Search results for "Computer Science Applications"

2019

Background Health apps for the screening and diagnosis of mental disorders have emerged in recent years on various levels (eg, patients, practitioners, and public health system). However, the diagnostic quality of these apps has not been (sufficiently) tested so far. Objective The objective of this pilot study was to investigate the diagnostic quality of a health app for a broad spectrum of mental disorders and its dependency on expert knowledge. Methods Two psychotherapists, two psychology students, and two laypersons each read 20 case vignettes with a broad spectrum of mental disorders. They used a health app (Ada—Your Health Guide) to get a diagnosis by entering the symptoms. Interrater…

2020

Background: ABCB1 (P-glycoprotein) and ABCG2 (breast cancer resistance protein) are co-localized at the blood-brain barrier (BBB), where they restrict the brain distribution of many different drugs. Moreover, ABCB1 and possibly ABCG2 play a role in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by mediating the brain clearance of beta-amyloid (Aβ) across the BBB. This study aimed to compare the abundance and activity of ABCG2 in a commonly used β-amyloidosis mouse model (APP/PS1-21) with age-matched wild-type mice. Methods: The abundance of ABCG2 was assessed by semi-quantitative immunohistochemical analysis of brain slices of APP/PS1-21 and wild-type mice aged 6 months. Moreover, the brain distribution of two d…

Halogenated Anesthetics Determination in Urine by SPME/GC/MS and Urine Levels Relationship Evaluation with Surgical Theatres Contamination

2014

In this work, a new sensitive analytical method has been developed and evaluated for the determination of the most commonly used gaseous anesthetics, desflurane, sevoflurane, and this latter’s hepatic metabolite hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) in the urine. In addition, an evaluation of anesthetics exposition on the urine levels of a small population of surgical operators has been performed and results are briefly discussed.

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…

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…