Prediction of steady‐state verapamil plasma concentrations in children and adults

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110108/1/cptclpt1982144.pd

Fluorescence spectroscopy of normal and follicular cancer samples from human thyroid

An autofluorescence analysis has been performed on healthy as well as tumour thyroid tissue samples to distinguish follicular cancer from normal thyroid. Complete spectra and synchronous spectra have been recordered from properly stored samples. Fluorescence bands located at 350 nm and 400 nm has been observed in the analysed cancer samples

Using spectral diversity and heterogeneity measures to map habitat mosaics: An example from the Classical Karst

Questions: Can we map complex habitat mosaics from remote-­sensing data? In doing this, are measures of spectral heterogeneity useful to improve image classification performance? Which measures are the most important? How can multitemporal data be integrated in a robust framework? Location: Classical Karst (NE Italy). Methods: First, a habitat map was produced from field surveys. Then, a collection of 12 monthly Sentinel-­2 images was retrieved. Vegetation and spectral heterogeneity (SH) indices were computed and aggregated in four combinations: (1) monthly layers of vegetation and SH indices; (2) seasonal layers of vegetation and SH indices; (3) yearly layers of SH indices computed across the months; and (4) yearly layers of SH indices computed across the seasons. For each combination, a Random Forest clas- sification was performed, first with the complete set of input layers and then with a subset obtained by recursive feature elimination. Training and validation points were independently extracted from field data. Results: The maximum overall accuracy (0.72) was achieved by using seasonally ag- gregated vegetation and SH indices, after the number of vegetation types was re- duced by aggregation from 26 to 11. The use of SH measures significantly increased the overall accuracy of the classification. The spectral β-­diversity was the most im- portant variable in most cases, while the spectral α-­diversity and Rao's Q had a low relative importance, possibly because some habitat patches were small compared to the window used to compute the indices. Conclusions: The results are promising and suggest that image classification frame- works could benefit from the inclusion of SH measures, rarely included before. Habitat mapping in complex landscapes can thus be improved in a cost-­and time-­effective way, suitable for monitoring applications

Time-lapsing biodiversity: an open source method for measuring diversity changes by remote sensing

Understanding biodiversity changes in time is crucial to promptly provide management practices against diversity loss. This is overall true when considering global scales, since human-induced global change is expected to make significant changes on the Earth's biota. Biodiversity management and planning is mainly based on field observations related to community diversity, considering different taxa. However, such methods are time and cost demanding and do not allow in most cases to get temporal replicates. In this view, remote sensing can provide a wide data coverage in a short period of time. Recently, the use of Rao's Q diversity as a measure of spectral diversity has been proposed in order to explicitly take into account differences in a neighbourhood considering abundance and relative distance among pixels. The aim of this paper was to extend such a measure over the temporal dimension and to present an innovative approach to calculate remotely sensed temporal diversity. We demonstrated that temporal beta-diversity (spectral turnover) can be calculated pixel-wise in terms of both slope and coefficient of variation and further plotted over the whole matrix / image. From an ecological and operational point of view, for prioritisation practices in biodiversity protection, temporal variability could be beneficial in order to plan more efficient conservation practices starting from spectral diversity hotspots in space and time. In this paper, we delivered a highly reproducible approach to calculate spatio-temporal diversity in a robust and straightforward manner. Since it is based on open source code, we expect that our method will be further used by several researchers and landscape managers

ORTHORECTIFICATION OF A LARGE DATASET OF HISTORICAL AERIAL IMAGES: PROCEDURE AND PRECISION ASSESSMENT IN AN OPEN SOURCE ENVIRONMENT

The availability of data time series spanning a long period is crucial for landscape change analysis. A suitable dataset, both in terms of time span and information content, must be available for the use with a GIS.In Italy, one of the most important historical source of land cover analysis is the GAI (Gruppo Aereo Italiano) photogrammetric survey (“Volo GAI”) commissioned in 1954 by the Italian national mapping agency, Istituto Geografico Militare Italiano (IGMI).The survey covers the whole Italy, but so far only some Regions, namely Lombardia and Veneto, have carried out the image rectification and the successive analyses to map land cover and use.This work describes the process of image orthorectification of the Volo GAI images for the Province of Trento (Provincia Autonoma di Trento).Image orthorectification must be performed to transform the images in maps available for analysis. This procedure corrects the geometry according to the terrain surface described by a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) to create an image compatible with the cartographic projection in use.To this end, the orthorectification modules available in GRASS GIS have been used, with the advantage of using the same GIS environment which will be used for the landscape analysis. The dataset covering the whole Province contains almost 100 images, this paper presents the preliminary results of the orthorectification of a quarter of the images. A reduced dataset has been used to test the results obtained using different settings with respect to: digital image resolution, DTM resolution and number of Ground Control Points (GCPs) used for the external orientation.These preliminary tests show that for the average quality of the Volo GAI images scan resolution beyond 600 DPI and DTM resolution above 10 m do not provide significant improvements for orthorectification images. The minimum number of GCPs to guarantee the requested accuracy can vary from image to image, depending on the image quality and recognizable features position, but it is usually in the 15–20 points range

