Measurement of heavy-flavour decay muon production at forward rapidity in pp and Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=2.76 TeV with the ALICE experiment

The ALICE experiment measured the heavy-flavour production in the semi-muonic decay channel at forward rapidities ($2.5<y<4$) in pp and Pb--Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{NN}}} = 2.76$ TeV. We report on the first results on the $p_{\rm T}$-differential cross-sections in pp collisions as well as on the nuclear modification factors as a function of the transverse momentum and centrality.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of parallel talk at the 5th international conference on hard and electromagnetic probes of high-energy nuclear collisions (Hard Probes 2012), Cagliari, Ital

Therapeutic drug monitoring to improve outcome of anti-TNF drugs in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease

Introduction: Medical treatment of pediatric inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) has been greatly changed by the introduction of a number of biologic agents that are able to target various players of the immune response. In particular, monoclonal antibodies against the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha (TNF) such as infliximab, adalimumab, and golimumab are now in the clinics both in induction and maintenance therapy, and several efforts are currently ongoing to optimize the use of these drugs in children. Areas covered: This review focuses on therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of anti-TNF levels and antidrug antibodies (ADAs), in IBD children. A revision of the analytical assays used for assessing anti-TNF plasma levels is also provided. Expert opinion: Although there is a consensus across studies that higher anti-TNF trough levels are associated with a better clinical outcome, and that early anti-TNF serum measurements could be predictive of long-term response, it is still not clear what the best predictive time of sampling is and what the ideal target drug plasma concentration to achieve. Indeed, there are a number of published studies, particularly in pediatric cohorts, limited by the population size analyzed and more prospective large studies are needed to examine the value of these predictive markers

Comparison of accuracy of single crowns generated from digital and conventional impressions: An in vivo controlled trial

Aim With the advances of digital technology, intraoral digital impression (DI) technique has become a major trend in prosthodontics with respect to traditional impression (TI) techniques; despite that, very few data are available concerning its accuracy. Thus, the purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of DI versus TI considering both marginal and internal gap (MG, IG, respectively) in cobalt-chromium (Co-Cr) single crowns manufactured by mean of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology. Material and methods Thirty posterior teeth were considered for this study. For each abutment tooth, sixty and thirty copings were produced with the aid of TI and DI, respectively. Thirty of the sixty copings of the TI-group were then randomly selected to be veneered and cemented onto existing abutments. The space existing between the internal surface of the coping and the abutment tooth was evaluated onto an in vitro replica; the MG and IG were measured by Scanning Electron Microscope. The data were analysed by the Wilcoxon test (1-tailed). Results The mean MG was 75.04 μm (SD = 13.12) and 55.01 μm (SD = 7.01) for the TI group and DI group, respectively. As regards the mean IGs, the values recorded were of 78.36 μm (SD = 19.66) for the TI-group and 59.20 μm (SD=3.33) for the DI-group. A statistically significant difference was found between the two groups (p-value = 0.001). Conclusions Copings manufactured from DI showed better MGs and IGs with respect to copings produced from TI. However, both approaches produced clinically acceptable results

Heritability and genetic correlations of total and differential somatic cell count with milk yield and composition traits in Italian Simmental cows

Costs of production have deeply increased each year in the last decades, breeders are continuously looking for more cost effective and more efficient ways to produce milk. Despite the major signs of progress in productivity, it is fundamental to optimize rather than maximize the performances of the dairy cows. Mastitis is still a highly prevalent disease in the dairy sector which causes several economic losses and environmental effect. Its accurate and early diagnosis is crucial to improve profitability of dairy cows and contribute to a more sustainable dairy industry. Among mastitis reduction strategies, there is the urgent need to implement breeding objectives to select cows displaying mastitis resistance by investigating the genetic mechanisms at the base of the inflammatory response. Therefore, in this study we aimed to further understand the genetic background of the differential somatic cell count (DSCC), which provides thorough insights on the actual inflammatory status of the mammary glands. The objectives of this study were to estimate on a cohort of 20,215 Italian Simmental cows over a 3-yr period: (1) the heritability and repeatability values of somatic cell score (SCS) and DSCC, (2) the genetic and phenotypic correlations between these 2 traits and milk production and milk composition traits, (3) the heritability and repeatability values of SCS and DSCC within class of udder health status. Heritability was low both for SCS (0.06) and DSCC (0.08), whereas the repeatability values for these traits were 0.43 and 0.36, suggesting that the magnitude of cow permanent environmental effect for these traits is remarkable. The genetic and phenotypic correlation of SCS with DSCC was 0.612 and 0.605, respectively. Because both significantly differed from the unit, we must consider those traits as different ones. This latter aspect corroborates the need to consider the DSCC as a further indicator of inflammatory status which might be implemented in the Simmental breed genetic evaluation. It is worthy to mention that heritability estimates for SCS and DSCC were the highest in healthy cows compared with the other udder health classes. This implies that when the udder health status changes, it is most likely due to environmental factors rather than aspects related to the animal's genetics. In contrast, the highest additive genetic variance and heritability found for SCS and DSCC in the healthy group might reveal the potential to further implement breeding strategies to select for healthier animals

Quality control of automatically defined cancer cases by the automated registration system of the Venetian Tumour Registry

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