Supporting Alzheimer’s Residential Care - A Novel Indoor Localization System

This work illustrates a localization system specifically designed to be applied in “Il Paese Ritrovato”, a highly innovative health-care facility for people affected by Alzheimer’s disease in Monza, Italy. Patients are provided with an iBeacon bracelet broadcasting data packets that are collected through the use of a dense network of devices acting as receiving antennas. The system evaluates the path-loss of the received signal and corrects the computed position with a probabilistic approach to avoid wall-crossing. Localization data are merged with information from other IoT devices such as smart sensors, appliances and expert annotations; the resulting dataset will be extremely important to analyze behaviors, habits and social interactions among patients

Noble Metal Nanoparticles Networks Stabilized by Rod‐Like Organometallic Bifunctional Thiols

od-like organometallic dithiol containing square-planar Pt(II) centers, i. e., trans,trans- [(H3COCS)Pt(PBu3)2(C�C C6H4 C6H4 C�C)(PBu3)2Pt(SCOCH3)] was used as bifunctional stabilizing agent for the synthesis of Pd-, Au-, and AgNPs (MNPs). All the MNPs showed diameters of about 4 nm, which can be controlled by carefully modulating the synthesis parameters. Covalent MNPs stabilization occurred through a single S bridge between Pt(II) and the noble metal nanocluster surfaces, leading to a network of regularly spaced NPs with the formation of dyads, as supported by SR-XPS data and by TEM imaging analysis. The chemical nature of NPs systems was also confirmed by EDS and NMR. Comparison between SR-XPS data of MNPs and self-assembled monolayers and multilayers of pristine rod-like dithiols deposited onto polycrystalline gold surfaces revealed an electronic interaction between Pt(II) centers and biphenyl moieties of adjacent ligands, stabilizing the organic structure of the network. The possibility to obtain networks of regularly spaced MNPs opens outstanding perspectives in optoelectronics

Bowel preparation for elective colorectal resection: multi-treatment machine learning analysis on 6241 cases from a prospective Italian cohort

background current evidence concerning bowel preparation before elective colorectal surgery is still controversial. this study aimed to compare the incidence of anastomotic leakage (AL), surgical site infections (SSIs), and overall morbidity (any adverse event, OM) after elective colorectal surgery using four different types of bowel preparation. methods a prospective database gathered among 78 Italian surgical centers in two prospective studies, including 6241 patients who underwent elective colorectal resection with anastomosis for malignant or benign disease, was re-analyzed through a multi-treatment machine-learning model considering no bowel preparation (NBP; No. = 3742; 60.0%) as the reference treatment arm, compared to oral antibiotics alone (oA; No. = 406; 6.5%), mechanical bowel preparation alone (MBP; No. = 1486; 23.8%), or in combination with oAB (MoABP; No. = 607; 9.7%). twenty covariates related to biometric data, surgical procedures, perioperative management, and hospital/center data potentially affecting outcomes were included and balanced into the model. the primary endpoints were AL, SSIs, and OM. all the results were reported as odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). results compared to NBP, MBP showed significantly higher AL risk (OR 1.82; 95% CI 1.23-2.71; p = .003) and OM risk (OR 1.38; 95% CI 1.10-1.72; p = .005), no significant differences for all the endpoints were recorded in the oA group, whereas MoABP showed a significantly reduced SSI risk (OR 0.45; 95% CI 0.25-0.79; p = .008). conclusions MoABP significantly reduced the SSI risk after elective colorectal surgery, therefore representing a valid alternative to NBP

Abdominal drainage after elective colorectal surgery: propensity score-matched retrospective analysis of an Italian cohort

background: In italy, surgeons continue to drain the abdominal cavity in more than 50 per cent of patients after colorectal resection. the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of abdominal drain placement on early adverse events in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery. methods: a database was retrospectively analysed through a 1:1 propensity score-matching model including 21 covariates. the primary endpoint was the postoperative duration of stay, and the secondary endpoints were surgical site infections, infectious morbidity rate defined as surgical site infections plus pulmonary infections plus urinary infections, anastomotic leakage, overall morbidity rate, major morbidity rate, reoperation and mortality rates. the results of multiple logistic regression analyses were presented as odds ratios (OR) and 95 per cent c.i. results: a total of 6157 patients were analysed to produce two well-balanced groups of 1802 patients: group (A), no abdominal drain(s) and group (B), abdominal drain(s). group a versus group B showed a significantly lower risk of postoperative duration of stay >6 days (OR 0.60; 95 per cent c.i. 0.51-0.70; P < 0.001). a mean postoperative duration of stay difference of 0.86 days was detected between groups. no difference was recorded between the two groups for all the other endpoints. conclusion: this study confirms that placement of abdominal drain(s) after elective colorectal surgery is associated with a non-clinically significant longer (0.86 days) postoperative duration of stay but has no impact on any other secondary outcomes, confirming that abdominal drains should not be used routinely in colorectal surgery

Colorectal Cancer Stage at Diagnosis Before vs During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

