282 research outputs found
Milan’s pollution charge : sustainable transport and the politics of evidence
Non peer reviewedPostprin
Coffee in hypertensive women with asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease: a potential nutraceutical effect
Several studies suggest that coffee is associated with a lower risk of atherosclerosis.1,2 Coffee contains polyphenol antioxidants, which have been hypothesized to act against free oxygen radicals and lipid peroxidation and to improve endothelial function.1–3 Coffee is part of the Mediterranean diet, one of the healthiest diets. The characteristics....
Confusión entre definiciones y propiedades de conceptos matemáticos en la universidad: un acercamiento a la problemática a través de un análisis interdisciplinario
El presente trabajo expone el análisis de las dificultades que muestran los estudiantes universitarios cuando aprenden definiciones y propiedades en las asignaturas de primer año en carreras de ingeniería. Nuestras conjeturas plantean que la confusión sobre el tema en el esquema mental del alumno se debe, en parte, al modo en que se organiza el discurso para presentar estos distintos niveles de conceptualización a través del lenguaje natural. Atender a estas cuestiones de naturaleza lingüística en la clase de matemática permitiría subsanar en parte estas dificultades de comprensión
The still under-investigated role of cognitive deficits in PML diagnosis
Background: Despite cognitive deficits frequently represent the first clinical manifestations of Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML) in Natalizumab-treated MS patients, the importance of cognitive deficits in PML diagnosis is still under-investigated. The aim of the current study is to investigate the cognitive deficits at PML diagnosis in a group of Italian patients with PML. Methods: Thirty-four PML patients were included in the study. The demographic and clinical data, the lesion load and localization, and the longitudinal clinical course was compared between patients with (n = 13) and without (n = 15) cognitive deficit upon PML suspicion (the remaining six patients were asymptomatic). Clinical presentation of cognitive symptoms was described in detail. Result: After symptoms detection, the time to diagnosis resulted to be shorter for patients presenting with cognitive than for patients with non cognitive onset (p = 0.03). Within patients with cognitive onset, six patients were presenting with language and/or reading difficulties (46.15%); five patients with memory difficulties (38.4%); three patients with apraxia (23.1%); two patients with disorientation (15.3%); two patients with neglect (15.3%); one patients with object agnosia (7.7%), one patient with perseveration (7.7%) and one patient with dementia (7.7%). Frontal lesions were less frequent (p = 0.03), whereas temporal lesions were slightly more frequent (p = 0.06) in patients with cognitive deficits. The longitudinal PML course seemed to be more severe in cognitive than in non cognitive patients (F = 2.73, p = 0.03), but differences disappeared (F = 1.24, p = 0.29) when balancing for the incidence of immune reconstitution syndrome and for other treatments for PML (steroids, plasma exchange (PLEX) and other therapies (Mefloquine, Mirtazapine, Maraviroc). Conclusion: Cognitive deficits at PML onset manifest with symptoms which are absolutely rare in MS. Their appearance in MS patients should strongly suggest PML. Clinicians should be sensitive to the importance of formal neuropsychological evaluation, with particular focus on executive function, which are not easily detected without a formal assessment
The PLASMONX Project for advanced beam physics experiments
The Project PLASMONX is well progressing into its
design phase and has entered as well its second phase of
procurements for main components. The project foresees
the installation at LNF of a Ti:Sa laser system (peak
power > 170 TW), synchronized to the high brightness
electron beam produced by the SPARC photo-injector.
The advancement of the procurement of such a laser
system is reported, as well as the construction plans of a
new building at LNF to host a dedicated laboratory for
high intensity photon beam experiments (High Intensity
Laser Laboratory). Several experiments are foreseen
using this complex facility, mainly in the high gradient
plasma acceleration field and in the field of mono-
chromatic ultra-fast X-ray pulse generation via Thomson
back-scattering. Detailed numerical simulations have
been carried out to study the generation of tightly focused
electron bunches to collide with laser pulses in the
Thomson source: results on the emitted spectra of X-rays
are presented
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