28 research outputs found
Convolutional Autoencoder for the Spatiotemporal Latent Representation of Turbulence
No full textTurbulence is characterised by chaotic dynamics and a high-dimensional state space, which make this phenomenon challenging to predict. However, turbulent flows are often characterised by coherent spatiotemporal structures, such as vortices or large-scale modes, which can help obtain a latent description of turbulent flows. However, current approaches are often limited by either the need to use some form of thresholding on quantities defining the isosurfaces to which the flow structures are associated or the linearity of traditional modal flow decomposition approaches, such as those based on proper orthogonal decomposition. This problem is exacerbated in flows that exhibit extreme events, which are rare and sudden changes in a turbulent state. The goal of this paper is to obtain an efficient and accurate reduced-order latent representation of a turbulent flow that exhibits extreme events. Specifically, we employ a three-dimensional multiscale convolutional autoencoder (CAE) to obtain such latent representation. We apply it to a three-dimensional turbulent flow. We show that the Multiscale CAE is efficient, requiring less than 10% degrees of freedom than proper orthogonal decomposition for compressing the data and is able to accurately reconstruct flow states related to extreme events. The proposed deep learning architecture opens opportunities for nonlinear reduced-order modeling of turbulent flows from data.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Aerodynamic
Eurozona e debito pubblico: gli eurobond come strumento di integrazione politico-istituzionale
No full textGli eurobond non sono un tema nuovo. Sono presenti nella letteratura economica, meno in quella giuridica, da oltre trent’anni, con denominazioni che spesso mutano a seconda delle formulazioni proposte. Rientrano in quella categoria di idee che hanno valore non solo sotto il profilo della tecnica finanziaria o della finanza pubblica, ma anche perché rappresentano un primo passo verso la realizzazione di un’unione politica dell’Europa. I favorevoli vedono in questo tipo di proposte non solo una risposta alla crisi attraverso il finanziamento degli investimenti pubblici, ma anche la costruzione di una politica fiscale europea da affiancare a quella monetaria della Banca centrale europea. Gli scettici pongono, invece, l’accento sui tempi troppo lunghi che tali proposte richiederebbero per essere attuate e sul consenso non unanime che esse riscuotono da parte dei Paesi dell’Eurozona. L’introduzione degli eurobond presenta, infatti, ostacoli legali e distributivi. Quelli legali hanno a che fare, in particolare, con l’articolo 125 del Trattato sul Funzionamento dell’Unione europea (TFUE), che dispone il divieto di salvataggio da parte dell’Unione a favore di un Paese membro in difficoltà e, in particolare, vieta a ciascuno Stato membro di rispondere o di subentrare nei debiti di altri Stati membri (cosiddetta “clausola di no bail out”). Gli ostacoli distributivi sono legati alle modalità di partecipazione dei Paesi membri alle emissioni congiunte dei titoli del debito europeo in termini di risorse finanziarie e ai timori dei Paesi virtuosi del Nord Europa di dover fornire un contributo maggiore rispetto ai Paesi meno virtuosi del Sud Europa.
La tesi affronta, innanzitutto, il tema della fragilità della costruzione europea, che dipende essenzialmente dall’aver creato – contrariamente a quanto avvenuto nella storia dei popoli – “una moneta senza Stato”. Questa circostanza ha condotto, alla fine del 2009, alla crisi dell’euro e dei debiti sovrani. Per rimediare a tale fragilità istituzionale, bisognerebbe por mano a una serie di riforme come il rafforzamento del ruolo della Banca centrale europea come prestatore di ultima istanza, il completamento dell’unione bancaria, l’approfondimento dell’unione del mercato dei capitali, l’allargamento del bilancio europeo e l’accentramento delle politiche fiscali nazionali. Tra queste riforme rientra anche quella di dar vita all’emissione congiunta di debito sovrano a livello di Eurozona, o, in alternativa, a schemi che non prevedono la mutualizzazione del debito. Al riguardo, la ricerca prende in esame l’esistenza di eventuali basi giuridiche per emettere un debito federale dell’Unione europea, distinto dal debito degli Stati membri o, in alternativa, per procedere alla mutualizzazione dei debiti degli Stati membri.
