Structurally compromised teeth. Part II: A novel approach to peripheral build up procedures

ObjectiveTo introduce the "Peripheral Build-Up technique - PBUt" as a foundation restoration strategy for structurally compromised teeth (SCT). Clinical ConsiderationsSeveral strategies have been proposed over time (cervical marginal relocation, doughnut, and preformed ring techniques) to enable the management of restorative procedures in challenging situations such as the presence of deep subgingival defects. The PBUt is a versatile, completely additive direct technique that share some strategical concepts with these techniques to approach critical clinical situations while supplying a wider field of application thanks to distinct operative expedients. The clamp insertion modality, the extension of the proximal wall and the matrix customization/stabilization strategies adopted in PBUt endorse the possibility to manage the most apical and peripheral border of the residual tooth structure when located up to >1.5 mm above the bone crest. The periodontal response has to be then monitored over time. Moreover, thanks to the peripheral and apically-extended addictive approach, it allows a massive preservation of residual sound tooth structure and improves the resistance and retentive physical/geometrical features of the abutment tooth. The PBUt operative workflow is herein explained. Clinical SignificanceThe Peripheral-Build-Up technique (PBUt) advocates some innovative clinical restorative steps for the management of SCT with coronal and deep subgingival defects

Global antimicrobial use in livestock farming: an estimate for cattle, chickens, and pigs

Livestock farming substantially contributes to the global economy and food security. However, it poses crucial environmental, animal welfare, and public health challenges. The main objective of this study is to quantify the global antimicrobial use (AMU) in cattle, chicken, and pig farming. This information is important for understanding the potential impact of farm AMU on the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance among animals and humans. Using the United States Department of Agriculture Production, Supply, and Distribution and the Food and Agriculture Organization databases, we estimated the total supply of cattle (in heads) and its distribution into four weight categories: calves (26%), cows (41%), heifers (4%), and bulls of more than one year (29%). Similarly, we calculated the total supply of pigs (in heads) and divided it into two weight categories: pigs (96%) and sows (4%). For chickens, we considered one weight category. We attributed to each category a standard weight according to the parameters set by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to determine the animal biomass at risk of antimicrobial treatment, or population correction unit (PCU). Finally, we estimated the global PCUs and then the global AMU based on the average administered to the three species (in mg of active ingredients per kg PCU). With this method, we estimated a global annual AMU of 76 060 tonnes of antimicrobial active ingredients (2019-2021 average), of which 40 697 tonnes (or 53.5%) for cattle, 4 243 tonnes (or 5.6%) for chickens, and 31 120 tonnes (or 40.9%) for pigs. According to our assessment, global AMU leads to almost 20 000 tonnes less than the previous estimates due to a different evaluation of PCUs. In previous studies, PCUs were calculated on the liveweight at slaughtering of animals, while our method considers the age and sex of animals and their average weight at treatment. Our results are consistent with the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) estimate of 76 704 tonnes of veterinary antimicrobials globally consumed in 2018 for the total of food-producing animals (the WOAH estimation is based on sales and import data)

Colossal Trajectory Mining: A unifying approach to mine behavioral mobility patterns

Spatio-temporal mobility patterns are at the core of strategic applications such as urban planning and monitoring. Depending on the strength of spatio-temporal constraints, different mobility patterns can be defined. While existing approaches work well in the extraction of groups of objects sharing fine-grained paths, the huge volume of large-scale data asks for coarse-grained solutions. In this paper, we introduce Colossal Trajectory Mining (CTM) to efficiently extract heterogeneous mobility patterns out of a multidimensional space that, along with space and time dimensions, can consider additional trajectory features (e.g., means of transport or activity) to characterize behavioral mobility patterns. The algorithm is natively designed in a distributed fashion, and the experimental evaluation shows its scalability with respect to the involved features and the cardinality of the trajectory dataset

Il futuro del monitoraggio della crescita dei frutti è la computer vision

Comprendere come crescono i frutti nel corso della stagione è fondamentale per gestire con suc- cesso un frutteto. Misurare le dimensioni dei frutti durante lo sviluppo consente infatti di monitorare il tasso di crescita assoluta (AGR), parametro chiave per prevedere il rendimento e valutare lo stato di stress delle piante. Tuttavia, le tradizionali misurazioni AGR con calibri possono risultare laborio- se, mentre le soluzioni basate su sensori sono spesso costose e poco rappresentative per l’intero frutteto. In questo articolo viene descritto un nuovo sistema di visione artificiale chiamato Computer Vision System (CVS), che utilizza una telecamera di profondità (RGB-D) accoppiata ad algoritmi di intelligenza artificiale. Questo sistema stima direttamente sul campo l’AGR dei frutti. Le immagini dei frutti sono state acquisite a distanze di 1,0 m e 1,5 m dalla fila di alberi, catturando diversi momenti durante la stagione di crescita. Il CVS ha quindi calcolato l’AGR per ogni frutto rilevato nelle imma- gini. I risultati preliminari indicano che il CVS rileva con accuratezza i frutti ed ha una precisione nel dimensionamento dei frutti accettabile. Anche se attualmente i risultati non sono completamente allineati alle aspettative per l’applicazione pratica, sono in corso miglioramenti nell’algoritmo del sistema per ottimizzare le prestazioni sul campo. È importante notare che questi risultati derivano dall’analisi di solo il 30% dei dati complessivi, suggerendo che risultati ancora più accurati potrebbero emergere durante le successive fasi di analisi

Conjecturing about Small-Molecule Agonists and Antagonists of α4β1 Integrin: From Mechanistic Insight to Potential Therapeutic Applications

