data (usually Positron Emission Tomography (PET)) even though multi-modal images are preferred (PET-Computerized Tomography (CT)/PET-Magnetic Resonance (MR)). Datasets can be private or freely provided by online repositories on the web. The adopted techniques can belong to the well-known image processing/computer-vision a…
Cost-effectiveness analysis of robot-assisted vs. open partial nephrectomy
2017
Background The cost-effectiveness of robot-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN) vs. the open procedure is not established. Methods We estimated in-hospital complications and the cost of RAPN vs. open partial nephrectomy (OPN) using an economic model. Costs incurred both intraoperatively and in hospital were considered. US data were extracted from existing literature. Results Mean in-hospital costs were $14,824 (95% CI $13,368-$16,898) for RAPN and $15,094 (95% CI $13,491-$17,140) for OPN. Complications after RAPN occurred in 23.3% (95% CI 20.0-25.8%) and after OPN in 36.1% (95% CI 35.6-36.6%) of the patients. In a sensitivity analysis, limited centre experience was associated with relevant i…
A fully automatic 2D segmentation method for uterine fibroid in MRgFUS treatment evaluation
2015
PurposeMagnetic Resonance guided Focused UltraSound (MRgFUS) represents a non-invasive surgical approach that uses thermal ablation to treat uterine fibroids. After the MRgFUS treatment, an operator must manually segment the treated fibroid areas to evaluate the NonPerfused Volume (NPV). This manual approach is operator-dependent, introducing issues of result reproducibility, which could lead to errors in the subsequent follow-up phase. Moreover, manual segmentation is time-consuming, and can have a negative impact on the optimization of both machine-time and operator-time. MethodTo address these issues, in this paper a novel fully automatic method based on the unsupervised Fuzzy C-Means cl…
Off-line control of the postprandial glycemia in type 1 diabetes patients by a fuzzy logic decision support
2012
The target of this paper is to describe the use of fuzzy techniques in the development of a decision support system that allows the optimization of postprandial glycemia in type 1 diabetes patients taking into account the kind of meal taken by patients, the preprandial glycemia and the insulin resistance (the response of the body to insulin dose injection therapy). The decision support system can, in many cases, provide patients with the correct number of rapid insulin units that must be assumed to assure an optimal glycemic profile, keeping the blood glucose level close to the homeostatic condition, several hours after the meal.