A nonparametric Bayesian approach to the rare type match problem

The "rare type match problem" is the situation in which the suspect's DNA profile, matching the DNA profile of the crime stain, is not in the database of reference. The evaluation of this match in the light of the two competing hypotheses (the crime stain has been left by the suspect or by another person) is based on the calculation of the likelihood ratio and depends on the population proportions of the DNA profiles, that are unknown. We propose a Bayesian nonparametric method that uses a two-parameter Poisson Dirichlet distribution as a prior over the ranked population proportions, and discards the information about the names of the different DNA profiles. This fits very well the data coming from European Y-STR DNA profiles, and the calculation of the likelihood ratio becomes quite simple thanks to a justified Empirical Bayes approach.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1506.0844

ANALISI DELL¿ATTIVITÀ DI SCREENING DEL COLON RETTO NELL'ASL MILANO 1 (2006-12)

Objective Colorectal cancer is one of the main challenges in public health: it is cancer with higher incidence in Western society, and is available for its early diagnosis a screening test which can be followed a treatment effective. In particular, Europe countries in the last decade have developed screening programs. A program was developed in Asl Milano 1 (Lombardia \u2013 Italy) from 2006 to nowadays. The objective of the study is to analyze the overall performance of colon rectal screening in ASL Milano 1 in the period 2006-12 Methods Every two years, 50\u201369 year olds receive a letter from Asl Milano 1 that invite them to go in a pharmacy and take a FOBT-kit (fecal occult blood test). People complete the test in the privacy of their own home. Kit must be reported in a pharmacy that sent it to the laboratory for analysis. Negative people is informed about test result by mail. Positive people is usually informed by a telephone call by a nurse of his health territorial unit that recommend a colonoscopy and book one in an hospital. Participation in the program is voluntary and there is no cost involved in completing the test or colonoscopy. Quality-assurance requirements were established to ensure safe procedures and practice in every clinical aspect of a screening-program Results From 2006 to 2012 a total of 722.605 individuals were invited to screening , 274.167 returned with a correctly placed stool specimen on FOBT cards, 565 and 3344 High risk adenoma were identified . Some indicator were calculated(reported only last year- 2011): subjects invited 91%, crude compliance 45%; adjusted adherence 46%; delay between FOBT screening and negative result 99% within 21 days; Positivity rate 5,4%; participation to colonoscopy 90%; complete colonoscopy rate 93%; Delay between the call for colonoscopy and the colonoscopy procedure ; 61% within 60 calendar days ; positive predictive value of FOBT at colonoscopy 3,1% for cancer and 21,9 %for high risk adenoma; 1/3 of cancers screen-detected are T1; sensibility 86% (IC 95% 83-89) specificity 97%. Conclusion The screening program has provided the public with a service that meets the needs and sustainable over the years. Limit in the organizational process is the waiting time for the provision of colonoscopy: impact significantly on the ability to increase screening performaces. iFOBT-based screening programmes showed a high performance in terms of sensitivity as estimated through the interval cancers rates

Психологічні особливості емоційного інтелекту у студентів - психологів

Cереда Д. Г. Психологічні особливості емоційного інтелекту у студентів - психологів / Д.Г. Середа // Актуальні напрями практичної психології і психотерапії : матеріали VIII Міжнар. наук.- практ. конф. молодих вчених, студентів та аспірантів (м. Харків, 16 груд. 2020 р.). - Харків: ХНУВС, 2020. - С. 162 - 165.В статті висвітлені результати дослідження по визначенню психологічних особливостей емоційного інтелекту у студентів – психологів. У дослідженні була використана методика діагностики емоційного інтелекту Н. Холла. В статье отражены результаты исследования по определению психологических особенностей эмоционального интеллекта у студентов – психологов. В исследовании была использована методика диагностики эмоционального интеллекта Н. Холла. The article highlights the results of a study to determine the psychological characteristics of emotional intelligence in students - psychologists. The study used the method of diagnosis of emotional intelligence N. Hall

Refractory myasthenia gravis, dysphagia and malnutrition : a case report to suggest disease-specific nutritional issues

