98 research outputs found
Trombosis venosa profunda primaria del miembro superior. Consideraciones epidemiologicas y patogenicas
No full textVolcanic deformation mapping using PSInSAR: Piton de la Fournaise, Stromboli and Vulcano test sites for the Globvolcano project
No full textLongitudinal Study of the Respiratory Function in Preterm Born Children: Comparison Between Subjects with and without Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia
No full textAbstract
The long-term changes of the respiratory function in patients with broncho-pulmonary dysplasia (BPD) are still largely unknown.
Aim: To study longitudinally the lung function of patients with BPD approaching the adulthood, compared with preterm born subjects without BPD (non-BPD).
Methods: 23 preterm born subjects with a gestational age of 23 ± 3 weeks and birth weight of 1296 ± 543 gr were studied and divided in two groups, one with BPD (n = 13) and one without BDP (n = 10) according to the Shennan definition and then reclassified following the definition NICHHD (n = 16 BPD and n = 7 non-BPD). Pulmonary function testing was performed at age of 9.2 ± 2.2 yr (T1)
and 15.2 ± 2.3 yr (T2). The two groups were compared both at T1 and T2 and changes from T1 and T2 were assessed in both groups.
Results: The functional parameters of the non-BPD subjects were in the normal range at T1, except FEF25-75% that, however,
showed a tendency towards the normality at T2. The BPD patients had mild airflow obstruction, mainly localized in the small airways, with marked air trapping at T1. A significant improvement of lung volumes and maximal expiratory flows was observed at T2.
Conclusions: The presence of BPD was associated with an obstructive ventilatory defect at age 9, substantially involving the peripheral airways that still persisted at age 15, although with a lesser degree of severity
Observing crustal deformation and atmospheric signals from COSMO-SKYMED and GPS data
No full textThe combined use of InSAR and GPS allows for the full exploitation of the complementary aspects of the two
techniques by overcoming the limitations inherent in the use of each technique alone. Additionally, GPS-based
estimates of tropospheric delays may contribute in obtaining better corrections of the wet tropospheric path delay in InSAR signals. This will enhance the coherence and will allow the application of InSAR in a wider range of
applications.
We have compared the InSAR and GPS data at Bologna (urbanized area) and Medicina (agricultural area), in
northeastern Italy, where two permanent GPS stations of the University of Bologna are operational since mid
1999 and 1996 respectively. The InSAR data used are the COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) images made available by
the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in the framework of the research contract AO-1140. The Permanent Scatterers
(PS) technique was applied to a number of repeated CSK strip map SAR images acquired over a 40x40 square
km area encompassing the two towns mentioned above. The results of this work demonstrate on the one hand the
CSK capabilities to operate in a repeated interferometric survey mode for measuring ground deformation with
millimeter accuracy in different environments. On the other, the comparison of the differential height between the two stations derived with the GPS and the InSAR data, using both acquisition geometries, is satisfactory.
Elevation, ground deformation and atmospheric artifacts were estimated in correspondence of the identified PS
and compared with the GPS measurements carried out at the same acquisition time by the permanent stations at
Bologna and Medicina. The comparison of the differential height between the two stations shows the sensitivity
of the GPS height solution to the length of the observation interval. The vertical dispersion achieved by GPS is
higher than that achieved by PS InSAR, as expected; however, a similar linear trend appears in the results of both techniques.
The comparison of differential tropospheric delays has been carried out. Two GPS solutions derived with different
session length and data acquisition rate were considered. The InSAR results were those relevant to two PS located
at a very close distance from the GPS stations. These are representative of the majority of PSs identified around
the two stations. A similar behavior is present in the results achieved by both GPS and PS-InSAR techniques,
despite of expected differences due to the almost instantaneous nature of the PS-InSAR estimates compared to the GPS 5-min averaged results
Infuence of upper airway size on volume exhaled under negative pressure during evaluation of upper airway collapsibility
No full textInfluence of upper airway size on volume exhaled under negative pressure during evaluation of upper airway collapsibility
No full textA novel method to detect differences in start behavioural conditions of anterior reaching activity
No full textIntroduction: Anticipatory postural adjustments (APA) are unconscious activities that precede voluntary movements and actively contribute to them. Previous studies have underlined the differences in APAs under different start behavioural conditions[1,2]; all these results have been obtained even without a defined method to differentiate between APA and focal movement[3–6]. Our aim is to detect differences in APAs under different behavioural conditions with a novel method to distinguish the onset of voluntary movement.
