Model-Based Compliance Discrimination via Soft Tactile Optical Sensing and Optical Flow Computation: A Biomimetic Approach

Soft tactile optical sensors have opened up new possibilities for endowing artificial robotic hands with advanced touch-related properties; however, their use for compliance discrimination has been poorly investigated and mainly relies on data-driven methods. Discrimination of object compliance is crucial for enabling accurate and purposeful object manipulation. Humans retrieve this information primarily using the contact area spread rate (CASR) over their fingertips. CASR can be defined as the integral of tactile flow, which describes the movement of iso-strain surfaces within the fingerpad. This work presents the first attempt to discriminate compliance through soft optical tactile sensing based on a computational model of human tactile perception that relies on CASR and tactile flow concepts. To this aim, we used a soft optical biomimetic sensor that transduces surface deformation via movements of marked pins, similar to the function of intermediate ridges in the human fingertip. We acquired images of markers' movements during the interaction with silicone specimens with different compliance at different indenting forces. Then, we computed the optical flow as a tactile flow approximation and its divergence to estimate the CASR. Our model-based approach can accurately discriminate the compliance levels of the specimens, both when the sensor probed the surface perpendicularly and with different inclinations. Finally, we used the relation between specimen compliance and the experimentally evaluated CASR to infer the compliance of a new specimen relying on the estimated CASR

Prognostic impact of Ki-67 proliferative index in resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive disease characterized by complex biological features and poor prognosis. A prognostic stratification of PDAC would help to improve patient management. The aim of this study was to analyse the expression of Ki-67 in relation to prognosis in a cohort of patients with PDAC who had surgical treatment

Electrochemical synthesis of nanowire anodes from spent lithium ion batteries

A novel process is proposed to produce nanostructured batteries anodes from spent lithium-ion batteries. The electrodic powder recovered by the mechanical treatment of spent batteries was leached and the dissolved metals were precipitated as cobalt carbonates. Two different precipitation routes were separately tested producing cobalt carbonates with different Cu and Fe contents. Nanowire anodes were produced by electrodeposition into nanoporous alumina templates from the electrolytic baths prepared by dissolution of the precipitated carbonates. The electrochemical performances of the produced anodes were evaluated as compared to nanowire anodes produced with the same electrodeposition method but using a synthetic cobalt bath. The application of the carbonates produced by directly precipitating all the leached metals gave nanowires with capacity about halved as compared to the nanowires electrodeposited from the synthetic bath. Selectively removing Cu and Fe prior cobalt carbonate precipitation yielded, in contrast, nanowires with capacity initially larger and then gradually approaching that attained by the nanowire electrodeposited from the synthetic bath. A detailed analysis is presented describing the role of metallic impurities in determining the capacity of the produced nanowires. The impact of the illustrated results for the development of sustainable recycling processes of lithium-ion batteries is discussed

Long-Term Drug Survival and Effectiveness of Secukinumab in Patients with Moderate to Severe Chronic Plaque Psoriasis: 42-Month Results from the SUPREME 2.0 Study

Purpose: SUPREME, a phase IIIb study conducted in Italy, demonstrated safety and high efficacy of secukinumab for up to 72 weeks in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque-type psoriasis. SUPREME 2.0 study aimed to provide real-world data on the long-term drug survival and effectiveness of secukinumab beyond 72 weeks.Patients and Methods: SUPREME 2.0 is a retrospective observational chart review study conducted in patients previously enrolled in SUPREME study. After the end of the SUPREME study, eligible patients continued treatment as per clinical practice, and their effectiveness and drug survival data were retrieved from medical charts.Results: Of the 415 patients enrolled in the SUPREME study, 297 were included in SUPREME 2.0; of which, 210 (70.7%) continued secukinumab treatment throughout the 42-month observation period. Patients in the biologic-naive cohort had higher drug survival than those in the biologic-experienced cohort (74.9% vs 61.7%), while HLA-Cw6-positive and HLA-Cw6-negative patients showed similar drug survival (69.3% and 71.9%). After 42 months, Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) 90 was achieved by 79.6% of patients overall; with a similar proportion of biologic-naive and biologic-experienced patients achieving PASI90 (79.8% and 79.1%). The mean absolute PASI score reduced from 21.94 to 1.38 in the overall population, 21.90 to 1.24 in biologic-naive and 22.03 to 1.77 in biologic-experienced patients after 42 months. The decrease in the absolute PASI score was comparable between HLA-Cw6-positive and HLA-Cw6-negative patients. The baseline Dermatology Life Quality Index scores also decreased in the overall patients (10.5 to 2.32) and across all study sub-groups after 42 months. Safety was consistent with the known profile of secukinumab, with no new findings. Conclusion: In this real-world cohort study, secukinumab showed consistently high long-term drug survival and effectiveness with a favourable safety profile

