Field-testing and serviceability assessment of a lively footbridge

Following a previous work, the paper describes the serviceability assessment of a footbridge over the Lambro River near Milano ( Italy), based on the comparative analysis of on-field tests and of the outcome of the Hyvoss guidelines. The 3-span footbridge, for a bicyclepedestrian mixed use, is 107 m long, 4.4 m wide and roughly symmetric about both mid-span and the longitudinal axis. A reinforced concrete (RC) deck is supported by a steel structure: two longitudinal welded I-profiles, braced in their lower part, support the transverse beams that, in turn, support the RC deck. Ambient vibration tests identified the footbridge modal properties, detecting the fundamental bending mode, with the maximum amplitude recorded at mid-span, at 1.75 Hz, well within the critical range of excitation from walking pedestrians. Hence, a series of forced vibration tests was subsequently performed, involving single pedestrians or groups of up to 12 people. Sensors, located as in AVTs, recorded footbridge acceleration, both horizontal and vertical. In all the tests, pedestrians walked in resonance conditions with the first mode frequency along straight trajectories. To excite further the first mode, their spatial configurations were symmetric about the longitudinal axis of the bridge. Difference among tests concerns not only the number of test subjects (TSs), but also their spatial configuration and/or the TSs involved in each test. The comparison among tests sharing similar spatial configurations, with TSs either in a row or in a column, allows a serviceability assessment directly from the experimental footbridge response. The numerical analyses are based on a FE model previously developed, showing an excellent reproduction of the first bending mode, but a poor simulation of the second torsional mode. The outcome of the analyses performed according to HiVoSS guideline is in good agreement with the experimental results, in spite of the very low crowd density of the on-field tests and the unsatisfactory reproduction of the torsional mode within the FE model

What Have You Been Told? Awareness of Prognosis of Patients in an Italian Home Palliative Care Service

Background: In palliative care, investigating prognosis awareness is a milestone for effective and comprehensive patient intake care. The literature shows that over the past half-century, regarding prognoses, the data report less willingness to provide information, despite patients' wishes.Objective: To investigate the varying degrees of awareness of prognosis of patients and their caregivers admitted to an Italian Palliative Home Based Care Service.Design: A monocentric observational survey study with questionnaires created by the research team and completed by physicians, caregivers, and healthcare professionals (HCPs) during the intake. The assessment of any statistically significant differences was evaluated through McNemar's test.Subjects: Forty patients (+/- 75 years old, 60% females) with an estimated prognosis of more than 10 days, and for whom there was an opportunity to provide informed consent, who were intake at the Home Palliative Care Service of the Domus Salutis Clinic in Italy, from January 1 to June 30, 2022 were recruited.Results: In total, 52% of patients were fully aware of their prognosis at the time of intake, although 75% had asked to be informed about their prognosis. Before death, the total percentage of patients who were aware of their prognosis was 72. Twenty percent of patients were informed of their prognosis during the course of treatment. The total number of patients aware of prognosis, from the caregiver's perspective before death, was 28 (71%). The postmortem questionnaire revealed that the team had discussed prognoses with 86% of patients.Conclusion: Periodic re-evaluation of prognosis awareness during the course of care is essential, awareness increased significantly

Tumor-derived interleukin-10 as a prognostic factor in stage III patients undergoing adjuvant treatment with an autologous melanoma cell vaccine.

OBJECTIVES: Interleukin-10 (IL-10) downregulates T-cell-mediated immune responses. We studied the association between IL-10 production by freshly isolated melanoma cell suspensions in vitro and overall survival in patients undergoing adjuvant treatment with a vaccine prepared from the same autologous melanoma cells modified with a hapten, dinitrophenyl (DNP). METHODS: Forty-four patients with cutaneous melanoma (29 stage III and 15 stage IV) were prospectively evaluated. Tumor cells were extracted from metastatic deposits for production of DNP-modified autologous melanoma cell vaccine. Small aliquots of the melanoma cell suspensions were separated prior to vaccine processing and cultured overnight for IL-10 production. Based on a blind assessment of the distribution of IL-10 levels in the culture supernatants, a cutoff of 200 pg/ml was used to define high versus low IL-10 producers. Cox regression model was used for multivariate analysis. Overall survival was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and survival curves were compared with the log-rank test. RESULTS: Out of 44 patients, 29 were low and 15 were high IL-10 producers. The median OS was significantly worse for high compared with low IL-10 producers (10.5 months vs. 42 months; P = 0.022). In stage III patients, the multivariate hazard ratio for high versus low IL-10 producers was 2.92 (95% CI, 1.04-8.20; P = 0.041). The corresponding hazard ratio in stage IV patients was 0.92 (95% CI, 1.04-8.20; P = 0.888). CONCLUSIONS: High IL-10 production in the tumor microenvironment could be a determinant of clinical outcomes in stage III melanoma patients receiving autologous melanoma cell vaccine

In Situ Characterization of Follicular Helper CD4 T Cells Using Multiplexed Imaging.

