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Multicentric evaluation of the MTS-SAS® for reliable antibiotic synergy testing in clinical laboratories
No full textObjectives: The rise of antimicrobial resistance poses a major challenge for both clinicians and clinical microbiologists. There is an increasing need for user-friendly and reliable methods to assess the activity of antibiotics against multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains. Although synergy testing provides valuable insights, conventional methods such as checkerboard assays and time-kill studies are labor-intensive, technically demanding, and difficult to standardize. This study evaluated the MTS-SAS® (MIC Test Strip - Synergy Application System, Liofilchem®, Italy), a commercial gradient diffusion assay developed for antibiotic synergy testing. Methods: The performance of MTS-SAS® was evaluated in comparison with the checkerboard microdilution method, used as the reference standard. Nine antibiotic combinations were tested against ten different bacterial strains across 11 Italian hospitals. Inter-laboratory reproducibility and agreement with the reference method were analyzed. Results: The concordance between MIC test strips and the broth microdilution (BMD) method was 98.4%, with 1.6% showing discordant results - all within a three-dilution range. Among 996 synergy determinations, MTS-SAS® demonstrated high reproducibility across all centers (96.7%), while only 3.3% of tests showed discordant synergy classifications (e.g., synergy vs. indifference). Comparison with the checkerboard method demonstrated an overall concordance of 96.2%, despite the absence of specific operator training at each site. Conclusion: These findings support MTS-SAS® as a practical and reliable alternative to conventional synergy testing methods, particularly suitable for routine clinical settings and laboratories lacking advanced microbiological expertise
Cadmium accumulation in neuronal cells leads to essential metals imbalance and zinc transporters dysregulation
No full text: The heavy metal cadmium (Cd), a natural element of the Earth's crust released into the environment through both natural processes and anthropogenic activities, is ranked 7th on the ATSDR Substance Priority List of hazardous substances. Its low excretion rate from human body and its long biological half-life (10-30 years) lead to Cd heavy accumulation in organisms. Although Cd carcinogenicity is well recognized, the neurotoxicity and damage to the nervous system still require further investigation. The interference with essential element homeostasis, referred as dyshomeostasis, is one of Cd neurotoxic mechanisms and its interference on specific ions balance could play a key role in the process of neurodegenerative diseases. In this study Cd possible impact on the balance of essential elements was evaluated in human neural SH-SY5Y cells, by exposing the target cells to low Cd concentrations (0.1-5μM) for 24h, 48h and 6 days. Cd accumulates inside the cells in a time and dose dependent manner with dysregulation of both zinc and iron homeostasis and induction of heme oxygenase 1 expression. Moreover, zinc transporters ZnT1 and ZnT2 are upregulated, while the iron transporter DMT1 is downregulated. In conclusion our data show that even low, sublethal cadmium concentrations are effective in inducing dyshomeostasis of essential metals involved in important neuronal functions
Gene therapy device-based delivery of progranulin, prosaposin, and GDNF as a combined precision and neurorestorative therapy in the rat 6-OHDA model of parkinsonism
No full text: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a complex, multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by a progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, leading to significant motor impairments frequently associated with cognitive dysfunction and comorbidities in the elderly. Current treatments of PD are primarily symptomatic, highlighting the urgent need for disease-modifying therapies. An increasing body of evidence supports the pivotal role of lysosomal dysfunction in PD pathogenesis, providing new targets for therapeutic approaches. Particularly, recent studies suggest that among the genes implicated in PD are GRN and PSAP, encoding for progranulin (PGRN) and prosaposin (PSAP), respectively. We proved that conditioned media from a Gene Therapy Device-based delivery system (GTD)-PGRN, -PSAP, and -PGRN+PSAP were internalized by primary cortical neurons, leading to enhanced glucocerebrosidase (GCase) activity. Furthermore, we developed a GTD-delivered therapy to target lysosomal dysfunction and support the dopaminergic system, combining the lysosomal factors PGRN and PSAP with the neurorestorative glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF). Interestingly, each factor provided neuroprotection to dopaminergic neurons and preserved motor function in a 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced neurotoxicity model. Furthermore, eight-month treatments with GTD-PSAP and PSAP+GDNF resulted in significant neurorecovery effects on dopaminergic neurons and motor deficits following 6-OHDA injection
A Shared Control Architecture for Vitreoretinal Surgery With Safety Guarantee Using Control Barrier Functions
Full text linkControl Barrier Functions (CBFs) provide a power-
ful framework for enforcing real-time safety in control systems
and have seen increasing applications in safety-critical domains,
such as surgical robotics. In vitreoretinal microsurgery, where
precision and tissue protection are crucial, we propose a shared
control approach that leverages CBFs to maintain the robot’s
end-effector within a safe zone above the retina. Using real-
time 3D reconstruction from an instrument-integrated Optical
Coherence Tomography (iiOCT) system mounted on the surgical
tool, we define a safety band between two offset surfaces derived
from the reconstructed retina. A hybrid controller drives the tool
into the band when outside and then enforces forward invariance
using a CBF-based quadratic program. Concurrently, haptic
feedback proportional to the deviation from the band centre
guides the surgeon toward the optimal working distance. We
validate our method in ex vivo pig eye experiments, performing
a simulated Vitreous Shaving (VS), showing improved safety and
operator awareness
Modus
No full textThe essay explores an ontological rethinking of the living as modulation rather than as form or substance. Drawing from Simondon and Deleuze, it proposes a shift from the logic of being to that of modes—dynamic, metastable configurations of existence. Life is not a thing, but a rhythmic variation of intensities that traverses and transforms both bodies and environments. The subject emerges not as a fixed identity but as a singular rhythm, a temporary crystallization within a field of differential relations. Modality becomes the key to understanding processes of individuation, perception, and ethical becoming. Against essentialism and structuralism alike, the living is thought of as a diagrammatic field, where sense, force, and relation are co-constitutive. Thought itself is redefined as an activity of navigation and resonance, always exposed to contingency and relational drift. Modus thus calls for an ontology capable of honoring transformation without totalization
