Use of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Systems after radical vulvectomy for advanced vulvar cancer

A retrospective cohort study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of negative pressure wound therapy in improving vulvectomy healing. Women who underwent radical vulvectomy with complete inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy for advanced vulvar cancer were divided into two groups according to immediate postoperative care: patients treated with negative pressure wound therapy using the device applied on the site of the wound (including vulva and inguinal region), and patients receiving conventional care. Eighteen patients were included in the study. Seven (38.9%) women were treated with negative pressure wound therapy immediately after the surgery and were included in the intervention group, and 11 (61.1%) patients were included in the control group. Women who received negative pressure wound therapy had significantly lower length of stay in the hospital (14.2 ± 4.7 vs 17.1 ± 6.1 days, mean difference -6.90 days, 95% confidence interval -11.91 to -1.89), and significantly lower length for wound healing (-31.90 days, 95% confidence interval -43.48 to -20.32). In conclusion, the utilization of the negative wound pressure therapy may contribute to reduce hospitalization after radical vulvectomy for vulvar cancer. Large and well-designed randomized trials with cost effectiveness analyses are needed to confirm these findings

In vitro Biphasic Effect of Honey Bee Venom on Basophils from Screened Healthy Blood Donors

Apis mellifera L. bee venom is the most studied hymenoptera allergen, but many aspects of its action on human basophils remain unclear. Allergologists seek evidence of the effectiveness of bee venom immunotherapy as this approach is the chosen treatment for systemic allergic reactions. The effect of bee venom on human basophils in vitro has not been studied in detail for many reasons, including the paucity of basophils in peripheral blood, inter-individual basophil response variability, and the reliability and predictability of basophil activation tests. We conducted a brief preliminary survey of the effect of Apis bee venom on healthy asymptomatic (non-allergic) subjects. A dose of an aqueous commercial extract of Apis bee venom as high as 10 µg/mL activated resting basophils (CD63=+80-90%, CD203c=+30%), while it inhibited the expression of CD63 (-50%) following basophil stimulation by the soluble agonists formyl-Met-Leu-Phe or anti-IgE. The activation of resting basophils appeared to be dose-related. Only when basophils were activated with an IgE-mediated agonist, did bee venom extract exhibit a possible priming mechanism at the lowest doses used only via CD63, while it was ineffective via CD203c. Autocrine interleukin-3 may play a role in the observed biphasic behavior

Spliceosome malfunction causes neurodevelopmental disorders with overlapping features

Pre-mRNA splicing is a highly coordinated process. While its dysregulation has been linked to neurological deficits, our understanding of the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms remains limited. We implicated pathogenic variants in U2AF2 and PRPF19, encoding spliceosome subunits in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), by identifying 46 unrelated individuals with 23 de novo U2AF2 missense variants (including 7 recurrent variants in 30 individuals) and 6 individuals with de novo PRPF19 variants. Eight U2AF2 variants dysregulated splicing of a model substrate. Neuritogenesis was reduced in human neurons differentiated from human pluripotent stem cells carrying two U2AF2 hyper-recurrent variants. Neural loss of function (LoF) of the Drosophila orthologs U2af50 and Prp19 led to lethality, abnormal mushroom body (MB) patterning, and social deficits, which were differentially rescued by wild-type and mutant U2AF2 or PRPF19. Transcriptome profiling revealed splicing substrates or effectors (including Rbfox1, a third splicing factor), which rescued MB defects in U2af50deficient flies. Upon reanalysis of negative clinical exomes followed by data sharing, we further identified 6 patients with NDD who carried RBFOX1 missense variants which, by in vitro testing, showed LoF. Our study implicates 3 splicing factors as NDD-causative genes and establishes a genetic network with hierarchy underlying human brain development and function

Flux linkage in helical windings and application to pick-up coils

The paper presents an exact theory for the calculation of the flux linkage of multi-turn coils. The helical nature of the winding and the effects due to its complex geometry, including the leads, are taken into account. The parametric description of a surface bounded by the winding is considered, which leads to the determination of the analytical expression of the flux. The theory is applied to pick-up coil magnetic sensors which, within such general setting, can be fully characterized. As particular cases, some widely used pick-up coil types are discussed. A precise definition of the magnetic section and of the magnetic axis are given, supported by their analytical evaluation. From the developed formulas design criteria directly follow. Finally, the practical applicability of the theory is widened by considering a non-ideal geometry of the winding, specifically to analyze the common effect of turns tilting

Progetto e gestione di un sistema P2P basato su agenti mobili per il content delivery in WAN

Con questo lavoro di tesi si vuole documentare il percorso che ha portato alla realizzazione di nuove funzionalità per un sistema che si occupa della trasmissione di contenuti multimediali su rete p2p attraverso l'utilizzo di agenti software mobili. L'attività svolta ha pervaso gran parte dell'impianto strutturale del sistema esistente, contenendone il funzionamento attraverso Internet, permettendone l'amministrazione remota a livello dei singoli nodi e prevedendo i primi accorgimenti per la rilevazione e la gestione di alcuni tipi di guast