Role of PET and SPECT in the study of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has been defined as a "heterogeneous group of neurodegenerative syndromes characterized by progressive muscle paralysis caused by the degeneration of motor neurons allocated in primary motor cortex, brainstem, and spinal cord." A comprehensive diagnostic workup for ALS usually includes several electrodiagnostic, clinical laboratory and genetic tests. Neuroimaging exams, such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and spinal cord myelogram, may also be required. Nuclear medicine, with PET and SPECT, may also play a role in the evaluation of patients with ALS, and provide additional information to the clinicians.This paper aims to offer to the reader a comprehensive review of the different radiotracers for the assessment of the metabolism of glucose (FDG), the measurement of cerebral blood flow (CBF), or the evaluation of neurotransmitters, astrocytes, and microglia by means of newer and not yet clinically diffuse radiopharmaceuticals

An evidence map and synthesis review with meta-analysis on the risk of incisional hernia in colorectal surgery with standard closure.

Purpose To assess the incidence of incisional hernia (IH) across various type of incisions in colorectal surgery (CS) creating a map of evidence to define research trends, gaps and areas of future interest. Methods Systematic review of PubMed and Scopus from 2010 onwards. Studies included both open (OS) and laparoscopic (LS). The primary outcome was incidence of IH 12 months after index procedure, secondary outcomes were the study features and their influence on reported proportion of IH. Random effects models were used to calculate pooled proportions. Meta-regression models were performed to explore heterogeneity. Results Ninetyone studies were included reporting 6473 IH. The pooled proportions of IH for OS were 0.35 (95% CI 0.27–0.44) I2 0% in midline laparotomies and 0.02 (95% CI 0.00–0.07), I2 52% for off-midline. In case of LS the pooled proportion of IH for midline extraction sites were 0.10 (95% CI 0.07–0.16), I2 58% and 0.04 (95% CI 0.03–0.06), I2 86% in case of off-midline. In Port-site IH was 0.02 (95% CI 0.01–0.04), I2 82%, and for single incision surgery (SILS) of 0.06—95% CI 0.02–0.15, I2 81%. In case of stoma reversal sites was 0.20 (95% CI 0.16–0.24). Conclusion Midline laparotomies and stoma reversal sites are at high risk for IH and should be considered in research of preventive strategies of closure. After laparoscopic approach IH happens mainly by extraction sites incisions specially midline and also represent an important area of analysis.pre-print3102 K

CD56, HLA-DR, and CD45 recognize a subtype of childhood AML harboring CBFA2T3-GLIS2 fusion transcript

The presence of CBFA2T3‐GLIS2 fusion gene has been identified in childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). In view of the genomic studies indicating a distinct gene expression profile, we evaluated the role of immunophenotyping in characterizing a rare subtype of AML‐CBFA2T3‐GLIS2 rearranged. Immunophenotypic data were obtained by studying a cohort of 20 pediatric CBFA2T3‐GLIS2‐AML and 77 AML patients not carrying the fusion transcript. Enrolled cases were included in the Associazione Italiana di Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica (AIEOP) AML trials and immunophenotypes were compared using different statistical approaches. By multiple computational procedures, we identified two main core antigens responsible for the identification of the CBFA2T3‐GLIS2‐AML. CD56 showed the highest performance in single marker evaluation (AUC = 0.89) and granted the most accurate prediction when used in combination with HLA‐DR (AUC = 0.97) displaying a 93% sensitivity and 99% specificity. We also observed a weak‐to‐negative CD45 expression, being exceptional in AML. We here provide evidence that the combination of HLA‐DR negativity and intense bright CD56 expression detects a rare and aggressive pediatric AML genetic lesion improving the diagnosis performance

Preserving privacy in surgical video analysis using a deep learning classifier to identify out-of-body scenes in endoscopic videos

Surgical video analysis facilitates education and research. However, video recordings of endoscopic surgeries can contain privacy-sensitive information, especially if the endoscopic camera is moved out of the body of patients and out-of-body scenes are recorded. Therefore, identification of out-of-body scenes in endoscopic videos is of major importance to preserve the privacy of patients and operating room staff. This study developed and validated a deep learning model for the identification of out-of-body images in endoscopic videos. The model was trained and evaluated on an internal dataset of 12 different types of laparoscopic and robotic surgeries and was externally validated on two independent multicentric test datasets of laparoscopic gastric bypass and cholecystectomy surgeries. Model performance was evaluated compared to human ground truth annotations measuring the receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC AUC). The internal dataset consisting of 356,267 images from 48 videos and the two multicentric test datasets consisting of 54,385 and 58,349 images from 10 and 20 videos, respectively, were annotated. The model identified out-of-body images with 99.97% ROC AUC on the internal test dataset. Mean +/- standard deviation ROC AUC on the multicentric gastric bypass dataset was 99.94 +/- 0.07% and 99.71 +/- 0.40% on the multicentric cholecystectomy dataset, respectively. The model can reliably identify out-of-body images in endoscopic videos and is publicly shared. This facilitates privacy preservation in surgical video analysis

