Medical Waste Sorting: a computer vision approach for assisted primary sorting

Medical waste, i.e. waste produced during medical activities in hospitals, clinics and laboratories, represents hazardous waste whose management involves special care and high costs. However, this kind of waste contains a significant fraction of highly valued materials that can enter a circular economy process. To this end, in this paper, we propose a computer vision approach for assisting in the primary sorting of medical waste. The feasibility of our approach is demonstrated on a representative dataset we collected and made available to the community, with which we have trained a model that achieves 100\% accuracy, and a new dataset on which the trained model exhibits good generalization.Comment: Accepted for inclusion in IWCIM 2023 @ ICASSP2023, June 5, 2023, Rhodes, Greec

Synergism through WEE1 and CHK1 inhibition in acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Introduction: Screening for synthetic lethality markers has demonstrated that the inhibition of the cell cycle checkpoint kinases WEE1 together with CHK1 drastically affects stability of the cell cycle and induces cell death in rapidly proliferating cells. Exploiting this finding for a possible therapeutic approach has showed efficacy in various solid and hematologic tumors, though not specifically tested in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Methods: The efficacy of the combination between WEE1 and CHK1 inhibitors in B and T cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B/T-ALL) was evaluated in vitro and ex vivo studies. The efficacy of the therapeutic strategy was tested in terms of cytotoxicity, induction of apoptosis, and changes in cell cycle profile and protein expression using B/T-ALL cell lines. In addition, the efficacy of the drug combination was studied in primary B-ALL blasts using clonogenic assays. Results: This study reports, for the first time, the efficacy of the concomitant inhibition of CHK1/CHK2 and WEE1 in ALL cell lines and primary leukemic B-ALL cells using two selective inhibitors: PF-0047736 (CHK1/CHK2 inhibitor) and AZD-1775 (WEE1 inhibitor). We showed strong synergism in the reduction of cell viability, proliferation and induction of apoptosis. The efficacy of the combination was related to the induction of early S-phase arrest and to the induction of DNA damage, ultimately triggering cell death. We reported evidence that the efficacy of the combination treatment is independent from the activation of the p53-p21 pathway. Moreover, gene expression analysis on B-ALL primary samples showed that Chek1 and Wee1 are significantly co-expressed in samples at diagnosis (Pearson r = 0.5770, p = 0.0001) and relapse (Pearson r= 0.8919; p = 0.0001). Finally, the efficacy of the combination was confirmed by the reduction in clonogenic survival of primary leukemic B-ALL cells. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the combination of CHK1 and WEE1 inhibitors may be a promising therapeutic strategy to be tested in clinical trials for adult ALL

Acute cardiopulmonary repercussions in the correct use of the dry-powder inhalers

Modelo do estudo: Trata-se de estudo original, transversal, clínico e comparativo. Objetivo do estudo: Avaliar as repercussões cardiorrespiratórias agudas no uso correto de inaladores aerossóis de pó seco (IPS) em pacientes com asma. Metodologia: Foram avaliados, em dois momentos, 17 pacientes adultos asmáticos em uso de IPS (Formoterol e Budesonida). As variáveis avaliadas, pré e pós-uso do IPS, foram: antropométrica, cognitiva, força muscular, sinais vitais, saturação de oxigênio, pressões respiratórias e pico de fluxo. No primeiro momento (M1) foi avaliada e monitorada a execução rotineira antes e imediatamente após uso do IPS e entregue folheto explicativo sobre o uso correto. No segundo momento (M2), 30 dias após M1, houve a mesma avaliação, entretanto, com execução correta do IPS. Resultados: No M2 ocorreram aumentos significativos da pressão inspiratória de 64,2±2,03 para 74,1±31,7 (cmH2O); pressão expiratória de 71,05±33,8 para 80±31,4 (cmH2O); capacidade vital de 3,3±0,9 para 3,9±0,9 (l) e reduções na frequência de pulso de 80,310,7 para 72,2±9,4 (bpm) e do duplo produto de 10001±1693 para 8846±1416 (teste t-Student pareado, p<0,05). Conclusões: O uso correto de IPS traz ao paciente repercussões cardiorrespiratórias positivas, melhorando as condi- ções respiratórias e reduzindo o trabalho cardíaco><0,05) Conclusões: O uso correto de IPS traz ao paciente repercussões cardiorrespiratórias positivas, melhorando as condições respiratórias e reduzindo o trabalho cardíacoStudy model: It is a cross-over, clinical and comparative study. Objective: To evaluate the acute respiratory and cardiac respercussions in correct use of the dry powder inhalers (DPI) in patients with asthma. Methodology: Seventeen adult patients with asthma using DPI (Formoterol and Budesonide) were evaluated in two moments. The mensuared variables, before and after use of DPI, were: anthropometric, cognitive, muscle strength, vital signs, periferic oxygen saturation, respiratory pressures and peak expiratory flow. In the first moment (M1) was evaluated and monitored the usual performance before and immediately after using DPI and delivered an explicative leaflet about the correct use. In the second moment (M2), 30 days after M1, there was the same evaluation, however, with correct use of the DPI. Results: In the M2 there were increases to inspiratory pressure of 64,2±2,03 to 74,1±31,7 (cmH2O); expiratory pressure of 71,05±33,8 to 80±31,4 (cmH2O); vital capacity of 3,3±0,9 to 3,9±0,9 (l) and reductions in the pulse frequence of 80,3±10,7 to 72,2±9,4 (bm) and double product of 10001±1693 to 8846±1416 (paired t test, p<0,05). Conclusions: The correct use of the DPI promoves the positive respiratory and cardiac repercussions, improving respiratory conditions and reducing cardiac work><0,05).  Conclusions: The correct use of the DPI promoves the positive respiratory and cardiac repercussions, improving respiratory conditions and reducing cardiac wor

Association of Genetic Markers with CSF Oligoclonal Bands in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Objective:to explore the association between genetic markers and Oligoclonal Bands (OCB) in the Cerebro Spinal Fluid (CSF) of Italian Multiple Sclerosis patients.Methods:We genotyped 1115 Italian patients for HLA-DRB1*15 and HLA-A*02. In a subset of 925 patients we tested association with 52 non-HLA SNPs associated with MS susceptibility and we calculated a weighted Genetic Risk Score. Finally, we performed a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) with OCB status on a subset of 562 patients. The best associated SNPs of the Italian GWAS were replicated in silico in Scandinavian and Belgian populations, and meta-analyzed.Results:HLA-DRB1*15 is associated with OCB+: p = 0.03, Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.6, 95% Confidence Limits (CL) = 1.1-2.4. None of the 52 non-HLA MS susceptibility loci was associated with OCB, except one SNP (rs2546890) near IL12B gene (OR: 1.45; 1.09-1.92). The weighted Genetic Risk Score mean was significantly (p = 0.0008) higher in OCB+ (7.668) than in OCB- (7.412) patients. After meta-analysis on the three datasets (Italian, Scandinavian and Belgian) for the best associated signals resulted from the Italian GWAS, the strongest signal was a SNP (rs9320598) on chromosome 6q (p = 9.4×10-7) outside the HLA region (65 Mb).Discussion:genetic factors predispose to the development of OCB

Significant reduction of the hybrid BCR/ABL transcripts after induction and consolidation therapy is a powerful predictor of treatment response in adult Philadelphia-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

in pres

Mild Pd-Catalyzed Aminocarbonylation of (Hetero)Aryl Bromides with a Palladacycle Precatalyst

A palladacyclic precatalyst is employed to cleanly generate a highly active XantPhos-ligated Pd-catalyst. Its use in low temperature aminocarbonylations of (hetero)aryl bromides provides access to a range of challenging products in good to excellent yields with low catalyst loading and only a slight excess of CO. Some products are unattainable by traditional carbonylative coupling.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Award GM46059)Danish National Research Foundation (Grant DNRF59)Villum FoundationDanish Council for Independent Researc

