CHARACTERIZATION OF A MOBILE MAPPING SYSTEM FOR SEAMLESS NAVIGATION

Abstract. Mobile Mapping Systems (MMS) are multi-sensor technologies based on SLAM procedure, which provides accurate 3D measurement and mapping of the environment as also trajectory estimation for autonomous navigation. The major limits of these algorithms are the navigation and mapping inconsistence over the time and the georeferencing of the products. These issues are particularly relevant for pose estimation regardless the environment like in seamless navigation. This paper is a preliminary analysis on a proposed multi-sensor platform integrated for indoor/outdoor seamless positioning system. In particular the work is devoted to analyze the performances of the MMS in term of positioning accuracy and to evaluate its improvement with the integration of GNSS and UWB technology. The results show that, if the GNSS and UWB signal are not degraded, using the correct weight to their observations in the Stencil estimation algorithm, is possible to obtain an improvement in the accuracy of the MMS navigation solution as also in the global consistency of the final point cloud. This improvement is measured in about 7 cm for planimetric coordinate and 34 cm along the elevation with respect to the use of the Stencil system alone

Endoscopy-assisted tracheal reconstruction of post-traumatic obstruction in a cat: A case report

A domestic shorthair cat was referred with a history of dyspnoea and lethargy that had arisen gradually within the last few days. The cat had been hit by an automobile 10 days earlier. A thoracic radiograph suggested stenosis of the intrathoracic trachea, proximal to the tracheal bifurcation. Endoscopic examination confirmed a narrowing of the tracheal lumen due to the presence of a fibrotic ring, with remaining patent lumen of about 2 mm. A surgical treatment with a right lateral thoracotomy approach and resection of the narrowed portion of the trachea (a length of about 1 cm) was performed under endoscopic vision. The procedure was unsuccessful because of the size of the tissue removed and the laxity of the remaining tracheal tissue that caused dehiscence of sutures between the tracheal stump and tracheal bifurcation. After consultation with the cat\u2019s owners, an intraoperative euthanasia was performed

Analysis of a diffusive effective mass model for nanowires

We propose in this paper to derive and analyze a self-consistent model describing the diffusive transport in a nanowire. From a physical point of view, it describes the electron transport in an ultra-scaled confined structure, taking in account the interactions of charged particles with phonons. The transport direction is assumed to be large compared to the wire section and is described by a drift-diffusion equation including effective quantities computed from a Bloch problem in the crystal lattice. The electrostatic potential solves a Poisson equation where the particle density couples on each energy band a two dimensional confinement density with the monodimensional transport density given by the Boltzmann statistics. On the one hand, we study the derivation of this Nanowire Drift-Diffusion Poisson model from a kinetic level description. On the other hand, we present an existence result for this model in a bounded domain

Exploiting Human NK Cells in Tumor Therapy

NK cells play an important role in the innate defenses against tumor growth and metastases. Human NK cell activation and function are regulated by an array of HLA class I-specific inhibitory receptors and activating receptors recognizing ligands expressed de novo on tumor or virus-infected cells. NK cells have been exploited in immunotherapy of cancer, including: (1) the in vivo infusion of IL-2 or IL-15, cytokines inducing activation and proliferation of NK cells that are frequently impaired in cancer patients. Nonetheless, the significant toxicity experienced, primarily with IL-2, limited their use except for combination therapies, e.g., IL-15 with checkpoint inhibitors; (2) the adoptive immunotherapy with cytokine-induced NK cells had effect on some melanoma metastases (lung), while other localizations were not affected; (3) a remarkable evolution of adoptive cell therapy is represented by NK cells engineered with CAR-targeting tumor antigens (CAR-NK). CAR-NK cells complement CAR-T cells as they do not cause GvHD and may be obtained from unrelated donors. Accordingly, CAR-NK cells may represent an \u201coff-the-shelf\u201d tool, readily available for effective tumor therapy; (4) the efficacy of adoptive cell therapy in cancer is also witnessed by the \u3b1\u3b2T cell- and B cell-depleted haploidentical HSC transplantation in which the infusion of donor NK cells and \u3b3\u3b4T cells, together with HSC, sharply reduces leukemia relapses and infections; (5) a true revolution in tumor therapy is the use of mAbs targeting checkpoint inhibitors including PD-1, CTLA-4, the HLA class I-specific KIR, and NKG2A. Since PD-1 is expressed not only by tumor-associated T cells but also by NK cells, its blocking might unleash NK cells playing a crucial effector role against HLA class I-deficient tumors that are undetectable by T cells

