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Ablative Versus Conservative Approach for Hyperthyroidism Treatment in Patients with Graves' Orbitopathy: A Retrospective Cohort Study
No full textBackground: Treatment for Graves’ hyperthyroidism (GH) in patients with Graves’ orbitopathy (GO) remains a topic of debate. This study aimed to investigate the outcome of GO following glucocorticoids, depending on the chosen thyroid treatment. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 49 consecutive patients with GH and moderate-to-severe, active GO, as defined by the European Group on Graves' Orbitopathy guidelines. Twenty-four patients were treated with radioactive iodine (RAI) and 25 with methimazole (MMI). All patients were administered intravenous methylprednisolone. Follow-up visits occurred at weeks 24, 48, and 72. The primary endpoint was the overall outcome of GO at week 24. Response was defined as a change in at least two of the following eye features: reduction ≥1 point in clinical activity score; proptosis reduction ≥2 mm; eyelid aperture reduction ≥2 mm; increase in eye ductions ≥8 degrees. Results: Follow-up duration was 72 weeks for both groups (interquartile range 66-72 for RAI and 48-72 for MMI). The proportion of responders for week 24 overall GO outcome was greater in RAI (54.1% vs. 16%; odds ratio [OR] 6.2 [confidence interval (CI): 1.6-23.6], p = 0.0075), but it increased in MMI at weeks 48 and 72, with no differences between groups. There was a trend indicating a better response in RAI regarding individual eye features. Improvement in GO-specific quality of life questionnaire at week 24 was trendily more pronounced in RAI (responders 50% vs. 28% in MMI; OR = 2.5 [CI: 0.7-8.4], p = 0.11), although results were similar in both groups at later time points. At week 24, only one patient (4%) in RAI and three (12%) in MMI experienced worsening of GO. Fifty-nine adverse events were recorded among 36 patients, with no differences between groups, except for infections, which were more frequent in RAI (53.8% vs. 15.3% in MMI; OR = 6.41 [CI: 1.7-23.9], p = 0.0056). Conclusions: RAI appears to be associated with an earlier response of GO to intravenous glucocorticoids. In the long term, a conservative approach also seems to be effective. RAI appears to be relatively safe when patients are concurrently treated with glucocorticoids. However, randomized clinical trials are necessary to confirm these findings
Comparative Analysis of Cold Versus Thermal Dissection in Nerve-Sparing Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy
No full textThe stratigraphic phasing of area C South
No full textThe excavations established a complete stratigraphic history for well P.5347: it was newly realized during the Neo-Assyrian phase and it actually functioned for some time as a water well, before being turned into a dumping ground at the time in which the palace went out of use
Seaknot: Looking ahead of severe accident research
No full textSevere Accidents (SAs) dominate the risk associated to the commercial production of nuclear energy. Despite the
major achievements made in their research, still existing gaps, upcoming new technologies as Accident Tolerant
Fuels (ATFs) and Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), more stringent safety requirements, optimization of SA
management, and other factors, point the need for an efficient use of research resources in the years to come.
