71 research outputs found
Gut Microbiota Features in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. [*Coretti L. corresponding author]
No full textProliferation and/or depletion of clusters of specific bacteria regulate intestinal functions and may interfere with neuro-immune communication and behavior in patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Consistently, qualitative and quantitative alteration of bacterial metabolites may functionally affect ASD pathophysiology. Up to date, age-restricted cohort studies, that may potentially help to identify specific microbial signatures in ASD, are lacking. We investigated the gut microbiota (GM) structure and fecal short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) levels in a cohort of young children (2-4 years of age) with ASD, with respect to age-matched neurotypical healthy controls. Strong increase of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria and decrease of Actinobacteria was observed in these patients. Among the 91 OTUs whose relative abundance was altered in ASD patients, we observed a striking depletion of Bifidobacterium longum, one of the dominant bacteria in infant GM and, conversely, an increase of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, a late colonizer of healthy human gut and a major butyrate producer. High levels of F. prausnitzii were associated to increase of fecal butyrate levels within normal range, and over representation of KEGG functions related to butyrate production in ASD patients. Here we report unbalance of GM structure with a shift in colonization by gut beneficial bacterial species in ASD patients as off early childhood
Investigating the generalizability of Economic Evaluations conducted in Italy: a critical review
No full textbstract: Aim. To assess the methodological quality of Italian HEEs and their generalizability or
transferability to different settings.
Methods. A literature search was performed on Pubmed search engine to identify trial-based, non-
experimental prospective studies or model-based full economic evaluations, carried out in Italy from
1995 to 2013. The studies were randomly assigned to four reviewers who applied a detailed checklist
to assess the generalizability and the quality of reporting. The review process followed a three-step
blinded procedure. The reviewers who carried out the data extraction were blind as to the name of the
author(s) of each study. Second, after the first review, articles were re-assigned through a second blind
randomization to a second reviewer. Finally, any disagreement between the first two reviews was
solved by a senior researcher.
Results. One-hundred fifty-one economic evaluations eventually met the inclusion criteria. Over time,
we observed an increasing transparency of methods and a greater generalizability of results, along
with a wider and more representative sample in trials and a larger adoption of transition-Markov
models. On the other hand, often context-specific economic evaluations are carried out and not enough
effort is done to assure the transferability of their results to other contexts. In recent studies, Cost-
Effectiveness Analyses and the use of the Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio were preferred.
Conclusion. Despite a quite positive temporal trend, generalizability of results still appears as an
unsolved question, even if some indication of improvement within Italian studies has been observe
Investigating the Generalizability of Economic Evaluations Conducted in Italy: A Critical Review
No full textObjectives To assess the methodological quality of Italian health economic evaluations and their generalizability or transferability to different settings. Methods A literature search was performed on the PubMed search engine to identify trial-based, nonexperimental prospective studies or model-based full economic evaluations carried out in Italy from 1995 to 2013. The studies were randomly assigned to four reviewers who applied a detailed checklist to assess the generalizability and quality of reporting. The review process followed a three-step blinded procedure. The reviewers who carried out the data extraction were blind as to the name of the author(s) of each study. Second, after the first review, articles were reassigned through a second blind randomization to a second reviewer. Finally, any disagreement between the first two reviewers was solved by a senior researcher. Results One hundred fifty-one economic evaluations eventually met the inclusion criteria. Over time, we observed an increasing transparency in methods and a greater generalizability of results, along with a wider and more representative sample in trials and a larger adoption of transition-Markov models. However, often context-specific economic evaluations are carried out and not enough effort is made to ensure the transferability of their results to other contexts. In recent studies, cost-effectiveness analyses and the use of incremental cost-effectiveness ratio were preferred. Conclusions Despite a quite positive temporal trend, generalizability of results still appears as an unsolved question, even if some indication of improvement within Italian studies has been observed
Epidemiology of invasive fungal infections in the intensive care unit: results of a multicenter Italian survey (AURORA Project).