Objective: We describe a case of refractory myasthenia gravis with bulbar involvement and the nutritional treatment solutions proposed to treat the associated dysphagia and malnutrition. Methods: A 39-y-old woman with refractory myasthenia gravis was referred to our clinical nutrition unit for deteriorating dysphagia and progressive malnutrition. Results: The first-line nutritional approach consisted of dietary counseling and thickened meals. Unfortunately, no adequate oral intake was achieved and an enteral nutrition treatment was proposed. A nasogastric tube was removed after a few days due to local pain and poor quality of life. Despite consistent weight loss and overt malnutrition, the patient refused percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy placement. Neurologic symptoms did not show any improvement but unexpectedly the patient's weight started to increase to previous values. Anamnestic recall revealed that the patient learned by herself how to position the nasogastric tube that is now temporarily used for formula infusion coinciding with neurologic pouss\ue9s. Conclusions: Current guidelines consider chronic neurologic diseases with associated dysphagia, where refractory myesthania gravis has also been considered, a unique category. Chronic neurogenic dysphagia with high risk of aspiration, long-term inability to obtain adequate oral intakes, and malnutrition are established indications for percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy placement. However, patients may need different forms of nutritional intervention during the course of their illness and choices and indications should contemplate ethical reasons, clinical benefits, minimal risks, and acceptable quality of life. Minimally invasive intermittent enteral nutrition might be considered a possible clue for nutritional management of exacerbating dysphagia

The ability of the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index to assess the nutritional status and predict the outcome of home-care resident elderly : a comparison with Mini Nutritional Assessment

The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) is recommended for grading nutritional status in the elderly. A new index for predicting the risk of nutrition-related complications, the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), was recently proposed but little is known about its possible use in the assessment of nutritional status. Thus, we aimed to investigate its ability to assess the nutritional status and predict the outcome when compared with the MNA. Anthropometry and biochemical parameters were determined in 241 institutionalised elderly (ninety-four males and 147 females; aged 801 (sd 83) years). Nutritional risk and nutritional state were graded by the GNRI and MNA, respectively. At 6 months outcomes were: death; infections; bedsores. According to the GNRI and MNA, the prevalence of high risk (GNRI 98)/good status (MNA > 24) were 20.7/12.8%, 36.1/39% and 432/482%, respectively, with poor agreement in scoring the patient (Cohen's kappa test:\u3ba =0.29; 95% CI 0.19, 0.39). GNRI categories showed a stronger association (OR) with overall outcomes than MNA classes, although no difference (P>0.05) was found between malnutrition (v. good status, OR 6.4; 95% CI 2.1, 71.9) and high nutritional risk (v. no risk, OR 9.7; 95% CI 3.0, 130). Multivariate logistic regression revealed the GNRI as an independent predictor of complications. In overall-outcome prediction, a good sensitivity was found only for GNRI 98 with an MNA > 24 seemed to exclude adverse outcomes. The GNRI showed poor agreement with the MNA in nutritional assessment, but appeared to better predict outcome. In home-care resident elderly, outcome prediction should be performed by combining the suggestions from both these tools

Measles surveillance activities in the Metropolitan Area of Milan during 2017-2018

Introduction In Italy, the transmission of measles is still endemic, and 7,919 cases were reported to the National Surveillance System between January 2017 and December 2018. Aim of this study is to report the results of the measles surveillance activities in the Metropolitan City of Milan from March 2017 to December 2018, and to evaluate the surveillance performance WHO indicators. Methods The Local Health Units (LHUs) carried out case investigations and collected specimens to send to the EpiSoMI Lab (Subnational Reference Laboratory, SRL) of the University of Milan for cases/outbreaks confirmation and genotyping performed according to the WHO Guidelines. Results Overall, 610 suspected measles cases were reported by the surveillance system of the Metropolitan City of Milan. A total of 439 out of 540 cases with adequate specimens were laboratory-confirmed by molecular and/or serological assays. Two-hundred and thirty-six cases were notified as sporadic and 203 as related to 94 outbreaks. The most confirmed cases were aged 15\u201339 years, almost all not vaccinated. Overall, 282 cases were genotype D8 and 118 genotype B3. The evaluation of a set of indicators to monitor the quality of surveillance activities demonstrated the proficiency of the EpiSoMI Lab. Conclusions A well-done investigation of cases and outbreaks by the surveillance local system, in a timely manner, in order to notify and investigate suspected cases and to laboratory confirm or discard cases is fundamental to reduce morbidity, to prevent further virus transmission and to achieve measles elimination

The role of extracellular vesicles in the removal of aggregated TDP43 responsible for ALS/FTD diseases

