13 research outputs found
Texture analysis of CT images for vascular segmentation: a revised Run Length approach
No full textIn this paper we present a textural feature analysis applied to a medical image segmentation problem where other methods fail, i.e. the localization of thrombotic tissue in the aorta. This problem is extremely relevant because many clinical applications are being developed for the computer assisted, image driven planning of vascular intervention, but standard segmentation techniques based on edges or gray level thresholding are not able to differentiate thrombus from surrounding tissues like vena, pancreas having similar HU average and noisy patterns [3,4]. Our work consisted in a deep analysis of the texture segmentation approaches used for CT scans, and on experimental tests performed to find out textural features that better discriminate between thrombus and other tissues. Found that some Run Length codes perform well both in literature and experiments, we tried to understand the reason of their success suggesting a revision of this approach with feature selection and the use of specifically thresholded Run Lengths that improves the discriminative power of measures reducing the computational cost
Fenomeni dissociativi in un campione di pazienti Borderline La patologia dissociativa come processo patogenetico nucleare del Disturbo Borderline di Personalità
No full textObiettivi. Scopi di tale studio sono: indagare il rapporto tra fenomeni dissociativi e Disturbo Borderline di Personalità, indagare rispetto a quale fattore sintomatologico dissociativo sia più forte il legame con il DBP e, infine, indagare se la presenza di fenomeni dissociativi sia legata al numero di tratti (sintomi) di DBP o alla diagnosi dello stesso. Metodi. Al campione (n = 1033), estratto dalla popolazione di pazienti di un ambulatorio di salute mentale privato della provincia di Napoli, sono stati somministrati gli strumenti DES e SCID II. Le valutazioni inferenziali sono state effettuate applicando il test T di Student, la regressione logistica e l’anova ad una via. Le variabili continue sono state standardizzate prima di effettuare il test di regressione. I dati raccolti sono stati trattati statisticamente attraverso l’ausilio del pacchetto SPSS per le analisi statistiche. Risultati. Il punteggio medio alla DES totale è significativamente più alto (t = -3,11) nei soggetti con DBP (μ = 17,38) rispetto a quello dei soggetti senza DBP (μ = 10,72). Dalla regressione logistica emerge che il legame tra fenomeni dissociativi e DBP è forte in relazione al Fattore III della DES (depersonalizzazione/derealizzazione) e che all’aumentare di un punto standard del Fattore III della DES aumenta del 50% la probabilità di riscontrare un DBP. L’analisi della varianza evidenzia che all’aumentare del numero di tratti di DBP si manifestano punteggi medi più alti alla DES totale. Discussione e conclusioni. Si evidenzia che i fenomeni dissociativi sono più frequenti nei pazienti con DBP rispetto ai pazienti senza DBP. Si evidenzia, inoltre, che il legame tra fenomeni dissociativi e DBP è più forte per quanto riguarda il fattore sintomatologico di depersonalizzazione/derealizzazione. Si rileva, infine, che i punteggi medi alla DES TOT aumentano all’aumentare del numero di tratti di DBP ma che, in particolare, tali punteggi sono più alti alla presenza di 4 tratti. Questa evidenza ci consente di concludere che il legame tra fenomeni dissociativi e DBP si collega al numero di tratti di DBP e non necessariamente alla diagnosi dello stesso.Aims. This study aims to investigate the relationship between dissociative phenomena and the Borderline Personality Disorder, in order to identify which one of dissociative symptoms factor has a stronger tie with Borderline Personality Disorder. Moreover, this study aims to find out if the presence of dissociative symptoms is linked to the number of Borderline Personality Disorder traits (symptoms), or the Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis itself. Methods. A representative sample (n = 1033) was selected from patients visiting a private mental health clinical center in Naples. Inclusion criteria provided both Borderline Personality Disorder and non-Borderline Personality Disorder patients. The Dissociative Experiences Scale and the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV Axis II Disorders were used in order to collect data. Statistical Analysis involved the Student’s T-test, logistic regression and one-way Analysis of Variance. Continuous variables were standardized before the regression test. In addition, collected data were analyzed by the software Statistical Package of Social Science. Results. The mean of DES-Total scores in Borderline Personality Disorder patients (μ = 17,38) was significantly higher (t = -3,11) than in non-Borderline Personality Disorder patients (μ = 10,72). Logistic regression showed a strong link between dissociative phenomena and Borderline Personality Disorder respect to DES Factor