Sentiment Analysis of Long-term Social Data during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has bringing the “infodemic” in the social media worlds. Various social platforms play a significant role in instantly acquiring the latest updates of the pandemic. Social media such as Twitter and Facebook produce vast amounts of posts related to the virus, vaccines, economics, and politics. In order to figure out how public opinion and sentiments are expressed during the pandemic, this work analyzes the long-term social posts from social media and conducts sentiment analysis on tweets within 12 months. Our findings show the trend topics of long-term social communities during the pandemic and express people’s attitudes towards progress of major actions during the pandemic. We explore the main topics during the prolonged pandemic, including information surrounding economics, vaccines, and politics. Besides, we show the differences in gender-based attitudes and propose future research questions refer to the “infodemic”. We believe that our work contributes to attracting public attention to the “infodemic” of the social crisis

Higher Order Anomaly Consistency Conditions: Renormalization and Non-Locality

We study the Slavnov-Taylor Identities (STI) breaking terms, up to the second order in perturbation theory. We investigate which requirements are needed for the first order Wess-Zumino consistency condition to hold true at the next order in perturbation theory. We find that: a) If the cohomologically trivial contributions to the first order ST breaking terms are not removed by a suitable choice of the first order normalization conditions, the Wess-Zumino consistency condition is modified at the second order. b) Moreover, if one fails to recover the cohomologically trivial part of the first order STI breaking local functional, the second order anomaly actually turns out to be a non-local functional of the fields and the external sources. By using the Wess-Zumino consistency condition and the Quantum Action Principle, we show that the cohomological analysis of the first order STI breaking terms can actually be performed also in a model (the massive Abelian Higgs-Kibble one) where the BRST transformations are not nilpotent.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, Latex and packages amsfonts, amssymb, amsthm and eps

NEARCHOS. Networked Archaeological Open Science: Advances in Archaeology Through Field Analytics and Scientific Community Sharing

The full release and circulation of excavation results often takes decades, thus slowing down progress in archaeology to a degree not in keeping with other scientific fields. The nonconformity of released data for digital processing also requires vast and costly data input and adaptation. Archaeology should face the cognitive challenges posed by digital environments, changing in scope and rhythm. We advocate the adoption of a synergy between recording techniques, field analytics, and a collaborative approach to create a new epistemological perspective, one in which research questions are constantly redefined through real-time, collaborative analysis of data as they are collected and/or searched for in an excavation. Since new questions are defined in science discourse after previous results have been disseminated and discussed within the scientific community, sharing evidence in remote with colleagues, both in the process of field collection and subsequent study, will be a key innovative feature, allowing a complex and real-time distant interaction with the scholarly community and leading to more rapid improvements in research agendas and queries

Hydroxyapatite nanocrystals as a smart, pH sensitive, delivery system for kiteplatin

Hydroxyapatite (HA) nanocrystals are important inorganic constituents of biological hard tissues in vertebrates and have been proposed as a bone substitute or a coating material for prostheses in biomedicine. Hydroxyapatite is also amenable for its capacity to bind to a great variety of biomolecules and therapeutic agents. As drug carriers, apatite nanoparticles also have the advantage of pH dependent solubility and low toxicity. Thus HA nanoparticles are negligibly soluble at physiological pH but their dissolution is accelerated at lower pH such as that typically found in the vicinity of tumors. In the present study we have investigated the adsorption on and the release from biomimetic HA nanoparticles of two platinum derivatives of cis-1,4-diaminocyclohexane ([PtX2(cis-1,4-DACH)], X2 = Cl2 (1) and 1,1-cyclobutanedicarboxylate (CBDCA, 2)). The first of the two compounds proved to be active against colon cancer cells also resistant to oxaliplatin. The release has been investigated as a function of pH to mimic the different physiological environments of healthy tissues and tumors, and the in vitro cytotoxicity of the releasates from the HA matrices has been assessed against various human cancer cell lines. The results fully confirmed the potential of 1-loaded HA nanoparticles as bone-specific drug delivery devices

Osteoporosis guidelines from a rehabilitation perspective: systematic analysis and quality appraisal using AGREE II

