Semantic Indexing of Musical Resources. The Application of the Nuovo soggettario System and its Implementation with a specialized Terminology

The goal of this study is to present an overview of issues related to subject indexing of musical resources and also to describe what ‘subject’ access means in this domain. In other Countries subject indexing is realized with a lot of initiatives throughout the years, such as LCSH, the Music Thesaurus Project, Musaurus, and Rilm; in Italy the Nuovo Soggettario Thesaurus could be the tool for this practice. As a matter of fact, The Nuovo Soggettario Thesaurus comply with international standards and is freely accessible on the Web. It is steadily growing thanks to the efforts of the National Library of Florence (BNCF) as well as the external collaboration of several institutions. The Thesaurus, organized in a hierarchical arrangement, with a thoroughly faceted and synthetically list of terms, provides many links which allow connections to other knowledge organization tools as well as archival and museum resources. The Thesaurus structure is based on four conceptual categories which contain classes of concepts with common characteristics. Furthermore, terms are provided with a rich apparatus of notes and a dense network of semantic relationships (BT, NT, RT) that clarify the meaning of the terms. The Thesaurus is integrated with the BNCF’s opac and other libraries’ one, which use it in the Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN) and users can browse through vocabulary to the bibliographic records. A large number of terms has a cross-language equivalence relationship with Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) preferred terms, linked at “Equiv. LCSH”. This article aims to present the possibility of enriching the terminological heritage of the Thesaurus with musical terminology. In addition, a case study (Sinfonie term) is presented which describes some interesting peculiarities about the musical terms. The management of the term has involved the examination of the scope note (SN) which is usually used for polysemi-terms. The case of Sinfonie is a significant example of this because of the evolution that the form has undergone over the centuries. This study also illustrates how a general thesaurus could be profitably employed also in a specific domain as well as how the results could be improved if librarians and specialists collaborate

Semantic Indexing of Musical Resources. The Application of the Nuovo soggettario System and its Implementation with a specialized Terminology

The goal of this study is to present an overview of issues related to subject indexing of musical resources and also to describe what ‘subject’ access means in this domain. In other Countries subject indexing is realized with a lot of initiatives throughout the years, such as LCSH, the Music Thesaurus Project, Musaurus, and Rilm; in Italy the Nuovo Soggettario Thesaurus could be the tool for this practice. As a matter of fact, The Nuovo Soggettario Thesaurus comply with international standards and is freely accessible on the Web. It is steadily growing thanks to the efforts of the National Library of Florence (BNCF) as well as the external collaboration of several institutions. The Thesaurus, organized in a hierarchical arrangement, with a thoroughly faceted and synthetically list of terms, provides many links which allow connections to other knowledge organization tools as well as archival and museum resources. The Thesaurus structure is based on four conceptual categories which contain classes of concepts with common characteristics. Furthermore, terms are provided with a rich apparatus of notes and a dense network of semantic relationships (BT, NT, RT) that clarify the meaning of the terms. The Thesaurus is integrated with the BNCF’s opac and other libraries’ one, which use it in the Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN) and users can browse through vocabulary to the bibliographic records. A large number of terms has a cross-language equivalence relationship with Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) preferred terms, linked at “Equiv. LCSH”. This article aims to present the possibility of enriching the terminological heritage of the Thesaurus with musical terminology. In addition, a case study (Sinfonie term) is presented which describes some interesting peculiarities about the musical terms. The management of the term has involved the examination of the scope note (SN) which is usually used for polysemi-terms. The case of Sinfonie is a significant example of this because of the evolution that the form has undergone over the centuries. This study also illustrates how a general thesaurus could be profitably employed also in a specific domain as well as how the results could be improved if librarians and specialists collaborate

Semantic Indexing of Musical Resources. The Application of the Nuovo soggettario System and its Implementation with a specialized Terminology

