Seismic vulnerability of churches in Faial and Pico islands, Azores

Earthquakes represent one of the main cause of serious damage and loss of historic and architectural heritage. Interventions to preserve these building should start with a careful knowledge and assessment of their seismic vulnerability, in order to support any needed retrofitting and strengthening measures. This paper proposes a procedure to register and diagnose of the level of damage on churches after the occurrence of an earthquake, and also to assess the seismic vulnerability of this type of construction. This procedure was applied to sixteen churches in the Azores islands which were hit by the July 9th 1998 earthquake. Belfries of church towers are elements with a particular seismic vulnerability. For this reason, and based on the Italian methodology proposed by the Linee Guida (2006), it is applied to belfries of two churches from Pico (Azores), a simplified mechanical model for assessment of seismic vulnerability of this type of structures

Copper deficiency-associated myelopathy in cryptogenic hyperzincemia: A case report

Copper deficiency syndrome is an underestimated cause of posterior myelitis. We describe the case of a 41-year-old woman, who developed a subacute ataxic paraparesis associated with low back pain. Her 3T spine MRI showed a thin hyperintense FS-Echo T2 longitudinally extensive lesion involving the posterior columns of the cervical cord (from C2 to C6). An extensive diagnostic work-up excluded other causes of myelopathy and blood tests pointed out hypocupremia and mild hyperzincemia. Patients affected by this rare form of oligoelement deficiency typically develop progressive posterior column dysfunction with sensory ataxia and spasticity, sometimes associated with sensori-motor polyneuropathy. Clinical and radiological characteristics of posterior myelopathy due to copper deficiency are briefly reviewed. Physicians should be aware of this condition since a prompt introduction of copper supplementation can avoid progression of the neurological damage. (www.actabiomedica.it)

Metodologia para a avaliação da vulnerabilidade sísmica do património religioso: caso de estudo - Faial e Pico, Açores

Os sismos representam uma das grandes causas de danos graves e perda do património histórico e arquitectónico. Qualquer intervenção de reabilitação destes edifícios deve partir de uma cuidada avaliação e análise da sua vulnerabilidade sísmica, de modo a desenvolver, se necessário, estratégias de reforço sísmico adequadas. O principal objectivo do presente artigo é estudar a vulnerabilidade sísmica do património religioso das ilhas do Faial e do Pico, nos Açores. Para tal, numa primeira parte deste trabalho, é proposta uma metodologia para o diagnóstico e registo do grau de dano em igrejas após a ocorrência de um sismo, assim como para a avaliação da vulnerabilidade associada a estas. A partir da análise dos danos observados em dezasseis igrejas afectadas pelo sismo de 9 de Julho de 1998 nos Açores, é elaborada uma base de dados que, para além de reunir as características de cada igreja estudada, apoia o cálculo simplificado do índice de dano, vulnerabilidade e coeficiente de segurança global. O campanário das torres sineiras é um elemento particularmente vulnerável aos sismos, devido à sua geometria típica. Por um lado, a existência de grandes aberturas a certos níveis produz tipicamente elementos verticais muito esbeltos. Por outro lado, a elevada concentração de massa no topo das torres também contribui para esta vulnerabilidade. Assim, na segunda parte deste trabalho, é aplicada a metodologia italiana, proposta na Linee Guida per la Valutazione e Reduzione del Rischio Sísmico del Patrimônio Culturale, aos campanários de duas igrejas localizadas na ilha do Pico, com base num modelo mecânico simplificado para a avaliação da vulnerabilidade deste tipo de estruturas. Com o trabalho desenvolvido, pretende-se contribuir para uma sistematização de processos de inspecção e registo de informação relativa a igrejas, com vista a apoiar estratégias de intervenção quer em situações de pós-sismo, quer na mitigação do risco sísmico destas estruturas