III (depersonalization/derealization). Furthermore, it shows how increasing one standard point in DES Factor III increases by 50% the chance to detect a Borderline Personality Disorder. Lastly, the Analysis of Variance highlighted that more the number of Borderline Personality Disorder traits increase, the higher average are shown on DES-Total scores. Discussion and conclusions. The study has shown that Dissociative phenomena are more frequent in Borderline Personality Disorder patients rather than non-Borderline Personality Disorder patients. Moreover, it shows that the link between dissociative phenomena and Borderline Personality Disorder is stronger in relation to symptom factor depersonalization/derealisation. Finally, results show that DES-Total mean scores increase as Borderline Personality Disorder traits number increases, with higher scores when four specific traits are detected. This evidence confirms that the relationship between dissociative phenomena and Borderline Personality Disorder depends on the number of Borderline Personality Disorder traits detected, but not necessarily on the Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis
"Organic District": identification methodology and agricultural policy objectives
No full textItaly, unlike other countries, has included the territorial dimension in the recent interventions and regulations of organic agriculture, introducing explicitly the concept of “organic district”. It is defined as a local productive system with a high agricultural vocation where organic production and processing practices are predominant. The main object of this new subject is to promote the diffusion of organic agriculture focusing on the productive and environmental territorial characteristic. In this poster, after a general definition of the organic districts, as they are introduced in the Italian regulations, a method for their identification in a region is proposed. In the final part, some considerations about the role of the organic district within the general framework of agro-environmental policies are developed.organic district, agro-environmental policies, organic agriculture, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy,
Leukotrienes in Atherosclerosis: New Target Insights and Future Therapy Perspectives
No full textAtherosclerosis represents an important chronic inflammatory process associated with several pathophysiological reactions in the vascular wall. The arachidonic acid, released by phospholipase A2, is an important substrate for the production of a group of lipid mediators known as leukotrienes, which induce proinflammatory signaling through the activation of specific BLT and CysLT receptors. The interaction of these substances in the vascular wall determines important morphological alterations like the early lipid retention and the accumulation of foam cells, the development of intimal hyperplasia, and advanced atherosclerotic lesions, and it plays an important role in the rupture of atherosclerotic plaque. Many studies regarding myocardial ischemia and reperfusion show that leukotriene signaling may be involved in the development of ischemic injury. For these, reasons both leukotriene synthesis inhibitors and leukotriene receptor antagonists have been suggested for inducing beneficial effects at different stages of the atherosclerosis process and may represent a new therapeutic target in the treatment of atherosclerotic vessel diseases, in particular in acute coronary syndrome
Dielectric Micro‐ and Sub‐Micrometric Spacers for High‐Temperature Energy Converters
No full textDielectric microspacers (DMS) are important components in thermal energy converters. Engineered DMS are fabricated and characterized on different substrates by depositing patterned ceramic thin films of alumina (Al2O3) and zirconia (ZrO2) with a thickness ranging from 0.3 to 3 mu m. Both Al2O3 and ZrO2 films are electrically and thermally optimized, finding zirconia more suitable as a thermal and electrical insulating material at high temperature, whereas the developed DMS are morphologically analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. The analysis of thermal simulations carried out with COMSOL Multiphysics allows identifying the best geometrical constraints for each single structure, whereas simulations carried out by the Fluent software allow identifying the best arrangement for DMS, leading to a solution with optimized pattern in terms of amount and spatial distribution so to achieve the required electrical and thermal insulation for practical applications. DMS are integrated within thermionic-photovoltaic devices to be validated experimentally, and enhanced electron emission measurements are successfully performed at a cathode temperature up to 1350 degrees C to verify the operational feasibility and potential of this technology
The development and the impact of Organic Farming Policy in the European Regions (1998-2003)
