Experimental Study on Fiber Laser Microcutting of Nimonic 263 Superalloy

Abstract Laser cutting of NIMONIC 263 sheet was investigated by using a 100 W Yb:YAG fiber laser. The study was divided in two phases. In the first one, the critical cutting speeds were found fixing the average power (80 W), changing the pulse duration, the cutting speed, the nozzle diameter and the focus position. Then, a full factorial design was adopted according to the DoE methodology. In order to determine which of the process parameters affect the kerf geometry and how, Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA) was used. Experimental results show the possibility to obtain kerf characterized by narrow width and low taper angle values

Magnetic resonance imaging in locally advanced rectal cancer : quantitative evaluation of the complete response to neoadjuvant therapy

Purpose: To assess the diagnostic performance of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for the discrimination of complete responder (CR) from the non-complete responder (n-CR) in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) undergoing chemotherapy and radiation (CRT). Material and methods: Between December 2009 and January 2014, 32 patients (33 lesions: one patient had two synchronous lesions) were enrolled in this retrospective study. All patients underwent a pre- and post-CRT conventional MRI study completed with DWI. For both data sets (T2-weighted and DWI), the pre- and post-CRT tumour volume (VT2; VDWI) and the tumour volume reduction ratio (ΔV%) were determined as well as pre- and post-CRT apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and ADC change (ΔADC%). Histopathological findings were the standard of reference. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to compare performance of T2-weighted and DWI volumetry, as well as ADC. Results: The area under the ROC curve (AUC) revealed a good accuracy of pre- and post-CRT values of VT2 (0.86; 0.91) and VDWI (0.82; 1.00) as well as those of ΔVT2% (0.84) and ΔVDWI% (1.00) for the CR assessment, with no statistical difference. The AUC of pre- and post-CRT ADC (0.53; 0.54) and that of ΔADC% (0.58) were significantly lower. Conclusions: Both post-CRT VDWI and ΔVDWI% (AUC = 1) are very accurate for the assessment of the CR, in spite of no significant differences in comparison to the conventional post-CRT VT2 (AUC = 0.91) and ΔVT2% (AUC = 0.84). On the contrary, both ADC and ΔADC% values are not reliable

Long-term cardiac sequelae in patients referred into a diagnostic post-COVID-19 pathway: the Different Impacts on the Right and Left Ventricles

Most patients who had COVID-19 are still symptomatic after many months post infection, but the long-term outcomes are not yet well-defined. The aim of our prospective/retrospective study was to define the cardiac sequelae of COVID-19 infection. This monocentric cohort study included 160 consecutive patients who had been discharged from the ward or from the outpatient clinic after a diagnosis of COVID-19 and subsequently referred for a follow up visit. Clinical features data about the acute phase along with information about the follow up visit, including ECG and Echocardiographic parameters, were recorded. At an average follow-upfollow up of 5 months, echocardiography showed morpho-functional changes characteristics of both right (RV) and left (LV) ventricles, such as RV dilation, increased pressure in the pulmonary circulation, and biy-ventricular systolic-diastolic dysfunction. When examined using multivariate analysis, independent of age, sex, and co-morbidities, RV and LV changes were significantly associated with chest High Resolution computed tomography score and hemodynamic Instability (HI) and with C-reactive protein, respectively. Our results suggest that COVID-19 may impact RV and LV differently. Notably, the extent of the pneumonia and HI may affect RV, whereas the inflammatory status may influence LV. A long-term follow-up is warranted to refine and customize the most appropriate therapeutic strategies

Biases in spatial bisection induced by viewing male and female faces

Research on visual attention triggered by face gender is still relatively sparse. In the present study, three experiments are reported in which male and female participants were required to estimate the midpoint of a line (i.e., the “line bisection task”): at each end of the line a face was presented. Depending on the experimental condition, faces could be of the same gender (i.e., two males or two females) or the opposite gender. Experiment 1 and 2 findings converged in showing that when a male face was presented at the right and a female face at the left endpoint of the line, a clear rightward bias emerged compared to the other experimental conditions, indicating that male faces captured attention more than female faces. Importantly, male faces used across Experiment 1 and 2 were rated as more threatening than female faces, suggesting that perceived level of threat may have been responsible for the observed bias toward the male face. Experiment 3 corroborated this hypothesis by finding an attentional bias toward the male face with high threat (angry) faces but not with low threat (smiling) faces