Clostridia Initiate Heavy Metal Bioremoval in Mixed Sulfidogenic Cultures

Sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) are widely used for attenuating heavy metal pollution by means of sulfide generation. Due to their low metal tolerance, several SRB species depend on associated bacteria in mixed cultures to cope with metal-induced stress. Yet the identity of the SRB protecting bacteria is largely unknown. We aimed to identify these associated bacteria and their potential role in two highly metal-resistant mixed SRB cultures by comparing bacterial community composition and SRB activity between these cultures and two sensitive ones. The SRB composition in the resistant and sensitive consortia was similar. However, whereas the SRB in the sensitive cultures were strongly inhibited by a mixture of copper, zinc, and iron, no influence of these metals was detected on SRB growth and activity in the resistant cultures. In the latter, a Gram-positive population mostly assigned to Clostridium spp.initiated heavy metal bioremoval based on sulfide generation from components of the medium (mainly sulfite) but not from sulfate. After metal levels were lowered by the Clostridium spp. populations, SRB started sulfate reduction and raised the pH of the medium. The combination of sulfite reducing Clostridium spp. with SRB may improve green technologies for removal of heavy metals

Secukinumab shows high efficacy irrespective of HLA-Cw6 status in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque-type psoriasis: SUPREME study

Background: Understanding genetic variations is important in predicting treatment response and forms the basis for identifying new pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic targets for psoriasis treatment. There are limited data on the efficacy of secukinumab in relation to genetic markers. Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of secukinumab 300 mg in HLA-Cw6-positive (Cw6-POS) and HLA-Cw6-negative (Cw6-NEG) patients with moderate-to-severe chronic plaque-type psoriasis. Methods: SUPREME was a 24-week, phase IIIb study with an extension period up to 72 weeks. Primary end point was Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) 90 response rate after 16 weeks. Results: In total, 434 patients were recruited: 185 (42\ub76%) were Cw6-POS and 246 (56\ub77%) were Cw6-NEG (three not assessed). Mean \ub1 SD age was 45\ub72 \ub1 13\ub72 years (Cw6-POS 42\ub77 \ub1 13\ub71; Cw6-NEG 47\ub72 \ub1 12\ub79). The baseline PASI score was comparable between the cohorts [Cw6-POS 20\ub77 \ub1 8\ub799; Cw6-NEG 21\ub75 \ub1 9\ub799 (P = 0\ub7777)]. At week 16, PASI 90 was achieved in 80\ub74% of Cw6-POS and 79\ub77% of Cw6-NEG patients (difference 0\ub776; 95% confidence interval 127\ub704 to 8\ub723). No differences in absolute PASI at week 16 (Cw6-POS 1\ub736 \ub1 3\ub758; Cw6-NEG 1\ub718 \ub1 2\ub729) were observed. The overall safety profile of secukinumab was consistent with that previously reported. No statistically significant difference was detected in the rate of treatment-emergent adverse events [Cw6-POS 42\ub77%; Cw6-NEG 49\ub76% (P = 0\ub7295)]. A high PASI 90 response was achieved with secukinumab with a fast reduction in absolute PASI. Conclusions: Determination of HLA-Cw6 status for secukinumab therapy is unnecessary, as it is highly effective regardless of HLA-Cw6 status

Multiple thromboembolism with multiple causes in a 69-year-old woman: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Aggressive, recurrent embolisms require accurate etiologic diagnosis. We describe the case of a 69-year-old Italian Caucasian woman with recurrent arterial embolisms in whom several sources and triggers of thrombosis were detected.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>The patient, a 69-year-old Italian Caucasian woman, presented with a systemic embolism that was initially attributed to atrial fibrillation. The recurrence of embolisms despite anti-thrombotic therapy prompted a re-evaluation of the clinical presentation. New potential causes of thrombosis emerged in this patient, including thrombocytosis associated with the <it>JAK2 V617F </it>mutation and the very rare mural thrombosis of the descending aorta. A mural thrombus in the pulmonary artery was detected contiguous with the aortic mural thrombosis, raising the possibility of a clinically silent ductus Botalli as the initiating event. The patient was treated with warfarin, aspirin, hydroxyurea, and surgery.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The diagnosis was achieved via systematic use of imaging procedures and reconsideration of blood tests performed to explore the diagnosis of thrombosis. This allowed a deeper and more detailed analysis of the case beyond the conventional approach, which would have aimed to identify one cause for the condition at hand, in this case, atrial fibrillation. The broader approach that we used resulted in the diagnosis of multiple embolisms from multiple sites and multiple causes.</p