Arms down cone beam CT hepatic angiography: are we focusing on the wrong target?

We read with great interest the recent article by Dr. Gonzalez-Aguirre and colleagues entitled ‘‘Arms Down Cone Beam CT Hepatic Angiography Performance Assessment: Vascular Imaging Quality and Imaging Artefacts’’ [1]. One of the most important advantages of cone beam CT (CBCT) is the possibility to evaluate the lesion’s feeders assisting their identification and catheterization [2]. In this set, the patient’s arms positioning is crucial in order not to impair CBCT imaging. Dr. Gonzalez-Aguirre et al. had elegantly demonstrated that vessels’ visualization is independent from the patient’s arms position, allowing to perform the entire procedure without patient’s movements. This minimizes the risk of contamination and reduces procedural time. However, literature shows that the major pivotal strength of CBCT, either mono-phasic or possibly bi-phasic, is the ability to depict in intra-procedurally ‘‘occult lesions’’, not visible at pre-procedural second-line non-invasive imaging (MRI, MDCT) [3]. This ability is not just for show, but yield to some major clinical implications: the visualization of an occult nodule identifies a subset of population experiencing fast tumour growth, having consequences on the number of adjunctive treatments controlling tumour growth (adjunctive RFA, or TACE procedures) and prioritization for transplantation [4]. Moreover, bi-phasic CBCT, with its unique ability to intra-procedural permit nodule characterization, could help in patients’ reclassification and real-time TACE strategy modification [5]. In this light would be a crucial interest for the audience to know whether the CBCT acquisition with arms down does not alter the diagnostic performance of the modality and ability of lesion’s characterization, especially for those lesion localized peripherally, where the beam hardening artefacts have been shown to be significant. Finally, patient’s positioning is fundamental for CBCT imaging. By acquiring the scan with patient’s arm down, liver volume would not be located within the rotation isocentre. This could be a substantial limitation for lesion located within the left liver lobe, eventually hypertrophied, and for high BMI patients

Introduction to morphological and functional evaluation of the heart and coronary arteries

In the last years, the number of clinical indications for the evaluation of the heart – with both computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) – exponentially grew. This evidence reflects the remarkable technological developments of both techniques allowing unprecedented spatial, temporal and contrast resolution levels and to comprehensively evaluate cardiac pathology, combining anatomical information with functional assessment and tissue characterization of myocardial diseases

Sensitivity to social exclusion in major depressive disorder (MDD) predicts therapeutic outcome after in-patient treatment

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La scrittura di Sant\u2019Ignazio di Loyola tra paleografia e chimica

Il saggio si compone di due parti distinte, che si soffermano in particolare sull'analisi paleografica del Diario spirituale, scritto di sua mano da Ignazio di Loyola.Nella prima parte si delinea in particolare il contesto grafico della Spagna del XVI e si analizzano le caratteristiche pi\uf9 peculiari della scrittura di s. Ignazio, osservando fra l'altro il sistema abbreviativo da lui usato. Nella seconda parte si esamina l'esecuzione della scrittura sulla base di una analisi spettrografica dell'inchiostro usato nel codice, ponendo particolare attenzione ai cambi di inchiostro e alle correzioni effettuate

Regulation of molecular pathways in the Fragile X Syndrome: insights into Autism Spectrum Disorders

The Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a leading cause of intellectual disability (ID) and autism. The disease is caused by mutations or loss of the Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP), an RNA-binding protein playing multiple functions in RNA metabolism. The expression of a large set of neuronal mRNAs is altered when FMRP is lost, thus causing defects in neuronal morphology and physiology. FMRP regulates mRNA stability, dendritic targeting, and protein synthesis. At synapses, FMRP represses protein synthesis by forming a complex with the Cytoplasmic FMRP Interacting Protein 1 (CYFIP1) and the cap-binding protein eIF4E. Here, we review the clinical, genetic, and molecular aspects of FXS with a special focus on the receptor signaling that regulates FMRP-dependent protein synthesis. We further discuss the FMRP–CYFIP1 complex and its potential relevance for ID and autism

Earthquake sound perception

Sound is an effect produced by almost all earthquakes. Using a web-based questionnaire on earthquake effects that included questions relating to seismic sound, we collected 77,000 responses for recent shallow Italian earthquakes. An analysis of audibility attenuation indicated that the decrease of the percentage of respondents hearing the sound was proportional to the logarithm of the epicentral distance and linearly dependent on earthquake magnitude, in accordance with the behavior of ground displacement. Even if this result was based on Italian data, qualitative agreement with the results of theoretical displacement, and of a similar study based on French seismicity suggests wider validity. We also found that, given earthquake magnitude, audibility increased together with the observed macroseismic intensity, leading to the possibility of accounting for sound audibility in intensity assessment. Magnitude influenced this behavior, making small events easier to recognize, as suggested by their frequency content

