First description of cervical intradural thymoma metastasis

Thymoma and thymic carcinoma are rare epithelial tumors, which originate from the thymus gland. According to the World Health Organization there are "organotypic" (types A, AB, B1, B2, and B3) and "non-organotypic" (thymic carcinomas) thymomas. Type B3 thymomas are aggressive tumors, which can metastasize. Due to the rarity of these lesions, only 7 cases of extradural metastasis are described in the literature. We report the first and unique case of a man with cervical intradural B3 thymoma metastasis. A 46-year-old man underwent thymoma surgical removal. The year after the procedure he was treated for a parietal pleura metastasis. In 2006 he underwent cervical-dorsal extradural metastasis removal and C5-Th1 stabilization. Seven years after he came to our observation complaining left cervicobrachialgia and a reduction of strength of the left arm. He underwent a cervical spine magnetic resonance imaging, which showed a new lesion at the C5-C7 level. The patient underwent a surgery for the intradural B3 thymoma metastasis. Neurological symptoms improved although the removal was subtotal. He went through postoperative radiation therapy with further mass reduction. Spinal metastases are extremely rare. To date, only 7 cases of spinal extradural metastasis have been described in the literature. This is the first case of spinal intradural metastasis. Early individuation of these tumors and surgical treatment improve neurological outcome in patients with spinal cord compression. A multimodal treatment including neoadjuvant chemotherapy, surgery and postoperative radiation therapy seems to improve survival in patients with metastatic thymoma

Risk of temporomandibular joint effusion related to magnetic resonance imaging signs of disc displacement

Background: It has been suggested that TMJ effusion may represent an inflammatory response to a dysfunctional disc-condyle relationship. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate whether the status of the disc in the temporomandibular joint, as depicted in magnetic resonance (MR) images, is predictive of the presence of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) effusion. Methods: The relationship between disc displacement and TMJ effusion was analyzed in MR images of 154 TMJs in 77 patients complaining for pain and/or dysfunction in the TMJ area and referred from medical practitioners to specialist consultation. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the significant correlation between presence/absence of joint effusion and disc displacement. Results: Significant correlation (P<0.01) between disc displacement and joint effusion was found. OR for all type of disc displacement was 3.1, and the odds that a joint had magnetic resonance imaging findings of effusion was greater for anterior disc displacement without reduction. Conclusions: The status of the disc could represent a factor involved in the development of temporomandibular joint oedema. However, these findings suggest that disc displacement may not be regarded as the dominant factor in defining the occurrence of TMJ effusion. Certain local or systemic conditions other than the disc-condyle relationship must be considered

condition monitoring techniques for machine bearings in non stationary operation

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Basal ganglia stroke due to mild head trauma in pediatric age - clinical and therapeutic management: a case report and 10 year literature review

Ischemia of the basal ganglia as an immediate consequence of minor head injury in children is rare (< 2% of all ischemic stroke in childhood) and is due to vasospasm of the lenticulostriate arteries. The clinical history of these lesions is particularly favourable because they are usually small, and also because the facial-brachial-crural hemiparesis typical of this pathology usually regresses after a period ranging from several weeks to several months, despite the persistence of an ischemic area on MRI. This is due to the well known neuronal plasticity of the CNS, in particular, of the primary motor cortex. The most effective therapeutic approach appears to be the conservative one, although the best treatment regimen is still not well defined

Effect of Heat Waves on Some Italian Brown Swiss Dairy Cows' Production Patterns

Climate change is impacting worldwide efficiency and welfare standards in livestock production systems. Considering the sensibility to heat stress reported for different milk production patterns in Italian Brown Swiss, this study aims to evaluate the effect of heat waves (HWs)of different lengths on some milk production traits (fat-corrected milk, energy-corrected milk, protein and fat yield, protein percentage, cheese production at 24 h, and cheese yield). A 10-year dataset (2009–2018), containing 202,776 test-day records from 23,296 Brown Swiss cows, was used. The dataset was merged both with the daily maximum temperature–humidity index (THI) recorded by weather stations and with the daily maximum THI threshold for each trait in Italian Brown Swiss cows. The study considered 4 different HWs according to their length: 2, 3, 4, and 5 consecutive days before the test-day over the weighted THI threshold. Milk production traits were determined as the difference in losses compared to those after only 1 day before the test-day over the weighted maximum THI. All traits showed to be affected by HWs. Particularly, protein percentage losses increased from −0.047% to −0.070% after 2 consecutive days over the daily THI threshold, reaching −0.10% to −0.14% after 5 days (p &lt; 0.01), showing a worsening trend with the increasing length of HWs. First parity cows showed to be more sensitive to HWs than other parity classes, recording greater losses after shorter HWs, compared to multiparous cows, for protein yield and, consequently, for cheese production at 24 h. This suggests a less efficient metabolic response to heat stress and exposure time in primiparous, compared to multiparous cows, probably due to their incomplete growth process that overlaps milk production, making it more difficult for them to dissipate heat. Although actions to mitigate heat stress are always needed in livestock, this study points out that often time exposure to warm periods worsens milk production traits in Brown Swiss cows

Nasal cytology in children: recent advances

Nasal cytology is a very useful diagnostic tool in nasal disorders, being able to detect both the cellular modifications of the nasal epithelium caused by either allergen exposure or irritative stimuli (that may be physical or chemical, acute or chronic), or inflammation. Over these past few years, nasal cytology has allowed to identify new disorders, such as the non-allergic rhinitis with eosinophils (NARES), the non-allergic rhinitis with mast cells (NARMA), the non-allergic rhinitis with neutrophils (NARNE), and the non-allergic rhinitis with eosinophils and mast cells (NARESMA). The rhinocytogram is actually able to distinguish the different forms of allergic rhinitis and to suggest the appropriate treatment, such as antinflammatory drugs or allergen immunotherapy. The technique is easy to perform and nasal cytology is therefore particularly suitable even for children. Such a consideration suggests the utility of a systematic use of nasal cytology in the diagnostic work-up of nasal disorders in children, in order to reach a proper defined diagnosis and to set a rational therapeutic approach: in facts, these two elements are fundamental in order to prevent from complications and to improve the patient’s quality of life

