Towards Socially and Emotionally Believable ICT Interfaces

In order to realize an artificial intelligence focused on human needs, it is necessary to identify the interactional characteristics that describe human mood, social behavior, beliefs, and experiences. The cross-modal analysis of communicative macro-signals represents the first step in this direction. The second step requires the definition of adequate mathematical representations of these signals to validate them perceptively (on the human side) and computationally

A rare case of solitary brain Langerhans cell histiocytosis with intratumoral hemorrhage in a patient affected by Turner syndrome

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare disease involving clonal proliferation of cells with characteristics similar to bone marrow-derived Langerhans cells. The case of a young woman, affected by Turner syndrome and a solitary intraparenchymal LCH associated with an osteolytic lesion of the overlying skull, is presented

Epidemiology and Surgical Management of Foreign Bodies in the Liver in the Pediatric Population: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Retention of foreign bodies (FB) in the liver parenchyma is a rare event in children but it can bring a heavy burden in terms of immediate and long-term complications. Multiple materials can migrate inside the liver. Clinical manifestations may vary, depending on the nature of the foreign body, its route of penetration and timing after the initial event. Moreover, the location of the FB inside the liver parenchyma may pose specific issues related to the possible complications of a challenging surgical extraction. Different clinical settings and the need for highly specialized surgical skills may influence the overall management of these children. Given the rarity of this event, a systematic review of the literature on this topic was conducted and confirmed the pivotal role of surgery in the pediatric population

Epidemiology and Surgical Management of Foreign Bodies in the Liver in the Pediatric Population: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Retention of foreign bodies (FB) in the liver parenchyma is a rare event in children but it can bring a heavy burden in terms of immediate and long-term complications. Multiple materials can migrate inside the liver. Clinical manifestations may vary, depending on the nature of the foreign body, its route of penetration and timing after the initial event. Moreover, the location of the FB inside the liver parenchyma may pose specific issues related to the possible complications of a challenging surgical extraction. Different clinical settings and the need for highly specialized surgical skills may influence the overall management of these children. Given the rarity of this event, a systematic review of the literature on this topic was conducted and confirmed the pivotal role of surgery in the pediatric population

a cephalometric intercentre comparison of patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate at 5 and 10 years of age

SUMMARY The aim of this study was to evaluate any differences between the craniofacial growth of unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) patients who underwent surgery in the Milan CLP centre with those from the Oslo CLP centre at 5 and 10 years of age. The Milan sample comprised 88 UCLP patients (60 males, 28 females) at 5 years of age and 26 patients (17 males, 9 females) at 10 years of age all operated on by the same surgeon. The Oslo sample consisted of 48 UCLP patients (26 males, 22 females) aged 5 years and 29 patients (20 males, 9 females) aged 10 years treated by four different surgeons. Lateral cephalometric radiographs obtained for both samples were analysed and angular measurements and ratios were calculated both for the hard and soft tissues. Statistical analysis was undertaken with an unpaired t -test. At 5 years of age, there were neither sagittal nor vertical hard tissue differences between the two groups. With regard to the soft tissues, only the naso-labial angle showed a statistically signifi cant difference (Milan greater than Oslo by 5 degrees, P 2.6 degrees, P 2.9 degrees, P < 0.001, respectively. At 5 years of age, the Milan UCLP sample had the same maxillary protrusion as the Oslo group, while at 10 years of age, the Milan sample were slightly less protruded than the Oslo group

