Charge Management for Gravitational Wave Observatories using UV LEDs

Accumulation of electrical charge on the end mirrors of gravitational wave observatories, such as the space-based LISA mission and ground-based LIGO detectors, can become a source of noise limiting the sensitivity of such detectors through electronic couplings to nearby surfaces. Torsion balances provide an ideal means for testing gravitational wave technologies due to their high sensitivity to small forces. Our torsion pendulum apparatus consists of a movable Au-coated Cu plate brought near a Au-coated Si plate pendulum suspended from a non-conducting quartz fiber. A UV LED located near the pendulum photoejects electrons from the surface, and a UV LED driven electron gun directs photoelectrons towards the pendulum surface. We have demonstrated both charging and discharging of the pendulum with equivalent charging rates of $\sim$$10^5 e/\mathrm{s}$, as well as spectral measurements of the pendulum charge resulting in a white noise level equivalent to $3\times10^5 e/\sqrt{Hz}$.Comment: 5 pages, submitted to PR

The Neoadjuvant Net: A patient- and surgeon-friendly device to facilitate safe breast-conserving surgery in patients who underwent neoadjuvant treatment

The primary goal of the study was to describe an innovative and helpful tool in defining the minimal surgical margins necessary during breast-conserving surgery (BCS) after neoadjuvant treatment: the Neoadjuvant Net (NN). The secondary endpoint was to assess its usefulness in achieving postoperative disease-free margins and reducing Ipsilateral Breast Tumor Recurrences (IBRTs). The breast-conserving surgical technique together with the use of the Neoadjuvant Net is herein reported. Age, stage at diagnosis, clinical and pathological response, lymph node status, type of surgery, margin status, and incidence of local and distant recurrence were retrospectively analyzed. Seventy-five patients underwent BCS following medical treatment from 2000 to 2011. The majority of the patients had significant size reduction (63/75, 84%). Twenty-two had a complete clinical response but only 11 (11/75, 14.7%) showed a complete pathological response. Two patients (2/75, 2.67%) had infiltrated surgical margins. After a mean follow-up of seventy months, 3 patients (3/75, 4%) had IBRTs and 4 women had distant metastases (4/75, 5.34%). The NN is an easy-to-use, non-invasive instrument designed with the purpose of facilitating the surgeon's task of reducing infiltrated margins and IBTRs

Diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2 infection in HHT patients: nasopharyngeal versus oropharyngeal swab

On March 11, 2020, WHO has defined the novel coronavirus disease SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak as a pandemic that still today continues to affect much of the world. Among the reasons for the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection, there is the role of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic carriers. Therefore diagnostic testing is central to contain the global pandemic. Up to now real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction-based molecular assays for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory specimens is the current reference standard for COVID-19 diagnosis. Based on current knowledge regarding the sensitivity of the molecular test, the highest positive detection rate is from lower respiratory tract specimens; alternatively it is possible to perform a nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swab. Nasopharyngeal swab is the preferred choice for SARS-CoV-2 testing since it seems to have a greater sensitivity; however the procedure is not always free of complications and an epistaxis can occur. Among patients with greatest risk of massive nosebleed there are HHT patients. Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia is an autosomal dominant disease that leads to multiregional mucocutanous telangiectases and visceral arteriovenous malformations. Clinically, the presence of telangiectases in nasal mucosa is the cause of recurrent epistaxis. In HHT patients the execution of the nasopharyngeal swab can determine from little or no consequences to a massive epistaxis leading to the necessity of nasal packing generally followed by hospital admission. In HHT patients undergoing a diagnostic test to evaluate the SARS-CoV-2 infection status, especially in those patients with frequent epistaxis with a history of anemia and repeated hospitalizations, it is therefore advisable to perform an oropharyngeal swab. This, compared to the nasopharyngeal swab, exposes to a lower risk of severe nosebleeds related treatments, such as blood transfusions or invasive procedures. According to the risk-benefit assessment and based on our experience, we consider that, despite a lower diagnostic sensitivity, oropharyngeal swab is preferable to nasopharyngeal swab for the diagnosis of SARS CoV-2 infection in patients with HHT

Scattering into Cones and Flux across Surfaces in Quantum Mechanics: a Pathwise Probabilistic Approach

We show how the scattering-into-cones and flux-across-surfaces theorems in Quantum Mechanics have very intuitive pathwise probabilistic versions based on some results by Carlen about large time behaviour of paths of Nelson diffusions. The quantum mechanical results can be then recovered by taking expectations in our pathwise statements.Comment: To appear in Journal of Mathematical Physic