SIMPLIFIED PARAMETERS FOR THE EVALUATION OF SITE EFFECTS IN THE

After the 2002 earthquakes, that struck the southern Italy provinces of Campobasso (Molise) and Foggia (Apulia), the safety assessment of buildings has allowed to evaluate, for different building typologies, the damage level caused by the seismic event; in particular, the survey of the damaged cultural heritage was carried out by the Task Cultural Heritage of the Mixed Operating Centre (COM) in Larino (a village in the epicentral area), coordinated by the “Working Group for the Safeguard of the Cultural Heritage from Natural Risks” (Italy’s Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 116, 21 May 2001 - PCM-DPC Decree, 3 May 2001)”. For this survey activity, the churches were investigated with a specific form proposed by the same Working Group (Ministerial Decree n. 133, 23th January 2001), adopting different forms for other kinds of buildings. The surveyors were organized in teams, called NOPSA (Nuclei Operativi Patrimonio Storico Artistico), composed by officials of the Regional board of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Environmental Conservation (architects and art historians), an engineer and a Fire Brigade technician. The first phase of the safety assessment has been developed on the basis of the warnings received by the Larino COM, and most of the surveyed buildings were churches. The damage assessment of public or private buildings began, initially, near the earthquake epicentre (area 1 - IMCS between 6 and 8.5) and subsequently was carried out for all the villages from which inspection requests arrived. At the same time a vulnerability survey was carried out for the churches, using the II level form (Lagomarsino et al., 2004) proposed in the SAVE Project (“Updated Tools for the Seismic Vulnerability Evaluation of the Italian Real Estate and of Urban Systems” – http://gndt.ingv.it). The damage and vulnerability survey has allowed to verify and optimize the procedures for damage assessment immediately after a seismic event (emergency phase) and to obtain useful indications for the reconstruction phase. On the whole 379 monumental buildings in 101 Molise villages and 207 monumental buildings in 44 Apulia villages were investigated. Figure 1 shows the number of monumental buildings surveyed after the earthquakes for each Molise village, subdividing the region according to the seismic classification proposed by the recent Italian Seismic Code (OPCM n. 3274, 2003 – http://zonesismiche.mi.ingv.it)

A fully automated pipeline for a robust conjunctival hyperemia estimation

Purpose: Many semi-automated and fully-automated approaches have been proposed in literature to improve the objectivity of the estimation of conjunctival hyperemia, based on image processing analysis of eyes’ photographs. The purpose is to improve its evaluation using faster fully-automated systems and independent by the human subjectivity. Methods: In this work, we introduce a fully-automated analysis of the redness grading scales able to completely automatize the clinical procedure, starting from the acquired image to the redness estimation. In particular, we introduce a neural network model for the conjunctival segmentation followed by an image processing pipeline for the vessels network segmentation. From these steps, we extract some features already known in literature and whose correlation with the conjunctival redness has already been proved. Lastly, we implemented a predictive model for the conjunctival hyperemia using these features. Results: In this work, we used a dataset of images acquired during clinical practice.We trained a neural network model for the conjunctival segmentation, obtaining an average accuracy of 0.94 and a corresponding IoU score of 0.88 on a test set of images. The set of features extracted on these ROIs is able to correctly predict the Efron scale values with a Spearman’s correlation coefficient of 0.701 on a set of not previously used samples. Conclusions: The robustness of our pipeline confirms its possible usage in a clinical practice as a viable decision support system for the ophthalmologists

Advantages of manual and automatic computer-aided compared to traditional histopathological diagnosis of melanoma: A pilot study

Background: Cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) accounts for the highest mortality rate among all skin cancers. Traditional histopathologic diagnosis may be limited by the pathologists’ subjectivity. Second-opinion strategies and multidisciplinary consultations are usually performed to overcome this issue. An available solution in the future could be the use of automated solutions based on a computational algorithm that could help the pathologist in everyday practice. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the potential diagnostic aid of a machine-based algorithm in the histopathologic diagnosis of CMM. Methods: We retrospectively examined excisional biopsies of 50 CMM and 20 benign congenital compound nevi. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained WSI were reviewed independently by two expert dermatopathologists. A fully automated pipeline for WSI processing to support the estimation and prioritization of the melanoma areas was developed. Results: The spatial distribution of the nuclei in the sample provided a multi-scale overview of the tumor. A global overview of the lesion's silhouette was achieved and, by increasing the magnification, the topological distribution of the nuclei and the most informative areas of interest for the CMM diagnosis were identified and highlighted. These silhouettes allow the histopathologist to discriminate between nevus and CMM with an accuracy of 96% without any extra information. Conclusion: In this study we proposed an easy-to-use model that produces segmentations of CMM silhouettes at fine detail level

