Clinical predictive factors of pathologic complete response in locally advanced rectal cancer

Background: Predictive factors of pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) are still not identified. The purpose of this study was to define them. Materials and Methods: Data from consecutive LARC patients treated between January 2008 and June 2014 at our Institution were included in the analysis. All patients were treated with a long course of nCRT. Demographics, initial diagnosis and tumor extension details, as well as treatment modalities characteristics were included in the univariate and logistic regression analysis. Results: In total 99 patients received nCRT, of whom 23 patients (23.2%) achieved pCR. Patients with and without pCR were similar in term of age, sex, comobidities, BMI and tumor characteristics. Multivariate logistic regression indicated that pre-treatment tumor size <= 5 cm was a significant predictor for pCR (p = 0.035), whereas clinical N stage only showed a positive trend (p = 0.084). Conclusions: Tumor size at diagnosis could be used to predict pCR, and thus to individualize therapy in LARC patients management. Validation in other studies is needed

High‐Speed Deterministic‐Latency Serial IO

In digital systems, serial IO at speeds in the range from 1 to 20 Gbps is realized by means of dedicated transceivers, named serializer-deserializers (SerDeses). In general, due to their internal architecture, the data transfer delay, or the latency, may vary after a reset of the device. On the other hand, some applications, such as high-speed transfer protocols for analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, trigger and data acquisition systems, clock distribution, synchronization and control of radio equipment need this delay to be constant at each reset. In this chapter, we focus on a serial IO architecture based on configurable transceivers embedded in field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). We will show how it is possible to achieve deterministic-latency operation in a line-code-independent way. As a case study, we will consider a synchronous 2.5-Gbps serial link based on an 8b10b line code

Emulating the GLink Chip-Set with FPGA Serial Transceivers in the ATLAS Level-1 Muon Trigger

Many High Energy Physics experiments based their serial links on the Agilent HDMP-1032/34A serializer/deserializer chip-set (or GLink). This success was mainly due to the fact that this pair of chips was able to transfer data at \sim 1 Gb/s with a deterministic latency, fixed after each power up or reset of the link. Despite this unique timing feature, Agilent discontinued the production and no compatible commercial off-the-shelf chip-sets are available. The ATLAS Level-1 Muon trigger includes some serial links based on GLink in order to transfer data from the detector to the counting room. The transmission side of the links will not be upgraded, however a replacement for the receivers in the counting room in case of failures is needed. In this paper, we present a solution to replace GLink transmitters and receivers. Our design is based on the gigabit serial IO (GTP) embedded in a Xilinx Virtex 5 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). We present the architecture and we discuss parameters of the implementation such as latency and resource occupation. We compare the GLink chip-set and the GTP-based emulator in terms of latency, eye diagram and power dissipation

Sconfinamenti e abiezioni: una doppia introduzione

L'introduzione si compone di due parti, a firma separata dei due autori, nelle quali si indagano rispettivamente gli aspetti teorici della circolazione internazionale di narrazioni in forme non tradizionali, e alcuni aspetti tematici relativi al ricorrere dell'abiezione in molti dei testi esaminati nel numero di rivista introdotto

Comics, fumetti, graphic novels: dialogo intergenerazionale su un medium indisciplinato

Negli ultimi anni abbiamo assistito all’esplosione, creativa e commerciale, del graphic novel: una dizione introdotta dal Contratto con Dio di Will Eisner, e affermatasi in seguito per definire un nuovo genere di racconto a fumetti. Con il graphic novel, il tradizionale album di comics si espande per misura, profondità e ambizioni, mentre la narratività del romanzo acquista una nuova dimensione che ne arricchisce e complica le modalità di comunicazione, sintonizzandole su un’epoca a dominante visiva. I saggi raccolti in questo volume intendono fornire una panoramica significativa su alcuni degli autori e dei testi di maggior rilievo della scena grafica contemporanea, non solo negli Stati Uniti: da Eric Drooker a Jack Jackson, da Art Spiegelman a Joe Sacco, da Adrian Tomine ad Alison Bechdel. Spaziando dai comics ai graffiti e all’estetica delle arti visive, questo numero di “Ácoma” cerca non solo di celebrare il medium grafico, ma anche di analizzarne le complessità e lo spessore culturale, con uno sguardo alle sue evoluzioni recenti e alle condizioni del suo successo odierno

La Motricità come ausilio nel miglioramento dell’apprendimento scolastico.

