Diaphragmatic hernia following oesophagectomy for oesophageal cancer – Are we too radical?

Background: Diaphragmatic herniation (DH) of abdominal contents into the thorax after oesophageal resection is a recognised and serious complication of surgery. While differences in pressure between the abdominal and thoracic cavities are important, the size of the hiatal defect is something that can be influenced surgically. As with all oncological surgery, safe resection margins are essential without adversely affecting necessary anatomical structure and function. However very little has been published looking at the extent of the hiatal resection. We aim to present a case series of patients who developed DH herniation post operatively in order to raise discussion about the ideal extent of surgical resection required. Methods: We present a series of cases of two male and one female who had oesophagectomies for moderately and poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas of the lower oesophagus who developed post-operative DH. We then conducted a detailed literature review using Medline, Pubmed and Google Scholar to identify existing guidance to avoid this complication with particular emphasis on the extent of hiatal resection. Discussion: Extended incision and partial resection of the diaphragm are associated with an increased risk of postoperative DH formation. However, these more extensive excisions can ensure clear surgical margins. Post-operative herniation can be an early or late complication of surgery and despite the clear importance of hiatal resection only one paper has been published on this subject which recommends a more limited resection than was carried out in our cases. Conclusion: This case series investigated the recommended extent of hiatal dissection in oesophageal surgery. Currently there is no clear guidance available on this subject and further studies are needed to ascertain the optimum resection margin that results in the best balance of oncological parameters vs. post operative morbidity

Assessment of management effect on grasslands characteristics in an area of the Apennines (North Italy)

In many regions of Europe, semi-natural grasslands not properly utilized face different threats, concerning changes in botanical composition and structural evolution, which can lead to a reduction of the qualitative value of forage biomass or, in the mid-long term, forest recovery. The present paper assesses various semi-natural grasslands within a mountain public property located in Tuscany (North Apennines, Italy) subjected to different types of utilization. Some of them are managed through cattle grazing during summer, whereas some others are only periodically mowed and utilization is performed only by wildlife occurring in the area. The paper analyses the importance of resource management and its impact on botanical composition and on qualitative value of forage production. Data collection of studied areas was conducted by means of vegetation assessment performed with a fast procedure that simplifies the botanical composition sampling. Results show the relevance of some environmental factors on grasslands evolution and on their composition (such as altitude and slope) and the importance of management on grassland quality and on level of shrub encroachment

Environmental improvement and conservation of useful pastures for wild herbivores in a Regional Park on the Apennines mountains

In order to investigate some effects of the environmental management with faunistic purpose on pastures located on the Apennines mountains, in open areas subjected to bracken fern (Pteridium aqulinum) infestation, samples of vegetation were taken for three years on an open area in the Regional Park of "Laghi di Suviana e Brasimone" (BO). Experimental samples, taken before and after the agronomical works, showed the effects of the pasture improvement on botanical composition, richness and biodiversity. The agronomical pasture management produced a considerable decrease in bracken density and an increase on biodiversity, and the final average value of the Pastoral Value index was quadruplicate. These results confirmed the effectiveness of the actions carried out and the importance of maintaining a continuous programme of pasture management through annual clearing of vegetation

A Deep Learning Approach to Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs Classification

Nowadays, advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially in machine and deep learning, present new opportunities to build tools that support the work of specialists in areas apparently far from the information technology field. One example of such areas is that of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. In this study, we explore the ability of different convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to classify pictures of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs coming from two different datasets of images. Three well-known CNN architectures (ResNet-50, Inception-v3 and Xception) were taken into consideration and trained on the available images. The paradigm of transfer learning was tested as well. In addition, modifying the architecture of one of the previous networks, we developed a specifically dedicated CNN, named Glyphnet, tailoring its complexity to our classification task. Performance comparison tests were carried out and Glyphnet showed the best performances with respect to the other CNNs. In conclusion, this work shows how the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs identification task can be supported by the deep learning paradigm, laying the foundation for information tools supporting automatic documents recognition, classification and, most importantly, the language translation task

Feeding evaluation of spontaneous species used by wild ungulates

Abandonment of traditional agricultural practices can produce remarkable effects on land use and on the vegetal composition of marginal areas. This is particularly true in the once grazed zones in the mountain environments, that are now affected by encroachment of shrubby vegetation. The conservation of these open areas and the preservation of a correct ratio pasture/wood are of extremely importance for wild animals. In this note we describe the effectiveness of agronomical intervention carried out to enhance pasture quality in a protected area of central Italy. Data collection concerned botanical composition, floristic richness and biodiversity of vegetation, before and after the intervention efforts. Moreover, data on utilization of single species were collected in order to evaluate the real consumption of each plant species by wild animals. Results confirmed the efficiency of the improvement of the studied area in terms of botanical composition and of pastoral value and they provided useful indications about the actual utilization of non forage plants by wild ungulates

Attosecond electron spectroscopy using a novel interferometric pump-probe technique

We present an interferometric pump-probe technique for the characterization of attosecond electron wave packets (WPs) that uses a free WP as a reference to measure a bound WP. We demonstrate our method by exciting helium atoms using an attosecond pulse with a bandwidth centered near the ionization threshold, thus creating both a bound and a free WP simultaneously. After a variable delay, the bound WP is ionized by a few-cycle infrared laser precisely synchronized to the original attosecond pulse. By measuring the delay-dependent photoelectron spectrum we obtain an interferogram that contains both quantum beats as well as multi-path interference. Analysis of the interferogram allows us to determine the bound WP components with a spectral resolution much better than the inverse of the attosecond pulse duration.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Attosecond dynamics through a Fano resonance: Monitoring the birth of a photoelectron

This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on 354, 11 november 2016, DOI: 10.1126/science.aah5188The dynamics of quantum systems are encoded in the amplitude and phase of wave packets. However, the rapidity of electron dynamics on the attosecond scale has precluded the complete characterization of electron wave packets in the time domain. Using spectrally resolved electron interferometry, we were able to measure the amplitude and phase of a photoelectron wave packet created through a Fano autoionizing resonance in helium. In our setup, replicas obtained by two-photon transitions interfere with reference wave packets that are formed through smooth continua, allowing the full temporal reconstruction, purely from experimental data, of the resonant wave packet released in the continuum. In turn, this resolves the buildup of the autoionizing resonance on an attosecond time scale. Our results, in excellent agreement with ab initio time-dependent calculations, raise prospects for detailed investigations of ultrafast photoemission dynamics governed by electron correlation, as well as coherent control over structured electron wave packetsWe thank S. Weber for crucial contributions to the PLFA attosecond beamline, D. Cubaynes, M. Meyer, F. Penent, J. Palaudoux, for setup and test of the electron spectrometer, and O. Smirnova, for fruitful discussions. Supported by ITN-MEDEA 641789, ANR-15-CE30-0001-01-CIMBAAD, ANR11-EQPX0005-ATTOLAB, the European Research Council Advanced Grant XCHEM no. 290853, the European COST Action XLIC CM1204, and the MINECO Project no. FIS2013-42002-R. We acknowledge allocation of computer time from CCC-UAM and Mare Nostrum BS

Caracterização do perfil sorológico de nulíparas suínas e da progênie frente ao parvovírus suíno.

Projeto: 03.09.00.046