Active learning approach to enhance rotor dynamics understanding: A classroom demonstration

In the last decades, novel teaching strategies have been increasingly adopted to improve and enhance the students learning process by promoting their involvement and engagement during classes. In this context, this work presents a laboratory experience proposed to the third-year bachelor students of the course of ‘Mechanics of Vibrations’, held at the faculty of mechanical engineering of Politecnico di Milano. The experience consisted in the presentation of a rotor test bench specifically designed for educational purposes. Main concepts of rotor dynamics were analysed and showed, together with a critical discussion on the discrepancies between the Jeffcott–Laval model and experimental results. This project, that is one of the outcomes of an educational project for post-covid teaching promoted by Politecnico di Milano, involved almost 200 students in total. An anonymous evaluation survey proposed to students revealed a general appreciation of the experience, especially for the possibility of visualising important theoretical concepts. Given the positive feedback, the demonstration will be repeated in the next academic year, with some changes according to students’ suggestions

Implicating factors in the increase in cases of central precocious puberty (CPP) during the COVID-19 pandemic: Experience of a tertiary centre of pediatric endocrinology and review of the literature

Sexual development is a complex mechanism activated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Over the last one hundred years there has been a decline in the age at puberty onset in industrialised countries. Some Italian studies showed an increase in diagnoses of Central Precocious Puberty (CPP) during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is thus supposed that in this period there was an increased impact of factors that can influence pubertal development. Our retrospective monocentric study aimed to confirm the existence of this phenomenon and analysed possible related factors. We retrospectively evaluated clinical, laboratory, radiological and ultrasound (US) data of 154 girls referred to our Tertiary Centre of Paediatric Endocrinology from January 2019 to April 2021 for different forms of Precocious Puberty. We subdivided the cases into subgroups according to the final diagnosis: CPP, Early Puberty (EP), isolated thelarche and isolated pubarche. The observation period was subdivided into: Period 1, before lockdown (1 January 2019 - 8 March 2020) and Period 2, lockdown and the following months (9 March 2020 - 30 April 2021). Period 2 was further divided into "restrictive lockdown period" (Period 2.1) (March 2020 - 14 June 2020, in which the schools were closed) and "less restrictive lockdown period" (Period 2.2) (15 June 2020 - 30 April 2021). We analysed data regarding the use of electronic devices before and during lockdown in a group of girls with CPP diagnosed in Period 2 and we compared the data with that of a control group. Our data show an increase in the number of new diagnoses of CPP during lockdown and in the following months, compared with the previous period. We also detected a higher use of PCs and smartphones in girls with CPP diagnosed in Period 2, compared with the control group. The percentage of the presence of endometrial rhyme detected during the pelvic ultrasound was higher in girls with CPP in Period 2, compared with the previous period. Based on our data we assume there was an environmental effect on pubertal timing that calls our attention to factors such as food, use of electronic devices and stress. We will need further studies to better understand this data

A 2-year point-prevalence surveillance of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use in Ferrara University Hospital, Italy

Background: Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) represent one of the leading issues to patient safety as well as a significant economic burden. Similarly, Antimicrobial Use (AMU) and Resistance (AMR) represent a growing threat to global public health and the sustainability of healthcare services. Methods: A Point Prevalence Survey (PPS) following the 2016 ECDC protocol for HAI prevalence and AMU was conducted at Ferrara University Hospital (FUH). Data were collected by a team of trained independent surveyors in 2016 and 2018. Risk factors independently associated with HAI were assessed by a multivariate logistic regression model. Results: Of the 1102 patients surveyed, 115 (10.4%) had an active HAI and 487 (44.2%) were on at least 1 systemic antimicrobial agent. Factors independently associated with increased HAI risk were a "Rapidly Fatal" McCabe score (expected fatal outcome within 1 year), presence of medical devices (PVC, CVC, indwelling urinary catheter or mechanically assisted ventilation) and a length of hospital stay of at least 1 week. The most frequent types of HAI were pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and urinary tract infections. Antimicrobial resistance to third-generation cephalosporins was observed in about 60% of Enterobacteriaceae. Conclusions: The survey reports a high prevalence of HAI and AMU in FUH. Repeated PPSs are useful to control HAIs and AMU in large acute-care hospitals, highlighting the main problematic factors and allowing planning for improvement actions

A late onset widespread skin rash in a previous Covid-19 infected patient. Viral or multidrug effect?

