Clinical, radiographic, and histologic evaluation of maxillary sinus lift procedure using a highly purified xenogenic graft (Laddec(®))

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical, radiographic and histologic results when a highly purified xenogenic bone (Laddec(®)) was used as grafting material in maxillary sinuses

C-peptide: a predictor of cardiovascular mortality in subjects with established atherosclerotic disease

Aim: Insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are independent risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Levels of C-peptide are increased in these patients and its role in the atherosclerosis progression was studied in vitro and in vivo over the past years. To evaluate the possible use of C-peptide as cardiovascular biomarkers, we designed an observational study in which we enrolled patients with mono- or poly-vascular atherosclerotic disease. Methods: We recruited 431 patients with stable atherosclerosis and performed a yearly follow-up to estimate the cardiovascular and total mortality and cardiovascular events. Results: We performed a mean follow-up of 56months on 268 patients. A multivariate Cox analysis showed that C-peptide significantly increased the risk of cardiovascular mortality [Hazard Ratio: 1.29 (95% confidence interval: 1.02-1.65, p<0.03513)] after adjustment for age, sex, diabetes treatment, estimated glomerular filtration rate and known diabetes status. Furthermore, levels of C-peptide were significantly correlated with metabolic parameters and atherogenic factors. Conclusion: C-peptide was associated with cardiovascular mortality independently of known diabetes status in a cohort of patients with chronic atherosclerotic disease. Future studies using C-peptide into a reclassification approach might be undertaken to consider its potential as a cardiovascular disease biomarker

Successful conversion strategy in patient submitted to EVAR demanding open surgery: comparative analysis 1997-2011 vs 2012-2020

: Late open conversion in our center has been reviewed in the past 8 years, comparing 1997-2011 (first period group A) with 2012-2020 (second period group B). A retrospective analysis of patients treated at our centre by standard EVAR for infrarenal aortic aneurysm requiring late open conversion between January 1997 and February 2020 was performed. All stent grafts were implanted according to their current IFU all patients. The data concerning intra and postoperative complications were collected. Post-operative evaluated data include: ICU (Intensive Care Unit) stay, major peri-operative (&lt;30 days) complications, in hospital mortality, length of hospital stay, 30-days mortality, and mid-term outcomes. Between January 2012 and February 2020 (group B), in our institution 8 patients previously treated by stent graft with endoleak underwent open surgery. The incidence of conversions and the 30-day mortality rate were compared with that of previous years, from January 1997 to December 2011 (group A). 481 patients submitted to EVAR in a second part of the analysis have been considered, 8 patients underwent late open conversion (1.7%) (Group B) due to endoleak. Among January 1997 and December 2011 overall 268 EVAR were performed; during this first study period, surgical conversion had been performed in 14 patients (5.2%) (Group A). The average time from EVAR to open conversion was four years (range 12-88 months) in Group B, and it was 30 months (range 1-82 months) in Group A. In most cases, in both group A and group B the proximal aortic cross-clamping were infrarenal. After the emergent procedure in Group B (12.5%), we have observed a death, whereas three patients died in Group A in urgent situations (21.4%). The more frequent indication for open surgery is the Endoleak type 1 and migration in the two considered periods. Adherence with current IFU and the technical progress in endoprosthesis design maintain lower rate incidence. In most cases, open surgery for prostheses that require explantation can be performed with infrarenal clamping. Partial removal of the endoprosthesis in selected cases makes open conversion easier and appears durable. The results are unfair by numerous comorbidities; in both periods, urgent graft removal seems to elevate both mortality and morbidity, compared to elective surgery

The color out of space: learning self-supervised representations for Earth Observation imagery

The recent growth in the number of satellite images fosters the development of effective deep-learning techniques for Remote Sensing (RS). However, their full potential is untapped due to the lack of large annotated datasets. Such a problem is usually countered by fine-tuning a feature extractor that is previously trained on the ImageNet dataset. Unfortunately, the domain of natural images differs from the RS one, which hinders the final performance. In this work, we propose to learn meaningful representations from satellite imagery, leveraging its high-dimensionality spectral bands to reconstruct the visible colors. We conduct experiments on land cover classification (BigEarthNet) and West Nile Virus detection, showing that colorization is a solid pretext task for training a feature extractor. Furthermore, we qualitatively observe that guesses based on natural images and colorization rely on different parts of the input. This paves the way to an ensemble model that eventually outperforms both the above-mentioned techniques

Spotting Insects from Satellites: Modeling the Presence of Culicoides Imicola Through Deep CNNs