The goal of this study is to present an overview of issues related to subject indexing of musical resources and also to describe what ‘subject’ access means in this domain. In other Countries subject indexing is realized with a lot of initiatives throughout the years, such as LCSH, the Music Thesaurus Project, Musaurus, and Rilm; in Italy the Nuovo Soggettario Thesaurus could be the tool for this practice. As a matter of fact, The Nuovo Soggettario Thesaurus comply with international standards and is freely accessible on the Web. It is steadily growing thanks to the efforts of the National Library of Florence (BNCF) as well as the external collaboration of several institutions. The Thesaurus, organized in a hierarchical arrangement, with a thoroughly faceted and synthetically list of terms, provides many links which allow connections to other knowledge organization tools as well as archival and museum resources. The Thesaurus structure is based on four conceptual categories which contain classes of concepts with common characteristics. Furthermore, terms are provided with a rich apparatus of notes and a dense network of semantic relationships (BT, NT, RT) that clarify the meaning of the terms. The Thesaurus is integrated with the BNCF’s opac and other libraries’ one, which use it in the Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN) and users can browse through vocabulary to the bibliographic records. A large number of terms has a cross-language equivalence relationship with Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) preferred terms, linked at “Equiv. LCSH”. This article aims to present the possibility of enriching the terminological heritage of the Thesaurus with musical terminology. In addition, a case study (Sinfonie term) is presented which describes some interesting peculiarities about the musical terms. The management of the term has involved the examination of the scope note (SN) which is usually used for polysemi-terms. The case of Sinfonie is a significant example of this because of the evolution that the form has undergone over the centuries. This study also illustrates how a general thesaurus could be profitably employed also in a specific domain as well as how the results could be improved if librarians and specialists collaborate

Heel lance in newborn during breastfeeding: an evaluation of analgesic effect of this procedure

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>The reduction of pain due to routine invasive procedures (capillary heel stick blood sampling for neonatal metabolic screening) in the newborn is an important objective for the so-called "Hospital with no pain". Practices such as skin to skin contact, or breastfeeding, in healthy newborn, may represent an alternative to the use of analgesic drugs. The aim of our work is to evaluate the analgesic effect of breastfeeding during heel puncture in full term healthy newborn.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We studied 200 healthy full term newborns (100 cases and 100 controls), proposing the puncture to mothers during breastfeeding, and explaining to them all the advantages of this practice. Pain assessment was evaluated by DAN scale (Douleur Aigue Nouveau ne scale).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The difference in score of pain according to the DAN scale was significant in the two groups of patients (p = 0.000); the medium score was 5.15 for controls and 2.65 for cases (newborns sampled during breastfeeding).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results confirmed the evidence of analgesic effect of breastfeeding during heel puncture. This procedure could easily be adopted routinely in maternity wards.</p

Circulating tumor DNA reflects tumor metabolism rather than tumor burden in chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC):an18F-FDG PET/CT study

We aimed to evaluate the relationships between circulating tumor cells (CTCs) or plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) on one side and a comprehensive range of18F-FDG PET/CT-derived parameters on the other side in chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: From a group of 79 patients included in a trial evaluating the role of pretreatment circulating tumor markers as predictors of prognosis in chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced NSCLC, we recruited all those who underwent18F-FDG PET/CT for clinical reasons at our institution before inclusion in the trial (and thus just before chemotherapy). For each patient, a peripheral blood sample was collected at baseline for the evaluation of CTCs and cfDNA. CTCs were isolated by size using a filtration-based device and then morphologically identified and enumerated; cfDNA was isolated from plasma and quantified by a quantitative polymerase chain reaction using human telomerase reverse transcriptase. The following18F-FDG PET/CT-derived parameters were computed: maximum diameter of the primary lesion (T), of the largest lymph node (N), and of the largest metastatic lesion (M); SUVmax; SUVmean; size-incorporated SUVmax; metabolic tumor volume; and total lesion glycolysis. All parameters were independently measured for T, N, and M. The associations among CTCs, cfDNA, and18F-FDG PET/CT-derived parameters were evaluated by multivariate-analysis. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the presence of either limited metastatic involvement (M1a or M1b due to extrathoracic lymph nodes only) or disseminated metastatic disease. The presence or absence of metabolically active bone lesions was also recorded for each patient, and patient subgroups were compared. Results: Thirty-seven patients recruited in the trial matched our PET-based criteria (24 men; age, 64.5 6 8.1 y). SUVmaxfor the largest metastatic lesion was the only variable independently associated with baseline cfDNA levels (P 5 0.016). Higher levels of cfDNA were detected in the subgroup of patients with metabolically active bone lesions (P 5 0.02), but no difference was highlighted when patients with more limited metastatic disease were compared with patients with disseminated metastatic disease. Conclusion: The correlation of cfDNA levels with tumor metabolism, but not with metabolic tumor volume at regional or distant levels, suggests that cfDNA may better reflect tumor biologic behavior or aggressiveness rather than tumor burden in metastatic NSCLC

