GPR activities in Italy: a review

Ground-penetrating radar has been increasingly played an important role over the last 15 years in Italy due to its high reliability in assisting the assessment of the built environment for civil engineering purposes, and in being used for geophysical investigations within many other fields of application. In line with this, original works involving fundamental aspects of this technique and implementing its use more practically in a number of interesting projects have been developed over years, both under a research and an enterprise point of view. This paper will endeavour to review the current status of ground-penetrating radar activities in Italy. Efforts have been devoted to single out the most interesting national research projects, both recent and ongoing, involving ground-penetrating radar in Italy, such as the ARCHEO project in the 90s, funded by the Italian Ministry for Universities, wherein a stepped frequency ultra-wide band radar suited for archaeological surveys was manufactured. In this framework, it is worth citing another important and more recent project, European Community funded, namely, ORFEUS, which started in the late 2006 with the overall aim of providing the capability to locate buried infrastructure accurately and reliably by means of a bore-head ground-penetrating radar for horizontal directional drilling. A review on the main use of this non-destructive technique in management activities of national resources and infrastructures has been also performed, ranging from the applications made by Anas S.p.A., i.e. the main management authority for the Italian road and motorway network, up to private enterprises specialized in both services providing and ground-penetrating radar manufacturing such as, to cite a few, Sineco S.p.A. and IDS Ingegneria dei Sistemi S.p.A., respectively. Current national guidelines, rules or protocols to be followed during radar surveys have been also reviewed. Unlike well-established international standards such as the ASTM D 4748-98 and the ASTM D 6432-99 dealing with, respectively, thicknesses evaluation of bound layers in road pavements, and equipment, field procedures and data-interpretation for the electromagnetic evaluation of subsurface materials, it has to be noted that the Italian body of laws and rules tackles the ground-penetrating radar applications under an indirect and partial approach. Despite of such situation, national guidelines concerning utilities-detection activities as well as other theoretical and practical guidelines established by the major Italian private enterprises on this field can be also considered highly relevant. Moreover, a further focus on the activities and main devices of the major Italian ground-penetrating radar manufacturers have been thoroughly described. Under a research and innovation perspective, the most important test sites, such as the site of the University of Salento to reconstruct archaeological and urban subsurface scenarios have been listed along with the main advances reached in integrating ground-penetrating radar with other non-destructive techniques, to inform and potentially improve the possibility of new developments and collaborations

Biomarkers of Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease: Surface Antigens and Micro Rnas in Extracellular Vesicles

Introduction Biomarkers could be crucial to identify patients at high-risk of acute Graft-vs.-Host Disease (aGVHD). Given their involvement in inflammation, Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) may become attractive biomarkers. Moreover, EVs are non-invasively extracted from body fluids. In a preliminary study, we significantly correlated CD146, CD31 and CD140a expression on EVs membranes with the onset of aGVHD (Lia G. Leukemia 2017). Objectives We designed a prospective study to further characterize EVs by their surface antigens and by their content in MicroRNAs. Methods EVs are extracted from serum samples at given time-points (pre-transplant, on day 0, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 45 and then monthly up to 1 year) by a protamine-based precipitation method and analyzed by flow-cytometry (Guava EasyCyte Flow Cytometer) for the expression of 13 membrane proteins (CD44, CD138, CD146, KRT18, CD120a, CD8, CD30, CD106, CD25, CD31, CD144, CD86, and CD140a). MicroRNAs (miR100, miR92b, miR155, miR194) are extracted from EVs at pre- transplant and on day 0, 7, 14, 28, and quantified by real time PCR as relative quantification compared to healthy donors after cDNA Reverse Transcription. Logistic Regression Analysis is performed for each marker. Results Thirty-five transplant patients with hematological diseases have so far been enrolled. Seventeen/35 patients (49%) developed grade II-IV aGVHD. Our preliminary findings show that CD146 (melanoma cell adhesion molecule, MCAM-1) and CD44 (homing-associated cell adhesion molecule, H-CAM) were associated with an increased risk of aGVHD (Odds Ratio (OR) 4.3, p=0.008; OR 2.1, p=0.039), whereas CD31 (platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule, PECAM-1) level was associated with a decreased risk of aGVHD (OR 0.31, p=0.001). Moreover, increased risk of aGVHD was significantly correlated with levels of miR100 (OR 4.66, p=0.004), miR194 (OR 2.2, p=0.01) and miR155 (OR 3.56, p=0.035). Of note, biomarkers associated with aGVHD showed a constant consensual change in signal levels before aGVHD onset (Figure 1). Conclusions An association of 3 EVs membrane antigens and onset of aGVHD was observed. Of note, CD146, CD44 and CD31 belong to the Cell Adhesion Molecule Family and are critical for endothelium and immune cells interactions. The functional role of miR-194 in GVHD pathogenesis remains to be determined while JAK/STAT and TGFβ pathways were shown to be involved in other studies (Gimondi S Exp Hematol, 2016). MiR-100 has been reported to regulate inflammatory neovascularization during GvHD (Leonhardt F, Blood 2013) while miR-155 drives donor T cell expansion and tissue infiltration (Zitzer N, J Immunol 2018, Ranganathan P Blood 2012)

