Room-temperature synthesis of 2D-Ti3C2Tx nano-sheets by organic base treatment

The growing demand for improved electrochemical performance in energy storage systems has stimulated research into advanced two-dimensional (2D) materials for electrodes. In this work, we obtain a layered MXene compound by exfoliating a titanium aluminum carbide precursor using tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAOH) ions in a full room temperature process followed by manual shaking. The hexagonal crystal structure and composition of the layered materials are characterized using different techniques. X-Ray diffraction shows the formation of 2D nano-sheets before and after the TMAOH treatment via its characteristic (002) diffraction peak, bringing to light an increase in the interlayer spacing after treatment. Scanning electron microscopy images confirm the layered morphology, whose composition is determined by energy dispersive x-ray analysis for the bulk material and by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for the surface of the obtained compounds. This study demonstrates a promising route to enhance delamination of this MXene 2D material in a low-cost room-temperature approach

Multipotent adult rat, thyroid stem cells can be differentiated to follicular thyrocyte, and hepatocyte- like cells in 2D and 3D culture systems

We have recently characterized and differentiated towards endodermal and mesoder- mal lineages progenitor cells of the adult rat thyroid, expressing multipotency markers [1]. We have now assessed their clonogenicity, extent of side population, consistency of stem cell marker expression, and commitment to either follicular or hepatocyte-like lineages when in monolayer (2D), and suspension or Matrigel (3D). Colony forming unit (CFU)-like cultures were obtained by long-term subcultures of primary rat thyroid cells, under starvation conditions. CFU-like cultures seeded in Petri dishes by limiting dilution (1 cell / cm2) were observed to give rise to toluidine blue-positive, individual clones. In these cultures, quantitative densitometric analysis of immunoblotted Oct-3/4, Sca1, and GATA4 revealed an increase in stem cell markers ranging from 95% to 270% with respect to standard, primary thyroid cultures. In addition, using three different analytical techniques including DyeCycle Violet staining by flow cytometry, ABCG2 immunocytochemistry, and Hoechst 33342 histochemistry + the ABCG2 inhibitor, verapamil a side population involving 1-2% of CFU-like cultures was detected. Then, CFU-like cultures were differentiated using TSH, either in 2D or in 3D. Differentiated adherent cells resulted immunopositive for thyrocyte markers including thyroglobulin (TG), sodium-iodide symporter (NIS), and thyroperoxidase (TPO). Differentiation in suspension and in Matrigel gave rise to follicles with cells having ultrastructural features consistent with thyrocytes, and immunoreactivity (IR) for TG, NIS, and TPO. Finally, CFU-like cultures were differentiated in adherence to hepatocyte-like cells, resulting in pre-hepatocyte morphology, high periodic acid-Schiff reaction, and IR for α-fetoprotein and albumin. We conclude that our CFU-like thyroid cultures are enriched with a multipotent, stem cell population whose hepatic differentiation capacity has been revealed for the first time

Structured reporting for fibrosing lung disease: a model shared by radiologist and pulmonologist

Objectives: To apply the Delphi exercise with iterative involvement of radiologists and pulmonologists with the aim of defining a structured reporting template for high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of patients with fibrosing lung disease (FLD). Methods: The writing committee selected the HRCT criteria\ue2\u80\u94the Delphi items\ue2\u80\u94for rating from both radiology panelists (RP) and pulmonology panelists (PP). The Delphi items were first rated by RPs as \ue2\u80\u9cessential\ue2\u80\u9d, \ue2\u80\u9coptional\ue2\u80\u9d, or \ue2\u80\u9cnot relevant\ue2\u80\u9d. The items rated \ue2\u80\u9cessential\ue2\u80\u9d by < 80% of the RP were selected for the PP rating. The format of reporting was rated by both RP and PP. Results: A total of 42 RPs and 12 PPs participated to the survey. In both Delphi round 1 and 2, 10/27 (37.7%) items were rated \ue2\u80\u9cessential\ue2\u80\u9d by more than 80% of RP. The remaining 17/27 (63.3%) items were rated by the PP in round 3, with 2/17 items (11.7%) rated \ue2\u80\u9cessential\ue2\u80\u9d by the PP. PP proposed additional items for conclusion domain, which were rated by RPs in the fourth round. Poor consensus was observed for the format of reporting. Conclusions: This study provides a template for structured report of FLD that features essential items as agreed by expert thoracic radiologists and pulmonologists

Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on liver cancer management (CERO-19).