Il progetto si propone di favorire un armonico e corretto sviluppo psicomotorio degli allievi, di età dai 6 agli 11 anni, attraverso un'attività, continuata e monitorata, ludico-motoria e di pratica sportiva. Nel dettaglio saranno attuati percorsi didattici riguardanti l'educazione ed il controllo dell'equilibrio, la strutturazione della lateralità, la coordinazione dinamica generale, inter-segmentaria e spazio-temporale, nonché la promozione di contenuti finalizzati a corretti stili di vita. Tali pre-requisiti, infatti, contribuiscono alla maturazione psico-fisica e socio-relazionale dei soggetti in età evolutiva. I dati complessivi ottenuti saranno oggetto di studio statistico che, comparato con le medie nazionali, offriranno una finestra informativa circa la popolazione locale, e l'effetto su di essa di una attività psico-motoria mirata. Una seconda fase del progetto contemplerà un'attività di ricerca mirata a valutare la relazione tra la pratica psico-motoria e specifici apprendimenti scolastici

Effect of Non-psychotropic Plant-derived Cannabinoids on Bladder Contractility: Focus on Cannabigerol.

There are anecdotal reports that some Cannabis preparations may be useful for bladder dysfunctions. Here, we investigated the effect of a number of non-psychotropic phytocannabinoids, namely cannabidiol (CBD), cannabigerol (CBG), cannabidivarin (CBDV), Δ9-tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV) and cannabichromene (CBC) on mouse bladder contractility in vitro. CBG, THCV, CBD and CBDV, but not CBC, at concentration ranging from 10−8M to 10−4M, decreased (with similar potency), the contractions induced by acetylcholine without significantly modifying the contractions induced by electrical stimulation. The rank order of efficacy was CBG=THCV>CBD>CBDV. In depth studies on CBG showed that the effect of this phytocannabinoid on acetylcholine-induced contractions was not affected by CB1or CB2receptor antagonists. Additionally, CBG also reduced acetylcholine-induced contractions in the human bladder

Diagnosis of anal human papillomavirus infection: polymerase chain reaction or cytology?

Summary Objectives To investigate the relationship between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive and HIV-negative patients engaging in promiscuous behaviors and anal human papillomavirus (HPV) infection diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and cytology. Methods Fifty-six HIV-positive patients and 49 HIV-negative patients who engaged in sexually promiscuous behavior were enrolled in the study. We performed cytological exams using the Pap smear and PCR for HPV-DNA detection, with identification of oncogenic strains. The 2001 Bethesda System terminology was used for the cytological exams. We also evaluated the immunologic status of the HIV-infected patients. Results PCR positivity for HPV-DNA was higher in the group of HIV-positive patients than in the group of HIV-negative patients with a statistically significant difference. In contrast we did not find any statistically significant difference by cytological exam. Oncogenic strains were equally distributed in the two groups. Conclusions Our results indicate the importance of the cytological exam for anal HPV screening in the population at high risk of sexually transmitted disease and that HPV-DNA PCR can be used only as adjunct test

Circumferential dissection of deep fascia as ancillary technique in circumcision: is it possible to correct phimosis increasing penis size?

Background: Phimosis is the inability to retract the preputium downward over the glans penis. Despite the various techniques of preputial plasty described in literature, the most performed surgical treatment is still the conventional circumcision.Methods: In this paper we retrospectively reviewed data of a homogeneous population of 36 consecutive adult patients who underwent phimosis correction by circumcsion with dissection of the Deep Fascia. Patients were followed up by one independent plastic surgeon that measured penis length and circumference in nonerected state preoperatively and at 6 month time postoperatively.Results: The Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test showed a significant (p &lt; 0.0001) difference between the two groups both in terms of length and circumference.Conclusions: In conclusion, the ancillary technique we described leads to an increase of penis size, is safe and easy to perform and does not increase significantly operative time nor complication rate to the conventional procedure