Shut Up and Run: The Never-ending Quest for Social Fitness

In this paper we explore possible negative drawbacks in the use of wearable sensors, i.e., wearable devices used to detect different kinds of activity, e.g., from step and calories counting to heart rate and sleep monitoring. These technologies, which in the latter years witnessed a rapid development in terms of accuracy and diffusion, are now available on different platforms at reasonable prices and can lead to an healthier behavior in people using them. Nevertheless, we will try to investigate possibly harming behaviors related to these devices. We will provide different scenarios in which wearable sensors, in connection with social media, data mining, or other technologies, could prove harmful for their users

Verifying Quantum Programs: From Quipper to QPMC

In this paper we present a translation from the quantum programming language Quipper to the QPMC model checker, with the main aim of verifying Quipper programs. Quipper is an embedded functional programming language for quantum computation. It is above all a circuit description language, for this reason it uses the vector state formalism and its main purpose is to make circuit implementation easy providing high level operations for circuit manipulation. Quipper provides both an high-level circuit building interface and a simulator. QPMC is a model checker for quantum protocols based on the density matrix formalism. QPMC extends the probabilistic model checker IscasMC allowing to formally verify properties specified in the temporal logic QCTL on Quantum Markov Chains. We implemented and tested our transla

All-oral metronomic DEVEC schedule in elderly patients with peripheral T cell lymphoma

Purpose: Peripheral T cell lymphomas (PTCLs) have an overall poor prognosis. Indeed, registry data in elderly patients show that the median progression-free survival (mPFS) following first- and second-line therapies are only 6.7 and 3.1 months, respectively. The aim of the study is to show the activity of metronomic chemotherapy, a regular administration of low chemotherapeutic drug doses allowing a favourable toxicity profile, on elderly PTCL patients. Methods: We report a series of 17 PTCL patients, treated with the all-oral metronomic schedule DEVEC (prednisolone–etoposide–vinorelbine–cyclophosphamide) in four Italian centres. Patients 5/17 (29.4%) were treatment-naïve (naïve) and 12/17 (70.6%) were relapsed-refractory (RR), respectively. The median age was 83 years (range 71–87) and 71.5 years (range 56–85) for naïve and RR, respectively. In vitro activity of metronomic vinorelbine (VNR), etoposide (ETO) and their concomitant combination on HH, a PTCL cell line, was also assessed. Results: Histology: PTCL-not-otherwise-specified = 12; angioimmunoblastic = 2; NK/T nasal type = 1; adult-type leukaemia lymphoma = 1, transformed Mycosis Fungoides = 1. The overall response rate was 80 and 58% in naïve and RR, respectively; whereas the PFS was 20 in naïve (95% CI 0–43) and 11 months (95% CI 4.2–17.8) in RR. The occurrence of relevant adverse events was 23.5%, which was managed with ETO dose reduction. In vitro experiments showed that both metronomic VNR and ETO caused a significant inhibitory activity on HH cells and a strong synergism when administered concomitantly. Conclusion: All-oral DEVEC showed an encouraging activity and acceptable toxicity. This schedule deserves further studies in elderly PTCL also for assessing combinations with targeted drugs

Synergy between vitamin D and sex hormones in respiratory functionality of patients affected by COVID-19

The outcome of COVID-19 appears to be influenced by vitamin D status of population. Although epidemiological data indicate that COVID-19 produces more severe symptoms and higher mortality in elderly in comparison to young patients and in men in comparison to women to date sex and age differences in vitamin D status in infected patients have not been evaluated yet. In this study we evaluated the levels of circulating 25(OH)D in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 divided accordingly to their sex and age. We also correlated 25(OH)D levels with patient’s respiratory status (i.e., PaO2/FiO2 ratio) and with sex hormones plasma levels to analyze the potential relationship of these parameters. We found no significant differences in plasma levels of 25(OH)D between pre- and post-menopausal female patients and age matched male patients. Interestingly, the 25(OH)D plasma levels positively correlated to PaO2/FiO2 ratio only in young patients, regardless of their sex. We also found a significantly positive correlation between 17β-estradiol and 25(OH)D in elderly women and between testosterone and 25(OH)D in elderly men, supporting the role of sex hormones in maintaining 25(OH)D levels. In conclusion, we suggest that a synergy between vitamin D and sex hormones could contribute to the age-related outcome of COVID-19

How Culture may influence Ontology Co-design: a qualitative study

This article addresses the issue of cultural influence in ontology design and reuse. The main assumption is that an ontology is not only a socio-technical artefact but also a cultural artefact. It contains embedded assumptions, core values, points of view, beliefs, thought patterns, etc. Based on results already found in several design fields the authors formulate some preliminary hypotheses about the possible relationships existing between culture and features of design process and produced ontology. A critical and qualitative analysis of six collaborative design systems has been performed to test some of the hypotheses, confirming some of the findings. The authors argue that a “culture aware” attitude may be of great importance for supporting the processes of cross cultural collaborative ontology design and the internalization and localization of these kinds of artefacts.</p

The cloud stroke unit: 24-hour acute stroke expertise-on-demand.

The use of telemedicine, especially as it is relates to telestroke, has significantly expanded over the past one or two decades. The fact that stroke therapy is a time-critical disease process, coupled with the relative paucity of stroke-trained practitioners, makes telestroke an attractive technique of care. The authors' objective was to summarize the evidence that support the reliability of telemedicine for diagnosis and efficacy in acute stroke treatment in collaboration between hospitals in two different countries

The cloud stroke unit: 24-hour acute stroke expertise-on-demand.

The use of telemedicine, especially as it is relates to telestroke, has significantly expanded over the past one or two decades. The fact that stroke therapy is a time-critical disease process, coupled with the relative paucity of stroke-trained practitioners, makes telestroke an attractive technique of care. The authors' objective was to summarize the evidence that support the reliability of telemedicine for diagnosis and efficacy in acute stroke treatment in collaboration between hospitals in two different countries