Infliximab in the treatment of Crohn's disease

The recent introduction of infliximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody against tumor necrosis factor-alpha, has greatly modified the treatment of Crohn's disease (CD). Data from the literature show encouraging results after intravenous infusion both for closure of intestinal or perianal fistulas and for induction and maintenance of remission in patients with moderate to severe intestinal disease unresponsive to other treatments. However, some contraindications such as fibrostenosing CD and sepsis have been identified. In addition, the data on long-term outcomes and safety is still limited. Our initial experience showed that in selected cases local injection of infliximab is effective in the treatment of complex perianal disease offering the possibility of using such treatment even in small bowel obstructing disease with minimal systemic effects. This paper analyzes the state of the use of both intravenous and local injection of infliximab in patients with CD

Gene expression profile of human colon cancer cells treated with cross-reacting material 197, a diphtheria toxin non-toxic mutant

Cross-Reacting Material 197 (CRM197) is a diphtheria toxin non-toxic mutant that has shown anti-tumor activity in mice and humans. It is still unclear whether this anti-tumorigenic effect depends on its strong inflammatory- immunological property, its ability to inhibit heparin-binding epidermal growth factor (HB-EGF), or even its possible weak toxicity. CRM197 is utilized as a specific inhibitor of HB-EGF that competes for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), overexpressed in colorectal cancer and implicated in its progression. In this study we evaluate the effects of CRM197 on HT-29 human colon cancer cell line behaviour and, for CRM197 recognized ability to inhibit HB-EGF, its possible influence on EGFR activation. In particular, while HT-29 does not show any reduction of viability after CRM197 treatment (MTT modified assay), or changes in cell cycle distribution (flow cytometry), in EGFR localization, phospho-EGFR detected signals (immunohistochemistry) or in morphology (scanning electron microscopy, SEM) they show a change in the gene expression profile by microarray analysis (cDNA microarray SS-H19k8). The overexpression of genes like protein phosphatase 2, catalytic subunit, alpha isozyme (PPP2CA), guanine nucleotide-binding protein G subunit alpha-1(GNAI1) and butyrophilin, subfamily 2, member A1 (BTN2A1) has been confirmed with real-time-qPCR. This is the first study where the CRM197 treatment on HT-29 shows a possible scarce implication of endogenous HB-EGF on EGFR expression and cancer cell development. At the same time, our results show the alteration of a specific and selected number of genes.Fil: Rivetti, S.. Universidad de Bologna; Italia. Centro Di Ricerca In Genetica Molecolare Fondazione Carisbo; ItaliaFil: Lauriola, M.. Universidad de Bologna; Italia. Centro Di Ricerca In Genetica Molecolare Fondazione Carisbo; ItaliaFil: Voltattorni, M.. Universidad de Bologna; ItaliaFil: Bianchini, Michele. Fundación para la Investigación, Docencia y Prevención del Cáncer; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Martini, D.. Universidad de Bologna; ItaliaFil: Ceccarelli, C.. Universidad de Bologna; ItaliaFil: Palmieri, A.. Università di Ferrara; ItaliaFil: Mattei, G.. Universidad de Bologna; Italia. Centro Di Ricerca In Genetica Molecolare Fondazione Carisbo; ItaliaFil: Franchi, M.. Universidad de Bologna; ItaliaFil: Ugolini, G.. Universidad de Bologna; ItaliaFil: Rosati, G.. Universidad de Bologna; ItaliaFil: Montroni, I.. Universidad de Bologna; ItaliaFil: Taffurelli, M.. Universidad de Bologna; ItaliaFil: Solmi, Rosella. Centro Di Ricerca In Genetica Molecolare Fondazione Carisbo; Italia. Universidad de Bologna; Itali

predicting her2 status in esophagogastric cancer development and validation of an easy to use nomogram

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Kidney transplantation from living donor with monolateral renal artery fibromuscular dysplasia using a cryopreserved iliac graft for arterial reconstruction: a case report and review of the literature

Background Aging and mortality of patients on waiting lists for kidney transplantation have increased, as a result of the shortage of organs available all over the world. Living donor grafts represent a significant source to maintain the donor pool, and resorting successfully to allografts with arterial disease has become a necessity. The incidence of renal artery fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) in potential living renal donors is reported to be 2-6%, and up to 4% of them present concurrent extra-renal involvement. Case presentation We present a case of renal transplantation using a kidney from a living donor with monolateral FMD. Resection of the affected arterial segment and its subsequent replacement with a cryopreserved iliac artery graft from a deceased donor were performed. No intraoperative nor post-operative complications were reported. The allograft function promptly resumed, with satisfying creatinine clearance, and adequate patency of the vascular anastomoses was detected by Doppler ultrasounds. Conclusion Literature lacks clear guidelines on the eligibility of potential living renal donors with asymptomatic FMD. Preliminary assessment of the FMD living donor should always rule out any extra-renal involvement. Whenever possible, resection and reconstruction of the affected arterial segment should be taken into consideration as this condition may progress after implantation