26 research outputs found
Manipolatore frugale creato con materiali non convenzionali e con compensazione automatica di errori di assemblaggio
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Development of exoskeletons and motion measurement to reduce olive harvesting labor
No full textThis paper focuses on the evaluation of passive exoskeletons designed to reduce farmers’ fatigue during harvest. A preliminary infield test identifies typical harvesting, and then these motions are reproduced and analyzed under controlled conditions in the laboratory. Here, we present some biomechanical results obtained with and without two exoskeleton prototypes. The high repeatability of the recorded motions proves the consistency of the experimental procedures. Data analysis supports an objective evaluation of the exoskeleton prototypes and aids design optimization. This study has demonstrated the effectiveness of the designed exoskeletons in reducing workload in olive harvesting
Antigen Load and T Cell Function: A Challenging Interaction in HBV Infection
No full textCurrent treatment for chronic HBV infection is mainly based on nucleos(t)ide analogues, that in most cases need to be administered for a patient’s lifetime. There is therefore a pressing need to develop new therapeutic strategies to shorten antiviral treatments. A severe dysfunction of virus-specific T cell responses contributes to virus persistence; hence, immune-modulation to reconstitute an efficient host antiviral response is considered a potential approach for HBV cure. In this perspective, a detailed understanding of the different causes of T cell exhaustion is essential for the design of successful functional T cell correction strategies. Among many different mechanisms which are widely believed to play a role in T cell dysfunction, persistent T cell exposure to high antigen burden, in particular HBsAg, is expected to influence T cell differentiation and function. Definitive evidence of the possibility to improve anti-viral T cell functions by antigen decline is, however, still lacking. This review aims at recapitulating what we have learned so far on the complex T cell–viral antigen interplay in chronic HBV infection
SELECTIVE ASSOCIATIVE PHONAGNOSIA AFTER RIGHT ANTERIOR TEMPORAL STROKE
No full textWe report the case of a 48 year old men who developed a selective impairment in famous voice recognition after ischemic stroke in right subcortical structures (lenticular nucleus and head of the caudate) and right anterior temporal lobe. He underwent fibrinolytic treatment. During the following days he progressively recovered and was discharged without neurological focal sign. Patent foramen ovale was found. When he got back to his house he noticed that he was unable to recognize the voice of his favoured singers and needed to ask who was the singer to his relatives. Neuropsychological examination revealed a selective impairment in famous voice recognition in the absence of alteration of voice perception, face perception and famous face recognition. All other neuropsychological domains were spared. In particular language, memory and executive functions were intact. Neuroimaging carried out by means of PET and MRI revealed two small ischemic lesions in the right subcortical region, involving lenticular and caudate nuclei and in the right temporal pole. To our knowledge, this is the first case described in literature of a patient showing a selective associative phonagnosia after right anterior temporal stroke. The present case helps to clarify the brain circuits underlying famous voice recognition and adds evidence in favour of a right hemisphere involvement in processing knowledge of familiar voices. These findings are discussed in relation to current models of brain organization of person-specific and general semantic knowledge.
High CD49a+ NK cell infiltrate is associated with poor clinical outcomes in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
No full textNK cells infiltrating Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) may express residency markers such as Integrin Subunit Alpha 1 (CD49a) that have been associated with nurturing functions in the decidua, and characterized by the production of angiogenic factors as well as loss of cytotoxicity. CIBERSORT, a computational analysis method for quantifying cell fractions from bulk tissue gene expression profiles, was used to estimate the infiltrating immune cell composition of the tumor microenvironment from gene expression profiles of a large cohort of 225 HCCs in the public GEO database. Decidual-like CD49a+ NK cells, in addition to another 22 immune cell populations, were characterized and thoroughly investigated so that HCC cell heterogeneity in a large cohort of 225 HCCs from the public GEO database could be studied. An inverse correlation of the expression of CD49a+ NK-cells and CD8+ T-cells suggested a negative association with clinical outcomes. This result was confirmed in a further validation cohort of 100 HCC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas, Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (TCGA-LIHC). Cox regression analysis did not identify CD49a+ cells as a variable independently associated with survival. However, a more abundant infiltrate of this subset was present in patients at a more advanced pathological and clinical HCC stage. In conclusion, we found that NK cells, with a decidual-like gene expression profile, are enriched in HCC, and their abundance increases not only in tumor size but also at advanced stages of the disease suggesting that these cells play a role in tumor growth. For this reason, these NK cells may represent a possible new target for immunotherapeutic approaches in HCC