A multicenter multinational study of abdominal candidiasis: epidemiology, outcomes and predictors of mortality

Abstract Purpose: Clinical data on patients with intra-abdominal candidiasis (IAC) is still scarce. Methods: We collected data from 13 hospitals in Italy, Spain, Brazil, and Greece over a 3-year period (2011\u20132013) including patients from ICU, medical, and surgical wards. Results: A total of 481 patients were included in the study. Of these, 27 % were hospitalized in ICU. Mean age was 63 years and 57 % of patients were male. IAC mainly consisted of secondary peritonitis (41 %) and abdominal abscesses (30 %); 68 (14 %) cases were also candidemic and 331 (69 %) hadconcomitant bacterial infections. The most commonly isolated Candida species were C. albicans (n = 308 isolates, 64 %) and C. glabrata (n = 76, 16 %). Antifungal treatment included echinocandins (64 %), azoles (32 %), and amphotericin B (4 %). Septic shock was documented in 40.5 % of patients. Overall 30-day hospital mortality was 27 % with 38.9 % mortality in ICU. Multivariate logistic regression showed that age (OR 1.05, 95 % CI 1.03\u20131.07, P\0.001), increments in 1-point APACHE II scores (OR 1.05, 95 % CI 1.01\u20131.08, P = 0.028), secondary peritonitis (OR 1.72, 95 % CI 1.02\u20132.89, P = 0.019), septic shock (OR 3.29, 95 % CI 1.88\u20135.86, P\0.001), and absence of adequate abdominal source control (OR 3.35, 95 % CI 2.01\u20135.63, P\0.001) wereassociated with mortality. In patients with septic shock, absence of source control correlated with mortality rates above 60 % irrespective of administration of an adequate antifungal therapy. Conclusions: Low percentages of concomitant candidemia and high mortality rates are documented in IAC. In patients presenting with septic shock, source control is fundamental

Association of kidney disease measures with risk of renal function worsening in patients with type 1 diabetes

Background: Albuminuria has been classically considered a marker of kidney damage progression in diabetic patients and it is routinely assessed to monitor kidney function. However, the role of a mild GFR reduction on the development of stage 653 CKD has been less explored in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic role of kidney disease measures, namely albuminuria and reduced GFR, on the development of stage 653 CKD in a large cohort of patients affected by T1DM. Methods: A total of 4284 patients affected by T1DM followed-up at 76 diabetes centers participating to the Italian Association of Clinical Diabetologists (Associazione Medici Diabetologi, AMD) initiative constitutes the study population. Urinary albumin excretion (ACR) and estimated GFR (eGFR) were retrieved and analyzed. The incidence of stage 653 CKD (eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) or eGFR reduction > 30% from baseline was evaluated. Results: The mean estimated GFR was 98 \ub1 17 mL/min/1.73m2 and the proportion of patients with albuminuria was 15.3% (n = 654) at baseline. About 8% (n = 337) of patients developed one of the two renal endpoints during the 4-year follow-up period. Age, albuminuria (micro or macro) and baseline eGFR < 90 ml/min/m2 were independent risk factors for stage 653 CKD and renal function worsening. When compared to patients with eGFR > 90 ml/min/1.73m2 and normoalbuminuria, those with albuminuria at baseline had a 1.69 greater risk of reaching stage 3 CKD, while patients with mild eGFR reduction (i.e. eGFR between 90 and 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) show a 3.81 greater risk that rose to 8.24 for those patients with albuminuria and mild eGFR reduction at baseline. Conclusions: Albuminuria and eGFR reduction represent independent risk factors for incident stage 653 CKD in T1DM patients. The simultaneous occurrence of reduced eGFR and albuminuria have a synergistic effect on renal function worsening