In the end of 2019, a series of pneumonia cases emerged in China, with clinical presentations greatly resembling viral pneumonia, caused by Covid-19 o SARS-CoV-2. Currently, several clinicians described an increasingly cases of coronavirus-positive patients reporting skin problems, either in early stage of infection or as late onset manifestation. Recently, Dr. Sebastiano Recalcati analyzed the cutaneous involvement in 148 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the Lecco Hospital, Lombardy, Italy

MCAM/MUC18/CD146 as a multifaceted warning marker of melanoma progression in liquid biopsy

Human malignant melanoma shows a high rate of mortality after metastasization, and its incidence is continuously rising worldwide. Several studies have suggested that MCAM/MUC18/CD146 plays an important role in the progression of this malignant disease. MCAM/MUC18/CD146 is a typical single-spanning transmembrane glycoprotein, existing as two membrane isoforms, long and short, and an additional soluble form, sCD146. We previously documented that molecular MCAM/MUC18/CD146 expression is strongly associated with disease progression. Recently, we showed that MCAM/MUC18/CD146 and ABCB5 can serve as melanoma-specific-targets in the selection of highly primitive circulating melanoma cells, and constitute putative proteins associated with disease spreading progression. Here, we analyzed CD146 molecular expression at onset or at disease recurrence in an enlarged melanoma case series. For some patients, we also performed the time courses of molecular monitoring. Moreover, we explored the role of soluble CD146 in different cohorts of melanoma patients at onset or disease progression, rather than in clinical remission, undergoing immune therapy or free from any clinical treatment. We showed that MCAM/MUC18/CD146 can be considered as: (1) a membrane antigen suitable for identification and enrichment in melanoma liquid biopsy; (2) a highly effective molecular "warning " marker for minimal residual disease monitoring; and (3) a soluble protein index of inflammation and putative response to therapeutic treatments

Generation of an induced pluripotent stem cell line, CSSi011-A (6534), from an Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patient with heterozygous L145F mutation in SOD1 gene

Among the known causative genes of familial ALS, SOD1 mutation is one of the most common. It encodes for the ubiquitous detoxifying copper/zinc binding SOD1 enzyme, whose mutations selectively cause motor neuron death, although the mechanisms are not as yet clear. What is known is that mutant-mediated toxicity is not caused by loss of its detoxifying activity but by a gain-of-function. In order to better understand the pathogenic mechanisms of SOD1 mutation, a human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) line was generated from the somatic cells of a female patient carrying a missense variation in SOD1 (L145F)

Coupling X-band dual-polarized mini-radars and hydro-meteorological forecast models: the HYDRORAD project

Abstract. Hydro-meteorological hazards like convective outbreaks leading to torrential rain and floods are among the most critical environmental issues world-wide. In that context weather radar observations have proven to be very useful in providing information on the spatial distribution of rainfall that can support early warning of floods. However, quantitative precipitation estimation by radar is subjected to many limitations and uncertainties. The use of dual-polarization at high frequency (i.e. X-band) has proven particularly useful for mitigating some of the limitation of operational systems, by exploiting the benefit of easiness to transport and deploy and the high spatial and temporal resolution achievable at small antenna sizes. New developments on X-band dual-polarization technology in recent years have received the interest of scientific and operational communities in these systems. New enterprises are focusing on the advancement of cost-efficient mini-radar network technology, based on high-frequency (mainly X-band) and low-power weather radar systems for weather monitoring and hydro-meteorological forecasting. Within the above context, the main objective of the HYDRORAD project was the development of an innovative \\mbox{integrated} decision support tool for weather monitoring and hydro-meteorological applications. The integrated system tool is based on a polarimetric X-band mini-radar network which is the core of the decision support tool, a novel radar products generator and a hydro-meteorological forecast modelling system that ingests mini-radar rainfall products to forecast precipitation and floods. The radar products generator includes algorithms for attenuation correction, hydrometeor classification, a vertical profile reflectivity correction, a new polarimetric rainfall estimators developed for mini-radar observations, and short-term nowcasting of convective cells. The hydro-meteorological modelling system includes the Mesoscale Model 5 (MM5) and the Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center hydrologic and hydraulic modelling chain. The characteristics of this tool make it ideal to support flood monitoring and forecasting within urban environment and small-scale basins. Preliminary results, carried out during a field campaign in Moldova, showed that the mini-radar based hydro-meteorological forecasting system can constitute a suitable solution for local flood warning and civil flood protection applications

