LUMIO, a Lunar Meteoroid Impacts Observer

Accurate models of the distribution of meteoroids in the Earth-Moon system are needed to predict impacts with space equipment and for safe space exploration. The Moon\u27s lack of atmosphere allows for observation of meteoroid impacts: understanding meteoroids is important for studying asteroids, comets, and near-Earth objects. The Lunar Meteoroid Impacts Observer (LUMIO) is a CubeSat mission designed to detect and characterize meteoroid impacts on the far side of the Moon. It can detect small meteoroids too faint for Earth-based observations. LUMIO operates in a Halo orbit at Earth-Moon L2 using the LUMIO-Cam, an optical instrument detecting visible light flashes. The mission is developed under ESA\u27s General Support Technology Program Fly Element. This work highlights the technical challenges and innovative solutions for the LUMIO platform, designed to meet scientific experiment requirements. The satellite will perform a transfer through a Weak Stability Boundary (WSB) trajectory to reach its final orbit. During nominal operations, LUMIO will detect meteoroids for half the lunar month when the Moon is not completely illuminated. The remaining time will be dedicated to station keeping, orbit determination, and optical navigation using an innovative approach. LUMIO features high-reliability technologies to ensure mission success despite mass, volume, power, and cost constraints

Identification and Characterization of Cancer Stem Cells from Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cell Lines

Background/Aims: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) ranks sixth worldwide for tumor-related mortality. A subpopulation of tumor cells, termed cancer stem cells (CSCs), has the ability to support cancer growth. Therefore, profiling CSC-enriched populations could be a reliable tool to study cancer biology. Methods: We performed phenotypic characterization of 7 HNSCC cell lines and evaluated the presence of CSCs. CSCs from Hep-2 cell line and HNSCC primary cultures were enriched through sphere formation and sphere-forming cells have been characterized both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, we investigated the expression levels of Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT), an enzyme overexpressed in several malignancies. Results: CSC markers were markedly expressed in Hep-2 cell line, which was found to be highly tumorigenic. CSC-enriched populations displayed increased expression of CSC markers and a strong capability to form tumors in vivo. We also found an overexpression of CSC markers in tumor formed by CSC-enriched populations. Interestingly, NNMT levels were significantly higher in CSC-enriched populations compared with parental cells. Conclusion: Our study provides an useful procedure for CSC identification and enrichment in HNSCC. Moreover, results obtained seem to suggest that CSCs may represent a promising target for an anticancer therapy

Association of Torquetenovirus Viremia with Physical Frailty and Cognitive Impairment in Three Independent European Cohorts

Introduction: Immunosenescence and inflammaging have been implicated in the pathophysiology of frailty. Torquetenovirus (TTV), a single-stranded DNA anellovirus, the major component of the human blood virome, shows an increased replication rate with advancing age. An elevated TTV viremia has been associated with an impaired immune function and an increased risk of mortality in the older population. The objective of this study was to analyze the relation between TTV viremia, physical frailty, and cognitive impairment. Methods: TTV viremia was measured in 1,131 nonfrail, 45 physically frail, and 113 cognitively impaired older adults recruited in the MARK-AGE study (overall mean age 64.7 ± 5.9 years), and then the results were checked in two other independent cohorts from Spain and Portugal, including 126 frail, 252 prefrail, and 141 nonfrail individuals (overall mean age: 77.5 ± 8.3 years). Results: TTV viremia ≥4log was associated with physical frailty (OR: 4.69; 95% CI: 2.06-10.67, p < 0.0001) and cognitive impairment (OR: 3.49, 95% CI: 2.14-5.69, p < 0.0001) in the MARK-AGE population. The association between TTV DNA load and frailty status was confirmed in the Spanish cohort, while a slight association with cognitive impairment was observed (OR: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.000-1.773), only in the unadjusted model. No association between TTV load and frailty or cognitive impairment was found in the Portuguese sample, although a negative association between TTV viremia and MMSE score was observed in Spanish and Portuguese females. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate an association between TTV viremia and physical frailty, while the association with cognitive impairment was observed only in the younger population from the MARK-AGE study. Further research is necessary to clarify TTV's clinical relevance in the onset and progression of frailty and cognitive decline in older individuals

