First measurements of in-jet fragmentation and correlations of charmed mesons and baryons in pp collisions with ALICE

Fragmentation functions are one of the key components of the factorisation theorem used to calculate heavy-flavour hadron production cross sections. The non-perturbative nature of fragmentation functions necessitates that they are constrained through experimental measurements, commonly performed in the clean environments of $\mathrm{e}^{+}\mathrm{e}^{-}$ and ep collisions. However, recent measurements of charm-hadron transverse-momentum spectra and the ratios of charmed-hadron abundances in pp collisions have questioned the universality of fragmentation functions between leptonic and hadronic collision systems in the baryon sector. In this contribution, we present measurements of differential observables of heavy-flavour hadrons that also consider the hadronic density surrounding the hadron. These measurements provide additional information to the previously reported baryon-to-meson results and allow us closer access to the charm fragmentation functions. We report the fraction of longitudinal momentum carried by $\mathrm{D^{0}}$ and $\mathrm{D^{+}_{s}}$ mesons as well as $\Lambda^{+}_\mathrm{c}$ baryons. We also report the azimuthal correlation distributions between heavy-flavour decay electrons and charged particles in pp and p--Pb collisions, as well as between $\Lambda^{+}_\mathrm{c}$ baryons and charged particles in pp collisions, which provide quantitative access to the angular profile, $p_{\mathrm{T}}$ and multiplicity distributions of the jets produced by the heavy-quark fragmentation

Autonomous Energy-aware production systems control

Energy and resource efficiency has recently become one of the most relevant topics of research in manufacturing, both as industry accounts for a major part of the world energy consumption and in the context of the increasing attention to the need of sustainable development at planetary level. This work aims at paving the way to the development of novel energy-aware control policies of production systems, by means of autonomous decisions about their states in terms of production and energy consumption, exploiting the possibilities given by the new ICT technologies, such as Internet of Things and cloud computing, which allow seamless information sharing among the machines through an appropriate and standardized ICT infrastructure. The energy saving control approach investigated in this work exploits the current trend in research to reduce the idle time of machines in favor of stand-by states, obtaining significant savings in terms of energy, by allowing novel solutions for decentralized control. The proposed control enables the production machines to autonomously share with and process the information of the other machines in the system to decide in real-time their specific energy behaviour, even postponing processing if that is possible. The approach adopted includes conceptual development of the dynamic behaviour models of the system and the proposed policies, then their deployment in an application scenario taken by actual industry cases and data, enabling study of the performance of the system with a detailed design of experiments. The proposed approach represents a significant contribution to the state of the art, as the proposed energy-aware control enables decisions based on real-time information instead of statistically-based forecasts of part arrival rates, as in the previous literature; furthermore the approach is of relevant value for the practitioner, especially as it paves the way to an operationalization to the vision of Cyber-Physical Systems and Industry 4.0

The Italian Almond Industry: New Perspectives and Ancient Tradition

The almond industry in Italy presents a high degree of structural variability that is determined by the jeopardized coexistence of old, traditional orchards and new plantations that differ each other not only in terms of age but also mainly in terms of orchard system. Apulia and Sicily still remain the most important production areas where the 90% of the almond orchards are concentrated. In this southern part of Italy, almond and its derivatives still remain really important. In the last two decades, the Italian almond industry did not show a regular trend, neither with respect to production nor to acreage. An innovative almond industry revealed its consistency year after year since 2000: self-fertile cultivars, clonal rootstocks and new planting design ideal for mechanization were the most important technical aspects which revealed a new way to set up almond orchards. As a matter of fact, the Italian almond industry is still characterized by two strongly different structures: a traditional one, which is based upon old cultivars and orchard systems, with unsatisfactory yields indeed, and an innovative one which is really interesting and appears to be able to partially renew the sector. Technical aspects on this new way to obtain innovative almond orchards and their perspectives are here reported mostly in terms of technical choices

Continuous Time Locally Stationary Wavelet Processes

This article introduces the class of continuous time locally stationary wavelet processes. Continuous time models enable us to properly provide scale-based time series models for irregularly-spaced observations for the first time. We derive results for both the theoretical setting, where we assume access to the entire process sample path, and a more practical one, which develops methods for estimating the quantities of interest from sampled time series. The latter estimates are accurately computable in reasonable time by solving the relevant linear integral equation using the iterative thresholding method due to Daubechies, Defrise and De~Mol. We exemplify our new methods by computing spectral and autocovariance estimates on irregularly-spaced heart-rate data obtained from a recent sleep-state study.Comment: 33 pages, 12 figure

