Age-Specific 18F-FDG Image Processing Pipelines and Analysis Are Essential for Individual Mapping of Seizure Foci in Paediatric Patients with Intractable Epilepsy

Fluoro-18-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) is an important tool for the pre-surgical assessment of children with drug-resistant epilepsy. Standard assessment is carried out visually and this is often subjective and highly user-dependent. Voxel-wise statistics can be used to remove user-dependent biases by automatically identifying areas of significant hypo/hyper-metabolism, associated to the epileptogenic area. In the clinical settings, this analysis is carried out using commercially available software. These software packages suffer from two main limitations when applied to paediatric PET data: 1) paediatric scans are spatially normalised to an adult standard template and 2) statistical comparisons use an adult control dataset. The aim of this work is to provide a reliable observer-independent pipeline for the analysis of paediatric FDG-PET scans, as part of pre-surgical planning in epilepsy. METHODS: A pseudo-control dataset (n = 19 for 6-9y, n = 93 for 10-20y) was used to create two age-specific FDG-PET paediatric templates in standard paediatric space. The FDG-PET scans of 46 epilepsy patients (n = 16 for 6-9y, n = 30 for 10-17y) were retrospectively collated and analysed using voxel-wise statistics. This was implemented with the standard pipeline available in the commercial software Scenium and an in-house Statistical Parametric Mapping v.8 (SPM8) pipeline (including age-specific paediatric templates and normal database). A kappa test was used to assess the level of agreement between findings of voxel-wise analyses and the clinical diagnosis of each patient. The SPM8 pipeline was further validated using post-surgical seizure-free patients. RESULTS: Improved agreement with the clinical diagnosis was reported using SPM8, in terms of focus localisation, especially for the younger patient group: kScenium=0.489 versus kSPM=0.805. The proposed pipeline also showed a sensitivity of ~70% in both age ranges, for the localisation of hypo-metabolic areas on paediatric FDG-PET scans in post-surgical seizure-free patients. CONCLUSION: We show that by creating age-specific templates and using paediatric control databases, our pipeline provides an accurate and sensitive semi-quantitative method for assessing FDG-PET scans of patients under 18y

Generalized Bayesian Record Linkage and Regression with Exact Error Propagation

Record linkage (de-duplication or entity resolution) is the process of merging noisy databases to remove duplicate entities. While record linkage removes duplicate entities from such databases, the downstream task is any inferential, predictive, or post-linkage task on the linked data. One goal of the downstream task is obtaining a larger reference data set, allowing one to perform more accurate statistical analyses. In addition, there is inherent record linkage uncertainty passed to the downstream task. Motivated by the above, we propose a generalized Bayesian record linkage method and consider multiple regression analysis as the downstream task. Records are linked via a random partition model, which allows for a wide class to be considered. In addition, we jointly model the record linkage and downstream task, which allows one to account for the record linkage uncertainty exactly. Moreover, one is able to generate a feedback propagation mechanism of the information from the proposed Bayesian record linkage model into the downstream task. This feedback effect is essential to eliminate potential biases that can jeopardize resulting downstream task. We apply our methodology to multiple linear regression, and illustrate empirically that the "feedback effect" is able to improve the performance of record linkage.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Numerical propagation of high energy cosmic rays in the Galaxy I: technical issues

We present the results of a numerical simulation of propagation of cosmic rays with energy above $10^{15}$ eV in a complex magnetic field, made in general of a large scale component and a turbulent component. Several configurations are investigated that may represent specific aspects of a realistic magnetic field of the Galaxy, though the main purpose of this investigation is not to achieve a realistic description of the propagation in the Galaxy, but rather to assess the role of several effects that define the complex problem of propagation. Our simulations of Cosmic Rays in the Galaxy will be presented in Paper II. We identified several effects that are difficult to interpret in a purely diffusive approach and that play a crucial role in the propagation of cosmic rays in the complex magnetic field of the Galaxy. We discuss at length the problem of the extrapolation of our results to much lower energies where data are available on the confinement time of cosmic rays in the Galaxy. The confinement time and its dependence on particles' rigidity are crucial ingredients for 1) relating the source spectrum to the observed cosmic ray spectrum; 2) quantifying the production of light elements by spallation; 3) predicting the anisotropy as a function of energy.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures, submitted to JCA

