3,936 research outputs found
Amygdala damage eliminates monetary loss aversion
Losses are a possibility in many risky decisions, and organisms have evolved mechanisms to evaluate and avoid them. Laboratory and field evidence suggests that people often avoid risks with losses even when they might earn a substantially larger gain, a behavioral preference termed “loss aversion.” The cautionary brake on behavior known to rely on the amygdala is a plausible candidate mechanism for loss aversion, yet evidence for this idea has so far not been found. We studied two rare individuals with focal bilateral amygdala lesions using a series of experimental economics tasks. To measure individual sensitivity to financial losses we asked participants to play a variety of monetary gambles with possible gains and losses. Although both participants retained a normal ability to respond to changes in the gambles’ expected value and risk, they showed a dramatic reduction in loss aversion compared to matched controls. The findings suggest that the amygdala plays a key role in generating loss aversion by inhibiting actions with potentially deleterious outcomes
An Augmented Reality-Based Solution for Monitoring Patients Vitals in Surgical Procedures
In this work, an augmented reality (AR) system is proposed to monitor in real time the patient's vital parameters during surgical procedures. This system is characterised metrologically in terms of transmission error rates and latency. These specifications are relevant for ensuring real-time response. The proposed system automatically collects data from the equipment in the operating room (OR), and displays them in AR. The system was designed, implemented and validated through experimental tests carried out using a set of Epson Moverio BT-350 AR glasses to monitor the output of a respiratory ventilator and a patient monitor in the OR
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MATERIALS FROM GABII (CENTRAL ITALY): KNOWLEDGE OF OFFERINGS AND RITUALS AT THE INFANT BURIALS THROUGH AN INTEGRATED APPROACH
The ancient Latin city of Gabii is situated 18 km (11.2 miles) to the east of Rome (Central
Italy) along the modern Via Prenestina. Gabii was a renowned city in Roman times,
particularly during the Republican period and there are various influences in the site that can
be identified in Roman culture itself. Gabii is also one of the most significant and important
archaeological sites in the territory of the Municipality of Rome and due to its
characteristics, it represents today an extraordinary research context. From the excavations
carried out in the past it is possible to see how, under the soil, the main structures and
buildings of the ancient city are still largely preserved. Among the various testimonies of the
past, the tombs, and the micro and macro remains that these contain, represent an
opportunity to investigate such practices in the context of Early Iron Age and Orientalizing
Latium. In particular, the finds from the Area D baby burials of Gabii enriched the existing
dataset so far significantly, allowing us to explore funerary ritual behavior in a more
systematic way.
This work reports the results of the detailed examination of four tombs (Tombs 30, 50, 51
and 52) of archaeological site. The field strategy for the excavation of the tombs was geared
from the start towards both the systematic retrieval of archaeobotanical and
zooarchaeological remains and the sampling for organic residue analysis. Aiming for total
recovery, the sediments from the tomb fills were sifted in their entirety as their stratigraphic
excavation progressed, and samples were taken for flotation. This careful screening allowed
for the detection of concentrations of organic material that represent plant and/or animal
depositions. The excavation and removal of the grave goods was carried out following strict
protocols for residue sampling, minimizing the risk of organic contamination. Samples were
analysed by High Temperature Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (HTGC/MS) and
Gas chromatography/Combustion/Isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS). For each
burial, a subset of vessels including both closed and open shapes was selected, such as cups,
open bowl without foot, amphoretta, amphora with dots, Kantharos, plate on a foot, olla,
and olpe in bucchero.
The results demonstrate the still largely unexploited potential of this sort of integrated
studies, encouraging us to expand the application of chemical methods to contexts from
other well–controlled excavations
hMENA11a contributes to HER3-mediated resistance to PI3K inhibitors in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells.