Unexpected discovery of massive liver echinococcosis. A clinical, morphological, and functional diagnosis

We report a case of symptomatic massive liver echinococcosis due to Echinococcus granulosus, unexpectedly found in a 34 year old woman living in Apulia, Italy. Based on size (max diameter 18 cm), clinical presentation, geographical area, and natural history of echinococcosis, we estimate that the initial infection should have occurred 9-20 yrs before. Presenting symptoms were those of typical mass effect with RUQ pain, pruritus, malaise, and recent weight loss. Abdominal ultrasound diagnosis of probable echinococcal cyst was subsequentely confirmed by positive serology and further detailed by radiological imaging. The cyst was massively occupying subdiaphragmatic liver segments and extending to the omentum and the stomach. The characteristics of the lesion were compatible with the WHO 2003 classification type CE2l, indicating a large active fertile cyst with daughter cysts. The cyst was successfully treated with medical therapy followed by surgery. The prevalence, diagnostic workup, management, and costs of echinococcosis are discussed in this case presentation

A test for the absence of aliasing or white noise in two-dimensional locally stationary wavelet processes

Either intentionally or unintentionally, sub-sampling is a common occurrence in image processing and can lead to aliasing if the highest frequency in the underlying process is higher than the Nyquist frequency. Several techniques have already been suggest in order to prevent aliasing from occurring (for example applying anti-aliasing filters), however there is little work describing methods to detect for it. Recently, Eckley and Nason (Biometrika 105(4), 833–848, 2018) developed a test for the absence of aliasing and/or white noise in locally stationary wavelet processes. Following Eckley and Nason (Biometrika 105(4), 833–848, 2018), we derive the corresponding theoretical consequences of sub-sampling a two-dimensional locally stationary wavelet process and develop a procedure to test for the absence of aliasing and/or white noise confounding at a fixed point, demonstrating its effectiveness and use through appropriate simulation studies and an example. In addition, we outline some possibilities for extending these methods further, from images to videos

Early Experience with the New Ovation Alto Stent Graft in Endovascular Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair

Introduction: Since 2010, the Ovation Abdominal Stent Graft System has offered a new sealing concept, achieved by a sealing ring filled with polymer 13 mm from the renal arteries. In the latest version, called Ovation Alto, the sealing ring is relocated 6 mm closer to the top of the fabric. This study describes the early clinical outcomes, after CE Mark approval in August 2020, of endovascular aneurysm repair with the Alto endograft. Report: Eleven patients underwent endovascular aneurysm repair with implantation of Ovation Alto endografts. All patients were male, and the median age was 75 (IQR 5.5) years. Hostile proximal aortic neck (<10 mm) was identified in six cases (54.5%). All procedures were performed using bilateral percutaneous approaches with no groin complications. The median procedure time was 58 (IQR 7.2) minutes, the median contrast volume used was 65 (IQR 4.2) mL, and the median blood loss 40 (IQR 12.4) mL. Technical success was achieved in all cases. The median stent graft landing distance between the top of the fabric and the lowest renal artery was 1.4 (IQR 0.8) mm. No intra-operative high flow endoleaks were registered. At one and six month follow up, there was 100% clinical success (no type I/III endoleak, sac enlargement, stent graft migration, polymer leakage, abdominal aortic aneurysm related mortality, or secondary intervention). Discussion: Initial experience confirms the early technical and clinical success of the new Ovation Alto stent graft. Technical modifications to the endograft could allow for accommodation of a more comprehensive range of anatomies on label. Further studies are needed to evaluate long term durability outcomes

A Diagnosis of Inflammatory Pseudotumor of the Liver by Contrast Enhaced Ultrasound and Fine-Needle Biopsy: A Case Report

Inflammatory pseudotumor (IPT) of the liver is a rare, benign lesion of unclear etiology, which may be misdiagnosed as hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, secondary tumor or abscess, because of its non-specific clinical, biochemical and radiologic findings. We present the case of a 48-old-year male in whom diagnosis of liver IPT was suspected by contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and confirmed by fine-needle liver biopsy. The diagnosis is in contrast to most of the literature reports in which the diagnosis was made only based on a surgical specimen

