Thrombotic risk assessment in antiphospholipid syndrome: The role of new antibody specificities and thrombin generation assay

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune condition characterized by the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) in subjects presenting with thrombosis and/or pregnancy loss. The currently used classification criteria were updated in the international consensus held in Sidney in 2005. Vascular events seem to result of local procoagulative alterations upon triggers influence (the so called “second-hit theory”), while placental thrombosis and complement activation seem to lead to pregnancy morbidity. The laboratory tests suggested by the current classification criteria include lupus anticoagulant, a functional coagulation assay, and anticardiolipin and anti-β2-glycoprotein-I antibodies, generally detected by solid phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The real challenge for treating physicians is understanding what is the actual weight of aPL in provoking clinical manifestations in each case. As thrombosis has a multi-factorial cause, each patient needs a risk-stratified approach. In this review we discuss the role of thrombotic risk assessment in primary and secondary prevention of venous and arterial thromboembolic disease in patients with APS, focusing on new antibody specificities, available risk scoring models and new coagulation assays

Selfie acustiche con il progetto selfear: un'applicazione mobile per l'acquisizione a basso costo di pinna-related transfer function

Le esperienze di realta virtuale e aumentata stanno riscontrando una grande diffusione e le tecnologie per la spazializzazione del suono in cuffia saranno fondamentali per la diffusione di scenari applicativi immersivi in supporti mobile. Questo articolo affronta le problematiche legate alla acquisizione di head-related tranfer function (HRTF) con dispositivi a basso costo, accessibili a chiunque, in qualsiasi luogo e che forniscano delle misurazioni fruibili in tempi brevi. In particolare la soluzione proposta denominata "the SelfEar project" si focalizza sull'acquisizione delle trasformazioni spettrali ad opera dell'orecchio esterno contenute nella pinna-related transfer function (PRTF); l'utente viene guidato nella misurazione di HRTF in ambiente non anecoico attraverso una procedura auto-regolabile. Le informazioni acustiche sono infatti acquisite tramite un headset per la realt`a acustica aumentata che include un set di microfoni posizionati in prossimit\ue0 dei canali uditivi dell'ascoltatore. Proponiamo una sessione di misurazione con l'obiettivo di acquisire le caratteristiche spettrali della PRTF di un manichino KEMAR, confrontandoli con i risultati che si otterrebbero con una procedura in ambiente anecoico. In entrambi i casi i risultati dipendono fortemente dalla posizione dei microfoni, senza considerare in questo scenario il problema legato ai movimenti di un eventuale soggetto umano. Considerando la qualit\ue0 generale e la variabilit\ue0 dei risultati, cos\uec come le risorse totali necessarie, il progetto SelfEar propone una promettente soluzione per una procedura a basso costo di acquisizione di PRTF, e pi\uf9 in generale di HRTF

Synthesis of air‐stable, odorless thiophenol surrogates via Ni‐Catalyzed C−S cross‐coupling

Thiophenols are versatile synthetic intermediates whose practical appeal is marred by their air sensitivity, toxicity and extreme malodor. Herein we report an efficient catalytic method for the preparation of S-aryl isothiouronium salts, and demonstrate that these air-stable, odorless solids serve as user-friendly sources of thiophenols in synthesis. Diverse isothiouronium salts featuring synthetically useful functionality are readily accessible via nickelcatalyzed C-S cross-coupling of (hetero)aryl iodides and thiourea. Convenient, chromatography-free isolation of these salts is achieved via precipitation, allowing the methodology to be translated directly to large scales. Thiophenols are liberated from the corresponding isothiouronium salts upon treatment with a weak base, enabling an in situ release / S-functionalization strategy that entirely negates the need to isolate, purify or manipulate these noxious reagent

Acoustic selfies for extraction of external ear features in mobile audio augmented reality

Virtual and augmented realities are expected to become more and more important in everyday life in the next future; the role of spatial audio technologies over headphones will be pivotal for application scenarios which involve mobility. This paper introduces the SelfEar project, aimed at low-cost acquisition and personalization of Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs) on mobile devices. This first version focuses on capturing individual spectral features which characterize external ear acoustics, through a self-adjustable procedure which guides users in collecting such information: their mobile device must be held with the stretched arm and positioned at several specific elevation points; acoustic data are acquired by an audio augmented reality headset which embeds a pair of microphones at listener ear-canals. A preliminary measurement session assesses the ability of the system to capture spectral features which are crucial for elevation perception. Moreover, a virtual experiment using a computational auditory model predicts clear vertical localization cues in the measured features

Acoustic selfies for extraction of external ear features in mobile audio augmented reality

Virtual and augmented realities are expected to become more and more important in everyday life in the next future; the role of spatial audio technologies over headphones will be pivotal for application scenarios which involve mobility. This paper introduces the SelfEar project, aimed at low-cost acquisition and personalization of Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs) on mobile devices. This first version focuses on capturing individual spectral features which characterize external ear acoustics, through a self-adjustable procedure which guides users in collecting such information: their mobile device must be held with the stretched arm and positioned at several specific elevation points; acoustic data are acquired by an audio augmented reality headset which embeds a pair of microphones at listener ear-canals. A preliminary measurement session assesses the ability of the system to capture spectral features which are crucial for elevation perception. Moreover, a virtual experiment using a computational auditory model predicts clear vertical localization cues in the measured features