Investigation on gallium maltolate pharmacokinetics and efficacy, as antimicrobial alternative in an equine proliferative enteropathy infection model.

Lawsonia intracellularis causes proliferative enteropathies in juvenile mammals. The porcine (PPE) and equine (EPE) diseases are worldwide. Rabbits and hamsters are naturally susceptible, the latter being a classic modeling-host for PPE. None is known for EPE, besides foals. An in vitro evaluation of antimicrobial efficacy against L. intracellularis is difficult. This study aimed to validate a laboratory animal EPE model and to investigate pharmacokinetics (PK) and efficacy of gallium maltolate (GaM) as an alternative antimicrobial therapy. Infected animals were inoculated with cell-cultured L. intracellularis and infection was verified with clinically utilized diagnostic tests. Initially, 2 groups of EPE-infected rabbits were compared to 1 uninfected group. After inoculation (PI), EPE-infected rabbits showed mild clinical signs; detectable seroconversion, fecal shedding, gross lesions in intestinal tissues (IT), and early immuno-histochemistry labeling of L. intracellularis antigen. Thus, a humane EPE-rabbit model was achieved. Subsequently, EPE-infected hamsters were compared to uninfected and PPE-infected hamsters; whereas, PPE-infected rabbits were compared to EPE-infected rabbits. EPE-hamsters did not develop infection, unlike PPE-infected controls; and PPE-rabbits did not develop IT lesions or seroconversion comparable to EPE-rabbits. Therefore rabbits were chosen as the EPE modeling-host for the GaM studies. First, GaM PK and IT concentrations of Ga and Fe were measured. Then, GaM efficacy was compared to a current EPE antimicrobial treatment. During sampling, the intra-arterial catheters in the rabbits’ ears were protected with a novel moleskin-cover, allowing repeated sampling while minimally restrained. The PK study was based on the comparison of EPE-infected and uninfected rabbits, after a single treatment with GaM, collection of serial blood samples and IT samples. The only differing PK parameter, between groups, was a decrease in the terminal phase rate constant of the EPE-rabbits, so a 48h dosing interval was chosen for the efficacy study. In the efficacy study, 3 groups of EPE-infected rabbits were treated with GaM, doxycycline and a placebo, respectively. No differences were noted between treatments, in terms of lesions and fecal shedding. GaM appears no more efficacious than doxycycline in EPE- rabbits. In conclusion, albeit GaM tolerance appeared adequate in rabbits, results do not support its use in EPE-infected animals

Instance segmentation of upper aerodigestive tract cancer: site-specific outcomes

Objective. To achieve instance segmentation of upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) neoplasms using a deep learning (DL) algorithm, and to identify differences in its diagnostic performance in three different sites: larynx/hypopharynx, oral cavity and oropharynx.Methods. A total of 1034 endoscopic images from 323 patients were examined under narrow band imaging (NBI). The Mask R-CNN algorithm was used for the analysis. The dataset split was: 935 training, 48 validation and 51 testing images. Dice Similarity Coefficient (Dsc) was the main outcome measure.Results. Instance segmentation was effective in 76.5% of images. The mean Dsc was 0.90 & PLUSMN; 0.05. The algorithm correctly predicted 77.8%, 86.7% and 55.5% of lesions in the larynx/hypopharynx, oral cavity, and oropharynx, respectively. The mean Dsc was 0.90 & PLUSMN; 0.05 for the larynx/hypopharynx, 0.60 & PLUSMN; 0.26 for the oral cavity, and 0.81 & PLUSMN; 0.30 for the oropharynx. The analysis showed inferior diagnostic results in the oral cavity compared with the larynx/hypopharynx (p < 0.001). Conclusions. The study confirms the feasibility of instance segmentation of UADT using DL algorithms and shows inferior diagnostic results in the oral cavity compared with other anatomic areas

Array comparative genomic hybridization in retinoma and retinoblastoma tissues

In retinoblastoma, two RB1 mutations are necessary for tumor development. Recurrent genomic rearrangements may represent subsequent events required for retinoblastoma progression. Array-comparative genomic hybridization was carried out in 18 eye samples, 10 from bilateral and eight from unilateral retinoblastoma patients. Two unilateral cases also showed areas of retinoma. The most frequent imbalance in retinoblastomas was 6p gain (40%), followed by gains at 1q12-q25.3, 2p24.3-p24.2, 9q22.2, and 9q33.1 and losses at 11q24.3, 13q13.2-q22.3, and 16q12.1-q21. Bilateral cases showed a lower number of imbalances than unilateral cases (P = 0.002). Unilateral cases were divided into low-level (≤4) and high-level (÷7) chromosomal instability groups. The first group presented with younger age at diagnosis (mean 511 days) compared with the second group (mean 1606 days). In one retinoma case ophthalmoscopically diagnosed as a benign lesion no rearrangements were detected, whereas the adjacent retinoblastoma displayed seven aberrations. The other retinoma case identified by retrospective histopathological examination shared three rearrangements with the adjacent retinoblastoma. Two other gene-free rearrangements were retinoma specific. One rearrangement, dup5p, was retinoblastoma specific and included the SKP2 gene. Genomic profiling indicated that the first retinoma was a pretumoral lesion, whereas the other represents a subclone of cells bearing 'benign' rearrangements overwhelmed by another subclone presenting aberrations with higher 'oncogenic' potential. In summary, the present study shows that bilateral and unilateral retinoblastoma have different chromosomal instability that correlates with the age of tumor onset in unilateral cases. This is the first report of genomic profiling in retinoma tissue, shedding light on the different nature of lesions named 'retinoma'. (Cancer Sci 2009; 100: 465–471

