Exhaled nitric oxide measurements in the first 2 years of life: methodological issues, clinical and epidemiological applications

Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) is a useful tool to diagnose and monitor eosinophilic bronchial inflammation in asthmatic children and adults. In children younger than 2 years of age FeNO has been successfully measured both with the tidal breathing and with the single breath techniques. However, there are a number of methodological issues that need to be addressed in order to increase the reproducibility of the FeNO measurements within and between infants. Indeed, a standardized method to measure FeNO in the first 2 years of life would be extremely useful in order to meaningfully interpret FeNO values in this age group. Several factors related to the measurement conditions have been found to influence FeNO, such as expiratory flow, ambient NO and nasal contamination. Furthermore, the exposure to pre- and postnatal risk factors for respiratory morbidity has been shown to influence FeNO values. Therefore, these factors should always be assessed and their association with FeNO values in the specific study population should be evaluated and, eventually, controlled for

Venous pulse wave velocity

Central venous pressure and volume status are relevant parameters for the characterization of the patient's haemodynamic condition and for the management of fluid therapy however, their invasive assessment is affected by various risks and complications while non-invasive approaches provide only imprecise and subjective indications. Aim of the present study is to explore the possibility to assess changes in venous pressure from changes in the venous pulse wave velocity (vPWV). In 9 healthy subjects, pressure pulses were generated artificially in the veins by a PC-driven rapid inflation of a pneumatic cuff (300mmHg in <1sec) placed around a foot. Passage of the pulse wave in the superficial femoral vein distally to the inguinal ligament was detected by Doppler flowmeter and the latency from the pressure stimulus was measured. The vPWV was then calculated as the ratio between traveling distance and latency. Changes in leg venous pressure were obtained by raising the trunk of the subject from the initial supine position by 30 and 60 deg. In each position 15 pressure pulses were delivered every 30 s, at the end-expiratory phase for vPWV assessment. Venous pressure in the leg was non-invasively estimated by assessing the point of collapse of the jugular or axillary vein. The vPWV increased from 1.64±0.06(supine) to 2.13±0.26 (60 deg) (Student’s t- test, p<.01) and exhibited a very strong correlation with leg venous pressure (overall r=0.76). Differences in vPWV among the three positions were statistically significant also on an individual basis in 8/9 subjects (ANOVA + Tukey's HSD post-hoc, p<.01). These preliminary results show that vPWV may be easily assessed in healthy subjects and may constitute a good non-invasive indicator of venous pressurechanges

Network Analysis of World Trade using the BACI-CEPII dataset

In this paper we explore the BACI-CEPII database using Network Analysis. Starting from the visualization of the World Trade Network, we then define and describe the topology of the network, both in its binary version and in its weighted version, calculating and discussing some of the commonly used network's statistics. We finally discuss some specic topics that can be studied using Network Analysis and International Trade data, both at the aggregated and sectoral level. The analysis is done using multiple software (Stata, R, and Pajek). The scripts to replicate part of the analysis are included in the appendix, and can be used as an handson tutorial. Moreover,the World Trade Network local and global centrality measures, for the unweighted and the weighted version of the Network, calculated using the bilateral aggregate trade data for each country (178 in total) and each year (from 1995 to 2010,) can be downloaded from the CEPII webpage

Venous Pulse Wave Velocity variation in response to a simulated fluid challenge in healthy subjects

Purpose: The evaluation of a mini or simulated fluid challenge is still a complex and open issue in the clinical setting and it is of paramount significance for the fluid therapy optimization. We here investigated the capacity of a new hemodynamic parameter, the venous Pulse Wave Velocity (vPWV), to detect the effect of passive leg raising (PLR). Materials and methods: In 15 healthy volunteers (7 M, 8 F, age 26 ± 3) venous pressure pulses were elicited by pneumatic compressions of the left hand and proximally detected by ultrasound for calculation of the vPWV. We also non-invasively measured the basilic vein (BV) cross-sectional perimeter, and peripheral venous pressure (PVP). The PLR manoeuvre was performed twice to evaluate reliability of the assessment. Results: The PLR had an overall statistically significant effect on the entire set of variables (MANOVA, p < 0.05): vPWV increased from 2.11 ± 0.46 to 2.30 ± 0.47 m/s (p = 0.01; average increase: 10%). This effect was transient and dropped below 5% after about 3 min. A significant increase was also exhibited by BV size and PVP. In consecutive measurements vPWV showed little intra-subject variability (CoV = 8%) and good reliability (ICC = 0.87). Finally, the vPWV responses to the two PLRs exhibited good agreement (paired T-test: p = 0.96), and moderate reliability (ICC = 0.57). Conclusion: These results demonstrated that vPWV can be non-invasively, objectively and reliably measured in healthy subjects and that it is adequate to detect small pressure/volume variations, as induced by PLR-from-supine. These characteristics make it suitable for clinical applications

A methodology for the development of a Hinged Ankle-Foot Orthosis compatible with natural joint kinematics