No full textAbstract
Purpose: The aims of this study are to evaluate the epidemiology of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) in patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) in Southern Italy and the in vitro antifungal susceptibility of isolates. Methods: A surveillance program was implemented in 18 ICUs. IFI cases were recorded using a standardized form. Results: A total of 105 episodes of IFIs occurred in 5,561 patients during the 18-month study. The main infections were caused by yeasts, more than filamentous fungi (overall incidence of 16.5 cases per 1,000 admissions and 2.3 cases per 1,000 admissions, respectively). The overall crude mortality rate was high (42.8 %), particularly for mold infections (61.5 %). All yeast infections were Candida bloodstream infections. Over half (59.8 %) were caused by Candida non-albicans, with C. parapsilosis being the most common (61.8 %). In the multivariate model, trauma admission diagnosis, prolonged stay in the ICU, and parenteral nutrition were independently associated with candidemia due to C. parapsilosis [odds ratio (OR) 3.5, (1.8-5.2); OR 3.5, (1.02-3.5); OR 3.6, (1.28-6.99), respectively]. Among mold infections, 12 patients suffered from invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, with Aspergillus fumigatus as the predominant pathogen (41.7 %). One case of brain scedosporiosis was identified. Overall, azoles and echinocandins resistance was uncommon. Conclusions: Candida non-albicans species are the most frequent cause of candidemia in ICU patients. Mold infections are associated with a high mortality rate. This study confirms the importance of the epidemiological surveillance on IFIs in the ICU setting for documenting species distribution and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns to guide therapeutic choices. © 2013 The Author(s)
LSPE-STRIP: SCAT103T Inclinometer Qualification Test
No full textThis document describes a qualification test for the SCAT103T differential inclinometer. The test is aimed at determining the noise figure and stability of the proposed differential inclinometer for LSPE-STRIP. The SCA103T Series is a 3D-MEMS-based single axis inclinometer family that uses the differential measurement principle
Software acceleration on Xilinx FPGAs using OmpSs@FPGA ecosystem
No full textThe OmpSs@FPGA programming model allows offloading application functionality to Xilinx Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The OmpSs compiler splits the code (written in C/C++ high level language) in two parts, targeting the host and the FPGA. The first is usually compiled by the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), while the latter is given to the Xilinx Vivado HLS tool (hereafter HLS) for high level synthesis to VHDL and bitstream used to program the FPGA. OmpSs@FPGA is based on compiler directives, which allow the programmer to annotate the part of the code to automatically exploit all Symmetric MultiProcessor system (smp) and FPGA resource available in the execution platform.
This technical report provides both descriptive and hands-on introductions to
build application-specific FPGA systems using the high-level OmpSs@FPGA tool.
The goal is to give the reader a baseline view of the process of creating an optimized hardware design annotating C-based code with HLS directives. We assume the reader has a working knowledge of C/C++, and familiarity with basic computer architecture concepts (e.g. speedup, parallelism, pipelining)
Industrial solutions trends for the control of HiRes spectrograph@E-ELT
No full textStarting a few years ago, ESO initiated a number of projects aiming to explore the possible adoption of industrial standards and commercial off-the-shelf components (COTS) for the control of future VLT and E-ELT instrumentations. In this context, ESPRESSO, the next generation high-stability spectrograph for the VLT and to a certain extent, a precursor of HiRes, has adopted since the preliminary design phase those solutions. Based on the ESPRESSO experience and taking into account the requirements inferred from the preliminary Hi-Res studies in terms of both high-level operations as well as low-level control, I will present in this paper the current proposal for the HiRes hardware architecture. <P /
Evaluating SoC power efficiency through N-body application
No full textCurrently, the High Performance Computing (HPC) sector is undergoing a profound phase of innovation, in which the main stopper in order to achieve "exascale" performance is the power-consumption. The usage of "unconventional" low-cost computing systems is therefore of great interest for several scientific communities looking for a better trade-off between performance and power consumption. In this technical report, we make a performance assessment of commodity low-power System on Chip (SoC) using a direct N-body application for astrophysics. We also describe the methodology we have employed to measure the power drained by the application while running.
We find that SoC technology could represent a valid alternative to traditional technology for HPC in terms of good trade-off between time-to-solution and energy-to-solution.
This work arises in the framework of the ExaNeSt and EuroExa projects, which investigate the design of a SoC-based, low-power HPC architecture with a dedicated interconnection scalable to million of compute units
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