Diagnostic study on an immunochromatographic rapid test for schistosomiasis: comparison between use on serum and on blood spot from fingerprick

An immunochromatographic rapid test (ICT; Schistosoma ICT IgG-IgM, LDBIO Diagnostics) demonstrated high sensitivity (96%) in the diagnosis ofSchistosoma mansoniandS. haematobium. To date, the test has been validated for use on serum only, but in the absence of lab equipment, blood drop from fingerprick could be a useful option. This method is acquiring more interest because of the high flow of migrants rapidly moving across Italy and other European countries

A unified framework for the assessment of multiple source urban flash flood hazard: the case study of Monza, Italy

This paper aims to analyze the flood hazard in the city of Monza, which periodically suffers from overflows from both the river Lambro and the urban drainage system during wet weather conditions. A unified Urban Flash Flood Model of Monza is therefore developed to capture both sources of hazard. The model is first validated by comparing the results of simulations with historical data related to the area of Monza, then is exploited to obtain maximum flood depth and velocity maps for three different return periods. Overall, the results show the different nature of the flood-related hazard and the sewer-related hazard: the former is concentrated across the rivers whereas the latter spreads patchy over the territory. Furthermore, the former features much larger water levels and flow velocities, which result in more serious hazard to citizens

SPHERA v.9.0.0: A Computational Fluid Dynamics research code, based on the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics mesh-less method

SPHERA v.9.0.0 (RSE SpA) is a FOSS CFD-SPH research code validated on the following application fields: floods with transport of solid bodies and bed-load transport; fast landslides and their interactions with water reservoirs; sediment removal from water bodies; fuel sloshing tanks; hydrodynamic lubrication for energy efficiency actions in the industrial sector. SPHERA is featured by several numerical schemes dealing with: transport of solid bodies in fluid flows; treatment of fixed and mobile solid boundaries; dense granular flows and an erosion criterion. The source and executable codes, the input files and the free numerical chain of SPHERA v.9.0.0 are presented. Some reference validations and applications are also provided. SPHERA is developed and distributed on a GitHub public repository. Program summary Program title: SPHERA v.9.0.0 Licensing provisions: GNU General Public License 3 (GPL) Programming language: Fortran 95 Supplementary material: software documentation/guide, 34 tutorials Journal Reference of previous version: Amicarelli A., R. Albano, D. Mirauda, G. Agate, A. Sole, R. Guandalini; 2015; A Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics model for 3D solid body transport in free surface flows; Computers & Fluids, 116:205–228. DOI 10.1016/j.compfluid.2015.04.018 Does the new version supersede the previous version?: Yes Reasons for the new version: scheme for dense granular flows (i.e. bed-load transport, fast landslides); reference Journal publication: Amicarelli A., B. Kocak, S. Sibilla, J. Grabe; 2017; A 3D Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics model for erosional dam-break floods; International Journal of Computational Fluid Dynamics, 31(10):413-434; DOI 10.1080/10618562.2017.1422731 Nature of problem (approx. 50-250 words): SPHERA v.9.0.0 has been applied to free-surface and multi-phase flows involving the following application fields: floods (with transport of solid bodies, bed-load transport and a domain spatial coverage up to some hundreds of squared kilometres), fast landslides and wave motion, sediment removal from water reservoirs, fuel sloshing tanks, hydrodynamic lubrication. Solution method (approx. 50-250 words): SPHERA v.9.0.0 is a research FOSS (“Free/Libre and Open-Source Software”) code based on the SPH (“Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics”) technique, a mesh-less Computational Fluid Dynamics numerical method for free surface and multi-phase flows. The five numerical schemes featuring SPHERA v.9.0.0 deal with: dense granular flows; transport of solid bodies in free surface flows; boundary treatment for both mobile and fixed frontiers; 2D erosion criterion. Additional comments including Restrictions and Unusual features (approx. 50-250 words): SPHERA v.9.0.0 is a 3D research FOSS (“Free/Libre and Open-Source Software”) code (developed under the subversion control system Git) with peculiar features for: floods (with transport of solid bodies, bed-load transport and a domain spatial coverage up to some hundreds of squared kilometres), fast landslides and wave motion, sediment removal from water reservoirs, fuel sloshing tanks, hydrodynamic lubrication. The whole numerical chain of SPHERA is made of FOSS, freeware and Open Data numerical tools. References: SPHERA (RSE SpA), https://github.com/AndreaAmicarelliRSE/SPHERA, last access on 28May2019 Amicarelli A., G. Agate, R. Guandalini; 2013; A 3D Fully Lagrangian Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics model with both volume and surface discrete elements; International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 95: 419–450, DOI: 10.1002/nme.4514 Amicarelli A., R. Albano, D. Mirauda, G. Agate, A. Sole, R. Guandalini; 2015; A Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics model for 3D solid body transport in free surface flows; Computers & Fluids, 116:205–228. DOI 10.1016/j.compfluid.2015.04.018 Amicarelli A., B. Kocak, S. Sibilla, J. Grabe; 2017; A 3D Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics model for erosional dam-break floods; International Journal of Computational Fluid Dynamics, 31(10):413-434; DOI 10.1080/10618562.2017.1422731 Manenti S., S. Sibilla, M. Gallati, G. Agate, R. Guandalini; 2012; SPH Simulation of Sediment Flushing Induced by a Rapid Water Flow; Journal of Hydraulic Engineering ASCE 138(3): 227-311. Di Monaco A., S. Manenti, M. Gallati, S. Sibilla, G. Agate, R. Guandalini; 2011; SPH modeling of solid boundaries through a semi-analytic approach. Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics, 5(1):1-15

