Infertility Worldwide: The Lack of Global Pediatric Andrologists and Prevention

Andrology is the medical specialty dealing with men’s health and reproductive system, including the genital, hormonal, reproductive, sexual, as well as psychological aspects, from birth to adulthood. Regular andrological checkups are essential both to reveal possible problems and to receive thorough advice and information so as to ensure that sexual and reproductive functions are well preserved. Estimates report that about one in three males suffers from andrological diseases, their rates varying according to the age: 27–30% of pediatric male subjects have reproductive and/or sexual conditions. In adulthood, 40% of men are affected by andrological diseases, in particular infertility and sexual problems. We studied medical literature about infertility, its prevention, and its treatment; our outcomes were to evaluate the role of research to prevent infertility especially in pediatric and adolescent age. The analysis of the data shows that in absolute numbers, the conditions directly associated with infertility are less studied than the treatment with medically assisted procreation. This research is intended as a warning to the countries worldwide: all those involved in the pediatric treatment area should be stimulated to act toward this goal, and each country should bear the responsibility of promoting and financing andrological screening campaigns

FeedNetBack - D03.01 - Control Subject to Transmission Constraints, No Transmission Errors

This is a Deliverable Report for the FeedNetBack project (www.feednetback.eu). It describes the research performed within Work Package 3, Task 3.1 (Control Subject to Transmission Constraints, no Transmission Errors), in the first 35 months of the project. It targets the issue of control subject to transmission constraints with no transmission error. This research concerns problems arising from the presence of a communication channel (specified and modeled at the physical layer) within the control loop. The resulting constraints include finite capacities in the transmission of the sensor and/or actuator signals. Our focus is on designing new quantization, compression and coding techniques to support networked control in this scenario. A first contribution of this report is a new adaptive differential coding algorithm for systems controlled through a digital noiseless channel with limited channel rate. The proposed technique results in global stability for noiseless MIMO systems, with a data-rate which is known to be the minimal required (as assessed by information-theoretical limits known in the literature as 'data-rate theorem'). With respect to existing algorithms, our scheme improves the transient behavior. A second line of research for the noiseless scenario has addressed the effect of limited data-rate in an algorithm running over a network. As a representative example, the consensus algorithm has been analyzed, and in particular its randomized version known as gossip algorithm. Static quantizers have been considered at first (both deterministic and probabilistic) and then the dynamic adaptive quantizers have been introduced also in this setting

The Role of Sonoelastography in the Evaluation of Testes With Varicocele

Objective To evaluate the role of elastosonography in the evaluation of testicular elasticity as a predictive sign of testicular damage in patients with varicocele. Materials and Methods Between December 2010 and December 2014, we evaluated patients with varicocele by sonoelastography (SE) of the testes. We created 3 groups: group A included patients with untreated varicocele; group B, patients treated with the same technique; and group C, healthy age-matched patients without varicocele. All patients underwent SE for the evaluation of testicular stiffness and results were graded from 1 to 3 following the color scale grading. Results During the study period, 36 boys (9-16 years old) with untreated varicocele, 47 treated patients, and 24 age-matched healthy subjects underwent control visit for varicocele and SE. All right testes of all groups were scored as 1, whereas testes with varicocele were stiffer than normal; all hypotrophies were scored as 3, whereas not all testes that were scored 3 were associated with testicular hypotrophy. There was a significant and statistical recovery rate of the testicular volume and the sonoelastographic score after surgery. Conclusion Testes with varicocele are significantly stiffer than normal ones. All testes with testicular hypotrophy had grade 3 sonoelastographic scores, but not all patients with a grade 3 score have testicular hypotrophy or continuous spermatic vein reflux. Our results show that sonoelasography can play a significant role in the evaluation of testicular elasticity as a predictive sign of testicular damage

FeedNetBack - D03.02 - Control Subject to Transmission Constraints, With Transmission Errors

This is a Deliverable Report for the FeedNetBack project (www.feednetback.eu). It describes the research performed within Work Package 3, Task 3.2 (Control Subject to Transmission Constraints, with Transmission Errors), in the first 36 months of the project. It targets the issue of control subject to transmission constraints with transmission error. This research concerns problems arising from the presence of a noisy communication channel (specified and modeled at the physical layer) within the control loop. The resulting constraints include finite capacities in the transmission of the sensor and/or actuator signals and transmission errors. Our focus is on designing new compression and coding techniques to support networked control in this scenario. This Deliverable extends the analysis provided in the companion Deliverable D03.01, to deal with the effects of noise in communication channel. The quantization schemes described in D03.01, in particular the adaptive ones, might be very sensitive to the presence of even a few errors. Indeed error-correction coding for estimation or control purposes cannot simply exploit classical coding theory and practice, where vanishing error probability is obtained only in the limit of infinite block-length. A first contribution reported in this Deliverable is the construction of families of codes having the any-time property required in this setting, and the analysis of the trade-off between code complexity and performance. Our results consider the binary erasure channel, and can be extended to more general binary-input output-symmetric memoryless channels. The second and third contributions reported in this deliverable deal with the problem of remotely stabilizing linear time invariant (LTI) systems over Gaussian channels. Specifically, in the second contribution we consider a single LTI system which has to be stabilized by remote controller using a network of sensors having average transmit power constraints. We study basic sensor network topologies and provide necessary and sufficient conditions for mean square stabilization. Then in the third contribution, we extend our study to two LTI systems which are to be simultaneously stabilized. In this regard, we study the interesting setups of joint and separate sensing and control. By joint sensing we mean that there exists a common sensor node to simultaneously transmit the sensed state processes of the two plants and by joint control we mean that there is a common controller for both plants. We name these setups as: i) control over multiple-access channel (separate sensors, joint controller setup), ii) control over broadcast channel (common sensor, separate controllers setup), and iii) control over interference channel (separate sensors, separate controllers). We propose to use delay-free linear schemes for these setups and thus obtain sufficient conditions for mean square stabilization. Then, we discuss the joint design of the encoder and the controller. We propose an iterative design procedure for a joint design of the sensor measurement quantization, channel error protection, and controller actuation, with the objective to minimize the expected linear quadratic cost over a finite horizon. Finally, the same as for the noiseless case, we address the issues that arise when not only one plant and one controller are communicating through a channel, but there is a whole network of sensors and actuators. We consider the effects of digital noisy channels on the consensus algorithm, and we present an algorithm which exploits the any-time codes discussed above

