Laparoscopic hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion a new minimally invasive approach for HILP

Hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion (HILP) represents a limb-sparing treatment for unresectable soft tissue sarcoma (STS) of the extremities with substantial complete response rates. HILP often provides good functional limb preservation, hence a significant improvement also in terms of quality of life of the patient. Notwithstanding these clear advantages, the traditional technique is still hindered by relatively high post-operative morbidity.We treated a 78-year-old female with unresectable angiosarcoma of the left leg using a new surgical approach: an entirely laparoscopic HILP.No conversion from laparoscopic to "open" surgery was necessary. Since no abdominal muscle section was performed, post-operative pain was low and easily manageable; early mobilisation and early discharge were achieved. Patient developed moderate toxicity, which resolved spontaneously within 3-4 weeks, with complete return to normal daily activities after 30 d. Complete clinical response with preservation of leg function was obtained.We describe for the first time an entirely laparoscopic HILP. Demonstration of this technique's efficacy and safety on a large series of patients is clearly necessary but its therapeutic efficacy appears to be comparable to the standard technique. Furthermore, laparoscopic HILP has shown low post-operative morbidity: no wound complications, mild and easily manageable post-operative pain and early discharge from the hospital and early resuming of daily activities

The Calatabiano landslide (southern Italy): preliminary GB-InSAR monitoring data and remote 3D mapping

On 24 October 2015, following a period of heavy rainfall, a landslide occurred in the Calatabiano Municipality (Sicily Island, Southern Italy), causing the rupture of a water pipeline supplying water to the city of Messina. Following this event, approximately 250,000 inhabitants of the city suffered critical water shortages for several days. Consequently, on 6 November 2015, a state of emergency was declared (O.C.D.P. 295/2015) by the National Italian Department of Civil Protection (DPC). During the emergency management phase, a provisional by-pass, consisting of three 350-m long pipes passing through the landslide area, was constructed to restore water to the city. Furthermore, on 11 November 2015, a landslide remote-sensing monitoring system was installed with the following purposes: (i) analyse the landslide geomorphological and kinematic features in order to assess the residual landslide risk and (ii) support the early warning procedures needed to ensure the safety of the personnel involved in the by-pass construction and the landslide stabilization works. The monitoring system was based on the combined use of Ground-Based Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (GB-InSAR) and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). In this work, the preliminary results of the monitoring activities and a remote 3D map of the landslide area are presented

Vulnerability Assessment of Buildings due to Land Subsidence using InSAR Data in the Ancient Historical City of Pistoia (Italy)

The launch of the medium resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Sentinel-1 constellation in 2014 has allowed public and private organizations to introduce SAR interferometry (InSAR) products as a valuable option in their monitoring systems. The massive stacks of displacement data resulting from the processing of large C-B and radar images can be used to highlight temporal and spatial deformation anomalies, and their detailed analysis and postprocessing to generate operative products for final users. In this work, the wide-area mapping capability of Sentinel-1 was used in synergy with the COSMO-SkyMed high resolution SAR data to characterize ground subsidence affecting the urban fabric of the city of Pistoia (Tuscany Region, central Italy). Line of sight velocities were decomposed on vertical and E–W components, observing slight horizontal movements towards the center of the subsidence area. Vertical displacements and damage field surveys allowed for the calculation of the probability of damage depending on the displacement velocity by means of fragility curves. Finally, these data were translated to damage probability and potential loss maps. These products are useful for urban planning and geohazard management, focusing on the identification of the most hazardous areas on which to concentrate efforts and resources.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO), the State Agency of Research (AEI) and European Funds for Regional Development (FEDER) under projects AQUARISK (ESP2013-47780-C2-2-R) and TEMUSA (TEC2017-85244-C2-1-P) and STAR-EO (TIN2014-55413-C2-2-P). The first author shows gratitude for the PhD student contract BES-2014-069076. The work was conceived during the research stay of P. Ezquerro and R. Tomás in the Università degli Studi di Firenze and the research stay of G. Herrera in the IGOT Lisbon University, supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport under fellowships EEBB-I-18-13014, PRX17/00439 and PRX19/00065, respectively. The S-1 monitoring activity is funded and supported by the Tuscany Region under the agreement “Monitoring ground deformation in the Tuscany Region with satellite radar data.” The authors also gratefully acknowledge TRE ALTAMIRA for having processed the S-1 data. The project was carried out using CSK® Products, © ASI (Italian Space Agency), delivered under the ASI Project Id Science 678 - “High resolution Subsidence investigation in the urban area of Pistoia (Tuscany Region, central Italy). The work is under the framework of the e-shape project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement 820852. This paper is also supported by the PRIMA programme under grant agreement No 1924, project RESERVOIR. The PRIMA programme is supported by the European Union

Landslide-Induced Damage Probability Estimation Coupling InSAR and Field Survey Data by Fragility Curves

