720 research outputs found
A Virtual Hospital for Medical English: Multimodal sequence-based text studies
No full textThis volume brings together three research strands in the field of Medical English. Over the last 20 years in Italy, courses in English in degree courses in the Faculty of Medicine have continued to grow as have the levels of competence achieved by students. The result has been a dearth of text-based studies that are suitable for the training of students engaged with various aspects of biomedical science. This volume brings together the author’s reflections on aspects that have tended to be neglected in the medical context such as translation and improvements to the organization syntactic structures in biomedical English. The study also embraces analysis of new digital texts and genres that are modifying the medical education landscape with profound effects. The unifying framework is Virtual Hospital, a hypertext template being developed by the author. One part of this is the film medical education training film ForWard which has already been produced by the author in collaboration with others. The volume describes the medical and discourse objectives achievable by integrating ForWard and other texts belonging to various multimodal genres in the Virtual Hospital template
Medical CLIL (Part IV): How the brain works
No full textThe article describes the content and language integration strategy adopted by the author with thirty trainee hospital doctors attending five or six year postgraduate specialisation courses in medicine. It describes the role of personality as a content and language linking factor. Personality contentwise refers to abormal personalities affected by brain disorders, language-wise to confidence in public speaking in English on medical matters. The article explores attempts to measure student performance in relation to other CLIL projects and exemplifies the approach adopted in relation to web genres (two films accessible via the web) and web tools (google docs)
Teaching medical English. An introduction
No full textThe article describes three research paths in Medical English. The first explores Medical English as a variety of English for Special Purposes: lexical, linguistic and textual investigations into medical text-types and genres, medical translation, historical and diachronic studies of medical discourse and so on. The second relates to empirical research on teaching, testing and learning, the weight and value of Medical English across the academic curriculum, transnational recognition of qualifications and the question of evaluating and validating teaching and testing systems. The third is socially oriented and embraces ties with semiotics, psychology and neurosciences, and the global scenario in which Medical English operates
Optimization techniques for Craig Interpolant compaction in Unbounded Model Checking
No full textThis paper addresses the problem of reducing the size of Craig interpolants generated within inner steps of SAT-based Unbounded Model Checking. Craig interpolants are obtained from refutation proofs of unsatisfiable SAT runs, in terms of and/or circuits of linear size, w.r.t. the proof. Existing techniques address proof reduction, whereas interpolant com- paction is typically considered as an implementation problem, tackled using standard logic synthesis techniques. We propose an integrated three step process, in which we: (1) exploit an existing technique to detect and remove redundancies in refutation proofs, (2) apply combinational logic reductions (constant propagation, ODC-based simplifications, and BDD-based sweeping) directly on the proof graph data structure, (3) eventually apply ad hoc combinational logic synthesis steps on interpolant circuits. The overall procedure is novel (as well as parts of the above listed steps), and represents an advance w.r.t. the state-of-the art. The paper includes an experimental evaluation, showing the benefits of the proposed technique, on a set of benchmarks from the Hardware Model Checking Competition 2011
Ribavirin and high dose of interferon-alfa for retreatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C resistant to IFN alone
No full text
Relative expression of growth differentiation factor-9 (GDF9) during canine oocyte in vitro 3D culture
No full textHigh rates of full in vitro maturation of canine oocytes are still far to be obtained. The intrinsic quality of female gametes deeply influences their competence to develop into a fertilizable oocyte and into an embryo; in this scenario the biological activity of several oocyte-secreted factors (OSFs) has a pivotal role. Amongst OSFs, the growth differentiation factor-9 (GDF9) was identified in dog ovaries [1], and the proprotein was immunolocalized in canine oocytes and cumulus cells during in vitro maturation in two-dimensional systems [2]. Data on RNA transcription of specific OSFs are not available and, in this study, the GDF9 relative expression was analyzed in canine oocytes matured in a three-dimensional (3D) culture condition (barium alginate microcapsules) at different time intervals by Real-Time PCR. Grade I COCs (n=332) were collected from ovaries (n=26; replicates=17) of domestic bitches after routine surgery. The oocytes were encapsulated in barium alginate microcapsules and in vitro matured in a controlled atmosphere. At different time intervals (0-24-48-72 hours), the oocytes were enzymatically denuded and the total RNA was isolated using the RNeasy Micro Kit. RNA was reverse transcribed to cDNA using QuantiTect® Reverse Transcription kit. A primer pair was designed for the amplification of canine GDF9 gene, and GAPDH was selected as normalizer gene using the primer pairs by [3]. Relative expression of GDF9 was assessed by Real-Time PCR amplification using SsoFastTM EvaGreen® Supermix on iQTM5 Multicolor Real-Time PCR Detection System. To check the specificity of the GDF9 analysis protocol, amplicons were sequenced and the obtained sequences were aligned to the expected target sequences using BLAST program. Data were analyzed by Mann–Whitney U test, and the level of significance was set at p<0.05. The results showed that after 72 h of IVM, the GDF9 relative expression was significantly lower (p=0.018) compared to that evaluated at 24 or 48 h. No differences were observed in the RNA quantification of oocytes matured for 24 or 48 h (p=0.1). This study demonstrated the gene expression of GDF9 in canine oocytes and the ability of 3D microcapsules to preserve the transcriptional activity of this relevant gene. A decrease of GDF9 relative expression, linked to oocyte full maturation in other species, occurred after 48 h in canine oocytes. This finding confirmed that an extended time for meiosis resumption is required by the oocytes of this species, as evidenced by previous studies on the evaluation of nuclear stage after culture. These results together with further evaluations of other OSFs could provide significant information on the intrinsic quality of female gametes.