Long-Term Thymic Function and Reconstitution of the T Cell Compartment after T Cell-Replete Haplo-Identical Allografting

INTRODUCTION Post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCY) has expanded the application of haploidentical stem cell transplantation (haplo-HSCT). Thymic function may play a pivotal role in long-term clinical outcomes. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the kinetics of long-term immune thymus-dependent reconstitution after PTCY haplo-HSCT. METHODS Twenty-nine patients (median age 53) underwent T-cell replete haplo-HSCT with PTCY. Blood samples were collected before conditioning and at 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24 months after transplantation. Analyses of CD4 and CD8 T-cell subsets by flow-cytometry were correlated by generalized linear models with Real-Time PCR quantification of signal joint T-cell receptor excision DNA circles (sjTRECs), specific marker of naive T-cells thymopoiesis. A) Naive; b) central; c) memory; and d) revertant CD4 and CD8 T-cells were defined as follows: a) CD45RA+CD62L+; b) CD45RO+CD62L+; c) CD45RO+CD27-; and d) CD45RA+/45RO+, respectively. SjTRECs real-time PCR was performed on genomic DNA (100 ng) extracted from sorted CD4 and CD8 T-cells. RESULTS Following PTCY induced T-cell depletion, a constant gradual increase in absolute numbers of all CD4 and CD8 T cell subsets and of sjTRECs copies from the first month up to two years post-transplant was observed ( Figure 1 ). Overall, at two years, CD4 and CD8 T-cell levels and sjTRECs levels were however lower than those observed in healthy donors. sjTRECs kinetics was associated with the increase in naive T-cells (overall, p CONCLUSIONS Active thymic function despite age-dependent involution, substantially contributes to T-cell reconstitution after haplo-HSCT. Chronic GVHD and older age are however significantly correlated with lower thymic activity. Overall, lower production of sjTRECs after haplo-HSCT as compared after HLA identical sibling HSCT may partly be due to a higher degree of "mismatching" of MHC molecules during thymic re-education

Sudden Unexpected Deaths and Vaccinations during the First Two Years of Life in Italy: A Case Series Study

Background The signal of an association between vaccination in the second year of life with a hexavalent vaccine and sudden unexpected deaths (SUD) in the two days following vaccination was reported in Germany in 2003. A study to establish whether the immunisation with hexavalent vaccines increased the short term risk of SUD in infants was conducted in Italy. Methodology/Principal Findings The reference population comprises around 3 million infants vaccinated in Italy in the study period 1999–2004 (1.5 million received hexavalent vaccines). Events of SUD in infants aged 1–23 months were identified through the death certificates. Vaccination history was retrieved from immunisation registries. Association between immunisation and death was assessed adopting a case series design focusing on the risk periods 0–1, 0–7, and 0–14 days after immunisation. Among the 604 infants who died of SUD, 244 (40%) had received at least one vaccination. Four deaths occurred within two days from vaccination with the hexavalent vaccines (RR = 1.5; 95% CI 0.6 to 4.2). The RRs for the risk periods 0–7 and 0–14 were 2.0 (95% CI 1.2 to 3.5) and 1.5 (95% CI 0.9 to 2.4). The increased risk was limited to the first dose (RR = 2.2; 95% CI 1.1 to 4.4), whereas no increase was observed for the second and third doses combined. Conclusions The RRs of SUD for any vaccines and any risk periods, even when greater than 1, were almost an order of magnitude lower than the estimates in Germany. The limited increase in RRs found in Italy appears confined to the first dose and may be partly explained by a residual uncontrolled confounding effect of age