Three major elements should integrate any SA roadmap to be proposed: preservation of knowledge and knowhow;
identification of key issues which research would result in the best accident management (AM) feasible;
and, no less important, strengthening the workforce who will be responsible for such research. The SEAKNOT
project (SEvere Accident research and KNOwledge managemenT for LWRs) was born to address this need in all
and every aspect. The present article outlines the major pillars of SEAKNOT and synthesizes the progress made
since its onset at the end of 2022. The methodologies adopted to develop a SA PIRT (Phenomena Identification
and Ranking Table) and to build a Validation Database Directory (VADD) are described along with the ongoing
phenomena listing and ranking. Besides, the first steps towards an experimental infrastructure capable of dealing
with present and future needs (SAINET) are included. No less relevant the actions already made and the novelties
coming on the side of knowledge and know-how transfer are also discussed
Self-healing of polyamide 6/cyclic olefin copolymer/carbon fiber composites under quasi-static, impact, and fatigue conditions
No full textThis study investigates the self-healing capabilities of polyamide 6 (PA6) composites containing a cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) as a healing agent and a discontinuous carbon fiber (CF) reinforcement under quasi-static, impact, and fatigue loading conditions. To this aim, PA6/COC (30 wt%)/CF (20 wt%) composites were prepared via melt-compounding and injection molding. The microstructure, mechanical properties, and self-healing behavior of the composites with COC were compared with those of the reference PA6/CF (20 wt%). Although the addition of COC slightly reduces the quasi-static mechanical properties, it significantly improves the impact resistance. The presence of COC domains allow healing efficiencies (HE) of up to 80 % in impact tests, whereas lower HE values are found in quasi-static fracture tests owing to matrix plasticization hindering the COC flow in the fracture zone. Notably, fatigue testing reveals the ability of PA6/COC/CF composites to repair microdamage during thermal mending, extending their own fatigue life by 77 %, while virgin samples are not able to heal. These results highlight the potential of intrinsic self-healing thermoplastic composites to extend the service life of structural composites, particularly under cyclic loading conditions
Leggere e scrivere nei libri di testo
No full textLa digitalizzazione, cioè la possibilità di accedere alle informazioni tramite il web da parte di chiunque, insieme alla possibilità di dare e rilasciare notizie, opinioni, informazioni attraverso le varie modalità che il digitale ci offre – siano esse postate sui social network sotto forma di scrittura, di video, di reel – impone una riflessione ulteriore sul senso e sullo scopo della lettura, proprio perché non sia solo strumentale e sia invece compresa e utilizzata nei suoi scopi conoscitivo, interpretativo, comunicativo, critico
From conventional therapy to novel nano-based approaches. A focus on prostate cancer
No full text: The currently available clinical anticancer approaches pertaining to the treatment of prostate cancer are summarized here. After providing an overview of the main features of this highly impactful global disease, the currently available clinical treatments are briefly reviewed. Then, alternative and innovative nano-based therapeutic options that have been proposed or are currently being explored to significantly improve prostate cancer management (i.e. anti-prostate cancer polymeric nanoparticles loaded with drugs to promote their release and biological activity, including non-targeted and functionalized PLGA-PEG NPs and AuNPs), are introduced. Furthermore, the problem of gathering insights into the mechanistic aspects related to the fate of the nanoformulation in complex matrices, such as blood plasma, is addressed
Why did the Neanderthals go extinct? The role of speleothems in answering this hot question
Get PDFThe Neanderthals, our closest relatives, died out around 40 thousands years ago (ka) after expanding for 350000 years across a wide region from Western Europe to Southern Siberia.
Despite decades of research into cultural, demographic, and environmental factors, there is no leading theory about the triggers of the most important biocultural transition in human history. This is likely because the available data comes from a limited number of sites, mostly in Western and Central Europe, which were on the periphery of the Neanderthals’ range. To accurately reconstruct the processes that led to Neanderthal’s extinction, the scientific
community needs new extensive data, ideally from the core regions where the last Neanderthals lived. The LAST NEANDERTHAL project has been financed in 2024 by the Erc-Synergy call, with the ambitious aim to definitely and comprehensively answer the question: why did the Neanderthals go extinct? Three PIs from Bologna, Siena and Haifa
Universities will lead this gigantic project involving the multidisciplinary investigation of more than 50 study sites in the western-to-east transect from Italy to Kirghizstan. Reconstructing environmental and climate variations in the 60-20 ka period, and their integration with the novel archeological and cultural data, is key for the success of the project. Together with lake sediments, speleothems were selected as multi-proxy paleo-archives. Pisa University (Italy) is indeed a partner institution for the LAST NEANDERTHAL project, leading the speleothem-based paleoclimate research unit. Several samples from Italy, Greece and Georgia are currently under investigation. Future Analyses will target samples available from Croatia, Macedonia, Hungary and Kurdistan. However, new cave sampling is scheduled in Czech Republic, Slovenia, Romania, Montenegro, Albania, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kirghizstan. This poster will present the 6-years long action plan of the speleothem unit, with special focus on: 1) preliminary results on speleothems covering the 60-20 ka period; 2) future cave sampling campaign; 3) job opportunities; 4) potential
collaborations