Investigation of Brain Activation Patterns Related to the Feminization or Masculinization of Body and Face Images across Genders

Previous studies demonstrated sex-related differences in several areas of the human brain, including patterns of brain activation in males and females when observing their own bodies and faces (versus other bodies/faces or morphed versions of themselves), but a complex paradigm touching multiple aspects of embodied self-identity is still lacking. We enrolled 24 healthy individuals (12 M, 12 F) in 3 different fMRI experiments: the vision of prototypical body silhouettes, the vision of static images of the face of the participants morphed with prototypical male and female faces, the vision of short videos showing the dynamic transformation of the morphing. We found differential sexual activations in areas linked to self-identity and to the ability to attribute mental states: In Experiment 1, the male group activated more the bilateral thalamus when looking at sex congruent body images, while the female group activated more the middle and inferior temporal gyrus. In Experiment 2, the male group activated more the supplementary motor area when looking at their faces; the female group activated more the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). In Experiment 3, the female group activated more the dmPFC when observing either the feminization or the masculinization of their face. The defeminization produced more activations in females in the left superior parietal lobule and middle occipital gyrus. The performance of all classifiers built using single ROIs exceeded chance level, reaching an area under the ROC curves > 0.85 in some cases (notably, for Experiment 2 using the V1 ROI). The results of the fMRI tasks showed good agreement with previously published studies, even if our sample size was small. Therefore, our functional MRI protocol showed significantly different patterns of activation in males and females, but further research is needed both to investigate the gender-related differences in activation when observing a morphing of their face/body, and to validate our paradigm using a larger sample

An Italian Multicenter Perspective Harmonization Trial for the Assessment of MET Exon 14 Skipping Mutations in Standard Reference Samples

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. International societies have promoted the molecular analysis of MET proto-oncogene, receptor tyrosine kinase (MET) exon 14 skipping for the clinical stratification of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Different technical approaches are available to detect MET exon 14 skipping in routine practice. Here, the technical performance and reproducibility of testing strategies for MET exon 14 skipping carried out in various centers were evaluated. In this retrospective study, each institution received a set (n = 10) of a customized artificial formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) cell line (Custom METex14 skipping FFPE block) that harbored the MET exon 14 skipping mutation (Seracare Life Sciences, Milford, MA, USA), which was previously validated by the Predictive Molecular Pathology Laboratory at the University of Naples Federico II. Each participating institution managed the reference slides according to their internal routine workflow. MET exon 14 skipping was successfully detected by all participating institutions. Molecular analysis highlighted a median Cq cut off of 29.3 (ranging from 27.1 to 30.7) and 2514 (ranging from 160 to 7526) read counts for real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and NGS-based analyses, respectively. Artificial reference slides were a valid tool to harmonize technical workflows in the evaluation of MET exon 14 skipping molecular alterations in routine practice

Ascending Tonic Clonic Seizure Syndrome after Percutaneous Vertebroplasty

Background Context. Cement leakage is not a rare complication of vertebroplasty, but ascending tonic clonic seizure syndrome is exceptionally rare. We herein report the first case to our knowledge of this complication related to vertebroplasty. Purpose. We herein report the first case of ascending tonic clonic seizure syndrome following epidural cement leakage after percutaneous vertebroplasty in a patient with multiple osteoporotic compression fractures. Study Design. Case report. Methods. A 64-year-old woman with T8, T10, L2, and L4 osteoporotic compression fractures underwent percutaneous vertebroplasty using polymethylmethacrylate. 40 minutes after the procedure the patient started suffering back and leg pain, having repetitive myoclonic jerks lasting 15 seconds of the lower extremities, spasm of the back, dyspnea, sinus tachycardia, hypoxemia, and metabolic acidosis. Results. The patient recovered completely due to a combination of early effective resuscitation and considered definitive management. Conclusions. Percutaneous vertebroplasty with polymethylmethacrylate is relatively safe but has few dangerous complications, which should be prevented by a meticulous technique and excellent image quality

Dynamic path planning in human-shared environments for low-resource mobile agents

Mobile agents are widely employed in industrial applications. However, in an environment where humans and robots coexist, the robot should be able to navigate autonomously while safely avoiding moving obstacles, especially human operators. In this paper, we propose a dynamic path planner providing an additional costmap layer in which the area around the detected human is inflated by a Gaussian cost. The latter is proportional to the obstacle's speed and orientation, leading to a safer avoidance behaviour during navigation. The algorithm, suitable for low-resource mobile agents, has been developed in ROS1 and then experimentally validated on the Locobot mobile manipulator in a laboratory environment

A software architecture for low-resource autonomous mobile manipulation

Mobile manipulators can significantly contribute to enhance the flexibility of several processes, such as automated order-picking systems and various logistic applications, thanks to their capability to manipulate objects and deliver them to different locations. A primary role is envisaged for them in Smart Factories, as workmates of the operators, if they are able to safely navigate in human-shared environments. This paper proposes a lightweight and flexible ROS1-based software architecture, designed for low-resource mobile manipulators, to make them able to autonomously search for the items requested by a human operator, independently from the starting pose, and pick and place them in a predefined depot location. The validity of the proposed architecture, which is potentially applicable to different low-resource mobile manipulators, is proven through its experimental implementation on a Locobot mobile robot

An Italian Multicenter Perspective Harmonization Trial for the Assessment of MET Exon 14 Skipping Mutations in Standard Reference Samples

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. International societies have promoted the molecular analysis of MET proto-oncogene, receptor tyrosine kinase (MET) exon 14 skipping for the clinical stratification of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Different technical approaches are available to detect MET exon 14 skipping in routine practice. Here, the technical performance and reproducibility of testing strategies for MET exon 14 skipping carried out in various centers were evaluated. In this retrospective study, each institution received a set (n = 10) of a customized artificial formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) cell line (Custom METex14 skipping FFPE block) that harbored the MET exon 14 skipping mutation (Seracare Life Sciences, Milford, MA, USA), which was previously validated by the Predictive Molecular Pathology Laboratory at the University of Naples Federico II. Each participating institution managed the reference slides according to their internal routine workflow. MET exon 14 skipping was successfully detected by all participating institutions. Molecular analysis highlighted a median Cq cut off of 29.3 (ranging from 27.1 to 30.7) and 2514 (ranging from 160 to 7526) read counts for real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and NGS-based analyses, respectively. Artificial reference slides were a valid tool to harmonize technical workflows in the evaluation of MET exon 14 skipping molecular alterations in routine practice