96 research outputs found
Digitally Conscious Design. From the Ideation of a Lamp to its Fabrication as a Case Study
No full textApplying network analysis to explore the global scientific literature on food security
No full textFood security represents one of the most pressing challenges to humankind to be faced in the twenty-first century. Food security is a complex issue dealing with multiple research domains, among which human health and nutrition, environment, and policy. Several recent studies showed that biodiversity loss, soil erosion, and water scarcity are key problems exacerbating the issue of food security at local and global scale. The attention towards the issue of food security, highly recognized by international policy and scientific research, has considerably increased over the last decades. In this context, it is expected that the scientific literature on food security will continue increasing over the next years. The present study aims at exploring the global scientific literature on food security tracking its evolution and trends by applying social network analysis to bibliometric science. The bibliometric analysis performed over the timeframe 1990–2019 allowed the generation of maps based on network data displaying the relationships among scientific journals, researchers, and countries. Results showed that a number of 19,449 publications on food security were published from 193 countries in 3792 journals with 219 different subject categories. Mario Herrero resulted the most productive author with 50 documents, while USA resulted the first country publishing 5634 documents on food security. Among the journals, Food Security ranked first by total link strength, links, and number of documents, while Science showed the highest number of citations. The co-occurrence network map of keywords showed that, over the last decades, the main focus of food security research has shifted from socio-economic to environmental aspects. In conclusion, the integration of social network analysis and bibliometric science resulted a useful approach capable of capturing the multidimensional nature of food security by analyzing a large amount of literature data while identifying the main scientific patterns in this field of science
Broadening the spectrum of SMARCB1-associated malignant tumors: A case of uterine leiomyosarcoma in a patient with schwannomatosis
No full textCan Clinical and Surgical Parameters Be Combined to Predict How Long It Will Take a Tibia Fracture to Heal? A Prospective Multicentre Observational Study: The FRACTING Study
No full textHealing of tibia fractures occurs over a wide time range of months, with a number of risk factors contributing to prolonged healing. In this prospective, multicentre, observational study, we investigated the capability of FRACTING (tibia FRACTure prediction healING days) score, calculated soon after tibia fracture treatment, to predict healing time.
Methods:
The study included 363 patients. Information on patient health, fracture morphology, and surgical treatment adopted were combined to calculate the FRACTING score. Fractures were considered healed when the patient was able to fully weight-bear without pain.
Results:
319 fractures (88%) healed within 12 months from treatment. Forty-four fractures healed after 12 months or underwent a second surgery. FRACTING score positively correlated with days to healing: r = 0.63 (p < 0.0001). Average score value was 7.3 ± 2.5; ROC analysis showed strong reliability of the score in separating patients healing before versus after 6 months: AUC = 0.823.
Conclusions:
This study shows that the FRACTING score can be employed both to predict months needed for fracture healing and to identify immediately after treatment patients at risk of prolonged healing. In patients with high score values, new pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments to enhance osteogenesis could be tested selectively, which may finally result in reduced disability time and health cost savings
Reversion to susceptibility of a carbapenem-resistant clinical isolate of klebsiella pneumoniae producing KPC-3
No full textObjectives:We report the case of a kidney-transplant patient, suffering an intra-abdominal abscess at the surgical site caused by a carbapenem-resistant ST258 Klebsiella pneumoniae clone, producing the KPC-3 carbapenemase. Under tigecycline treatment, the patient developed a sepsis caused by a carbapenem-susceptible ST258 K. pneumoniae strain. Complete DNA sequences of the plasmids carried by the resistant and susceptible strains from this patient were determined. Methods: The complete DNA sequences of plasmids were obtained by applying the 454 Genome Sequencer FLXPLUSprocedure onalibrary constructed of total plasmidDNApurified fromthe carbapenem-resistantand-susceptible strains. Results: In the carbapenem-resistant strain, four plasmids encoding 24 resistance genes, including blaKPC-3, and two putative virulence clusters were detected. In the susceptible strain, large rearrangements occurred in the KPC-carrying plasmid, causing the deletion of the entire Tn4401::blaKPC-3 transposon, with the consequent reversion of the strain to carbapenem susceptibility. The patient was successfully treated with carbapenems and fully recovered. Conclusions: The description of the plasmid content in these two strains gives interesting insights into the plasticity of KPC-carrying plasmids in K. pneumoniae. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved
Risk management profile of etoricoxib: an example of personalized medicine
