Follicular thyroid carcinoma: Differences in clinical relevance between minimally invasive and widely invasive tumors

Evidence on the biological behavior and clinical courses of minimally invasive and widely invasive follicular thyroid carcinoma (MI-FTC, WI-FTC) is still debatable. The current study was conducted to identify differences between MI and WI tumors and those prognostic parameters influencing late outcome such as local recurrence and survival

Validity of Accelerometers for the Evaluation of Energy Expenditure in Obese and Overweight Individuals: A Systematic Review

Objective. Even though the validity of accelerometers for the measurement of energy expenditure (EE) has been demonstrated for normal-weight individuals, the applicability of this instrument in obese individuals remains controversial. This review aims to summarize the level of agreement between accelerometers and the gold standards (indirect calorimetry and doubly labelled water) for the measurement of energy expenditure (EE) in obese or overweight individuals. Methods. The literature search was limited to comparison studies assessing agreement in EE determination between accelerometers and indirect calorimetry (IC) or doubly labelled water (DLW). We searched in PubMed and in Scopus until March 1, 2019. The analysis was restricted to obese or overweight adult individuals. The following descriptive information was extracted for each study: sample size, characteristics of participants (sex, age, BMI, fat mass percentage, any pathological conditions, modality of recruitment in the study, and exclusion criteria), accelerometer description (model, type and body position), and type of gold standard and validity protocol (duration, conditions, and requirements during and before the experiment). Three review authors independently screened the obtained results, and the quality of the selected articles was assessed by the QUADAS-2 tool. Results. We obtained seventeen eligible articles, thirteen of which showed concerns for the applicability section, due to the patient selection. Regarding the accelerometers, nine devices were validated in the included studies with the BodyMedia SenseWear® (SWA) being the most frequently validated. Although correlations between accelerometers and the gold standard were high in some studies, agreement between the two methods was low, as shown by the Bland-Altman plots. Conclusions. Most accelerometer estimations of EE were inaccurate for obese/overweight subjects, and authors advise to improve the accuracy of algorithms for SWA software, or the predicted equations for estimating EE from other accelerometers

Gender Differences among Sardinians with Alcohol Use Disorder

Sardinia is an Italian island in the Mediterranean characterized by secular isolation and the singular genetic characteristics of its inhabitants. Findings obtained in populations with diverse genetic make-up and cultural background indicate gender differences and/or similarities in drinking characteristics of patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Knowledge of these characteristics in AUD patients is useful to improve access to treatments. This paper investigated the drinking characteristics of 66 female and 282 male outpatients with AUD, born from 1937 to 1991, living in Sardinia, and compared their characteristics with those of AUD patients living in other countries. Most Sardinian patients were men, approximately 3 years younger than women; women consumed lower amounts of alcohol than men but did not differ from men in the severity of AUD. Men were more often single than women, while a higher proportion of women reported that their mother or spouse was affected by AUD. Anxiety and depression were more prevalent among women while a higher proportion of men were affected by substance use disorders. Women were older than men at the age of first drink, regular drinking, and onset of AUD, and progressed faster than men from regular use to AUD onset. Women did not differ from men in age at first request for care, and in the lapse from AUD onset to first request for care. Women and men waited for more than 8 and 9 years, respectively, before receiving medical treatment. Gender differences progressively decreased among younger patients. Although the scarce number of women in some cohorts limits the strength of these findings, drinking characteristics of Sardinian patients did not vary significantly from those of AUD patients living in other countries. These results suggest that the number of Sardinian women with AUD is increasing and services for treatment of AUD should (a) consider women’s specific needs, and (b) realize effective policies to reduce latency prior to accessing medical treatment for both men and women with AUD

Unravelling the functional and technological potential of soy milk based microencapsulated Lactobacillus crispatus and Lactobacillus gasseri

The main aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of microencapsulation with soy milk as a carrier, conducted by spray-drying, on three mixed cultures of functional vaginal lactobacilli, Lactobacillus crispatus (BC1, BC3, and BC4) and Lactobacillus gasseri BC9, that could be further exploited as an adjunct in health foods. The i) physicochemical properties (using scanning electronic microscopy), ii) viability of encapsulated bacteria over time, and iii) functional features of powders containing the encapsulated bacteria were characterised considering different storage conditions. All microbial mixtures exhibited high viability for 90 d of storage, regardless of the storage conditions. All microencapsulated microbial combinations, excluding L. crispatus BC3 + L. gasseri BC9, exhibited hydrophobicity values exceeding 60%. Moreover, regardless of the considered combination, the in vitro digestion results exhibited a more significant decrease in cell viability for non-encapsulated microbial combinations than that of the encapsulated strains

