Study of aerosol scavenging processes in atmosphere

The aerosol removal has a fundamental role because aerosol has impact on human health, on visibility and act as a condensation center for cloud droplets and ice crystals, changing cloud properties (indirect e�ects on cli- mate). In this work, di�erent removal processes of aerosol have been studies experimentally (thermophoresis, ice nuclei, cloud condensation nuclei and below-cloud scavenging), with the aim to obtain a global study of these processes. Concerning the study of thermophoresis, experiments were per- formed in microgravity conditions, in order to minimize the impact of grav- ity. Particle trajectories and consequently particle velocities were recon- structed by analyzing the sequence of particle positions. Studies on forma- tion of IN and CCN, realized through two experimental campaigns, permit- ted to improve knowledge about these phenomena. Measurements related to CCN reveal diurnal trend with lower values at about midday and higher ones during the night. Measurements of IN reveal a positive correlation between higher supersaturation with respect to ice and water values and ice nuclei number concentration. Finally, indoor and outdoor measurements of aerosol concentrations were carried out; it was found that the aerosol removal is in uenced by rainfall duration

sarcoidosis like disease mimicking metastases during adjuvant ipilimumab therapy in advanced melanoma patient ct scan and mri help in managing difficult clinical decision

The onset of an autoimmune, sarcoidosis-like reaction during or after treatment with immunomodulatory drugs as Ipilimumab is an atypical but renowned eventuality. Awareness of this scenario and its radiological features helps the Radiologist to avoid misdiagnosis of disease progression. In this case report, we present a patient operated for advanced cutaneous melanoma of the left forearm who developed hilar adenopathies with lung and splenic nodules during therapy with Ipilimumab in adjuvant setting. These findings were at first referred to as disease recurrences. Based on discrepancies between imaging, clinic and blood test findings we decided to put the patient on strict follow-up which showed a spontaneous complete regression on the visceral lesions few months after Ipilimumab withheld

Towards standard specifications for back-support exoskeletons

Back-support exoskeletons have shown the potential to improve workplace ergonomics by reducing the risk of low-back injury. To support the rapidly expanding landscape and to correspondingly promote correct adoption, standard specifications for back-support exoskeletons are desirable. We propose a list of properties and discuss their relevance to industrial applications

Clinical characteristics and risk factors associated with COVID-19 severity in patients with haematological malignancies in Italy: a retrospective, multicentre, cohort study

Several small studies on patients with COVID-19 and haematological malignancies are available showing a high mortality in this population. The Italian Hematology Alliance on COVID-19 aimed to collect data from adult patients with haematological malignancies who required hospitalisation for COVID-19

Smoking status during first-line immunotherapy and chemotherapy in NSCLC patients: A case–control matched analysis from a large multicenter study

Background: Improved outcome in tobacco smoking patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following immunotherapy has previously been reported. However, little is known regarding this association during first-line immunotherapy in patients with high PD-L1 expression. In this study we compared clinical outcomes according to the smoking status of two large multicenter cohorts. Methods: We compared clinical outcomes according to the smoking status (never smokers vs. current/former smokers) of two retrospective multicenter cohorts of metastatic NSCLC patients, treated with first-line pembrolizumab and platinum-based chemotherapy. Results: A total of 962 NSCLC patients with PD-L1 expression ≥50% who received first-line pembrolizumab and 462 NSCLC patients who received first-line platinum-based chemotherapy were included in the study. Never smokers were confirmed to have a significantly higher risk of disease progression (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.49 [95% CI: 1.15–1.92], p = 0.0022) and death (HR = 1.38 [95% CI: 1.02–1.87], p = 0.0348) within the pembrolizumab cohort. On the contrary, a nonsignificant trend towards a reduced risk of disease progression (HR = 0.74 [95% CI: 0.52–1.05], p = 0.1003) and death (HR = 0.67 [95% CI: 0.45–1.01], p = 0.0593) were reported for never smokers within the chemotherapy cohort. After a random case–control matching, 424 patients from both cohorts were paired. Within the matched pembrolizumab cohort, never smokers had a significantly shorter progression-free survival (PFS) (HR = 1.68 [95% CI: 1.17–2.40], p = 0.0045) and a nonsignificant trend towards a shortened overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.32 [95% CI: 0.84–2.07], p = 0.2205). On the contrary, never smokers had a significantly longer PFS (HR = 0.68 [95% CI: 0.49–0.95], p = 0.0255) and OS (HR = 0.66 [95% CI: 0.45–0.97], p = 0,0356) compared to current/former smoker patients within the matched chemotherapy cohort. On pooled multivariable analysis, the interaction term between smoking status and treatment modality was concordantly statistically significant with respect to ORR (p = 0.0074), PFS (p = 0.0001) and OS (p = 0.0020), confirming the significantly different impact of smoking status across the two cohorts. Conclusions: Among metastatic NSCLC patients with PD-L1 expression ≥50% receiving first-line pembrolizumab, current/former smokers experienced improved PFS and OS. On the contrary, worse outcomes were reported among current/former smokers receiving first-line chemotherapy

Validation of an automatic system to detect oil spills in X- and L-band SAR images

Satellite-borne SAR is used for sea surface observation and extraction of meteo-marine features as well as detection of oil slicks. In this paper we want to describe the activity based on the detection algorithm we developed in previous activities, able to identify oil spills in an automatic routinely way, as well as to evaluate detection reliability with a percentage value. Starting from that previous algorithm we developed for ERS and Envisat data, we extended its capabilities by identifying suitable radiometric parameters for L- and X-band data products. We tested our procedure on L- and X-band SAR images with the aim to assess their effectiveness in discriminating verified oil slicks found on sea surface