Erosion Rate of the Aliano Biancana Badlands Based on a 3D Multi-Temporal High-Resolution Survey and Implications for Wind-Driven Rain

Biancana badlands are peculiar landforms in the Basilicata region of Italy resulting from the local combination of geological, geomorphological, and climatic settings. The evolution of badlands mainly depends on slope erosion, which is controlled by the angle, exposure, and vegetation of the slope and its interactions with insolation, rain, and wind. Multi-temporal, detailed, high-resolution surveys have led researchers to assess changes in slopes to investigate the spatial distributions of erosion and deposition and the influence of wind-driven rain (WDR). A comparison between two terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) point clouds surveyed during 2006 and 2016 fieldwork showed that the study area suffers from intense erosion that is not spatially uniform on all sides of biancane. By combining slope and exposure data and the cloud of difference (CoD), derived from a 3D model, we showed that all the steepest southern sides of biancane suffered the most intense erosion. Because splash and sheet erosion triggers sediment displacement, the analysis was also focused on the intensity and direction of WDR. We performed a real field experiment analysing erosion rates over 10 years in relation to daily and hourly wind data (direction and speed), and we found that frequent winds of moderate force, combined with moderate to heavy rainfall, contributed to the observed increase in soil erosion when combined with the insolation effect. Our results show how all the considered factors interact in a complex pattern to control the spatial distribution of erosion

Marked efficacy of Rituximab in multifocal motor neuropathy associated with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

The authors describe a patient who presented a multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) associated with a high anti-ganglioside antibody (anti-GM1 and anti-GD1) titer at the clinical onset of a B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL). Immunomodulation (IVIg plus cyclosporine) resulted in a neurological improvement and reduced anti-ganglioside antibody titers, both of which remained stable for at least six years. After this period, the patient had a severe relapse of the neuropathy, which was independent of the clinical course of the B-CLL. Both IVIg and cyclophosphamide were ineffective, and the patient became tetraplegic within six months; in the meantime, the patient displayed an increased antiganglioside antibody titer. Treatment with rituximab (RTX), which is designed to selectively inhibit B cell function, resulted in a dramatic, prompt and long-lasting neurological improvement as well as a reduced anti-ganglioside antibody titer. Although there are no previous reports of MMN in patients with B-CLL, the efficacy of RTX in the treatment of MMN in this patient may be considered remarkable. The expansion of B-cell clones may be a prerequisite for RTX effectiveness in MMN, and in dysimmune neuropathies in general

Marked efficacy of rituximab in multifocal motor neuropathy associated with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

The authors describe a patient who presented a multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) associated with a high anti-ganglioside antibody (anti-GM1 and anti-GD1) titer at the clinical onset of a B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL). Immunomodulation (IVIg plus cyclosporine) resulted in a neurological improvement and reduced anti-ganglioside antibody titers, both of which remained stable for at least six years. After this period, the patient had a severe relapse of the neuropathy, which was independent of the clinical course of the B-CLL. Both IVIg and cyclophosphamide were ineffective, and the patient became tetraplegic within six months; in the meantime, the patient displayed an increased antiganglioside antibody titer. Treatment with rituximab (RTX), which is designed to selectively inhibit B cell function, resulted in a dramatic, prompt and long-lasting neurological improvement as well as a reduced antiganglioside antibody titer. Although there are no previous reports of MMN in patients with B-CLL, the eficacy of RTX in the treatment of MMN in this patient may be considered remarkable. The expansion of B-cell clones may be a prerequisite for RTX effectiveness in MMN, and in dysimmune neuropathies in general

Scintimammography with 99mTc-MIBI and magnetic resonance imaging in the evaluation of breast cancer

This study was performed to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of technetium-99m methoxyisobutylisonitrile (99mTc-MIBI) scintimammography (SMM) and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with breast masses, using the histological findings as the gold standard. Forty-five consecutive patients with a breast lesion, detected by self-examination, physical examination or screening mammography, underwent SMM and MRI. In 38 cases (84.5%), the histopathology was malignant; the breast cancers ranged from 3 to 100 mm in diameter (mean 22 mm). In the overall patient group, MRI showed a slightly higher sensitivity than SMM (92% vs 84%), but SMM showed a better specificity: 71% vs 42%. The accuracy was 82% and 84% for SMM and MRI respectively. To evaluate the influence of lesion size on the results, patients with lesions ≤20 mm and ≤15 mm were examined. In patients with lesions ≤20 mm, the sensitivity of SMM and MRI decreased to 64% and 82% respectively, while SMM again displayed considerably better specificity: 83% vs 50% for MRI. The accuracy of SMM and MRI was 64% and 82% respectively. In patients with lesions ≤15 mm, SMM again showed better specificity (75% vs 50%), while MRI displayed better sensitivity and accuracy (sensitivity, 81% vs 62%; accuracy, 75% vs 65%). In this study the specificity of SMM in patients with breast lesions was thus superior to that of MRI. The combination of SMM and MRI may be used in those patients with equivocal findings at mammography and ultrasound to reduce the number of unnecessary surgical biopsies

Single-centre experience on endocardial and epicardial pacemaker system function in neonates and infants

n/

Determination of Commercial Animal and Vegetable Milks’ Lipid Profile and Its Correlation with Cell Viability and Antioxidant Activity on Human Intestinal Caco-2 Cells

none9openantonella aresta; Stefania De Santis; Alessia Carocci; Alexia Barbarossa; Andrea Ragusa; Nicoletta De Vietro; Maria Lisa Clodoveo; Filomena Corbo; Carlo ZAMBONINAresta, Antonella; De Santis, Stefania; Carocci, Alessia; Barbarossa, Alexia; Ragusa, Andrea; De Vietro, Nicoletta; Lisa Clodoveo, Maria; Corbo, Filomena; Zambonin, Carl

