912 research outputs found
Cardiovascular autonomic function and MCI in Parkinson's disease
Introduction: dysautonomic dysfunction and cognitive impairment represent the most disabling non-motor features of Parkinson's Disease (PD). Recent evidences suggest the association between Orthostatic Hypotension (OH) and PD-Dementia. However, little is known on the interactions between cardiovascular dysautonomia and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). We aimed to evaluate the association between cardiovascular dysautonomia and MCI in patients with PD. Methods: non-demented PD patients belonging to the PACOS cohort underwent a comprehensive instrumental neurovegetative assessment including the study of both parasympathetic and sympathetic function (30:15 ratio, Expiratory-Inspiratory ratio [E-I] and presence of Orthostatic Hypotension [OH]). Diagnosis of MCI was made according to the MDS criteria level II. Results: we enrolled 185 PD patients of whom 102 (55.1%) were men, mean age was 64.6 ± 9.7 years, mean disease duration of 5.6 ± 5.5 years with a mean UPDRS-ME score of 31.7 ± 10.9. MCI was diagnosed in 79 (42.7%) patients. OH was recorded in 52 (28.1%) patients, altered 30:15 ratio was recorded in 39 (24.1%) patients and an altered E-I ratio was found in 24 (19.1%) patients. Presence of MCI was associated with an altered 30:15 ratio (adjOR 2.83; 95%CI 1.25–6.40) but not with an altered E-I ratio, while OH was associated only with the amnestic MCI subgroup (OR 2.43; 95% CI 1.05–5.06). Conclusion: in our study sample, MCI was mainly associated with parasympathetic dysfunction in PD
First experimental evidence of 2He decay from 18Ne excited states
Two-proton decay from 18Ne excited states has been studied by complete kinematical detection of the decay products. The 18Ne nucleus has been produced as a radioactive beam by 20Ne projectile fragmentation at 45 AMeV on a 9Be target, using the FRIBs in-flight facility of the LNS. The 18Ne at 33 AMeV incident energy has been excited via Coulomb excitation on a natPb target. The correlated 2p emission has been disentangled from the uncorrelated 2p emission using a high granularity particle detector setup allowing the reconstruction of momentum and angle correlations of the two emitted protons. The obtained results unambiguously show that the 6.15 MeV 18Ne state two-proton decay proceeds through 2He emission (31%) and democratic or virtual sequential decay (69%)
18 Ne diproton decay
Two proton radioactivity studies have been performed on excited states of 18 Ne produced, among other fragments, by 20 Ne projectile fragmentation and excited via Coulomb excitation on a Pb target. Every incoming ion was tagged before interacting with the lead target on an event by event basis in order to discriminate the secondary reactions according to the projectile. Decay of 18 Ne levels has been studied by complete kinematical reconstruction. In spite of the low statistics a couple of events looks very promising for two proton correlated emission
Adducts of functionalized Graphene layers with Ag nanoparticles for Antimicrobial applications
Health and environmental impacts of multi-drug resistance (MDR) pathogens are becoming more and
more relevant nowadays, thus increasing the need of developing new, safe and effective
antimicrobials.
This research was focused on the synthesis, the characterization and the evaluation of the
antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity of hybrid nanomaterials made up through a simple and
sustainable functionalization of three carbon substrates, namely Graphite, Carbon black and Carbon
nanotubes, with a pyrrole moiety (SP) and silver nanoparticles (Ag-NP) [1, 2]. The adducts were
analyzed by means of thermogravimetric analyses (TGA), transmission electron microscopy
(HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction analyses (WAXD), which confirmed the successful functionalization
of raw materials. UV-vis spectroscopy and dynamic/electrophoretic light scattering (DLS/ELS)
provided information regarding carbon suspensions stability, particles sizes and surface charge.
Results from microbiological tests revealed an outstanding enhancement of the antimicrobial activity
promoted by the functionalization with Ag nanoparticles, maintaining unaltered the cytotoxic levels
exerted by not-functionalized materials. In the light of these results, a possible bactericidal
mechanism based on the synergy between mechanical and oxidative stresses at the bacterial
membrane level is proposed
Blurred femtoscopy in two-proton decay
We study the effects of final state interactions in two-proton emission by
nuclei. Our approach is based on the solution the time-dependent Schr\"odinger
equation. We show that the final relative energy between the protons is
substantially influenced by the final state interactions. We also show that
alternative correlation functions can be constructed showing large sensitivity
to the spin of the diproton system.Comment: 5 pages. 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.
Past, present and future of radioactive ion beams produced In-Flight at LNS
The FRIBs@LNS facility produces Radioactive Ion Beams (RIBs)
at intermediate energies, by projectile fragmentation. The possibility of using the produced RIBs as secondary beams in nuclear physics experiments by applying the tagging technique, i.e. the identification, event-by-event, in charge, mass and energy of each ion of the RIBs cocktail selected by the fragment separator, before it interacts with the secondary target, has been demonstrated. In 2010 an upgrade of the facility has been performed. Status and perspectives of the FRIBs@LNS facility are discussed
Immune-checkpoint inhibitors from cancer to COVID‑19: A promising avenue for the treatment of patients with COVID‑19
The severe acute respiratory syndrome associated coronavirus‑2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) poses a threat to human life worldwide. Since early March, 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19), characterized by an acute and often severe form of pneumonia, has been declared a pandemic. This has led to a boom in biomedical research studies at all stages of the pipeline, from the in vitro to the clinical phase. In line with this global effort, known drugs, currently used for the treatment of other pathologies, including antivirals, immunomodulating compounds and antibodies, are currently used off‑label for the treatment of COVID‑19, in association with the supportive standard care. Yet, no effective treatments have been identified. A new hope stems from medical oncology and relies on the use of immune‑checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). In particular, amongst the ICIs, antibodies able to block the programmed death‑1 (PD‑1)/PD ligand-1 (PD‑L1) pathway have revealed a hidden potential. In fact, patients with severe and critical COVID‑19, even prior to the appearance of acute respiratory distress syndrome, exhibit lymphocytopenia and suffer from T‑cell exhaustion, which may lead to viral sepsis and an increased mortality rate. It has been observed that cancer patients, who usually are immunocompromised, may restore their anti‑tumoral immune response when treated with ICIs. Moreover, viral-infected mice and humans, exhibit a T‑cell exhaustion, which is also observed following SARS‑CoV‑2 infection. Importantly, when treated with anti‑PD‑1 and anti‑PD‑L1 antibodies, they restore their T‑cell competence and efficiently counteract the viral infection. Based on these observations, four clinical trials are currently open, to examine the efficacy of anti‑PD‑1 antibody administration to both cancer and non‑cancer individuals affected by COVID‑19. The results may prove the hypothesis that restoring exhausted T‑cells may be a winning strategy to beat SARS‑CoV‑2 infection
Current molecular and clinical insights into uveal melanoma (Review)
Uveal melanoma (UM) represents the most prominent primary eye cancer in adults. With an incidence of approximately 5 cases per million individuals annually in the United States, UM could be considered a relatively rare cancer. The 90.95% of UM cases arise from the choroid. Diagnosis is based mainly on a clinical examination and ancillary tests, with ocular ultrasonography being of greatest value. Differential diagnosis can prove challenging in the case of indeterminate choroidal lesions and, sometimes, monitoring for documented growth may be the proper approach. Fine needle aspiration biopsy tends to be performed with a prognostic purpose, often in combination with radiotherapy. Gene expression profiling has allowed for the grading of UMs into two classes, which feature different metastatic risks. Patients with UM require a specialized multidisciplinary management. Primary tumor treatment can be either enucleation or globe preserving. Usually, enucleation is reserved for larger tumors, while radiotherapy is preferred for small/medium melanomas. The prognosis is unfavorable due to the high mortality rate and high tendency to metastasize. Following the development of metastatic disease, the mortality rate increases to 80% within one year, due to both the absence of an effective treatment and the aggressiveness of the condition. Novel molecular studies have allowed for a better understanding of the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms involved in UM biological activity, which differs compared to skin melanomas. The most commonly mutated genes are GNAQ, GNA11 and BAP1. Research in this field could help to identify effective diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, as well as novel therapeutic targets
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