Variation in Post-Transplant Cancer Incidence among Italian Kidney Transplant Recipients over a 25-Year Period

Simple Summary Solid-organ transplant recipients are known to be at higher risk of developing several cancer types, mainly virus-related malignancies. Monitoring trends in the incidence of post-transplant cancers among individuals who received solid organ transplantation helps to improve preventive measures and outcomes. This cohort study aimed to examine, over a 25-year period in Italy, variations in the occurrence of post-transplant cancers among 11,418 recipients of kidney transplantation (KT). Cancer incidence over three periods (1997-2004; 2005-2012; and 2013-2021) was analyzed within the cohort and in comparison with the general population. After multivariate adjustment, both approaches highlighted reduced risks of Kaposi's sarcoma, whereas no statistically significant changes over time in the incidence of other cancers were noted. Accordingly, the results of this study highlighted the need to sustain and strengthen cancer-preventive actions in KT recipients. This cohort study examined 25-year variations in cancer incidence among 11,418 Italian recipients of kidney transplantation (KT) from 17 Italian centers. Cancer incidence was examined over three periods (1997-2004; 2005-2012; and 2013-2021) by internal (Incidence rate ratio-IRR) and external (standardized incidence ratios-SIR) comparisons. Poisson regression was used to assess trends. Overall, 1646 post-transplant cancers were diagnosed, with incidence rates/1000 person-years ranging from 15.5 in 1997-2004 to 21.0 in 2013-2021. Adjusted IRRs showed a significant reduction in incidence rates across periods for all cancers combined after exclusion of nonmelanoma skin cancers (IRR = 0.90, 95% confidence interval-CI: 0.76-1.07 in 2005-2012; IRR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.60-0.87 in 2013-2021 vs. 1997-2004; P-trend < 0.01). In site-specific analyses, however, significant changes in incidence rates were observed only for Kaposi's sarcoma (KS; IRR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.24-0.57 in 2005-2012; IRR = 0.09, 95% CI: 0.04-0.18 in 2013-2021; P-trend < 0.01). As compared to the general population, the overall post-transplant cancer risk in KT recipients was elevated, with a decreasing magnitude over time (SIR = 2.54, 95% CI: 2.26-2.85 in 1997-2004; SIR = 1.99, 95% CI: 1.83-2.16 in 2013-2021; P-trend < 0.01). A decline in SIRs was observed specifically for non-Hodgkin lymphoma and KS, though only the KS trend retained statistical significance after adjustment. In conclusion, apart from KS, no changes in the incidence of other cancers over time were observed among Italian KT recipients