Stratifying Disease Progression in Patients With Cardiac ATTR Amyloidosis

Background: Transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR-CA) is a progressive cardiomyopathy. The clinical course varies among individuals and there are no established measures to assess disease progression. Objectives: The goal of this study was to assess the prognostic importance of an increase in N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and outpatient diuretic intensification (ODI) as markers of disease progression in a large cohort of patients with ATTR-CA. Methods: We evaluated landmark survival analysis based on worsening of NT-proBNP and requirement for ODI between time of diagnosis and a 1-year visit, and subsequent mortality in 2,275 patients with ATTR-CA from 7 specialist centers. The variables were developed in the National Amyloidosis Centre (NAC) cohort (n = 1,598) and validated in the external cohort from the remaining centers (n = 677). Results: Between baseline and 1-year visits, 551 (34.5%) NAC patients and 204 (30.1%) patients in the external validation cohort experienced NT-proBNP progression (NT-proBNP increase >700 ng/L and >30%), which was associated with mortality (NAC cohort: HR: 1.82; 95% CI: 1.57-2.10; P < 0.001; validation cohort: HR: 1.75; 95% CI: 1.32-2.33; P < 0.001). At 1 year, 451 (28.2%) NAC patients and 301 (44.5%) patients in the external validation cohort experienced ODI, which was associated with mortality (NAC cohort: HR: 1.88; 95% CI: 1.62-2.18; P < 0.001; validation cohort: HR: 2.05; 95% CI: 1.53-2.74; P < 0.001). When compared with patients with a stable NT-proBNP and stable diuretic dose, a higher risk of mortality was observed in those experiencing either NT-proBNP progression or ODI (NAC cohort: HR: 1.93; 95% CI: 1.65-2.27; P < 0.001; validation cohort: HR: 1.94; 95% CI: 1.36-2.77; P < 0.001), and those experiencing both NT-proBNP progression and ODI (NAC cohort: HR: 2.98; 95% CI: 2.42-3.67; P < 0.001; validation cohort: HR: 3.23; 95% CI: 2.17-4.79; P < 0.001). Conclusions: NT-proBNP progression and ODI are frequent and consistently associated with an increased risk of mortality. Combining both variables produces a simple, universally applicable model that detects disease progression in ATTR-CA

Chemical analyses of spring waters and factor analysis to monitor the functioning of a karstic system. The role of precipitations regimen and anthropic pressures

An approach is presented to study the functioning of a karstic massif and assess the adverse effects of the anthropogenic pressure by monitoring some water chemical and physical parameters of its main springs. The approach has been applied to the Sette Comuni Plateau (Veneto Region, Italy) hosting a well developed karstic system, whose aquifer presents high vulnerability and undergoes a relevant anthropogenic pressure. The Oliero springs, amongst the largest karstic springs in Europe, are the main water output of the plateau. Electrical conductivity, pH, dissolved O2, hardness, alkalinity, chemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, ionic species (NH4+, NO3−, NO2−, PO43−, SO42−, Cl−, F−), elements (CrIII, CrVI, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Hg, Pb), and some chlorinated solvents were monitored for one year. This study presents the application of a factor analysis on the water parameters enabling the identification of the dominant chemical and biological processes and pollution sources affecting the karstic system. Results show four factors which are interpreted as karstification, photosynthesis, storm flow pollution and anions. Finally, by associating metals, chemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids with the amount of rainfall in the 48 h before samplings, further detailed information to the fast response of the aquifer to precipitation events was detected and interpreted according to the factor analysis results. The proposed approach, by providing information on the functioning of the aquifer, may help the management of the karstic plateau and is easily adaptable to similar environments

Mean Square Performance of Consensus-Based Distributed Estimation over Regular Geometric Graphs

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A resistance-based approach to performance analysis of the consensus algorithm

International audienceWe study the well-known linear consensus algorithm by means of a LQ-type performance cost. We want to understand how the communication topology influences this algorithm. In order to do this, we recall the analogy between Markov Chains and electrical resistive networks. By exploiting this analogy, we are able to rewrite the performance cost as the average effective resistance on a suitable network. We use this result to show that if the communication graph fulfills some local properties, then its behavior can be approximated with that of a suitable grid, over which the behavior of the cost is known