Nowadays, Vector-Borne Diseases (VBDs) raise a severe threat for public health, accounting for a considerable amount of human illnesses. Recently, several surveillance plans have been put in place for limiting the spread of such diseases, typically involving on-field measurements. Such a systematic and effective plan still misses, due to the high costs and efforts required for implementing it. Ideally, any attempt in this field should consider the triangle vectors-host-pathogen, which is strictly linked to the environmental and climatic conditions. In this paper, we exploit satellite imagery from Sentinel-2 mission, as we believe they encode the environmental factors responsible for the vector's spread. Our analysis - conducted in a data-driver fashion - couples spectral images with ground-truth information on the abundance of Culicoides imicola. In this respect, we frame our task as a binary classification problem, underpinning Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) as being able to learn useful representation from multi-band images. Additionally, we provide a multi-instance variant, aimed at extracting temporal patterns from a short sequence of spectral images. Experiments show promising results, providing the foundations for novel supportive tools, which could depict where surveillance and prevention measures could be prioritized

LGALS3BP antibody-drug-conjugate and its use for the treatment of cancer

The present invention relates to a special type of non-internalizing binding moiety- drug-conjugates that specifically target LGALS3BP. From one aspect, the invention relates to an antibody-drug-conjugate comprising an antibody capable of binding to LGALS3BP, said antibody being conjugated to cytotoxic drugs. The invention also comprises methods of the treatment of LGALS3BP-expressing cancer, including administering to a patient the disclosed drug conjugates and pharmaceutical preparations

Secreted Gal-3BP is a novel promising target for non-internalizing Antibody–Drug Conjugates

Abstract Galectin-3-binding protein (Gal-3BP) has been identified as a cancer and metastasis-associated, secreted protein that is expressed by the large majority of cancers. The present study describes a special type of non-internalizing antibody-drug-conjugates that specifically target Gal-3BP. Here, we show that the humanized 1959 antibody, which specifically recognizes secreted Gal-3BP, selectively localized around tumor but not normal cells. A site specific disulfide linkage with thiol-maytansinoids to unpaired cysteine residues of 1959, resulting in a drug-antibody ratio of 2, yielded an ADC product, which cured A375m melanoma bearing mice. ADC products based on the non-internalizing 1959 antibody may be useful for the treatment of several human malignancies, as the cognate antigen is abundantly expressed and secreted by several cancers, while being present at low levels in most normal adult tissues

Endovascular Management of Juxtarenal and Pararenal Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms: Role of Chimney Technique

The use of chimney technique in endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms (ChEVAR) has had a secondary role. Although it was first developed in an emergent/urgent setting, the publication of various important studies has helped overcome scepticism towards this technique in elective procedures. This paper reviews current evidence about ChEVAR, focusing on clinical results, technical notes and comparisons with other techniques. The new ChEVAR findings show favourable mid- and long-term clinical outcomes, even in elective patients. These results, comparable to those related to fenestrated endografts, have been achieved through standardisation in planning and materials. An adequate endograft oversizing associated to the right aortic neck length is fundamental to avoid ChEVAR-related complications, such as type 1a endoleaks. These data indicate that ChEVAR, compared to other complex endovascular treatments, has comparable outcomes along with features that could make it an essential option in every clinical setting

Infected pancreatic necrosis: outcomes and clinical predictors of mortality. A post hoc analysis of the MANCTRA-1 international study

: The identification of high-risk patients in the early stages of infected pancreatic necrosis (IPN) is critical, because it could help the clinicians to adopt more effective management strategies. We conducted a post hoc analysis of the MANCTRA-1 international study to assess the association between clinical risk factors and mortality among adult patients with IPN. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify prognostic factors of mortality. We identified 247 consecutive patients with IPN hospitalised between January 2019 and December 2020. History of uncontrolled arterial hypertension (p = 0.032; 95% CI 1.135-15.882; aOR 4.245), qSOFA (p = 0.005; 95% CI 1.359-5.879; aOR 2.828), renal failure (p = 0.022; 95% CI 1.138-5.442; aOR 2.489), and haemodynamic failure (p = 0.018; 95% CI 1.184-5.978; aOR 2.661), were identified as independent predictors of mortality in IPN patients. Cholangitis (p = 0.003; 95% CI 1.598-9.930; aOR 3.983), abdominal compartment syndrome (p = 0.032; 95% CI 1.090-6.967; aOR 2.735), and gastrointestinal/intra-abdominal bleeding (p = 0.009; 95% CI 1.286-5.712; aOR 2.710) were independently associated with the risk of mortality. Upfront open surgical necrosectomy was strongly associated with the risk of mortality (p &lt; 0.001; 95% CI 1.912-7.442; aOR 3.772), whereas endoscopic drainage of pancreatic necrosis (p = 0.018; 95% CI 0.138-0.834; aOR 0.339) and enteral nutrition (p = 0.003; 95% CI 0.143-0.716; aOR 0.320) were found as protective factors. Organ failure, acute cholangitis, and upfront open surgical necrosectomy were the most significant predictors of mortality. Our study confirmed that, even in a subgroup of particularly ill patients such as those with IPN, upfront open surgery should be avoided as much as possible. Study protocol registered in ClinicalTrials.Gov (I.D. Number NCT04747990)