Careggi Smart Hospital: A mobile app for patients, citizens and healthcare staff

This paper presents a mobile app called “Careggi Smart Hospital” which has been developed for the Careggi Polyclinic in Florence. The application is designed for Android smartphones and tablets and it is freely downloadable from the Google Play Store. It provides various useful tools to the hospital's users such as personnel and structures finding, way-finding and the possibility to access personal medical records collected on regional electronic health record

Model of thermo-optic nonlinear dynamics of photonic crystal cavities

The wavelength scale confinement of light offered by photonic crystal (PhC) cavities is one of the fundamental features on which many important on-chip photonic components are based, opening silicon photonics to a wide range of applications from telecommunications to sensing. This trapping of light in a small space also greatly enhances optical nonlinearities and many potential applications build on these enhanced light-matter interactions. In order to use PhCs effectively for this purpose it is necessary to fully understand the nonlinear dynamics underlying PhC resonators. In this work, we derive a first principles thermal model outlining the nonlinear dynamics of optically pumped silicon two-dimensional (2D) PhC cavities by calculating the temperature distribution in the system in both time and space. We demonstrate that our model matches experimental results well and use it to describe the behavior of different types of PhC cavity designs. Thus, we demonstrate the model's capability to predict thermal nonlinearities of arbitrary 2D PhC microcavities in any material, only by substituting the appropriate physical constants. This renders the model critical for the development of nonlinear optical devices prior to fabrication and characterization

Integrated HTA and FMECA methodology for the evaluation of robotic surgery

Robotic surgery has been strongly improved since the beginning of the twenty-first century and chased important level of technical and clinical performances. Within the robotic area, the most worldwide used surgical robot is the da Vinci® system made by Intuitive Surgical Inc. The aim of this study was to evaluate at the hospital scale the robotic surgery (Hospital –Based Health Technology Assessment) in comparison to the open and laparoscopic procedures yet combining a FMECA analysis to accurately assess all those aspects involving patient and staff safety. The total number of robotic procedures directly observed by the surgical department and reported in the following study was 44, including 28 urology interventions and 16 general surgeries. The study confirmed clinical benefits carried out with the robot but bigger complexity in managing the whole surgical system in terms of structural needs, staff and technology. For the future, further steps regard the necessity to dispose of a wider number of robotic procedures in order to strength the analysis reliability and complete the socio-economic assessment with medium and long terms observation. Finally a new FMECA application will be essential to monitor the real effects of the suggested actions on the evaluated risks according to the already known and new failure modes

Follow-Up of Coiled Cerebral Aneurysms at 3T: Comparison of 3D Time-of-Flight MR Angiography and Contrast-Enhanced MR Angiography

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Our aim was to compare contrast-enhanced MR angiography (CE-MRA) and 3D time-of-flight (TOF) MRA at 3T for follow-up of coiled cerebral aneurysms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-two patients treated with Guglielmi detachable coils for 54 cerebral aneurysms were evaluated at 3T MRA. 3D TOF MRA (TR/TE = 23/3.5; SENSE factor = 2.5) and CE-MRA by using a 3D ultrafast gradient-echo sequence (TR/TE = 5.9/1.8; SENSE factor = 3) enhanced with 0.1-mmol/kg gadobenate dimeglumine were performed in the same session. Source images, 3D maximum intensity projection, 3D shaded surface display, and/or 3D volume-rendered reconstructions were evaluated in terms of aneurysm occlusion/patency and artifact presence. RESULTS: In terms of clinical classification, the 2 MRA sequences were equivalent for 53 of the 54 treated aneurysms: 21 were considered fully occluded, whereas 16 were considered to have a residual neck and 16 were considered residually patent at follow-up MRA. The remaining aneurysm appeared fully occluded at TOF MRA but had a residual patent neck at CE-MRA. Visualization of residual aneurysm patency was significantly ( P = .001) better with CE-MRA compared with TOF MRA for 10 (31.3%) of the 32 treated aneurysms considered residually patent with both sequences. Coil artifacts were present in 5 cases at TOF MRA but in none at CE-MRA. No relationship was apparent between the visualization of patency and either the size of the aneurysm or the interval between embolization and follow-up. CONCLUSION: At follow-up MRA at 3T, unenhanced TOF and CE-MRA sequences are similarly effective at classifying coiled aneurysms as occluded or residually patent. However, CE-MRA is superior to TOF MRA for visualization of residual patency and is associated with fewer artifacts

Semantic Web Technologies Meet BIM for Accessing and Understanding Cultural Heritage

Within the EU funded project INCEPTION – Inclusive Cultural Heritage in Europe through 3D semantic modelling, the key-targeted achievement is the development of a specific cloud based platform, in order to accomplish the main objectives of accessing, understanding and strengthening European Cultural Heritage by means of enriched 3D models. The whole INCEPTION project is based on the close connection between state-of-the-art architectural modeling technologies (BIM, Building Information Modeling) and the latest cutting-edge web technologies. The platform is grounded on semantic web technologies and makes extensive use of WebGL and RESTful APIs, in order to enrich heritage 3D models by using Semantic Web standards. The INCEPTION platform will be a space for interchange of information and for the dialogue among professionals, students, scholars, curators, non-expert users, etc. Furthermore, the Semantic Web structure interlinks the platform with external Cultural Heritage available linked data and makes it gradually enhanced by specific flexible data structures provided as project specific ontologies. The paper will describe solutions based on the match between BIM, Cloud and Semantic Web