p-TSA-Based DESs as “Active Green Solvents” for Microwave Enhanced Cyclization of 2-Alkynyl-(hetero)-arylcarboxylates: an Alternative Access to 6-Substituted 3,4-Fused 2-Pyranones

In this paper, we describe the use of p-TSA based Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) as alternative environmental-friendly \u201cactive\u201d solvents for the microwave-mediated synthesis of 6-substituted 3,4-fused 2-pyranones, and in particular isocoumarins, starting from 2-alkynyl-(hetero)arylcarboxylates. When the alkyne terminus bears a neutral or an electron-donating group (EDG), the reactions are fast, clean and highly regioselective, to give the 6-endo-dig cyclization products in good to excellent yields. For substrates bearing an electron-withdrawing group (EWG) on the alkyne end, the regioselectivity can be tuned by adding a small amount of silver(I) triflate as co-catalyst. DES was demonstrated to be reusable without loss of efficiency in terms of reaction yields. Based on experimental evidences and previous findings, two competitive mechanisms working simultaneously are proposed to explain the outcomes and the regioselectivity issues

Sunitinib Exerts In Vitro Immunomodulatory Activity on Sarcomas via Dendritic Cells and Synergizes With PD-1 Blockade

Background: High-grade sarcomas are a heterogeneous group of aggressive tumors arising in bone and soft tissues. After relapse, treatment options are limited. The multi-targeted receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) sunitinib and inhibitor of PD-1 (anti-PD-1) nivolumab have shown antitumor activity in selected subtypes. In this study, we examine the role of TKIs and PD-1 based therapy in in vitro cocultures of sarcoma. Methods: The human osteosarcoma (SaOS-2) and synovial sarcoma (SYO-1) cell lines were treated with sunitinib. After cell death and proliferation assessment, expression of PD-L1 was analyzed by flow cytometry. Sunitinib-treated sarcoma cells were cocultured with dendritic cells (DCs), and the phenotype of mature DCs was determined by flow cytometry. Mature DCs were cultured with autologous T cells. PD-1 expression on T cells, their proliferation, T regulatory cell (Tregs) induction and IFN-γ production, before and after nivolumab exposure, were analyzed. Results: Along with its anti-proliferative and direct pro-apoptotic effect on sarcoma cell lines, sunitinib prompted PD-L1 upregulation on sarcoma cells. Interestingly, sunitinib-treated sarcoma cells drive DCs to full maturation and increase their capacity to induce sarcoma-reactive T cells to produce IFN-γ. Conversely, no effect on T cell proliferation and T cell subpopulation composition was observed. Moreover, both bone and synovial sarcoma cell lines induced Tregs through DCs but sunitinib treatment completely abrogated Treg induction. Finally, sarcoma cell lines induced PD-1 upregulation on both effector T cells and Tregs when loaded into DCs, providing a rationale for using PD-1 blockade. Indeed, PD-1 blockade by nivolumab synergized with sunitinib in inducing IFN-γ-producing effector T cells. Conclusions: Taken together, our in vitro data indicate that the treatment of sarcoma cells with sunitinib can exert significant changes on immune cell subsets toward immune activation, leading to DC-based cross-priming of IFN-γ-producing effector T cells and reduced Treg induction. PD-1 blockade with nivolumab has a synergistic effect with sunitinib, supporting the use of TKI and anti-PD-1 approach in sarcomas, and perhaps in other cancers. DC-targeted drugs, including toll-like receptor 3 inhibitors and CD47 inhibitors, are under development and our preclinical model might help to better design their clinical application