Remote processing of firm microdata at the Bank of Italy

Providing the possibility to run personalised econometric/statistical analyses on the appropriate data sets by remote processing allows greater flexibility in the production of economic information. Binding confidentiality requirements are required with business survey data. The Bank of Italy's infrastructure allows its business survey data to be exploited, while preserving anonymity of individual data. The system is based on the LISSY platform and has been already adopted by the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) and other research centres. Firms' privacy is safeguarded by forbidding potentially confidentiality-breaking programme statements and by denying the visualisation of individual data. Data confidentiality is protected by removing key identifiers from the database and by trimming data in the right tail of the distribution. The platform provides its services through plain-text e-mails. The authorised user sends an e-mail containing an identifying header followed by a statistical programme to a predetermined address. The system checks the validity of the header, strips out the code and submits it in a batch to one of the econometric/statistical packages available (SAS and Stata). The outputs are mailed back to the user after passing an array of automatic and manual checks.microdata, confidentiality, remote access

Dark gravitomagnetism with LISA and gravitational waves space detectors

We present here the proposal to use the LISA interferometer for detecting the gravito- magnetic field due to the rotation of the Milky Way, including the contribution given by the dark matter halo. The galactic signal would be superposed to the gravitomagnetic field of the Sun. The technique to be used is based on the asymmetric propagation of light along the closed contour of the space interferometer (Sagnac-like approach). Both principle and practical aspects of the proposed experiment are discussed. The strategy for disentangling the sought for signal from the kinematic terms due to proper rotation and orbital motion is based on the time modulation of the time of flight asymmetry. Such modulation will be originated by the annual oscillation of the plane of the interfer- ometer with respect to the galactic plane. Also the effect of the gravitomagnetic field on the polarization of the electromagnetic signals is presented as an in principle detectable phenomenon

Cephalometric measurements performed on CBCT and reconstructed lateral cephalograms: a cross-sectional study providing a quantitative approach of differences and bias

Background: Cephalometric analysis is traditionally performed on skull lateral teleradiographs for orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning. However, the skull flattened over a 2D film presents projection distortions and superimpositions to various extents depending on landmarks relative position. When a CBCT scan is indicated for mixed reasons, cephalometric assessments can be performed directly on CBCT scans with a distortion free procedure. The aim of the present study is to compare these two methods for orthodontic cephalometry. Methods: 114 CBCTs were selected, reconstructed lateral cephalometries were obtained by lateral radiographic projection of the entire volume from the right and left sides. 2D and 3D cephalometric tracings were performed. Since paired t-tests between left and right-side measurements found no statistically significant differences, mean values between sides were considered for both 2D and 3D values. The following measurements were evaluated: PNS-A; S-N; N-Me; N-ANS; ANS-Me; Go-Me; Go-S; Go-Co; SNA, SNB, ANB; BaŜN; S-N^PNS-ANS; PNS-ANS^Go-Me; S-N^Go-Me. Intraclass correlation coefficients, paired t-test, correlation coefficient and Bland-Altman analysis were performed to compare these techniques. Results: The values of intra- and inter-rater ICC showed excellent repeatability and reliability: the average (± SD) intraobserver ICCs were 0.98 (± 0.01) and 0.97(± 0.01) for CBCT and RLCs, respectively; Inter-rater reliability resulted in an average ICC (± SD) of 0.98 (± 0.01) for CBCT and 0.94 (± 0.03) for RLC. The paired t-tests between CBCT and reconstructed lateral cephalograms revealed that Go-Me, Go-S, PNS-ANS^Go-Me and S-N^Go-Me measurements were statistically different between the two modalities. All the evaluated sets of measurements showed strong positive correlation; the bias and ranges for the 95% Limits of Agreement showed higher levels of agreement between the two modalities for unpaired measurements with respect to bilateral ones. Conclusion: The cephalometric measurements laying on the mid-sagittal plane can be evaluated on CBCT and used for orthodontic diagnosis as they do not show statistically significant differences with those measured on 2D lateral cephalograms. For measurements that are not in the mid-sagittal plane, the future development of specific algorithms for distortion correction could help clinicians deduct all the information needed for orthodontic diagnosis from the CBCT scan

3D Cephalometric Normality Range: Auto Contractive Maps (ACM) Analysis in Selected Caucasian Skeletal Class I Age Groups

The objective of this paper is to define normal values of a novel 3D cephalometric analysis and to define the links through an artificial neural network (ANN)

Diffusivity and configurational entropy maxima in short range attractive colloids

