Can Twitter be a source of information on allergy? Correlation of pollen counts with tweets reporting symptoms of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and names of antihistamine drugs

Pollen forecasts are in use everywhere to inform therapeutic decisions for patients with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (ARC). We exploited data derived from Twitter in order to identify tweets reporting a combination of symptoms consistent with a case definition of ARC and those reporting the name of an antihistamine drug. In order to increase the sensitivity of the system, we applied an algorithm aimed at automatically identifying jargon expressions related to medical terms. We compared weekly Twitter trends with National Allergy Bureau weekly pollen counts derived from US stations, and found a high correlation of the sum of the total pollen counts from each stations with tweets reporting ARC symptoms (Pearson's correlation coefficient: 0.95) and with tweets reporting antihistamine drug names (Pearson's correlation coefficient: 0.93). Longitude and latitude of the pollen stations affected the strength of the correlation. Twitter and other social networks may play a role in allergic disease surveillance and in signaling drug consumptions trends

Analysis of the Radish Seed Germination and Growth by Radiofrequency Stresses

In this work we report a study on the behavior of radish seed (Raphanus sativum L.) germination and growth under radiofrequency stresses. Groups of uniform seeds were irradiated at five duration time values of 60, 210, 375, 470 and 830 h at medium frequency of 1 Mhz, (MF/1), (MF/2), (MF/3), (MF/4) and (MF/5), respectively; at very high frequency of 100 Mhz, (VHF/1), (VHF/2) f(VHF/3), (VHF/4) and (VHF/5), respectively; at ultra high frequency of 900Mhz, (UHF/1), (UHF/2), (UHF/3), (UHF/4) and (UHF/5), respectively. The exhibited magnetic field for the three frequencies was of about 240 nT and the associate electric field inside the samples was less than 71 V/m, owing to the electric permittivity exposed sample. Another group of uniform radish seeds, irradiated by static magnetic (SM) field of 80 mT for the same time duration, was used as comparison, whereas untreated ones were used as control. The results showed that all physical stresses induced by magnetic fields did not have effect on seed germination as well as on cell elongation growth of the radish hypocotyls. On the contrary, a stimulating effect was observed on root growth

Effects of physical stresses on radish seed germination and growth

In this work we explore the consequences on variable magnetic fields applied to radish seeds (Raphanus sativum L.) on germination and seedling growth. Three, different alternate magnetic fields have been tested having a high intensity, 40 mT, at very low frequency, 0.2 Hz (B0.2), a low intensity, 577 µT, at low frequency, 370 kHz (B370), and a very low intensity, about 250 nT, at ultra high frequency, 900 MHz (RF900). These last generate electromagnetic waves which are nowadays very used for mobile communications. Groups of uniform radish seeds were exposed to alternate magnetic fields at three duration time values: i) 120 h (BO.2/1), 260 h (B0.2/2) and 360 h (B0.2/3) at high intensity and very low frequency, 0.2 Hz; ii) 120 h (B370/1), 260 h (B370/2), 360 h (B370/3) at low intensity and low frequency, 370 kHz; iii) 120 h (RF/1), 260 h (RF/2), 360 h (RF/3) at very low intensity and ultra high frequency, 900 MHz. Furthermore, another group of seeds was treated by laser beams of 248 nm wavelength whose magnetic field is coupled to an electric field. These two fields, by the Planck theory, origin the quantum energy, expresses by photons. Therefore, in the laser-matter interaction photons are absorbed dependent on laser shots. Again, we performed experiments at three duration time values that applied: 30 kshots (KrF/1), 80 kshots (KrF/2) and 135 kshots (KrF/3) at 40 mJcm2/ fluence. The magnetic field and electric field presented by the laser beam are approximatively 250 kVm/ and 850 µT, respectively. All treatments were performed at room temperature. Both untreated seeds and each group of seeds exposed to the physical stresses were transferred in Petri dishes and followed for their germination and seedling growth up to 96 h. The results showed that all physical stresses induced by alternate magnetic fields, radiofrequency and laser radiations did not have effect on seed germination as well as on cell elongation growth of the radish hypocotyls in comparison to control seeds. On the contrary, all physical stresses showed a significate stimulation on root growth