The challenge of identifying INTEGRAL sources on the Galactic plane

The International Gamma-ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) has been surveying the sky above 20 keV since its launch in 2002 providing new insights into the nature of the sources that populate our Universe at soft gamma-ray energies. The latest IBIS/ISGRI survey lists 929 hard X-ray sources, of which 113 are reported as unidentified, i.e. lacking a lower energy counterpart or simply not studied in other wavebands. To overcome this lack of information, we either browsed the X-ray archives, or, if no data in the X-ray band were available, we requested Target of Opportunity (ToO) observations with the X-ray Telescope (XRT) on-board the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. Following this approach, we selected a sample of 10 objects for which X-ray data were key to investigate their nature. We found a single X-ray association for all of the sources, except for IGR J16267-3303, for which two X-ray detections were spotted within the IBIS positional uncertainty. We then browsed multi-waveband archives to search for counterparts to these X-ray detections at other wavelengths and analysed X-ray spectral properties to determine their nature and association with the high-energy emitter. As a result of our analysis, we identified the most likely counterpart for 7 sources, although in some cases its nature/class could not be definitely assessed on the basis of the information collected. Interestingly, SWIFT J2221.6+5952, first reported in the 105-month Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) survey, is the only source of the sample for which we did not find any counterpart at radio/optical/IR wavebands. Finally, we found that two IBIS source, IGR J17449-3037 and IGR J17596-2315 are positionally associated with a Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) object.Comment: 13 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in the Journal of High Energy Astrophysic

Looking for blazars in a sample of unidentified high-energy emitting Fermi sources

Context. Based on their overwhelming dominance among associated Fermi γ-ray catalogue sources, it is expected that a large fraction of the unidentified Fermi objects are blazars. Through crossmatching between the positions of unidentified γ-ray sources from the First Fermi Catalog of γ-ray sources emitting above 10 GeV (1FHL) and the ROSAT and Swift/XRT catalogues of X-ray objects and between pointed XRT observations, a sample of 36 potential associations was found in previous works with less than 15 arcsec of positional offset. One-third of them have recently been classified; the remainder, though believed to belong to the blazar class, still lack spectroscopic classifications. Aims. We study the optical spectrum of the putative counterparts of these unidentified gamma-ray sources in order to find their redshifts and to determine their nature and main spectral characteristics. Methods. An observational campaign was carried out on the putative counterparts of 13 1FHL sources using medium-resolution optical spectroscopy from the Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna in Loiano, Italy; the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo and the Nordic Optical Telescope, both in the Canary Islands, Spain; and the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional San Pedro Mártir in Baja California, Mexico. Results. We were able to classify 14 new objects based on their continuum shapes and spectral features. Conclusions. Twelve new blazars were found, along with one new quasar and one new narrow line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) to be potentially associated with the 1FHL sources of our sample. Redshifts or lower limits were obtained when possible alongside central black hole mass and luminosity estimates for the NLS1 and the quasar.Fil: Marchesini, Ezequiel Joaquín. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; ArgentinaFil: Masetti, Nicola. Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Bologna; ItaliaFil: Chavushyan, V.. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica; MéxicoFil: Cellone, Sergio Aldo. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Andruchow, Ileana. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Bassani, L.. Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Bologna; ItaliaFil: Bazzano, A.. Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali; ItaliaFil: Jiménez-Bailón, E.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Landi, R.. Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Bologna; ItaliaFil: Malizia, A.. Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Bologna; ItaliaFil: Palazzi, E.. Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Bologna; ItaliaFil: Patiño Álvarez, V.. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica; MéxicoFil: Rodríguez Castillo, G. A.. Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma; ItaliaFil: Stephen, J. B.. Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Bologna; ItaliaFil: Ubertini, P.. Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali; Itali

Pioppino mushroom in southern Italy: an undervalued source of nutrients and bioactive compounds

BACKGROUNDAgrocybe aegerita (V. Brig.) Singer, commonly known as Pioppino, is a popular edible mushroom, known in the Campania Region (Italy). Despite its habitual consumption, little nutritional and biochemical information is available. Thus, nutritional values, anti-radical properties and chemical composition of the wild Pioppino were compared to those of the cultivated Agaricus bisporus (J.E. Lange) Imbach (known as Champignon), equally analysed.RESULTSMacronutrient components (proteins, carbohydrates and lipids), free and protein amino acids and fatty acid content of poplar mushroom were achieved. Total phenol content of a defatted Pioppino alcoholic extract (PM) was determined, whereas DPPH and ABTS methods were applied to determine the radical scavenging capabilities of the extract. Ferricyanide and ORAC-fluorescein methods were also performed. Finally, LC-HRMS was used to identify and quantify the main metabolites in the extract. PM was mainly constituted of disaccharides, hexitol derivatives and malic acid. Coumaric acid isomers and C6C1 compounds were also detected.CONCLUSIONAll data revealed that wild Pioppino is an excellent functional food, by far exceeding that of the Champignon. Therefore, these data are useful to promote the consumption of this mushroom encouraging thus its biological cultivation, due to wild availability is strongly compromised by the extensive use of fungicides. (c) 2017 Society of Chemical Industr