: Integrins are heterodimeric cell-surface receptors that regulate cell-cell adhesion and cellular functions through bidirectional signaling. On the other hand, anomalous trafficking of integrins is also implicated in severe pathologies as cancer, thrombosis, inflammation, allergies, and multiple sclerosis. For this reason, they are attractive candidates as drug targets. However, despite promising preclinical data, several anti-integrin drugs failed in late-stage clinical trials for chronic indications, with paradoxical side effects. One possible reason is that, at low concentration, ligands proposed as antagonists may also act as partial agonists. Hence, the comprehension of the specific structural features for ligands' agonism or antagonism is currently of the utmost interest. For α4β1 integrin, the situation is particularly obscure because neither the crystallographic nor the cryo-EM structures are known. In addition, very few potent and selective agonists are available for investigating the mechanism at the basis of the receptor activation. In this account, we discuss the physiological role of α4β1 integrin and the related pathologies, and review the few agonists. Finally, we speculate on plausible models to explain agonism vs. antagonism by comparison with RGD-binding integrins and by analysis of computational simulations performed with homology or hybrid receptor structures

Children’s involvement in interpreter-mediated parent–teacher conferences

This paper examines a corpus of audio-recorded, interpreter-mediated, Parent–Teacher Conferences (PTCs) with migrant families and children in primary schools in the provinces of Modena and Reggio-Emilia, Italy. The aim is to investigate how verbal communication develops when children are present during these meetings, namely whether and how children are involved and/or invited to speak, and how the other parties orient themselves to children’s participation. The analysis will focus on (a) the interactional moves that enable and trigger children’s participation, (b) children’s reactions after being involved in the interaction, and (c) the adults’ reactions to children’s participation. The results will show that children’s verbal participation during PTCs is very limited and is not actively promoted by the other participants. On the few occasions when children do take the floor, it is because they are invited to speak by the mediators. However, on these few occasions, the interactional strategies used by the mediators to trigger children’s participation are not effective enough to promote the full exercise of children’s agency

Optimization of hydrolysis conditions of amino acid analysis for UHPLC-UV antigens content determination: Bexsero vaccine a case study

In the present study the compositional analysis of the amino acids released by the acidic hydrolysis of the vaccine antigens was approached as an alternative to the dye-binding methods, for improvement of the quality control. In particular, the Analytical Quality by Design principles were undertaken in optimizing the hydrolysis conditions of the antigens to be applied prior to the quantitation by UHPLC-UV. Bexsero was used as a case study; it is a recombinant meningococcal B vaccine and one of its critical quality attributes is the content of the three core protein antigens, namely Neisseria Heparin Binding Antigen, factor H binding protein and Neisseria adhesin A, in the final formulation. Conventionally, the proteins quantitation is carried out by dye-binding assays. Analytical Target Profile was defined as the accurate determination of amounts of the Bexsero antigens. The Critical Method Parameters were chosen by means of the cause-effect matrix. A Face Centered Design was used to select the experiments to investigate the process and finally a Method Operable Design Region with a risk of failure of 5% was defined. The selected working point for routine use was: hydrolysis time, 17 hrs; temperature, 112 °C; 6 M HCl volume, 300 μl; antioxidant 90% phenol volume, 5 μl

Case report: First isolation of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis from the blood of a cat

: A 14-year-old female domestic short-haired cat with a diagnosed diabetes mellitus and acromegaly was presented for lethargy and dysorexia. On clinical presentation, the patient showed hyperglycemia, hyperthermia, dull mentation, and dehydration. With the suspicion of an inflammatory or infectious complication of diabetes, she was hospitalized with constant rate infusion of insulin, and empirical ampicillin sulbactam was started. Blood culture revealed positivity for Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and the septic picture was confirmed by blood analysis, with leukocytosis, neutrophilia, and an increased serum amyloid A concentration. The isolated Y. pseudotuberculosis strain showed susceptibility to every antimicrobial tested. During the second day of hospitalization, the onset of hypoglycemia and hypotension was treated with norepinephrine and glucose in fluid therapy. The cat recovered well and was discharged with insulin and amoxicillin-clavulanate. This is the first case of septicemia associated with Y. pseudotuberculosis in a cat, suspected of developing the infection after contact with natural reservoirs such as rodents or birds. This route of transmission should be highlighted especially in relation to the zoonotic potential of the bacteria

Analysis of virgin olive oils volatilome: quality grade evaluation and study of modifications during storage

Virgin olive oil (VOO) is a cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet, recognized for its unique aroma and its beneficial properties. The positive and negative sensory characteristics of VOOs are due to the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). However, these attributes and their perceived intensity can change over time, due to factors such as oxidation which can be accelerated under inadequate storage conditions. VOCs can be used to monitor changes in VOO characteristics selecting specific markers linked to defects (e.g. rancid) and molecules responsible for fruity or other green notes. For these reasons this study aims to profile the VOOs volatilome, tracking the evolution of selected volatile markers over a storage of several months. The samples were sensory classified according to the application of the official method, known as Panel test and analysed with a semi-targeted approach by headspace-gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (HS-GC-IMS), as support to the sensory assessment through the application of PLS-DA chemometric models. Furthermore, VOCs were analysed by a targeted validated method using solid phase microextraction (SPME) in combination with gas chromatography (GC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS). An integrated approach of sensory and metabolomic analysis can allow a more complete assessment of the modifications that occur in VOO during storage, monitoring potential changes in lipid oxidation markers and molecules responsible for positive and negative sensory attributes. This research work is developed within the project funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) - NextGenerationEU “ON Foods - Research and innovation network on food and nutrition Sustainability, Safety and Security - Working ON Foods”

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