Does LigaSure™ reduce fluid drainage in axillary dissection? A randomized prospective clinical trial

Background: Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) is an integral part of breast cancer treatment. It is required in about 40\u201350% of patients. The placement of a drain in the axilla after an operation is current surgical practice. Short surgical stay programmes increase operating efficiency and reduce medical care costs, without compromising quality of care. LigaSureTM is a new haemostatic device that uses bipolar energy to seal vessels. The aim of this study is to determine whether axillary dissection with LigaSureTM reduces the time of wound drainage, the duration of surgical intervention and the volume of drainage after treatment. Patients and methods: This study is a prospective randomized controlled trial. A total of 100 women with breast cancer who needed axillary dissection were randomized into the LigaSureTM or conventional axillary dissection group. Levels I to III lymph node dissection was performed. A closed suction drain was always placed in the axilla and removed after 6\u20138 days or when fluid amount was <60 cc in the previous 24 hours. Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups when considering the duration of surgical procedure: average duration was 70.7 \ub1 24.66 minutes for LigaSureTM patients, while in the conventional dissection group the mean was 70.6 \ub1 22.47 minutes (p=0.98). Total amount of drained fluid was 624.49 cc in the LigaSureTM axillary dissection group and 792.96 in the conventional ALND group; this difference did not achieve statistical significance (p=0.09); the duration of draining was also similar, with no statistical difference (p=0.15). Conclusions: The present study did not show clear advantages in LigaSureTM use for ALND, although it represents a good haemostatic device, especially in abdominal surgery. Subject: Breas

L19-IL2 immunocytokine in combination with the anti-syndecan-1 46F2SIP antibody format: A new targeted treatment approach in an ovarian carcinoma model

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the fifth most common cancer affecting the female population. At present, different targeted treatment approaches may improve currently employed therapies leading either to the delay of tumor recurrence or to disease stabilization. In this study we show that syndecan-1 (SDC1) and tumor angiogenic-associated B-fibronectin isoform (B-FN) are involved in EOC progression and we describe the prominent role of SDC1 in the vasculogenic mimicry (VM) process. We also investigate a possible employment of L19-IL2, an immunocytokine specific for B-FN, and anti-SDC1 46F2SIP (small immuno protein) antibody in combination therapy in a human ovarian carcinoma model. A tumor growth reduction of 78% was obtained in the 46F2SIP/L19-IL2-treated group compared to the control group. We observed that combined treatment was effective in modulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers, loss of stemness properties of tumor cells, and in alleviating hypoxia. These effects correlated with reduction of VM structures in tumors from treated mice. Interestingly, the improved pericyte coverage in vascular structures suggested that combined therapy could be efficacious in induction of vessel normalization. These data could pave the way for a possible use of L19-IL2 combined with 46F2SIP antibody as a novel therapeutic strategy in EOC

Upper bounds for the eigenvalues of Hessian equations

We prove some upper bounds for the Dirichlet eigenvalues of a class of fully nonlinear elliptic equations, namely the Hessian equationsComment: 15 pages, 1 figur

Water immersion vs. air insufflation in canine duodenal endoscopy: is the future underwater?

Endoscopy represents a commonly employed technique for canine enteropathies. Different trials in human intestinal endoscopy have suggested that the introduction of water for luminal distension, in place of air, improves the visualization of the mucosal texture and decreases pain. The aim of the study was to compare water immersion (WI) vs. air insufflation (AI) during duodenoscopy in anesthetized dogs in terms of mucosal visualization and nociception. Twenty-five dogs undergoing duodenoscopy were included. The same image of the descending duodenum was recorded applying WI and AI. Each pair of images was analyzed using morphological skeletonization, an image entropy evaluation, and a subjective blind evaluation by three experienced endoscopists. To evaluate differences in nociception related to the procedure applied, heart rate and arterial blood pressure were measured before, during and after WI/AI. To compare the two methods, a t-test for paired data was applied for the image analysis, Fleiss\u2019 Kappa evaluation for the subjective evaluation and a Friedman test for anesthetic parameters. No differences were found between WI and AI using morphological skeletonization and entropy. The subjective evaluation identified the WI images as qualitatively better than the AI images, indicating substantial agreement between the operators. No differences in nociception were found. The results of the study pointed out the absence of changes in pain response between WI and AI, likely due to the sufficient control of nociception by the anesthesia. Based on subjective evaluation, but not confirmed by the image analysis, WI provided better image quality than AI