Landslides are considered to be one of the main natural geohazards causing relevant economic damages and social effects worldwide. Italy is one of the countries worldwide most affected by landslides; in the Region of Tuscany alone, more than 100,000 phenomena are known and mapped. The possibility to recognize, investigate, and monitor these phenomena play a key role to avoid further occurrences and consequences. The number of applications of Advanced Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (A-DInSAR) analysis for landslides monitoring and mapping greatly increased in the last decades thanks to the technological advances and the development of advanced processing algorithms. In this work, landslide-induced damage on structures recognized and classified by field survey and velocity of displacement re-projected along the steepest slope were combined in order to extract fragility curves for the hamlets of Patigno and Coloretta, in the Zeri municipality (Tuscany, northern Italy). Images using ERS1/2, ENVISAT, COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) and Sentinel-1 SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) were employed to investigate an approximate 25 years of deformation affecting both hamlets. Three field surveys were conducted for recognizing, identifying, and classifying the landslide-induced damage on structures and infrastructures. At the end, the damage probability maps were designed by means of the use of the fragility curves between Sentinel-1 velocities and recorded levels of damage. The results were conceived to be useful for the local authorities and civil protection authorities to improve the land managing and, more generally, for planning mitigation strategies.This work has been carried out within the project founded and supported by the Regional government of Tuscany, under the agreement “Monitoring ground deformation in the Tuscany Region with satellite radar data”. Roberto Tomás was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO), the State Agency of Research (AEI) and European Funds for Regional Development (FEDER), under projects TEC2017-85244-C2-1-P and PRX17/00439

From Picture to Movie: Twenty Years of Ground Deformation Recording Over Tuscany Region (Italy) With Satellite InSAR

Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) techniques have been long exploited for detecting and mapping slow-moving ground surface displacements due to their millimeter accuracy, non-invasiveness and wide area coverage. A review on different applications of Persistent Scatterers InSAR approaches, proposed and applied over Tuscany region (Italy) across time, is here presented. The study area is characterized by both subsidence of alluvial plains and landslides on hilly and mountainous reliefs. Tuscany has a leading role in Italy in the field of interferometric applications: the first InSAR analyses, which date back to 2003, were performed at local basin scale, by exploiting various PSI-based approaches for risk mapping. The first InSAR applications at regional scale date back to 2009, relying on historical SAR archives of ERS and ENVISAT satellites for updating subsidence and landslide inventory maps at a certain temporal date. Nowadays, the availability of Sentinel-1 SAR data with a regular and systematic 6-days acquisitions plan, allows near-real time monitoring of deformative scenario at regional scale rather than solely mapping of geo-hydrological phenomena. Most recent innovative InSAR applications over Tuscany region scan the territory, exploiting the regular repeat pass of Sentinel-1, and promptly highlight the sites affected by the highest ground movements with high temporal frequency. Such approaches permit us to pass from a static ‘picture’ of regional slope instability to a weekly updated ‘movie’ with improved detail, useful for civil protection practices. These last ongoing works significantly enhance the value of multi-temporal InSAR approaches for investigating and managing geo-hazards over the Region

The evolution of Wide-Area DInSAR: from regional and national services to the European Ground Motion Service

This study is focused on wide-area deformation monitoring initiatives based on the differential interferometric SAR technique (DInSAR). In particular, it addresses the use of advanced DInSAR (A-DInSAR) techniques, which are based on large sets of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and Copernicus Sentinel-1 images. Such techniques have undergone a dramatic development in the last twenty years: they are now capable to process big sets of SAR images and can be exploited to realize a wide-area A-DInSAR monitoring. The study describes several initiatives to establish wide-area ground motion services (GMS), both at county- and region-level. In the second part of the study, some of the key technical aspects related to wide-area A-DInSAR monitoring are discussed. Finally, the last part of the study is devoted to the European ground motion service (EGMS), which is part of the Copernicus land monitoring service. It represents the most important wide-area A-DInSAR deformation monitoring system ever developed. The study describes its main characteristics and its main products. The end of the production of the first EGMS baseline product is foreseen for the last quarter of 202

Behavioral, neural and ultrastructural alterations in a graded-dose 6-OHDA mouse model of early-stage Parkinson's disease

Studying animal models furthers our understanding of Parkinson’s disease (PD) pathophysiology by providing tools to investigate detailed molecular, cellular and circuit functions. Different versions of the neurotoxin-based 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) model of PD have been widely used in rats. However, these models typically assess the result of extensive and definitive dopaminergic lesions that reflect a late stage of PD, leading to a paucity of studies and a consequential gap of knowledge regarding initial stages, in which early interventions would be possible. Additionally, the better availability of genetic tools increasingly shifts the focus of research from rats to mice, but few mouse PD models are available yet. To address these, we characterize here the behavioral, neuronal and ultrastructural features of a graded-dose unilateral, single-injection, striatal 6-OHDA model in mice, focusing on early-stage changes within the first two weeks of lesion induction. We observed early onset, dose-dependent impairments of overall locomotion without substantial deterioration of motor coordination. In accordance, histological evaluation demonstrated a partial, dose-dependent loss of dopaminergic neurons of substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). Furthermore, electron microscopic analysis revealed degenerative ultrastructural changes in SNc dopaminergic neurons. Our results show that mild ultrastructural and cellular degradation of dopaminergic neurons of the SNc can lead to certain motor deficits shortly after unilateral striatal lesions, suggesting that a unilateral dose-dependent intrastriatal 6-OHDA lesion protocol can serve as a successful model of the early stages of Parkinson’s disease in mice