Nephrogenic remnants: occasional ultrasound diagnosis and follow-up

Nephrogenic remnants (NRs) are nodular collections of undifferentiated renal blastema cells in the postnatal kidney that are recognized as putative precursor lesions of Wilms tumor (WT). NRs may remain stationary, undergo regression, or proliferate. In the last case, there is a high risk for the development of a WT. During infancy, they are most frequently of microscopic size, to be found only at autopsy in approximately 1% of infant kidneys. Approximately 1 out of 100 microscopic lesions persist and grow developing lesions large enough to be seen by ultrasound in the first months of life. We report on a case of NRs in a six year old child, as incidental finding during abdominal ultrasound performed for other purposes. In consideration of the potential evolution in WT, after a period of close surveillance of 14 months, the lesion was resected. Histological examination revealed the presence of NRs, no neoplastic lesions were found. Currently the patient is 16 years old, in good health, and there have been no signs of recurrence

Automi cellulari e loro limiti macroscopici in oncologia matematica

Ci proponiamo, tramite questo lavoro, di creare e analizzare un modello matematico discreto per l'evoluzione di un agglomerato di cellule tumorali. Ne studieremo in particolare il limite per il numero di cellule che cresce, ottenendo così una visione macroscopica del modello

Ovarian cyst in a newborn: a case report

The presence of ovarian cysts in the newborn is often a sign of an abnormal exacerbation of the physiologic process. In our case a large cyst caused symptoms related to gastroesophageal reflux: vomiting, poor weight gain, and respiratory disorders. Ultrasound examination enabled a correct diagnosis

Indoor air quality monitoring and management in hospitality: an overarching framework

Purpose This study aims to provide a comprehensive framework for the study of indoor air quality (IAQ) in hospitality premises. The goal is to identify the drivers of air pollution, both at the exogenous and endogenous level, to generate insights for facility managers. Design/methodology/approach The complexity of hospitality premises requires an integrated approach to properly investigate IAQ. The authors develop an overarching framework encompassing a monitoring method, based on real-time sensors, a technological standard and a set of statistical analyses for the assessment of both IAQ performance and drivers, based on correlation analyses, analysis of variance and multivariate regressions. Findings The findings suggest that the main drivers of IAQ differ depending on the area monitored: areas in contact with the outdoors or with high ventilation rates, such as halls, are affected by outdoor air quality more than guestrooms or fitness areas, where human activities are the main sources of contamination. Research limitations/implications The results suggest that the integration of IAQ indicators into control dashboards would support management decisions, both in defining protocols to support resilience of the sector in a postpandemic world and in directing investments on the premises. This would also address guests’ pressing demands for a broader approach to cleanliness and safety and support their satisfaction and intention to return. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study developing a comprehensive framework to systematically address IAQ and its drivers, based on a standard and real-time monitoring. The framework has been applied across the longest period of monitoring for a hospitality premise thus far and over an entire hotel facility

Syndromic Forms of Hyperinsulinaemic Hypoglycaemia A 15-year follow-up Study

OBJECTIVE: Hyperinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia (HH) is one of the commonest causes of hypoglycaemia in children. The molecular basis includes defects in pathways that regulate insulin release. Syndromic conditions like Beckwith-Wiedemann (BWS), Kabuki (KS) and Turner (TS) are known to be associated with a higher risk for HH. This systematic review of children with HH referred to a tertiary centre aims at estimating the frequency of a syndromic/multisystem condition to help address stratification of genetic analysis in infants with HH. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of 69 patients with syndromic features and hypoglycaemia in a specialist centre from 2004 to 2018. RESULTS: Biochemical investigations confirmed HH in all the cases and several genetic diagnoses were established. Responsiveness to medications and the final outcome following medical treatment or surgery were studied. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the association of HH with a wide spectrum of syndromic diagnoses and that children with features suggestive of HH-associated syndromes should be monitored for hypoglycaemia. If hypoglycaemia is documented, they should also be screened for possible HH. Our data indicate that most syndromic forms of HH are diazoxide-responsive and that HH resolves over time; however a significant percentage continues to require medications years after the onset of the disease. Early diagnosis of hyperinsulinism and initiation of treatment is important for preventing hypoglycaemic brain injury and intellectual disability

Within-breath oscillometry for identifying exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in pediatric patients reporting symptoms with exercise

