Arretium or Arezzo? A Neural Approach to the Identification of Place Names in Historical Texts

This paper presents the application of a neural architecture to the identification of place names in English historical texts. We test the impact of different word embeddings and we compare the results to the ones obtained with the Stanford NER module of CoreNLP before and after the retraining using a novel corpus of manually annotated historical travel writings

Travels of a Rayed Head: imagery, fiber, structure and connotations of early textiles from the South Central Andes

The rayed head image has long been identified as a central symbol associated with the Paracas tradition, also called the sun face 1 and associated with the concept of Oculate Being developed by the Berkeley School. 2 Prominently repeated on the central ground of the famous Paracas Textile at the Brooklyn Museum, this image has much earlier antecedents in the region. Scholars disagree on the extent to which many Paracas, Topara and early Nasca images with large round eyes, grinning mouths, and serpentlike appendages emitting from the head and body may also be manifestations of a particular Oculate Being or of more general concepts of natural or supernatural power. Recently, contemporary textiles found in the Sihuas valley to the south (see Haeberli in this volume) challenge us to reexamine the similarities and distinctions among rayed heads. One of the great challenges of the history of material culture, envisioned as a history of philosophical concepts, social values and cultural practices through their inscription in material objects, is the degree to which a recurrent image, pattern or special arrangement reflects a similar idea. A number of quite different images have been associated with the concept of an Oculate Being proposed by John Rowe and others of the Berkeley school based on their analysis of Ica valley ceramics and Ocucaje gravelots in the 1950s. I here trace the rayed head or sun face image as it occurs over at least 500 years in the region of Ica and Paracas. I then briefly consider its relationship to other contemporary imagery and later imagery featuring ray-like elements emitted from the head, both in the same contexts where the rayed head appears, and in other cemeteries to the south in southern Peru and northern Chile. All the imagery discussed here is associated with a period between about 450 BC and AD 450 called the Formative in the South Central Andes (Bolivia and northern Chile) and called the Early Horizon (or late Formative) and Early Intermediate (or Regional Development) Period in the Central Andes. Most of the images I discuss are created on textiles. While only recovered from burials on the desert coast, textile materials draw on relationships of production and exchange that spanned the Andean cordillera to the montane rainforest to the east, and stretched to the north and south. Either as clothing or cargo, textiles themselves traveled and were no doubt a primary source of non-local imagery. I do consider related images on non-textile artifacts. I compare textile based imagery with contemporary imagery on engraved and painted ceramics and gourds to try to distinguish among design features specific to medium, style and iconography

Virtual Non-Contrast Spectral CT in Renal Masses:Is It Time to Discard Conventional Unenhanced Phase?

Dual-layer Dual-Energy CT (dl-DECT) allows one to create virtual non-contrast (VNC) reconstructions from contrast-enhanced CT scans, with a consequent decrease of the radiation dose. This study aims to assess the reliability of VNC for the diagnostic evaluation of renal masses in comparison with true non-contrast (TNC) images. The study cohort included 100 renal masses in 40 patients who underwent dl-DECT between June and December 2021. Attenuation values and standard deviations were assessed through the drawing of regions of interest on TNC and VNC images reconstructed from corticomedullary and nephrographic phases. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was performed in order to assess equivalence of data and Spearman’s Rho correlation coefficient to evaluate correlations between each parameter. The diagnostic accuracy of VNC was estimated through the performance of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Differences between attenuation values were, respectively, 74%, 18%, 5% and 3% (TNC-VNCcort), and 74%, 15%, 9% and 2% (TNC-VNCneph). The Wilcoxon signed-rank test demonstrated the equivalence of attenuation values between the TNC and VNC images. The diagnostic performance of VNC images in the depiction of kidney simple cysts remains high compared to TNC (VNCcort-AUC: 0.896; VNCneph-AUC: 0.901, TNC-AUC: 0.903). In conclusion, quantitative analysis of attenuation values showed a strong agreement between VNC and TNC images in the evaluation of renal masses.</p

