Label-based Optimization of Dense Disparity Estimation for Robotic Single Incision Abdominal Surgery

Minimally invasive surgical techniques have led to novel approaches such as Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery (SILS), which allows the reduction of post-operative infections and patient recovery time, improving surgical outcomes. However, the new techniques pose also new challenges to surgeons: during SILS, visualization of the surgical field is limited by the endoscope field of view, and the access to the target area is limited by the fact that instruments have to be inserted through a single port. In this context, intra-operative navigation and augmented reality based on pre-operative images have the potential to enhance SILS procedures by providing the information necessary to increase the intervention accuracy and safety. Problems arise when structures of interest change their pose or deform with respect to pre-operative planning, as usually happens in soft tissue abdominal surgery. This requires online estimation of the deformations to correct the pre-operative plan, which can be done, for example, through methods of depth estimation from stereo endoscopic images (3D reconstruction). The denser the reconstruction, the more accurate the deformation identification can be. This work presents an algorithm for 3D reconstruction of soft tissue, focusing on the refinement of the disparity map in order to obtain an accurate and dense point map. This algorithm is part of an assistive system for intra-operative guidance and safety supervision for robotic abdominal SILS . Results show that comparing our method with state-of-the-art CPU implementations, the percentage of valid pixel obtained with our method is 24% higher while providing comparable accuracy. Future research will focus on the development of a real-time implementation of the proposed algorithm, potentially based on a hybrid CPU-GPU processing framework

Evidence for supernova feedback sustaining gas turbulence in nearby star-forming galaxies

HI and CO observations indicate that the cold gas in galaxies is very turbulent. However, the turbulent energy is expected to be quickly dissipated, implying that some energy source is needed to explain the observations. The nature of such turbulence was long unclear, as even the main candidate, supernova (SN) feedback, seemed insufficient. Other mechanisms have been proposed, but without reaching a general consensus. The key novelty of our work is considering that the gas disc thickness and flaring increase the dissipation timescale of turbulence, thus reducing the energy injection rate required to sustain it. In excellent agreement with the theoretical expectations, we found that the fraction of the SN energy (a.k.a. SN coupling efficiency) needed to maintain the cold gas turbulence is $\sim 1$%, solving a long-standing conundrum.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, Proceedings IAU Symposium 373, accepte

The volumetric star formation law in the Milky Way

Several open questions on galaxy formation and evolution have their roots in the lack of a universal star formation law that could univocally link the gas properties, such as its density, to the star formation rate (SFR) density. In a recent paper we used a sample of nearby disc galaxies to infer the volumetric star formation (VSF) law, a tight correlation between the gas and the SFR volume densities derived under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium for the gas disc. However, due to the dearth of information about the vertical distribution of the SFR in these galaxies, we could not find a unique slope for the VSF law, but two alternative values. In this paper, we use the scale height of the SFR density distribution in our Galaxy adopting classical Cepheids (age less than or similar to 200 Myr) as tracers of star formation. We show that this latter is fully compatible with the flaring scale height expected from gas in hydrostatic equilibrium. These scale heights allowed us to convert the observed surface densities of gas and SFR into the corresponding volume densities. Our results indicate that the VSF law rho(SFR) proportional to rho(alpha)(gas)rho SFR proportional to rho gas alphaSFR is valid in the Milky Way as well as in nearby disc galaxies

The Influence of Minority Stress, Gender, and Legalization of Civil Unions on Parenting Desire and Intention in Lesbian Women and Gay Men: Implications for Social Policy and Clinical Practice

Although the rate of lesbian and gay (LG) parents is increasing, lesbian and gay adults are less likely than heterosexual adults to be parents, as desire and intention to become a parent tend to be lower. This study aims at assessing 290 childless LG individuals (120 lesbian women and 170 gay men) to explore the influence of minority stress, gender differences, and legalization of civil unions in Italy on parenting desire and intention. The results indicated that the minority stressors associated with parenting dimensions included prejudice events, outness, and internalized homophobia for lesbian women, but only felt stigma among gay men. Support from family or significant others buffered the effects of minority stressors on parenting dimensions. Thus, the minority stress processes partly explain the intention and desire to become parents in LG childless individuals. Furthermore, lesbian women showed higher levels of parenting desire and intention than gay men and the levels of these parenting dimensions increased after the law on civil unions was enacted. The findings have important implications for both social policies and clinical practice

Internalized Transphobia, Resilience, and Mental Health: Applying the Psychological Mediation Framework to Italian Transgender Individuals

Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people are a highly-stigmatized population. For this reason, they might internalize society’s normative gender attitudes and develop negative mental health outcomes. As an extension of the minority stress model, the psychological mediation framework sheds light on psychological processes through which anti-transgender discrimination might affect mental health. Within this framework, the current study aimed at assessing in 149 TGNC Italian individuals the role of internalized transphobia as a mediator between anti-transgender discrimination and mental health, considering resilience as the individual-level coping mechanism buffering this relationship. The results suggest that both indicators of internalized transphobia (i.e., shame and alienation) mediate the relationship between anti-transgender discrimination and depression, while only alienation mediates the relationship between anti-transgender discrimination and anxiety. Furthermore, the results suggest that the indirect relation between anti-transgender discrimination and anxiety through alienation is conditional on low and moderate levels of resilience. Findings have important implications for clinical practice and psycho-social interventions to reduce stigma and stress caused by interpersonal and individual stigma

Bullying and Victimization in Overweight and Obese Outpatient Children and Adolescents: An Italian Multicentric Study

Objective Being overweight or obese is one of the most common reasons that children and adolescents are teased at school. We carried out a study in order to investigate: i) the relation between weight status and school bullying and ii) the relation between weight status categories and types of victimization and bullying in an outpatient sample of Italian children and adolescents with different degrees of overweight from minimal overweight up to severe obesity. Participants/Methods Nine-hundred-forty-seven outpatient children and adolescents (age range 6.0'14.0 years) were recruited in 14 hospitals distributed over the country of Italy. The participants were classified as normal-weight (N = 129), overweight (N = 126), moderately obese (N = 568), and severely obese (N = 124). The nature and extent of verbal, physical and relational bullying and victimization were assessed with an adapted version of the revised Olweus bully-victim questionnaire. Each participant was coded as bully, victim, bully-victim, or not involved. Results Normal-weight and overweight participants were less involved in bullying than obese participants; severely obese males were more involved in the double role of bully and victim. Severely obese children and adolescents suffered not only from verbal victimization but also from physical victimization and exclusion from group activities. Weight status categories were not directly related to bullying behaviour; however severely obese males perpetrated more bullying behaviour compared to severely obese females. Conclusions Obesity and bullying among children and adolescents are of ongoing concern worldwide and may be closely related. Common strategies of intervention are needed to cope with these two social health challenges

The Hyperphagia Questionnaire: Insights From a Multicentric Validation Study in Individuals With Prader Willi Syndrome

Background/objectives: The present study aimed to validate the Italian version of the Hyperphagia Questionnaire (HQ), a 11-items questionnaire developed to assess hyperphagia in individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). This is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by endocrine dysfunction, hypotonia, intellectual disability, psychiatric disorders and obesity. Methods: Parents of 219 individuals with PWS (age range 3-54 years; Mage = 17.90; 108 Males), recruited in 12 hospitals in Italy responded to HQ during routine visits. In function of the level of analyses the sample was divided into two subgroups (<18> years) or into four age-subgroups (2.5-4.5; 4.5-8; 8-18; >18 years) corresponding to different clinical stages. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the three hyperphagic subdimensions of the original structure (behavior, drive, and severity), but one item was dropped out, reducing the final version to 10 items. Using multi-group CFA, HQ showed satisfactory indexes of measurement invariance by age. Good indexes of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's Omega coefficients) were found for each subdimension. The three hyperphagia subdimensions positively converged with other food-related measures: emotional overeating, food enjoyment, food responsiveness, and satiety responsiveness. A significant increase of all hyperphagic subdimensions was found across age groups. Higher hyperphagic levels were found in participants with higher body mass index. Hyperphagic drive differently increased in function of the interaction between age and underlying genetic mechanisms. Conclusion: The Italian version of the HQ is a psychometrically valid and reliable instrument for assessing hyperphagia in individuals with PWS. This tool may prove useful to evaluate the efficacy of pharmacologic and rehabilitative treatments

GASP XXXVIII: The LOFAR-MeerKAT-VLA View on the Nonthermal Side of a Jellyfish Galaxy

Ram pressure stripping is a crucial evolutionary driver for cluster galaxies. It is thought to be able to accelerate the evolution of their star formation, trigger the activity of their central active galactic nucleus (AGN) and the interplay between galactic and environmental gas, and eventually dissipate their gas reservoirs. We explored the outcomes of ram pressure stripping by studying the nonthermal radio emission of the jellyfish galaxy JW100 in the cluster A2626 (z = 0.055), by combining LOw Frequency Array, MeerKAT, and Very Large Array observations from 0.144 to 5.5 GHz. We studied the integrated spectra of the stellar disk, the stripped tail, and the AGN; mapped the spectral index over the galaxy; and constrained the magnetic field intensity to between 11 and 18 μG in the disk and <10 μG in the tail. The stellar disk radio emission is dominated by a radiatively old plasma, likely related to an older phase of a high star formation rate. This suggests that the star formation was quickly quenched by a factor of 4 in a few 107 yr. The radio emission in the tail is consistent with the stripping scenario, where the radio plasma that originally accelerated in the disk is subsequently displaced in the tail. The morphology of the radio and X-ray emissions supports the scenario of the accretion of magnetized environmental plasma onto the galaxy. The AGN nonthermal spectrum indicates that relativistic electron acceleration may have occurred simultaneously with a central ionized gas outflow, thus suggesting a physical connection between the two processes