190 research outputs found
Real-world effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination among children in Italy
No full textWe analyzed here the clinical efficacy of mRNA-based coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines among Italian children aged 5-11 years using data published by the National Institute of Health. Vaccination status was associated with a reduced risk of COVID-19 related hospitalizations and ICU admissions, which were 41% (odds ratio, 0.59; 95%CI, 0.46-0.77) and 68% (odds ratio, 0.32; 95%CI, 0.04-2.63) lower in children who completed the vaccination cycle <120 days compared to the unvaccinated matched population
MetalDetector v2.0: Predicting the geometry of metal binding sites from protein sequence
No full textMetalDetector identifies CYS and HIS involved in transition metal protein binding sites, starting from sequence alone. A major new feature of release 2.0 is the ability to predict which residues are jointly involved in the coordination of the same metal ion. The server is available at http://metaldetector.dsi.unifi.it/v2.0/. © 2011 The Author(s)
Prediction of protein β-residue contacts by Markov logic networks with grounding-specific weights
No full textMotivation: Accurate prediction of contacts between β-strand residues can significantly contribute towards ab initio prediction of the 3D structure of many proteins. Contacts in the same protein are highly interdependent. Therefore, significant improvements can be expected by applying statistical relational learners that overcome the usual machine learning assumption that examples are independent and identically distributed. Furthermore, the dependencies among β-residue contacts are subject to strong regularities, many of which are known a priori. In this article, we take advantage of Markov logic, a statistical relational learning framework that is able to capture dependencies between contacts, and constrain the solution according to domain knowledge expressed by means of weighted rules in a logical language. Results: We introduce a novel hybrid architecture based on neural and Markov logic networks with grounding-specific weights. On a non-redundant dataset, our method achieves 44.9% F1 measure, with 47.3% precision and 42.7% recall, which is significantly better (P < 0.01) than previously reported performance obtained by 2D recursive neural networks. Our approach also significantly improves the number of chains for which β-strands are nearly perfectly paired (36% of the chains are predicted with F1 ≥ 70% on coarse map). It also outperforms more general contact predictors on recent CASP 2008 targets. © The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
Innovative haematological parameters for early diagnosis of sepsis in adult patients admitted in intensive care unit
No full textAIMS: This study was aimed to investigate the role of erythrocyte, platelet and reticulocyte (RET) parameters, measured by new haematological analyser Sysmex XN and C reactive protein (CRP), for early diagnosis of sepsis during intensive care unit (ICU) stay. METHODS: The study population consisted of 62 ICU patients, 21 of whom developed sepsis during ICU stay and 41 who did not. The performance for early diagnosing of sepsis was calculated as area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristics curves analysis. RESULTS: Compared with CRP (AUC 0.81), immature platelet fraction (IPF) (AUC 0.82) showed comparable efficiency for identifying the onset of sepsis. The association with the risk of developing sepsis during ICU stay was also assessed. One day before the onset of sepsis, a decreased of RET% was significantly associated with the risk of developing sepsis (OR=0.35, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.87), whereas an increased of IPF absolute value (IPF#) was significantly associated with the risk of developing sepsis (OR=1.13, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.24) 2 days before the onset of sepsis. The value of CRP was not predictive of sepsis at either time points. CONCLUSIONS: IPF# and RET% may provide valuable clinical information for predicting the risk of developing sepsis, thus allowing early management of patients before the onset of clinically evident systemic infections
Association of inflammation with anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease not requiring chronic dialysis.
No full textBackground. Anaemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) has substantial public health importance. However, the association of haemoglobin concentrations with inflammation in the setting of decreased kidney function is not well established. Methods. We analysed cross-sectional data from 7389 outpatient adults, who were referred by general practitioners for routine blood testing between June 2006 and June 2007. Glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was estimated by the abbreviated Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation. Multivariable linear regression analysis was used to identify factors independently associated with haemoglobin concentrations across eGFR categories as the main outcome. Results. Of the 7389 participants included in the analytic cohort 2221 (30.1%) participants had eGFR ≥90 mL/min/m2, 4310 (58.3%) 60-89 mL/min/m2 and 858 (11.6%) <60 mL/min/m2. There were significant, graded, increases in high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and haemoglobin concentrations across eGFR categories independent of age, gender, plasma glucose and lipids (P < 0.0001 for trends). In the multivariable regression analysis, increased hs-CRP concentrations were independently associated with lower haemoglobin concentrations at different stages of eGFR (P < 0.0001 for all). Other independent predictors of lower haemoglobin were older age, female gender and lower eGFR. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that increased plasma hs-CRP concentrations are independently associated with anaemia in the setting of decreased kidney function in a large cohort of unselected adult outpatients. © The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved
Dino Buzzati’s 50th death anniversary: an appraisal of medicine and infectivology’s influence on his literary production
No full textBackground and aim: This paper, in the 50th anniversary of the author’s death, examines the overall impact and influence of medicine, in particular of infectious diseases, on the literary production of Italian writer and novelist Dino Buzzati (1906-1972). Methods: Analysis of literary sources and historical study. Results and conclusions: Buzzati’s literary world is great fun for the reader, being both intriguing and anxiety forming at the same time. One finishes reading his books only to discover the one truth which overturns everything that seemed to be true. In particular, in his short stories, which stem mostly from episodes taken from everyday life, the plot suddenly comes to life. The atmosphere becomes surreal, and in a moment the incredible happens. Behind the apparent lightness of the fairytale narrative there lies hidden the important issues addressed by the author. He uses the hospital as a metaphor for a categorised life, in which we are at risk of no longer being masters of ourselves, in which we suffer a continuous steady drip that makes us head downwards day after day, floor after floor. We will come back up, but not today, tomorrow perhaps, or at the latest, the day after tomorrow. Corte on the second floor hopes, and screams to give strength to his hope, that he will soon return to the top, towards the seventh floor. (www.actabiomedica.it)
MetalDetector: A web server for predicting metal-binding sites and disulfide bridges in proteins from sequence
No full textThe web server MetalDetector classifies histidine residues in proteins into one of two states (free or metal bound) and cysteines into one of three states (free, metal bound or disulfide bridged). A decision tree integrates predictions from two previously developed methods (DISULFIND and Metal Ligand Predictor). Cross-validated performance assessment indicates that our server predicts disulfide bonding state at 88.6% precision and 85.1% recall, while it identifies cysteines and histidines in transition metal-binding sites at 79.9% precision and 76.8% recall, and at 60.8% precision and 40.7% recall, respectively. © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
First evaluation of neutron induced single event effects on the CMS barrel muon electronics
No full textNeutron irradiation tests of the currently available electronics for the CMS barrel muon detector were performed using Thermal and fast neutrons at E< 11MeV. The Single Event Upset rate on the Static RAM was measured, while upper limits are derived for events having experienced no failure. The results are used to guess the upper limits on the mean time between failures in the whole barrel muon detector
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