How Observer Conditions Impact Earthquake Perception

Intensity scales define the criteria used to determine different levels of shaking in relation to environmental effects. Objective evaluations of low intensity degrees based on transient effects may be difficult. In particular, estimations for the number of people feeling an earthquake are critical, and are qualitatively described by words such as “few”, “many”, and “most” for determining various intensity levels. In general, such qualitative amounts are converted into specific percentages for each macroseismic scale. Additionally, estimations of macroseismic intensity are influenced by variables that are mentioned in macroseismic scale degree descriptions. For example, the Mercalli-Cancani-Sieberg (MCS; Sieberg, 1930) and the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) scales (Wood and Neumann, 1931) describe the intensity II as “Felt only by a few people, extremely susceptible, in perfectly quiet situations, almost always on the upper floors of buildings”. Another example is the European Macroseismic Scale (EMS) (Grunthal, 1998) that describes the intensity V as “felt indoors by most, outdoors by few. Many sleeping people awake”. In this work, we focus on two variables referred to as people’s physical “situation” (what were you doing?), here categorized as “sleeping”, “at rest”, or “in motion”; and the observer’s “location”, here categorized as “higher floors”, “lower floors”, and “outdoors”. Both variables have a partial influence on intensity assessments because they condition vibration perception. However, it is important to study, using an experimental method, the weights of these variables in the quantification of felt effects. Musson (2005a) also recognized the influence of such conditions on the number of people feeling an earthquake, stating that the proportion of people in different conditions “are generally difficult to quantify in any case”. Today, we have a large amount of data available through the macroseismic web site “haisentitoilterremoto” associated with specific observer conditions. Using this data, a study of these effects is possible. For this analysis, we placed attention on transitory effects that, in the past, could not be easily studied due to the intrinsic difficulty in collecting this type of data. The aim of this work was to specifically analyze and quantify how the observer’s “situation” and “location” influence earthquake perception suggesting a new scale description that can be easily used for low intensity estimation

Ageing Effects on the Thermal Performance of Two Different Well-insulated Buildings

Abstract To guarantee a comfortable accommodation to those who had their house destroyed or unfit due to the earthquake that in 2009 hit the city of L'Aquila, the "C.A.S.E. Project" (italian acronym for Complessi Antisismici Sostenibili ed Ecocompatibili – anti-seismic sustainable and environment -friendly complexes) was foreseen and realized: it entailed the realization of complexes of buildings, built according to italian seismic and energy-efficiency requirements. After 7 years, the ageing effects on the thermal performance of the opaque envelope have been investigated out with thermographic surveys and heat flow meter measurements, on two buildings realized with different typologies, both belonging to C.A.S.E. Project

Laboratory and on-site tests for rapid runway repair

The attention to rapid pavement repair has grown fast in recent decades: this topic is strategic for the airport management process for civil purposes and peacekeeping missions. This work presents the results of laboratory and on-site tests for rapid runway repair, in order to analyse and compare technical and mechanical performances of 12 different materials currently used in airport. The study focuses on site repairs, a technique adopted most frequently than repairs with modular elements. After describing mechanical and physical properties of the examined materials (2 bituminous emulsions, 5 cement mortars, 4 cold bituminous mixtures and 1 expanding resin), the study presents the results of carried out mechanical tests. The results demonstrate that the best performing material is a one-component fast setting and hardening cement mortar with graded aggregates. This material allows the runway reopening 6 h after the work. A cold bituminous mixture (bicomponent premixed cold asphalt with water as catalyst) and the ordinary cement concrete allow the reopening to traffic after 18 h, but both ensure a lower service life (1000 coverages) than the cement mortar (10,000 coverages). The obtained results include important information both laboratory level and field, and they could be used by airport management bodies and road agencies when scheduling and evaluating pavement repairs

Magnetic field in the outskirts of PSZ2 G096.88+24.18 from depolarization analysis of radio relics

Radio relics are one of the different types of diffuse radio sources present in a fraction of galaxy clusters. They are characterized by elongated arc-like shapes, with sizes that range between 0.5 and 2 Mpc, and highly polarized emission (up to ∼60%) at GHz frequencies The linearly polarized radiation of relics, moving through a magnetized plasma which is the ICM, is affected by the rotation of the linear polarization vector. This effect, known as “Faraday rotation”, can cause depolarization. The study of this effect allows us to constrain the magnetic field projected along the line of sight. The aim of this thesis work is to constrain the magnetic field intensity and distribution in the periphery of the cluster PSZ2 G096.88+24.18: this cluster hosts a pair of radio relics that can be used for polarization analysis. To analyse the polarization properties of the relics in PSZ2 G096.88+24.18 radio relics we used new Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) observations together with archival observations. The polarization study has been performed using the Rotation Measure Synthesis technique, which allows us to recover polarization, minimizing the bandwidth depolarization. Thanks to this technique, we recovered more polarization from the southern relic (with respect to provious works), We studied also the depolarization trend with the resolution for the southern relic, and found that the polarization fraction decreases with the beamsize. Finally, we have produced simulated magnetic fields models, varying the auto-correlation lengths of the magnetic field, in order to reproduce the observed depolarization trend in the southern relic. Comparing our observational results and model predictions, we were able to constrain the scales over which the turbulent magnetic field varies within the cluster. We conclude that the depolarization observed in the southern relic is likely due to external depolarization caused by the magnetized ICM distribution within the cluster