The spectral gap for some spin chains with discrete symmetry breaking

We prove that for any finite set of generalized valence bond solid (GVBS) states of a quantum spin chain there exists a translation invariant finite-range Hamiltonian for which this set is the set of ground states. This result implies that there are GVBS models with arbitrary broken discrete symmetries that are described as combinations of lattice translations, lattice reflections, and local unitary or anti-unitary transformations. We also show that all GVBS models that satisfy some natural conditions have a spectral gap. The existence of a spectral gap is obtained by applying a simple and quite general strategy for proving lower bounds on the spectral gap of the generator of a classical or quantum spin dynamics. This general scheme is interesting in its own right and therefore, although the basic idea is not new, we present it in a system-independent setting. The results are illustrated with an number of examples.Comment: 48 pages, Plain TeX, BN26/Oct/9

Identification of Two DNMT3A Mutations Compromising Protein Stability and Methylation Capacity in Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Somatic mutations of DNMT3A occur in about 20% of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. They mostly consist in heterozygous missense mutations targeting a hotspot site at R882 codon, which exhibit a dominant negative effect and are associated with high myeloblast count, advanced age, and poor prognosis. Other types of mutations such as truncations, insertions, or single-nucleotide deletion also affect the DNMT3A gene, though with lower frequency. The present study aimed to characterize two DNMT3A gene mutations identified by next-generation sequencing (NGS), through analysis of protein stability and DNA methylation status at CpG islands. The first mutation was a single-nucleotide variant of DNMT3A at exon 20 causing a premature STOP codon (c.2385G > A; p.Trp795 17; NM-022552.4). The DNMT3A mutation load increased from 4.5% to 38.2% during guadecitabine treatment, with a dominant negative effect on CpG methylation and on protein expression. The second mutation was a novel insertion of 35 nucleotides in exon 22 of DNMT3A (NM-022552.4) that introduced a STOP codon too, after the amino acid Glu863 caused by a frameshift insertion (c.2586-2587insTCATGAATGAGAAAGAGGACATCTTATGGTGCACT; p. Thr862-Glu863fsins). The mutation, which was associated with reduced DNMT3A expression and CpG methylation, persisted at relapse with minor changes in the methylation profile and at protein level. Our data highlight the need to better understand the consequences of DNMT3A mutations other than R882 substitutions in the leukemogenic process in order to tailor patient treatments, thus avoiding therapeutic resistance and disease relapse

Novel and rare fusion transcripts involving transcription factors and tumor suppressor genes in acute myeloid leukemia

Approximately 18% of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cases express a fusion transcript. However, few fusions are recurrent across AML and the identification of these rare chimeras is of interest to characterize AML patients. Here, we studied the transcriptome of 8 adult AML patients with poorly described chromosomal translocation(s), with the aim of identifying novel and rare fusion transcripts. We integrated RNA-sequencing data with multiple approaches including computational analysis, Sanger sequencing, fluorescence in situ hybridization and in vitro studies to assess the oncogenic potential of the ZEB2-BCL11B chimera. We detected 7 different fusions with partner genes involving transcription factors (OAZ-MAFK, ZEB2-BCL11B), tumor suppressors (SAV1-GYPB, PUF60-TYW1, CNOT2-WT1) and rearrangements associated with the loss of NF1 (CPD-PXT1, UTP6-CRLF3). Notably, ZEB2-BCL11B rearrangements co-occurred with FLT3 mutations and were associated with a poorly differentiated or mixed phenotype leukemia. Although the fusion alone did not transform murine c-Kit+ bone marrow cells, 45.4% of 14q32 non-rearranged AML cases were also BCL11B-positive, suggesting a more general and complex mechanism of leukemogenesis associated with BCL11B expression. Overall, by combining different approaches, we described rare fusion events contributing to the complexity of AML and we linked the expression of some chimeras to genomic alterations hitting known genes in AML

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13