Impact of neoadjuvant therapy followed by laparoscopic radical gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection in Western population: A multi-institutional propensity score-matched study

Background and Objectives: In the setting of a minimally invasive approach, we aimed to compare short and long-term postoperative outcomes of patients treated with neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) + surgery or upfront surgery in Western population. Methods: All consecutive patients from six Italian and one Serbian center with locally advanced gastric cancer who had undergone laparoscopic gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection were selected between 2005 and 2019. After propensity score-matching, postoperative morbidity and oncologic outcomes were investigated. Results: After matching, 97 patients were allocated in each cohort with a mean age of 69.4 and 70.5 years. The two groups showed no difference in operative details except for a higher conversion rate in the NAT group (p = 0.038). The overall postoperative complications rate significantly differed between NAT + surgery (38.1%) and US (21.6%) group (p = 0.019). NAT was found to be related to a higher risk of postoperative morbidity in patients older than 60 years old (p = 0.013) but not in patients younger (p = 0.620). Conversely, no difference in overall survival (p = 0.41) and disease-free-survival (p = 0.34) was found between groups. Conclusions: NAT appears to be related to a higher postoperative complication rate and equivalent oncological outcomes when compared with surgery alone. However, poor short-term outcomes are more evident in patients over 60 years old receiving NAT

Defining the characteristics of certified hernia centers in Italy: The Italian society of hernia and abdominal wall surgery workgroup consensus on systematic reviews of the best available evidences

Background: The terms “Hernia Center” (HC) and Hernia Surgeon” (HS) have gained more and more popularity in recent years. Nevertheless, there is lack of protocols and methods for certification of their activities and results. The Italian Society of Hernia and Abdominal Wall Surgery proposes a method for different levels of certification. Methods: The national board created a commission, with the task to define principles and structure of an accreditation program. The discussion of each topic was preceded by a Systematic Review, according to PRISMA Guidelines and Methodology. In case of lack or inadequate data from literature, the parameter was fixed trough a Commission discussion. Results: The Commission defined a certification process including: “FLC - First level Certification”: restricted to single surgeon, it is given under request and proof of a formal completion of the learning curve process for the basic procedures and an adequate year volume of operations. “Second level certification”: Referral Center for Abdominal Wall Surgery. It is a public or private structure run by at least two already certified and confirmed FLC surgeons. “Third level certification”: High Specialization Center for Abdominal Wall Surgery. It is a public or private structure, already confirmed as Referral Centers, run by at least three surgeons (two certified and confirmed with FLC and one research fellow in abdominal wall surgery). Both levels of certification have to meet the Surgical Requirements and facilities criteria fixed by the Commission. Conclusion: The creation of different types of Hernia Centers is directed to create two different entities offering the same surgical quality with separate mission: the Referral Center being more dedicated to clinical and surgical activity and High Specialization Centers being more directed to scientific tasks

