High frequency of inadequate test requests for antiphospholipid antibodies in daily clinical practice

Abstract Background: We have empirically noted that many physicians routinely request anti-phospholipid antibodies (aPL) without a correct clinical indication. The aim of this study was to evaluate retrospectively whether aPL testing at our Thrombosis Centre was justified. Methods: Medical records from 520 subjects for aPL screening tests for various clinical conditions were reviewed. The aPL screening tests were: lupus anticoagulant (LA), anti-cardiolipin antibodies (aCL) and anti-β(2) glycoptotein I (aβ(2) GPI). Requests for aPL screening were divided into justified, potentially justified or not adequately justified. Results: aPL testing requests were considered justified in 358 (69%) patients, potentially justified in 66 (12.6%) and not adequately justified in 96 (18.4%). LA was positive in 65 (18%) of justified requests and in only one (1%) of the 96 potentially justified requests. None of the 66 not adequately justified for aPL testing was positive for LA. aβ(2) ..

Towards a holistic human perception system for close human-robot collaboration

When considering close human-robot collaboration, perception plays a central role in order to guarantee a safe and intuitive interaction. In this work, we present an AI-based perception system composed of different modules to understand human activities at multiple levels, namely: human pose estimation, body parts segmentation and human action recognition. Pose estimation and body parts segmentation allow to estimate important information about the worker position within the workcell and the volume occupied, while human action and intention recognition provides information on what the human is doing and how he/she is performing a certain action. The proposed system is demonstrated in a mockup scenario targeting the collaborative assembly of a wooden leg table, highlighting the potential of action recognition and body parts segmentation to enable a safe and natural close human-robot collaboration

Infectious agents including COVID-19 and the involvement of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis. A narrative review

Platelets, blood coagulation along with fibrinolysis are greatly involved in the pathophysiology of infectious diseases induced by bacteria, parasites and virus. This phenomenon is not surprising since both the innate immunity and the hemostatic systems are two ancestral mechanisms which closely cooperate favoring host's defense against foreign invaders. However, the excessive response of these systems may be dangerous for the host itself

Position paper on the safety/efficacy profile of Direct Oral Anticoagulants in patients with Chronic Kidney Disease: Consensus document of Società Italiana di Nefrologia (SIN), Federazione Centri per la diagnosi della trombosi e la Sorveglianza delle terapie Antitrombotiche (FCSA) and Società Italiana per lo Studio dell’Emostasi e della Trombosi (SISET)

Direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) are mostly prescribed to prevent cardioembolic stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF). An increasing number of guidelines recommend DOAC in AF patients with preserved renal function for the prevention of thromboembolism and an increased use of DOAC in daily practice is recorded also in elderly patients. Aging is associated with a reduction of glomerular filtration rate and impaired renal function, regardless of the cause, increases the risk of bleeding. Multiple medication use (polypharmacy) for treating superimposed co-morbidities is common in both elderly and chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients and drug-drug interaction may cause accumulation of DOAC, thereby increasing the risk of bleeding. There is uncertainty on the safety profile of DOAC in patients with CKD, particularly in those with severely impaired renal function or end stage renal disease, due to the heterogeneity of studies and the relative paucity of data. This document reports the position of three Italian scientific societies engaged in the management of patients with atrial fibrillation who are treated with DOAC and present with CKD

Visceral adiposity index is associated with significant fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Background: Metabolic factors have been associated with liver damage in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Aims To test a new marker of adipose dysfunction, the visceral adiposity index (VAI), in NAFLD patients to assess whether or not it is associated with host factors, and to investigate a potential correlation with histological findings. Methods One hundred and forty-two consecutive NAFLD patients were evaluated by liver biopsy, and clinical and metabolic measurements, including insulin resistance with the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA), and VAI by using waist circumference, body mass index, triglycerides and HDL. Serum levels of TNF\u3b1, IL-6, adiponectin and leptin were also assessed. All biopsies were scored for NAFLD activity score (NAS) and its components, and for staging (Kleiner). Results By multiple linear regression analysis, VAI was independently associated with higher HOMA (P = 0.04), and fibrosis (P = 0.04). In addition, an independent association was found between higher VAI and lower adiponectin levels (P = 0.002). Higher HOMA (OR 1.149, 95% CI 1.003-1.316, P = 0.04), higher VAI (OR 1.446, 95% CI 1.023-2.043, P = 0.03), lobular inflammation (OR 3.777, 95% CI 1.771-8.051, P = 0.001), and ballooning (OR 2.884, 95% CI 1.231-6.757, P = 0.01) were correlated with significant fibrosis (F2-F4) on multiple logistic regression analysis. In particular, the prevalence of significant fibrosis progressively increased from patients with a VAI 64 2.1 and HOMA 64 3.4 (26%) to those with a VAI > 2.1 and HOMA > 3.4 (83%). Conclusions In NAFLD patients, visceral adiposity index is an expression of both qualitative and quantitative adipose tissue dysfunction and, together with insulin resistance, is independently correlated with significant fibrosis. \ua9 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Live Wire - A Low-Complexity Body Channel Communication System for Landmark Identification

This paper presents a robust simplex Body Channel Communication (BCC) system aimed at providing an interactive infrastructure solution for visually impaired people. Compared to existing BCC solutions, it provides high versatility, weara- bility and installability in an environment in a low complexity hardware-software solution. It operates with a ground referred transmitter (TX) and it is based on an asynchronous thresh- old receiver (RX) architecture. Synchronization, demodulation and packetizing and threshold control are completely software defined and implemented using MicroPython. The RX includes Bluetooth® (BT) radio connectivity and a cell-phone application provides push text-to-speech notifications to a smartphone. The hardware achieves a Packet Error Rate (PER) of ∼0.1 at 550 kHz pulse center frequency, Synchronized-On Off Keying (S- OOK) modulation and 1 kbps data rate, for an average current consumption of 44mA