Study of Faraday cups for fast ion beams provided by a LIS source

Faraday cups are widely utilized to characterize ion and electrons beams. Owing to the secondary electron emission (SEE) induced by the collision of beams with collectors, wrong measurements could emerge from these detectors. To overcome this problem a polarized grid is utilized in front the cup collector at a negative voltage with respect to the collector. Unfortunately, the high voltage connection of the Faraday cups is hard to obtain. Then, in this work we want to study the secondary emission on different Al ion collector designs having tilted surfaces with respect to beam axis. Tests were performed using ion beams accelerated by a power supply up to 40 kV. The results by the modified collector surfaces were compared to the ones performed with a simple flat collector. The results we obtained point out that the secondary electron emission enhanced on incident beam energy and on the angle with respect to the normal direction of the surface. The ratio of the SEE to angle value results constant for the accelerating voltage and the possibility to design an ion collector able to reset the SEE seems not to be reached

Long-Term Outcome After Adoptive Immunotherapy With Natural Killer Cells: Alloreactive NK Cell Dose Still Matters

open26noRecently, many reports were published supporting the clinical use of adoptively transferred natural killer (NK) cells as a therapeutic tool against cancer, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Our group demonstrated promising clinical response using adoptive immunotherapy with donor-derived alloreactive KIR-ligand-mismatched NK cells in AML patients. Moreover, the antileukemic effect was correlated with the dose of infused alloreactive NK cells (“functional NK cell dose”). Herein, we update the results of our previous study on a cohort of adult AML patients (median age at enrollment 64) in first morphological complete remission (CR), not eligible for allogeneic stem cell transplantation. After an extended median follow-up of 55.5 months, 8/16 evaluable patients (50%) are still off-therapy and alive disease-free. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) are related with the dose of infused alloreactive NK cells (≥2 × 105/kg).openParisi S.; Ruggeri L.; Dan E.; Rizzi S.; Sinigaglia B.; Ocadlikova D.; Bontadini A.; Giudice V.; Urbani E.; Ciardelli S.; Sartor C.; Cristiano G.; Nanni J.; Zannoni L.; Chirumbolo G.; Arpinati M.; Lewis R.E.; Bonifazi F.; Marconi G.; Martinelli G.; Papayannidis C.; Paolini S.; Velardi A.; Cavo M.; Lemoli R.M.; Curti A.Parisi, S.; Ruggeri, L.; Dan, E.; Rizzi, S.; Sinigaglia, B.; Ocadlikova, D.; Bontadini, A.; Giudice, V.; Urbani, E.; Ciardelli, S.; Sartor, C.; Cristiano, G.; Nanni, J.; Zannoni, L.; Chirumbolo, G.; Arpinati, M.; Lewis, R. E.; Bonifazi, F.; Marconi, G.; Martinelli, G.; Papayannidis, C.; Paolini, S.; Velardi, A.; Cavo, M.; Lemoli, R. M.; Curti, A

Results from the centers for disease control and prevention's predict the 2013-2014 Influenza Season Challenge

Background: Early insights into the timing of the start, peak, and intensity of the influenza season could be useful in planning influenza prevention and control activities. To encourage development and innovation in influenza forecasting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) organized a challenge to predict the 2013-14 Unites States influenza season. Methods: Challenge contestants were asked to forecast the start, peak, and intensity of the 2013-2014 influenza season at the national level and at any or all Health and Human Services (HHS) region level(s). The challenge ran from December 1, 2013-March 27, 2014; contestants were required to submit 9 biweekly forecasts at the national level to be eligible. The selection of the winner was based on expert evaluation of the methodology used to make the prediction and the accuracy of the prediction as judged against the U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet). Results: Nine teams submitted 13 forecasts for all required milestones. The first forecast was due on December 2, 2013; 3/13 forecasts received correctly predicted the start of the influenza season within one week, 1/13 predicted the peak within 1 week, 3/13 predicted the peak ILINet percentage within 1 %, and 4/13 predicted the season duration within 1 week. For the prediction due on December 19, 2013, the number of forecasts that correctly forecasted the peak week increased to 2/13, the peak percentage to 6/13, and the duration of the season to 6/13. As the season progressed, the forecasts became more stable and were closer to the season milestones. Conclusion: Forecasting has become technically feasible, but further efforts are needed to improve forecast accuracy so that policy makers can reliably use these predictions. CDC and challenge contestants plan to build upon the methods developed during this contest to improve the accuracy of influenza forecasts. © 2016 The Author(s)

