First insights on the potential of Sentinel-1 for landslides detection

This paper illustrates the potential of Sentinel-1 for landslide detection, Accepted 23 March 2016 mapping and characterization with the aim of updating inventory maps and monitoring landslide activity. The study area is located in Molise, one of the smallest regions of Italy, where landslide processes are frequent. The results achieved by integrating Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR) deformation maps and time series, and Geographical Information System (GIS) multilayer analysis (optical, geological, geomorphological, etc.) are shown. The adopted methodology is described followed by an analysis of future perspectives. Sixty-two landslides have been detected, thus allowing the updating of pre-existing landslide inventory maps. The results of our ongoing research show that Sentinel-1 might represent a significant improvement in terms of exploitation of SAR data for landslide mapping and monitoring due to both the shorter revisit time (up to 6 days in the close future) and the wavelength used, which determine an higher coherence compared to other SAR sensors

MAPPING OF SHEEP TRACKS AND PATHS OF TRANSHUMANCE IN THE BASILICATA: THE OLD SHEEP-TRACK-MATERA MONTESCAGLIOSO

La presente proposta parte dalla tutela e valorizzazione dei tratturi, sentieri erbosi, pietrosi o in terra battuta, sempre a fondo naturale, originatisi dal passaggio e dal calpestio degli armenti ed utilizzati dai pastori per compiere la transumanza, ossia per trasferire con cadenza stagionale le greggi da un pascolo all'altro. Tali tratturi sono definiti, ai sensi delle disposizioni di legge, "beni di interesse archeologico", e sono soggetti, come ogni opera anche di pubblico interesse, a parere vincolante della soprintendenza archeologica e per i beni architettonici e per il paesaggio. La pubblicazione si sviluppa con un inquadramento del bene, storico, normativo e cartografico, partendo dalla carta generale dei tratturi in scala 1:500.000 del 1912 a cura dell'Ufficio Tecnico di Finanza di Foggia, rivista come Mappa dei tratturi nel 1959 sulla precedente edizione del 1912, terminando al web GIS Tratturi del Centro Cartografico Dipartimentale della Regione Basilicata. L’attenzione è quindi posta sull’antico tratturo Matera – Montescaglioso, percorso che si svolge lungo il ciglio della Gravina passando per Cristo la Selva, il guado Passarelli e le chiese rupestri del Vallone della Loe. L'ultimo tratto percorre il tratturo regio di Montescaglioso e si conclude nell’abbazia benedettina di San Michele Arcangelo. La percorrenza di questo tratturo consente di trarre informazioni su un tratto di territorio materano ricco di storia umana e di evidenze artistiche e naturali. Approfondimenti conoscitivi specifici sui diversi tratturi che interessano il comune di Matera, come il tratturo qui dettagliato, possono portare ad una pianificazione, articolazione e attuazione di obiettivi di tutela e valorizzazione. Le tipologie di intervento, in relazione alle caratteristiche locali, possono avere un diverso grado di trasformabilità, di godimento e tutela, e consentire, nel rispetto della conservazione dell’integrità, il miglioramento della visitabilità e della leggibilità dei tracciati tratturali, tale da ottenere, attraverso il recupero delle residue testimonianze, un riuso compatibile del sedime tratturale attraverso funzioni di potenziamento del sistema del verde e dei percorsi pedonali educativi e ludici.This proposal is part of the protection and enhancement of the tracks, grassy paths, rocky or clay, always natural background, originated by the transition and by the trampling of cattle and used by shepherds to make transhumance, to transfer every season the flocks from one pasture to another. These sheep tracks are defined in accordance with the provisions of the law as "goods of archaeological interest", and are subject, like any work in public interest, in the opinion of the archaeological and architectural Superintendent. The publication is developed in a framework of historical and recent cartography and of legal history, starting from the general map of the sheep tracks in scale of 1:500,000 created in 1912 by the Technical Office of Finance of Foggia towards to the most recent cartography. The focus is then placed on the old sheep-track Matera - Montescaglioso that starts from Matera centre and ends at the Benedictine abbey of St. Michael the Archangel in Montescaglioso. The sheep-track allows to get information on a stretch of Matera area rich in human history with artistic and natural evidence. Specific cognitive insights on the different sheep-tracks that affect the municipality of Matera can lead to action for planning, articulation and implementation of objectives of protection and enhancement

The Digital Role in Building Public Profiles of Political Actors

In the middle of an era characterized by continuous electoral campaigns and by the personalization of politics contained in the better-known platform society, our paper aims to shed light on the planning dynamics and practices carried out inside and outside the Net by those political actors in charge of the local election arena. Which factors related to political networks push individuals to run for a political position? What are the biographies, cultural and local relations of the territories they run for? What are the differences between political competitors in terms of the digital competence needed for campaign communication and promotion? The research design focuses on a specific case study shaped on the last local election in Naples. Through the study of the political biographies of the candidates, a framework analysis was conducted on press releases, aiming to understand the inferred narration of the election and a content analysis conducted on their official social media sources to comprehend the self-building political narratives of the observed candidates. This study aims to create a clear categorization of candidates, to understand the current digital customs adopted by political actors to draw and define their own political strategies

Hyper Association Graph Matching with Uncertainty Quantification for Coronary Artery Semantic Labeling