Lagrangian Coherent Structures in the Elliptic Restricted Three-body Problem and their application in Space Mission Design

In this work the concept of Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCS) is applied to the dynamical system of the Elliptic Restricted Three-body Problem. LCS are the generalization of invariant manifolds of the circular problem. They identify region of the phase space with different dynamical behavior. This can be exploited for preliminary design of low energy space missions. A software to compute and visualize LCS has been developed and the results were used to preliminarily design an interplanetary transfer to Jupiter

Visit-to-visit blood pressure variability in alzheimer disease

The aim of this study was to evaluate visit-to-visit blood pressure (BP) variability in a cohort of patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and healthy controls. Patients with clinically diagnosed mild or moderate AD and cognitively normal controls matched for age and sex were recruited and followed up for 6 months. To characterize the BP status of each individual, mean, maximum and minimum values, SD, and coefficient of variation were obtained for both systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP). Seventy AD patients and 140 controls were enrolled. No meaningful differences were found in prevalence or treatments of various vascular risk factors. AD patients had higher maximum and lower minimum values and greater SD and coefficient of variation of both SBP and DBP. Group differences in mean values were significant only for SBP. In the multiple logistic regression analysis, adjusted for confounding variables, all the indices related to BP variability were significantly associated with AD. Our results show that AD patients have a greater variability of both SBP and DBP in comparison with age-matched cognitive normal controls, suggesting potential implication in the pathogenesis or progression of the disease.

Raven coloured progressive matrices in migraine without aura patients

Conflicting results emerged from studies investigating cognitive performances in migraine patients. Based on clinical and neuroradiological aspects, the possible involvement of executive functions has been especially taken into consideration. The aim of this study was to evaluate, in a population of subjects affected by migraine without aura (MwoA), frontal lobe cognitive functions. We enrolled all the consecutive patients affected by MwoA referred to our headache centre for a first evaluation. Each patient underwent a neuropsychological evaluation including Raven coloured progressive matrices (CPM). We collected variables as age, education, years of migraine, frequency of attacks and CPM scores. Relationship between continuous variables was explored with multiple regression lines, selecting the best-fitting trendline for each relationship. We obtained a final sample of 36 subjects (females: 62.5%; mean age: 42.25\uc2\ua0\uc2\ub1\uc2\ua010.21\uc2\ua0years). Patients had mean length of migraine history of 12.25\uc2\ua0\uc2\ub1\uc2\ua011.00\uc2\ua0years and a mean frequency of attacks of 8.06\uc2\ua0\uc2\ub1\uc2\ua07.15 per month. Linear regression underlines a progressive decrease of CPM score with the increase of the migraine history\ue2\u80\u99s length (R2\uc2\ua0=\uc2\ua00.8871; p\uc2\ua0<\uc2\ua00.001), and the frequency of migraine attacks (R2\uc2\ua0=\uc2\ua00.3122; p\uc2\ua0<\uc2\ua00.05). Our findings suggest that pathological CPM scores can be associated with the severity of migraine. These data seem to confirm the hypothesis of an impairment of executive functions in MwoA. Different hypotheses to explain cognitive impairment in migraine have been postulated including the impact of the typical white matter lesions and a long history of drug abuse. The possible relevant clinical consequence of a full comprehension of this particular aspect related to migraine deserves further attention and consideration

O040. Migraineurs and self-consciousness of illness in a population of hospital workers

