Early warning system for the prevention and control of unauthorized accesses to air navigation services infrastructures

Early warning systems are fundamental instruments for the management of critical situations since they are able to signal in advance any anomaly with respect to ordinary situations. The purpose of this paper is to present an early warning system, based on artificial neural networks, for the prevention and control of unauthorized accesses to the air navigation services infrastructure in Italy

Information Processing and Synaptic Transmission

The brain is probably the most complex machinery for information processing we can imagine. The amount of data it manages is extremely huge. Any conscious or unconscious event both internal and coming from the environment needs to be perceived, elaborated, and responded with an appropriate action. Moreover, the high-level activities of mind require the connection of logical elaboration, the relationship with past experience (memory), and the transfer of information among different areas of the brain participating to the elaboration of the thought. Almost all brain illnesses or even simple defaults can be related to a corruption of the basic system which manage information in the brain. The main actors in transferring and managing information are the synapses, and then the understanding of the brain information processing cannot disregard the full understanding of the synaptic functionality. In the present chapter, by using as example the most common type of the brain synapse (the glutamatergic synapse), we will present the basic mechanism of synaptic transmission stressing some of the most relevant mechanisms which regulate the transfer and management of information

Evaluación de estructuras patrimoniales de hormigón armado afectadas por corrosión por cloruro en la provincia de Buenos Aires

La presencia de cloruro en el hormigón es un factor desencadenante del proceso de corrosión de armaduras. Diversas causas pueden concurrir para que se alcance el contenido límite de cloruro que despasiva al acero empotrado. Entre ellas las características del hormigón de recubrimiento, la agresividad del medio, la calidad constructiva, y los materiales empleados. En este trabajo se presenta una revisión de los parámetros ambientales, locales y de los materiales que deben tenerse en cuenta al momento de evaluar una estructura respecto a la corrosión por cloruro. Se incluyen metodologías y técnicas de evaluación, y su aplicación en estructuras de hormigón armado construidas en la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, durante el siglo XX y pertenecientes al patrimonio moderno. Se realizaron relevamientos in situ, mediciones in situ de parámetros de corrosión y extracción de muestras para su evaluación en laboratorio. Los resultados mostraron patologías por corrosión de armaduras vinculadas a la falta de mantenimiento preventivo, falta de control de materiales y ejecución durante la construcción y/o reparación de las estructuras analizadas. Como requerimiento para las reparaciones de este tipo de estructuras se incluyen especialmente las consideraciones del medio circundante.Tópico 6: Patrimonio Urbano de los siglos XVIII al XX. Técnicas de Limpieza y de Conservación

Serafino Zappacosta: An Enlightened Mentor and Educator.

With this article, the authors aim to honor the memory of Serafino Zappacosta, who had been their mentor during the early years of their career in science. The authors discuss how the combination of Serafino Zappacosta's extraordinary commitment to teaching and passion for science created a fostering educational environment that led to the creation of the "Ruggero Ceppellini Advanced School of Immunology." The review also illustrates how the research on the MHC and the inspirational scientific context in the Zappacosta's laboratory influenced the authors' early scientific interests, and subsequent professional work as immunologists

Active surveillance for carbapenemaseproducing Klebsiella pneumoniae and correlation with infection in subjects attending an Italian tertiary-care hospital: a 7-year retrospective study

Objectives The distribution of carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (CPKP) phenotypes and genotypes in samples collected during 2011–2018 was evaluated. The association between patients with CPKP-positive rectal swab and those with CPKP infection, as well as the overall analysis of CPKP-infected patients, was performed. Setting The study was performed in a tertiary-care hospital located in Northern Italy. Participants Two groups were considered: 22 939 ‘atrisk’ patients submitted to active surveillance for CPKP detection in rectal swabs/stools and 1094 CPKP-infected patients in which CPKP was detected in samples other than rectal swabs. Results CPKP-positive rectal swabs were detected in 5% (1150/22 939). A CPKP infection was revealed in 3.1% (719/22 939) of patients: 582 with CPKP-positive rectal swab (50.6% of the 1150 CPKP-positive rectal swabs) and 137 with CPKP-negative rectal swab. The 49.4% (568/1150) of the patients with CPKP-positive rectal swab were carriers. The overall frequency of CPKP-positive patients (carriers and infected) was almost constant from 2012 to 2016 (excluding the 2015 peak) and then increased in 2017–2018. blaKPC was predominant followed by blaVIM. No difference was observed in the frequency of CPKP-positive rectal swab patients among the different material groups. Among the targeted carbapenemase genes, blaVIM was more significantly detected from urine than from other samples. Conclusions The high prevalence of carriers without evidence of infection, representing a potential reservoir of CPKP, suggests to maintain the guard about this problem, emphasising the importance of active surveillance for timely detection and separation of carriers, activation of contact precautions and antibiotic treatment guidance on suspicion of infection