High habitat richness limits the risk of tick-borne encephalitis in Europe: a multi-scale study

The natural transmission cycle of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus is enhanced by complex interactions between ticks and key hosts strongly connected to habitat characteristics. The diversity of wildlife host species and their relative abundance is known to affect transmission of tick-borne diseases (such as, for example, Lyme disease). In the current context of global biodiversity loss, we explored the relationship between the habitat richness index (HRI) and the pattern of human TBE cases in Europe to assess the role of HRI in disease risk mitigation. Methods: We assessed human TBE case distribution across 879 European regions using official epidemiological data reported to the European Surveillance System (TESSy) between 2017 and 2021 from 15 countries. We statistically explored the relationship between TBE presence and a novel variable - the habitat richness index (HRI) - describing the diversity of European ecosystem types. We also validated our findings at local scale using data collected between 2017 and 2021 in 227 municipalities located in Trento and Belluno provinces, two known TBE foci in northern Italy. Findings: Our results showed a significant parabolic effect of HRI on the probability of presence of human TBE cases in the European regions included in our dataset, and a significant, negative effect of HRI on the local presence of TBE in northern Italy. At both spatial scales, TBE risk decreases in areas with higher values of HRI. Interpretation: To our knowledge, no efforts have yet been made to explore the relationship between habitat richness and TBE risk, both in local and in large scale geographical contexts, probably due to the scarcity of high-resolution, large-scale data about the abundance or density of critical host species, such as rodents and ungulates. To overcome this lack o f data, in this study we considered habitat richness as proxy of vertebrate host biodiversity to disentangle its role in driving TBE European occurrence at different spatial scales. The results suggest that biodiversity loss could considerably enhance disease risk for both humans and wildlife, which may influence biodiversity conservation policies within a One Health context approach

Double down on remote sensing for biodiversity estimation. A biological mindset

In the light of unprecedented planetary changes in biodiversity, real-time and accurate ecosystem and biodiversity assessments are becoming increasingly essential for informing policy and sustainable development. Biodiversity monitoring is a challenge, especially for large areas such as entire continents. Nowadays, spaceborne and airborne sensors provide information that incorporate wavelengths that cannot be seen nor imagined with the human eye. This is also now accomplished at unprecedented spatial resolutions, defined by the pixel size of images, achieving less than a meter for some satellite images and just millimeters for airborne imagery. Thanks to different modeling techniques, it is now possible to study functional diversity changes over different spatial and temporal scales. At the heart of this unifying framework are the “spectral species”—sets of pixels with a similar spectral signal—and their variability over space. The aim of this paper is to summarize the power of remote sensing for directly estimating plant species diversity, particularly focusing on the spectral species concept

Snare-assisted vascular access: A new technique

Access to the central circulation can be difficult in small infants, particularly when normal anatomic landmarks have been altered. We describe a new technique that utilizes any existing central catheter to establish additional sites of vascular access. A 4 Fr end hole catheter is advanced under fluoroscopic guidance to the desired site of new vascular access. A 10-mm Amplatz snare catheter is advanced through the end hole catheter and the loop opened within the target vessel lumen. The snare is then used to guide percutaneous placement of a Cope wire through a 21-gauge needle and then to pull the wire into the central circulation. New access is then achieved by introducing an additional catheter over the guidewire. This technique has now been successfully utilized 16 times in 13 patients. Snare assistance is a safe and effective technique that provides a reliable means of establishing additional secure vascular access. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Intervent. 47:315–318, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/35244/1/13_ftp.pd

Studio di un modello per la stima dell’ozono troposferico in provincia di Trento: relazione tecnica dello studio realizzato nell’ambito della convenzione tra IASMA e Servizio Foreste e Fauna della Provincia Autonoma di Trento (Convenzione N. 4297 del 12/3/08)

