Likelihood of finding melanoma when removing a Spitzoid-looking lesion in patients aged 12 years or older

Dermoscopy improves the recognition of melanoma and Spitz nevus but occasionally melanoma may exhibit a symmetric pattern mimicking Spitz nevus

Efficient Model based on Deep Learning for the Classification of Dementia

Alzheimer's disease to severe dementia are all forms of dementia, which are neurodegenerative disorders that affect brain memory. The most prevalent type of dementia that impairs thinking and memory is Alzheimer's disease. Network width, depth, and resolution are scaled uniformly by Efficient Net using a set of compound coefficients. This study uses callback functions to diagnose four types of dementia in order to slow down the learning process and increase accuracy. Additionally, contrast CNN and the Inception V3 model with the EfficientNet deep learning model. Using EfficienNetB2, classification accuracy is approximately 99.3%

Polyfunctional Melan-A-specific tumor-reactive CD8+ T cells elicited by dacarbazine treatment before peptide-vaccination depends on AKT activation sustained by ICOS

The identification of activation pathways linked to anti-tumor T-cell polyfunctionality in long surviving patients is of great relevance in the new era of immunotherapy. We have recently reported that dacarbazine (DTIC) injected one day before peptide-vaccination plus IFN-α improves the anti-tumor lytic activity and enlarges the repertoire of Melan-A-specific T-cell clones, as compared with vaccination alone, impacting the overall survival of melanoma patients. To identify the mechanisms responsible for this improvement of the immune response, we have analyzed the endogenous and treatment-induced antigen-specific response in a panel of Melan-A-specific CD8+ T-cell clones in terms of differentiation phenotype, inhibitory receptor profile, polyfunctionality and AKT activation. Here we show that Melan-A specific CD8+ T cells isolated from patients treated with chemoimmunotherapy possess a late differentiated phenotype as defined by the absence of CD28 and CD27 co-stimulatory molecules and high levels of LAG-3, TIM-3 and PD-1 inhibitory receptors. Nevertheless they show higher proliferative potential and an improved anti-tumor polyfunctional effector profile in terms of co-production of TNF-α, IFN-γ and Granzyme-B compared with cells derived from patients treated with vaccination alone. Polyfunctionality is dependent on an active AKT signalling related to the engagement of the co-stimulatory molecule ICOS. We suggest that this phenotypic and functional signature is dictated by a fine-tuned balance between TCR triggering, AKT activation, co-stimulatory and inhibitory signals induced by chemoimmunotherapy and may be associated with anti-tumor T cells able to protect patients from tumor recurrence

Clinical and dermoscopic characteristics of congenital and non-congenital nevus-associated melanomas

No specific features of nevus-associated melanoma (NAM) are currently defined

Is there a semantic system for abstract words?

Two views on the semantics of concrete words are that their core mental representations are feature-based or are reconstructions of sensory experience. We argue that neither of these approaches is capable of representing the semantics of abstract words, which involve the representation of possibly hypothetical physical and mental states, the binding of entities within a structure, and the possible use of embedding (or recursion) in such structures. Brain based evidence in the form of dissociations between deficits related to concrete and abstract semantics corroborates the hypothesis. Neuroimaging evidence suggests that left lateral inferior frontal cortex supports those processes responsible for the representation of abstract words

Digital dermoscopic changes during follow-up of de-novo and nevus-associated melanoma: a cohort study

Background: Nevus-associated melanoma (NAM) has been regarded as a distinct biological entity from de-novo melanoma (DNM); however, static dermoscopy often fails in differentiating these entities. Digital dermoscopic monitoring allows to identify dynamic changes occurring during follow-up; this may improve diagnostic accuracy and potentially our knowledge on NAM biology. We aimed to define main independent factors associated with NAM diagnosis and those influencing follow-up time in a population of melanomas excised at follow-up. Methods: A cohort of melanomas excised at follow-up was retrospectively and consecutively selected. NAMs and DNMs were compared according to baseline features and main dermoscopic changes occurring during follow-up. Univariate and multivariable logistic and Cox's regression analysis were performed to respectively define factors associated with NAM diagnosis and those influencing the risk for excision. Results: Eighty-six melanomas were enrolled, of which 21 (24.4%) were nevus-associated. During follow-up NAMs mainly underwent atypical network modifications (47.6%), followed by inverse network (28.6%) and dermoscopic island (23.8%) worsening or appearance. DNMs were also mainly characterized by atypical network modifications (47.7%), however, a significant proportion of cases underwent irregular pigmentation/dots/globules or regression changes (29.2%), which were rarely seen among NAMs. Furthermore, both multivariable logistic and Cox's regression analysis demonstrated a significant association between NAM and a longer follow-up. Conclusions: We demonstrated that among melanomas excised at follow-up, different patterns of dermoscopic changes may be found between NAMs and DNMs. This finding, together with the association of NAM with a longer follow-up time, supports the hypothesis of different biological behavior of these two entities

The Small GTPase Rap1b: A Bidirectional Regulator of Platelet Adhesion Receptors

Integrins and other families of cell adhesion receptors are responsible for platelet adhesion and aggregation, which are essential steps for physiological haemostasis, as well as for the development of thrombosis. The modulation of platelet adhesive properties is the result of a complex pattern of inside-out and outside-in signaling pathways, in which the members of the Rap family of small GTPases are bidirectionally involved. This paper focuses on the regulation of the main Rap GTPase expressed in circulating platelets, Rap1b, downstream of adhesion receptors, and summarizes the most recent achievements in the investigation of the function of this protein as regulator of platelet adhesion and thrombus formation

Contemporary art and Virtual Reality : new conditions of viewership

This article aims to respond to the lack of studies on the relationships between contemporary visual arts and VR, focusing on the role of "storytelling" and identifying what distinguishes VR art projects from other contemporary uses of VR, namely the criticism that they make of the VR medium itself. In the last five years, VR has developed a new language based on a specific visual grammar that has allowed for new forms of narration to arise. Visual artists have been attracted to VR in search of new modes of production and have exposed the negative impact of technology on our perception of reality, uncovering new mediated ways of seeing and distanced interaction with the world around us. The first part of the article will be dedicated to discussing Canadian artist Jon Rafman's View of Pariser Platz (2016) and American artist Jordan Wolfson's Real violence (2017), two of the first Oculus Rift-based art installations that developed a metalinguistic commentary on how VR, although promising immersion, produces, in fact, alienation, homogenization, brutalization and the loss of empathy. The article will continue with a discussion on the recent rise of tech companies that aim at producing contemporary artworks based on VR technology: Acute Art (London), Khora Contemporary (Copenhagen), and VIVE Arts (Taiwan). This is a new and expanding field that is changing the ontology of artmaking and redefining the artist's role, mainly in light of the cooperation with technicians and programmers