This work presents a new concept to design Hinged Ankle-Foot Orthoses (HAFOs), based on the definition of a special mechanical articulation able to mimic the physiological behavior of the human ankle joint. Current commercial braces typically do not take into account the natural variability of the ankle joint axis. As the hinge location as well as the rotation axis variability are both relevant for the overall function of the device, and strongly depend on the subject-specific characteristics, a methodology for the development of a HAFO with a floating axis of rotation, based on the in-vivo kinematic analysis of the ankle joint, is here proposed. The kinematic analysis was performed by calculation of the instantaneous and mean helical axes over the collected stereo-photogrammetric data of joint motion. This procedure was tested on a healthy subject, leading to the design and fabrication of a first customized prototype of the orthosis. The performance of this HAFO was experimentally verified by motion analysis. All relevant results are presented, and further possible future improvements of the procedure are discussed

#MeToo, popular feminism and the news: A content analysis of UK newspaper coverage

This article examines the first 6 months of #MeToo’s coverage in the UK press, revealing how newspapers played an important role in heightening the campaign’s visibility. Using content analysis, our study demonstrates that the press contributed to expanding and reinforcing #MeToo’s visibility in important ways. In terms of reach, the UK press has expanded the movement’s visibility beyond social media, addressing potentially new and different readerships. This attests to the pivotal role that news media continue to play in disseminating global issues and debates for a national audience. Second, in terms of content, while the news coverage developed and consolidated stories that were originally revealed on social media, it also publicized new stories. However, our study also highlights how the press’ role in enabling and expanding the visibility of #MeToo has been characterized by a number of crucial and, we argue, problematic factors. First, while #MeToo was covered positively in all newspapers, there was significant variation within newspapers, which was largely consistent with their traditional ideological alignments. Second, the #MeToo coverage seems to have followed and reinforced familiar patterns with respect to news coverage of both sexual violence and feminism, namely, support of feminism alongside a concurrent de-politicization, an individualizing tendency through a focus on celebrity and the cultural industries, and the centring of the experiences of celebrity female subjects who are predominately White and wealthy

Analgesia and/or anaesthesia during piglet castration&#8211;part I: efficacy of farm protocols in pain management

Pain alleviation associated with surgical castration of piglets is a debated welfare issue. The present study compares the effect of different protocols involving analgesia and/or anaesthesia or sedation suitable under field conditions, with the aim to alleviate pain due to castration in piglets. A randomised within-litter design, with 50 replicates, compared 7 treatments applied 10 min before castration: HAND: positive control, handling only; CTRL: negative control, physiological saline, i.m.; MEL: meloxicam, i.m.; AZA: azaperone, i.m.; PROC: local anaesthesia with procaine and adrenaline, subcutaneously; AZA-MEL: joint administration of azaperone and meloxicam; PROC-MEL: procaine and meloxicam. Efficacy of pain relief was assessed during a 180 min period after castration by serum cortisol and glycaemia, algometry and behaviour. CTRL, AZA, PROC and AZA-MEL piglets showed an increase in cortisol concentration 60 min after castration compared to HAND. Both groups with azaperone (AZA and AZA-MEL) developed concentrations even higher than CTRL (p .05). CRTL and PROC piglets reacted to the algometer at an average lower pressure than HAND (p =.03), differently to the other treatments that showed similar skin sensitivity to HAND (p >.05). No differences in glycaemia and behaviour were observed among treatments. The results suggest that using meloxicam alone might offer a promising option in reducing the expression of pain-related parameters in piglets after surgical castration, however, it appears more efficient when used alone than in association with the anaesthetic agents tested. Procaine administered alone and azaperone seems unsuited to the purpose considered.HIGHLIGHTS Meloxicam used alone is suggested for reducing the expression of pain-related parameters in piglets after surgical castration; When a protocol using procaine is used on the farm during piglets castration, the association with meloxicam reduces some pain-related indicators; Procaine administered alone and azaperone seems unsuited to manage pain after surgical castration of piglets

The use of different adhesive filling material and mass combinations to restore class II cavities under loading and shrinkage effects: a 3D-FEA

3D tooth models were virtually restored: flowable composite resin + bulk-fill composite (A), glass ionomer cement + bulk-fill composite (B) or adhesive + bulk-fill composite (C). Polymerization shrinkage and masticatory loads were simulated. All models exhibited the highest stress concentration at the enamel-restoration interfaces. A and C showed similar pattern with lower magnitude in A in comparison to C. B showed lower stress in dentine and C the highest cusps displacement. The use of glass ionomer cement or flowable composite resin in combination with a bulk-fill composite improved the biomechanical behavior of deep class II MO cavities

The use of different adhesive filling material and mass combinations to restore class II cavities under loading and shrinkage effects: a 3D-FEA

3D tooth models were virtually restored: flowable composite resin + bulk-fill composite (A), glass ionomer cement + bulk-fill composite (B) or adhesive + bulk-fill composite (C). Polymerization shrinkage and masticatory loads were simulated. All models exhibited the highest stress concentration at the enamel–restoration interfaces. A and C showed similar pattern with lower magnitude in A in comparison to C. B showed lower stress in dentine and C the highest cusps displacement. The use of glass ionomer cement or flowable composite resin in combination with a bulk-fill composite improved the biomechanical behavior of deep class II MO cavities