61 research outputs found
Postillati epicurei di Ettore Bignone
No full textSome of the books of Ettore Bignone's library once owned by the
Italian Latinist Luigi Alfonsi eventually came into the possession of
the author of the present article. Bignone was a careful reader and
added many remarks in the margins of his books; among these, several
notes on Epicurean problems are worth studying. This because Bignone
criticises well known scholars such as Constant Martha, Alfred Ernout,
and Carlo Pascal, explains difficult passages and suggests alternative
interpretations. Some of these notes have the length of a short
article, but even his very brief comments are often of high scholarly
interest
STAFNE BONE CYST IN THE ANTERIOR MANDIBLE: AN UNUSUAL LOCATION
No full textTo describe clinical features of the anterior Stafne bone cyst.
To supply radiologist a guide for diagnosis and classification of Stafne bone cyst
T2-mapping of the sacroiliac joints at 1.5 Tesla : A feasibility and reproducibility study
No full textObjective: To evaluate the reproducibility of T2 relaxation time measurements of the sacroiliac joints at 1.5 T. Materials and methods: Healthy volunteers underwent an oblique axial multislice multiecho spin-echo sequence of the sacroiliac joints at 1.5 T. Regions of interest were manually drawn using a dedicated software by two musculoskeletal radiologists to include the cartilaginous part of the sacroiliac joints. A senior radiologist performed the measurement twice, while a resident measured once. Intra- and inter-observer reproducibility was tested using the Bland-Altman method. Association between sex and T2 relaxation times was tested using the Mann-Whitney U test. Correlation between T2 relaxation times and body mass index (BMI) was tested using the Spearman’s rho. Results: Eighty sacroiliac joints of 40 subjects (mean age: 28 ± 4.8 years, range: 20–43; mean BMI: 23.3 ± 3.1, range: 18.9–30) were imaged. The mean T2 values obtained by the senior radiologist in the first series of measurements were 42 ± 4.4 ms, whereas in the second series were 40.7 ± 4.5 ms. The mean T2 values obtained by the radiology resident were 41.1 ± 4.2 ms. Intra-observer reproducibility was 88% (coefficient of repeatability = 3.8; bias = 1.28; p <.001), while inter-observer reproducibility was 86% (4.7; −.88; p <.001). There was significant association between sex and T2 relaxation times (p =.024) and significant inverse correlation between T2 relaxation times and BMI (r = −.340, p =.002). Conclusion: The assessment of T2 relaxation time measurements of sacroiliac joints seems to be highly reproducible at 1.5 T. Further studies could investigate the potential clinical application of this tool in the sacroiliac joints
T2 mapping of the sacroiliac joints in patients with axial spondyloarthritis
No full textPurpose: To test whether T2 mapping of the sacro-iliac joints (SIJs) might help identifying patients with spondyloarthritis. Method: This study included 20 biologic-naive patients with axial spondyloarthritis (10 females; mean age: 38 ± 9years; range, 19–47) and 27 controls (16 males; mean age = 39 ± 13years; range = 28–71) who prospectively underwent SIJs MRI at 1.5 T, including a multislice multiecho spin-echo sequence. Standard MRIs were reviewed to assess the SIJs according to the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society (ASAS) criteria and SPondyloArthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC) MRI index. T2 maps obtained from multiecho sequences were used to draw regions of interests in the cartilaginous part of the SIJs. Disease activity was assessed using BASDAI questionnaire. Bland-Altman method, ROC curve analysis, Chi square, Mann-Whitney U, Pearson's and Spearman's correlation coefficient were used for data analysis. Results: According to ASAS criteria, MRI was positive for sacroiliitis in 5/20 patients (25 %). Inter-observer reproducibility of T2 values was 87 % (coefficient of repeatability = 7.0; bias = 0.49; p < .001). Mean T2 values of patients (58.5 ± 4.4 ms, range: 52.6–68.2 ms) were significantly higher (p < .001) than those of controls (44.1 ± 6.6 ms, range: 33.6–67.2 ms). A T2 value of 52.51 ms yielded 100 % sensitivity and 91.7 % specificity to differentiate patients from controls. No statistically significant association/correlation was found between T2 values and BASDAI (r=˗.026, p = .827), disease duration (r = .024, p = .871), SPARCC (r=-.004, p = .981), ASAS criteria (p = .476), HLA-B27-positivity (p = .139), age (r=-.2.53, p = .891), and gender (p = .404). Conclusions: T2 relaxation times of the SIJs were significantly higher in patients than in healthy controls, making this tool potentially helpful to early identify patients with spondyloarthritis
A bump in the neck. Myositis ossificans of the omohyoid muscle: Imaging findings
No full textMyositis ossificans is a benign ossifying soft-tissue mass that occurs in muscle. In the majority of cases it is related to trauma but rarely observed in the neck. A 54 year-old-man with history of minor trauma and anticoagulant drug assumption for V Leiden mutation, was referred to our institution for a painless mass in the right supraclavicular fossa. On CT plan study a mass with negative attenuation values located in the posterior triangle of the neck, into the inferior belly of the right omohyoid muscle was evident. On MRI the lesion appears as an ovalar mass, with smooth borders, isointense to muscles on T1 images, isointense to fat on T2 images, intensely enhancing after i.v. Gd administration. After surgical removal the pathologist concluded for the nature of myositis ossificans. This is the first case, as far as we know, reported in the literature of a myositis ossificans arising in the inferior belly of the omohyoid muscle in a patient treated with dicumarol
T2 Mapping of the Sacroiliac Joints at 1.5 T can Identify Patients with Spondyloarthritis
No full text
T2 Mapping of the Sacroiliac Joints in Patients with Axial Spondyloarthritis
No full textPurpose: To test whether T2 mapping of the sacro-iliac joints (SIJs) might help identifying patients with spondyloarthritis.
