Orbital/ocular inflammatory involvement in VEXAS syndrome: Data from the international AIDA network VEXAS registry

VEXAS syndrome is a recently described monogenic autoinflammatory disease capable of manifesting itself with a wide array of organs and tissues involvement. Orbital/ocular inflammatory manifestations are frequently described in VEXAS patients. The objective of this study is to further describe orbital/ocular conditions in VEXAS syndrome while investigating potential associations with other disease manifestations. In the present study, twenty-seven out of 59 (45.8 %) VEXAS patients showed an inflammatory orbital/ocular involvement during their clinical history. The most frequent orbital/ocular affections were represented by periorbital edema in 8 (13.6 %) cases, episcleritis in 5 (8.5 %) patients, scleritis in 5 (8.5 %) cases, uveitis in 4 (6.8 %) cases, conjunctivitis in 4 (6.8 %) cases, blepharitis in 3 (5.1 %) cases, orbital myositis in 2 (3.4 %) cases. A diagnosis of systemic immune-mediated disease was observed in 15 (55.6 %) cases, with relapsing polychondritis diagnosed in 12 patients. A significant association was observed between relapsing polychondritis and orbital/ocular involvement in VEXAS syndrome (Relative Risk: 2.37, 95 % C.I. 1.03–5.46, p = 0.048). Six deaths were observed in the whole cohort of patients after a median disease duration of 1.2 (IQR=5.35) years, 5 (83.3 %) of which showed orbital/ocular inflammatory involvement. In conclusion, this study confirms that orbital/ocular inflammatory involvement is a common finding in VEXAS patients, especially when relapsing polychondritis is diagnosed. This makes ophthalmologists a key figure in the diagnostic process of VEXAS syndrome. The high frequency of deaths observed in this study seems to suggest that patients with orbital/ocular involvement may require increased attention and more careful follow-up

Implementing opportunistic spectrum access in LTE-Advanced

Long term evolution advanced (LTE-A) has emerged as a promising mobile broadband access technology aiming to cope with the increasing traffic demand in wireless networks. However, the enhanced spectral efficiency offered by LTE-A may become futile without a better management of scarce and overcrowded electromagnetic spectrum. In this sense, cognitive radio (CR) has been proposed as a potential solution to the problem of spectrum scarcity. Among all the mechanisms provided by CR, opportunistic spectrum access (OSA) aims at a dynamic and seamless use of certain licensed bands provided the licensee is not harmfully affected. This operation requires spectral awareness in order to avoid interferences with licensed systems. In spite of implementing some spectrum sensing mechanisms, LTE-A technology lacks other tools that are needed in order to improve the knowledge of the radio environment. This work studies the adoption of a Geo-located data base (Geo-DB) that cooperatively retrieves and maintains information regarding the location of unutilized portions of spectrum potentially available for OSA. Moreover, the potential benefit of this LTE-compliant OSA solution is evaluated using a calibrated simulation tool, by which numerical results allow us to optimally configure the system and show that the proposed opportunistic system is able to significantly improve its performance.The authors would like to thank the funding received from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion within the Project number TEC2011-27723-C02-02 and from the Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio TSI-020100-2011-266 funds. This article had been written in the framework of the CELTIC project CP08-001 COMMUNE. Study by X. Gelabert is funded by the BP-DGR 2010 scholarship (ref. 00192). 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¬Map of Rock-Cut Sites in the Mediterranean Basin, and classification of the related hydraulic works.

Blooming of rupestrian communities is a significant phenomenon in central-southern Italy (southern Tuscany, northern Latium, Campania, Molise, Basilicata, Apulia and Sicily), and in many other countries of the Mediterranean Basin (Algeria, France, Libya, Malta, Greece, Morocco, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey), as well as of Africa (Ethiopia), the Middle East (Jordan, Israel, Syria), and central Asia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan). Further, it is also present in other regions of the world, from the ancient Persia, to China, to the high valleys in the Himalaya. The speleological research in artificial cavities, which started in Italy and nowadays is widespread in many other countries, has largely contributed to acquisition of a large amount of data of great interest about the different typologies of cavities (civilian settlements, underground working places, defensive works, hermitage sites), and the structures necessary to daily life and to development of a variety of activities as well. Speleologists, by comparing the techniques used in the realization of the different works, and the related aims, have collected data about tens of thousands of underground sites excavated by man, of high historical and anthropological interest. Thanks to this work of many decades, we can today compare and analyze all these data, which in turn feed several projects, as for the case of the Map of Rock-Cut Sites in the Mediterranean Basin

Simboli cartografici per cavità artificiali: recenti attività delle Commissioni UIS

La definizione di standard cartografici, e dei simboli da utilizzare per la rappresentazione degli elementi caratterizzanti grotte naturali e cavità artificiali, è di estremo interesse ai fini della corretta documentazione e divulgazione del mondo sotterraneo. Specialmente nel caso delle cavità artificiali, all’interno delle quali è possibile osservare significativi elementi di grande importanza storica e archeologica, risulta necessario stabilire una simbologia unica, accettata e validata dalla comunità internazionale. Di recente, partendo da una serie di esperienze condotte in ambito delle cavità artificiali, e dalla esistente simbologia cartografica per grotte naturali, il Gruppo di Lavoro su Rilievo e Cartografia (Commissione per l’Informatica) e la Commissione sulle Cavità Artificiali della International Union of Speleology (UIS) hanno avviato lavori congiunti per giungere a definire un set di simboli utilizzabile per le cavità di origine antropica. Il presente lavoro riassume le attività sinora svolte

Idraulica rupestre in Turchia

La Turchia, ed in particolare la Cappadocia, rappresentano indubbiamente uno dei siti al mondo maggiormente famosi per lo sviluppo di cavità scavate dall’uomo, con veri e propri insediamenti che caratterizzano vaste aree del territorio. In questo contesto, nonostante l’abbondante bibliografia esistente sui siti della Cappadocia, non molti lavori sono stati dedicati agli aspetti di idraulica rupestre. Con il presente contributo ci proponiamo l’obiettivo di colmare, almeno parzialmente, questa lacuna, fornendo una prima, seppur sintetica, descrizione delle tipologie di opere idrauliche individuate

Preliminary study of the hypogeum structures of the Kale of Bitlis in south-western Turkey

Archaeological excavations conducted since 2004 at the Kale (castle) of Bitlis in south-western Turkey have revealed several different rooms inside of the imposing fortress that overlooks the city. During this research, besides the wall structures, pottery, glass and metals were found which made it possible to determine the chronology and use of the building and of its various rooms. Among the various structures that were found, two of them, completely hypogeal, were surveyed and studied by the Center for Subterranean Studies of Genoa and in this article are discussed and compared with other similar subterranean structures