The physical effort required from professional football players in different playing positions

The purpose of this study is to examine the physical effort required at professional football players (Italian Championship) in relation to the examination of a series of friendly matches at different times of the year, compared to their role, using the technology of GPS, for finalizing the training to improve the sport performance. The activities of players were monitored using GPS technology with a sampling rate of 10 Hz. The total distance covered, distances with different speed and accelerations were analyzed in relation to five different roles: (CD) central defenders, (FB) full-backs, (M) midfielders, (AM) advanced midfielders and (A) attackers. Players activities were monitored using GPS technology with a sampling rate of 10 Hz. Total distance covered, distance at different speeds and accelerations were analyzed in relation in five different roles: (CD) central defenders, (FB) full-backs, (M) midfielders, (AM) advanced midfielders and (A) attackers. The maximum covered distance (over 10 km) during a friendly match was reached by the third (FB), midfielders (M) and advanced midfielders (AM); The same ones have covered, too, the greatest distances in high-intensity running (> 16 km/h); instead, the attackers and central defenders covered the distance in high power. The full-backs (FB) and Advanced Midfielders (AM) have producted high acceleration and deceleration compared to other roles, while midfielders (M) have developed greater metabolic power. Finally, the end-of-season results were compared with the data gained at the beginning of the year and important differences between the various roles were noted

Low-dose interleukin-2 for treating postautologous transplant cytogenetic abnormality recurrency in a case of acute myeloid leukemia with hyperdiploidy.

Adoptive immunotherapy and/or immunostimulation may be effective in treating early phases of leukemia relapsing after allogeneic transplant. Donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) is an established treatment for cytogenetic relapse of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) after unmanipulated or T-cell–depleted bone marrow transplant (BMT)1; favorable results have also been reported in a few cases of initial posttransplant relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).2 A graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect as part of a manifest or occult DLI-elicited graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is thought to be the reason for these favorable results. For patients who had received autologous transplant, attempts to elicit an antineoplastic effect by immunostimulation have been made using in vitro interleukin-2 (IL-2)–activated autologous lymphocytes and/or IL-2 in vivo administration.34 We report on the successful use of subcutaneous (sc) low-dose IL-2 in a patient suffering from AML with recurrence of cytogenetic abnormalities after autografting

CD34+ enriched donor lymphocyte infusions in a case of pure red cell aplasia and late graft failure after major ABO-incompatible bone marrow transplantation

A variety of immunohematological complications may occur after ABO-incompatible BMT. We report a CML patient (blood group O) who received a BMT from an HLA-identical sibling (blood group AB). The transplant was followed by normal myeloid and megakaryocytic engraftment, but erythroblastopenia persisted for more than 200 days after BMT. By bone marrow culture studies, a complement-dependent serum inhibitor of hemopoiesis was detected, suggesting immunological inhibition of erythropoiesis. The patient was resistant to a number of treatments such as intravenous gamma-globulins, prednisolone and high-dose erythropoietin. Full engraftment with normal blood counts and marrow cellularity was achieved after two dose-escalating CD34+-enriched donor lymphocyte infusions (DLI). This experience suggests that CD34+-enriched DLI may be an effective treatment for patients with delayed engraftment or late graft failure due to major ABO-incompatibility

Study of the 12C+12C fusion reactions near the Gamow energy

The fusion reactions 12C(12C,a)20Ne and 12C(12C,p)23Na have been studied from E = 2.10 to 4.75 MeV by gamma-ray spectroscopy using a C target with ultra-low hydrogen contamination. The deduced astrophysical S(E)* factor exhibits new resonances at E <= 3.0 MeV, in particular a strong resonance at E = 2.14 MeV, which lies at the high-energy tail of the Gamow peak. The resonance increases the present non-resonant reaction rate of the alpha channel by a factor of 5 near T = 8x10^8 K. Due to the resonance structure, extrapolation to the Gamow energy E_G = 1.5 MeV is quite uncertain. An experimental approach based on an underground accelerator placed in a salt mine in combination with a high efficiency detection setup could provide data over the full E_G energy range.Comment: 4 Pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Small oligonucleotides detection in three-dimensional polymer network of dna-peg hydrogels

The control of the three-dimensional (3D) polymer network structure is important for permselective materials when specific biomolecule detection is needed. Here we investigate conditions to obtain a tailored hydrogel network that combines both molecular filtering and molecular capture capabilities for biosensing applications. Along this line, short oligonucleotide detection in a displacement assay is set within PEGDA hydrogels synthetized by UV radical photopolymerization. To provide insights on the molecular filter capability, diffusion studies of several probes (sulforho-damine G and dextrans) with different hydrodynamic radii were carried out using NMR technique. Moreover, fluorometric analyses of hybridization of DNA oligonucleotides inside PEGDA hydrogels shed light on the mechanisms of recognition in 3D, highlighting that mesh size and crowding effect greatly impact the hybridization mechanism on a polymer network. Finally, we found the best probe density and diffusion transport conditions to allow the specific oligonucleotide capture and detection inside PEGDA hydrogels for oligonucleotide detection and the filtering out of higher molecular weight molecules

Post-transplant cerebral toxoplasmosis diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging.

Cerebral toxoplasmosis is a rare late complication in allogeneic bone marrow transplanted patients. Neuroradiological findings may suggest the correct diagnosis. We report a patient in whom cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a lesion characteristic of toxoplasmosis. Anti- toxoplasma treatment led to clinical and radiological improvement. MRI seems to be a valid tool for detection and follow-up of cerebral toxoplasmosis

Probing the Residual Structure in Avian Prion Hexarepeats by CD, NMR and MD Techniques

Many proteins perform essential biological functions by means of regions that lacking specific organized structure exist as an ensemble of interconverting transient conformers. The characterization of such regions, including the description of their structural propensities, number of conformations and relative populations can provide useful insights. Prion diseases result from the conversion of a normal glycoprotein into a misfolded pathogenic isoform. The structures of mammal and chicken prion proteins show a similar fold with a globular domain and a flexible N-terminal portion that contains different repeated regions: octarepeats (PHGGGWGQ) in mammals and hexarepeats (PHNPGY) in chickens. The higher number of prolines in the hexarepeat region suggests that this region may retain a significant amount of residual secondary structure. Here, we report the CD, NMR and MD characterization of a peptide (2-HexaPY) composed of two hexarepeats. We combine experimental NMR data and MD to investigate at atomic level its ensemble-averaged structural properties, demonstrating how each residue of both repeats has a different quantified PPII propensity that shows a periodicity along the sequence. This feature explains the absence of cooperativity to stabilize a PPII conformation. Nonetheless, such residual structure can play a role in nucleating local structural transitions as well as modulating intra-molecular or inter-molecular interactions

Fusion rate enhancement due to energy spread of colliding nuclei

Experimental results for sub-barrier nuclear fusion reactions show cross section enhancements with respect to bare nuclei which are generally larger than those expected according to electron screening calculations. We point out that energy spread of target or projectile nuclei is a mechanism which generally provides fusion enhancement. We present a general formula for calculating the enhancement factor and we provide quantitative estimate for effects due to thermal motion, vibrations inside atomic, molecular or crystal system, and due to finite beam energy width. All these effects are marginal at the energies which are presently measurable, however they have to be considered in future experiments at still lower energies. This study allows to exclude several effects as possible explanation of the observed anomalous fusion enhancements, which remain a mistery.Comment: 17 pages with 3 ps figure included. Revtex styl

Anomalous enhancements of low-energy fusion rates in plasmas: the role of ion momentum distributions and inhomogeneous screening

Non-resonant fusion cross-sections significantly higher than corresponding theoretical predictions are observed in low-energy experiments with deuterated matrix target. Models based on thermal effects, electron screening, or quantum-effect dispersion relations have been proposed to explain these anomalous results: none of them appears to satisfactory reproduce the experiments. Velocity distributions are fundamental for the reaction rates and deviations from the Maxwellian limit could play a central role in explaining the enhancement. We examine two effects: an increase of the tail of the target Deuteron momentum distribution due to the Galitskii-Yakimets quantum uncertainty effect, which broadens the energy-momentum relation; and spatial fluctuations of the Debye-H\"{u}ckel radius leading to an effective increase of electron screening. Either effect leads to larger reaction rates especially large at energies below a few keV, reducing the discrepancy between observations and theoretical expectations.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

CD19-Targeted Immunotherapies for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Surgical resection, chemotherapy and radiotherapy were, for many years, the only available cancer treatments. Recently, the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors and adoptive cell therapies has emerged as promising alternative. These cancer immunotherapies are aimed to support or harness the patient\u2019s immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Preclinical and clinical studies, based on the use of T cells and more recently NK cells genetically modified with chimeric antigen receptors retargeting the adoptive cell therapy towards tumor cells, have already shown remarkable results. In this review, we outline the latest highlights and progress in immunotherapies for the treatment of Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) patients, focusing on CD19-targeted immunotherapies. We also discuss current clinical trials and opportunities of using immunotherapies to treat DLBCL patients