Cutting the Cord: A Case of Late Presenting Driveline Infection

Ventricular assist device (VAD) related infection, specifically driveline infection, is a common complication after VAD implantation. A 45-year old patient with a delayed skin infection at the site of the original driveline nearly one year after VAD inactivation and surgical driveline burial was treated with antibiotics and surgical debridement for approximately six months. Continued discharge at driveline site and growth of methicillin susceptible Staphylococcus aureus resulted in the recommendation of explantation of the VAD. Post-VAD explantation, the patient remains symptom free and without infection 21 months following explant

Gone, but not Forgotten

The global health and economic impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has rocked our communities and way of life. With millions infected around the globe, and hundreds of thousands of lives lost, there has been a paradigm shift in how clinicians evaluate and care for patients in multiple different types of healthcare settings. Many patients are reluctant to seek medical attention for cardiovascular illnesses, and late presentations of acute cardiac issues are raising the morbidity and mortality for treatable cardiac conditions. In this expert opinion, the authors canvas the many challenges in the diagnosis, treatment and delivery of care to patients with congestive heart failure and acute coronary syndromes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Between insecurity and hope : reflections on youth work with young refugees

In 2016, under the objectives of social inclusion and youth work recognition, the EU–Council of Europe youth partnership took inclusion, rights and participation of young refugees as a transversal theme in its work programme and began to explore more closely the situation of young refugees and what role youth work can play in their lives. This focus was an initial response to the increasing negative portrayal in the media of refugees (particularly young male refugees, representing the majority of those arriving in western Europe, mostly through Turkey), and the increased polarisation of society towards the role, place and rights of those young refugees upon arrival or in transit across Europe. The EU–Council of Europe youth partnership launched a series of research initiatives and organised workshops on the inclusion and participation of young refugees in society and the specific role youth work plays. The initiatives involved a mix of stakeholders, including young refugees, policy makers, researchers, NGOs working on refugee rights and integration, and youth work practitioners, aiming to bring evidence on the realities of young refugees, the realities of youth workers and how youth work makes a contribution to the lives of young refugees. [Excerpt from the Preface by Tanya Basarab].peer-reviewe

Synchrotron characterization of hexagonal and cubic lipidic phases loaded with azolate/phosphane gold(I) compounds: a new approach to the uploading of gold(I)-based drugs

none9Gold(I) phosphane compounds have recently attracted a renewed interest as potential new protagonists in cancer therapy. A class of phosphane gold(I) complexes containing azolate ligands has been successfully tested against several cancer cell lines and, in particular, against basal-like breast (BLB) cancer, a form characterized by strongly severe diagnosis and short life lapse after classic chemotherapy. Even though the anticancer activity of gold(I) phosphane compounds is thoroughly ascertained, no study has been devoted to the possibility of their delivery in nanovectors. Herein, nonlamellar lyotropic liquid crystalline lipid nanosystems, a promising class of smart materials, have been used to encapsulate gold(I) azolate/phosphane complexes. In particular, ((triphenylphosphine)-gold(I)-(4,5-dichloroimidazolyl-1H-1yl)) (C-I) and ((triphenylphosphine)-gold(I)-(4,5-dicyanoimidazolyl-1H-1yl)) (C-II) have been encapsulated in three different lipid matrices: monoolein (GMO), phytantriol (PHYT) and dioleoyl-phosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE). An integrated experimental approach involving X-ray diffraction and UV resonant Raman (UVRR) spectroscopy, based on synchrotron light and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, has been employed to establish the effects of drug encapsulation on the structure and phase behavior of the host mesophases. The results indicate that gold(I) complexes C-I and C-II are successfully encapsulated in the three lipid matrices as evidenced by the drug-induced phase transitions or by the changes in the mesophase lattice parameters observed in X-ray diffraction experiments and by the spectral changes occurring in UV resonant Raman spectra upon loading the lipid matrices with C-I and C-II.openPaola Astolfi, Michela Pisani, Elisabetta Giorgini, Barbara Rossi, Alessandro Damin, Francesco Vita, Oriano Francescangeli, Lorenzo Luciani, Rossana GalassiAstolfi, Paola; Pisani, Michela; Giorgini, Elisabetta; Rossi, Barbara; Damin, Alessandro; Vita, Francesco; Francescangeli, Oriano; Luciani, Lorenzo; Galassi, Rossan

Disruption of neurite morphology parallels MS progression

Objectives: To apply advanced diffusion MRI methods to the study of normal appearing brain tissue in MS and examine their correlation with measures of clinical disability. Methods: A multi-compartment model of diffusion MRI called neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) was used to study 20 patients with relapsing-remitting (RR-) and 15 with secondary progressive (SP)-MS, and 20 healthy controls. Maps of NODDI were analyzed voxel-wise to assess the presence of abnormalities within the normal appearing brain tissue, and the association with disease severity. Standard diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters were also computed for comparing the two techniques. Results: MS patients showed reduced neurite density and increased orientation dispersion compared to controls in several brain areas (P<0.05), with SPMS patients having more widespread abnormalities. DTI indices were also sensitive to some changes. In addition, SPMS patients showed reduced orientation dispersion in the thalamus and caudate nucleus. These abnormalities were associated with scores of disease severity (P<0.05). The association with the MS functional composite score was higher in SPMS compared to RRMS patients. Conclusions: NODDI and DTI findings are largely overlapping. Nevertheless, NODDI helps to interpret previous findings of increased anisotropy in the thalamus of MS patients, and are consistent with the degeneration of selective axon populations

Electrophysiological actions of zonisamide on striatal neurons: Selective neuroprotection against complex I mitochondrial dysfunction

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L'Archivistica della Classificazione Decimale Dewey

This paper regards the ways archival discipline is treated in DDC. After a short introduction about the discipline in Italy, the essay focuses on the analysis of division 020 of DDC 23, with specific attention to section 025 and with punctual reference to section 651, concerning archival material. The aim of the paper is to point out archival discipline’s peculiarities and its differences from library science, as well as underlining the critical issues on how this discipline is handled in DDC.Questo articolo affronta la tematica della trattazione dell'Archivistica nella Classificazione Decimale Dewey. Dopo una breve introduzione sulla disciplina in Italia, il contributo si focalizza sull'analisi della classe 20 della ventitreeesima edizione della CDD, con un'attenzione particolare alla sezione 025 e con riferimento specifico alla sezione 651, che riguardano il materiale archivistico. Obiettivo dell'articolo è quello di determinare le peculiarità dell'Archivistica e le sue sostanziali differenze dalla Biblioteconomia, oltre a voler sottolineare le criticità nella trattazione dell'Archivistica nella CDD

Lil Rużar Briffa

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Fil-mewt tat-tabib Rużar Briffa ta’ Ġużè Chetcuti – Fil-mewt ta’ Rużar Briffa ta’ P. Valentin Barbara – Lil Rużar ta’ qalbi ta’ Ġorġ Pisani – Poeżiji ta’ Rużar Briffa mhux ippubblikati – Vjolin Marid – Il-każin Malti – Frammenti – Il-ħmar – Lil Rużar Briffa, il-ġenna ta’ Albert M. Cassola – Kellimni fuq Rużar ta’ Ġużè Cardona – Lil F.S. Caruana ta’ R. Briffa – Lil Rużar Briffa ta’ F.S. Caruana.peer-reviewe

The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14 happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov 2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected