Temporal changes in impedance of implanted adults for various cochlear segments

La prima valutazione oggettiva effettuata durante la procedura chirurgica e nel follow-up dei pazienti sottoposti ad impianto cocleare è la misura dellimpedenza degli elettrodi. Tale misura fornisce informazioni sia sullintegrità degli elettrodi sia sul mezzo circostante gli stessi ed è uno dei principali fattori responsabili dei consumi energetici dellimpianto cocleare. In questo studio abbiamo valutato in pazienti adulti con impianto cocleare e array perimodiolare, le variazioni nel tempo dellimpedenza degli elettrodi, valutando le differenze nelle varie partizioni cocleari (basale, medio e apicale) e correlandone i valori ai principali parametri psicoacustici del mappaggio: livelli di T e C. Abbiamo testato 28 pazienti adulti impiantati presso il nostro Dipartimento tra il 2009 e il 2014, tutti impiantati per via cocleostomica con un array perimodiolare completamente inserito, utilizzando la tecnica chirurgia soft surgery. Le impedenze medie sono state misurate in modalità common-ground e MP1+2 per i seguenti segmenti di array: basale (dallelettrodo n.1 al n.7); mediale (dal n.8 al n.14); apicale (dal n.15 al n.22). Lanalisi della varianza (ANOVA) è stata effettuata per valutare le tendenze nelle misure ripetute. Il livello di significatività accettato in tale studio è p<0.05 corretto con metodo Bonferroni. I risultati hanno mostrato una significativa riduzione globale delle impedenze dallattivazione fino a 1 mese e un valore più alto nel tempo dell impedenza nel segmento basale dellarray rispetto al segmento apicale e medio. Lanalisi statistica temporale della correlazione tra i valori dellimpedenza globale e i livelli di T e C ha mostrato una correlazione significativa fino a sei mesi sia per le impedenze registrate in common-ground che in modalità MP1+2. Lanalisi statistica dei vari segmenti cocleari ha mostrato inoltre una significativa correlazione dellimpedenza nel segmento basale e i parametri del fitting fino ad un anno di follow-up. In conclusione gli alti valori dell impedenza nel segmento basale nel tempo possono essere spiegati con la formazione di fibrosi endococleare dopo linserimento dellarray, fenomeno maggiore nel segmento basale della coclea, limitato invece nelle regioni apicali e medie. La correlazione lineare dei valori dellimpedenza con i livelli di T e C diventa infatti statisticamente non significativa dopo tre/sei mesi nei segmenti apicali e medi e resta significativa fino ad un anno per il tratto basale. Questo comportamento sottolinea limportanza nel tempo dellinfluenza dei fattori intra-cocleari sui parametri del fitting nella porzione cocleare basale

Supracricoid laryngectomy for recurrent laryngeal cancer after chemoradiotherapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

La recidiva e la persistenza del cancro della laringe dopo radioterapia rappresentano eventi insidiosi, i cui tassi di incidenza variano dal 13% al 36%. Lintervento di laringectomia sopracricoidea (LSC), con cricoioidopessia (CIP) o cricoioidoepiglottopessia (CIEP), è in grado di garantire risultati oncologici e funzionali affidabili per i pazienti selezionati affetti da carcinoma glottico o sopraglottico, sia in caso di neoplasia primitiva che di recidiva. La presente metanalisi ha lo scopo di valutare i parametri oncologici e funzionali nei pazienti trattati con LSC per recidiva di carcinoma squamocellulare della laringe dopo fallimento di radioterapia. La ricerca è stata effettuata sui databases MEDLINE, PubMed ed EMBASE (da gennaio 1990 a dicembre 2015, solo in lingua inglese). Per la metanalisi è stato impiegato il metodo DerSimonian e Laird con effetto midex random; leterogeneicità è stata misurata mediante I. Sono stati inclusi nella ricerca 276 articoli, tra i quali ne sono stati selezionati 14 per la metanalisi, per un totale di 291 pazienti. Lanalisi statistica ha mostrato una sopravvivenza globale (OS) a 5 anni del 80,2% (IC 0,719-0,885; I= 62%; p = 0,003) e una sopravvivenza libera da malattia (DFS) a 5 anni del 89,5% (IC 0,838-0,952; I= 52%; p = 0,022). Le indicazioni chirurgiche per una LSC dopo fallimento di radioterapia non cambiano rispetto a quelle adottate per pazienti con tumore primitivo. Pertanto, è stato ipotizzato che lattenta valutazione dellestensione del tumore, in caso di recidiva, potrebbe essere responsabile dellalto tasso di OS e DFS a 5 anni. Per quanto riguarda i parametri di valutazione funzionale precoce postoperatoria, il tempo medio di decannulazione è stato di 35,6 giorni (IC 24,3-46,9; I= 95%; p < 0,001), mentre il tempo medio di rimozione del sondino naso-gastrico (SNG) o della gastrostrostomia percutanea endoscopica (PEG) è stato di 28,3 giorni (IC 22,7-33,8; I= 86%; p <= 0.001). Questi dati sono in accordo con gli Autori che preferiscono la rimozione precoce del sondino nasogastrico. In tal modo si può riprendere lalimentazione orale quando è ancora presente il tubo endotracheale a protezione delle vie aree e permettere laspirazione degli eventuali residui alimentari

