Gastro-intestinal parasites of pigs in Sardinia: a copromicroscopical investigation

This paper illustrates a copromicroscopical investigation carried out in Sardinia to update epidemiological data on diffusion of gastro-intestinal parasites in swine. Results obtained lead to suggest the employment of copromicroscopic exam to monitorate parasites diffusion in swine breedings in order to set up correct prophylactic and therapeutically intervents

Movements execution in amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.

We evaluated the relationship between motor and neuropsychological deficits in subjects affected by amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) and {early} Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Kinematics of goal-directed movement of aMCI and AD subjects were compared to those of age-matched control subjects. AD showed a slowing down of motor performance compared to aMCI and controls. No relationships were found between motor and cognitive performances in both AD and aMCI. Our results suggest that the different motor behaviour between AD and aMCI cannot be related to memory deficits, probably reflecting the initial degeneration of parietal-frontal circuits for movement planning. The onset of motor dysfunction in early AD could represent the transition from aMCI to AD

URBAN SUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEMS ASSESSMENT THROUGH AIRBORNE EARTH OBSERVATION: LESSONS LEARNED

Europe’s big cities and metropolitan areas constitute an ecosystem where climate trends are having, and will continue to have, a big impact on the population in the short, medium, and long term. Therefore, the task of generating a mapping approach over urban ecosystems to provide indicators assessing their sustainability and facilitating the design and implementation of policies and derived actions has become a priority for the Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya (ICGC) as a mapping agency.The ICGC has been using its own assets and competences in airborne Earth Observation for data capture and processing as well as inclusion of additional data such as cadastral databases and digital surface models to generate a set of urban sustainability indicators. ICGC has designed flight campaigns at a very high spatial and spectral resolution in visible, near infrared and long wave infrared regions, processed geospatial data and finally transformed geoinformation into demanded ICGC products over urban ecosystems such as urban green, solar potential, light pollution, energy leaks or urban heat island effect. This approach has been applied in coordination with urban planning stakeholders in different cities and is planned to be extended to the majority of urban ecosystems in Catalonia.This paper presents a critical summary of the main advantages, disadvantages, constrains and lessons learned in the search for feasible, available and desirable responses from the earth-observation airborne-sensor point of view to the main urban ecosystem challenges.</p

Implementation of an enhanced recovery program after bariatric surgery: Clinical and cost-effectiveness analysis

Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programs are perioperative evidence-based interventions that have the purpose of making the perioperative pathway more efficient in safeguarding patient safety and quality of care. Recently, several ERAS components have been introduced in the setting of bariatric surgery (Enhanced Recovery After Bariatric Surgery, ERABS). The aim of the present study was to evaluate clinical efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the implementation of an ERABS program. It was a retrospective case-control study comparing a group of adult obese (body mass index &gt;40) patients treated according to the ERABS protocol (2014-2015) with a historical control group that received standard care (2013-2014) in the General and Emergency Surgery Department, Arcispedale S. Maria Nuova Hospital, Reggio Emilia, Italy. Data on the occurrence of complications, mortality, re-admissions and re-operations were extracted retrospectively from medical case notes and emergency patient admission lists. Length of hospital stay was significantly different between the two cohort patients. In the control group, the mean length of stay was 12.6±10.9 days, whereas in the ERABS cohort it was 7.1±2.9 days (p=0.02). During hospital stay, seven patients in the control group developed surgical complications, including one patient with major complications, whereas in the ERABS group three patients developed minor complications. Economic analysis revealed a different cost distribution between the two groups. On the whole, there were significant savings for almost all the variables taken into consideration, mainly driven by exclusion of using intensive care unit, which is by far more expensive than the average cost of post-anesthesia care unit. Our study confirmed the implementation of an ERABS protocol to have shortened hospital stay and was cost-saving while safeguarding patient safety

Generación de mapas de luminancia urbana a partir de un sensor hiperespectral VNIR y una cámara fotogramétrica digital