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the primary causes leading to death worldwide. Accurate extraction of individual arterial branches on invasive coronary angiograms (ICA) is important for stenosis detection and CAD diagnosis. However, deep learning-based models face challenges in generating semantic segmentation for coronary arteries due to the morphological similarity among different types of coronary arteries. To address this challenge, we propose an innovative approach using the hyper association graph-matching neural network with uncertainty quantification (HAGMN-UQ) for coronary artery semantic labeling on ICAs. The graph-matching procedure maps the arterial branches between two individual graphs, so that the unlabeled arterial segments are classified by the labeled segments, and the coronary artery semantic labeling is achieved. By incorporating the anatomical structural loss and uncertainty, our model achieved an accuracy of 0.9345 for coronary artery semantic labeling with a fast inference speed, leading to an effective and efficient prediction in real-time clinical decision-making scenarios.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

A Multistep Approach to Deal With Advanced Heart Failure: A Case Report on the Positive Effect of Cardiac Contractility Modulation Therapy on Pulmonary Pressure Measured by CardioMEMS

During the last years, the management of heart failure (HF) made substantial progress, focusing on device-based therapies to meet the demands of this complex syndrome. In this case report, we present a multistep approach to deal with HF. Specifically, we report the first patient subjected to the implantation of both Optimizer Smart(R) (Impulse Dynamics Inc., Marlton, NJ, USA) and CardioMEMS devices. A 72-year-old male patient with HF and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) was admitted to our cardiology department in January 2021, following a progressive shortening of the time between hospitalizations for levosimendan infusions. Specifically, the patient was monitored daily by CardioMEMS, and a strategy of levosimendan infusions guided by the device had been adopted. He was also a carrier of MitraClips and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) and had optimized HF medical therapy. In January 2021, the patient implanted Optimizer Smart(R) device for cardiac contractility modulation (CCM) therapy because of poor response to therapy and elevated pulmonary artery pressure (PAP). CCM significantly reduced PAP values following discharge (systolic PAP 33.67 & PLUSMN; 2.92 vs. 40.6 & PLUSMN; 3.37 mmHg, diastolic PAP 14.5 & PLUSMN; 2.01 vs. 22.5 & PLUSMN; 2.53 mmHg, mean PAP 22.87 & PLUSMN; 2.20 vs. 30.9 & PLUSMN; 2.99 mmHg, HR 60.93 & PLUSMN; 1.53 vs. 80.83 & PLUSMN; 3.66 bpm; p < 0.0001), with persisting effect at 9 months. The usefulness of CCM is objectively demonstrated for the first time by continuous invasive monitoring of PAP by CardioMEMS, which can suggest the correct timing for CCM implantation

It is easy to see, but it is better to foresee: a case report on the favourable alliance between CardioMEMS and levosimendan

Abstract Background In the past years, different devices have been investigated to help in identifying early decompensation events in patients with heart failure (HF) and reduced ejection fraction (EF), reducing hospital admissions. In this report, we present the first patient experience with levosimendan infusion led by CardioMEMS. Case summary A 68-year-old man with HF and reduced EF with more than 20 hospitalizations for exacerbation of HF was enrolled in our HF Clinic from October 2017. Echocardiogram showed a dilated left ventricle with severely reduced EF (29%) and increased pulmonary artery systolic pressure (40 mmHg). From October 2017 to May 2019, the patient went through numerous hospitalizations, despite optimal medical therapy; subsequently, was adopted a strategy of levosimendan infusions guided by CardioMEMS. Levosimendan infusions improved haemodynamic and pressure profiles. The patient was monitored daily by CardioMEMS, and from June to December 2019, he had only two hospitalizations scheduled for levosimendan infusion and none for HF exacerbation. Discussion Our case supports the combination of CardioMEMS and levosimendan for the optimal management of patients with advanced HF. These results further strengthen the development of a randomized clinical trial to demonstrate the clinical usefulness of this device in combination with the levosimendan infusion programme in advanced HF patients

Internal radiation dose assessment of radiopharmaceuticals prepared with cyclotron-produced 99m Tc

Technetium-99m (99m Tc) is the radioisotope most widely used in diagnostic nuclear medicine. It is readily available from 99 Mo/99m Tc generators as the \u3b2- decay product of the 99 Mo (T\ubd =66 h) parent nuclide. This latter is obtained as a fission product in nuclear reactors by neutron-induced reactions on highly enriched uranium. Alternative production routes, such as direct reactions using proton beams on specific target materials [100 Mo(p,2n)99m Tc], have the potential to be both reliable and relatively cost-effective. However, results showed that the 99m Tc extracted from proton-bombarded 100 Mo-enriched targets contains small quantities of several Tc radioisotopes (93m Tc, 93 Tc, 94 Tc, 94m Tc, 95 Tc, 95m Tc 96 Tc and 97m Tc). The aim of this work was to estimate the dose increase (DI) due to the contribution of Tc radioisotopes generated as impurities, after the intravenous injection of four radiopharmaceuticals prepared with cyclotron-produced 99m Tc (CP-99m Tc) using 99.05% 100 Mo-enriched metallic targets

Step-by-step iconographic description of a prolonged but still favourable course of orbital cellulitis in a child with acute rhinosinusitis: an iconographic case study

Orbital cellulitis is an infrequent complication of acute ethmoiditis possibly leading to life- or visual-threatening complications. Despite its natural history is well known, its clinical evolution may widely vary among patients, and even in the most favourable cases long-term sequelae may persist. We here provide a step-by-step iconographic description of a periorbital and orbital cellulitis occurring in a child with ipsilateral acute rhinosinusitis. Our report shows that an unusual long-term evolution of periorbital and orbital cellulitis is possible also in apparently favourable cases