La tesi passa, poi, in rassegna le varie proposte avanzate in tema di eurobond, classificandole in due gruppi principali, a seconda che prevedano o meno la mutualizzazione del debito. Nell’ambito delle proposte che si basano sulla mutualizzazione del debito rientrano gli eurobond in senso stretto, gli union bond, gli stability bond, le obbligazioni blu e rosse. Tali proposte, in quanto fondate sulla mutualizzazione del debito, non sono compatibili con l’articolo 125 del TFUE e richiederebbero pertanto la sua modifica. Nel secondo gruppo di proposte – che non contemplano la mutualizzazione del debito e pertanto non richiedono la modifica del TFUE – rientrano il programma PADRE (Politically Acceptable Debt Restructuring in Europe), il Fondo di ammortamento del debito a livello europeo (European Redemption Fund), gli European Safe Bond - ESB (acronimo inglese di “Titoli europei sicuri”), i Sovereign Bond Backed Securities - SBBS (acronimo inglese di “Titoli garantiti da obbligazioni sovrane”).
La ricerca esplora i possibili approcci alla prosecuzione del progetto europeo: la via della riduzione del rischio (risk-reduction), la via della condivisione del rischio (risk-sharing), la via della sintesi tra riduzione e condivisione del rischio. Quest’ultima via appare a chi scrive come l’unica politicamente percorribile. La stessa unione monetaria si è realizzata come combinazione tra i due approcci: il processo di convergenza delle finanze pubbliche (risk reduction) ha condotto alla creazione di un’unica banca centrale con il compito di mettere in atto un’unica politica monetaria e del cambio (risk sharing). Vi è però la necessità per l’Italia di fare la propria parte invertendo la traiettoria del rapporto debito-Pil attraverso un serio e rigoroso piano pluriennale di rientro dal debito (risk reduction), per acquisire, agli occhi dei principali partner europei, quella credibilità necessaria per convincerli a dar vita a un vero e proprio debito federale europeo (risk sharing). Gli eurobond non sono l’unico mezzo per raggiungere la finalità di una unificazione politica dell’Europa ma hanno il pregio di mettere insieme l’approccio funzionalista dei passi graduali con quello federalista della meta finale. Analogamente a quanto avvenuto nella storia di alcuni popoli (in particolare negli Stati Uniti d’America) in cui il processo di unificazione dei debiti ha segnato la nascita dello Stato, anche nel vecchio continente l’europeizzazione del debito degli Stati membri, al di là della valenza in termini di finanza pubblica, potrebbe assurgere a un vero e proprio atto “costitutivo” di un futuro Stato federale europeo.
Sotto il profilo metodologico, la ricerca è stata condotta attraverso la strumentazione propria dell’analisi economica del diritto, nella consapevolezza che il mercato – vale a dire il meccanismo economico che orienta il comportamento di individui e gruppi – da solo non è sufficiente ma ha bisogno di regole per poter funzionare. Anzi, se ben regolato, il mercato può essere fattore di sviluppo e di benessere. Questo ragionamento vale anche per il mercato comune e per la moneta unica europea, che da soli non bastano più. Come si è tentato di mostrare in questo lavoro, anche l’Eurozona, per poter sopravvivere e progredire, ha bisogno di un adeguamento delle proprie istituzioni che passa anche attraverso l’emissione congiunta di debito sovrano. Coerentemente con tale impostazione, l’indagine cerca di avere un approccio critico al tema degli eurobond, tentando di analizzarne i singoli aspetti con indipendenza di giudizio. La stesura dei capitoli e dei singoli paragrafi è stata preceduta da un lavoro di documentazione e consultazione di testi, riviste specializzate e articoli. Le conoscenze teoriche acquisite e le idee maturate sono state verificate sul campo, grazie ad un confronto diretto con i dirigenti che, nell’ambito del Dipartimento del Tesoro del Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze, hanno la responsabilità dell’emissione e della gestione del debito pubblico italiano. Chi scrive lavora presso la direzione del Debito pubblico del Dipartimento del Tesoro; cionondimeno, le opinioni che qui esprime sono personali e non rappresentano o impegnano in alcun modo l’amministrazione di appartenenza.