Background: People affected by osteoporosis and fragility fractures often report disability and poor health-related quality of life. Albeit rehabilitation has a crucial role in older people, post-menopausal women and other subjects with high risk of fragility fractures, the rehabilitation perspective has been poorly investigated in the available guidelines for osteoporosis. Aim: To systematically evaluate the quality of guidelines for osteoporosis from a rehabilitation perspective. Design: Systematic analysis of guidelines. Setting: Not applicable. Population: Osteoporotic patients. Methods: On May 2020, we performed a systematic search on medical literature of all guidelines published in the last 10 years on PubMed, PEDro, and international guideline databases. The study selection was based on key terms "exercise", "physical activity" or "rehabilitation". All authors independently assessed the methodological quality through the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation (AGREE) II instrument, consisting of six domains (scope, stakeholder involvement, rigor and development, clarity of presentation, applicability, editorial independence). Results: Out of 331 documents retrieved, a total of 34 guidelines were selected after the screening phases. Twenty (58.8%) high quality guidelines were reported. According to AGREE II instrument, a mean score of 78.1±21.8% was reported for "scope and purpose" domain; for stakeholder involvement, the mean score was 58.1±22.1%; the rigor of development was good (mean score of 61.3±27.3%); for clarity of presentation the mean score was 79.4±20.3%; the applicability was poor (mean score of 30.9±25.2%); for editorial independence the mean score was 75.1±24.6%. Rehabilitation recommendations for osteoporotic patients were reported in 21 (61.8%) of the selected guidelines. Conclusions: This is the first systematic analysis evaluating quality of the guidelines for osteoporosis using AGREE II instrument. Starting from a state of the art of the currently available evidence, we could conclude that therapeutic exercise at moderate to high intensity is encouraged by several guidelines for the management of people with osteoporosis and fragility fractures. More than half of guidelines were of high-quality. However, most guidelines are lacking specific indications about exercise features. Clinical rehabilitation impact: This study might support the implementation of a rehabilitation perspective in the guidelines for osteoporotic patients

Some Conjectures on the Limit of Infinite Higgs Mass

We consider a possible field theory candidate for the electroweak SU(2) x U(1) model where the limit of infinitely sharp Higgs potential is performed. We show that it is possible to formulate such a limit as a Stueckelberg massive non abelian gauge theory.Comment: One reference added. Final version to appear in the journa

Morphological characterization of the antenna of Torymus sinensis (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) and a comparison within the superfamily Chalcidoidea

The parasitoid Torymus sinensis (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) has been successfully used in Italy since 2005 for biological control of the invasive cynipid Dryocosmus kuriphilus (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), highly destructive for the economically relevant Castanea sativa (Fagales: Fagaceae). In order to investigate the morphological aspects related to sensorial behavior, a fine morphology study of the antennae and their sensilla was conducted by scanning electron microscopy on both sexes of T. sinensis. The antennae, composed of a scape, a pedicel and a flagellum with ten flagellomeres, had chaetic sensilla of six sub types, placoid sensilla of three subtypes, trichoid sensilla, sensilla with a roundish grooved tip, and coeloconic sensilla. The chaetic sensilla of the first three subtypes were found in the scape and in the pedicel, and those of the last three subtypes, together with trichoid, roundish grooved tip and coeloconic sensilla, were found only on flagellomeres. Sexual dimorphism was detected in the morphology of the proper pedicel and the flagellum, and in the presence and distribution of the sensilla and their subtypes. The morphological aspects of the antenna of T. sinensis and of its sensilla were compared with those found in the family Torymidae and in other families of the extremely diverse superfamily Chalcidoide

A transcriptomic study of Hereditary Angioedema attacks

Background: Hereditary angioedema (HAE) caused by C1-inhibitor deficiency is a lifelong illness characterized by recurrent acute attacks of localized skin or mucosal edema. Activation of the kallikrein/bradykinin pathway at the endothelial cell level has a relevant pathogenetic role in acute HAE attacks. Moreover, other pathways are involved given the variable clinical expression of the disease in different patients. Objective: We sought to explore the involvement of other putative genes in edema formation. Methods: We performed a PBMC microarray gene expression analysis on RNA isolated from patients with HAE during an acute attack and compared them with the transcriptomic profile of the same patients in the remission phase. Results: Gene expression analysis identified 23 genes significantly modulated during acute attacks that are involved primarily in the natural killer cell signaling and leukocyte extravasation signaling pathways. Gene set enrichment analysis showed a significant activation of relevant biological processes, such as response to external stimuli and protein processing (q < 0.05), suggesting involvement of PBMCs during acute HAE attacks. Upregulation of 2 genes, those encoding adrenomedullin and cellular receptor for urokinase plasminogen activator (uPAR), which occurs during an acute attack, was confirmed in PBMCs of 20 additional patients with HAE by using real-time PCR. Finally, in vitro studies demonstrated the involvement of uPAR in the generation of bradykinin and endothelial leakage. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates the increase in levels of adrenomedullin and uPAR in PBMCs during an acute HAE attack. Activation of these genes usually involved in regulation of vascular tone and in inflammatory response might have a pathogenic role by amplifying bradykinin production and edema formation in patients with HAE