IMPORTANCE Delays in screening programs and the reluctance of patients to seek medical attention because of the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 could be associated with the risk of more advanced colorectal cancers at diagnosis. OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was associated with more advanced oncologic stage and change in clinical presentation for patients with colorectal cancer. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This retrospective, multicenter cohort study included all 17 938 adult patients who underwent surgery for colorectal cancer from March 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021 (pandemic period), and from January 1, 2018, to February 29, 2020 (prepandemic period), in 81 participating centers in Italy, including tertiary centers and community hospitals. Follow-up was 30 days from surgery. EXPOSURES Any type of surgical procedure for colorectal cancer, including explorative surgery, palliative procedures, and atypical or segmental resections. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was advanced stage of colorectal cancer at diagnosis. Secondary outcomes were distant metastasis, T4 stage, aggressive biology (defined as cancer with at least 1 of the following characteristics: signet ring cells, mucinous tumor, budding, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, and lymphangitis), stenotic lesion, emergency surgery, and palliative surgery. The independent association between the pandemic period and the outcomes was assessed using multivariate random-effects logistic regression, with hospital as the cluster variable. RESULTS A total of 17 938 patients (10 007 men [55.8%]; mean [SD] age, 70.6 [12.2] years) underwent surgery for colorectal cancer: 7796 (43.5%) during the pandemic period and 10 142 (56.5%) during the prepandemic period. Logistic regression indicated that the pandemic period was significantly associated with an increased rate of advanced-stage colorectal cancer (odds ratio [OR], 1.07; 95%CI, 1.01-1.13; P = .03), aggressive biology (OR, 1.32; 95%CI, 1.15-1.53; P < .001), and stenotic lesions (OR, 1.15; 95%CI, 1.01-1.31; P = .03). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This cohort study suggests a significant association between the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the risk of a more advanced oncologic stage at diagnosis among patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer and might indicate a potential reduction of survival for these patients

Lo sviluppo dei settori ad alta tecnologia nell'area pavese: il ruolo dell'Università

Ricerca sulle ricadute dell'università sull'economia del territorio, basata su interviste a start-up ad alta tecnologia. Analisi dei brevetti europei nei settori ad alta tecnologia che hanno autori residenti nel territorio

Pet's diseases and owner's anxiety: is the leash an umbilical cord?

Nowadays domestic animals take part to the family system and represent a fundamental element of its equilibrium. Therefore, pet’s symptoms or diseases may become stressors for owners. The aims of the present study were to evaluate if the management of a pet affected by a disease may influence the anxiety of the owner and if some pathologies or symptoms may affect owner’s anxiety more deeply. Eighty five owners of dogs and cats presented to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital “Mario Modenato” of the University of Pisa for dermatologic, gastro enteric and nephrological disorders were enrolled in the study through the administration of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Test (STAI). The questionnaire was anonymous and in accordance with privacy laws. Data were statistically analysed through the t-test and ANOVA test. Both men and women showed significantly higher values of trait anxiety (47.68±12.97 vs 43.07±8.05; p=0.04), compared to state anxiety (45.68±12.71 vs 38.9±9.89; p=0.03) but men presented significantly higher scores than women. No significant differences were found among owners concerning age and educational level. Cat’s owners showed significantly lower levels of anxiety than dogs ones and owners of nephropatic patients were less anxious than owners of gastroenteric and dermatologic subjects. The present data seemed to show that owner’s anxiety may be affected more or less deeply by pet’s disease, according to kind of disease, seriousness of symptoms and owner’s gender

Disseminating Synthetic Smart Home Data for Advanced Applications

The research in IoT and Smart Homes fields is rapidly growing, leading to the emergence of new services to improve the health and lifestyle of people based on the analysis of data that they produce performing their daily activities. However, researchers report a lack of high-quality publicly-available datasets: conducting experiments gathering such data is long and expensive, especially if the annotation of meaningful information (environment, person’s activity, health status) is required. Moreover, there are even more specific settings (e.g., dementia detection) where data must be related to a change in inhabitants’ behavior. We present a collection of new publicly-available datasets generated with the SHARON simulator. Thanks to this software, researchers can obtain synthetic data suiting their specific requirements. Two classes of datasets are described: one extends existing datasets preserving the original statistical properties, the other is composed of simulations of virtual inhabitant-environment systems. Moreover, we induced behavioral drifts compatible with dementia symptoms, generating further datasets. We believe that these resources may help the progress of research, as long as new real-life high-quality datasets are not available

Thermoelectric properties of Zn4Sb3 intermetallic compound doped with Aluminum and Silver

The beta-phase Zn4Sb3 has attracted much attention because of its high thermoelectric performance in the intermediate temperature range thanks to disorder in the Zn lattice site. In this work are presented structural, thermal, electric and thermoelectric characterization of Zn4Sb3 pure and Ag, Al doped, prepared by a simple synthesis. Structural and microstructural analyses reveal homogeneous one-phases having compositions in agreement with the nominal ones. After thermoelectric characterization, Ag doping results mostly effective in lowering the resistivity and Seebeck coefficient value, by introducing holes in the system. On the other hand, the Al substitution yields a very small decrease of the Seebeck coefficient but, at the same time, a significant decrease of the thermal conductivity mainly due to the depressed phonon contribution. The thermal conductivity behavior is the main responsible for the good thermoelectric performances of (Zn0.33Al0.01)(4)Sb-3, whose thermoelectric figure of merit reaches the encouraging value of 0.23 at 260 K