Insight from an Italian Delphi Consensus on EVAR feasibility outside the instruction for use: the SAFE EVAR Study

BACKGROUND: The SAfety and FEasibility of standard EVAR outside the instruction for use (SAFE-EVAR) Study was designed to define the attitude of Italian vascular surgeons towards the use of standard endovascular repair (EVAR) for infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) outside the instruction for use (IFU) through a Delphi consensus endorsed by the Italian Society of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (Societa Italiana di Chirurgia Vascolare ed Endovascolare - SICVE). METHODS: A questionnaire consisting of 26 statements was developed, validated by an 18 -member Advisory Board, and then sent to 600 Italian vascular surgeons. The Delphi process was structured in three subsequent rounds which took place between April and June 2023. In the first two rounds, respondents could indicate one of the following five degrees of agreement: 1) strongly agree; 2) partially agree; 3) neither agree nor disagree; 4) partially disagree; 5) strongly disagree; while in the third round only three different choices were proposed: 1) agree; 2) neither agree nor disagree; 3) disagree. We considered the consensus reached when >70% of respondents agreed on one of the options. After the conclusion of each round, a report describing the percentage distribution of the answers was sent to all the participants. RESULTS: Two -hundred -forty-four (40.6%) Italian Vascular Surgeons agreed to participate the first round of the Delphi Consensus; the second and the third rounds of the Delphi collected 230 responders (94.3% of the first -round responders). Four statements (15.4%) reached a consensus in the first rounds. Among the 22 remaining statements, one more consensus (3.8%) was achieved in the second round. Finally, seven more statements (26.9%) reached a consensus in the simplified last round. Globally, a consensus was reached for almost half of the proposed statements (46.1%). CONCLUSIONS: The relatively low consensus rate obtained in this Delphi seems to confirm the discrepancy between Guideline recommendations and daily clinical practice. The data collected could represent the source for a possible guidelines' revision and the proposal of specific Good Practice Points in all those aspects with only little evidence available

MAGIC and H.E.S.S. detect VHE gamma rays from the blazar OT081 for the first time: a deep multiwavelength study

https://pos.sissa.it/395/815/pdfPublished versio

Improving circularity of biomass ash : a theoretical, experimental, and modelling approach to find sustainable solutions for application in cement or soil

Currently it is normal practice to landfill biomass ash. As an alternative, biomass ash has been proposed as a substitute for raw clinker materials, a secondary cementitious material, or as a soil amendment. This alternative use of biomass ash avoids landfilling, saves traditional resources for cement production, and hence lowers the carbon footprint of cement products.This thesis has shown that biomass ash can be successfully used as raw material for clinker production and substitute a large part of the raw feed minerals. The direct use of biomass ash as secondary cementitious material was also found to be feasible for specific biomass ash types. The inclusion of biomass ash at 20 and 40% by weight of Portland cement reduced the compressive strength after 28 days but a functional strength was still obtained.Results also showed that an assessment and regulatory criteria based on the leaching rather than total content of elements may widen the application of biomass ash as soil amendment. When biomass ash was mixed in cement, the cement matrix dominated the release of elements in leaching tests.Results from the life cycle assessment established that biomass ash use in cement is always a more sustainable solution than landfilling. The environmental performance of biomass ash blended with cement was equal to that of traditional cement during all the considered life stages of material