Impact of total automation consolidating first-line laboratory tests on diagnostic blood loss

Background: Blood loss for laboratory testing may contribute to hospital-acquired anemia. When implementing the core laboratory (core-lab) section, we consolidated first-line tests decreasing the number of tubes previously dispatched to different sites. Here, hypothesized benefits of the amount of blood volume drawn were explored. Methods: We retrieved, using a laboratory information system (LIS), the number of tubes received by laboratories interested in the change from all clinical wards in a year-based period, i.e. 2013 for pre-core-lab and 2015 for core-lab system, respectively. Data were expressed as the overall number of tubes sent to laboratories, the corresponding blood volume, and the number of laboratory tests performed, normalized for the number of inpatients. Results: After consolidation, the average number of blood tubes per inpatient significantly decreased (12.6 vs. 10.7, p\u2009<\u20090.001). However, intensive care units (ICUs) did not reduce the number of tubes per patient, according to the needs of daily monitoring of their clinical status. The average blood volume sent to laboratories did not vary significantly because serum tubes for core-lab required higher volumes for testing up to 55 analytes in the same transaction. Finally, the number of requested tests per patient during the new osystem slightly decreased ( 122.6%). Conclusions: Total laboratory automation does not automatically mean reducing iatrogenic blood loss. The new system affected the procedure of blood drawing in clinical wards by significantly reducing the number of handled tubes, producing a benefit in terms of costs, labor and time consumption. Except in ICUs, this also slightly promoted some blood saving. ICUs which engage in phlebotomizing patients daily, did not take advantage from the test consolidation

UV and genotoxic stress induce ATR relocalization in mouse spermatocytes

During meiosis, phosphorylation of H2AX is one of the earliest cellular responses to the generation of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) by the SPO11 topoisomerase. ATM is the kinase which mediates the formation of phosphorylated H2AX (H2AX) meiotic foci, while ATR is the kinase which signals chromosome asynapsis at the level of the XY bivalent. To investigate the possible role of ATR also in DNA damage signalling in meiotic cells, we studied the effect of UV radiation and chemotherapy drugs on H2AX phosphorylation and ATR relocalization in mouse pachytene spermatocytes. Here, we report that UV, a single strand break DNA-damaging agent, induces ATR relocalization from the XY sex body to nuclear foci and intense H2AX phosphorylation. Other DNA damage proteins such as MDC1, NBS1 and 53BP1 showed a similar relocalization following UVA microirradiation of spermatocytes. We found that DNA damage induced by UV increased the intensity and the number of H2AX foci also in Atm null spermatocytes. Inhibition of RNA synthesis was found to induce the formation of H2AX foci, but it did not influence the DNA damage response to UV irradiation. Finally, exposure of spermatocytes to double strand break DNA-damaging agents such as cisplatin, bleomycin or etoposide also induced ATR relocalization and intense H2AX phosphorylation and led to anomalies in synaptonemal assembly. Our results demonstrate that DNA damage induced by genotoxic stress can activate ATR and influence meiotic chromatin remodelling through H2AX phosphorylation, likely as part of a response which normally ensures germ cell genomic integrity

Discovery of the heavily obscured supernova 2002cv

On the 13th of May 2002, supernova 2002cv was discovered using a near-infrared camera working at the AZT-24 1.1m telescope at Campo Imperatore (AQ-Italy). After the infrared detection a simultaneous photometric follow-up was started at optical wavelengths. The preliminary results confirm a heavily obscured object with a V-K color not lower than 6 magnitudes, making SN 2002cv the most reddened supernova ever observed. This finding, along with the recent discovery of another obscured supernova, suggests a critical revision of the rates known to date. The estimate of the visual extinction and the light curves are provided here. These latter indicate that our SN 2002cv observations are the earliest available for a type-Ia supernova at IR wavelengths.Comment: 4 page

Physical and energy demand of soccer: A brief review

Soccer is a complex and exhaustive team-sport requiring a high level of tactical, technical, and physical ability to succeed. During a competitive match, a random combination of explosive and powerful activities, together with technical and tactical gestures, is performed in an intermittent manner over a 90-minute game. This review presents a detailed analysis and up-to-date synthesis of the literature describing activities and energy system contribution during soccer to provide to strength and conditioning coaches a clear understanding of soccer players’ physical needs during competition

