Search results for "65"

Predicting the environmental suitability for onchocerciasis in Africa as an aid to elimination planning

2021

Recent evidence suggests that, in some foci, elimination of onchocerciasis from Africa may be feasible with mass drug administration (MDA) of ivermectin. To achieve continental elimination of transmission, mapping surveys will need to be conducted across all implementation units (IUs) for which endemicity status is currently unknown. Using boosted regression tree models with optimised hyperparameter selection, we estimated environmental suitability for onchocerciasis at the 5 × 5-km resolution across Africa. In order to classify IUs that include locations that are environmentally suitable, we used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to identify an optimal threshold for suitabil…

Efficacy of combined treatment with pasireotide, pegvisomant and cabergoline in an acromegalic patient resistant to other treatments: a case report

2018

Abstract Background The approach to acromegalic patients with persistent acromegaly after surgery and inadequate response to first-generation somatostatin receptor ligands (SRLs) should be strictly tailored. Current options include new pituitary surgery and/or radiosurgery, or alternative medical treatment with SRLs high dose regimens, pegvisomant (PEG) as monotherapy, or combined therapy with the addition of PEG or cabergoline to SRLs. A new pharmacological approach includes pasireotide, a second-generation SRL approved for patients who do not adequately respond to surgery and/or for whom surgery is not an option. No reports on efficacy and safety of combined therapy with pasireotide and p…

The New TNM Staging System for Thyroid Cancer and the Risk of Disease Downstaging

2018

In October 2016 the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) published the 8th edition of the AJCC/TNM cancer staging system and it has been introduced in clinical practice since 1st January 2018. The effect of most of the changes in the new edition was the downstaging of a significant number of patients into lower stages, reflecting their low risk of thyroid cancer-related death. One of the most relevant modification refers to the role of the microscopic extra-thyroidal tumor invasion, which is no longer considered as criterion for the classification of T3 tumors. With the present study we want to assess the impact of the changes of the new staging system and therefore we analyzed or casi…

Evaluation of CYP17A1 and CYP1B1 polymorphisms in male breast cancer risk

2019

Breast cancer in men is a rare and still poorly characterized disease. Inherited mutations in BRCA1, BRCA2 and PALB2 genes, as well as common polymorphisms, play a role in male breast cancer genetic predisposition. Male breast cancer is considered a hormone-dependent tumor specifically related to hyperestrogenism. Polymorphisms in genes involved in estrogen biosynthesis and metabolism pathways, such as CYP17A1 and CYP1B1, have been associated with breast cancer risk. Here, we aimed to investigate the role of CYP17A1 and CYP1B1 polymorphisms in male breast cancer risk. A series of 597 male breast cancer cases and 1022 male controls, recruited within the Italian Multicenter Study on male brea…

Identification and expression of the 11β‐steroid hydroxylase from Cochliobolus lunatus in Corynebacterium glutamicum

2019

Hydroxylation of steroids has acquired special relevance for the pharmaceutical industries. Particularly, the 11β-hydroxylation of steroids is a reaction of biotechnological importance currently carried out at industrial scale by the fungus Cochliobolus lunatus. In this work, we have identified the genes encoding the cytochrome CYP103168 and the reductase CPR64795 of C. lunatus responsible for the 11β-hydroxylase activity in this fungus, which is the key step for the preparative synthesis of cortisol in industry. A recombinant Corynebacterium glutamicum strain harbouring a plasmid expressing both genes forming a synthetic bacterial operon was able to 11β-hydroxylate several steroids as subs…

Stimulatory Thyrotropin Receptor Antibodies Are a Biomarker for Graves' Orbitopathy.

2021

Hybrid Passive Control Strategies for Reducing the Displacements at the Base of Seismic Isolated Structures

2019

In this paper, the use of hybrid passive control strategies to mitigate the seismic response of a base-isolated structure is examined. The control performance of three different types of devices used for reducing base displacements of isolated buildings is investigated. Specifically, the Tuned Mass Damper (TMD), the New Tuned Mass Damper (New TMD) and the Tuned Liquid Column Damper (TLCD), each one associated to a Base Isolated structure (BI), have been considered. The seismic induced vibration control of base-isolated structures equipped with the TMD, New TMD or the TLCD is examined and compared with that of the base-isolated system without devices, using real recorded seismic signals as e…

Regularity of sets under a reformulation in a product space of reduced dimension

2023

Different notions on regularity of sets and of collection of sets play an important role in the analysis of the convergence of projection algorithms in nonconvex scenarios. While some projection algorithms can be applied to feasibility problems defined by finitely many sets, some other require the use of a product space reformulation to construct equivalent problems with two sets. In this work we analyze how some regularity properties are preserved under a reformulation in a product space of reduced dimension. This allows us to establish local linear convergence of parallel projection methods which are constructed through this reformulation.

Guaranteed lower bounds for cost functionals of time-periodic parabolic optimization problems

2019

In this paper, a new technique is shown for deriving computable, guaranteed lower bounds of functional type (minorants) for two different cost functionals subject to a parabolic time-periodic boundary value problem. Together with previous results on upper bounds (majorants) for one of the cost functionals, both minorants and majorants lead to two-sided estimates of functional type for the optimal control problem. Both upper and lower bounds are derived for the second new cost functional subject to the same parabolic PDE-constraints, but where the target is a desired gradient. The time-periodic optimal control problems are discretized by the multiharmonic finite element method leading to lar…

Hedging foreign exchange rate risk: Multi-currency diversification

2016

Abstract This article proposes a multi-currency cross-hedging strategy that minimizes the exchange risk. The use of derivatives in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is not common but, despite its complexity, can be interesting for those with international activities. In particular, the reduction in the exchange risk borne through the use of natural multi-currency cross-hedging is measured, considering Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) and Value-at-Risk (VaR) for measuring market risk instead of the variance. CVaR is minimized using linear programmes, while a multiobjective genetic algorithm is designed for minimizing VaR, considering two scenarios for each currency. The results obtai…