Designing a High-Power Sodium-Ion Battery by in Situ Metal Plating

Sodium ion batteries represent a drop-in technology and a more sustainable alternative to Li-ion, but higher energies and power levels are required to meet the demands required by a greener electrification. Here, the design of an anode-free sodium-ion battery is presented and its performances discussed in terms of reduced mass and high power capabilities. The cell consists of an Iron Hexacyanoferrate - reduced Graphene Oxide composite as cathode material whose synthesis is tailored to achieve minimal structural defects (3%) and water content. Its high-potential redox couple FeLS(C) is stabilized at high rates, granting the full cell with high discharge voltage and power. As negative substrate, a carbon coated aluminum foil was adopted for in situ plating/stripping of Na metal, showing very small voltage hysteresis up to an applied current of 2 mA/cm2. Overall, this simplified full cell architecture can deliver up to 340 Wh/kg and 500 W/kg at nominal 1C retaining 80% in 250 cycles, with the possibility of delivering 9000 W/kg at 20C. Bridging the boundaries between batteries and supercapacitors, this research aims to expand the range of possible applications for Na-ion technology

Sistema di misura ottico non a contatto per tumori sottocutanei nei topi

Nessun abstract disponibil

Space Debris Detection in Low Earth Orbit with the Sardinia Radio Telescope

Space debris are orbiting objects that represent a major threat for space operations. The most used countermeasure to face this threat is, by far, collision avoidance, namely the set of maneuvers that allow to avoid a collision with the space debris. Since collision avoidance is tightly related to the knowledge of the debris state (position and speed), the observation of the orbital debris is the key of the problem. In this work a bistatic radar configuration named BIRALET (BIstatic RAdar for LEO Tracking) is used to detect a set of space debris at 410 MHz, using the Sardinia Radio Telescope as the receiver antenna. The signal-to-noise ratio, the Doppler shift and the frequency spectrum for each debris are reported

Impact of a Moderately Hypocaloric Mediterranean Diet on the Gut Microbiota Composition of Italian Obese Patients

Although it is known that the gut microbiota (GM) can be modulated by diet, the efficacy of specific dietary interventions in determining its composition and diversity in obese patients remains to be ascertained. The present work aims to evaluate the impact of a moderately hypocaloric Mediterranean diet on the GM of obese and overweight patients (OB). The GM of 23 OB patients (F/M = 20/3) was compared before (T0) and after 3 months (T3) of nutritional intervention (NI). Fecal samples were analyzed by Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. At baseline, GM characterization confirmed typical obesity-associated dysbiosis. After 3 months of NI, patients presented a statistically significant reduction in body weight and fat mass, along with changes in the relative abundance of many microbial patterns. In fact, an increase in the abundance of several Bacteroidetes taxa (i.e., Sphingobacteriaceae, Sphingobacterium, Bacteroides spp., Prevotella stercorea) and a depletion of many Firmicutes taxa (i.e., Lachnospiraceae members, Ruminococcaceae and Ruminococcus, Veillonellaceae, Catenibacterium, Megamonas) were observed. In addition, the phylum Proteobacteria showed an increased abundance, while the genus Sutterella, within the same phylum, decreased after the intervention. Metabolic pathways, predicted by bioinformatic analyses, showed a decrease in membrane transport and cell motility after NI. The present study extends our knowledge of the GM profiles in OB, highlighting the potential benefit of moderate caloric restriction in counteracting the gut dysbiosis

Cost–utility analysis of pharmacogenetic testing based on CYP2C19 or CYP2D6 in major depressive disorder: assessing the drivers of different cost-effectiveness levels from an Italian societal perspective

Background and Objectives Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common and severe psychiatric disorder that has enor- mous economical and societal costs. As pharmacogenetics is one of the key tools of precision psychiatry, we analyze the cost–utility of test screening of CYP2C19 and CYP2D6 for patients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD) and try to understand the main drivers that influence the cost–utility. Methods We developed two pharmacoeconomic nonhomogeneous Markov models to test the cost–utility, from an Ital- ian societal perspective, of pharmacogenetic testing genetic to characterize the metabolizing profiles of cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2C19 and CYP2D6 in a hypothetical case study of patients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD). The model considers different scenarios of adjustment of antidepressant treatment according to the patient’s metabolizing profile or treatment over a period of 18 weeks. The uncertainty of model parameters is tested through both a probabilistic sensitivity analysis and a one-way deterministic sensitivity analysis, and these results are used in a post-hoc analysis to understand the main drivers of three alternative cost-effectiveness levels (“poor,” “standard,” and “high”). These drivers are first evaluated from an exploratory multidimensional perspective and next from a predictive perspective as the probability that a patient belongs to a specific cost-effectiveness level is estimated on the basis of a restricted set of parameters used in the original pharmacoeconomic model. Results The models for CYP2C19 and CYP2D6 indicate that screening has an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of 60,000€ and 47,000€ per quality-adjusted life year (QALY), respectively. The probabilistic sensitivity analysis shows that the treat- ments are cost-effective for a 75,000€ willingness to pay (WTP) threshold in 58% and 63% of the Monte Carlo replications, respectively. The post-hoc analysis highlights the factors that allow us to clearly discriminates poor cost-effectiveness from high cost-effectiveness scenarios and demonstrates that it is possible to predict with reasonable accuracy the cost-effectiveness of a genetic test and the associated therapeutic pattern. Conclusions Our findings suggest that screenings for both CYP2C19 and CYP2D6 enzymes for patients with MDD are cost-effective for a WTP threshold of 75,000€ per QALY, and provide relevant suggestions about the most important aspects to be further explored in clinical studies aimed at addressing the cost-effectiveness of genetic testing for patients diagnosed with MDD