Follicular helper CD4 T (Tfh) cells play an essential role in the formation of germinal centers (GCs), where mature B cells proliferate, differentiate, and provide long-term protective humoral responses. Despite the extensive phenotypic characterization and identification of human Tfh cell subsets, their spatial positioning at tissue level is not well understood. Here, we describe a quantitative multiplexed immunofluorescence approach allowing for the comprehensive in situ characterization of Tfh cells in human tonsils and lymph nodes (LNs) from individuals with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL). We have developed eight multiplexed panels comprising a spectrum of Tfh cell markers, like PD-1, CXCR5, and ICOS, along with transcription factors (Bcl6, Tbet, GATA3), to assess their expression, frequencies, spatial distribution and co-localization in a quantitative manner. Combined analysis of relevant markers revealed the presence of several Tfh cell subsets at tissue level based on the differential expression of surface receptors, nuclear factors as well as their distinct localization within the follicular areas. Interestingly, we found a considerable amount of tonsillar Tfh cells expressing high levels of the Th2 regulator GATA3. The co-expression of GATA3, CXCR5, and BCL6, points to an important role of GATA3 for the generation of effector human Tfh cells. Furthermore, our data revealed significantly different Tfh cell profile signatures between health and disease. Therefore, our imaging platform generates meaningful information for the in situ characterization of human Tfh cells and could provide the base for future studies aiming to a comprehensive understanding of Tfh cell tissue heterogeneity

Tropical Pacific SST influence on seasonal streamflow variability in Ecuador

This study presents a basin wide assessment about the spatio-temporal variability of streamflows in Ecuador for the period 1979-2015. The influence of the tropical Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) on stremaflow variariability from February to April (FMA) period, as the months showing maximum stramflow for the wet season in Ecuador, and from the June to August (JJA), correspondign to the dry season, was analysed. First, a long-term trend analysis was carried out by applying the Sen's slope estimator and the Mann-Kendall test to monthly streamflow data from 45 gaging stations located in different basins across Ecuador. While the coastal region showed the highest generalized positive trends from July to January, the results for the Pacific Andean area suggested a strengthening of the seasonality, presenting an overall increase in the streamflow for all months except August, September and October, which showed negative trends. Second, a singular-value decomposition (SVD) was applied in order to find the main coupled variability patterns between the FMA streamflow and the quasi-coetaneous SST (December-February, DJF) and between the JJA streamflow and the coetaneous SST. The results revealed two main coupled modes for DJF SST/FMA streamflow, the first associated with the canonical El Ni\~no and the second with El Ni\~no Modoki. The latter exerted a major influence on FMA streamflow over most of Ecuador. For JJA streamflow, however, the pattern associated with the traditional El Ni\~no was even more relevant. These results establish the foundations for streamflow modelling in Ecuador based on the Pacific SST, showing the strong response of the streamflows to different types of El Ni\~no event

Variabilidad estacional de los caudales en Ecuador en el periodo 1964-2014

Ponencia presentada en: X Congreso de la Asociación Española de Climatología celebrado en Alicante entre el 5 y el 8 de octubre de 2016.[ES]El objetivo principal de este estudio es analizar las tendencias en el caudal de los ríos de Ecuador. Para este fin, se han utilizado los datos de caudal de la red de estaciones hidrológicas, proporcionados por el Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología de Ecuador (IHNAMI), distribuidas en el territorio ecuatoriano y situadas estratégicamente en las cuencas de los principales ríos. Se seleccionó un número de 26 estaciones con disponibilidad de datos diarios sin discontinuidad durante el período de 51 años (1964-2014). Mediante el test de Man-Kendall y pendiente de Sen, se han evaluado las tendencias del caudal a escala mensual. Por último, se analiza la relación entre la variabilidad del caudal y el ENSO, fuente principal de variabilidad climática en la región.[EN]The main objective of this study is to analyze trends in the streamflow of the rivers of Ecuador. For this end, we use the streamflow data from the network of hydrological stations, provided by the Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología de Ecuador (IHNAMI), distributed over the Ecuadorian territory and strategically located in the watersheds of its main rivers. A number of 26 stations with a continuous period of daily data during 51 years period (1964-2014) was selected. Trends of the streamflow rates have been evaluated at monthly time scales using Man-Kendall test and Sens slope. Finally, we analyze the relationship between the streamflow variability and the ENSO, which is the major climate variability source in the region.Este trabajo ha sido financiado por los proyectos P11-RNM-7941 (Junta de Andalucía- España) and CGL2013-48539-R (MINECO-España, FEDER)

Variabilidad estacional de los caudales en Ecuador en el periodo 1964-2014

El objetivo principal de este estudio es analizar las tendencias en el caudal de los ríos de Ecuador. Para este fin, se han utilizado los datos de caudal de la red de estaciones hidrológicas, proporcionados por el Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología de Ecuador (IHNAMI), distribuidas en el territorio ecuatoriano y situadas estratégicamente en las cuencas de los principales ríos. Se seleccionó un número de 26 estaciones con disponibilidad de datos diarios sin discontinuidad durante el período de 51 años (1964-2014). Mediante el test de Man-Kendall y pendiente de Sen, se han evaluado las tendencias del caudal a escala mensual. Por último, se analiza la relación entre la variabilidad del caudal y el ENSO, fuente principal de variabilidad climática en la región.The main objective of this study is to analyze trends in the streamflow of the rivers of Ecuador. For this end, we use the streamflow data from the network of hydrological stations, provided by the Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología de Ecuador (IHNAMI), distributed over the Ecuadorian territory and strategically located in the watersheds of its main rivers. A number of 26 stations with a continuous period of daily data during 51 years period (1964-2014) was selected. Trends of the streamflow rates have been evaluated at monthly time scales using Man-Kendall test and Sens slope. Finally, we analyze the relationship between the streamflow variability and the ENSO, which is the major climate variability source in the region.Este trabajo ha sido financiado por los proyectos P11-RNM-7941 (Junta de Andalucía-España) and CGL2013-48539-R (MINECO-España, FEDER)