Mediterranean-type diet and brain structural change from 73 to 76 years in a Scottish cohort

STUDY FUNDING The data were collected by a Research into Ageing programme grant; research continues as part of the Age UK–funded Disconnected Mind project. The work was undertaken by The University of Edinburgh Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, part of the cross-council Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Initiative (MR/K026992/1), with funding from the BBSRC and Medical Research Council. Imaging and image analysis was performed at the Brain Research Imaging Centre (sbirc.ed.ac.uk/), Edinburgh, supported by the Scottish Funding Council SINAPSE Collaboration. Derivation of mean cortical thickness measures was funded by the Scottish Funding Council’s Postdoctoral and Early Career Researchers Exchange Fund awarded by SINAPSE to David Alexander Dickie. L.C.A.C. acknowledges funding from the Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) division.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A systematic evaluation of physical activity and diet policies in Scotland: Results from the 2021 Active Healthy Kids Report Card

Background Policymaking regarding physical activity (PA) and diet plays an important role in childhood health promotion. This study provides a detailed examination of Scottish government and policy for child and adolescent PA and diet and discusses strengths and areas for improvement. Methods Scottish policy documents (n = 18 [PA]; n = 10 [diet])—published in 2011–20—were reviewed for grading using an adapted version of the Health-Enhancing Physical Activity Policy Audit Tool Version 2. Results There is clear evidence of leadership and commitment to improving PA and diet and tackling obesity in children and adolescents. The allocation of funds and resources for policy implementation has increased substantially over the past decade. Progress through early key stages of public policymaking—policy agenda and formation—has improved. However, there is limited information on later key stages, including policy monitoring and evaluation. Conclusions Childhood PA and diet are a clear priority in Scotland, and PA and diet policies clearly support the desire to achieve other goals, including reducing inequalities and increasing active travel in Scotland. Nonetheless, future policies should be further strengthened through clear(er) plans of implementation, and monitoring and evaluation to support their societal impact

Shrinking a large dataset to identify variables associated with increased risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection in Western Kenya

Large datasets are often not amenable to analysis using traditional single-step approaches. Here, our general objective was to apply imputation techniques, principal component analysis (PCA), elastic net and generalized linear models to a large dataset in a systematic approach to extract the most meaningful predictors for a health outcome. We extracted predictors for Plasmodium falciparum infection, from a large covariate dataset while facing limited numbers of observations, using data from the People, Animals, and their Zoonoses (PAZ) project to demonstrate these techniques: data collected from 415 homesteads in western Kenya, contained over 1500 variables that describe the health, environment, and social factors of the humans, livestock, and the homesteads in which they reside. The wide, sparse dataset was simplified to 42 predictors of P. falciparum malaria infection and wealth rankings were produced for all homesteads. The 42 predictors make biological sense and are supported by previous studies. This systematic data-mining approach we used would make many large datasets more manageable and informative for decision-making processes and health policy prioritization

Global Search for New Physics with 2.0/fb at CDF

Data collected in Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron are searched for indications of new electroweak-scale physics. Rather than focusing on particular new physics scenarios, CDF data are analyzed for discrepancies with the standard model prediction. A model-independent approach (Vista) considers gross features of the data, and is sensitive to new large cross-section physics. Further sensitivity to new physics is provided by two additional algorithms: a Bump Hunter searches invariant mass distributions for "bumps" that could indicate resonant production of new particles; and the Sleuth procedure scans for data excesses at large summed transverse momentum. This combined global search for new physics in 2.0/fb of ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV reveals no indication of physics beyond the standard model.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. Final version which appeared in Physical Review D Rapid Communication