Genetic PTX3 deficiency and aspergillosis in stem-cell transplantation

BACKGROUND: The soluble pattern-recognition receptor known as long pentraxin 3 (PTX3) has a nonredundant role in antifungal immunity. The contribution of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in PTX3 to the development of invasive aspergillosis is unknown. METHODS: We screened an initial cohort of 268 patients undergoing hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) and their donors for PTX3 SNPs modifying the risk of invasive aspergillosis. The analysis was also performed in a multicenter study involving 107 patients with invasive aspergillosis and 223 matched controls. The functional consequences of PTX3 SNPs were investigated in vitro and in lung specimens from transplant recipients. RESULTS: Receipt of a transplant from a donor with a homozygous haplotype (h2/h2) in PTX3 was associated with an increased risk of infection, in both the discovery study (cumulative incidence, 37% vs. 15%; adjusted hazard ratio, 3.08; P=0.003) and the confirmation study (adjusted odds ratio, 2.78; P=0.03), as well as with defective expression of PTX3. Functionally, PTX3 deficiency in h2/h2 neutrophils, presumably due to messenger RNA instability, led to impaired phagocytosis and clearance of the fungus. CONCLUSIONS: Genetic deficiency of PTX3 affects the antifungal capacity of neutrophils and may contribute to the risk of invasive aspergillosis in patients treated (Funded by the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and others) .with HSCT.Supported by grants from the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) (to Dr. Carvalho); the German Ministry for Education and Science (03Z2JN21, to Dr. Kurzai); the European Commission (FP7-HEALTH-2009-260338, to Dr. Romani; FP7-HEALTH-2011-280873, to Dr. Mantovani), the European Research Council (ERC-2008-AdG-233417, to Dr. Mantovani; ERC-2011-AdG-293714, to Dr. Romani), Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (99629, to Dr. Mantovani); and Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia, Portugal (SFRH/BPD/46292/2008, to Dr. Carvalho; SFRH/BD/65962/2009, to Dr. Cunha; and SFRH/BPD/70783/2010, to Dr. Almeida)

Long-Term Outcome After Adoptive Immunotherapy With Natural Killer Cells: Alloreactive NK Cell Dose Still Matters

Recently, many reports were published supporting the clinical use of adoptivelytransferred natural killer (NK) cells as a therapeutic tool against cancer, including acutemyeloid leukemia (AML). Our group demonstrated promising clinical response usingadoptive immunotherapy with donor-derived alloreactive KIR-ligand-mismatched NK cellsin AML patients. Moreover, the antileukemic effect was correlated with the dose of infusedalloreactive NK cells (“functional NK cell dose”). Herein, we update the results of ourprevious study on a cohort of adult AML patients (median age at enrollment 64) infirstmorphological complete remission (CR), not eligible for allogeneic stem celltransplantation. After an extended median follow-up of 55.5 months, 8/16 evaluablepatients (50%) are still off-therapy and alive disease-free. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) are related with the dose of infused alloreactive NK cells (≥2×105/kg

The Italian Network for Tumor Biotherapy (NIBIT): Getting together to push the field forward

As for a consolidated tradition, the 5th annual meeting of the Italian Network for Cancer Biotherapy took place in the Certosa of Pontignano, a Tuscan monastery, on September 20–22, 2007. The congress gathered more than 40 Italian leading groups representing academia, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. Aim of the meeting was to share new advances in cancer bio-immunotherapy and to promote their swift translation from pre-clinical research to clinical applications. Several topics were covered including: a) molecular and cellular mechanisms of tumor escape; b) therapeutic antibodies and recombinant constructs; c) clinical trials up-date and new programs; d) National Cooperative Networks and their potential interactions; e) old and new times in cancer immunology, an "amarcord". Here, we report the main issues discussed during the meeting