Alla luce delle considerazioni svolte, si ritiene che davvero gli eurobond possano spingere l’Eurozona verso una maggiore integrazione politico-istituzionale. L’analisi economica e giuridica può dare il proprio contributo alla comprensione della questione, ma la scelta dei passi da compiere in concreto spetta alle leadership politiche europee in quanto investite del consenso popolare. Il ricercatore può esporre gli effetti che derivano dall'adozione di una particolare misura o di uno specifico strumento. Oltre non può andare.Eurobonds are not a new topic. They have been present in the economic literature, less in the legal literature, for thirty years, with denominations which change according to the proposed formulations. They are relevant not only in terms of financial economics or public finance, but also because they represent a first step towards the realization of a political union of Europe. Those in favor look at eurobonds not only as a response to the crisis through the financing of public investments, but also as a tool to build up a European fiscal policy in addition to the monetary policy of the European Central Bank. On the contrary, the skeptics underline the fact that such proposals would require too mach time to be implemented and the fact that they have short consent in the Eurozone countries. The introduction of eurobonds presents legal and distributive barriers. The legal barriers are linked to the Article 125 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which provides for so-colled “no bail out clause” (“A Member State shall not be liable for or assume the commitments of central governments, regional, local or other public authorities, other bodies governed by public law, or public under¬ takings of another Member State”). The distributive obstacles, on the other hand, are linked to the way in which Member States could participate in joint issuance of European debt securities. In particular, the virtuous countries of Northern Europe are afraid that they would pay a greater share than the less virtuous countries of the Southern Europe.
First of all, the thesis analyzes the fragility of the European institutions, which depends essentially on having created – contrary to what has happened in the history of peoples – “a currency without a State”. In the end of 2009, this fragility led Europe to the crisis of euro and sovereign debts. To face this fragility, some institutional reforms should be carried out, such as the strengthening of the role of the European Central Bank as a lender of last resort, the completion of the banking union, the deepening of the capital market, the enlargement of the European budget and the centralization of national fiscal policies. These reformes also include the joint issuance of sovereign debts of Eurozone Member States. In this regard, the research examines the existence of possible legal bases for issuing a federal debt of the European Union, different from the debt of the Member States or, alternatively, for joint issuing the debt securities of the Member States.
Secondly, the thesis examines the various proposals of eurobonds, classifying them in two main groups. The first group, based on the joint issuance of debt, includes eurobonds in the strict sense, union bonds, stability bonds, blue and red bonds. These proposals, being based on the joint issuance of debt, are contrary to Article 125 of the TFEU and therefore would require its modification. The second group of proposals – which do not contemplate the joint issuance of debt and therefore do not require the modification of the TFEU – include the PADRE program (Politically Acceptable Debt Restructuring in Europe), the European Redemption Debt Fund, the European Safe Bonds, the Sovereign Bond Backed Securities.
Thirdly, the research explores the possible approaches to the continuation of the European project: the risk-reduction path, the risk-sharing path, the synthesis between risk reduction and risk sharing. This third path seems to be the only politically feasible. As we know, also the monetary union was realized as a combination of the two approaches: the process of convergence of public finances (risk reduction) led to the creation of a single central bank with the task of managing a single monetary policy (risk sharing). However, Italy has to reverse the trend of the debt-to-GDP ratio through a serious and rigorous long-term debt reduction plan (risk reduction), in order to convince the main European partners to issue European federal debt (risk sharing). Eurobonds are not the only tool to achieve the goal of a political unification of Europe but they have the merit of putting together the functionalist approach based on the gradual steps with the federalist approach based on the final goal. Similarly to what has happened in the history of some peoples, such as the United States of America, where the process of unification of debt of the single States has marked the birth of the federal State, even in Europe the consolidation of debt of the Member States might be a constitutive act of the United States of Europe.
Methodologically, the research is based on the economic analysis of law. According to this view, market – the economic mechanism which guides the behavior of individuals and groups – is not enough but needs good regulation. Indeed, if it is well regulated, market may be a factor of development and welfare. This way of thinking is also valid for the European single market and for the euro, which are no longer enough. As we have tried to show in this work, also the Eurozone institutions need a deep reform – including the joint issuance of sovereign debt – for their surviving and progress.
This work tries to have a critical approach to the topic of eurobonds. The theoretical knowledge and ideas have been checked thanks to a direct dialogue with managers who, within the Treasury Department of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, are responsible for issuance and management of the Italian public debt. The author of this research works in the Public Debt Directorate at Treasury Department; nevertheless his opinions are personal and do not represent the Treasury Department.