Method: This study included 20 biologic-naive patients with axial spondyloarthritis (10 females; mean age: 38 ± 9years; range, 19-47) and 27 controls (16 males; mean age = 39 ± 13years; range = 28-71) who prospectively underwent SIJs MRI at 1.5 T, including a multislice multiecho spin-echo sequence. Standard MRIs were reviewed to assess the SIJs according to the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society (ASAS) criteria and SPondyloArthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC) MRI index. T2 maps obtained from multiecho sequences were used to draw regions of interests in the cartilaginous part of the SIJs. Disease activity was assessed using BASDAI questionnaire. Bland-Altman method, ROC curve analysis, Chi square, Mann-Whitney U, Pearson's and Spearman's correlation coefficient were used for data analysis.
Results: According to ASAS criteria, MRI was positive for sacroiliitis in 5/20 patients (25 %). Inter-observer reproducibility of T2 values was 87 % (coefficient of repeatability = 7.0; bias = 0.49; p < .001). Mean T2 values of patients (58.5 ± 4.4 ms, range: 52.6-68.2 ms) were significantly higher (p < .001) than those of controls (44.1 ± 6.6 ms, range: 33.6-67.2 ms). A T2 value of 52.51 ms yielded 100 % sensitivity and 91.7 % specificity to differentiate patients from controls. No statistically significant association/correlation was found between T2 values and BASDAI (r=-.026, p = .827), disease duration (r = .024, p = .871), SPARCC (r=-.004, p = .981), ASAS criteria (p = .476), HLA-B27-positivity (p = .139), age (r=-.2.53, p = .891), and gender (p = .404).
Conclusions: T2 relaxation times of the SIJs were significantly higher in patients than in healthy controls, making this tool potentially helpful to early identify patients with spondyloarthritis
Viscoelastic properties of native DNA from intact nuclei of mammalian cells. Higher-order DNA packing and cell function
No full textThe birthplace and age of the isolated neutron star RX J1856.5-3754
No full textX-ray observations unveiled various types of radio-silent isolated neutron stars (INSs), phenomenologically very diverse, e.g. the ̃Myr old X-ray-dim INSs (XDINSs) and the ̃kyr old magnetars. Although their phenomenology is much diverse, the similar periods (P = 2-10 s) and magnetic fields (≈1014 G) suggest that XDINSs are evolved magnetars, possibly born from similar populations of supermassive stars. One way to test this hypothesis is to identify their parental star clusters by extrapolating backwards the NS velocity vector in the Galactic potential. By using the information on the age and space velocity of the XDINS RX J1856.5-3754, we computed backwards its orbit in the Galactic potential and searched for its parental stellar cluster by means of a closest approach criterion. We found a very likely association with the Upper Scorpius OB association, for a NS age of 0.42 ± 0.08 Myr, a radial velocity VNSr = 67 ± 13 km s-1, and a present-time parallactic distance dNSπ = 123+ 11- 15 pc. Our result confirms that the `true' NS age is much lower than the spin-down age (τsd = 3.8 Myr), and is in good agreement with the cooling age, as computed within standard cooling scenarios. The mismatch between the spin-down and the dynamical/cooling age would require either an anomalously large breaking index (n ̃ 20) or a decaying magnetic field with initial value B0 ≈ 1014 G. Unfortunately, owing to the uncertainty on the age of the Upper Scorpius OB association and the masses of its members, we cannot yet draw firm conclusions on the estimated mass of the RX J1856.5-3754 progenitor
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