No full textThis paper summarises the findings of WP 1.3 and WP 2 of the EU-CEEOFP project. Specifically, it presents the results of the analysis of the development and impact of Organic Farming Policy at the regional level in the EU-15
The development and the impact of Organic Farming Policy in the European Regions
No full textAbstract -In this paper we present a summary of the results of the regional analysis of the EU-funded project "Further development of organic farming policy, with particular emphasis on EU-enlargement (EU-CEEOFP)". The research focused on the regional changes in organic farming growth based on a comparison of production data between two time periods: pre and post implementation of measures under EU Agenda 2000. Some policy conclusions can be drawn, albeit the availability of good regional data didn't allow a detailed impact analysis of EU policies
Image compression with anisotropic diffusion
No full textCompression is an important field of digital image processing where well-engineered methods with high performance exist. Partial differential equations (PDEs), however, have not much been explored in this context so far. In our paper we introduce a novel framework for image compression that makes use of the interpolation qualities of edge-enhancing diffusion. Although this anisotropic diffusion equation with a diffusion tensor was originally proposed for image denoising, we show that it outperforms many other PDEs when sparse scattered data must be interpolated. To exploit this property for image compression, we consider an adaptive triangulation method for removing less significant pixels from the image. The remaining points serve as scattered interpolation data for the diffusion process. They can be coded in a compact way that reflects the B-tree structure of the triangulation. We supplement the coding step with a number of amendments such as error threshold adaptation, diffusion-based point selection, and specific quantisation strategies. Our experiments illustrate the usefulness of each of these modifications. They demonstrate that for high compression rates, our PDE-based approach does not only give far better results than the widely-used JPEG standard, but can even come close to the quality of the highly optimised JPEG2000 codec
Fenomeni dissociativi in un campione di pazienti Borderline La patologia dissociativa come processo patogenetico nucleare del Disturbo Borderline di Personalità
No full textAims. This study aims to investigate the relationship between dissociative phenomena and the Borderline Personality Disorder, in order to identify which one of dissociative symptoms factor has a stronger tie with Borderline Personality Disorder. Moreover, this study aims to find out if the presence of dissociative symptoms is linked to the number of Borderline Personality Disorder traits (symptoms), or the Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis itself. Methods. A representative sample (n = 1033) was selected from patients visiting a private mental health clinical center in Naples. Inclusion criteria provided both Borderline Personality Disorder and non-Borderline Personality Disorder patients. The Dissociative Experiences Scale and the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV Axis II Disorders were used in order to collect data. Statistical Analysis involved the Student’s T-test, logistic regression and one-way Analysis of Variance. Continuous variables were standardized before the regression test. In addition, collected data were analyzed by the software Statistical Package of Social Science. Results. The mean of DES-Total scores in Borderline Personality Disorder patients (μ = 17,38) was significantly higher (t = -3,11) than in non-Borderline Personality Disorder patients (μ = 10,72). Logistic regression showed a strong link between dissociative phenomena and Borderline Personality Disorder respect to DES Factor III (depersonalization/derealization). Furthermore, it shows how increasing one standard point in DES Factor III increases by 50% the chance to detect a Borderline Personality Disorder. Lastly, the Analysis of Variance highlighted that more the number of Borderline Personality Disorder traits increase, the higher average are shown on DES-Total scores. Discussion and conclusions. The study has shown that Dissociative phenomena are more frequent in Borderline Personality Disorder patients rather than non-Borderline Personality Disorder patients. Moreover, it shows that the link between dissociative phenomena and Borderline Personality Disorder is stronger in relation to symptom factor depersonalization/derealisation. Finally, results show that DES-Total mean scores increase as Borderline Personality Disorder traits number increases, with higher scores when four specific traits are detected. This evidence confirms that the relationship between dissociative phenomena and Borderline Personality Disorder depends on the number of Borderline Personality Disorder traits detected, but not necessarily on the Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis
