Emerging topics in Brexit debate on Twitter around the deadlines a probabilistic topic modelling approach

The present study is focused on the online debate relating to the Brexit process, three years and half since the historical referendum that has sanctioned the divide of the United Kingdom from the European Union. In our analysis we consider a corpus of approximately 33 million Brexit related tweets, shared on Twitter for 58 weeks, spanning from 31 December 2019 to 9 February 2020. Due to its great accessibility to data, Twitter constitutes a convenient data source to monitor and evaluate a wide variety of topics. In addition, Twitter’s marked orientation towards news and the dissemination of information makes this microblogging network more connected to politics compared to other platforms. Through static and dynamic topic modelling techniques, we were able to identify the topics that have attracted the most attention from Twitters users and to characterise their temporal evolution. The topics retrieved by the static model highlight the major events of the Brexit process while the dynamic analysis recovered the persistent themes of discussion and debate over the entire period

On the hydrolysis of the Dysprosium(III) ion

The hydrolysis of the Dysprosium (III) (Dy 3+ ) ion has been investigated at 25°C in 1, 2 and 3 molal (Na)ClO4 medium through a combined potentiometric‐coulometric methodology. At each perchlorate concentration the formation constants of the complexes DyOH 2+ , Dy2(OH)2 4+ and Dy5(OH)9 6+ have been determined. The values have then been extrapolated to zero ionic strength by using the Specific Interaction Theory. Analogies with the hydrolysis mechanism of other lanthanides are pointed out. This paper is just the first to be reported of a series of studies undertaken with the aim to prove that a single mechanism of hydrolysis applies to all the trivalent lanthanides and probably to the corresponding actinides, too radioactive to be investigated directly

Development of a simplified analytical model for a passive inertial system solicited by wave motion

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordThis paper presents a theoretical and experimental investigation about the modelling of a 1:45 scale prototype Wave Energy Converter (WEC). An analytical model is implemented to describe its behaviour in a wave tank. The aim is to provide a contribution to modelling tools used for WEC characterisation and design. Hydrodynamic characterisation software is avoided in favour of a simpler and more versatile design tool destined to a wider range of users. Therefore, an alternative approach is presented, based on mechanical analogies and the use of Matlab/Simulink/SimMechanics environment. This analytical model was constructed using linear wave theory, coupled with a non-linear model for the device and its power take-off system (PTO). Assumptions on incident waves and geometric properties of the device were required and implemented on the basis of literature of naval architecture, ships stabilization and control issues. Simulation results were compared and validated with those obtained in the same range of experimental tests of the prototype in wave tank. Trends and values of both investigation techniques show a good agreement, indicating the validity of the methodology adopted and leaving space for future improvements of the same. Finally, as example of application, the model was applied in a show case in order to estimate the energy yield by the WEC if scaled to real size, using Froude scaling. Results are encouraging and show the viability of the proposed design

Stem-like and highly invasive prostate cancer cells expressing CD44v8-10 marker originate from CD44-negative cells

In human prostate cancer (PCa), the neuroendocrine cells, expressing the prostate cancer stem cell (CSC) marker CD44, may be resistant to androgen ablation and promote tumor recurrence. During the study of heterogeneity of the highly aggressive neuroendocrine PCa cell lines PC3 and DU-145, we isolated and expanded in vitro a minor subpopulation of very small cells lacking CD44 (CD44neg). Unexpectedly, these sorted CD44neg cells rapidly and spontaneously converted to a stable CD44high phenotype specifically expressing the CD44v8-10 isoform which the sorted CD44high subpopulation failed to express. Surprisingly and potentially interesting, in these cells expression of CD44v8-10 was found to be induced in stem cell medium. CD44 variant isoforms are known to be more expressed in CSC and metastatic cells than CD44 standard isoform. In agreement, functional analysis of the two sorted and cultured subpopulations has shown that the CD44v8-10pos PC3 cells, resulting from the conversion of the CD44neg subpopulation, were more invasive in vitro and had a higher clonogenic potential than the sorted CD44high cells, in that they produced mainly holoclones, known to be enriched in stem-like cells. Of interest, the CD44v8-10 is more expressed in human PCa biopsies than in normal gland. The discovery of CD44v8-10pos cells with stem-like and invasive features, derived from a minoritarian CD44neg cell population in PCa, alerts on the high plasticity of stem-like markers and urges for prudency on the approaches to targeting the putative CSC

Cystic lymphangioma of the adrenal gland: report of a case and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Cystic lymphangioma is a rare tumor of the lymphatic vessels that occurs more frequently in women. Location of this pathology can be diverse but most commonly occurs in the neck or axilla. Cystic lymphangioma originating from the adrenal tissue represents a very rare entity. CASE PRESENTATION: We report here the case of a 38-year-old woman who was diagnosed with a cystic retroperitoneal mass. After further investigations, the patient was suspected to have a left adrenal cystic lymphangioma. She underwent successful open left adrenalectomy as curative treatment, and the diagnosis of cystic lymphangioma of the left adrenal gland was confirmed at histology. The postoperative course was uneventful. CONCLUSION: This case report and review of the literature bring new insights into the diagnostic difficulty and management of cystic lymphangioma of the adrenal gland

Modelling Hospital Medical Wards to Address Patient Complexity: A Case-Based Simulation-Optimization Approach

In this paper we focus on patient flows inside Internal Medicine Departments, with the aim of supporting new organizational models taking into account the patient relevant characteristics such as complexity and frailty. The main contribution of this paper is to develop a Discrete Event Simulation model to describe in detail the pathways of complex patients through medical hospital wards. The model has been applied to reproduce a case study of an Italian middle size hospital. The objective is quantifying the impact on resource use and outcome of introducing a new organizational model for medical departments. The re-organization is mainly focused on changing the available beds assignment among the wards to better address the complexity of care of patients with comorbidities. Following a patient-centered approach, patients are segmented considering the clinical characteristics (i.e. the pathology, proxy of Diagnoses Related Groups classification) and sub-grouped considering other characteristics, such as comorbidities and ward of admission. Then, an optimization component embedded into the model chooses the best pooling strategy to reorganize medical wards, determining the corresponding number of beds able to improve process indicators, such as length of stay. The simulation model is presented, and preliminary results are analyzed and discussed

Toll-iike receptor-3 activation enhances malignant traits in human breast cancer cells through hypoxia-inducible factor-1α

Background/Aim: Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF1) inhibitors have been proposed as therapeutic agents for several tumor types. HIF1α is induced by hypoxia and by pathogens in normoxia through toll-like receptors (TLRs). The TLR3 activator polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid [poly(I:C)] induces apoptosis in various types of cancer but not in the most aggressive breast cancer cell lines. We hypothesized that the failure of TLR3 stimulation to induce apoptosis in these cells might be due to an elevated HIF1α level and this link might be exploited. Materials and Methods: Poly(I:C)-induced signaling pathway and expression of HIF1α and HIF1α targets were studied in MDA MB-231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines by western blot. Flow cytometry was used for apoptotic responses and vasculogenic mimicry as bioassay. Results: Poly(I:C) increased expression of HIF1α and its targets BCL2 apoptosis regulator and c-MYC. Moreover, using pharmacological or genetic HIF1 inhibition, reduction of poly(I:C)-induced expression of HIF1α was paralleled by lowering of c-MYC and increased sensitivity to poly(I:C)-induced apoptosis, demonstrating the crucial role of this factor. We provide the first evidence in breast cancer cells that TLR3 stimulation induces HIF1αdependent vasculogenic mimicry. By using specific inhibitors, we identified a signaling cascade upstream of HIF1α induction. Conclusion: Combined treatment with poly(I:C) and HIF1 inhibitors deserves consideration as an effective strategy in breast cancer therapy

Framing automatic grading techniques for open-ended questionnaires responses. A short survey

The assessment of students' performances is one of the essential components of teaching activities, and it poses different challenges to teachers and instructors, especially when considering the grading of responses to open-ended questions (i.e., short-answers or essays). Open-ended tasks allow a more in-depth assessment of students' learning levels, but their evaluation and grading are time-consuming and prone to subjective bias. For these reasons, automatic grading techniques have been studied for a long time, focusing mainly on short-answers rather than long essays. Given the growing popularity of Massive Online Open Courses and the shifting from physical to virtual classrooms environments due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the adoption of questionnaires for evaluating learning performances has rapidly increased. Hence, it is of particular interest to analyze the recent effort of researchers in the development of techniques designed to grade students' responses to open-ended questions. In our work, we consider a systematic literature review focusing on automatic grading of open-ended written assignments. The study encompasses 488 articles published from 1984 to 2021 and aims at understanding the research trends and the techniques to tackle essay automatic grading. Lastly, inferences and recommendations are given for future works in the Learning Analytics field

The suppression of TdMRP3 genes reduces the phytic acid and increases the nutrient accumulation in durum wheat grain

Micronutrient malnutrition affects more than half of the world population. Reduced bioavailability of microelements in the raw materials is considered one of the main causes of mineral deficiency in populations whose diet is largely based on the consumption of staple crops. In this context, the production of low phytic acid (lpa) cereals is a main goal of the breeding programs, as phytic acid (PA) binds essential mineral cations such as iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) precipitating in the form of phytate salts poorly digested by monogastric animals, including humans, due to the lack of phytases in the digestive tract. Since PA limits the bioavailability of microelements, it is widely recognized as an anti-nutritional compound. A Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes (TILLING) approach has been undertaken to silence the genes encoding the TdABCC13 proteins, known as Multidrug-Resistance associated Proteins 3 (TdMRP3), transporters involved in the accumulation of PA inside the vacuole in durum wheat. The TdMRP3 complete null genotypes showed a significant reduction in the content of PA and were able to accumulate a higher amount of essential micronutrients (Fe, Zn, Mn) compared to the control. The number of spikelets and seeds per spike, traits associated with the agronomic performances, were reduced compared to the control, but the negative effect was in part balanced by the increased grain weight. The TdMRP3 mutant lines showed morphological differences in the root apparatus such as a significant decrease in the number of root tips, root length, volume and surface area and an increase in root average diameter compared to the control plants. These materials represent a promising basis for obtaining new commercial durum wheats with higher nutritional value