Ku & C Band solid state switch matrix for satellite payloads using LTCC multilayer substrate

This paper describes the design and development of Ku and C band solid state switch matrix for multimedia satellite payloads. The design, through the use of advanced packaging techniques, allows significant savings on mass and volume with respect to traditional electromechanical switches while guaranteeing a comparable reliability

Literature review on the ‘Smart Factory’ concept using bibliometric tools

The objective of this paper is to depict a landscape of the scientific literature on the concept of the ‘Smart Factory’, which in recent years is gaining more and more attention from academics and practitioners because of significant innovations in the production systems within the manufacturing sector. To achieve this objective, a dynamic methodology called "Systematic Literature Network Analysis (SLNA)" has been applied. This methodology combines the Systematic Literature Review approach with the analysis of bibliographic networks. The adopted methodology allows complementing traditional content-based literature reviews by extracting quantitative information from bibliographic networks to detect emerging topics, and by revealing the dynamic evolution of the scientific production of a discipline. This dynamic analysis allowed highlighting research directions and critical areas for the development of the "Smart Factory". At the same time, it offers insights on the fields on which companies, associations, politicians and technology providers need to focus in order to allow a real transition towards the implementation of large-scale Smart Factory

Supply chain simulation in a Big Data context: risks and uncertainty analysis

Due to their complex and dynamic nature, Supply Chains are prone to risks that may occur at any time and place. To tackle this problem, simulation can be used. However, such models should use Big Data technologies, in order to provide the level of data and detail contained in the data sources associated to the business processes. In this regard, this paper considered a real case of an automotive electronics Supply chain. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to propose a simulation tool, which uses real industrial data, provided by a Big Data Warehouse, and use such decision-support artifact to test different types of risks. More concretely, risks in the supply and demand end of the network are analyzed. The presented results also demonstrate the possible benefits that can be achieved by using simulation in the analysis of risks in a Supply Chain.This work has been supported by FCT–Fundação para a Ciência e Tec-nologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2019 and by the Doctoral scholarship PDE/BDE/114566/2016 funded by FCT, the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology andHigher Education, through national funds, and co-financed by the European Social Fund(ESF) through the Operational Programme for Human Capital (POCH)

Follow-up post natale in nati da madre con infezione certa da Toxoplasma gondii considerazioni sul management prenatale.

The clinical management of perinatal toxoplasmosis involves a gynaecologist during pregnancy and a neonatologist after delivery. Then, in the absence of a uniform approach, early evaluation of infected infants requires a thorough long-term follow-up also in asymptomatic children, who have to be observed for at least one year due to unpredictable sequelae in later life. We retrospectively analyzed pregnancy management of 54 women with certain infection from Toxoplasma gondii (TG) and prospectively enrolled their infants to compare prenatal management with postnatal clinical outcome. All mothers with seroconversion for TG infection were from the Palermo area and were retrospectively analyzed, whereas their newborns referred to G. Di Cristina Children Clinical Hospital between 1999-2004 were prospectively enrolled in a 48-month follow-up. Timing of infection was dated for 24 women (45%) to the first trimester, 18 (33%) to the second and 12 (22%) the third. The maternal-fetal transmission rate was 17.2%. Prenatal diagnosis from amniotic fluid was performed in 25/54 pregnant subjects and showed positive results in 6. Despite diagnosis of TG infection, 9 women were untreated and only 2 with positive amniocentesis received combined therapy. 10/55 enrolled infants were infected and half of them were preterm and/or SGA at birth. None showed peculiar signs of TG at birth but 4 had abnormalities during the follow-up. 9/10 infected children were born to mothers who had undergone neither amniocentesis nor combined therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Our work confirms the difficulty of applying standardized therapeutic protocol for TG infection during pregnancy. The asymptomatic course of TG infection at birth confirms the importance of an instrumental long-term follow-up to identify typical TG lesion to prevent sequelae

The MRN complex is transcriptionally regulated by MYCN during neural cell proliferation to control replication stress

The MRE11/RAD50/NBS1 (MRN) complex is a major sensor of DNA double strand breaks, whose role in controlling faithful DNA replication and preventing replication stress is also emerging. Inactivation of the MRN complex invariably leads to developmental and/or degenerative neuronal defects, the pathogenesis of which still remains poorly understood. In particular, NBS1 gene mutations are associated with microcephaly and strongly impaired cerebellar development, both in humans and in the mouse model. These phenotypes strikingly overlap those induced by inactivation of MYCN, an essential promoter of the expansion of neuronal stem and progenitor cells, suggesting that MYCN and the MRN complex might be connected on a unique pathway essential for the safe expansion of neuronal cells. Here, we show that MYCN transcriptionally controls the expression of each component of the MRN complex. By genetic and pharmacological inhibition of the MRN complex in a MYCN overexpression model and in the more physiological context of the Hedgehog-dependent expansion of primary cerebellar granule progenitor cells, we also show that the MRN complex is required for MYCN-dependent proliferation. Indeed, its inhibition resulted in DNA damage, activation of a DNA damage response, and cell death in a MYCN- and replication-dependent manner. Our data indicate the MRN complex is essential to restrain MYCN-induced replication stress during neural cell proliferation and support the hypothesis that replication-born DNA damage is responsible for the neuronal defects associated with MRN dysfunctions.Cell Death and Differentiation advance online publication, 12 June 2015; doi:10.1038/cdd.2015.81