For these considerations, eurobonds might really push the Eurozone towards a greater political and institutional integration. The economic and legal analysis may give its contribution to the debate, but the actual choices are up to the European policy-makers
Social Robot Co-Design Canvases: A Participatory Design Framework
No full textFunding Information: This project was funded by Futurice. M.A. acknowledges a grant from the project AMIGOS:PTDC/EEISII/7174/2014, and the Osk. Huttunen Foundation, and EP/T517847/1 (EPSRC). R.O. also acknowledges a grant by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia: (FCT) from the project AMIGOS:PTDC/EEISII/7174/2014 and a Ph.D. grant with the following reference: PD/BD/150570/2020. The work of M. R. and V. K. was partially financially supported by Academy of Finland Strategic Research Council project ROSE, 314180. Authors’ addresses: M. Axelsson, University of Cambridge, Department of Computer Science and Technology, The Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building, 15 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0FD; email: minja.axelsson@ cl.cam.ac.uk; R. Oliveira, Group on Artificial Intelligence for People and the Society (GAIPS), INESC-ID, Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon (CIS-IUL), Av. das Forças Armadas, 1649-026, Lisbon, Portugal; M. Racca, Idiap Research Institute, Rue Marconi 19, CH - 1920, Martigny, Switzerland; email: [email protected]; V. Kyrki, Aalto University, Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Maarintie 8, 02130 Espoo, Finland; email: [email protected]. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).Design teams of social robots are often multidisciplinary, due to the broad knowledge from different scientific domains needed to develop such complex technology. However, tools to facilitate multidisciplinary collaboration are scarce. We introduce a framework for the participatory design of social robots and corresponding canvas tool for participatory design. The canvases can be applied in different parts of the design process to facilitate collaboration between experts of different fields, as well as to incorporate prospective users of the robot into the design process. We investigate the usability of the proposed canvases with two social robot design case studies: a robot that played games online with teenage users and a librarian robot that guided users at a public library. We observe through participants' feedback that the canvases have the advantages of (1) providing structure, clarity, and a clear process to the design; (2) encouraging designers and users to share their viewpoints to progress toward a shared one; and (3) providing an educational and enjoyable design experience for the teams.Peer reviewe
Biochemical and physiological parameters associated with Trypanosoma evansi prevalence in wild capybaras
No full textParasites can be detrimental to the health of wildlife populations and may negatively affect several aspects of the life history of their hosts. Investigating host health, therefore, is key to understanding important mechanisms of the host-parasite interaction at the individual and population levels. Recently, we reported a prevalence of 10% of Trypanosoma evansi (Steel 1884) in a population of capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris Linnaeus 1766) from Esteros del Iberรก, Argentina; however, the impact of T. evansi infection in capybaras is unknown. The aim of this study was to explore associations between T. evansi infection and biochemical and physiological parameters in wild capybaras using blood samples (n=60) from a managed population of free-ranging capybaras from Esteros del Iberรก. Infection by T. evansi was negatively associated with body condition, albumin, alpha-2 globulin concentrations, albumin:globulin ratio and eosinophil counts, and it was positively associated with spleen index and gamma-globulin concentrations. These results suggest that T. evansi infection may pose significant impact on the health of wild capybaras.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author
High frequency thermal emission from the lunar surface and near surface temperature of the Moon from Chang'E-2 microwave radiometer
No full textNear surface temperature of the Moon and thermal behaviors of the lunar regolith can provide important information for constraining thermal and magmatic evolution models of the Moon and engineering constrains for in situ lunar exploration system. In this study, China's Chang'E-2 (CE-2) microwave radiometer (MRM) data at high frequency channels are used to investigate near surface temperature of the Moon given the penetration ability of microwave into the desiccated and porous lunar regolith. Factors that affect high frequency brightness temperature (TB), such as surface slope, solar albedo and dielectric constant, are analyzed first using a revised Racca's temperature model. Radiative transfer theory is then used to model thermal emission from a semi-infinite regolith medium, with considering dielectric constant and temperature