Background: Evaluating oscillometry parameters separately for the inspiratory and expiratory breath phases and their within-breath differences can help to identify exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) in pediatric outpatients disclosing exercise-induced symptoms (EIS). Aims: To assess the response in impedance parameters following an exercise challenge in patients reporting EIS. Methods: Sixty-eight patients reporting EIS (34 asthmatics and 34 suspected of asthma, age mean = 10.8 years, range = 6.0-16.0) underwent an incremental treadmill exercise test. Spirometry was performed at baseline and 1, 5-, 10-, 15-, and 20-min post exercise. Oscillometry was performed at baseline and at 3- and 18-min post exercise. Bronchodilator response to 200 μg albuterol was then assessed. EIB was defined as a forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) fall ≥10% from baseline. Expiratory and inspiratory resistance (Rrs) and reactance (Xrs), their z-score (Ducharme et al. 2022), and their mean within-breath differences (ΔRrs = Rrsexp-Rrsinsp, ΔXrs = Xrsexp-Xrsinsp) were calculated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and their areas (AUCs) were used to evaluate impedance parameters' performances in classifying EIB. Results: Asthmatic patients developed EIB more frequently than those suspected of asthma [18/34 (52.9%) vs. 2/34 (5.9%), p < 0.001]. In the 20 subjects with EIB, Rrsinsp, Rrsexp, Xrsinsp, and Xrsexp peaked early (3'), and remained steady except for Xrsinsp, which recovered faster afterward. ΔXrs widened 18 min following the exercise and reversed sharply after bronchodilation (BD) (-1.81 ± 1.60 vs. -0.52 ± 0.80 cmH2O × s/L, p < 0.001). Cutoffs for EIB leading to the highest AUCs were a rise of 0.41 in z-score Rrsinsp (Se: 90.0%, Sp: 66.7%), and a fall of -0.64 in z-score Xrsinsp (Se: 90.0%, Sp: 75.0%). Accepting as having "positive" postexercise oscillometry changes those subjects who had both z-scores beyond respective cutoffs, sensitivity for EIB was 90.0% (18/20) and specificity, 83.3% (40/48). Conclusion: Oscillometry parameters and their within-breath differences changed markedly in pediatric patients presenting EIB and were restored after the bronchodilator. Strong agreement between z-scores of inspiratory oscillometry parameters and spirometry supports their clinical utility, though larger studies are required to validate these findings in a broader population

The LBNO long-baseline oscillation sensitivities with two conventional neutrino beams at different baselines

The proposed Long Baseline Neutrino Observatory (LBNO) initially consists of $\sim 20$ kton liquid double phase TPC complemented by a magnetised iron calorimeter, to be installed at the Pyh\"asalmi mine, at a distance of 2300 km from CERN. The conventional neutrino beam is produced by 400 GeV protons accelerated at the SPS accelerator delivering 700 kW of power. The long baseline provides a unique opportunity to study neutrino flavour oscillations over their 1st and 2nd oscillation maxima exploring the $L/E$ behaviour, and distinguishing effects arising from $\delta_{CP}$ and matter. In this paper we show how this comprehensive physics case can be further enhanced and complemented if a neutrino beam produced at the Protvino IHEP accelerator complex, at a distance of 1160 km, and with modest power of 450 kW is aimed towards the same far detectors. We show that the coupling of two independent sub-MW conventional neutrino and antineutrino beams at different baselines from CERN and Protvino will allow to measure CP violation in the leptonic sector at a confidence level of at least $3\sigma$ for 50\% of the true values of $\delta_{CP}$ with a 20 kton detector. With a far detector of 70 kton, the combination allows a $3\sigma$ sensitivity for 75\% of the true values of $\delta_{CP}$ after 10 years of running. Running two independent neutrino beams, each at a power below 1 MW, is more within today's state of the art than the long-term operation of a new single high-energy multi-MW facility, which has several technical challenges and will likely require a learning curve.Comment: 21 pages, 12 figure

Study on Composition Distribution and Ferromagnetism of Monodisperse FePt Nanoparticles

Monodisperse FePt nanoparticles with size of 4.5 and 6.0 nm were prepared by simultaneous reduction of platinum acetylacetonate and thermal decomposition of iron pentacarbonyl in benzylether. The crystallography structure, size, and composition of the FePt nanoparticles were examined by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry measurements of individual particles indicate a broad compositional distribution in both the 4.5 and 6 nm FePt nanoparticles. The effects of compositional distribution on the phase-transition and magnetic properties of the FePt nanoparticles were investigated

Mu2e calorimeter readout system

The Mu2e electromagnetic calorimeter is made of two disks of un-doped parallelepiped CsI crystals readout by SiPM. There are 674 crystals in one disk and each crystal is readout by an array of two SiPM. The readout electronics is composed of two types of modules: 1) the front-end module hosts the shaping amplifier and the high voltage linear regulator; since one front-end module is interfaced to one SiPM, a total of 2696 modules are needed for the entire calorimeter; 2) a waveform digitizer provides a further level of amplification and digitizes the SiPM signal at the sampling frequency of $200\ \text{M}\text{Hz}$with 12-bits ADC resolution; since one board digitizes the data received from 20 SiPMs, a total of 136 boards are needed. The readout system operational conditions are hostile: ionization dose of$20\ \text{krads}$, neutron flux of$10^{12}\ \mathrm{n}(1\ \text{MeVeq})/\text{cm}^2$, magnetic field of$1\ \text{T}$and in vacuum level of$10^{-4}\ \text{Torr}$. A description of the readout system and qualification tests is reported