Revista oficial de la Asociación Española de Teledetección[EN] This paper puts forward a methodology for the generation of high resolution luminance maps from simultaneous hyperspectral VNIR and photogrammetric imagery. The integration of hyperspectral radiance at ground level, properly weighted by the photopic-based coefficients, plus a sensor fusion strategy, provides for the first time a quantitative description of the luminous flux at high spatial resolution and with multi-angle geometry. Accordingly, this methodology allows following up any strategic policy aimed to improve urban illumination management and quantifying its effects in terms of energetic efficiency.[ES] Esta comunicación presenta una metodología para la generación de mapas de luminancia de alta reso-lución a partir de imágenes simultáneas hiperespectrales VNIR y fotogramétricas. La integración de la radiancia hiperespectral a nivel de suelo, ponderada según la curva de visión fotópica, más una estrategia de calibración cruzada de sensores, permiten por primera vez la descripción cuantitativa del flujo luminoso de altísima resolución espacial y con posibilidad de extensión a geometría multiangular. Desde el punto vista práctico, esta metodología hace posible el seguimiento de las acciones adoptadas para mejorar la gestión de la iluminación urbana y cuantifi-car su resultado en términos de eficiencia energética.Pipia, L.; Alamús, R.; Tardà, A.; Pérez-Aragüés, F.; Palà, V.; Corbera, J.; Arnaldich, J. (2016). Hyperspectral VNIR and photogrammetric data fusion approach for urban luminance map generation. Revista de Teledetección. (47):85-97. doi:10.4995/raet.2016.5383.SWORD859747Aubé, M. 2008. Light Pollution Modelling and Detection in a Heterogeneous Environment. Proceedings of Starlight, a Common Heritage, La Palma, Espa-a.Barducci, A., Benvenuti, M., Bonora, L., Castagnoli, F., Guzzi, D., Marcoionni P., Pippi, I. 2006. Hyperspectral remote sensing for light pollution monitoring, Annals of Geophysics, 49(1), 305-310.Berk, A., Anderson, G. P., Acharya, P. K., Bernstein, L. S., Muratov, L., Lee, J., … Lewis, P. E. (2005). MODTRAN 5: a reformulated atmospheric band model with auxiliary species and practical multiple scattering options: update. Algorithms and Technologies for Multispectral, Hyperspectral, and Ultraspectral Imagery XI. doi:10.1117/12.606026CIE. 1926. Commission internationale de l'Eclairage Proceedings, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Gaston, K. J., Visser, M. E., & Hölker, F. (2015). The biological impacts of artificial light at night: the research challenge. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 370(1667), 20140133. doi:10.1098/rstb.2014.0133Kyba, C., Garz, S., Kuechly, H., de Miguel, A., Zamorano, J., Fischer, J., & Hölker, F. (2014). High-Resolution Imagery of Earth at Night: New Sources, Opportunities and Challenges. Remote Sensing, 7(1), 1-23. doi:10.3390/rs70100001Oppenheim, A.V., Schafer, R.W. 1999. Discrete-Time Signal Processing, Second Edition, Prentice-Hall Inc.Zeitler, W., Dörstel, C., Jacobsen, K. 2002. Geometric Calibration of the DMC: Method and Results, International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Science, 2002, 34, 324-332

The variability of refractivity in the atmospheric boundary layer of a tropical island volcano measured by ground-based interferometric radar

For 24 h we measured continuously the variability of atmospheric refractivity over a volcano on the tropical island of Montserrat using a ground-based radar interferometer. We observed variations in phase that we interpret as due to changing water vapour on the propagation path between the radar and the volcano and we present them here in the context of the behaviour of the atmospheric boundary layer over the island. The water vapour behaviour was forced by diurnal processes, the passage of a synoptic-scale system and the presence of a plume of volcanic gas. The interferometer collected images of amplitude and phase every minute. From pairs of phase images, interferograms were calculated and analyzed every minute and averaged hourly, together with contemporaneous measurements of zenith delays estimated from a network of 14 GPS receivers. The standard deviation of phase at two sites on the volcano surface spanned a range of about 1–5 radians, the lowest values occurring at night on the lower slopes and the highest values during the day on the upper slopes. This was also reflected in spatial patterns of variability. Two-dimensional profiles of radar-measured delays were modelled using an atmosphere with water vapour content decreasing upwards and water vapour variability increasing upwards. Estimates of the effect of changing water vapour flux from the volcanic plume indicate that it should contribute only a few percent to this atmospheric variability. A diurnal cycle within the lower boundary layer producing a turbulence-dominated mixed layer during the day and stable layers at night is consistent with the observed refractivity

Meta-analysis of pharmacogenetic interactions in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis clinical trials

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether genetic subgroups in recent amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) trials responded to treatment with lithium carbonate, but that the treatment effect was lost in a large cohort of nonresponders. METHODS: Individual participant data were obtained from 3 randomized trials investigating the efficacy of lithium carbonate. We matched clinical data with data regarding the UNC13A and C9orf72 genotype. Our primary outcome was survival at 12 months. On an exploratory basis, we assessed whether the effect of lithium depended on the genotype. RESULTS: Clinical data were available for 518 of the 606 participants. Overall, treatment with lithium carbonate did not improve 12-month survival (hazard ratio [HR] 1.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.7-1.4; p = 0.96). Both the UNC13A and C9orf72 genotype were independent predictors of survival (HR 2.4, 95% CI 1.3-4.3; p = 0.006 and HR 2.5, 95% CI 1.1-5.2; p = 0.032, respectively). The effect of lithium was different for UNC13A carriers (p = 0.027), but not for C9orf72 carriers (p = 0.22). The 12-month survival probability for UNC13A carriers treated with lithium carbonate improved from 40.1% (95% CI 23.2-69.1) to 69.7% (95% CI 50.4-96.3). CONCLUSIONS: This study incorporated genetic data into past ALS trials to determine treatment effects in a genetic post hoc analysis. Our results suggest that we should reorient our strategies toward finding treatments for ALS, start focusing on genotype-targeted treatments, and standardize genotyping in order to optimize randomization and analysis for future clinical trials