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to healthcare systems and it may have heavily impacted patients with liver cancer (LC). Herein, we evaluated whether the schedule of LC screening or procedures has been interrupted or delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: An international survey evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinical practice and clinical trials from March 2020 to June 2020, as the first phase of a multicentre, international, and observational project. The focus was on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma or intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, cared for around the world during the first COVID-19 pandemic wave. RESULTS: Ninety-one centres expressed interest to participate and 76 were included in the analysis, from Europe, South America, North America, Asia, and Africa (73.7%, 17.1%, 5.3%, 2.6%, and 1.3% per continent, respectively). Eighty-seven percent of the centres modified their clinical practice: 40.8% the diagnostic procedures, 80.9% the screening programme, 50% cancelled curative and/or palliative treatments for LC, and 41.7% modified the liver transplantation programme. Forty-five out of 69 (65.2%) centres in which clinical trials were running modified their treatments in that setting, but 58.1% were able to recruit new patients. The phone call service was modified in 51.4% of centres which had this service before the COVID-19 pandemic (n = 19/37). CONCLUSIONS: The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic had a tremendous impact on the routine care of patients with liver cancer. Modifications in screening, diagnostic, and treatment algorithms may have significantly impaired the outcome of patients. Ongoing data collection and future analyses will report the benefits and disadvantages of the strategies implemented, aiding future decision-making. LAY SUMMARY: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to healthcare systems globally. Herein, we assessed the impact of the first wave pandemic on patients with liver cancer and found that routine care for these patients has been majorly disrupted, which could have a significant impact on outcomes

EVALITA Evaluation of NLP and Speech Tools for Italian - December 17th, 2020

Welcome to EVALITA 2020! EVALITA is the evaluation campaign of Natural Language Processing and Speech Tools for Italian. EVALITA is an initiative of the Italian Association for Computational Linguistics (AILC, http://www.ai-lc.it) and it is endorsed by the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIxIA, http://www.aixia.it) and the Italian Association for Speech Sciences (AISV, http://www.aisv.it)

Cyclosporin A corrects mitochondrial dysfunction and muscle apoptosis in patients with collagen VI myopathies

Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy and Bethlem myopathy are skeletal muscle diseases that are due to mutations in the genes encoding collagen VI, an extracellular matrix protein forming a microfibrillar network that is particularly prominent in the endomysium of skeletal muscle. Myoblasts from patients affected by Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy display functional and ultrastructural mitochondrial alterations and increased apoptosis due to inappropriate opening of the permeability transition pore, a mitochondrial inner membrane channel. These alterations could be normalized by treatment with cyclosporin A, a widely used immunosuppressant that desensitizes the permeability transition pore independently of calcineurin inhibition. Here, we report the results of an open pilot trial with cyclosporin A in five patients with collagen VI myopathies. Before treatment, all patients displayed mitochondrial dysfunction and increased frequency of apoptosis, as determined in muscle biopsies. Both of these pathologic signs were largely normalized after 1 month of oral cyclosporin A administration, which also increased muscle regeneration. These findings demonstrate that collagen VI myopathies can be effectively treated with drugs acting on the pathogenic mechanism downstream of the genetic lesion, and they represent an important proof of principle for the potential therapy of genetic diseases

VinKo (Varieties in Contact) Corpus 1.1

VinKo is a spoken corpus based on crowd-sourced audio recordings that has been designed to provide relevant linguistic information about the minority languages and dialects spoken in the area between Innsbruck and the Po Valley. The corpus contains audio recordings from local languages and varieties spoken in the regions Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Veneto, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, with particular focus on the so-called 'language contact' between Germanic (Cimbrian, Mòcheno, Tyrolean, Saurano, and Sappadino) and Romance (Ladin, Trentino and Veneto dialects). The data collection took place from June 2017 to December 2021

VinKo (Varieties in Contact) Corpus

VInKo is a spoken corpus based on crowd-sourced audio recordings that has been designed to provide relevant linguistic information about the minority languages and dialects spoken in the area between Innsbruck and the Po Valley. The corpus contains audio recordings from local languages and varieties spoken in the regions Trentino-Alto Adige/S\ufcdtirol, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, with particular focus on the so-called 'language contact' between Germanic (Cimbrian, M\uf2cheno, Tyrolean, Saurano) and Romance (Ladin, Trentino and Veneto dialects). The data collection took place from June 2017 to May 2021