1,301 research outputs found

    Estimating hidden fishing activity hotspots from vessel transmitted data

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    Monitoring fishery activity is essential for resource planning and guaranteeing fisheries sustainability. Large fishing vessels constantly and continuously communicate their positions via Automatic Identification System (AIS) or Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMSs). These systems can use radio or Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to transmit data. Processing and integrating these big data with other fisheries data allows for exploring the relations between socio-economic and ecosystem assets in marine areas, which is fundamental in fishery monitoring. In this context, estimating actual fishing activity from time series of AIS and VMS data would enhance the correct identification of fishing activity patterns and help assess regulations' effectiveness. However, these data might contain gaps because of technical issues such as limited coverage of the terrestrial receivers or saturated transmission bands. Other sources of data gaps are adverse meteorological conditions and voluntary switch-offs. Gaps may also include hidden (unreported) fishing activity whose quantification would improve actual fishing activity estimation. This paper presents a workflow for AIS/VMS big-data analysis that estimates potential unreported fishing activity hotspots in a marine area. The workflow uses a statistical spatial analysis over vessel speeds and coordinates and a multi-source data integration approach that can work on multiple areas and multiple analysis scales. Specifically, it (i) estimates fishing activity locations and rebuilds data gaps, (ii) estimates the potential unreported fishing hour distribution and the unreported-over-total ratio of fishing hours at a 0.01 degrees spatial resolution, (iii) identifies potential unreported fishing activity hotspots, (iv) extracts the stocks involved in these hotspots (using global-scale repositories of stock and species observation data) and raises an alert about their possible endangered, threatened, and protected (ETP) status. The workflow is also a free-to-use Web Service running on an open science-compliant cloud computing platform with a Web Processing Service (WPS) standard interface, allowing efficient big data processing. As a study case, we focussed on the Adriatic Sea. We reconstructed the monthly reported and potential unreported trawling activity in 2019, using terrestrial AIS data with a 5-min sampling period, containing similar to 50 million records transmitted by similar to 1,600 vessels. The results highlight that the unreported fishing activity hotspots especially impacted Italian coasts and some forbidden and protected areas. The potential unreported activity involved 33 stocks, four of which were ETP species in the basin. The extracted information agreed with expert studies, and the estimated trawling patterns agreed with those produced by the Global Fishing Watch

    Polyacrylamide injection vs. Polylactic acid in hiv related lipodystrophy: A rct systematic review

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    Lipodystrophy is an alteration of fat metabolism that commonly affects HIV-1 positive patients treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART). The facial area is most commonly affected by peripheral lipoatrophy, thus becoming a social stigma related to chronic HIV. Several treatments have been proposed, such as modification of diet, lifestyle and both surgical and nonsurgical procedures. The goal of our systematic review is to examine published clinical studies involving the use of polyacrylamide filler for the treatment of HIV FLA, and to provide evidence-based recommendations based on published efficacy and safety data. Our research was performed on published literature until April 2021. Polyacrylamide gel is a volumetric gel that has been proven stable, nontoxic, nonallergenic, nonembryotoxic and nonabsorbable. Poly-l-lactic acid (PLA) is a biocompatible, biodegradable, synthetic polymer derived from lactic acid. We believe it is essential to draft a pre-and post-injection and operative protocol to define an even setting for the clinical condition. It is desirable that such specifications are included in a large randomized controlled trial and the follow up is longer than the studies that we found, because as we have seen in the literature there are reported adverse events even 3 or 5 years after the injections

    Clinical experience with pegylated hyaluronic acid fillers: A 3-year retrospective study

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    BACKGROUND: Hyaluronic acid fillers are the most used worldwide, thanks to the high biocompatibility and safety profile of HA and it is also the only substance that can be \u201cdissolved\u201d due to the hyaluronidase effect. AIM: A retrospective clinical evaluation of the outcomes following PEG cross-linked HA-based filler injection was performed. METHODS: Data were collected from December 2017 to June 2020. A total of 65 patients (12 M, 53 F), age ranging 28\u201362 year\u2019s old (mean age 42.3), were treated. Exclusion criteria were applied and in accord to treatment plan, were used specific site injections and fillers. Follow-up was evaluated between 6 months and 2 years. RESULTS: A total of 61 treatments using 124 vials of HA filler crosslinked with PEG were performed. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, from 2014, HA fillers having PEG as cross-linker agent have been introduced in the european market. Several papers have been published in order to evaluate the features of these fillers, although, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first clinical paper regarding their use

    Termination Casts: A Flexible Approach to Termination with General Recursion

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    This paper proposes a type-and-effect system called Teqt, which distinguishes terminating terms and total functions from possibly diverging terms and partial functions, for a lambda calculus with general recursion and equality types. The central idea is to include a primitive type-form "Terminates t", expressing that term t is terminating; and then allow terms t to be coerced from possibly diverging to total, using a proof of Terminates t. We call such coercions termination casts, and show how to implement terminating recursion using them. For the meta-theory of the system, we describe a translation from Teqt to a logical theory of termination for general recursive, simply typed functions. Every typing judgment of Teqt is translated to a theorem expressing the appropriate termination property of the computational part of the Teqt term.Comment: In Proceedings PAR 2010, arXiv:1012.455