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) are two related neurodegenerative diseases. ALS is caused by the death of both upper and lower motoneurons, while FTD is characterized predominantly by circumscribed atrophy of the frontal and temporal lobes. ALS and FTD overlap each other. This is demonstrated by the presence of cognitive and behavioral dysfunction in up to 50% of ALS patients and by the presence of frontotemporal atrophy in patients with ALS. Moreover, these diseases are both characterize by the presence of TAR DNA binding protein 43 (TDP43) inclusions in affected cells. These inclusions, observed in 97% of patients with ALS and 50% of patients with FTD, are composed by TDP43 and its C-terminal fragments of 35 kDa (TDP35) and 25 kDa (TDP25). These fragments are highly aggregation-prone and probably neurotoxic. Thus, their removal is protective for cells. The mechanism responsible for the clearance of aggregates and misfolded proteins is the intracellular protein quality control (PQC) system. It consists of molecular chaperones/co- chaperones and the degradative pathways. PQC controls the folding status of proteins and prevents the aggregation of misfolded proteins by refolding them or degrading. Recent data demonstrated that also extracellular secretory pathway, represented especially by exosomes (EXOs) and microvesicles (MVs), might be involved in the removal of misfolded proteins from affected cells. Thus, we evaluated the role of EXOs and MVs in the secretion of TDP43 and its C-terminal fragments, using neuronal cell models. We used ultracentrifugation, that allowed us to separate MVs from EXOs on the basis of their dimension. Then we analyzed them through i) Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NanoSight) to establish their number and sizes, and ii) western blot analysis, to characterize their protein content. Our preliminary results show that TDP43, TDP35 and TDP25 are all secreted, mainly by MVs. In particular, we found that MVs are enriched of insoluble forms of TDPs and also of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), another ALS-related protein. Finally, both in EXOs and in MVs, we observed the presence of some important PQC-components, suggesting an interplay between the two pathways. GRANTS: Fondazione Cariplo, Italy (n. 2017_0747); Universit\ue0 degli Studi di Milano e piano di sviluppo UNIMI - linea B

Lung and chest wall mechanics in normal anaesthetized subjects and in patients with COPD at different PEEP levels

In order to assess the relative contribution of the lung and the chest wall to the derangements of respiratory mechanics in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients with acute ventilatory failure (AVF), we studied eight COPD patients undergoing controlled mechanical ventilation for AVF and nine normal subjects anaesthetized for surgery as a control group. With the use of the interrupter technique together with the oesophageal balloon technique we measured: static lung and chest wall elastances (E[st,L] and E[st,w], respectively), maximum (R[L,max]), minimum (R[L,min]) and additional (deltaR[L]) lung resistances, additional chest wall resistance (deltaRw) and, in the COPD group, total intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEPtot). Measurements were repeated at 0, 5, 10 and 15 cmH2O of applied positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP). We found that, in the COPD group: 1) both E(st,w) and deltaRw were higher than in the normal group; 2) R(L,max) was markedly increased due to an increase of both R(L,min) and deltaRL; 3) even low levels of PEEP increased PEEPtot; 4) PEEP did not reduce elastance or total resistance of either the lung or the chest wall. We conclude that chest wall mechanics are abnormal in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with acute ventilatory failure undergoing controlled mechanical ventilation and that positive end-expiratory pressure does not seem to be effective in reducing either elastance or resistance of the lung or chest wall

AS PROTEÍNAS DE FOLHA DE MANDIOCA: ASPECTOS FISIOLÓGICOS, NUTRICIONAIS E IMPORTÂNCIA TECNOLÓGICA

Some aspects of leaf proteins, specially from cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), as physiologic origin, amino acid composition, biochemical properties, nutritional role and technological process are reviewed. Cassava leaves present high protein content (20-30% w/w dry basis), of satisfactory quality when compared to FAO recommended pattern, and also high content of vitamins A and C and minerals. Some potential applications for human nutrition, animal feed or biotechnology industries are discussed. Alguns aspectos ligados à tecnologia de proteínas de folhas, com ênfase para as folhas de mandioca (Manihot esculenta Crantz), são revisados. A composição em aminoácidos, as propriedades bioquímicas, a importância nutricional e os princípios dos métodos de extração são apresentados. As folhas de mandioca apresentam elevado teor de proteínas (20-30% base seca), de valor nutricional adequado às recomendações da FAO, além de altos teores de vitaminas A e C e de minerais. Algumas aplicações potenciais em nutrição humana ou animal ou como substrato para a indústria de biotecnologia são discutidas