Search results for "monitor"

THE RECOVERY-ELISA—A NOVEL ASSAY TECHNIQUE TO MONITOR THERAPY WITH HUMANIZED ANTIBODIES: THE EXAMPLE OF OMALIZUMAB

2013

The therapeutic use of antibodies has grown exponentially, providing new treatment options for various diseases. Monitoring treatment with therapeutic antibodies is a particular challenge because often the target antigen is no longer measurable or the results are unreliable. To overcome this problem, a recovery-ELISA was developed to quantify therapeutic antibody and antigen by a modification of the traditional sandwich immunoassay using omalizumab as an example. Standard serum samples were spiked with IgE and omalizumab in a certain concentration range to create standard curves. After incubation and washout procedures, the reaction was stopped and the plate read with bichromatic absorbance…

Pathways for urology patients during the COVID-19 pandemic

2020

The public health emergency caused by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in a significant reallocation of health resources with a consequent reorganization of the clinical activities also in several urological centers. A panel of Italian urologists has agreed on a set of recommendations on pathways of pre-, intra- and post-operative care for urological patients undergoing urgent procedures or non-deferrable oncological interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Simplification of the diagnostic and staging pathway has to be prioritized in order to reduce hospital visits and consequently the risk of contagion. In absence of strict uniform regulations that impose th…

The Impact of Harmonization on ELISPOT Assay Performance

2011

During more than 25 years of application in immunological sciences, ELISPOT has been established as a routine, robust, versatile, and reliable assay. From basic research to clinical immune monitoring, ELISPOT is being used to address the quantification and (to a lesser extent) functional characterization of immune cells secreting different molecules in the context of health and disease, immune intervention, and therapy in humans and other species [Kalyuzhny (Ed.) (2005) Handbook of Elispot: methods and protocols, Vol. 302, Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ]. Over the last decade, ELISPOT assays have been increasingly implemented as an immune-monitoring tool in clinical trials [Schmittel et al. …

Reverse electrodialysis heat engine for sustainable power production

2017

Abstract Reverse Electrodialysis Heat Engine (REDHE) is a promising technology to convert waste heat at temperatures lower than 100 °C into electric power. In the present work an overview of the possible regeneration methods is presented and the technological challenges for the development of the RED Heat Engine (REDHE) are identified. The potential of this power production cycle was investigated through a simplified mathematical model. In the first part of the work, several salts were singularly modelled as possible solutes in aqueous solutions feeding the RED unit and the corresponding optimal conditions were recognized via an optimization study. In the second part, three different RED He…

A new shoreline change assessment approach for erosion management strategies

2022

Shoreline evolution studies are fundamental to assess the rate of beach accretion or retreatment. In the last years, researchers developed many methods with several techniques belonging to different disciplines and backgrounds. Nowadays, the Shoreline Change Analysis (SCA) is the most widespread method to assess shoreline evolution. In fact, the SCA is needed to perform management strategies able to respond to current erosion or potential future erosion problems. This paper presents a new approach using an automatic method for SCA with accuracy and speed improvements. Indeed, in the framework of the management of coastal erosion and to develop an adaptation plan to coastal hazards it is nec…

Analysis of the written handover process during shift changes within the hospital

2008

This study assesses the ergonomic quality of a new writing format used for the written transmission of activity during a nurse’s handover in a hospital. This format called “targeted or focussed transmission” comes from a new prescription of hospital management designed to improve the written handover process. Our research focused on the information filtering process for each patient concerned by a shift handover. A three step methodology was designed, with the participation of 9 nurses in charge of 70 patients : (1) nursing work analysis before the handover, (2) oral handover analysis, (3) written handover analysis. Results show that the new writing format does not match the nurses’ needs t…

Family Relationships and Cyberbullying

2015

This chapter analyzes the relationship between family and cyberbullying, a type of technological harassment among peers which is of growing concern in the scientific community and in today’s society. First, this chapter discusses factors associated with family functioning that may predict cyberbullying, particularly the family climate (cohesion, expressivity, and conflict) and parent–children communication. It also examines the role of parental socialization styles and their continuity with parental styles on the Internet: authoritarian style, laissez-faire, permissive and authoritative. In relation to parental styles, one section in this chapter describes the parental monitoring of Interne…

L’analisi colorimetrica a supporto dell’intervento di restauro sui mosaici della Villa romana del casale di Piazza Armerina

2011

Stakeholders’ Attitudes about the Transplantations of the Mediterranean Seagrass Posidonia oceanica as a Habitat Restoration Measure after Anthropoge…

2021

Anthropogenic impacts on Posidonia oceanica meadows have led to a decline of this ecosystem throughout the Mediterranean. Transplantations have often been prescribed as a compensation measure to mitigate the impacts caused by coastal maritime works. Here a Q methodology approach was used to investigate the stakeholders’ attitudes in four case studies of P. oceanica transplants realized in Italian waters. Twenty-two respondents were asked to score 37 statements, and the resultant Q-sorting was analyzed via an inverse PCA using the KADE software. Four discourses, corresponding to the significant axes in the factorial analysis were identified: science and conservation (F1), oriented at a rigor…

The economic impact of water taxes: a computable general equilibrium analysis with an international data set

2008

Water is scarce in many countries. One instrument for improving the allocation of a scarce resource is (efficient) pricing or taxation. However, water is implicitly traded on international markets, particularly through food and textiles, so that the impacts of water taxes cannot be studied in isolation, but require an analysis of international trade implications. We include water as a production factor in a multi-region, multi-sector computable general equilibrium model (GTAP), to assess a series of water tax policies. We find that water taxes reduce water use and lead to shifts in production, consumption and international trade patterns. Countries that do not levy water taxes are nonethele…