Towards the Composition of Services by End-Users: A Mobile-Based Solution

[EN] Nowadays, we live surrounded by heterogeneous and distributed services that are available to people anytime and anywhere. Even though these services can be used individually, it is through their synchronized and combined usage that end-users are provided with added value. However, existing solutions to service composition are not targeted at ordinary end-users. In fact, these solutions require technical knowledge to deal with the technological heterogeneity in which they are offered to the market. To this end, the paper presents a tool-supported platform that is aided by: (1) EUCalipTool, an end-user mobile tool that implements a Domain Specific Visual Language, which has been specifically designed to compose services on mobile devices; (2) a Faceted Service Registry, which plays the role of gateway between service implementations and end-users, hiding technological issues from the latter when including services in a composition; and (3) a Generation Module, which transforms end-user descriptions into BPMN specification that are interpreted by an execution infrastructure developed for that purpose.This work has been developed with the financial support of the Spanish State Research Agency under the project TIN2017-84094-R and co-financed with ERDF.Valderas, P.; Torres Bosch, MV.; Pelechano Ferragud, V. (2020). Towards the Composition of Services by End-Users: A Mobile-Based Solution. Business & Information Systems Engineering. 62(4):305-321. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-019-00617-zS305321624Amir R, Zeid A (2004) A UML profile for service-oriented architectures. In: Companion to the 19th annual ACM SIGPLAN conference on object-oriented programming systems, languages, and applications, Vancouver. ACM, New York, pp 192–193Athreya B, Bahmani F, Diede A, Scaffidi C (2012) End-user programmers on the loose: a study of programming on the phone for the phone. In: IEEE symposium on visual languages and human-centric computing, Innsbruck. IEEE, pp 75–82Atooma (2015) Atooma, a touch of magic. https://www.atooma.com/ . Accessed 1 Oct 2018Ayora C, Torres V, Weber B, Reichert M, Pelechano V (2013) Enhancing modeling and change support for process families through change patterns. In: Nurcan S et al (eds) Enterprise, Business-Process and Information Systems Modeling. BPMDS 2013, EMMSAD 2013, vol 147. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing. Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 246–260Benedek J, Miner T (2002) Measuring desirability: new methods for evaluating desirability in a usability lab setting. In: Proceedings from the Usability’s Professionals Association (UPA)Broke J (1996) SUS. A “quick and dirty” usability scale. In: Jordan P et al (eds) Usability evaluation in industry. Taylor & Francis, London, pp 189–194Cuccurullo S, Francese R, Risi M, Tortora G (2011) MicroApps development on mobile phones. In: Costabile MF, Dittrich Y, Fischer G, Piccinno A (eds) End-User Development. IS-EUD 2011, vol 6654. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 289–294Danado J, Paternò F (2014) Puzzle: a mobile application development environment using a jigsaw metaphor. J Vis Lang Comput 25(4):297–315Danado J, Davies M, Ricca P, Fensel A (2010) An authoring tool for user generated mobile services. In: Berre AJ, Gómez-Pérez A, Tutschku K, Fensel D (eds) Future internet—FIS 2010. FIS 2010, vol 6369. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 118–127Dey AK, Sohn T, Streng S, Kodama J (2006) iCAP: interactive prototyping of context-aware applications. In: Fishkin KP, Schiele B, Nixon P, Quigley A (eds) Pervasive Computing. Pervasive 2006, vol 3968. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 254–271Engeström Y, Miettinen R, Punamäki RL (1999) Perspectives on activity theory. Cambridge University Press, CambridgeErmagan V, Krüger IH (2007) A UML2 profile for service modeling. In: Engels G, Opdyke B, Schmidt DC, Weil F (eds) Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems. MODELS 2007, vol 4735. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 360–374Galitz WO (2002) The essential guide to user interface design: an introduction to GUI. Design principles and techniques. Wiley, New YorkGuillen J, Miranda J, Berrocal J, Garcia-Alonso J, Murillo JM, Canal C (2014) People as a service: a mobile-centric model for providing collective sociological profiles. IEEE Softw 31(2):48–53Häkkilä J, Korpipää P, Ronkainen S, Tuomela U (2005) Interaction and end-user programming with a context-aware mobile application. In: Costabile MF, Paternò F (eds) Human-Computer Interaction—INTERACT 2005, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3585. Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 927–937IFTTT (2015) IFTTT, if this then that. https://IFTTT.com/ . Accessed 1 Oct 2018Klusch M, Sycara K (2001) Brokering and matchmaking for coordination of agent societies: a survey. In: Omicini A, Zambonelli F, Klusch M, Tolksdorf R (eds) Coordination of Internet Agents. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 197–224Locale (2015). http://www.twofortyfouram.com . Accessed 1 Oct 2018Lucci G, Paternò F (2014) Understanding end-user development of context-dependent applications in smartphones. In: Sauer S, Bogdan C, Forbrig P, Bernhaupt R, Winckler M (eds) Human-Centered Software Engineering. HCSE 2014, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8742. Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 182–198Paolucci M, Kawamura T, Payne TR, Sycara K (2002) Semantic matching of web services capabilities. In: Horrocks I, Hendler J (eds) The Semantic Web—ISWC 2002, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2342. Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 333–347Renger M, Kolfschoten GL, de Vreede GJ (2008) Challenges in collaborative modeling: a literature review. In: Advances in enterprise engineering I, vol 10, Montpellier, pp 61–77Repenning A, Ioannidou A (2006) What makes end-user development tick? 13 design guidelines. In: End user development. Human-computer interaction series, vol 9. Springer, Berlin, pp 51–85Rumbaugh J, Jacobson I, Booch G (2004) The unified modeling language reference manual. Pearson, LondonSegal J (2005) Two principles of end-user software engineering research. ACM SIGSOFT Softw Eng Notes 30(4):1–5Serral E, Valderas P, Pelechano V (2013) Context-adaptive coordination of pervasive services by interpreting models during runtime. Comput J 56(1):87–114Tasker (2015) Tasker, total automation for Android. http://tasker.dinglisch.net/ . Accessed 1 Oct 2018Uden L, Valderas P, Pastor O (2008) An activity-theory-based model to analyse web application requirements. Inf Res 13(2):1Valderas P, Pelechano V, Pastor O (2006) A transformational approach to produce web application prototypes from a web requirements model. Int J Web Eng Technol 3(1):4–42Valderas P, Torres V, Mansanet I, Pelechano V (2017) A mobile-based solution for supporting end-users in the composition of services. Multimed Tools Appl 76(15):16315–16345Workflow.is (2018) Workflow. Spend less taps, get more done. https://workflow.is/ . Accessed 1 Oct 2018Yu J, Sheng QZ, Han J, Wu Y, Liu C (2012) A semantically enhanced service repository for user-centric service discovery and management. Data Knowl Eng 72:202–21

