Pilot Scale Fermentations of Sangiovese: An Overview on the Impact of Saccharomyces and Non-Saccharomyces Wine Yeasts

none6openRomani, Cristina; Lencioni, Livio; Biondi Bartolini, Alessandra; Ciani, Maurizio; Mannazzu, Ilaria; Domizio, PaolaRomani, Cristina; Lencioni, Livio; Biondi Bartolini, Alessandra; Ciani, Maurizio; Mannazzu, Ilaria; Domizio, Paol

Prefronto-cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation increases amplituded and decreases latency of P3b component in patients with euthymic bipolar disorder

INTRODUCTION: Neurocognitive impairments have been observed in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) even during the euthymic phase of the disease, potentially representing trait-associated rather than state-associated characteristics of the disorder. In the present study, we used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to cerebellar and prefrontal cortices to improve the neurophysiological performances of patients with euthymic BD. METHODS: Twenty-five outpatients with BD underwent open-label prefrontocerebellar tDCS for 3 consecutive weeks. Neurophysiological performances were assessed through the examination of the P3b and P3a subcomponents of P300 event-related potential at baseline and after stimulation. RESULTS: Compared to baseline, P3b component after tDCS showed significantly higher amplitude and shorter latency (latency: Fz P=0.02, Cz P=0.03, and Pz P=0.04; amplitude: Fz P=0.24, Cz P=0.02, and Pz P=0.35). CONCLUSION: In our sample of patients with euthymic BD, concomitant prefrontoexcitatory and cerebellar-inhibitory modulations led to improved brain information processing stream. This improvement may at least partially result from neuroplastic modulation of prefrontocerebellar circuitry activity

Bridging aortic valve surgery to 21st century. what can a surgeon do

Aortic valve stenosis is the most clinically relevant valvular heart disease in the elderlies. Surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) represented, for decades, the standard of care for the treatment of severe aortic stenosis. Although SAVR still represents a valid option in this clinical scenario, transcatheter aortic valve implantation proved to be superior to medical therapy and comparable to SAVR in several randomized trials in patients at high or intermediate operative risk. At the same time, the growing aging population carrying on greater morbidities and high risk profiles has led to the development of minimally invasive technologies, as rapid deployment aortic valve replacement or Sutureless, to minimize surgical impact on patients. The Heart Team is nowadays tasked to determine the best option tailored for each patient considering patient-related factors and mastering all the surgical options in terms of both different techniques and types of available valves. Nevertheless, some open issues need to be already answered as: which has the longest durability, which the lower complication rate and the lower overall mortality. The aim of this review is to briefly resume the main features of these different options and explore what kind of open questions these newer-generation prosthetic valves and delivery devices carry

Prefronto–cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation improves visuospatial memory, executive functions, and neurological soft signs in patients with euthymic bipolar disorder

Objective: The aim of the study was to improve neuropsychological functioning of euthymic patients with bipolar disorder (BD) using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to cerebellar and prefrontal cortices. Methods: Twenty-five BD outpatients underwent prefrontal (anodal) and cerebellar (cathodal) tDCS for 3 consecutive weeks. All participants were assessed through the Rey Complex Figure Test delay and copy and the Neurological Examination Scale at baseline and after therapy with tDCS. Results: After tDCS treatment, patients showed significant improvements in visuospatial memory tasks. Patients with worse baseline cognitive performances also showed a significant improvement in executive functioning tasks. Neurological Examination Scale total score and motor coordination subscale significantly improved. Conclusion: Prefrontal-excitatory and cerebellar-inhibitory stimulations in euthymic BD patients may lead to better neurocognitive performances. This improvement could result from the modulation of prefronto-thalamic-cerebellar circuit activity pattern, which can be disrupted in BD

on prefermentative maceration techniques statistical analysis of sensory descriptors in sangiovese wine

SummaryThe analysis of wine sensory descriptors is a fundamental step in the improvement of wine making, because the procedures are judged just before bottled wine is ready for consumption. Despite several contributions in the literature, traditional analysis of variance methods are not adequate to analyse sensory descriptors, because they are defined on ordinal scales. In this paper, we exploit cumulative link mixed models in a three-way full factorial design to assess the effect of prefermentative maceration, temperature and saignée on wine sensory descriptors. Using cumulative link mixed models, the bias introduced by assessors' judgement and the ordinal scale of sensory descriptors are taken into account. The results were the following: the application of prefermentative maceration techniques did not lead to an improvement in the sensory profile of wines after a year from bottling; wines treated with saignée showed greater intensity in olfactive descriptors; and higher fermentation temperatures resulted in wines that were generally more concentrated

How Has COVID-19 Affected Mental Health and Lifestyle Behaviors after 2 Years? The Third Step of a Longitudinal Study of Italian Citizens