The AGILE Mission

AGILE is an Italian Space Agency mission dedicated to observing the gamma-ray Universe. The AGILE's very innovative instrumentation for the first time combines a gamma-ray imager (sensitive in the energy range 30 MeV-50 GeV), a hard X-ray imager (sensitive in the range 18-60 keV), a calorimeter (sensitive in the range 350 keV-100 MeV), and an anticoincidence system. AGILE was successfully launched on 2007 April 23 from the Indian base of Sriharikota and was inserted in an equatorial orbit with very low particle background. Aims. AGILE provides crucial data for the study of active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, pulsars, unidentified gamma-ray sources, galactic compact objects, supernova remnants, TeV sources, and fundamental physics by microsecond timing. Methods. An optimal sky angular positioning (reaching 0.1 degrees in gamma- rays and 1-2 arcmin in hard X-rays) and very large fields of view (2.5 sr and 1 sr, respectively) are obtained by the use of Silicon detectors integrated in a very compact instrument. Results. AGILE surveyed the gamma- ray sky and detected many Galactic and extragalactic sources during the first months of observations. Particular emphasis is given to multifrequency observation programs of extragalactic and galactic objects. Conclusions. AGILE is a successful high-energy gamma-ray mission that reached its nominal scientific performance. The AGILE Cycle-1 pointing program started on 2007 December 1, and is open to the international community through a Guest Observer Program

Beta-Blocker Use in Older Hospitalized Patients Affected by Heart Failure and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: An Italian Survey From the REPOSI Register

Beta (β)-blockers (BB) are useful in reducing morbidity and mortality in patients with heart failure (HF) and concomitant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Nevertheless, the use of BBs could induce bronchoconstriction due to β2-blockade. For this reason, both the ESC and GOLD guidelines strongly suggest the use of selective β1-BB in patients with HF and COPD. However, low adherence to guidelines was observed in multiple clinical settings. The aim of the study was to investigate the BBs use in older patients affected by HF and COPD, recorded in the REPOSI register. Of 942 patients affected by HF, 47.1% were treated with BBs. The use of BBs was significantly lower in patients with HF and COPD than in patients affected by HF alone, both at admission and at discharge (admission, 36.9% vs. 51.3%; discharge, 38.0% vs. 51.7%). In addition, no further BB users were found at discharge. The probability to being treated with a BB was significantly lower in patients with HF also affected by COPD (adj. OR, 95% CI: 0.50, 0.37-0.67), while the diagnosis of COPD was not associated with the choice of selective β1-BB (adj. OR, 95% CI: 1.33, 0.76-2.34). Despite clear recommendations by clinical guidelines, a significant underuse of BBs was also observed after hospital discharge. In COPD affected patients, physicians unreasonably reject BBs use, rather than choosing a β1-BB. The expected improvement of the BB prescriptions after hospitalization was not observed. A multidisciplinary approach among hospital physicians, general practitioners, and pharmacologists should be carried out for better drug management and adherence to guideline recommendations

Antidiabetic Drug Prescription Pattern in Hospitalized Older Patients with Diabetes