Dipeptidyl-Peptidase 4 (Cd26): a Possible Therapeutic Target in Covid-19

ARS-COV-2, a novel β-coronavirus, is the cause of a severe inflammatory infectious disease of the respiratory tract (COVID-19). The spread has already taken on pandemic proportions, affecting over 2,5 million people and causing more than 170,000 deaths. The mechanisms and strategies underlying the virus power of penetrating human cells and causing the well-known spectrum of diseases induced by SARS-COV-2 have been explored worldwide. Two host receptors able to specifically inducing virus-host linkage, entry and, consequently, productive infection, have been suggested to interact with the outer membrane spike viral glycoprotein: the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and the dipeptidyl-peptidase 4 (DPP4), also known as CD26. Both these receptors are highly expressed on several human tissues (i.e. kidney, pancreas, gut, lung, endothelium, pleura, myocardium, connective tissue) accounting for the variable clinical manifestations of COVID-19. CD26 is also over-expressed in stimulated T, B, and NK cells, thus representing an activation marker of the immune system. However, CD26 is not only the functional host receptor for SARS- CoV-2. Indeed, published data available from the previous SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV outbreaks showed that CD26 is also utilized for sustaining inflammation and counteracting the host immune response. Specifically, through CD26, coronavirus may increase inflammatory cytokine production, down- modulate the autophagy, and increase levels of adenosine, hence further deactivating the host immune response. Thus, compounds able to inhibit the DPP4/CD26 pathway might be useful against COVID-19. In this respect, promising therapeutic approaches could include: 1) DPP4 inhibitors, such as sitagliptin, already used for treating diabetic patients; 2) Begelomab, the anti-CD26 monoclonal antibody already successfully employed in the treatment of graft-versus-host disease, and 3) adenosine deaminase agonists, already used in the immunodeficiencies sustained by the adenosine deaminase gene mutations. The article will review some pathogenic landscapes and will hypothesize some promising drugs to face the COVID-19 emergency

Treatment of Lenalidomide Exposed or Refractory Multiple Myeloma: Network Meta-Analysis of Lenalidomide-Sparing Regimens

Over the past 10 years, the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) dramatically changed due to the introduction of a number of new agents and combination regimens both in the frontline and in the relapsed/refractory setting. Currently, at least 11 classes of therapeutic agents, including steroids, alkylators (melphalan and cyclophosphamide), proteasome inhibitors (PI: bortezomib, carfilzomib, ixazomib), immunomodulatory agents (thalidomide, lenalidomide, pomalidomide), monoclonal antibodies (mAbs: elotuzumab, daratumumab), HDAC-inhibitors (panobinostat), BCL2 inhibitors (venetoclax), selective inhibitors of nuclear export (selinexor), drug-conjugated mAbs (belantamab mafodotin), bispecific agents and CAR-T, are approved (or are going to be approved) alone or in different combinations for the treatment of this disease, while few or no data are available to guide the therapeutic strategy to adopt at diagnosis or relapse (1). The choice of the treatment at relapse (2), in particular, poses particular challenges, and is currently dependent on patients (age, comorbidities, fitness, renal impairment, frailty) and disease characteristics (aggressive vs biochemical relapse, cytogenetics, presence of extra-medullary disease), previous treatments (classes of agents, duration of response, progression while on therapy), regional drug access (approval of combinations, reimbursement, costs) and, finally, patient’s choice. Unfortunately, there is a lack of trials specifically designed to help in this choice, and often, pre-planned subgroup analyses, do not include a sufficient number of patients to reach statistical evidence. Recently, since lenalidomide is progressively becoming the preferred one-line option to treat MM patients (and often, it is administered until progression), the choice of the treatment to be offered at relapse should be carefully evaluated. Interestingly, it has been reported that the longest prior lenalidomide treatment duration (&gt;12 months) and IMiD-free interval (&gt;18 months) could positively impact patients’ outcome (3), making the choice of a lenalidomide-sparing regimen of particular interest in this setting. On the bases of these premises, we performed a systematic review and a frequentist network meta-analysis in R [by using the netmeta package (4)] comparing direct and indirect evidence on the efficacy of seven different lenalidomide-sparing regimens (bortezomib-dexamethasone, VD; daratumumab-VD, DVD; carfilzomib-D, KD; daratumumab-KD, KdD; pomalidomide-VD, PVD; isatuximab-KD, IKD; selinexor-VD, SVD) in lenalidomide-exposed and lenalidomide-refractory patients, to provide statistical evidence to support clinical decision makin