Background: The World Health Organization has classified headache as the 14th cause of disabling illnesses. Millions of people are affected by this pathology, especially during their working life. Surprisingly, subjects affected by headache, in particular by migraine, present a low degree of self-awareness of their pathology, and they do not usually consult any headache center[1]. For this reason migraineurs often go towards serious complications, such as chronicization or drug abuse. We investigated, in a selected population of workers, employees of the Ospedali Riuniti in Ancona, the number of people affected by headache and their awareness. We also investigated the drugs used to verify the use of a specific therapy for such a diffused pathology. Methods: We submitted all types of health workers (physicians, nurses, technicians, sanitary operators) to an anonymous questionnaire concerning the presence of headache and its characteristics. Particularly, we investigated if these subjects referred to their general practitioner or to a headache center for their symptoms. We also tried to understand the drugs employed by these people. The type of drugs and the category of the working activity were synthesized as two different ordinal variables. Difference in the distribution of the different drug categories was evaluated with \u3c72 test. Statistics was performed with SPSS 13.0 for Windows systems. Results: We enrolled 1,700 consecutive subjects: 18.1% of the population (308 patients) resulted affected by migraine. Only a minimum part of these patients had consulted a headache center in their life. Subjects tended not to take any drugs for their acute attack of headache, or took significantly more non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in respect to triptans. Distribution of the use of the drugs resulted significantly different (p < 0.0001) with \u3c72 test. Conclusions: Migraineurs, also in presence of more than one attack in their life, typically showed low self-awareness about their condition and usually did not refer to a specialistic headache center. Consequently, the use of specific molecules, such as triptans, presented a very low diffusion. These results reflect international literature, but on the other hand, underline a very unsatisfactory knowledge about migraine and its possible consequences[2, 3]. Moreover, these data are especially worrisome because they are representative of a hospital population. Better education and awareness about such a prevalent and disabling pathology and its management should be favored

Migraine: incorrect self-management for a disabling disease

Migraine is an economically and socially relevant pathology but patients\u2019 consciousness and consequently a proper management is often unsatisfactory. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the disease awareness, the general approach and the impact on working activity in a population of headache-affected hospital workers. During an 18-month period, hospital workers responded to a questionnaire investigating headache presence, characteristics and awareness. Specific attention was paid to define headache impact on working activities. 1774 consecutive subjects were enrolled. Headache was documented in 45.7% of the sample, migraine in 16.6%. 40.6% of the patients with headache and 50.7% of the migraneous subjects had a specialist medical evaluation. Triptans use was significantly lower than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs use. 39.5% of migraneous complained of attacks during working time, 60.2% acknowledged a negative influence on work quality. 25.5% of migraneous patients reported a loss of working days attributable to the disease. Migraine is disabling for workers with negative consequences on job capacity and quality. Efforts should be made to improve disease awareness to stimulate a better diagnostic and therapeutic approach

Framingham Risk Score and the Risk of Progression from Mild Cognitive Impairment to Dementia

BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) often represents the clinical manifestation of cognitive deterioration preceding Alzheimer's disease (AD). Currently, there are no reliable approaches for an objective evaluation of the risk of developing AD in MCI patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to verify whether the Framingham cardiovascular risk profile (FCRP) could be useful to identify patients at the highest risk of conversion from MCI to AD. METHODS: Patients with amnestic MCI (aMCI) were carefully investigated to assess their vascular risk profile. They were also submitted to a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. The FCRP was calculated for each patient and the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype was determined from peripheral blood cells. The main outcome was defined as a conversion to AD within 24 months after inclusion. RESULTS: 385 consecutive aMCI subjects were included. Age, FCRP, and vascular age showed a fairly predictive value on conversion to AD. Selecting the subpopulation of ApoE ɛ4 carriers, we observed that FCRP had an increased performance in predicting the conversion. The rate of conversion increased from 12.5% in the FCRP low-risk group to 43.2% in the high-risk group (p < 0.0001). ApoE ɛ4 carriers had a 3.7-times increased probability of conversion with respect to the other subjects (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: FCRP assessment could be considered a reliable approach to predict conversion to AD in aMCI subjects. The presence of ApoE ɛ4 increases significantly the risk of conversion. These data confirm the narrow relationship between genetic and vascular risk factors in influencing the evolution of cognitive impairment