NEGATIVE SYNERGISM BETWENN THE COMBINATION OF STEROID AND LOW MOLECULAR WEIGHT HEPARIN (LMWH) ON BONE METABOLISM, IN PATIENTS TREATED FOR LYMPHOMA

n/

On-line Physics Laboratory Experiments: Research Activities in the LABNET2 Project

The recent growth of interest of teachers to introduce the use of computer as educational tool encourages the development of didactic environments so that the use of computer classrooms and the resources of the web become daily tools. An aspect of distance education not currently supported by most support environments – commercial and experimental – is related to the possibility of performing laboratory exercises remotely. In the present paper, we illustrate on-going research activities and experimentations within the project LABNET2 of the Italian Interuniversity Computer Science Consortium (CINI) in the National Laboratory for Multimedia and Telematics (ITEM) in Naples. ITEM runs a set of projects, called LABNET, for the experimentation of technologies of remote access to laboratories. Such projects foresee the creation of laboratories, into which real technical-scientific equipments are remotely accessible to teachers and students. Such objective is achieved through the realization of a suitable computer and network infrastructure and the development of necessary software applications. The research activities described here are aimed at remote management of a physics laboratory. By taking advantage of telematics and multimedia technologies, some experiments available in the Physics laboratory (called LAFIDIN) of the Engineering Faculty of the Federico II University of Naples have been made controllable remotely over the Internet. The remote management allows students to perform experimentations, control equipments and visualize the results of the experiments as if these were performed locally. The access to a real laboratory, even if realized through remote control, aims at a greater didactic effectiveness when compared to conventional techniques of virtual laboratories, supported by advanced environments for distance learning. In this paper, we discuss also results of trials run in cooperation with 10 high school institutes of the district of Naples and Avellino. Students performed physics experiments on remote equipments through Internet connection from their schools. During the execution of the experiments, students had the possibility to have a complete vision of what happens in the laboratory through a remote controlled video camera. The camera helps to improve the pedagogical effectiveness of the experiments, remarking the difference with computer simulated experiments

Magnetoelastic behaviour of a soft ferromagnetic ribbon in a silicone sheathing

The effect of a silicone sheathing on the static and dynamic magnetoelastic properties of an amorphous ferromagnetic ribbon were experimentally investigated and some simple modelling of the detected behaviour are reported. Since silicone sheath and ferromagnetic ribbon do not form alloy, it is shown that internal friction between the two component has a determining role. In the presence of static friction, magnetisation and magnetoelastic wave amplitude are prevented by the silicone sheath; but after a threshold values of the magnetising field a dump occurs towards more easy magnetisation or higher amplitude of oscillations (in resonance condition), respectively. The magnetisation curve represents a step by crossing the threshold magnetising field value; this step is very flat so that it can be used for sensors of a little magnetic field change or as switch activated by little magnetic field input. For what concerns the application of this two component material as resonator core it can be deduced that, also when a silicone sheath is present, the amplitude of resonant magnetoelastic wave is a good detector of stress, strain or local magnetic field; so that the application of magnetoelastic resonators made by amorphous ribbon core may be expanded to the cases which require a protection covering, as for example when it is necessary to work in water or in the human body

Serum Free Light-Chain Ratio at Diagnosis Is Associated with Early Renal Damage in Multiple Myeloma: A Case Series Real-World Study

The serum free light-chain (FLC) ratio is a sensitive tool for the differential diagnosis of plasma cell disorders and is biomarker of multiple myeloma (MM) progression from premalignant conditions. Here, we investigate the potential role of FLC ratio at diagnosis in identifying early renal damage in MM patients and other correlations with clinical, laboratory, and molecular findings. A total of 34 MM patients who had undergone autologous stem cell transplantation were included in this retrospective case series study, and FLC quantification was performed with nephelometric assays. In our study, sFLC ratio was significantly associated with light-chain MM and β-2 microglobulin levels, likely indicating a high disease burden at diagnosis, especially in patients without heavy chain M-protein at serum electrophoresis. Moreover, the sFLC ratio was inversely correlated with glomerular filtration rate, possibly identifying early renal damage in MM patients. Our preliminary results confirm the importance of early sFLC evaluation, especially in patients with the light-chain MM type and low disease burden, to minimize the risk of late renal failure