No full textPaola Patrignani, Stefania Tacconelli, Marta L CaponeDepartment of Medicine and Center of Excellence on Aging, &ldquo;G. D&rsquo;Annunzio&rdquo; University School of Medicine, and &ldquo;Gabriele D&rsquo;Annunzio&rdquo; University Foundation, CeSI, Chieti, ItalyAbstract: The development of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) selective for cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 (named coxibs) has been driven by the aim of reducing the incidence of serious gastrointestinal (GI) adverse events associated with the administration of traditional (t) NSAIDs &ndash; mainly dependent on the inhibition of COX-1 in GI tract and platelets. However, their use has unravelled the important protective role of COX-2 for the cardiovascular (CV) system, mainly through the generation of prostacyclin. In a recent nested-case control study, we found that patients taking NSAIDs (both coxibs and tNSAIDs) had a 35% increase risk of myocardial infarction. The increased incidence of thrombotic events associated with profound inhibition of COX-2-dependent prostacyclin by coxibs and tNSAIDs can be mitigated, even if not obliterated, by a complete suppression of platelet COX-1 activity. However, most tNSAIDs and coxibs are functional COX-2 selective for the platelet (ie, they cause a profound suppression of COX-2 associated with insufficient inhibition of platelet COX-1 to translate into inhibition of platelet function), which explains their shared CV toxicity. The development of genetic and biochemical markers will help to identify the responders to NSAIDs or who are uniquely susceptible at developing thrombotic or GI events by COX inhibition. We will describe possible strategies to reduce the side effects of etoricoxib by using biochemical markers of COX inhibition, such as whole blood COX-2 and the assessment of prostacyclin biosynthesis in vivo.Keywords: etoricoxib, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, COX-2, gastrointestinal toxicity, cardiovascular toxicity, prostacycli
Nitrogen fixation in the western English Channel (NE Atlantic Ocean)
No full textIn temperate Atlantic waters (18.8 to 20.1°C), biological nitrogen fixation has beendemonstrated by 2 independent measurements: 15N-N2 incorporation and nifH identification in theDNA and expressed messenger RNA (mRNA). At 2 stations in the western English Channel, bulkwaters were incubated with 15N-N2. At the high levels of particulate nitrogen (?11.5 ?mol N l–1),absolute fixation rates of 18.9 ± 0.01 and 20.0 nmol N l–1d–1 were determined. While a caveat mustaccompany the magnitude of the rates presented due to the limited number of data, the presence andactivity of diazotrophic organisms in these waters is of ecological significance and may affect currentattitudes to nitrogen and carbon budgets. In particular, our estimate of the rate of N fixation(0.35 mmol N m–2 d–1) is comparable to that of denitrification rates in UK shelf seas. Molecular analysisidentified a diversity of expressed nifH genes, and 21 different prokaryotic nifH transcripts wereidentified
Immunosuppressive Activity of Abatacept on Circulating T Helper Lymphocytes from Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Patients
No full textBACKGROUND:
Abatacept is used in the treatment of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients, but the activity of the drug on T helper cell function is not yet fully known.
METHODS:
The ability of abatacept to affect cytokine production in vitro and the proliferative response to both recall antigens and polyclonal stimulation was firstly assessed in healthy donors. Then, 10 JIA patients who were due to start abatacept treatment were recruited and longitudinally evaluated during the first 90 days of therapy. Both their clinical response to the treatment and in vitro analysis aimed to assess the proliferative response to recall antigens and the proportions of circulating T helper subsets.
RESULTS:
Abatacept reduced the proliferative response to recall antigens and the production of proinflammatory cytokines such as IFN-γ and TNF-α in healthy donors in vitro. It was also efficient in improving symptoms and reducing parameters of inflammation in JIA patients. Abatacept reduced the proliferative response to recall antigens, and this effect was significant soon after drug infusion (2 days). Regarding the proportions of circulating CD4+ T lymphocytes, only a reduction in the frequencies of circulating Treg cells was observed.
CONCLUSIONS:
Abatacept in vitro inhibits proliferation and cytokine production in healthy donors, and reduces parameters of inflammation in vivo in JIA patients. The reduction of the proliferative response to recall antigens induced by abatacept was evident only soon after drug administration, suggesting that its immunosuppressive activity is maintained only for a short time
Wireless smart parking sensor for vehicles detection
No full textThe proposed paper shows a novel and feasible solution for the realization of a smart-parking system. The proposed parking sensor circuit represents a robust and low cost solution for the automotive market to perform parking operations faster and simpler. The sensing strategy is based on both the electromagnetic coupling with the car platform and on an innovative dedicated algorithm implemented in a digital sensor interface for data acquisition and manipulation
Clonally expanded PD-1-expressing T cells are enriched in synovial fluid of juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients
No full textJuvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common chronic rheumatic condition in childhood. Disease etiology remains largely unknown, however a key role in JIA pathogenesis is surely mediated by T cells. T lymphocytes activity is controlled via signals, known as immune-checkpoints (IC). Delivering an inhibitory signal or blocking a stimulatory signal to achieve immune suppression is critical in autoimmune diseases. However, the role of IC in chronic inflammation and autoimmunity must still be deciphered. In this study, we investigated at single cell level the feature of T cells in JIA chronic inflammation both at transcriptome level via single-cell RNA sequencing and at protein level by flow cytometry. We found that despite the heterogeneity in the composition of synovial CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, those characterized by PD-1 expression were clonally expanded Trm-like cells and displayed the highest pro-inflammatory capacity, suggesting their active contribution in sustaining chronic inflammation in situ. Our data support the concept that novel therapeutic strategies targeting PD-1 may be effective in the treatment of JIA. With this approach, it may become possible to target overactive T regardless of their cytokine production profile
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