Quantum gravity correction, evolution of scalar field and inflation

We take the first nontrivial coefficient of the Schwinger-DeWitt expansion as a leading correction to the action of the second-derivative metric-dilaton gravity. To fix the ambiguities related with an arbitrary choice of the gauge fixing condition and the parametrization for the quantum field, one has to use the classical equations of motion. As a result, the only corrections are the ones to the potential of the scalar field. It turns out that the parameters of the initial classical action may be chosen in such a way that the potential satisfies most of the conditions for successful inflation.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Anti-Candida and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of a Vaginal Gel Formulation: Novel Data Concerning Vaginal Infection and Dysbiosis

Vaginal ecosystem is a unique environment where, in physiological conditions, lactobacilli dominate. However, pathogenic microbial species responsible for vaginitis and vaginosis can also harbor vaginal microbiota. To extend the data published by De Seta and Larsen in Pathogens (2021), we analyzed here both the anti-Candida and anti-inflammatory properties of the vaginal gel formulation, Respecta® Balance Gel (RBG), commercialized as an adjuvant to treat vaginitis and vaginosis. We evaluated its activity by an in vitro model where a monolayer of A-431 vaginal epithelial cells was infected by Candida albicans in the presence of RBG or the placebo formulation (pRBG). Specifically, we tested the RBG capacity to counteract C. albicans virulence factors and their anti-inflammatory properties. Our results show that, unlike the placebo, RBG reduces C. albicans adhesion, its capacity to form hyphae and C. albicans-induced vaginal cell damage. Interestingly, both RBG and pRBG reduce LPS-induced IL-8 secretion (with RBG being the most effective), demonstrating that also the placebo retains anti-inflammatory properties. From our experimental approach, we highlighted the possible role of farnesol on such effects, but we would like to point out that lactic acid, polydextrose and glycogen too must be relevant in the actual application. In summary, our results show that RBG impairs C. albicans virulence and is able to reduce the inflammation in the vaginal environment, ultimately allowing the establishment of a balanced vaginal ecosystem

Ventricular pacemaker lead in the left hemithorax: Mechanisms and evidence-based management of a late-onset hazardous complication

Late-onset migration of pacing leads in the left hemithorax is a rare but potentially life-threatening complication. Radiological examinations are required to detect any involvement of either left ventricle or lung parenchyma, prompting immediate surgical extraction in this setting. Identification of high-risk patients is mandatory to prevent this complex iatrogenic complication

Evaluation of Biological Response of STRO-1/c-Kit Enriched Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells to Titanium Surfaces Treated with Two Different Cleaning Systems.

Peri-implantitis-an infection caused by bacterial deposition of biofilm-is a common complication in dentistry which may lead to implant loss. Several decontamination procedures have been investigated to identify the optimal approach being capable to remove the bacterial biofilm without modifying the implant surface properties. Our study evaluated whether two different systems-Ni-Ti Brushes (Brush) and Air-Polishing with 40 \ub5m bicarbonate powder (Bic40)-might alter the physical/chemical features of two different titanium surfaces-machined (MCH) and Ca++ nanostructured (NCA)-and whether these decontamination systems may affect the biological properties of human STRO-1+/c-Kit+ dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) as well as the bacterial ability to produce biofilm. Cell morphology, proliferation and stemness markers were analysed in hDPSCs grown on both surfaces, before and after the decontamination treatments. Our findings highlighted that Bic40 treatment either maintained the surface characteristics of both implants and allowed hDPSCs to proliferate and preserve their stemness properties. Moreover, Bic40 treatment proved effective in removing bacterial biofilm from both titanium surfaces and consistently limited the biofilm re-growth. In conclusion, our data suggest that Bic40 treatment may operatively clean smooth and rough surfaces without altering their properties and, consequently, offer favourable conditions for reparative cells to hold their biological properties

Algebraic renormalization of twisted N=2 supersymmetry with Z=2 central extension

We study the renormalizability of (massive) topological QCD based on the algebraic BRST technique by adopting a non-covariant Landau type gauge and making use of the full topological superalgebra. The most general local counter terms are determined and it is shown that in the presence of central charges the BRST cohomology remains trivial. By imposing an additional set of stability constraints it is proven that the matter action of topological QCD is perturbatively finite.Comment: 37 pages, AMSTE

Infra-Red Stable Supersymmetry in Chern-Simons Theories with Matter and Quenched Disorder

We study Abelian Chern-Simons field theories with matter fields and global SU(N) symmetry in the presence of random weak quenched disorder. In the absence of disorder these theories possess N=2 supersymmetric fixed points and N=1 supersymmetric fixed lines in the infra-red limit. We show that although the presence of disorder forbids any supersymmetry of the bare action, infra-red stable supersymmetric fixed points and fixed lines are realized in the disorder-averaged effective theories.Comment: 8 pp., LaTeX. Explanatory remarks and references added. Version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let