    Is the treatment of the tear trough deformity with hyaluronic acid injections a safe procedure? A systematic review

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    Among the various therapeutic options for the treatment of tear trough deformities, the use of hyaluronic acid-based fillers has constantly been increasing. The aim of this research is to conduct a systematic review of the published literature related to the use of hyaluronic acid-based dermal fillers for the treatment of tear trough deformities and possible related complications. A search of the published literature was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines, including PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Ovid databases. Text words and Medical Search Headings (MeSH terms) were used to identify nine articles included in our analysis. The most used filler was Restylane (Galderma). The injection technique was performed through the use of a cannula or, more frequently, with a needle, through the execution of boluses or retrograde release. The injection plane was predominantly the supra-periosteal layer. The most observed side effects were mild and included redness, edema, contour irregularities, bruising, and blue-gray dyschromia. The degree of patient satisfaction was high, with an optimal aesthetic result that was maintained for 6 to 12 months. Although the duration of treatment of tear trough deformities with HA fillers is not comparable to surgical treatment, this is a minimally invasive, safe procedure, quick to perform, and with a high degree of patient satisfaction

    Analytic and Gevrey Hypoellipticity for Perturbed Sums of Squares Operators

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    We prove a couple of results concerning pseudodifferential perturbations of differential operators being sums of squares of vector fields and satisfying H\"ormander's condition. The first is on the minimal Gevrey regularity: if a sum of squares with analytic coefficients is perturbed with a pseudodifferential operator of order strictly less than its subelliptic index it still has the Gevrey minimal regularity. We also prove a statement concerning real analytic hypoellipticity for the same type of pseudodifferential perturbations, provided the operator satisfies to some extra conditions (see Theorem 1.2 below) that ensure the analytic hypoellipticity

    An extended assessment of bowel habits in a general population.

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    Bowel habits are difficult to study, and most data on defecatory behaviour in the general population have been obtained on the basis of recalled interview. The objective assessment of this physiological function and its pathological aspects continues to pose a difficult challenge. The aim of this prospective study was to objectively assess the bowel habits and related aspects in a large sample drawn from the general population

    Which differences do elderly patients present in single-stage treatment for cholecysto-choledocholithiasis?

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    AbstractPatients with symptomatic gallstones present common bile duct stones in approximately 10% of cases. It is possible to resolve both gallbladder and bile duct stones with a single procedure. The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of a single stage procedure for gallbladder and bile duct stones in the elderly patients and to expose the differences between the various techniques. From January 2008 to December 2013, we treated 1540 patients with gallbladder stones. In 152 cases, we also found bile duct stones. 150 of these were treated in a single stage procedure. We divided our patients into 2 groups: Group A was younger than 65 (104 patients); Group B was 65 or older (46 patients). We retrospectively compared sex, ASA score, conversion rate, success rate, post-operative complications, hospital stay, and treatment method. We had no intra-operative mortality. 1 patient in Group B, heart condition (ASA 4), died with multiple organ failure (MOF) 10 days after his operation. ASA score: 3.5 ± 0.5 in A vs 2 ± 0.9 in B (P 0.001), post-operative complications 6% in A vs 18.1% in B (P 0.0325) and hospital stay 4.1 ± 2.3 in A vs 9.5 ± 5.5 in B (P 0.0001) were significantly higher in Group B. No differences were found in term of success rate: 94% in A vs 90% in B (P 0.4944). The procedure used to obtain the clearance of the bile duct showed a different success rate across the two groups: for the patients under 65 years old, trans-cystic clearance (TC-CBDE) was successful in 90% of cases, and only 51% for those older than 65, where we had to recall 49% for laparo-endoscopic rendez-vous (RV-IOERC) (P 0.0014). In conclusion, single stage treatment is safe and effective also to elderly patients. The methods used in patients being younger than 65 years old is what appeared to be significantly different

    Botulinum toxin type a reconstituted with lidocaine: A report of 1000 consecutive cases

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    (1) Background: There is an increasing demand for a reversal of the aging process and, nowadays, more patients are seeking minimally invasive methods instead of surgery to meet this goal. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the predictability of the off-label aesthetic use of botulinum toxin type A (BoNTA) reconstituted with lidocaine. (2) Methods: One thousand treatments, between January 2010 and January 2020, with BoNTA reconstituted with lidocaine for the rejuvenation of the upper third of the face, were performed and retrospectively evaluated. (3) Results: A few seconds after the BoNTA injections, the effect of muscle paralysis was seen in all cases; this allowed providing an optimal symmetric result with no need for a touch-up procedure at the control after three weeks. A burning sensation during the injections was claimed by almost all patients. Major complications were not registered. No touch-up procedures were required. (4) Conclusions: The results of this study show how the reconstitution of BoNTA with lidocaine may avoid imperfect results after the injections; the immediate feedback on the extent of paralysis to be expected from the chemodenervation action of BoNTA allows the physician to have immediate control of the final result
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