Objective: To describe the prescription pattern of antidiabetic and cardiovascular drugs in a cohort of hospitalized older patients with diabetes. Methods: Patients with diabetes aged 65 years or older hospitalized in internal medicine and/or geriatric wards throughout Italy and enrolled in the REPOSI (REgistro POliterapuie SIMI—Società Italiana di Medicina Interna) registry from 2010 to 2019 and discharged alive were included. Results: Among 1703 patients with diabetes, 1433 (84.2%) were on treatment with at least one antidiabetic drug at hospital admission, mainly prescribed as monotherapy with insulin (28.3%) or metformin (19.2%). The proportion of treated patients decreased at discharge (N = 1309, 76.9%), with a significant reduction over time. Among those prescribed, the proportion of those with insulin alone increased over time (p = 0.0066), while the proportion of those prescribed sulfonylureas decreased (p &lt; 0.0001). Among patients receiving antidiabetic therapy at discharge, 1063 (81.2%) were also prescribed cardiovascular drugs, mainly with an antihypertensive drug alone or in combination (N = 777, 73.1%). Conclusion: The management of older patients with diabetes in a hospital setting is often sub-optimal, as shown by the increasing trend in insulin at discharge, even if an overall improvement has been highlighted by the prevalent decrease in sulfonylureas prescription

The “Diabetes Comorbidome”: A Different Way for Health Professionals to Approach the Comorbidity Burden of Diabetes

(1) Background: The disease burden related to diabetes is increasing greatly, particularly in older subjects. A more comprehensive approach towards the assessment and management of diabetes’ comorbidities is necessary. The aim of this study was to implement our previous data identifying and representing the prevalence of the comorbidities, their association with mortality, and the strength of their relationship in hospitalized elderly patients with diabetes, developing, at the same time, a new graphic representation model of the comorbidome called “Diabetes Comorbidome”. (2) Methods: Data were collected from the RePoSi register. Comorbidities, socio-demographic data, severity and comorbidity indexes (Cumulative Illness rating Scale CIRS-SI and CIRS-CI), and functional status (Barthel Index), were recorded. Mortality rates were assessed in hospital and 3 and 12 months after discharge. (3) Results: Of the 4714 hospitalized elderly patients, 1378 had diabetes. The comorbidities distribution showed that arterial hypertension (57.1%), ischemic heart disease (31.4%), chronic renal failure (28.8%), atrial fibrillation (25.6%), and COPD (22.7%), were the more frequent in subjects with diabetes. The graphic comorbidome showed that the strongest predictors of death at in hospital and at the 3-month follow-up were dementia and cancer. At the 1-year follow-up, cancer was the first comorbidity independently associated with mortality. (4) Conclusions: The “Diabetes Comorbidome” represents the perfect instrument for determining the prevalence of comorbidities and the strength of their relationship with risk of death, as well as the need for an effective treatment for improving clinical outcomes

Clinical features and outcomes of elderly hospitalised patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure or both

Background and objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure (HF) mutually increase the risk of being present in the same patient, especially if older. Whether or not this coexistence may be associated with a worse prognosis is debated. Therefore, employing data derived from the REPOSI register, we evaluated the clinical features and outcomes in a population of elderly patients admitted to internal medicine wards and having COPD, HF or COPD + HF. Methods: We measured socio-demographic and anthropometric characteristics, severity and prevalence of comorbidities, clinical and laboratory features during hospitalization, mood disorders, functional independence, drug prescriptions and discharge destination. The primary study outcome was the risk of death. Results: We considered 2,343 elderly hospitalized patients (median age 81 years), of whom 1,154 (49%) had COPD, 813 (35%) HF, and 376 (16%) COPD + HF. Patients with COPD + HF had different characteristics than those with COPD or HF, such as a higher prevalence of previous hospitalizations, comorbidities (especially chronic kidney disease), higher respiratory rate at admission and number of prescribed drugs. Patients with COPD + HF (hazard ratio HR 1.74, 95% confidence intervals CI 1.16-2.61) and patients with dementia (HR 1.75, 95% CI 1.06-2.90) had a higher risk of death at one year. The Kaplan-Meier curves showed a higher mortality risk in the group of patients with COPD + HF for all causes (p = 0.010), respiratory causes (p = 0.006), cardiovascular causes (p = 0.046) and respiratory plus cardiovascular causes (p = 0.009). Conclusion: In this real-life cohort of hospitalized elderly patients, the coexistence of COPD and HF significantly worsened prognosis at one year. This finding may help to better define the care needs of this population