AdS vacua with scale separation from IIB supergravity

Only two kinds of compactification are known that lead to four-dimensional supersymmetric AdS vacua with moduli stabilisation and separation of scales at tree-level. The most studied ones are compactifications of massive IIA supergravity on SU(3) structures with smeared O6 planes, for which a general ten-dimensional expression for the solution in terms of the SU(3) structure was found. Less studied are compactifications of IIB supergravity with smeared O5/O7 planes. In this paper we derive a general ten-dimensional expression for the smeared O5/O7 solutions in terms of SU(2) structures. For a specific choice of orientifold projections, we recover the known examples and we also provide new explicit solutions.Comment: 27 + 16 pages; v2 references added and typos in few equations correcte

An overview of trends in the regulation of clinical ethics committee; an opinion from the Italian National Bioethics Committee [Una visión general de las tendencias en la regulación por los comités de ética clínica: una opinión del Comité Nacional Italiano de Bioética]

In 2017, the Italian National Bioethics Commttee (INBC) released an opinion paper titled "Clinical ethics committees". Said document advocates for the creation of "clinical bioethics committees" in every suitable setting and lays out a set of guidelines aimed at regulationg such committees' function. The recommendations deal primarily with the independence, requirements for counselling, structures, composition, tasks, placement, coordination, requisite competences, regulations. In the opinion's contents there are: a) the need to entrust counselling and training on ethical issues within clinical practice to different committees than those that deal with ethical assessment of scientific trial and experimentation; b) the laying out of all the various functions and related competences required of the ethics committes' members; c) the necessity that all counselling pratices be carried out by each committee as a whole, rather than a single expert member; d) Committee's independece. The authors elaborate on each one of the above mentioned aspects and highlight the importance of INBC's recommendations in order to improve the quality standards of care delivered "to each patient's bed".En el 2017, el Comité Nacional Italiano de Bioética (CNIB) publicó un artículo de opinión titulado “Comités de Ética Clínica”. Dicho documento aboga por la creación de “comités clínicos de bioética” en cada entorno adecuado, y establece un conjunto de directrices destinadas a regular las funciones de tales comités. Las recomendaciones se refieren principalmente a la independencia, los requisitos para el asesoramiento, las estructuras, la composición, las tareas, la ubicación, la coordinación, las competencias requeridas, las regulaciones. En los contenidos de la opinión se plantean: a) la necesidad de confiar el asesoramiento y la capacitación en cuestiones éticas dentro de la práctica clínica a diferentes comités que aquellos que se ocupan de las evaluaciones éticas de los ensayos científicos y la experimentación; b) la presentación de las diversas funciones y competencias requeridas por los miembros de los comités de ética; c) la necesidad de que todas las prácticas de asesoramiento sean llevadas a cabo por cada comité como un todo, y no por un solo miembro experto; d) independencia del comité. Los autores detallan cada uno de los aspectos mencionados anteriormente y resaltan la importancia de las recomendaciones de CNIB para mejorar los estándares de calidad de la atención brindada “a la cabecera de la cama de cada paciente”

Arsenic trioxide and ascorbic acid interfere with the BCL2 family genes in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes: an ex-vivo study.

BACKGROUND: Arsenic Trioxide (ATO) is effective in about 20% of patients with myelodysplasia (MDS); its mechanisms of action have already been evaluated in vitro, but the in vivo activity is still not fully understood. Since ATO induces apoptosis in in vitro models, we compared the expression of 93 apoptotic genes in patients’ bone marrow before and after ATO treatment. For this analysis, we selected 12 patients affected by MDS who received ATO in combination with Ascorbic Acid in the context of the Italian clinical trial NCT00803530, EudracT Number 2005-001321-28. METHODS: Real-time PCR quantitative assays for genes involved in apoptosis were performed using TaqMan® Assays in 384-Well Microfluidic Cards “TaqMan® Human Apoptosis Array”. Quantitative RT-PCR for expression of EVI1 and WT1 genes was also performed. Gene expression values (Ct) were normalized to the median expression of 3 housekeeping genes present in the card (18S, ACTB and GAPDH). RESULTS: ATO treatment induced up-regulation of some pro-apoptotic genes, such as HRK, BAK1, CASPASE-5, BAD, TNFRSF1A, and BCL2L14 and down-regulation of ICEBERG. In the majority of cases with stable disease, apoptotic gene expression profile did not change, whereas in cases with advanced MDS more frequently pro-apoptotic genes were up-regulated. Two patients achieved a major response: in the patient with refractory anemia the treatment down-regulated 69% of the pro-apoptotic genes, whereas 91% of the pro-apoptotic genes were up-regulated in the patient affected by refractory anemia with excess of blasts-1. Responsive patients showed a higher induction of BAD than those with stable disease. Finally, WT1 gene expression was down-regulated by the treatment in responsive cases. CONCLUSIONS: These results represent the basis for a possible association of ATO with other biological compounds able to modify the apoptotic pathways, such as inhibitors of the BCL2 family