Cancer mortality after kidney transplantation: A multicenter cohort study in Italy

: Kidney transplant (KT) recipients are known to be at risk of developing several cancer types; however, cancer mortality in this population is underinvestigated. Our study aimed to assess the risk of cancer death among Italian KT recipients compared to the corresponding general population. A cohort study was conducted among 7373 individuals who underwent KT between 2003 and 2020 in 17 Italian centers. Date and cause of death were retrieved until 31 December 2020. Indirect standardization was used to estimate standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Cancer was the most common cause of death among the 7373 KT recipients, constituting 32.4% of all deaths. A 1.8-fold excess mortality (95% CI: 1.59-2.09) was observed for all cancers combined. Lymphomas (SMR = 6.17, 95% CI: 3.81-9.25), kidney cancer (SMR = 5.44, 95% CI: 2.97-8.88) and skin melanoma (SMR = 3.19, 95% CI: 1.03-6.98) showed the highest excess death risks. In addition, SMRs were increased about 1.6 to 3.0 times for cancers of lung, breast, bladder and other hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues. As compared to the general population, relative cancer mortality risk remained significantly elevated in all age groups though it decreased with increasing age. A linear temporal increase in SMR over time was documented for all cancers combined (P < .01). Our study documented significantly higher risks of cancer death in KT recipients than in the corresponding general population. Such results support further investigation into the prevention and early detection of cancer in KT recipients

Outcomes of pregnancies after kidney transplantation: lessons learned from CKD. A comparison of transplanted, nontransplanted chronic kidney disease patients and low-risk pregnancies: a multicenter nationwide analysis

BACKGROUND: Kidney transplantation (KT) may restore fertility in CKD. The reasons why materno-foetal outcomes are still inferior to the overall population are only partially known. Comparison with the CKD population may offer some useful insights for management and counselling.Aim of this study was to analyse the outcomes of pregnancy after KT, compared with a large population of non-transplanted CKD patients and with low-risk control pregnancies, observed in Italy the new millennium. METHODS: We selected 121 live-born singletons after KT (Italian study group of kidney in pregnancy, national coverage about 75%), 610 live-born singletons in CKD and 1418 low-risk controls recruited in 2 large Italian Units, in the same period (2000-2014). The following outcomes were considered: maternal and foetal death; malformations; preterm delivery; small for gestational age baby (SGA); need for the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU); doubling of serum creatinine or increase in CKD stage. Data were analysed according to kidney diseases, renal function (staging according to CKD-EPI), hypertension, maternal age, partity, ethnicity. RESULTS: Materno-foetal outcomes are less favourable in CKD and KT as compared with the low-risk population. CKD stage and hypertension are important determinants of results. KT patients with e-GFR >90 have worse outcomes compared with CKD stage 1 patients; the differences level off when only CKD patients affected by glomerulonephritis or systemic diseases ('progressive CKD') are compared with KT. In the multivariate analysis, risk for preterm and early-preterm delivery was linked to CKD stage (2-5 versus 1: RR 3.42 and 3.78) and hypertension (RR 3.68 and 3.16) while no difference was associated with being a KT or a CKD patient. CONCLUSIONS: The materno-foetal outcomes in patients with kidney transplantation are comparable with those of nontransplanted CKD patients with similar levels of kidney function impairment and progressive and/or immunologic kidney disease

Pregnancy outcomes after kidney graft in Italy: are the changes over time the result of different therapies or of different policies? A nationwide survey (1978-2013)

Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice to restore fertility to women on renal replacement therapy. Over time, immunosuppressive, support therapies and approaches towards high-risk pregnancies have changed. The aim of this study was to analyse maternal-foetal outcomes in two cohorts of transplanted women who delivered a live-born baby in Italy in 1978-2013, dichotomized into delivery before and after January 2000