A mobile-based solution for supporting end-users in the composition of services

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11042-016-3910-4Currently, technologies and applications evolve to create eco-systems made up of a myriad of heterogeneous and distributed services that are accessible anytime and anywhere. Even though these services can be used individually, it is their coordinated and combined usage what provide an added value to end-users. In addition, user¿s wide adoption of mobile devices for daily activities have fostered a shift in the role played by end-users towards Internet data and services. However, existing solutions to service composition are not targeted to ordinary end-users. More easy-to-use tools have to be offered to end-users to make sure that they are successfully accepted and used by them. To this end, the work presented in this paper supports end-users in the creation of service compositions by using mobile devices. We present a Domain Specific Visual Language (DSVL) for end-users that allows them to create service compositions. A tool specifically designed for mobile devices supports this DSVL.This work has been developed with the support of MINECO under the project SMART ADAPT TIN2013-42981-P and co-financed with ERDF.Valderas Aranda, PJ.; Torres Bosch, MV.; Mansanet Benavent, I.; Pelechano Ferragud, V. (2016). A mobile-based solution for supporting end-users in the composition of services. Multimedia Tools and Applications. 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-016-3910-4S131Athreya B, Bahmani F, Diede A, Scaffidi C (2012) End-user programmers on the loose: a study of programming on the phone for the phone. In IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC), Innsbruck, Austria, pp. 75–82Atoma (2015) Atoomam, a touch of magic. Accesible at: https://www.atooma.com/ . Last time accessed: December 2015Ayora C, Torres V, Weber B, Reichert M, Pelechano V (2013) Enhancing modeling and change support for process families through change patterns. In: Enterprise, business-process and information systems modeling. Springer, Berlin, pp. 246–260Boehm B, Abts C, Brown A, Chulani S, Clark B, Horowitz E, Madchy R, Reifer D, Steece B (2000) Software Cost Estimation with COCOMOII. Upper Saddle River: Prentice HallBPDM (2014) Business Process Defintion Metamodel, volume ii: Process Definitions. http://www.omg.org/spec/BPDM/1.0/volume2/PDFCasati F (1998) Models, semantics, and formal methods for the design of workflows and their exceptions. PhD thesis, MilanoCouper MP, Tourangeau R, Conrad FG, Crawford SD (2004) What they see is what we get: response options for web surveys. Soc Sci Comput Rev 22(1):111–127Cuccurullo S, Francese R, Risi M, Tortora G (2011) MicroApps development on mobile phones. In: End-user development. Springer, Berlin, pp. 289–294Dadam P, Reichert M (2009) The ADEPT project: a decade of research and development for robust and flexible process support. Comput Sci - R&D 23:81–97Danado J, Paternò F (2014) Puzzle: a mobile application development environment using a jigsaw metaphor. J Vis Lang Comput 25(4):297–315Danado J, Davies M, Ricca P, Fensel A (2010) An authoring tool for user generated mobile services. In: Future internet-FIS 2010. Springer, Berlin, pp. 118–127Dey AK, Sohn T, Streng S, Kodama J (2006) iCAP: interactive prototyping of context-aware applications. In: Pervasive computing. Springer, Berlin, pp. 254–271Engeström Y, Miettinen R, Punamäki RL (1999) Perspectives on activity theory. Cambridge University Press, CambridgeGalitz WO (2002) The essential guide to user interface design: an introduction to GUI. In: Design principles and techniques. Wiley, New YorkGil M, Serral E, Valderas P, Pelechano V (2013) Designing for user attention: a method for supporting unobtrusive routine tasks. Sci Comput Program 78(10):1987–2008Gubbi J, Buyya R, Marusic S, Palaniswami M (2013) Internet of things (IoT): a