How future surgery will benefit from SARS-COV-2-related measures: a SPIGC survey conveying the perspective of Italian surgeons

COVID-19 negatively affected surgical activity, but the potential benefits resulting from adopted measures remain unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the change in surgical activity and potential benefit from COVID-19 measures in perspective of Italian surgeons on behalf of SPIGC. A nationwide online survey on surgical practice before, during, and after COVID-19 pandemic was conducted in March-April 2022 (NCT:05323851). Effects of COVID-19 hospital-related measures on surgical patients' management and personal professional development across surgical specialties were explored. Data on demographics, pre-operative/peri-operative/post-operative management, and professional development were collected. Outcomes were matched with the corresponding volume. Four hundred and seventy-three respondents were included in final analysis across 14 surgical specialties. Since SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, application of telematic consultations (4.1% vs. 21.6%; p < 0.0001) and diagnostic evaluations (16.4% vs. 42.2%; p < 0.0001) increased. Elective surgical activities significantly reduced and surgeons opted more frequently for conservative management with a possible indication for elective (26.3% vs. 35.7%; p < 0.0001) or urgent (20.4% vs. 38.5%; p < 0.0001) surgery. All new COVID-related measures are perceived to be maintained in the future. Surgeons' personal education online increased from 12.6% (pre-COVID) to 86.6% (post-COVID; p < 0.0001). Online educational activities are considered a beneficial effect from COVID pandemic (56.4%). COVID-19 had a great impact on surgical specialties, with significant reduction of operation volume. However, some forced changes turned out to be benefits. Isolation measures pushed the use of telemedicine and telemetric devices for outpatient practice and favored communication for educational purposes and surgeon-patient/family communication. From the Italian surgeons' perspective, COVID-related measures will continue to influence future surgical clinical practice

Science with the space-based interferometer LISA. IV: probing inflation with gravitational waves

We investigate the potential for the LISA space-based interferometer to detect the stochastic gravitational wave background produced from different mechanisms during inflation. Focusing on well-motivated scenarios, we study the resulting contributions from particle production during inflation, inflationary spectator fields with varying speed of sound, effective field theories of inflation with specific patterns of symmetry breaking and models leading to the formation of primordial black holes. The projected sensitivities of LISA are used in a model-independent way for various detector designs and configurations. We demonstrate that LISA is able to probe these well-motivated inflationary scenarios beyond the irreducible vacuum tensor modes expected from any inflationary background.Comment: 53 pages, 18 figures; v2: minor changes to match published versio

Inflationary magnetogenesis with added helicity: constraints from non-gaussianities

International audienceIn previous work (Caprini and Sorbo 2014 J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. JCAP10(2014)056), two of us have proposed a model of inflationary magnetogenesis based on a rolling auxiliary field able both to account for the magnetic fields inferred by the (non) observation of gamma-rays from blazars, and to start the galactic dynamo, without incurring in any strong coupling or strong backreaction regime. Here we evaluate the correction to the scalar spectrum and bispectrum with respect to single-field slow-roll inflation generated in that scenario. The strongest constraints on the model originate from the non-observation of a scalar bispectrum. Nevertheless, even when those constraints are taken into consideration, the scenario can successfully account for the observed magnetic fields as long as the energy scale of inflation is smaller than GeV, under some conditions on the slow roll of the auxiliary scalar field

Periodic orbit-attitude solutions along planar orbits in a perturbed circular restricted three-body problem for the Earth-Moon system

Interest on Large Space Structures (LSS), orbiting in strategic and possibly long-term stable locations, is nowadays increasing in the space community. LSS can serve as strategic outpost to support a variety of manned and unmanned mission, or may carry scientific payloads for astronomical observations. The paper focuses on analysing LSS in the Earth-Moon system, exploring dynamical structures that are available within a multi-body gravitational environment. Coupling between attitude and orbital dynamics is investigated, with particular interest on the gravity gradient torque exerted by the two massive attractors. First, natural periodic orbit-attitude solutions are obtained; a LSS that exploits such solutions would benefit of a naturally periodic body rotation synchronous with the orbital motion, easing the effort of the attitude control system to satisfy pointing requirements. Then, the solar radiation pressure is introduced into the fully coupled dynamical model and its effects investigated, discovering novel periodic attitude solutions. Benefits of periodic behaviours that incorporate solar radiation pressure are discussed, and analysed via the variation of some parameters (e.g reflection/absorption coefficients, position of the centre of pressure). As a final step to refine the current perturbed orbit-attitude model, a structure flexibility is also superimposed to a reference orbit-attitude rigid body motion via a simple, yet effective model. The coupling of structural vibrations and attitude motion is preliminarily explored, and allows identification of possible challenges, that may be faced to position a LSS in a periodic orbit within the Earth-Moon system

From DNA barcoding to personalized nutrition: the evolution of food traceability

A genuine nutritional product is pivotal for getting proper health benefits and preventing pathologies. However, with the increase in global trading of raw and processed food products, reliable authentication is essential for correct labelling to ensure consumer safety. The use of DNA-based tools has become a prospective solution in the near future to solve this problem. Currently, technologies exploiting DNA polymorphism between species are able to characterize the food composition of pure (DNA barcoding) or multi-species (DNA metabarcoding) food items, and the application of this technology has started entering into food regulations. Here, we provide a brief overview of the history, success, and forthcoming applications of such approaches, while also considering the influence of food on human microbiota and the emerging trends toward the adoption of a ‘personalized nutrition’

Prevalencia de trastornos témporo mandibulares y bruxismo en Uruguay

Objetivos: Determinar el nivel de prevalencia de Bruxismo y Trastornos Témporo Mandibulares (TTM) en dos poblaciones, Montevideo e Interior, en Uruguay. Método: Se realizó un estudio descriptivo transversal a nivel nacional. El muestreo fue estratifi cado polietápico. Resultados: Las variables seleccionadas y analizadas en este primer artículo fueron: grado de apertura bucal, dolor muscular, chasquido de ATM, facetas de desgaste parafuncional, dolor de cabeza, relato de ruidos articulares, sensación de haber dormido apretando los dientes y autopercepción del stress. Se han comprobando las siguientes prevalencias globales: para TTM: 55% con al menos un síntoma, siendo más prevalente en Montevideo (57%) que en el Interior (53%). Con al menos un signo clínico: 44%, siendo también mas prevalente en Montevideo (47%) que en el Interior (41%). En cuanto a Bruxismo activo, ante la pregunta de tener la sensación al despertar de haber dormido apretando los dientes, se encontró una prevalencia de 30,72% en Montevideo y 23,19% en el Interior, en tanto que de ser o haber sido bruxómano a través de la valoración de las facetas de desgaste parafuncional 71,95% en Montevideo y 62,17% en el Interior. Conclusiones: Con este relevamiento hemos constatado una elevada prevalencia de TTM y Bruxismo en la población uruguaya y recomendamos la elaboración de medidas de prevención y tratamiento a nivel colectivo