Alexithymia, anger and psychological distress in patients with myofascial pain: a case-control study

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate psychological distress, anger and alexithymia in a group of patients affected by myofascial pain (MP) in the facial region. Methods: 45 MP patients [mean (SD) age: 38.9 (11.6)] and 45 female healthy controls [mean (SD) age: 37.8 (13.7)] were assessed medically and psychologically. The medically evaluation consisted of muscle palpation of the pericranial and cervical muscles. The psychological evaluation included the assessment of depression (Beck Depression Inventory—short form), anxiety [State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form Y (STAI-Y)], emotional distress [Distress Thermometer (DT)], anger [State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory—2 (STAXI-2)], and alexithymia [Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS)]. Results: the MP patients showed significantly higher scores in the depression, anxiety and emotional distress inventories. With regard to anger, only the Anger Expression-In scale showed a significant difference between the groups, with higher scores for the MP patients. In addition, the MP patients showed significantly higher alexithymic scores, in particular in the Difficulty in identifying feelings (F1) subscale of the TAS-20. Alexithymia was positively correlated with the Anger Expression-In scale. Both anger and alexithymia showed significant positive correlations with anxiety scores, but only anger was positively correlated with depression. Conclusion: A higher prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms associated with a higher prevalence of alexithymia and expression-in modality to cope with anger was found in the MP patients. Because the presence of such psychological aspects could contribute to generate or exacerbate the suffering of these patients, our results highlight the need to include accurate investigation of psychological aspects in MP patients in normal clinical practice in order to allow clinicians to carry out more efficacious management and treatment strategies

Radiomics analysis in gastrointestinal imaging: a narrative review

Background and Objective: To present an overview of radiomics radiological applications in major gastrointestinal oncological non-oncologic diseases, such as colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, gastro- oesophageal cancer, gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), and non-oncologic diseases, such as liver fibrosis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Methods: A search of PubMed databases was performed for the terms “radiomic”, “radiomics”, “liver”, “small bowel”, “colon”, “GI tract”, and “gastrointestinal imaging” for English articles published between January 2013 and July 2022. A narrative review was undertaken to summarize literature pertaining to application of radiomics in major oncological and non-oncological gastrointestinal diseases. The strengths and limitation of radiomics, as well as advantages and major limitations and providing considerations for future development of radiomics were discussed. Key Content and Findings: Radiomics consists in extracting and analyzing a vast amount of quantitative features from medical datasets, Radiomics refers to the extraction and analysis of large amounts of quantitative features from medical images. The extraction of these data, integrated with clinical data, allows the construction of descriptive and predictive models that can build disease-specific radiomic signatures. Texture analysis has emerged as one of the most important biomarkers able to assess tumor heterogeneity and can provide microscopic image information that cannot be identified with the naked eye by radiologists. Conclusions: Radiomics and texture analysis are currently under active investigation in several institutions worldwide, this approach is being tested in a multitude of anatomical areas and diseases, with the final aim to exploit personalized medicine in diagnosis, treatment planning, and prediction of outcomes. Despite promising initial results, the implementation of radiomics is still hampered by some limitations related to the lack of standardization and validation of image acquisition protocols, feature segmentation, data extraction, processing, and analysi

Human Cutaneous Melanomas Lacking MITF and Melanocyte Differentiation Antigens Express a Functional Axl Receptor Kinase

n/

Artificial intelligence based image quality enhancement in liver MRI. a quantitative and qualitative evaluation

Purpose To compare liver MRI with AIR Recon Deep Learning (TM)(ARDL) algorithm applied and turned-off (NON-DL) with conventional high-resolution acquisition (NAiVE) sequences, in terms of quantitative and qualitative image analysis and scanning time. Material and methods This prospective study included fifty consecutive volunteers (31 female, mean age 55.5 +/- 20 years) from September to November 2021. 1.5 T MRI was performed and included three sets of images: axial single-shot fast spin-echo (SSFSE) T2 images, diffusion-weighted images(DWI) and apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC) maps acquired with both ARDL and NAiVE protocol; the NON-DL images, were also assessed. Two radiologists in consensus drew fixed regions of interest in liver parenchyma to calculate signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) and contrast to-noise-ratio (CNR). Subjective image quality was assessed by two other radiologists independently with a five-point Likert scale. Acquisition time was recorded. Results SSFSE T2 objective analysis showed higher SNR and CNR for ARDL vs NAiVE, ARDL vs NON-DL(all P < 0.013). Regarding DWI, no differences were found for SNR with ARDL vs NAiVE and, ARDL vs NON-DL (all P > 0.2517).CNR was higher for ARDL vs NON-DL(P = 0.0170), whereas no differences were found between ARDL and NAiVE(P = 1). No differences were observed for all three comparisons, in terms of SNR and CNR, for ADC maps (all P > 0.32). Qualitative analysis for all sequences showed better overall image quality for ARDL with lower truncation artifacts, higher sharpness and contrast (all P < 0.0070) with excellent inter-rater agreement (k >= 0.8143). Acquisition time was lower in ARDL sequences compared to NAiVE (SSFSE T2 = 19.08 +/- 2.5 s vs. 24.1 +/- 2 s and DWI = 207.3 +/- 54 s vs. 513.6 +/- 98.6 s, all P < 0.0001). Conclusion ARDL applied on upper abdomen showed overall better image quality and reduced scanning time compared with NAiVE protocol