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

Event reconstruction for KM3NeT/ORCA using convolutional neural networks

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the funding agencies: Agence Nationale de la Recherche (contract ANR-15-CE31-0020), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Commission Europeenne (FEDER fund and Marie Curie Program), Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), LabEx UnivEarthS (ANR-10-LABX-0023 and ANR-18-IDEX-0001), Paris Ile-de-France Region, France; Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (SRNSFG, FR-18-1268), Georgia; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Germany; The General Secretariat of Research and Technology (GSRT), Greece; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Ministero dell'Universita e della Ricerca (MUR), PRIN 2017 program (Grant NAT-NET 2017W4HA7S) Italy; Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Professional Training, Morocco; Nederlandse organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), the Netherlands; The National Science Centre, Poland (2015/18/E/ST2/00758); National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS), Romania; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion, Investigacion y Universidades (MCIU): Programa Estatal de Generacion de Conocimiento (refs. PGC2018-096663-B-C41, -A-C42, -B-C43, -B-C44) (MCIU/FEDER), Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence and MultiDark Consolider (MCIU), Junta de Andalucia (ref. SOMM17/6104/UGR), Generalitat Valenciana: Grisolia (ref. GRISOLIA/2018/119) and GenT (ref. CIDEGENT/2018/034) programs, La Caixa Foundation (ref. LCF/BQ/IN17/11620019), EU: MSC program (ref. 713673), Spain.The KM3NeT research infrastructure is currently under construction at two locations in the Mediterranean Sea. The KM3NeT/ORCA water-Cherenkov neutrino detector off the French coast will instrument several megatons of seawater with photosensors. Its main objective is the determination of the neutrino mass ordering. This work aims at demonstrating the general applicability of deep convolutional neural networks to neutrino telescopes, using simulated datasets for the KM3NeT/ORCA detector as an example. To this end, the networks are employed to achieve reconstruction and classification tasks that constitute an alternative to the analysis pipeline presented for KM3NeT/ORCA in the KM3NeT Letter of Intent. They are used to infer event reconstruction estimates for the energy, the direction, and the interaction point of incident neutrinos. The spatial distribution of Cherenkov light generated by charged particles induced in neutrino interactions is classified as shower- or track-like, and the main background processes associated with the detection of atmospheric neutrinos are recognized. Performance comparisons to machine-learning classification and maximum-likelihood reconstruction algorithms previously developed for KM3NeT/ORCA are provided. It is shown that this application of deep convolutional neural networks to simulated datasets for a large-volume neutrino telescope yields competitive reconstruction results and performance improvements with respect to classical approaches.French National Research Agency (ANR) ANR-15-CE31-0020Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Commission Europeenne (FEDER fund)European Union (EU)Institut Universitaire de France (IUF)LabEx UnivEarthS ANR-10-LABX-0023 ANR-18-IDEX-0001Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia FR-18-1268German Research Foundation (DFG)Greek Ministry of Development-GSRTIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) Research Projects of National Relevance (PRIN)Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Professional Training, MoroccoNetherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)National Science Centre, Poland 2015/18/E/ST2/00758National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS), RomaniaMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovacion, Investigacion y Universidades PGC2018-096663-B-C41 A-C42 B-C43 B-C44Severo Ochoa Centre of ExcellenceJunta de Andalucia SOMM17/6104/UGRGeneralitat Valenciana: Grisolia GRISOLIA/2018/119 CIDEGENT/2018/034La Caixa Foundation LCF/BQ/IN17/11620019EU: MSC program 71367

Saethre-Chotzen syndrome : cranofacial anomalies caused by genetic changes in the TWIST gene

In this thesis, one of the most frequently occurring and most variable craniosynostosis syndromes was investigated; Saethre-Chotzen syndrome. Craniosynostosis is the premature obliteration of cranial sutures in the developing embryo. It can also occur in the first few months of life. Saethre-Chotzen syndrome is, besides craniosynostosis, characterized by specific facial and limb abnormalities, of which the most frequently reported are ptosis, prominent crus helicis, cutaneous syndactyly of digit 2 and 3 on both hands and feet, and broad halluces. Saethre-Chotzen syndrome has been linked to the TWIST gene on chromosome 7p21.1. Mutations in and variably sized deletions of this gene can be found in patients with clinical features of Saethre-Chotzen syndrome. The latter, TWIST deletions, often also include part of the surrounding chromosome 7p and are reported to be associated with mental retardation. In Saethre-Chotzen patients, in whom neither a mutation nor a deletion of TWIST had been found, the FGFR3 P250R mutation was in some cases detected. This mutation has specifically been linked to Muenke syndrome that is characterized by unior bicoronal synostosis and slight facial dysmorphology. However, a Saethre-Chotzen like phenotype can also result from this mutation. Because of the possible overlap of Saethre-Chotzen with Muenke syndrome, these syndromes were studied in order to provide clinical criteria that discriminate between the two (chapter 4). Many phenotypic features occur in both syndromes. In addition, although unicoronal synostosis occurs slightly more frequently in Muenke syndrome, unicoronal and bicoronal synostosis are seen in both syndromes. The discrimination between Saethre-Chotzen and Muenke is often not made easily and the associated genes, TWIST and FGFR3, respectively, are simultaneously tested for pathogenic m