profiles within the regolith layer. To decouple the effect of diurnal temperature variation in the uppermost lunar surface, diurnal averaged brightness temperatures at high frequency channels are used to invert mean diurnal surface and subsurface temperatures based on their bilinear profiles within the regolith layer. Our results show that, at the scale of the spatial resolution of CE-2 MRM, surface slope of crater wall varies typically from about 20 degrees to 30 degrees, and this causes a variation in TB about 10-15 K. Solar albedo can give rise to a TB difference of about 5-10 K between maria and highlands, whereas a similar to 2-8 K difference can be compensated by the dielectric constant on the other hand. Inversion results indicate that latitude (phi) variations of the mean diurnal surface and subsurface temperatures follow simple rules as cos(030) phi and cos(0.36) phi, respectively. The inverted mean diurnal temperature profiles at the Apollo 15 and 17 landing sites are also compared with the Apollo heat flow experiment data, showing an inversion uncertainty <4 K for surface temperature and <1 K for subsurface temperature. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Astronomy & AstrophysicsSCI(E)[email protected]
Impact of minimal residual disease standardised assessment by FDG-PET/CT in transplant-eligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma enrolled in the imaging sub-study of the FORTE trial
No full textBackground 18F-FDG-PET/CT is the current standard technique to define minimal residual disease (MRD) outside the bone marrow (BM) in multiple myeloma (MM), recently standardised applying the Deauville scores (DS) to focal lesions (FS) and bone marrow uptake (BMS) and defining the complete metabolic response (CMR) as uptake below the liver background (DS 4 in 89%) and 99% increased BM uptake (BMS >4 in 61%). At PM, CMR was achieved in 63% of patients, which was a strong predictor for prolonged PFS in univariate analysis at landmark time PM (HR 0.40, P = 0.0065) and in Cox multivariate analysis (HR 0.31, P= 0.0023). Regarding OS, a trend in favour of CMR was present in univariate (HR 0.44, P = 0.094), and Cox multivariate model (HR 0.17, P = 0.0037). Patients achieving both PET/CT CMR and MFC negativity at PM showed significantly extended PFS in univariate (HR 0.45, P = 0.020) and multivariate analysis (HR 0.41, P = 0.015). Interpretation We herein confirm the applicability and validity of DS criteria to define CMR and its prognostic relevance and complementarity with MFC at the BM level. Funding Amgen, Celgene/Bristol Myers Squibb, Italian Ministry of Health (RC-2022-2773423). Copyright & COPY; 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Alternative splicing and extensive RNA editing of human TPH2 transcripts.
No full textBrain serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmission plays a key role in the regulation of mood and has been implicated in a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions. Tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of 5-HT. Recently, we discovered a second TPH isoform (TPH2) in vertebrates, including man, which is predominantly expressed in brain, while the previously known TPH isoform (TPH1) is primarly a non-neuronal enzyme. Overwhelming evidence now points to TPH2 as a candidate gene for 5-HT-related psychiatric disorders. To assess the role of TPH2 gene variability in the etiology of psychiatric diseases we performed cDNA sequence analysis of TPH2 transcripts from human post mortem amygdala samples obtained from individuals with psychiatric disorders (drug abuse, schizophrenia, suicide) and controls. Here we show that TPH2 exists in two alternatively spliced variants in the coding region, denoted TPH2a and TPH2b. Moreover, we found evidence that the pre-mRNAs of both splice variants are dynamically RNA-edited in a mutually exclusive manner. Kinetic studies with cell lines expressing recombinant TPH2 variants revealed a higher activity of the novel TPH2B protein compared with the previously known TPH2A, whereas RNA editing was shown to inhibit the enzymatic activity of both TPH2 splice variants. Therefore, our results strongly suggest a complex fine-tuning of central nervous system 5-HT biosynthesis by TPH2 alternative splicing and RNA editing. Finally, we present molecular and large-scale linkage data evidencing that deregulated alternative splicing and RNA editing is involved in the etiology of psychiatric diseases, such as suicidal behaviour
Impact of Italian legislation regulating assisted reproduction techniques on ICSI outcomes in severe male factor infertility: A multicentric survey