Effects of Anacetrapib in Patients with Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease remain at high risk for cardiovascular events despite effective statin-based treatment of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. The inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) by anacetrapib reduces LDL cholesterol levels and increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. However, trials of other CETP inhibitors have shown neutral or adverse effects on cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 30,449 adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive atorvastatin therapy and who had a mean LDL cholesterol level of 61 mg per deciliter (1.58 mmol per liter), a mean non-HDL cholesterol level of 92 mg per deciliter (2.38 mmol per liter), and a mean HDL cholesterol level of 40 mg per deciliter (1.03 mmol per liter). The patients were assigned to receive either 100 mg of anacetrapib once daily (15,225 patients) or matching placebo (15,224 patients). The primary outcome was the first major coronary event, a composite of coronary death, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization. RESULTS: During the median follow-up period of 4.1 years, the primary outcome occurred in significantly fewer patients in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (1640 of 15,225 patients [10.8%] vs. 1803 of 15,224 patients [11.8%]; rate ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 0.97; P=0.004). The relative difference in risk was similar across multiple prespecified subgroups. At the trial midpoint, the mean level of HDL cholesterol was higher by 43 mg per deciliter (1.12 mmol per liter) in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (a relative difference of 104%), and the mean level of non-HDL cholesterol was lower by 17 mg per deciliter (0.44 mmol per liter), a relative difference of -18%. There were no significant between-group differences in the risk of death, cancer, or other serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive statin therapy, the use of anacetrapib resulted in a lower incidence of major coronary events than the use of placebo. (Funded by Merck and others; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN48678192 ; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01252953 ; and EudraCT number, 2010-023467-18 .)

Effect of remote ischaemic conditioning on clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI): a single-blind randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Remote ischaemic conditioning with transient ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm has been shown to reduce myocardial infarct size in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). We investigated whether remote ischaemic conditioning could reduce the incidence of cardiac death and hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months. METHODS: We did an international investigator-initiated, prospective, single-blind, randomised controlled trial (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI) at 33 centres across the UK, Denmark, Spain, and Serbia. Patients (age >18 years) with suspected STEMI and who were eligible for PPCI were randomly allocated (1:1, stratified by centre with a permuted block method) to receive standard treatment (including a sham simulated remote ischaemic conditioning intervention at UK sites only) or remote ischaemic conditioning treatment (intermittent ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm through four cycles of 5-min inflation and 5-min deflation of an automated cuff device) before PPCI. Investigators responsible for data collection and outcome assessment were masked to treatment allocation. The primary combined endpoint was cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02342522) and is completed. FINDINGS: Between Nov 6, 2013, and March 31, 2018, 5401 patients were randomly allocated to either the control group (n=2701) or the remote ischaemic conditioning group (n=2700). After exclusion of patients upon hospital arrival or loss to follow-up, 2569 patients in the control group and 2546 in the intervention group were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. At 12 months post-PPCI, the Kaplan-Meier-estimated frequencies of cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure (the primary endpoint) were 220 (8·6%) patients in the control group and 239 (9·4%) in the remote ischaemic conditioning group (hazard ratio 1·10 [95% CI 0·91-1·32], p=0·32 for intervention versus control). No important unexpected adverse events or side effects of remote ischaemic conditioning were observed. INTERPRETATION: Remote ischaemic conditioning does not improve clinical outcomes (cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure) at 12 months in patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI. FUNDING: British Heart Foundation, University College London Hospitals/University College London Biomedical Research Centre, Danish Innovation Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, TrygFonden

Fast screening for liposome encapsulated hemoglobin (LEH) using ADVIA 120 flow cytometry-based hematological analyzer

The artificial enhancing of the uptake, transport or delivery of oxygen, including the intake of modified hemoglobin products (e.g. HBOCs) is a prohibited method included in the WADA List of Prohibited Substances (M1. Manipulation of Blood and Blood Components). In this work we present a fast screening to detect liposome encapsulated hemoglobins (LEH). LEH can be detected in serum/plasma using flow cytometry-based techniques with a dual color staining procedure that requires several hours for sample preparation and analysis. The aim of this work is to test the potential of a cytometry-based hematological analyzer such as ADVIA 120 (Siemens) for a rapid screening of the presence of liposomes within a serum/plasma sample