Human Mena (hMENA), an actin regulatory protein of the ENA/VASP family, cooperates with ErbB receptor family signaling in breast cancer. It is overexpressed in high-risk preneoplastic lesions and in primary breast tumors where it correlates with HER2 overexpression and an activated status of AKT and MAPK. The concomitant overexpression of hMENA and HER2 in breast cancer patients is indicative of a worse prognosis. hMENA is expressed along with alternatively expressed isoforms, hMENA11a and hMENAΔv6 with opposite functions. A novel role for the epithelial-associated hMENA11a isoform in sustaining HER3 activation and pro-survival pathways in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells has been identified by reverse phase protein array and validated in vivo in a series of breast cancer tissues. As HER3 activation is crucial in mechanisms of cell resistance to PI3K inhibitors, we explored whether hMENA11a is involved in these resistance mechanisms. The specific hMENA11a depletion switched off the HER3-related pathway activated by PI3K inhibitors and impaired the nuclear accumulation of HER3 transcription factor FOXO3a induced by PI3K inhibitors, whereas PI3K inhibitors activated hMENA11a phosphorylation and affected its localization. At the functional level, we found that hMENA11a sustains cell proliferation and survival in response to PI3K inhibitor treatment, whereas hMENA11a silencing increases molecules involved in cancer cell apoptosis. As shown in three-dimensional cultures, hMENA11a contributes to resistance to PI3K inhibition because its depletion drastically reduced cell viability upon treatment with PI3K inhibitor BEZ235. Altogether, these results indicate that hMENA11a in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells sustains HER3/AKT axis activation and contributes to HER3-mediated resistance mechanisms to PI3K inhibitors. Thus, hMENA11a expression can be proposed as a marker of HER3 activation and resistance to PI3K inhibition therapies, to select patients who may benefit from these combined targeted treatments. hMENA11a activity could represent a new target for antiproliferative therapies in breast cancer
GP management of community-acquired pneumonia in Italy: the ISOCAP study
Background. Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) is still a significant problem in terms of incidence, mortality rate, particularly in infants and the elderly, and socioeconomic burden. General Practitioners (GPs) are the first reference for patients with this disease, but there are few published studies regarding the outpatient treatment of CAP. Methods. The ISOCAP study aimed to identify the type and outcome of the diagnostic-therapeutic management of CAP by GPs in Italy, within the framework of developing a closer interrelationship between GPs and pulmonary specialists. Thirty-six Pulmonary Divisions throughout Italy each contacted 5 local GPs who agreed to recruit the first 5 consecutive patients who consulted them for suspected CAP within the study’s 1-year observation period. Results. A total of 183 GPs took part in the study and enrolled, by the end of the observation period, 763 CAP patients; of these, complete data was available for 737 patients [males=373, females=364, mean age (±SD) 58.8±19.6 years]. 64.4% of patients had concomitant diseases, mainly systemic arterial hypertension and COPD. Diagnosis of CAP was based by GPs on physical examination only in 41.6% of cases; in the remaining chest X-ray was also performed. In only 4.6% of patients were samples sent for microbiological analysis. All patients were treated with antibiotics: 76.7% in mono-therapy, 23.3% with a combination of antibiotics. The antibiotic class most prevalently used in mono-therapy was cephalosporin, primarily ceftriaxone; the most frequently used combinations were cephalosporin+macrolide and cephalosporin+quinolone. Mono-therapy was effective in 70% of cases, the combination of two or more antibiotics in 91.2% of patients. Overall treatment efficacy was 94.7%; hospitalisation was required in 8.5% of cases. Conclusions. Outpatient management of CAP by GPs in Italy is effective, hospitalisation being necessary only in the most severe cases due to age, co-morbidities or extent of pneumonia. This signifies a very significant savings in national health costs
Bioactive composition and sensory evaluation of innovative spaghetti supplemented with free or α-cyclodextrin chlatrated pumpkin oil extracted by supercritical CO2
The feasibility of producing durum wheat pasta enriched with a lipophilic phytocomplex, extracted using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2), from ripe pumpkin, as free oil or as ready-to-mix oil/α-cyclodextrins (α-CDs)powder, was explored. Four types of pasta were prepared: (i)control spaghetti (S-CTRL); (ii)spaghetti supplemented with α-CDs (S-α-CD); (iii)spaghetti supplemented with pumpkin oil (S-Oil)and (iv)spaghetti supplemented with the pumpkin oil/α-CD powder (S-Oil/α-CD). The chemical, antioxidant, textural and sensory attributes of the different pasta were evaluated and compared. S-Oil and S-Oil/α-CD spaghetti were significantly enriched with phytosterols, squalene, carotenoids, tocochromanols and unsaturated fatty acids. Spaghetti containing α-CDs were slightly improved in terms of fiber content. Oil chlatration increased the stability of some bioactives during pasta production and ameliorated poor textural and sensory characteristics of the cooked spaghetti compared with S-Oil sample. S-Oil/α-CD spaghetti might be accepted by customers, if the potential health benefits were also explained
Ergodicity criteria for non-expanding transformations of 2-adic spheres
In the paper, we obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for ergodicity
(with respect to the normalized Haar measure) of discrete dynamical systems
on 2-adic spheres of radius
, , centered at some point from the ultrametric space of
2-adic integers . The map is
assumed to be non-expanding and measure-preserving; that is, satisfies a
Lipschitz condition with a constant 1 with respect to the 2-adic metric, and
preserves a natural probability measure on , the Haar measure
on which is normalized so that
A new technique for the histological diagnosis of Paget's disease of the breast using a semiautomated core needle biopsy with a 14-gauge needle
Multipotent mesenchymal stem cells from amniotic fluid originate neural precursors with functional voltage-gated sodium channels
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