No full textBackground: In 2004, a law regulating assisted reproduction techniques (ART) was passed in Italy. The new rules allow for the formation and transfer of a maximum of three embryos at one time, whereas embryo selection and embryo storage are prohibited. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of these restrictions on ICSI outcome in couples affected by severe male factor infertility. Methods: Thirteen Italian ART Units were involved in this study. Data were collected on ICSI cycles performed during 2 years before (control group) and 2 years after (study group) the enforcement of the law. Only cases of obstructive azoospermia (OA), non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) and severe oligoastenoteratozoospermia (OAT) (sperm count ≤1 × 10 6 per ml; normal forms ≤5% according to WHO) were included. Laboratory results (fertilization rate, cleavage rate and embryo quality) and clinical outcomes (clinical pregnancy rate, implantation rate, abortion rate) were compared between the two groups. Results: One thousand six hundred and forty ICSI cycles were examined.The control group included 843 cycles (51.4%), whereas the study group consisted in 797 cycles (48.6%). The restrictions imposed by the law significantly reduced the number of good-morphology embryos available for transfer (57.5 versus 50.1% P < 0.001). In addition, the clinical pregnancy rate (32.6 versus 22.6% P < 0.001) and the implantation rate (16.0 versus 12.3% P < 0.05) per cycle were negatively affected by the enforcement of the law. In particular, dramatic reductions in the pregnancy rate (36.6 versus 15.5% P < 0.001) and the implantation rate (17.8 versus 9.8% P < 0.001) were observed in the NOA subgroup. Conclusions: Limiting the number of treated oocytes to three per ICSI cycle significantly reduces the chance of transferring good quality embryos and thus achieving a pregnancy in cases of severe male factor infertility. NOA patients are particularly affected by this restriction imposed by the new Italian law. © The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved
GENDER-SPECIFIC SIDE EFFECTS OF CHEMOTHERAPY IN PANCREATIC CANCER PATIENTS
No full textPancreatic carcinoma incidence showed a significant increase in men over the last few years and the prognosis remains poor. Patients are treated with different pharmacological plans with no evidence about gender-specific adverse effects. We aimed to investigate differences in the incidence of chemotherapy side effects in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, in order to provide insights toward a personalized assistance based in individual needs. The sample population is composed of 207 patients. Regression model highlighted the predictive role of female gender for alopecia, constipation, hand-foot syndrome and epigastric pain. Also considering single therapeutic schemes, gender differences have been reported. Moreover, evaluating the effect of age, a general reduced risk of toxicity has been reported in younger patients. In order to personalize chemotherapy and increase patients survival rate and life quality during the therapy, gender medicine and pharmacology studies are recommended.The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
The prognostic role of next-generation imaging-driven upstaging in newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients
No full text\ua9 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. Purpose: Phase III evidence showed that next-generation imaging (NGI), such as prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PSMA PET/CT), provides higher diagnostic accuracy than bone scan and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (conventional imaging, CI) in the primary staging of intermediate-to-high-risk prostate cancer (PCa) patients. However, due to the lack of outcome data, the introduction of NGI in routine clinical practice is still debated. Analysing the oncological outcome of patients upstaged by NGI (though managed according to CI) might shed light on this issue, supporting the design of randomised trials comparing the effects of treatments delivered based on NGI vs. CI. Methods: We prospectively enrolled a cohort of 100 biopsy-proven intermediate-to-high-risk PCa patients staged with CI and PSMA PET/CT (though managed according to the CI stage), to assess the frequency of the stage migration phenomenon. Stage migration was then assessed as biochemical recurrence—free survival (bRFS) predictor. Results: Three patients were lost at follow-up after imaging. PSMA PET/CT upstaged 26.8% of patients compared to CI, while it downstaged 6.1% of patients. Notably, 50% of patients excluded from surgery due to the presence of bone metastases at CI would have been treated with radical-intent approaches if PSMA PET/CT had guided the treatment choice. After a median follow-up of 6 months of surgically treated patients, 22/83 (26.5%) had biochemical recurrence (BCR). PSMA PET/CT-driven upstaging determined a significant risk increase for BCR (HR:3.41, 95%CI:1.21–9.56, p = 0.019). Including stage migration in a univariable and multivariable model identified PSMA PET/CT-upstaging as an independent predictor of bRFS. Conclusions: In conclusion, implementing NGI for staging purposes improves the prediction of bRFS. Although phase III evidence is still needed, this advancement suggests that NGI may better identify patients who would benefit from local treatments than those who may achieve better oncological outcomes through systemic treatment