Spontaneous Learning of Visual Structures in Domestic Chicks

Effective communication crucially depends on the ability to produce and recognize structured signals, as apparent in language and birdsong. Although it is not clear to what extent similar syntactic-like abilities can be identified in other animals, recently we reported that domestic chicks can learn abstract visual patterns and the statistical structure defined by a temporal sequence of visual shapes. However, little is known about chicks’ ability to process spatial/positional information from visual configurations. Here, we used filial imprinting as an unsupervised learning mechanism to study spontaneous encoding of the structure of a configuration of different shapes. After being exposed to a triplet of shapes (ABC or CAB), chicks could discriminate those triplets from a permutation of the same shapes in different order (CAB or ABC), revealing a sensitivity to the spatial arrangement of the elements. When tested with a fragment taken from the imprinting triplet that followed the familiar adjacency-relationships (AB or BC) vs. one in which the shapes maintained their position with respect to the stimulus edges (AC), chicks revealed a preference for the configuration with familiar edge elements, showing an edge bias previously found only with temporal sequences

Anatomical Characteristics Of Intrapetrous Carotid Artery : A 3d Segmentation Study On Head Ct-Scan

The intrapetrous portion of internal carotid artery (IPCA) is one of the most unexplored anatomical regions, and its three-dimensional reconstruction in living subjects is still missing. The present study aims at describing IPCA on 3D models extracted from head CT-scans. The intrapetrous carotid artery was manually segmented on head CT-scans of 100 healthy patients free from vascular and neurological pathologies (50 males and 50 females aged between 18 and 91 years). Angles of the posterior and anterior genu, diameter and length of the horizontal portion, and volume of the entire canal were calculated through VAM\uae software. Statistically significant differences according to sex and side were assessed through two-way ANOVA test (p<0.05). Correlation of each measurement with age was calculated as well. On average the angles of the posterior and anterior genu were 120.1\ub110.4\ub0 and 118.0\ub110.0\ub0 in males, 119.5\ub19.2\ub0 and 117.6\ub110.3\ub0 in females, respectively, without statistically significant differences according to sex or side (p>0.05). Average length and diameter of the horizontal part were respectively 25.5\ub12.9 mm and 5.8\ub10.8 mm in males, 24.0\ub12.3 mm and 5.3\ub10.8 mm in females. The volume of IPCA was 0.941\ub10.215 cm3 in males, and 0.752\ub10.159 cm3 in females. Length and diameter of horizontal portion, and volume of IPCA showed statistically significant differences according to sex (p<0.05). No correlation with age was found. This study first provided data concerning not only linear and angular measurements, but also volumes of IPCA, useful in planning surgical interventions of the cranial base

Modulators of change-of-direction economy after repeated sprints in elite soccer players

Purpose: To investigate the acute effect of repeated-sprint activity (RSA) on change-of-direction economy (assessed using shuttle running economy [SRE]) in soccer players and explore neuromuscular and cardiorespiratory characteristics that may modulate this effect. Methods: Eleven young elite male soccer players (18.5 [1.4] y old) were tested on 2 different days during a 2-week period in their preseason. On day 1, lower-body stiffness, power and force were assessed via countermovement jumps, followed by an incremental treadmill test to exhaustion to measure maximal aerobic capacity. On day 2, 2 SRE tests were performed before and after a repeated-sprint protocol with heart rate, minute ventilation, and blood lactate measured. Results: Pooled group analysis indicated no significant changes for SRE following RSA due to variability in individual responses, with a potentiation or impairment effect of up to 4.5% evident across soccer players. The SRE responses to RSA were significantly and largely correlated to players’ lower-body stiffness (r = .670; P = .024), and moderately (but not significantly) correlated to players’ force production (r = −.455; P = .237) and blood lactate after RSA (r = .327; P = .326). Conclusions: In summary, SRE response to RSA in elite male soccer players appears to be highly individual. Higher lower-body stiffness appears as a relevant physical contributor to preserve or improve SRE following RSA

Salivary biomarkers of neurodegenerative and demyelinating diseases and biosensors for their detection

Salivary analysis is gaining increasing interest as a novel and promising field of research for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative and demyelinating diseases related to aging. The collection of saliva offers several advantages, being noninvasive, stress-free, and repeatable. Moreover, the detection of biomarkers directly in saliva could allow an early diagnosis of the disease, leading to timely treatments. The aim of this manuscript is to highlight the most relevant researchers’ findings relatively to salivary biomarkers of neurodegenerative and demyelinating diseases, and to describe innovative and advanced biosensing strategies for the detection of salivary biomarkers. This review is focused on five relevant aging-related neurodegenerative disorders (Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Huntington's disease, Multiple Sclerosis) and the salivary biomarkers most commonly associated with them. Advanced biosensors enabling molecular diagnostics for the detection of salivary biomarkers are presented, in order to stimulate future research in this direction and pave the way for their clinical application