A case report of thyroid carcinoma confined to ovary and concurrently occult in the thyroid. Is conservative treatment always advised?

Introduction: Struma ovarii is an ovarian teratoma, represented in more than 50% by thyroid tissue. Five percent of struma ovarii cases have been proven to be malignant and, as in the thyroid gland, papillary thyroid carcinoma is the most common histotype arising in struma ovarii. Because of the unusual occurrence of this tumor, its management and follow-up after pelvic surgery is still controversial. Usually, total thyroidectomy followed by radioiodine treatment is the choice treatment in metastatic malignant struma ovarii, while these procedures are still controversial in non-metastatic thyroid cancer arising in struma ovarii. Case Presentation: We report a female with follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma arising in struma ovarii. After pelvic surgery, thyroid morphofunctional examinations were performed and a single nodular lesion in the left lobe was discovered. The patient underwent total thyroidectomy and histological examination showed a papillary carcinoma. Radioiodine-ablation of residual thyroid tissue was performed and levothyroxine mildly-suppressive treatment was started. Conclusions: A more aggressive treatment should not be denied for malignant struma ovarii without any evidence, even when apparently confined into the ovary. However, in selected cases, aggressive treatment may be advisable to decrease the risk of recurrence and to allow an accurate follow-up

The anatomy as the basis of new ways for the dissemination of clinical information. Implementation of a system of anatomical data related to the mastication within the technology of cloud computing

Chewing is one of the most important functional movement of the stomatognathic system. It ‘a highly coordinated neuromuscular motor function, characterized by mandibular movements with a fast and continuous adaptation of the modulation strength. The information resulting from the masticatory pattern, in fact, are important to diagnose the functional status of the patient, such as repeatability and variability of the mandibular movement, neuromuscular coordination between the right and left side, or the ability to adapt to the load during chewing a hard bolus. In the context of scientific research, there is a constant demand for new applications to take advantage of the more technologically advanced clinical information. In this perspective the anatomy is presented as a basis for the study and the ‘integration of medical imaging techniques aimed at creating a system of Cloud Computing, able to process and store data. In our study, we found patients with craniomandibular disorders and chewing. Patients underwent an MRI Philips Achieva 3T, at IRCSS “Neurolesi”. The protocol included a MRI, fMRI and DTI, then the data obtained were processed processed and finally stored. On this basis we observe as the multimodal integration of different imaging modalities allows for numerous clinical data that favor a proper diagnosis, which is useful for the planning of an effective therapy. In addition, the cloud computing system allows the shari

Monte Carlo studies of the jet activity in Higgs + 2 jet events

Tree-level studies have shown in the past that kinematical correlations between the two jets in Higgs+2-jet events are direct probes of the Higgs couplings, e.g. of their CP nature. In this paper we explore the impact of higher-order corrections on the azimuthal angle correlation of the two leading jets and on the rapidity distribution of extra jets. Our study includes matrix-element and shower MC effects, for the two leading sources of Higgs plus two jet events at the CERN LHC, namely vector-boson and gluon fusion. We show that the discriminating features present in the previous leading-order matrix element studies survive.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures. Version to appear on JHEP. Figs. 5-8 replaced with colour version

Hippotherapy improves gait and balance in Down Syndrome

Patients with Down syndrome (DS) present delays in motor development, showing a unique pattern of locomotion in clinical settings. Hippotherapy (HBR) is a field of rehabilitation therapy to achieve physical, social, and psychological well-being through therapeutic horse riding, providing a new stimulus related to gait and may helping balance and postural control [1], [2]. Herein, we have enrolled fifteen male individuals affected by DS, aged from 19 to 36 years old. All patients were vaccinated for tetanus and previously screened for any contraindications to practice HBR. The HBR protocol included a six-months period of horseback riding exercise, performed weekly. Before, during and after the study period, functional mobility, strength and performance in balance were assessed by Time Up and Go Test (TUG), 30s Chair-Stand-Test (30CST), MRC-scale and the Berg-Balance-Scale (BBS). Furthermore, the OPTO-Gait for dynamic analysis and the Diasu Ultrasensor systems for static analysis were applied at the same timepoints, in order to assess the HBR effects on movement reaction time, muscle activation, functional mobility, muscle strength and balance in DS. In conclusion, we provided objective clinical data on the role of HBR to determine a functional improvement on gait speed, rhythm, width, bilateral symmetry, gross motor function and balance in DS

Binary mixtures of biomass and inert components in fluidized beds: experimental and neural network exploration

