Anti epidermal growth factor receptor therapy in small bowel adenocarcinoma

Rationale:Small bowel adenocarcinoma (SBA) is an uncommon gastrointestinal cancer, thus limited data about treatment for advanced disease are available. The lack of specific guidelines has justified the use of therapeutic protocols usually applied in advanced colorectal cancer. Few and preliminary data have suggested possible clinical benefit from the use of target therapy such as bevacizumab and cetuximab.Patient concerns:We present the case of a young woman who was admitted to the emergency department for acute abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting related to a jejunal stenosis.Diagnoses:An enteroscopy with jejunal biopsy showed poorly differentiated cancerous cells suggestive for primary intestinal cancer. There were no signs of metastatic disease at radiological evaluation. A jejunal resection was subsequently carried out and the diagnosis of mucinous adenocarcinoma of the jejunum was confirmed.Interventions:The computed tomography scan performed 1 month after surgery showed metastatic disease. Therefore, the patient received combined protocols of chemotherapy and either bevacizumab or the anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) panitumumab.Outcomes:A partial response (PR) was achieved with Folfox plus panitumumab and a maintenance therapy with panitumumab is being conducted with a mild toxicity and a progression free survival of 19 months since the beginning of panitumumab.Lessons:This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first report in the literature of a patient with SBA who has benefitted from panitumumab with an overall survival of 83 months

Creativity and Design Tools as an Emotional Approach to Learning

This paper presents an experience conducted by the IDEActivity research team of the Politecnico di Milano, Department of Design during the CREA International Conference on Creativity and Innovation – a training and resource-sharing event focused on creativity. The CREA event was crafted as a learning activity that allowed participants to delve deeply into the most significant stages of the design process in a very experiential way. The activity was designed as an experience and emotional path intended to introduce non-designers to the main phases and peculiarities of the design process in a very short time. In the event, we employed the IDEActivity method: a dynamic path that includes a series of iterative phases and micro-phases characterised by alternate moments of divergence and convergence allowing for continuous circles of reflection and tuning of the project throughout the design process. The case study presented in this paper shows the potentialities of the emotional involvement of participants, the dynamic use of space, Visual Thinking and a playful approach during a training activity. During the activity, typical and renowned design tools were used along with specialised tools crafted by the IDEActivity Center for the event

Microplastics Occurrence in the European Common Frog (Rana temporaria) from Cottian Alps (Northwest Italy)

Microplastics (MPs) pollution is arousing growing attention, yet knowledge about its occurrence in amphibians is scant to date. With this study, we aimed to determine whether plastic (>5000 μm) and MPs (10–5000 μm) could be detected in adult Rana temporaria from a high-mountain ecosystem (the Cottian Alps, northwest Italy). To do this, aquatic compartments and the digestive tract of adult R. temporaria were analyzed. Water, sediment, periphyton, aquatic macroinvertebrates, and tadpoles tested negative for plastic and MPs. Microplastics were detected in all the adult frogs (n = 5); all the identified items (one per specimen) were fibers (size range: 550.91–2355.51 µm). A statistically significant positive correlation between the particle length and frog size was recorded. The predominant fiber color was blue. The chemical composition was polyamide (60%), polyethylene (20%), and polyethylene terephthalate (20%). Since both the biotic and the abiotic freshwater compartments (tadpoles included) revealed the absence of MPs, it can be assumed that adult frogs ingest MPs from the surrounding terrestrial environment.This research was partially funded by Fondazione CRT, the ALPLA II project, grant number 21D03.Peer reviewe

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

EVALITA Evaluation of NLP and Speech Tools for Italian - December 17th, 2020

Welcome to EVALITA 2020! EVALITA is the evaluation campaign of Natural Language Processing and Speech Tools for Italian. EVALITA is an initiative of the Italian Association for Computational Linguistics (AILC, http://www.ai-lc.it) and it is endorsed by the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIxIA, http://www.aixia.it) and the Italian Association for Speech Sciences (AISV, http://www.aisv.it)

Cassa, competenza finanziaria e competenza economica: la scelta delle basi contabili in un sistema armonizzato di contabilità pubblica

Public budgeting and accounting is a subject of managerial theory; at the same time, as a democratic means, it is acknowledged by the Italian Constitution. A new wave of administrative reforms was started between 2009 and 2011 with the aim of reshaping the information system in line with the requirements deriving from the present complex globalized economy. The paper deals with present ongoing trends and future desirable developments; accounting bases and models are considered together with the ethical and political needs of a consolidated democracy, keeping in mind the opportunities offered by modern ICT

Carta fisionomico-strutturale della vegetazione della foresta demaniale e del promontorio del Parco Nazionale del Circeo

Carta fisionomico-strutturale della vegetazione della foresta demaniale e del promontorio del Parco Nazionale del Circe

I bilanci pubblici italiani oltre l'armonizzazione

L’Italia ha affrontato il processo di rinnovamento della pubblica amministrazione a partire dagli anni ’90. I sistemi informativi sono stati modifcati secondo linee d’azione che mantengono la prevalenza della logica finanziaria, introducono in alcuni casi quella economica, definiscono ordinamenti contabili specifici per ogni categoria di amministrazione pubblica, consentono alle regioni di definire ulteriori specificità contabili per i territori di pertinenza. E' andata così emergendo una pluralità di linguaggi poco utili per le necessità di governo e di accountability. Nel 2009 sono stati adottati nuovi provvedimenti e avviato un processo di armonizzazione. In controtendenza rispetto alle prassi prevalenti nei paesi riformatori, l’Italia mantiene la priorità della dimensione finanziaria nella rilevazione consuntiva, in linea con la tradizione e la cultura prevalente. Le amministrazioni in contabilità finanziaria adottano in parallelo quella economica; quelle già tenute all’economica riclassificano i valori su base finanziaria. Emerge un sistema generalizzato di contabilità integrata che consolida i valori finanziari; i gruppi pubblici consolidano invece secondo il modello società per azioni. L’articolo si interroga su una prassi che, a legislazione vigente, possa fondare il sistema informativo su un impianto contabile di tipo duplice, in grado pertanto di accogliere tanto la dimensione monetaria quanto quella di esecuzione del bilancio