Comparing the safety and effectiveness of five leading new-generation devices for transcatheter aortic valve implantation: Twelve-month results from the RISPEVA study

Objectives. The management of severe aortic stenosis has been revolutionized by the introduction of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), especially in patients at intermediate, high, or prohibitive surgical risk. There is uncertainty, however, regarding the comparative effectiveness and safety of contemporary TAVI devices. Methods. We queried detailed data from the ongoing national Italian TAVI registry and compared baseline features, procedural details, and 12-month outcomes of Acurate Neo (Boston Scientific), Evolut Pro/R (Medtronic), Lotus (Boston Scientific), Portico (Abbott Vascular), and Sapien/ Sapien S3 Ultra (Edward Lifesciences) transcatheter aortic valves. Several endpoints were collected and appraised, including the composite of death, stroke, myocardial infarction (MI), major bleeding, major vascular complication, surgical aortic valve replacement and transcatheter aortic valve reimplantation, which were deemed major adverse events (MAEs). Results. A total of 1976 patients were included, with 234 treated with Acurate, 703 with Evolut, 151 with Lotus, 347 with Portico, and 541 with Sapien. Twelve-month events were not significantly different among the 5 devices, including death (P=.29) and MAE (P=.21), with the notable exception of major vascular complications, which were more common with Acurate and Sapien (P<.001) and permanent pacemaker implantation, which was more frequent with Lotus and Evolut (P<.001). Differences in MAE were more pronounced in women and subjects with prior cardiac surgery, with the lowest event rates in the Evolut group. Propensity-score adjusted analysis suggested that Acurate, Evolut, Portico, and Sapien were all associated with similarly favorable results, whereas adverse events were more evident with Lotus (P<.05). Conclusion. Leading current-generation TAVI devices offer similarly favorable results at mid-term follow-up

fMRI-Targeted High-Angular Resolution Diffusion MR Tractography to Identify Functional Language Tracts in Healthy Controls and Glioma Patients

Background MR Tractography enables non-invasive preoperative depiction of language subcortical tracts, which is crucial for the presurgical work-up of brain tumors; however, it cannot evaluate the exact function of the fibers. Purpose A systematic pipeline was developed to combine tractography reconstruction of language fiber bundles, based on anatomical landmarks (Anatomical-T), with language fMRI cortical activations. A fMRI-targeted Tractography (fMRI-T) was thus obtained, depicting the subsets of the anatomical tracts whose endpoints are located inside a fMRI activation. We hypothesized that fMRI-T could provide additional functional information regarding the subcortical structures, better reflecting the eloquent white matter structures identified intraoperatively. Methods Both Anatomical-T and fMRI-T of language fiber tracts were performed on 16 controls and preoperatively on 16 patients with left-hemisphere brain tumors, using a q-ball residual bootstrap algorithm based on High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging (HARDI) datasets (b = 3000 s/mm(2); 60 directions); fMRI ROIs were obtained using picture naming, verbal fluency, and auditory verb generation tasks. In healthy controls, normalized MNI atlases of fMRI-T and Anatomical-T were obtained. In patients, the surgical resection of the tumor was pursued by identifying eloquent structures with intraoperative direct electrical stimulation mapping and extending surgery to the functional boundaries. Post-surgical MRI allowed to identify Anatomical-T and fMRI-T non-eloquent portions removed during the procedure. Results MNI Atlases showed that fMRI-T is a subset of Anatomical-T, and that different task-specific fMRI-T involve both shared subsets and task-specific subsets - e.g., verbal fluency fMRI-T strongly involves dorsal frontal tracts, consistently with the phonogical-articulatory features of this task. A quantitative analysis in patients revealed that Anatomical-T removed portions of AF-SLF and IFOF were significantly greater than verbal fluency fMRI-T ones, suggesting that fMRI-T is a more specific approach. In addition, qualitative analyses showed that fMRI-T AF-SLF and IFOF predict the exact functional limits of resection with increased specificity when compared to Anatomical-T counterparts, especially the superior frontal portion of IFOF, in a subcohort of patients. Conclusion These results suggest that performing fMRI-T in addition to the 'classic' Anatomical-T may be useful in a preoperative setting to identify the 'high-risk subsets' that should be spared during the surgical procedure

Thermally stable external cavity laser based on silicon nitride periodic nanostructures

In this paper we demonstrate a thermally stable silicon nitride external cavity (SiN EC) laser based on a 250 μm sized Reflective Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (RSOA) butt-coupled to a series of Si 3 N 4 Bragg gratings acting as wavelength selective reflectors. The laser shows power outputs over 3 mW, a very low lasing threshold of 12 mA and with a typical Side-Mode Suppression Ratio of 45 dB. In this configuration a mode-hop free lasing regime over a range of 47 mA has been achieved (from 15 mA to 62 mA). Thermal stability of the lasing wavelength at temperatures up to 80°C is demonstrated. Further on, experimental results on a passive chip based on new 1D photonic crystal cavities are shown to have higher Q-Factors. This paves the way to avoiding thermal wavelength drifts and unlocks the possibility for these devices to be integrated in Dense WDM and optical-interconnect technologies, where transceivers must operate over a wide temperature range without active cooling