Nel 2007 sono state condotte due campagne di misura dell’ozono troposferico in provincia di Trento, una a scala locale (Maggio-Giugno) ed una provinciale (Giugno- Settembre). I dati così raccolti, unitamente a quelli della rete di centraline automatiche APPA, ai dati meteoclimatici (Temperatura e Precipitazioni) ed ai dati territoriali (quote, uso del suolo) sono stati considerati per valutare la possibilità di modellare le concentrazioni di ozono sul territorio provinciale. Sono stati seguiti due approcci, uno di tipo statistico, mediante l’uso della PLSR (Partial Least Square Regression), ed uno di tipo geostatistico, che ha considerato la dipendenza spaziale dei dati. Questi due approcci sono stati dapprima studiati relativamente ad un periodo di due settimane, tra il 13 ed il 27 Giugno 2007, considerando separatamente ciascuna settimana e poi la media delle due. Questo periodo è stato scelto perché era quello comune alle due campagne di misurazione e permetteva di massimizzare la numerosità delle osservazioni. Entrambi gli approcci hanno identificato la quota, la temperatura e le precipitazioni come i principali predittori dei livelli di ozono in Trentino, seppur con pesi diversi a seconda del periodo considerato. La validazione su siti indipendenti ha evidenziato errori medi assoluti pari al 28.6% (approccio statistico) e 16.1% (approccio geostatistico). L’RMSEP (Root- Mean-Square-Error of Prediction, una misura delle differenze tra il valore vero ed il valore predetto, espressa nella stessa unità di misura della variabile di interesse) è risultato leggermente migliore nel modello derivante dall’approccio geostatistico, per il quale anche la varianza spiegata è risultata superiore. In virtù dei minori errori, l’approccio geostatistico è stato quindi applicato per le stime a scala provinciale e per la previsione delle concentrazioni medie sul periodo Giugno-Settembre. Quota e precipitazioni sono risultati i predittori significativi che permettono di massimizzare la prestazione del modello con il minor numero di predittori. Le stime così ottenute sono state validate mediante Cross-Validation attraverso la procedura di Leave-One-Out, che ha evidenziato scostamenti medi dai dati misurati pari a 13.98 μg*m-3. Le stime indicano valori di ozono superiori (fino anche ad oltre 180 μg*m-3) nella parte occidentale della provincia, a ridosso dell’Adamello, e nel settore nord-orientale, dalla Marmolada al Primiero (120-180 μg*m-3). In queste zone l’AOT40 (stimato sul periodo metà Giugno-metà Settembre) arriva a valori 3-4 volte superiori al Target stabilito dalla Direttiva EU per la protezione della vegetazione. Merita ricordare tuttavia che esistono aree con misurazioni assenti (es. area centro-occidentale della provincia) che possono avere influenza nella formulazione del modello e sulla precisione delle stime. I risultati ottenuti sono promettenti e dimostrano la praticabilità dell’approccio seguito, che potrebbe portare a sviluppi applicativi interessanti: con l’aggiunta di una componente dinamica (tempo), si potrebbero ottenere stime e previsioni più robuste; sovrapponendo le stime dei livelli di ozono con altri layer informativi sarebbero possibili stime di rischio, oltrechè per la popolazione, anche per ecosistemi e vegetazione; diventerebbero fattibili una mappatura routinaria delle aree a rischio e studi correlativi sul possibile ruolo dell’ozono sulle condizioni dei boschi trentini

Hemodynamic determinants of the peak systolic left ventricular-aortic pressure gradient in children with valvar aortic stenosis

The peak systolic pressure gradient (the difference between peak left ventricular [LV] and peak aortic systolic pressures) has been used for many years as a primary measure of severity in children with valvar aortic stenosis (AS).1-3 Reliance on the peak systolic pressure gradient in clinical decision-making was based on the practice of measuring the gradient at catheterization by withdrawing a single catheter from the left ventricle to aorta. In recent years it has become common, however, to measure LV and aortic pressures simultaneously with dual catheter techniques.4 The time-honored peak systolic gradient does not actually exist in time, because peak LV pressure in AS occurs well before peak aortic systolic pressure. The pressure gradients that actually exist in real time between the left ventricle and aorta (the instantaneous gradients) vary throughout systole. These instantaneous pressure gradients, which include peak instantaneous gradient and mean systolic gradient (the integral of the systolic instantaneous gradients) can be estimated noninvasively,5-7 unlike peak systolic gradient. Nevertheless, clinicians continue to rely on peak systolic pressure gradient as an important index of severity for clinical decision-making in children with valvar AS. The purpose of this study was to define, at cardiac catheterization, the relation between peak, mean and peak instantaneous systolic pressure gradients in children with valvar AS.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/30153/1/0000530.pd