: The COVID-19 pandemic and its protective measures had a tremendous effect on the general population's mental health and deeply affected their lifestyle. The present study carried out a longitudinal analysis to evaluate the long-lasting psychological effects of the pandemic and its impact on the general population's day-to-day routine. Three points in time were considered: the initial period of the lockdown (T1; n = 2766; March 2020), the final period of the lockdown (T2; n = 439; May 2020) and two years after the lockdown (T3; n = 268; July 2022). Frequency analyses were carried out to examine which behavioral changes were maintained following the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown; furthermore, a repeated measures ANOVA test was run to measure differences in depression, stress, and anxiety levels between the three periods considered; lastly, multivariable ordinal logistic regression analyses were carried out to examine which variables were associated with psychological distress more than two years after the lockdown. The results highlighted that depression at T3 was associated with depression at T2 and negative affect, whereas stress at T3 was associated with stress at T2 and detachment. The psychological effects and lifestyle changes are also discussed

Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Do Not Increase the Risk of Viral Reactivation Nor the Severity of Viral Events in Recipients of Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are tested in clinical trials to treat graft versus host disease (GvHD) after stem cell transplantation (SCT). In vitro studies demonstrated MSC's broad immunosuppressive activity. As infections represent a major risk after SCT, it is important to understand the role of MSC in this context. We analyzed 24 patients (pts) receiving MSC for GvHD in our Unit between 2009 and 2011. We recorded viral reactivations as measured in whole blood with polymerase chain reaction for 100 days following MSC administration. In patients with a documented viral reactivation in the first 3 days following MSCs infusion the frequency of virus-specific IFNgamma-producing cells was determined through enzyme-linked immunospot assay. In our cohort of patients viral reactivation after MSC infusion occurred in 45% of the cases, which did not significantly differ from the incidence in a historical cohort of patients affected by steroid resistant GvHD and treated with conventional immunosuppression. No patient presented severe form of infection. Two cases could be checked for immunological response to viral stimulus and demonstrated virus specific T-cytotoxic lymphocyte activity. In our experience MSC infusion did not prove to trigger more frequent or severer viral reactivations in the post transplantation setting

GREAT — a randomized aneurysm trial. Design of a randomized controlled multicenter study comparing HydroSoft/HydroFrame and bare platinum coils for endovascular aneurysm treatment

International audienceThe effectiveness of a hybrid hydrogel platinum detachable coil (HydroCoil; MicroVention Inc., Tustin, CA) for endovascular aneurysm treatment has been proven in a recently published RCT. Due to technical restrictions (coil stiffness, time restriction for placement), the HydroSoft coil as well as a corresponding 3D framing coil, the HydroFrame coil (MicroVention Inc., Tustin, CA), a class of new softer coils containing less hydrogel and swelling more slowly than the HydroCoil, have been developed and brought to clinical practice. The present study aims to compare the effectiveness of endovascular aneurysm treatment with coil embolization between patients allocated HydroSoft/HydroFrame versus bare platinum coiling. GREAT is a randomized, controlled, multicentre trial in patients bearing cerebral aneurysms to be treated by coil embolization. Eligible patients were randomized to either coil embolization with HydroSoft/HydroFrame coils (>50 % of administered coil length), or bare platinum coils. Inclusion criteria were as follows: age 18-75, ruptured aneurysm (WFNS 1-3) and unruptured aneurysm with a diameter between 4 and 12 mm. Anatomy such that endovascular coil occlusion deemed possible and willingness of the neurointerventionalist to use either HydroSoft/HydroFrame or bare platinum coils. Exclusion criteria were as follows: aneurysms previously treated by coiling or clipping. Primary endpoint is a composite of major aneurysm recurrence on follow-up angiography and poor clinical outcome (modified Rankin scale 3 or higher), both assessed at 18 months post treatment. Risk differences for poor outcomes will be estimated in a modified intention-to-treat analysis stratified by rupture status (DRKS-ID: DRKS00003132)

Effectiveness of Radiomic ZOT Features in the Automated Discrimination of Oncocytoma from Clear Cell Renal Cancer

Background: Benign renal tumors, such as renal oncocytoma (RO), can be erroneously diagnosed as malignant renal cell carcinomas (RCC), because of their similar imaging features. Computer-aided systems leveraging radiomic features can be used to better discriminate benign renal tumors from the malignant ones. The purpose of this work was to build a machine learning model to distinguish RO from clear cell RCC (ccRCC). Method: We collected CT images of 77 patients, with 30 cases of RO (39%) and 47 cases of ccRCC (61%). Radiomic features were extracted both from the tumor volumes identified by the clinicians and from the tumor’s zone of transition (ZOT). We used a genetic algorithm to perform feature selection, identifying the most descriptive set of features for the tumor classification. We built a decision tree classifier to distinguish between ROs and ccRCCs. We proposed two versions of the pipeline: in the first one, the feature selection was performed before the splitting of the data, while in the second one, the feature selection was performed after, i.e., on the training data only. We evaluated the efficiency of the two pipelines in cancer classification. Results: The ZOT features were found to be the most predictive by the genetic algorithm. The pipeline with the feature selection performed on the whole dataset obtained an average ROC AUC score of 0.87 ± 0.09. The second pipeline, in which the feature selection was performed on the training data only, obtained an average ROC AUC score of 0.62 ± 0.17. Conclusions: The obtained results confirm the efficiency of ZOT radiomic features in capturing the renal tumor characteristics. We showed that there is a significant difference in the performances of the two proposed pipelines, highlighting how some already published radiomic analyses could be too optimistic about the real generalization capabilities of the models