Endovascular Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair With Ovation Alto Stent Graft: Protocol for the ALTAIR (ALTo endogrAft Italian Registry) Study

Background: Since 2010, the Ovation Abdominal Stent Graft System has offered an innovative sealing option for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) by including a sealing ring filled with polymer 13 mm from the renal arteries. In August 2020, the redesigned Ovation Alto, with a sealing ring 6 mm closer to the top of the fabric, received CE Mark approval. Objective: This registry study aims to evaluate intraoperative, perioperative, and postoperative results in patients treated by the Alto stent graft (Endologix Inc.) for elective AAA repair in a multicentric consecutive experience. Methods: All consecutive eligible patients submitted to endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) by Alto Endovascular AAA implantation will be included in this analysis. Patients will be submitted to EVAR procedures based on their own preferences, anatomical features, and operators experience. An estimated number of 300 patients submitted to EVAR with Alto stent graft should be enrolled. It is estimated that the inclusion period will be 24 months. The follow-up period is set to be 5 years. Full data sets and cross-sectional images of contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan performed before EVAR, at the first postoperative month, at 24 or 36 months, and at 5-year follow-up interval will be reported in the central database for a centralized core laboratory review of morphological changes. The primary endpoint of the study is to evaluate the technical and clinical success of EVAR with the Alto stent graft in short- (90-day), mid- (1-year), and long-term (5-year) follow-up periods. The following secondary endpoints will be also addressed: operative time; intraoperative radiation exposure; contrast medium usage; AAA sac shrinkage at 12-month and 5-year follow-up; any potential role of patients' baseline characteristics, valuated on preoperative computed tomography angiographic study, and of device configuration (number of component) in the primary endpoint. Results: The study is currently in the recruitment phase and the final patient is expected to be treated by the end of 2023 and then followed up for 5 years. A total of 300 patients will be recruited. Analyses will focus on primary and secondary endpoints. Updated results will be shared at 1- and 3-5-year follow-ups. Conclusions: The results from this registry study could validate the safety and effectiveness of the new design of the Ovation Alto Stent Graft. The technical modifications to the endograft could allow for accommodation of a more comprehensive range of anatomies on-label

High Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte and Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratios Are Associated with a Higher Risk of Hemodialysis Vascular Access Failure

Our aim was to determine the predictive role of the preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in vascular access malfunctioning in patients who had undergone their first native arterio-venous fistula (AVF) for hemodialysis. Methods: This was a single-center retrospective observational study. All patients who underwent the procedure of the creation of a first native AVF for hemodialysis from January 2019 to December 2020 were considered eligible to be part of this study. Reinterventions for AVF malfunctioning were registered and the population was subdivided into two groups with respect to AVF malfunctioning. ROC curves were obtained to find the appropriate cut-off values for the NLR and PLR. A multivariate analysis was used to identify the independent predictors for an AVF malfunction. Kaplan–Meier curves were used to evaluate the AVF patency rates. A total of 178 patients were enrolled in the study, of them 70% (n = 121) were male. The mean age was 67.5 ± 12 years. Reinterventions for AVF malfunctioning were performed on 102 patients (57.3%). An NLR > 4.21 and a PLR > 208.8 was selected as the cut-off for AVF malfunctioning. The study population was divided into two groups depending on the NLR and PLR values of the individual. For the NLR < 4.21 group, the AVF patency rates were 90.7%, 85.3%, and 84% at the 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up, respectively, and 77.5%, 65.8%, and 39.3% at 3, 6, and 12 months for the NLR > 4.21 group, respectively (p < 0.0001). For the PLR < 208.8 group, the patency rates were 85.6%, 76.7%, and 67.7% at the 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up. For the PLR > 208.28 group, the patency rates were 80.8%, 71.2%, and 50.7% for the 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up, respectively (p = 0.014). The multivariate analysis highlighted that diabetes mellitus, the neutrophil count, the lymphocyte count, and the NLR were independent risk factors for an AVF failure. In our experience, the NLR and PLR are useful markers for the stratification of vascular access failure in hemodialysis patients. The inexpensive nature and ready availability of the values of these biomarkers are two points of strength for everyday clinical practice