Prevalence of resistance-associated substitutions to NS3, NS5A and NS5B inhibitors at DAA-failure in hepatitis C virus in Italy from 2015 to 2019

: Despite the high efficacy of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), the selection of resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) after virological failure of hepatitis C virus (HCV) DAAs can impair the cure of chronic HCV. The aim of the study was to characterize RASs after virological failure of DAAs in Italy over the years. Within the Italian network VIRONET-C, the change in prevalence of NS3/4A-NS5A-NS5B RASs was retrospectively evaluated in patients who failed a DAA regimen over the years 2015-2019. NS3, NS5A and NS5B Sanger sequencing was performed using homemade protocols and the geno2pheno system was used to define HCV-genotype/subtype and predict drug resistance. The changes in the prevalence of RASs over time were evaluated using the chi-square test for trend. Predictors of RASs at failure were analysed by logistic regression. Among 468 HCV-infected patients, HCV genotype 1 was the most prevalent (1b in 154, 33% and 1a in 109, 23%). DAA regimens were: ledipasvir (LDV)/sofosbuvir (SOF) in 131 patients (28%), daclatasvir (DCV)/SOF in 109 (23%), ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir+dasabuvir (3D) in 89 (19%), elbasvir (EBR)/grazoprevir (GRZ) in 52 (10.5%), velpatasvir (VEL)/SOF in 53 (11%), glecaprevir (GLE)/pibrentasvir (PIB) in 27 (6%) and ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir (2D) in 7 (1.5%); ribavirin was administered in 133 (28%). The NS5A fasta sequence was available for all patients, NS5B and NS3/4A both for 93%. The prevalence of NS5A and NS3/4A RASs significantly declined from 2015 to 2019; NS5B RAS remained stable. Independent predictors of any RASs included older age and genotype 1a (vs G2 and vs G4). Notably, at least partial susceptibility to all the agents included in the GLE/PIB and VEL/SOF/Voxilaprevir (VOX) combinations was predicted in >95% of cases. As RASs remain common at the failure of DAAs, their identification could play a crucial role in optimizing re-treatment strategies. In Italy RAS prevalence has been decreasing over the years and susceptibility to the latest developed drug combinations is maintained in most cases

Comparing T Cell Subsets in Broncho-Alveolar Lavage (BAL) and Peripheral Blood in Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer

Background: Lung cancer (LC) tissue for immunological characterization is often scarce. We explored and compared T cell characteristics between broncho-alveolar lavage from tumor affected (t-BAL) and contralateral lung (cl-BAL), with matched peripheral blood (PB). Methods: BAL and PB were collected during bronchoscopy for diagnostic and/or therapeutic purposes in patients with monolateral primary lesion. Results: Of 33 patients undergoing BAL and PB sampling, 21 had histologically-confirmed LC. Most cases were locally-advanced or metastatic non-small cell LC. T cell characteristics were not significantly different in t-BAL vs. cl-BAL. Compared to PB, CD8 T cells in BAL presented features of immune activation and exhaustion (high PD-1, low IFN-g production). Accordingly, regulatory CD4 T cells were also higher in BAL vs. PB. When dichotomizing T cell density in t-BAL in high and low, we found that PD-L1 expression in LC was associated with T cell density in t-BAL. T-BAL with high T cell density had higher %IFN-g+CD8 T cells and lower %T-regs. Conclusion: In BAL from advanced LC patients, T cells present features of exhaustion. T cells in t-BAL could be the best surrogate of tumor-infiltrating T cell, and future studies should evaluate T cell phenotype and density as potential biomarkers for cancer immunotherapy outcome