Methods: We obtained informed consent and evaluated 9 healthy subjects (age 22±2; gender 5 females). Subjects were standing and performed a standing anterior reaching of a cylinder at 117 cm of height from the ground and at the 100% of the arm length. The subjects performed 3 repetitions of the movement for each of the two behavioural conditions: a reaction-time start (external trigger), and a self-placed start (free start). The behavioural conditions were randomly given to the subjects. We used a BTS SMART-DX400 (with 8 cameras, 28 markers[3] and 1 on the cylinder) and a BTS FREEEMG 300, with 8 channels measuring bilaterally: tibialis anterior, biceps femori, rectus of the abdomen and lumbar paravertebral muscles. The voluntary movement onset is defined as the moment in which the hand moves for the last time towards the object, according to the evaluation of the displacement of the markers on hand and object. Data analysis was performed in MATLAB environment. For the statistical analysis, we verified the null hypothesis of samples drawn from a normally distributed population, we compared the variance with the Flinger-Killen test.
Results: The results are shown in table 1
Extracellular Matrix (ECM) change in large airways of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients.
No full textStudy of GPS and InSAR time series for detecting and understanding crustal deformation and atmospheric signals
No full textNowadays a wealth of information is available from different space geodetic techniques to address different study areas in the fields of geodesy and geophysics. The GNSS and InSAR techniques play a key role in the determination of crustal deformation with high precision and resolution which is a fundamental contribution towards the interpretation of geodynamic processes at different spatial and temporal scales. Dense GNSS networks allow determining the total water vapor content of the atmosphere thus contributing to short-term weather forecast. InSAR determined atmospheric artifacts can be compared with the GNSS estimates aiming at a higher coherence between the two techniques. The integration of GNSS and INSAR into a multi-technique approach for monitoring the Earth system will significantly contribute to the detection and understanding of both natural and anthropogenic fingerprints in climate variability and changes. GNSS coordinate time series often suffer from undesired signals of different nature which may impair the reliable estimation of the long-period trend and that should be therefore corrected in the original data series. We have adapted the STARS methodology, first proposed by Rodionov (2004), to the detection of discontinuities in the GPS time series of EUREF stations located in and around the city of Bologna in Italy. Jumps were identified due to changes in the reference system, to the magnitude 5.9 earthquake that on May 20th 2012 struck a vast area of the Po Plain, to increasing multipath effects in conjunction with the year 2000 solar maximum, to local water table variations and to instrumentation maintenance/changes. After correcting the GPS time series for the identified jumps, over the time period 2010-2011, comparisons were performed for the up and east coordinates with the results derived from a PS-InSAR analysis of COSMO SkyMed images made available by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Differential tropospheric delays derived by both the GPS and PS-InSAR analysis were also compared
Effect of training on airways inflammatory response and remodeling in a rat model.
No full textTraining has many beneficial effects, however few studies report its effects on the lungs. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of acute exercise and exercise training on inflammatory responses and remodeling in central and peripheral airways. Sixteen Sprague-Dawley rats trained for 10 weeks, while 14 rats served as controls. Before sacrifice, 8 trained (TRAC) and 8 untrained control (CONAC) rats underwent a single acute exercise bout, while 8 trained (TR) and 6 untrained control (CON) rats were sacrificed without acute exercise. The central and peripheral airways were morphologically examined for inflammatory cells and immunostained for decorin, collagen I, _-smooth muscle actin. No significant differences were found for morphometric analysis in central and peripheral airways, however CONAC showed a significant increase in polymorphonuclear cells in the central airways compared to CON. In contrast, TRAC did not show an inflammatory response different from TR. A similar trend was present in peripheral airways. Training did not induce differences in airways inflammation and remodeling as compared to CON. However, training seemed to limit the inflammatory response induced by acute exercise in the central airways
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