The fundamental group and torsion group of Beauville surfaces

We give a survey on the fundamental group of surfaces isogenous to a higher product. If the surfaces are regular, e.g. if they are Beauville surfaces, the first homology group is a finite group. We present a MAGMA script which calculates the first homology groups of regular surfaces isogenous to a product.Comment: 14 pages; MAGMA script included; v2: minor corrections, final version to appear in the Proceedings of the Conference "Beauville Surfaces and Groups", Newcastle University (UK), 7-9th June 201

New frontiers on adjuvants drug strategies and treatments in periodontitis

Causes of the progression of periodontitis such as an imbalance between the immune response by the host by the release of inflammatory mediators in the response of the oral pathogenic dysbiotic biofilm have been identified. New insights on specific cell signaling pathways that appear during periodontitis have attracted the attention of researchers in the study of new personalised approaches for the treatment of periodontitis. The gold standard of non‐surgical therapy of perio-dontitis involves the removal of supra and subgingival biofilm through professional scaling and root planing (SRP) and oral hygiene instructions. In order to improve periodontal clinical outcomes and overcome the limitations of traditional SRP, additional adjuvants have been developed in recent decades, including local or systemic antibiotics, antiseptics, probiotics, anti‐inflammatory and anti-resorptive drugs and host modulation therapies. This review is aimed to update the current and recent evolution of therapies of management of periodontitis based on the adjunctive and target therapies. Moreover, we discuss the advances in host modulation of periodontitis and the impact of targeting epigenetic mechanisms approaches for a personalised therapeutic success in the management of periodontitis. In conclusion, the future goal in periodontology will be to combine and personalise the periodontal treatments to the colonising microbial profile and to the specific response of the individual patient

Evidence that muscle cells do not express the histidine-rich glycoprotein associated with AMP deaminase but can internalise the plasma protein

Histidine-rich glycoprotein (HRG) is synthesized by liver and is present at relatively high concentration in the plasma of vertebrates. We have previously described the association of a HRG-like molecule to purified rabbit skeletal muscle AMP deaminase (AMPD). We also provided the first evidence for the presence of a HRG-like protein in human skeletal muscle where a positive correlation between HRG content and total determined AMPD activity has been shown. In the present paper we investigate the origin of skeletal muscle HRG. The screening of a human skeletal muscle cDNA expression library using an anti-HRG antibody failed to reveal any positive clone. The RT-PCR analysis, performed on human skeletal muscle RNA as well as on RNA from the rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) cell line, failed to show any mRNA specific for the plasma HRG or for the putative muscle variant. When the RD cells were incubated with human plasma HRG, a time-dependent increase of the HRG immunoreactivity was detected both at the plasma membrane level and intracellularly. The internalisation of HRG was inhibited by the addition of heparin. The above data strongly suggest that skeletal muscle cells do not synthesize the muscle variant of HRG but instead can actively internalise it from plasma

Visualization, navigation, augmentation. The ever-changing perspective of the neurosurgeon

Introduction: The evolution of neurosurgery coincides with the evolution of visualization and navigation. Augmented reality technologies, with their ability to bring digital information into the real environment, have the potential to provide a new, revolutionary perspective to the neurosurgeon. Research question: To provide an overview on the historical and technical aspects of visualization and navigation in neurosurgery, and to provide a systematic review on augmented reality (AR) applications in neurosurgery. Material and methods: We provided an overview on the main historical milestones and technical features of visualization and navigation tools in neurosurgery. We systematically searched PubMed and Scopus databases for AR applications in neurosurgery and specifically discussed their relationship with current visualization and navigation systems, as well as main limitations. Results: The evolution of visualization in neurosurgery is embodied by four magnification systems: surgical loupes, endoscope, surgical microscope and more recently the exoscope, each presenting independent features in terms of magnification capabilities, eye-hand coordination and the possibility to implement additional functions. In regard to navigation, two independent systems have been developed: the frame-based and the frame-less systems. The most frequent application setting for AR is brain surgery (71.6%), specifically neuro-oncology (36.2%) and microscope-based (29.2%), even though in the majority of cases AR applications presented their own visualization supports (66%). Discussion and conclusions: The evolution of visualization and navigation in neurosurgery allowed for the development of more precise instruments; the development and clinical validation of AR applications, have the potential to be the next breakthrough, making surgeries safer, as well as improving surgical experience and reducing costs

The progression of hemophilic arthropathy: The role of biomarkers

Background: Hemophilia A and B are X-linked congenital bleeding disorders characterized by recurrent hemarthroses leading to specific changes in the synovium and cartilage, which finally result in the destruction of the joint: this process is called hemophilic arthropathy (HA). This review highlights the most prominent molecular biomarkers found in the literature to discuss their potential use in the clinical practice to monitor bleeding, to assess the progression of the HA and the effectiveness of treatments. Methods: A review of the literature was performed on PubMed and Embase, from 3 to 7 August 2020. Study selection and data extraction were achieved independently by two authors and the following inclusion criteria were determined a priori: English language, available full text and articles published in peer-reviewed journal. In addition, further articles were identified by checking the bibliography of relevant articles and searching for the studies cited in all the articles examined. Results: Eligible studies obtained at the end of the search and screen process were seventy-three (73). Conclusions: Despite the surge of interest in the clinical use of biomarkers, current literature underlines the lack of their standardization and their potential use in the clinical practice preserving the role of physical examination and imaging in early diagnosis

The classification of isotrivially fibred surfaces with p_g=q=2

An isotrivially fibred surface is a smooth projective surface endowed with a morphism onto a curve such that all the smooth fibres are isomorphic to each other. The first goal of this paper is to classify the isotrivially fibred surfaces with $p_g=q=2$ completing and extending a result of Zucconi. As an important byproduct, we provide new examples of minimal surfaces of general type with $p_g=q=2$ and $K^2=4,5$ and a first example with $K^2=6$.Comment: Main paper by M.Penegini. Appendix by S.Rollenske. 31 pages, 6 Figures. v2 changed group relations in Theorem 5.2, changes in Theorem 5.7, new proof of Theorem 4.15, minor corrections of misprint