Literature search on risk factors for sarcoma: PubMed and Google Scholar may be complementary sources

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Within the context of a European network dedicated to the study of sarcoma the relevant literature on sarcoma risk factors was collected by searching PubMed and Google Scholar, the two information storage and retrieval databases which can be accessed without charge. The present study aims to appraise the relative proficiency of PubMed and Google Scholar.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Unlike PubMed, Google Scholar does not allow a choice between "Human" and "Animal" studies, nor between "Classical" and other types of studies. As a result, searches with Google Scholar produced high numbers of citations that have to be filtered. Google Scholar resulted in a higher sensitivity (proportion of relevant articles, meeting the search criteria), while PubMed in a higher specificity (proportion of lower quality articles not meeting the criteria, that are not retrieved). Concordance between Google Scholar and PubMed was as low as 8%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study focused just on one topic. Although further studies are warranted, PM and GS appear to be complementary and their integration could greatly improve the search of references in medical research.</p

Biosafety in surgical pathology in the era of SARS-Cov2 pandemia. A statement of the Italian Society of Surgical Pathology and Cytology

Surgical pathology units face chemical and biological risks. While chemical risks have been intensely evaluated since the formalin ban, less attention has been drown to biological risks. The actual epidemiologic situation due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemia has raised a series of questions, which need to be addressed as soon as possible. We have to pursue two lines of action: on one hand we must immediately adopt urgent measures to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection of laboratory personnel, and on the other hand, we must address crucial technical and organizational aspects of biological risk reduction, preserving as much as possible the quality of tissue and cell samples. The evaluation of biological risk is an analytical process which involves different steps: a) characterization of the hazard (also known as risk assessment) and b) definition of a risk reduction strategy (also known as risk mitigation) 1. Risk assessment implies a) the identification of the intrinsic biologic characteristics of the infectious agent, and b) the identification of the laboratory procedures related to the agent. The intrinsic biologic characteristics of infectious agents are classified in 4 risk groups (RG) by the laboratory biosafety manual of the WHO 2. The RG range from level 1 (RG1) which includes microorganisms that are unlikely to cause human or animal disease, to level 4 (RG4) which includes pathogens which cause serious diseases, that can be readily transmitted from one individual to another, and for which effective treatment and preventive measures are not usually available. Risk mitigation includes the definition of the appropriate a) level of biosafety of the laboratory, b) type of personal protection equipment (PPE), c) type of infrastructure and equipment, and d) education of involved personnel. Laboratory biosafety is graded in 4 levels (BSL-1 to BSL-4) as exhaustively described in the laboratory biosafety manual of the WHO 2, and these levels are usually also defined by law (in Italy by the D. Lgs. 81/2008). BSL are a series of protections, which include individual safeguards designed to protect laboratory personnel, as well as the surrounding environment and community. The biosafety level required in laboratories derives from the characterization of the risk, and is not automatically derived from the risk group to which the pathogenic agent belongs. It is obvious that the biosafety level for a laboratory which cultivates a RG3 agent, will be higher than the level needed for a laboratory which performs diagnostic tests on inactivated biomaterials on the same agent. Specific checklists, derived from the WHO laboratory biosafety manual, which in Italy are also defined by the National Institute of Labor Safety Insurance (Istituto Nazionale Assicurazione Infortuni sul Lavoro) in its 6th Fascicle published in 2010 3 are necessary to verify the compliance of a given laboratory with the required biosafety level

On Star Formation Rates and Star Formation Histories of Galaxies out to z ~ 3

We compare multi-wavelength SFR indicators out to z~3 in GOODS-South. Our analysis uniquely combines U-to-8um photometry from FIREWORKS, MIPS 24um and PACS 70, 100, and 160um photometry from the PEP survey, and Ha spectroscopy from the SINS survey. We describe a set of conversions that lead to a continuity across SFR indicators. A luminosity-independent conversion from 24um to total infrared luminosity yields estimates of LIR that are in the median consistent with the LIR derived from PACS photometry, albeit with significant scatter. Dust correction methods perform well at low to intermediate levels of star formation. They fail to recover the total amount of star formation in systems with large SFR_IR/SFR_UV ratios, typically occuring at the highest SFRs (SFR_UV+IR \gtrsim 100 Msun/yr) and redshifts (z \gtrsim 2.5) probed. Finally, we confirm that Ha-based SFRs at 1.5<z<2.6 are consistent with SFR_SED and SFR_UV+IR provided extra attenuation towards HII regions is taken into account (Av,neb = Av,continuum / 0.44). With the cross-calibrated SFR indicators in hand, we perform a consistency check on the star formation histories inferred from SED modeling. We compare the observed SFR-M relations and mass functions at a range of redshifts to equivalents that are computed by evolving lower redshift galaxies backwards in time. We find evidence for underestimated stellar ages when no stringent constraints on formation epoch are applied. We demonstrate how resolved SED modeling, or alternatively deep UV data, may help to overcome this bias. The age bias is most severe for galaxies with young stellar populations, and reduces towards older systems. Finally, our analysis suggests that SFHs typically vary on timescales that are long (at least several 100 Myr) compared to the galaxies' dynamical time.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, 19 pages, 15 figure

Linguaggio e antropogenesi in G. H. Mead

L'articolo esamina le idee di G. H. Mead sull'antropogensi e sul ruolo del linguaggio in essa, mostrandone la sorprendente modernità, che permette un proficuo inserimento nel dibattito attual

Jorge Lozano e la semiotica della storia

L'intervento esamina pregi e limiti del contributo del semiologo spagnolo Lozano al campo poco battuto - per quanto interessantissimo - della semiotica della stori

Le sentiment linguistique chez Saussure, entre intelligence et volonté

« Ce qui est clair, comme on l’a répété mille fois, c’est que l’homme sans le langage serait peut-être l’homme, mais qu’il ne serait pas un être se rapprochant même approximativement de l’homme que nous connaissons et que nous sommes. »Ferdinand de Saussure, Écrits de linguistique générale 1. Les deux côtés du sentiment linguistique Le renouveau récent des études sur la catégorie linguistique de sentiment, chez Saussure, mais aussi chez d’autres, a beaucoup insisté sur la description d’un tel..

Esprit de corps. Sulla rilevanza della nozione peirceana di 'persona' per lo studio della nozione di 'identità' nei social media

This contribution is the first survey on the relevance and the possible fertility of the notion of "person(ality)" as emerging from Peirce's cosmologic and metaphysical essays published on The Monist in the 1890s (see CP 6.268 ff.) and set in the frame of some semiotic and socio-psychologic questions connected to the New Media. The article is preceded by a short reflection on the peculiar way some Peircean terms can be set in the semiotic debate. My proposal consists in the application to the study of identity management in today's social networks (in particularly Facebook). Both the pars destruens (radical devaluation of individuality) and the pars construens (the idea of person as "coordination and connection of ideas"), together with their intersections, help us draw a perspective (based on the notion of continuity) that may support us in focusing on the most recent trends of the social networks as, for instance, the progressive shrinking of the "private" dimension, and in particular the irruption - up to sheer invasion - of corporeality in the digital universe, though the body seemed, at the outset, to be banned or at least concealed. The Peircean devaluation of individuality implies, indeed, that the body is not more individual than the mind (as Rossella Fabbrichesi has recently and brilliantly shown), becoming at any time potentially available to public existence and fruition

La semiotica una e bina. Problemi di filosofia del segno da Ch. S. Peirce a Ferdinand de Saussure e L. J. Prieto

IL testo propone un confronto tra le scuole di semiotica americana ed europea a partire da cinque punti chiave, e in tal modo delinea un orizzonte di tematiche universali per la semiotica general