Protocol to develop a preclinical severe contusive-compressive SCI mouse model for translational research
Full text linkComplete spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to irreversible neurological damage due to failed neural repair, with no effective therapies currently available. Here, we present a protocol to induce severe contusive-compressive SCI at thoracic T11 level in mouse using the NYU-MASCIS II impactor. We describe steps for performing laminectomy, inducing the injury, and validating it through functional and histological analysis. This protocol replicates key aspects of human secondary injury, making it valuable for preclinical testing of SCI therapies
Differential interference of body- and non-body-related representational conflicts on error and performance monitoring in flanker tasks
Full text linkThe performance monitoring system handles representational conflicts with the goal of reducing
errors. What remains unclear is whether and how the representational nature of a stimulus modulates
conflict resolution. To deal with this issue, we performed five experiments to measure the degree of
cognitive interference occurring in Flanker tasks and tested whether effects induced by body- and
non-body-related stimuli may change as a function of task requirements and affect conflict
processing. In Experiment1, conflicts elicited by hands/letters were used to activate typical competing
responses. In Experiment2, stimuli were perceptually matched for low-level features (e.g.,
target/flanker contrast). In Experiment3, no-go trials were added to increase conflict load and reveal
content-driven effects in inhibitory control. In Experiment 4, the onset of target/flanker competition
was set at two different delays to investigate conflict persistence during target processing. Finally, in
Experiment5, body- vs non-body-related stimuli were combined to measure content-driven effects
underlying conflict resolution. A multi-analysis approach to data was employed, combining linear
and Bayesian drift-diffusion models. Results show that body-related representations reduced
cognitive interference, a robust effect that was observed across all experiments. These findings
suggest that representations related to the body selectively engage the performance monitoring system
during conflict processin
Don’t Call for a Dialogue! This is Not Death of a Salesman. Organizing Communities between Pathos and Logos
No full textIs dialogue still possible? In what forms and under what conditions? In this article, I attempt to answer these questions by reflecting on how dia-logue has lost its logos, that is, how exchanges organised around rational argumentative logic have been unsettled by both the unbridled proliferation of phantasmatic imaginaries and a renewed emphasis on corporeality, and hence on pathos, on embodied sensing as a locus of epistemic and ethico-political insight. I first reconstruct how organizational and feminist scholarship has proposed to centre dialogue on pathos, while also highlighting the limits of this perspective. I then suggest conceiving dialogue in aporetic terms, acknowledging and sustaining the tension between logos and pathos, between the rational signification of language and that which inevitably escapes it. Finally, I offer an example of a dialogue on care drawn from a two-day community study event, illustrating how such an aporetic form of dialogue is both (im)possible and necessary for the building of community. Dialogue thus becomes itself a device of care, unsettling the boundaries between public and private, rational and affective, masculine and feminine, truth and opinion
Postoperative Fluid Collections Following Left Pancreatectomy: Urgent Need for a Standardized Definition. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
No full textBackground: Postoperative fluid collections (PFCs) are common after left pancreatectomy (LP), but their definition and incidence remain unclear. Methods: A systematic search was performed for studies published up to April 2025 reporting the incidence of PFCs after LP. PFCs were defined as radiologically detected collections within 90 days after surgery; symptomatic PFCs were those associated with clinical symptoms, infections, or requiring intervention. The primary outcome was the pooled incidence of overall and symptomatic PFCs. Results: Twenty-six studies (5 RCTs and 21 observational cohorts) were analyzed. Three RCTs reported overall PFCs and the pooled incidence was 47.9% (95% CI 32.2-64.1; I2 = 94.0%). All five RCTs reported symptomatic PFCs, with a pooled incidence of 9.6% (95% CI 7.6-12.0; I2 = 35.5%). Eighteen observational studies analyzed overall PFCs with a pooled incidence of 58.3% (95% CI 44.2-71.2; I2 = 97.7%), while symptomatic PFCs were reported in 19 cohorts with a pooled incidence of 15.0% (95% CI 11.7-19.1; I2 = 91.7%). Conclusion: PFCs incidence after LP approaches 50% overall and 10%-15% for symptomatic collections. Consistency was observed only in RCTs reporting symptomatic PFCs. Standardized, radiology-based definitions are urgently needed to improve comparability across studies and to guide
A multi-level annotated sensor dataset of gait freezing manifestations and severity in Parkinson's disease
No full textWe present FoG-STAR, a dataset collected using wearable sensors, designed to support the development and evaluation of algorithms for detecting and characterizing freezing of gait (FoG) in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). The dataset includes recordings from 22 participants who performed a series of standardized motor tasks while wearing four inertial measurement units (IMUs) on the ankles, wrist, and lower back. Each IMU recorded tri-axial accelerometer and gyroscope data. Participants completed seven structured tasks, including walking with/without cognitive/motor dual-tasks, 360-degree turning, and the timed-up-and-go test, which comprises six types of activities (sitting, standing, sit-to-stand, stand-to-sit, walking, and turning). The dataset features detailed annotations from two expert clinical raters, who marked the onset and offset of 101 FoG episodes, and labelled specific FoG manifestations. In addition, the duration of each activity and task segment was annotated. This multi-level annotation framework allows for studying FoG in the context of dynamic motor behavior and provides a valuable resource for the development of machine learning models aimed at FoG detection, severity assessment, and activity recognition in PD