We study tagged particle diffusion at large packing fractions, for a model of particles interacting with a generalized Lennard-Jones 2n-n potential, with large n. The resulting short-range potential mimics interactions in colloidal systems. In agreement with previous calculations for short-range potential, we observe a diffusivity maximum as a function of temperature. By studying the temperature dependence of the configurational entropy -- which we evaluate with two different methods -- we show that a configurational entropy maximum is observed at a temperature close to that of the diffusivity maximum. Our findings suggest a relationbetween dynamics and number of distinct states for short-range potentials.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submited to Physical Review Lette

Robotic Heller-Dor myotomy: 10-year monocentric experience compared with POEM

Achalasia is a rare motility disorder caused by an incomplete relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter and loss of esophageal peristalsis. As a consequence, the bolus swallowing is hindered and the patients complain dysphagia, regurgitation, chest pain, respiratory symptoms and weight loss. Achalasia’s treatment has been varied over time, from therapies aiming to relax the lower sphincter of the esophagus, including drugs andBotox injection or mechanical dilatations, to surgical myotomy. Robotic or laparoscopic Heller-Dor procedure is considered the gold standard surgical treatment for symptomatic achalasia as it is proved to be effective and safe. As an alternative, Per-Oral Endoscopic Myotomy (POEM) was applied over the past decade, aiming to combine the same results of mini-invasive procedure to the advantages of endoscopic approach. In this study, we are going to compare the medium-long term results of mini-invasive Heller-Dor procedure, routinely performed in our Department, with those of POEM reported in literature

Accuracy of automated 3D cephalometric landmarks by deep learning algorithms: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives The aim of the present systematic review and meta-analysis is to assess the accuracy of automated landmarking using deep learning in comparison with manual tracing for cephalometric analysis of 3D medical images. Methods PubMed/Medline, IEEE Xplore, Scopus and ArXiv electronic databases were searched. Selection criteria were: ex vivo and in vivo volumetric data images suitable for 3D landmarking (Problem), a minimum of five automated landmarking performed by deep learning method (Intervention), manual landmarking (Comparison), and mean accuracy, in mm, between manual and automated landmarking (Outcome). QUADAS-2 was adapted for quality analysis. Meta-analysis was performed on studies that reported as outcome mean values and standard deviation of the difference (error) between manual and automated landmarking. Linear regression plots were used to analyze correlations between mean accuracy and year of publication. Results The initial electronic screening yielded 252 papers published between 2020 and 2022. A total of 15 studies were included for the qualitative synthesis, whereas 11 studies were used for the meta-analysis. Overall random effect model revealed a mean value of 2.44 mm, with a high heterogeneity (I-2 = 98.13%, tau(2) = 1.018, p-value < 0.001); risk of bias was high due to the presence of issues for several domains per study. Meta-regression indicated a significant relation between mean error and year of publication (p value = 0.012). Conclusion Deep learning algorithms showed an excellent accuracy for automated 3D cephalometric landmarking. In the last two years promising algorithms have been developed and improvements in landmarks annotation accuracy have been done

Detecting the gravito-magnetic field of the dark halo of the Milky Way - the LaDaHaD mission concept

We propose to locate transponders and atomic clocks in at least three of the Lagrange points of the Sun-Earth pair, with the aim of exploiting the time of flight asymme- try between electromagnetic signals travelling in opposite directions along polygonal loops having the Lagrange points at their vertices. The asymmetry is due to the pres- ence of a gravito-magnetic field partly caused by the angular momentum of the Sun, partly originating from the angular momentum of the galactic dark halo in which the Milky Way is embedded. We list also various opportunities which could be associated with the main objective of this Lagrange Dark Halo Detector (LaDaHaD)

The Metabolic Rearrangements of Bariatric Surgery: Focus on Orexin-A and the Adiponectin System

The accumulation of adipose tissue represents one of the characteristics of obesity, increasing the risk of developing correlated obesity diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and immune diseases. Visceral adipose tissue accumulation leads to chronic low inflammation inducing an imbalanced adipokine secretion. Among these adipokines, Adiponectin is an important metabolic and inflammatory mediator. It is also known that adipose tissue is influenced by Orexin-A levels, a neuropeptide produced in the lateral hypothalamus. Adiponectin and Orexin-A are strongly decreased in obesity and are associated with metabolic and inflammatory pathways. The aim of this review was to investigate the involvement of the autonomic nervous system focusing on Adiponectin and Orexin-A after bariatric surgery. After bariatric surgery, Adiponectin and Orexin-A levels are strongly increased independently of weight loss showing that hormone increases are also attributable to a rearrangement of metabolic and inflammatory mediators. The restriction of food intake and malabsorption are not sufficient to clarify the clinical effects of bariatric surgery suggesting the involvement of neuro-hormonal feedback loops and also of mediators such as Adiponectin and Orexin-A