vision, architectural elements, and future directions. Futur Gener Comput Syst 29(7):1645–1660Haines W, Gervasio M, Spaulding A, Peintner B (2010) Recommendations for end-user development. In ACM Workshop on User-Centric Evaluation of Recommender Systems and their Interfaces, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 42-49Häkkilä J, Korpipää P, Ronkainen S, Tuomela U (2005) Interaction and end-user programming with a context-aware mobile application. In: Human-computer interaction-INTERACT 2005. Springer, Berlin, pp. 927–937ICIS (2015) Internet Computing in the Internet of Services. Summer School. Department of Informatics Engineering of the University of Coimbra. Available at: http://icis.uc.pt/ . Last time accessed: December 2015Ifttt (2015) Ifttt, If This Then That. Accesible at: https://ifttt.com/ . Last time accessed: December 2015Larman C, Basili VR (2003) Iterative and incremental development: a brief history. Computer 6:47–56Lewis JR (1995) IBM computer usability satisfaction questionnaires: psychometric evaluation and instructions for use. Int J Hum Comput Interact 7(1):57–78Liberman H, Paternò F, Klann M, Wulf V (2006) End user development. In: Liberman H, Paternò F, Wulf V (eds) End-user development: an emerging paradigm, vol 9, pp. 427–457Locale (2015) Accesible at: http://www.twofortyfouram.com . Last time accessed: December 2015Lucci G, Paternò F (2014) Understanding end-user development of context-dependent applications in smartphones. In: Human-centered software engineering. Springer, Berlin, pp. 182–198Mansanet I, Torres V, Valderas P, Pelechano V (2014) A Mobile End-Use Tool for service Compositions. X Jornadas de Ciencia e Ingeniería de Servicios (JCIS 2014), 25–35Mansanet I, Torres V, Valderas P, Pelechano V (2015) IoT Compositions by and for the Crowd. XI Jornadas de Ciencia e Ingeniería de Servicios (JCIS 2015)Neil T (2014) Mobile design pattern gallery: UI patterns for smartphone apps. “O’Reilly Media, Inc.”, SebastopolNielsen J (2005) Ten usability heuristics. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics . Last time accessed: February 2016Renger M, Kolfschoten GL, de Vreede GJ (2008) Challenges in collaborative modeling: A literature review. In Advances in enterprise engineering I, held at CAiSE 2008, Montpellier, 10. 61–77Repenning A, Ioannidou A (2006) What makes end-user development tick? 13 design guidelines. End user development, Human-Computer Interaction Series, vol 9, pp. 51–85Runeson P, Höst M (2009) Guidelines for conducting and reporting case study research in software engineering. Empir Softw Eng 14(2):131–164Segal J (2005) Two principles of end-user software engineering research, In ACM SIGSOFT software engineering notes (Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 1–5). ACM, New YorkSerral E, Valderas P, Pelechano V (2013) Context-adaptive coordination of pervasive services by interpreting models during runtime†. Comput J 56(1):87–114Tasker (2015) Tasker, Total Automation for Android. Accesible at: http://tasker.dinglisch.net/ . Last time accessed: December 2015.Uden L, Valderas P, Pastor O (2008) An activity-theory-based model to analyse Web application requirements. Inf Res 13(2):1Valderas P, Pelechano V, Pastor O (2006) A transformational approach to produce web application prototypes from a web requirements model. Int J Web Eng Technol 3(1):4–42Van Deursen A, Klint P, Visser J (2000) Domain-specific languages: an annotated bibliography. Sigplan Notices 35(6):26–36Van Welie M, Trætteberg H (2000) Interaction patterns in user interfaces. In 7th. Pattern Languages of Programs Conference (pp. 13–16)Weber B, Reichert M, Rinderle S (2008) Change patterns and change support features - enhancing flexibility in process-aware information systems. Data Knowl Eng 66:438–466Yu J, Sheng QZ, Han J, Wu Y, Liu C (2012) A semantically enhanced service repository for user-centric service discovery and management. Data Knowl Eng 72:202–21