The prognostic role of the echocardiographic tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion/systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (TAPSE/sPAP) ratio and its relationship with NT-proANP plasma level in systemic sclerosis

BackgroundThe tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion/systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (TAPSE/sPAP) ratio is an echocardiographic estimation of the right ventricle to pulmonary artery (RV/PA) coupling, with a validated prognostic role in different clinical settings. Systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients without evident cardiovascular involvement frequently display subtle RV impairment. The amino-terminal atrial natriuretic peptide (NT-proANP) plasma level relates to SSc disease progression and mortality. We aimed to assess the prognostic value of the TAPSE/sPAP ratio and its relationship with NT-proANP plasma level in SSc patients without overt cardiovascular involvement.MethodsWe retrospectively analysed 70 SSc consecutive patients, with no clinical evidence of cardiovascular involvement or pulmonary hypertension (PH), and 30 healthy controls (HC) in a retrospective, single-centre study. All SSc patients underwent recurrent clinical and echocardiographic assessments and NT-proANP plasma level was assessed at baseline. SSc-related cardiovascular events and deaths were extracted during a 6-year follow-up. The complete work-up for the diagnosis, treatment and management of PH performed along the 6 years of follow-up referred to the 2015 European Society of Cardiology guidelines.ResultsSystemic sclerosis patients showed lower TAPSE/sPAP ratio at baseline compared to HC [SSc median value = 0.71 mm/mmHg, (IQR 0.62–0.88) vs. HC median value = 1.00 mm/mmHg, (IQR 0.96–1.05); p &lt; 0.001]. Multivariable Cox analysis revealed TAPSE/sPAP ratio as an independent predictor for SSc-related cardiovascular events [HR = 3.436 (95% CI 1.577–7.448); p = 0.002] and mortality [HR = 3.653 (95% CI 1.712–8.892); p = 0.014]. The value of TAPSE/sPAP ratio &lt; 0.7 mm/mmHg was identified as an optimal cut-off for predicting adverse outcomes (p &lt; 0.001) by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses. NT-proANP level significantly related to TAPSE/sPAP ratio (r = 0.52, p &lt; 0.001). TAPSE/sPAP ratio combined with NT-proANP showed an overall significant prognostic role in this SSc population, confirmed by Kaplan–Meier analysis (Log rank p &lt; 0.001).ConclusionThe TAPSE/sPAP ratio, as an index of RV/PA coupling, is an affordable predictor of cardiovascular events and mortality in SSc and, combined with NT-proANP level, may improve the clinical phenotyping and prognostic stratification of SSc patients

Topological susceptibility in high temperature QCD: a new investigation with spectral projectors

We compute the topological susceptibility of high temperature QCD with 2+1 physical mass quarks using the multicanonical approach and the spectral projector estimate of the topological charge. This approach presents reduced lattice artifacts with respect to the standard gluonic one, and makes it possible to perform a reliable continuum extrapolation

Current ESPGHAN guidelines for celiac disease in pediatric age, tertiary care center experience: a proposal for further simplification

According to the 2012 ESPGHAN criteria for diagnosis of celiac disease (CD), duodenal biopsy (DB) can be avoided in children with a clear malabsorption syndrome, anti-tissue transglutaminase IgA (tTG2) ≥ 10x the cut-off, anti-endomysium IgA (EMA) and HLA DQ2/DQ8 genes. The aim of this study is to report our experience and evaluate the accuracy of the actual guidelines. Patients and methods: This is a retrospective study conducted on all patients diagnosed CD from 2012 to 2018 in our Center. For all patients enrolled were analyzed: data of family history, symptoms, serology, genetics, Marsh grade and follow-up. Results: A total of 481 children [mean age 6,4 yrs; F:M= 1.8:1] were included in the study. The mean age of patients who were not subject to DB was lower (4.51 yrs) comparing with patients that received DB (6.48 yrs). Out of the 256 patients with anti-tTG2 ≥ 10 fold, 121 underwent DB because of mild symptoms (84/121) or no symptoms (37/121). In all cases Marsh type 3 was found and HLA haplotypes was compatible with CD diagnosis. Conclusions: Our study confirms that the serology has a primary importance to diagnose CD, regardless of the symptoms. These data suggest that biopsy and HLA haplotypes search, in presence of anti-tTG2 IgA ≥ 10x the cut-off, are wasteful and unhelpful for the patients

Co-occurrence of Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and pseudohypoparathyroidism type 1B: coincidence or common molecular mechanism?