Chronic spontaneous urticaria: a low-grade disseminated intravascular coagulation only partially reversed by Omalizumab

Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a disorder characterized by wheals and/or angioedema. The coagulation cascade and inflammation pathways are closely linked together. The aim of our study was first to investigate the dynamics of clot formation in plasma (Clot Waveform Analysis, CWA) in a group of 47 patients with CSU along with other coagulative parameters dedicated to the study of hypercoagulability, such as D-Dimer, F 1 + 2 peptide, Fibrinogen, Platelet count and Mean Platelet Volume (MPV). Secondly, 23 out of 47 patients were treated with Omalizumab at four administration intervals from T0 to T4. A statistically significant increase in Activated Partial Thromboplastin (aPTT) ratio, D-Dimer, F1 + 2, Platelet count and MPV was found when compared with 53 healthy controls (HC). In contrast, the 2nd Derivative of aPTT showed lower values than those of the HC. No differences were found between 1st derivative of aPTT and Fibrinogen. D-Dimer only showed a significant difference between T0 and T3. An activation of both coagulation and fibrinolysis along with a weaker clot acceleration may be in agreement with a low-grade DIC. The accelerated turnover of platelets expressed by both an increase in platelet count and MPV further supports this pathway in CSU. Omalizumab does not affect the relationship between the immune and the hemostatic systems

Neural Networks to Model Energy Commodity Price Dynamics

Abstract Energy commodity prices are a crucial variable in the economic context given their role in the consumption and production process, since energy commodities have recently become an asset class playing an increasing role in the risk management field. The pricing models and the techniques used to provide an estimation of price dynamics become more and more important. We propose in this paper a new methodology based on neural networks in order to build a forecast for specific standard price time series of energy commodities. In particular we analyze Crude oil, natural gas and electricity prices for the European and the US market. Using daily data over the period [2001][2002][2003][2004][2005][2006][2007][2008][2009][2010] we are able to provide very robust forecasts for a one year time horizon of the considered series. Furthermore, we perform a statistical assessment of the considered prediction models and we prove that some of them provide the first four unconditional moments of the predicted sequences almost equal to the moments estimated on the market data. Keywords -energy commodity price, time series prediction, neurofuzzy networks, statistical assessment. Overview Several Energy commodity prices are a crucial variable in the economic context given their role in the consumption and production process. In particular, crude oil prices have shown unprecedented dynamics over the last decade having large effects on the entire commodity markets In the present work we use standard price time series and a new methodology based on neural networks in order to build a forecast for specific energy commodity prices. The series we analyze are the Crude oil, natural gas and electricity prices for the European and the US market. The accurate prediction of future values of such sequences is crucial to the cost-effective management of available resources [2]- Methods Several data driven modeling techniques have been taken into consideration: a linear model determined by the well-known least-squares approximation (LSE); a Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural networ

Health-related quality of life and functional changes in DMD:A 12-month longitudinal cohort study

Family caregivers of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) live stressful lives in which they spend most of their time caring for their loved ones and managing difficult situations, thereby reducing the time spent in taking care of themselves. This situation may last several years. Previous literature has widely highlighted that this situation reduces caregivers' quality of life and increases their psychological distress and risk of health problems, but there is a lack of studies that focus on psychological interventions for these situations. This qualitative study examined a pilot experience of two mutual support groups for family caregivers of people with ALS. The aim was to identify caregivers' needs, the prominent aspects of their experience, and to understand whether and how this intervention strategy might help them. Six partners (four men and two women) and six adult children (five women and one man) participated in the groups, which were conducted in northern Italy. After the support groups finished, participants underwent semi-structured interviews. The authors conducted a content analysis of the transcripts of the interviews and the 20 group sessions. The thematic areas identified were "caregiving," "being the son/daughter of a person with ALS," "being the partner of a person with ALS," "group experience" and "group evaluation." The caregiving experience was profoundly different depending on whether the caregiver was a son/daughter or a partner of a patient with ALS. Moreover, comparison with peers and mutual support helped participants to better cope with ALS and its consequences, to improve their care for their relatives and to overcome typical caregiver isolation. These results suggest the usefulness of involving communities in caregiver support in order to create new networks and activate personal and social resources for well-being

Physical Therapy Informed by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (PACT) Versus Usual Care Physical Therapy for Adults With Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a major cause of global disability and improving management is essential. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a promising treatment for chronic pain but has not been modified for physical therapy. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) compared physical therapy informed by ACT (PACT) against standard care physical therapy for patients with CLBP. Patients with CLBP (duration ≥12 weeks, mean 3 years) were recruited from physical therapy clinics in 4 UK public hospitals. The Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) at 3 months' post-randomization was the primary outcome. Two hundred forty-eight participants (59% female, mean age = 48) were recruited and 219 (88.3%) completed measures at 3 and/or 12 months' follow-up. At 3 months, PACT participants reported better outcomes for disability (RMDQ mean difference = 1.07, p = .037, 95% CI = -2.08 to -.07, d = .2), Patient Specific Functioning (p = .008), SF12 physical health (p = .032), and treatment credibility (p < .001). At 12 months' follow-up, there were no significant differences between groups. PACT was acceptable to patients and clinicians and feasible to deliver. Physical therapists incorporated psychological principles successfully and treatment was delivered with high (≥80%) fidelity. Our results may inform the management of CLBP, with potential benefits for patients, health care providers, and society. PERSPECTIVE: Psychologically informed physical therapy has great potential but there are challenges in implementation. The training and support included in the PACT trial enabled the intervention to be delivered as planned. This successfully reduced disability in the short but not long term. Findings could inform physical therapists' treatment of CLBP