Algoritmi per la misurazione degli angoli articolari degli arti superiori tramite sensori inerziali

In questo studio si vogliono analizzare i diversi algoritmi proposti in letteratura necessari per la ricostruzione della cinematica articolare dell’arto superiore, analizzata tramite unità di misurazione inerziale wireless indossabili. L’analisi quantitativa del movimento degli arti superiori del corpo umano può essere di grande utilità nella valutazione delle performance sportive, nella diagnostica, nel monitoraggio e nel trattamento riabilitativo di problemi articolari. Tuttavia, data la complessità dei movimenti consentiti dalle articolazioni degli arti superiori, solo recentemente, grazie allo sviluppo di nuove tecniche e tecnologie, la comunità scientifica ha iniziato a studiarne più nel dettaglio gli aspetti biomeccanici. Negli ultimi anni lo sviluppo delle tecnologie MEMS, hanno portato alla produzione di dispositivi wireless inerziali/magnetici indossabili. Queste piattaforme multi-sensore si sono affermate nel mondo della Motion Capture poiché in grado di registrare ed elaborare in tempo reale i dati del movimento umano in modo del tutto non invasivo in ambienti quotidiani per periodi di tempo prolungati. Per fare ciò è necessario utilizzare appositi algoritmi di sensor fusion che garantiscano l’accuratezza dei dati stimati a fronte dei numerosi errori che corrompono inevitabilmente le misurazioni effettuate dai singoli dispositivi integrati nelle piattaforme inerziali/magnetiche. Le classi di algoritmi per la sensor fusion più comunemente utilizzate nell’analisi del movimento umano, e più in particolare nell’analisi degli angoli articolari degli arti superiori, sono: integrazione, osservazione vettoriale, filtraggio complementare e filtraggio di Kalman

The City after Chinese New Towns. Spaces and Imaginaries from Contemporary Urban China

By 2020, roughly 400 Chinese New Towns will have been built, representing an unprecedented urban growth. The government is making a substantial effort to absorb up to 250 million people, chiefly migrants from rural parts of the country. Unlike Europe and North America, where new towns grew in parallel with local economies, the construction of contemporary Chinese new towns is almost completed before people are allowed to move in. As a result, some of these massive developments are already inhabited while others are still empty. The book explores the phenomenon of “Chinese New Towns” starting from an international research carried out by architects, planners and geographers. It focuses on psychological and social ramifications, for instance how New Towns change perceptions of the neighbourhood and proximity, and analyses how this new urbanity affects politics and the national narrative. The book examines the spaces of three new towns: Tongzhou, Zhaoqing and Zhengdong. On the one hand it discusses the spatial features they assume in the contexts in question and, on the other, it moves beyond these specific cases and questions urban studies and the exceptionality of Chinese urbanisation

Into the new. Esplorare le new town cinesi

Abstract - Into the new. Esplorare le new town cinesi L’articolo discute i processi di urbanizzazione cinesi a partire dalle new town che si stanno costruendo nel Paese. Attraverso la ricostruzione dei processi che danno forma, materiale e simbolica, ai luoghi, le new town sono assunte come cartine di tornasole che assorbono e riverberano le caratteristiche e le contraddizioni dell’urbanizzazione cinese contemporanea, superando l’eccezionalità dei dati demografici. Interrogare le new town diventa così un modo per mettere in discussione ciò che le città sono (e sono diventate), in Cina come altrove. Parole chiave New Towns, processi di urbanizzazione in Cina, città contemporanea Abstract - Into the new. Exploring Chinese new towns The article discusses the China’s urbanization processes starting from the new towns under construction in various regions of the Country. Through the redefinition of the processes that are providing material and symbolic form to places, new towns are taken as litmus tests that absorb and reverberate the characteristics and the contradictions of the Chinese urbanization processes, quite beyond the exceptionality of demographic data. Questioning Chinese new towns is thus a way to question what cities are (and what they have become), in China as elsewhere. Keywords New Towns, China’s Urbanization Processes, Contemporary Cit