Imprinting disorders are congenital diseases caused by dysregulation of genomic imprinting, affecting growth, neurocognitive development, metabolism and cancer predisposition. Overlapping clinical features are often observed among this group of diseases. In rare cases, two fully expressed imprinting disorders may coexist in the same patient. A dozen cases of this type have been reported so far. Most of them are represented by individuals affected by Beckwith–Wiedemann spectrum (BWSp) and Transient Neonatal Diabetes Mellitus (TNDM) or BWSp and Pseudo-hypoparathyroidism type 1B (PHP1B). All these patients displayed Multilocus imprinting disturbances (MLID). Here, we report the first case of co-occurrence of BWS and PHP1B in the same individual in absence of MLID. Genome-wide methylation and SNP-array analyses demonstrated loss of methylation of the KCNQ1OT1:TSS-DMR on chromosome 11p15.5 as molecular cause of BWSp, and upd(20)pat as cause of PHP1B. The absence of MLID and the heterodisomy of chromosome 20 suggests that BWSp and PHP1B arose through distinct and independent mechanism in our patient. However, we cannot exclude that the rare combination of the epigenetic defect on chromosome 11 and the UPD on chromosome 20 may originate from a common so far undetermined predisposing molecular lesion. A better comprehension of the molecular mechanisms underlying the co-occurrence of two imprinting disorders will improve genetic counselling and estimate of familial recurrence risk of these rare cases. Furthermore, our study also supports the importance of multilocus molecular testing for revealing MLID as well as complex cases of imprinting disorders

An Intense and Short-Lasting Burst of Neutrophil Activation Differentiates Early Acute Myocardial Infarction from Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes

BACKGROUND: Neutrophils are involved in thrombus formation. We investigated whether specific features of neutrophil activation characterize patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) compared to stable angina and to systemic inflammatory diseases. METHODS AND FINDINGS: The myeloperoxidase (MPO) content of circulating neutrophils was determined by flow cytometry in 330 subjects: 69 consecutive patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), 69 with chronic stable angina (CSA), 50 with inflammation due to either non-infectious (acute bone fracture), infectious (sepsis) or autoimmune diseases (small and large vessel systemic vasculitis, rheumatoid arthritis). Four patients have also been studied before and after sterile acute injury of the myocardium (septal alcoholization). One hundred thirty-eight healthy donors were studied in parallel. Neutrophils with normal MPO content were 96% in controls, >92% in patients undergoing septal alcoholization, 91% in CSA patients, but only 35 and 30% in unstable angina and AMI (STEMI and NSTEMI) patients, compared to 80%, 75% and 2% of patients with giant cell arteritis, acute bone fracture and severe sepsis. In addition, in 32/33 STEMI and 9/21 NSTEMI patients respectively, 20% and 12% of neutrophils had complete MPO depletion during the first 4 hours after the onset of symptoms, a feature not observed in any other group of patients. MPO depletion was associated with platelet activation, indicated by P-selectin expression, activation and transactivation of leukocyte β2-integrins and formation of platelet neutrophil and -monocyte aggregates. The injection of activated platelets in mice produced transient, P-selectin dependent, complete MPO depletion in about 50% of neutrophils. CONCLUSIONS: ACS are characterized by intense neutrophil activation, like other systemic inflammatory syndromes. In the very early phase of acute myocardial infarction only a subpopulation of neutrophils is massively activated, possibly via platelet-P selectin interactions. This paroxysmal activation could contribute to occlusive thrombosis