Considering the little understanding of the hydrodynamics of multicomponent particle beds involving biomass, a detailed investigation has been performed, which combines well-known experimental and theoretical approaches, relying, respectively, on conventional pressure drop methods and artificial neural network (ANN) techniques. Specific research tasks related to this research work include: i. to experimentally investigate by means of visual observation the mixing and segregation behavior of selected binary mixtures when varying the biomass size and shape as well as the properties (size and density) of the granular solids in cold flow experiments; ii. to carry out a systematic experimental investigation on the effect of the biomass weight and volume fractions on the characteristic velocities (e.g., complete fluidization velocity and minimum slugging velocity) of the investigated binary mixtures in order to select the critical weight fraction of biomass in the mixtures beyond which the fluidization properties deteriorate (e.g., channeling, segregation, slugging); iii. to analyze the results obtained in about 80 cold flow experiments by means of ANN techniques to scrutinize the key factors that influence the behavior and the characteristic properties of binary mixtures. Experimental results suggest that the bed components’ density difference prevails over the size difference in determining the mixing/segregation behavior of binary fluidized bed, whereas the velocities of minimum and complete fluidization increase with a growing biomass weight fraction in the bed. The training of ANNs demonstrated good performances for both outputs (Umf and Ucf); in particular, the best predictions have been obtained for Umf with a MAPE1 <4% (R2=0.98), while for Ucf the best ANN returned a MAPE of about 7% (R2=0.93). The analysis on the importance of each individual input on ANN predictions confirmed the importance of particle density of the bed components. Unexpectedly, results showed that morphological features of biomass have a limited importance on Ucf

DFT insights into the oxygen-assisted selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol on manganese dioxide catalysts

The reactivity pattern of the MnO2 catalyst in the selective aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol is assessed by density functional theory (DFT) analysis of adsorption energies and activation barriers on a model Mn4O8 cluster. DFT calculations predict high reactivity of defective Mn(IV) sites ruling a surface redox mechanism, L-H type, involving gas-phase oxygen. Bare and promoted (i.e., CeOx and FeOx) MnOx materials with high surface exposure of Mn(IV) sites were synthesized to assess kinetic and mechanistic issues of the selective aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol on real catalysts (T, 333- 363K). According to DFT predictions, the experimental study shows: i) comparable activity of bare and promoted catalysts due to surface Mn(IV) sites; ii) the catalytic role of oxygen-atoms in the neighboring of active Mn(IV) sites; and iii) a 0th-order dependence on alcohol concentration, diagnostic of remarkable influence of adsorption phenomena on the reactivity pattern. Evidences of catalyst deactivation due to the over-oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzoic acid, acting as poison of the active sites, are discussed

Normal basal ganglia variation in the human brain: an MRI and VBM based morphological and morphometrical analysis

In this report we highlighted basal ganglia morphology and volume differences in normal humans in comparison to gender and age sub-groups. We measured the volumes of the caudate nucleus, the putamen, and the globus pallidus on MR images of 52 healthy adults whose ages at baseline ranged between 20 and 84 years; we also made a comparison with lateral ventricles. The method applied is three-dimensional (3D) volume rendering starting from structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of selected brain regions (basal ganglia e lateral ventricles). The analysis revealed a significant main effect of age, gender and craniometric index. Regarding gender subgroups the Mann–Whitney test showed significant differences between groups in the following parameters: Left putamen greater in males than in females, and Left pale nucleus greater in females than in males. Regarding age subgroups differences were found in subjects &lt; 35 years old with statistical decrease of right caudate nucleus, meanwhile left caudate nucleus had no significant statistical differences. Regarding craniometric index subgroups significant differences between groups emerged only in both ventricular volumes. Our findings were consistent with literature and may shed light on some of the discrepancies in previous reports on basal ganglia volume shrinkage and ventricle volume enlargement

Employing Genome Mining to Unveil a Potential Contribution of Endophytic Bacteria to Antimicrobial Compounds in the Origanum vulgare L. Essential Oil

Essential oils (EOs) from medicinal plants have long been used in traditional medicine for their widely known antimicrobial properties and represent a promising reservoir of bioactive compounds against multidrug-resistant pathogens. Endophytes may contribute to the yield and composition of EOs, representing a useful tool for biotechnological applications. In this work, we investigated the genomic basis of this potential contribution. The annotated genomes of four endophytic strains isolated from Origanum vulgare L. were used to obtain KEGG ortholog codes, which were used for the annotation of different pathways in KEGG, and to evaluate whether endophytes might harbor the (complete) gene sets for terpene and/or plant hormone biosynthesis. All strains possessed ortholog genes for the mevalonate-independent pathway (MEP/DOXP), allowing for the production of isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP) precursors. Ortholog genes for the next steps in terpenoid biosynthesis were scarce. All the strains possess potential plant growth promotion (PGP) ability, as shown by the presence of orthologous genes involved in the biosynthesis of indoleacetic acid. The main contribution of endophytes to the yield and composition of O. vulgare EO very likely resides in their PGP activities and in the biosynthesis of precursors of bioactive compounds