Maxillary sinus augmentation with three different biomaterials: Histological, histomorphometric, clinical, and patient-reported outcomes from a randomized controlled trial

Background: Lateral maxillary sinus augmentation (MSA) is a predictable bone regeneration technique in case of atrophy of the posterior-upper maxilla. Aimed at obtaining quantity and quality of bone suitable for receiving osseointegrated implants, its success is largely due to the skill of the surgeon, but also to the characteristics of the biomaterial used. Methods: Twenty-four patients needing MSA were included in the study. The patients were randomly allocated to three different groups: anorganic bovine bone mineral as control, tricalcium phosphate with or without hyaluronic acid (HA) as test groups. Nine months after MSA, bone biopsies were harvested for the histomorphometric analysis. Secondary outcomes were mean bone gain, intraoperative and postoperative complications, implant insertion torque, implant failure, and patient-reported outcome measures. Results: Although the percentage of new bone was not statistically different between the three groups (P =.191), the percentages of residual biomaterial was significantly higher (P <.000) and nonmineralized tissue significantly lower (P <.000) in the control than in the test groups. Test groups did not differ significantly from each other for all histomorphometric parameters. The implant insertion torque was significantly higher in the control group (P <.0005). The rest of the secondary outcomes were not significantly different between the groups. Conclusion: MSA is a safe and predictable procedure in terms of histological, clinical, and PROAMs, regardless of the biomaterial used. The addition of HA did not influence the outcomes

An Immunoenzyme Linked Assay (ELISA) for the Detection of Antibodies to Truncated Glycoprotein D (tgD) of Bovine Herpesvirus-1

Bovine herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1) is responsible for a variety of clinical signs. It is widespread in cattle and causes severe economic losses (Castrucci et al., 2002a, b). To prevent the infection several live and inactivated vaccines are commonly used. However, due to their short-term immunity and incomplete protection, new vaccine strategies have been proposed such as genetic vaccination (Babiuk et al., 1999). With this aim a DNA vaccine, with a plasmid expressing the tgD glycoprotein, known to be responsible for the virus antigenicity and consequent immunogenicity (Castrucci et al., 2004; Gupta et al., 1998), has been investigated. In the present study, the ELISA reaction was performed in order to detect specific antibodies in calves vaccinated with a DNA vaccine using the pcDNA3.1-tgD plasmid

Composite material comprising pectin and calcium phosphate and method for its realisation

A method for obtaining a composite material including an aqueous solution of pectin and a suspension/solution of calcium phosphate mixed together, wherein said solution of pectin cross-links with a portion of the calcium obtained from the solution of calcium phosphate and wherein a portion of the calcium phosphate in suspension remains as inorganic phase and composite materials obtained by this method

La Foto Del Mese

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A água: distribuição, regulamentação e uso na agricultura, com enfase ao arroz irrigado.

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Patient-specific cardiovascular superelastic NiTi stents produced by laser powder bed fusion

To date, there is a general lack of customizability within the selection of endovascular devices for catheter-based vascular interventions. Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) has been flexibly exploited to produce customized implants using conventional biomedical alloys for orthopedic and dental applications. Applying LPBF for cardiovascular applications, patient-specific stents can be produced with small struts (approximately 100-300 µm), variable geometries, and clinically used metals capable of superelastic behaviour at body temperature (eg. equiatomic nickel-titanium alloys, NiTi). Additionally, the growing availability and use of patient-specific 3D models provides a unique opportunity to outline the necessary manufacturing process that would be required for customizable NiTi devices based on patient geometry. In order to fulfil the potential of the patient-specific superelastic stents, process and design know-how should be expanded to the novel material and fine details at the limits of conventional LPBF machines. In this work, a framework for developing a patient-specific superelastic NiTi stent produced by LPBF is demonstrated. At a proof-of-concept stage, the design procedures are shown in a geometry similar to the artery. The stents with 100 µm nominal strut diameter are later produced with a Ni50.8Ti49.2 powder and heat treated. The results confirm the possibility of producing stents with a design suitable for highly complex patient-specific anatomies and having superelastic behavior at body temperature