High-accuracy methodology for the integrative restoration of archaeological teeth by using reverse engineering techniques and rapid prototyping

The reconstruction of the original morphology of bones and teeth after sampling for physicochemical (e.g., radiocarbon and uranium series dating, stable isotope analysis, paleohistology, trace element analysis) and biomolecular analyses (e.g., ancient DNA, paleoproteomics) is appropriate in many contexts and compulsory when dealing with fossil human remains. The reconstruction protocols available to date are mostly based on manual re-integration of removed portions and can lead to an imprecise recovery of the original morphology. In this work, to restore the original external morphology of sampled teeth we used computed microtomography (microCT), reverse engineering (RE), computer-aided design (CAD) and rapid prototyping (RP) techniques to fabricate customized missing parts. The protocol was tested by performing the reconstruction of two Upper Palaeolithic human teeth from the archaeological excavations of Roccia San Sebastiano (Mondragone, Caserta, southern Italy) and Riparo I of Grotte Verdi di Pradis (Clauzetto, Pordenone, north-eastern Italy) (RSS2 and Pradis 1, respectively), which were sampled for physicochemical and biomolecular analyses. It involved a composite procedure consisting in: a) the microCT scanning of the original specimens; b) sampling; c) the microCT scanning of the specimens after sampling; d) the reconstruction of the digital 3D surfaces of the specimens before and after sampling; e) the creation of digital models of the missing/sampled portions by subtracting the 3D images of the preserved portions (after the sampling) from the images of the intact specimens (before the sampling) by using reverse engineering techniques; f) the prototyping of the missing/sampled portions to be integrated; g) the painting and application of the prototypes through the use of compatible and reversible adhesives. By following the proposed protocol, in addition to the fabrication of a physical element which is faithful to the original, it was possible to obtain a remarkable correspondence between the contact surfaces of the two portions (the original and the reconstructed one) without having to resort to any manipulation/adaptation of either element

Prospect for Charge Current Neutrino Interactions Measurements at the CERN-PS

Tensions in several phenomenological models grew with experimental results on neutrino/antineutrino oscillations at Short-Baseline (SBL) and with the recent, carefully recomputed, antineutrino fluxes from nuclear reactors. At a refurbished SBL CERN-PS facility an experiment aimed to address the open issues has been proposed [1], based on the technology of imaging in ultra-pure cryogenic Liquid Argon (LAr). Motivated by this scenario a detailed study of the physics case was performed. We tackled specific physics models and we optimized the neutrino beam through a full simulation. Experimental aspects not fully covered by the LAr detection, i.e. the measurements of the lepton charge on event-by-event basis and their energy over a wide range, were also investigated. Indeed the muon leptons from Charged Current (CC) (anti-)neutrino interactions play an important role in disentangling different phenomenological scenarios provided their charge state is determined. Also, the study of muon appearance/disappearance can benefit of the large statistics of CC muon events from the primary neutrino beam. Results of our study are reported in detail in this proposal. We aim to design, construct and install two Spectrometers at "NEAR" and "FAR" sites of the SBL CERN-PS, compatible with the already proposed LAr detectors. Profiting of the large mass of the two Spectrometers their stand-alone performances have also been exploited.Comment: 70 pages, 38 figures. Proposal submitted to SPS-C, CER