Transcript Regulation of the Recoded Archaeal α-L-Fucosidase In Vivo

Genetic decoding is flexible, due to programmed deviation of the ribosomes from standard translational rules, globally termed “recoding”. In Archaea, recoding has been unequivocally determined only for termination codon readthrough events that regulate the incorporation of the unusual amino acids selenocysteine and pyrrolysine, and for −1 programmed frameshifting that allow the expression of a fully functional α-l-fucosidase in the crenarchaeon Saccharolobus solfataricus, in which several functional interrupted genes have been identified. Increasing evidence suggests that the flexibility of the genetic code decoding could provide an evolutionary advantage in extreme conditions, therefore, the identification and study of interrupted genes in extremophilic Archaea could be important from an astrobiological point of view, providing new information on the origin and evolution of the genetic code and on the limits of life on Earth. In order to shed some light on the mechanism of programmed −1 frameshifting in Archaea, here we report, for the first time, on the analysis of the transcription of this recoded archaeal α-l-fucosidase and of its full-length mutant in different growth conditions in vivo. We found that only the wild type mRNA significantly increased in S. solfataricus after cold shock and in cells grown in minimal medium containing hydrolyzed xyloglucan as carbon source. Our results indicated that the increased level of fucA mRNA cannot be explained by transcript up-regulation alone. A different mechanism related to translation efficiency is discusse

Caso di Neurofibromatosi diagnosticata a 71 anni

Introduzione: La neurofibromatosi di tipo 1 (NF1) è una malattia genetica a trasmissione autosomica dominante caratterizzata da mutazioni a carico del gene NF1, localizzato sul cromosoma 17q11.2. La sindrome ha un’incidenza di 1 su 3500 ed è caratterizzata da diverse manifestazioni a livello cutaneo, osseo, oculare e nervoso. La diagnosi di NF1 si basa sui criteri clinici che includono macchie caffè-latte, neurofibromi, lentigginosi a livello della regione ascellare o inguinale, glioma del nervo ottico e noduli di Lisch. Dal punto di vista delle funzioni cognitive si possono riscontrare disturbi del linguaggio e ritardo mentale. I pazienti con neurofibromatosi hanno un rischio di sviluppare tumori da 3 a 4 volte maggiore rispetto alla popolazione generale; in particolare, il tumore di Wilms, tumori gastrointestinali stromali (GIST), rabdomiosarcomi, meningiomi, gliomi del nervo ottico e feocromocitomi. Molto raramente la diagnosi clinica e biomolecolare di NF1 viene posta in età avanzata essendo le manifestazioni cliniche della sindrome relativamente precoci e talora presenti fin dalla nascita. Tuttavia, sono riportati in letteratura casi di neurofibromi plessiformi ad esordio molto tardivo. Case Report: Riportiamo il caso di un paziente di 71 anni, ricoverato con la diagnosi di stato di male parziale motorio ed esiti di ematoma cerebrale su base ischemica, che veniva valutato in consulenza dermatologica per il rilievo di numerose lesioni cutanee esofitiche a livello del tronco. Tali lesioni di differente diametro e morfologia erano clinicamente compatibili con la diagnosi di neurofibromi, che veniva confermata successivamente all’esame istologico. Il paziente si mostrava poco collaborante e scarsamente orientato nel tempo e nello spazio. All’esame obiettivo venivano rilevate, inoltre, lentiggini ascellari bilaterali, numerose chiazze caffè-latte, scoliosi ed ipoacusia bilaterale. L’anamnesi familiare era negativa per il rilievo di neurofibromi e altri segni riconducibili a tale patologia. Attualmente è in corso lo studio genetico per la ricerca mutazionale a carico del gene NF1. Conclusioni: La diagnosi tardiva di NF1 nel paziente che presentiamo può essere addotta in parte alla comparsa in età avanzata del fenotipo cutaneo ed in parte al disagiato contesto familiare che non ha contribuito all’attuazione di adeguate strategie diagnostiche e di follow-up clinico-strumentale. Tale caso clinico ci rammenta che la diagnosi di Neurofibromatosi può essere posta anche in pazienti con anamnesi familiare completamente negativa per la comparsa di mutazioni de novo. E’ noto che il 50% dei pazienti con diagnosi di NF1 non presenta storia familiare per tale patologia