[1] Hashimoto O, Takagi R, Yanuma F et al. Identification and characterization of canine growth differentiation factor-9 and its splicing variant. Gene 2012; 499: 266–272. [2] De los Reyes M, Rojas C, Parraguez V et al. Expression of growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF-9) during in vitro maturation in canine oocytes. Theriogenology 2013; 80: 587–596. [3] Mortarino M, Gelain ME, Gioia G et al. ZAP-70 and Syk expression in canine lymphoid cells and preliminary results on leukaemia cases. Vet Immunol Immunopathol 2009; 128: 395–401
Rapid differentiation of dirofilaria immitis and dirofilaria repens in canine peripheral blood by real-time PCR coupled to high resolution melting analysis
No full textDirofilaria immitis and D. repens are the principal causative agents of canine filariosis and, although the number of dogs subjected to specific prevention is increasing, the prevalence of these parasites remains high in many areas of the world. The discrimination between the two Dirofilaria species using the classical diagnostic methods can be difficult and may lead to misdiagnosis especially on samples from areas where both Dirofilaria are present. Over the last years, several molecular methods with higher sensitivity and specificity compared to classical microscopy and ELISA assays were designed. Nevertheless, a need for simple, rapid and cost-effective molecular protocols to accurately discriminate between D. immitis and D. repens still remains. High resolution melting analysis coupled to real-time PCR (real time PCR-HRMA) is a widely used technique to target sequence polymorphisms of the same gene in different species without the need to perform DNA sequencing or to use species-specific probes. In this work, a fast and cost-effective real time PCR-HRMA protocol to detect and differentiate simultaneously and unequivocally D. immitis and D. repens microfilarial DNA extracted from peripheral dog blood samples is described. The present method is simpler to use than most other DNA-based methods and provides comparable discrimination between the two sibling species
Germinal ovarian tumors in reproductive age women: Fertility-sparing and outcome
No full textMOGCTs (malignant ovarian germ cell tumors) are rare tumors that mainly affect patients of reproductive age. The aim of this study was to evaluate the fertility and survival outcomes in young women with MOCGTs treated with fertility-sparing surgery (FSS).From 2000 to 2018, data from 28 patients of reproductive age with a diagnosis of MOGCT at the University of Bari were collected. Most received FSS, and in patients treated conservatively, the reproductive outcome and survival were investigated. Data of patient demographics, clinical presentation, oncology marker dosage, staging, type of surgery, histological examination, survival, and reproductive outcome were collected from hospital and office charts. All informed consent was obtained from all patients. The median age was 24 (range: 9-45 years). The majority of the patients had stage IIIC. Twenty-four woman received FSS consisting of unilateral ovariectomy and omentectomy, whereas only 4 women, based on their stage (IIIC), received a radical surgery (hysterectomy with bilateral adnexectomy, lymphadenectomy, and omentectomy). Our study shows that FSS in MOGCTs can produce good results both on reproductive outcomes and on survival. Indeed, in our group, there was only 1 case of exitus as result of recurrence. Furthermore, patients after FSS maintained normal ovarian function and 5 of 5 women who tried to get pregnant succeeded spontaneously. The median follow-up was 90 months (range 3-159).Conservative surgery for MOGCTs should be considered for women of reproductive age who wish to preserve fertility
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