Decreased motor cortex excitability mirrors own hand disembodiment during the rubber hand illusion

During the rubber hand illusion (RHI), subjects experience an artificial hand as part of their own body, while the real hand is subject to a sort of\u2019disembodiment\u2019. Can this altered belief about the body also affect physiological mechanisms involved in body-ownership, such as motor control? Here we ask whether the excitability of the motor pathways to the real (disembodied) hand are affected by the illusion. Our results show that the amplitude of the motor-evoked potentials recorded from the real hand is significantly reduced, with respect to baseline, when subjects in the synchronous (but not in the asynchronous) condition experience the fake hand as their own. This finding contributes to the theoretical understanding of the relationship between body-ownership and motor system, and provides the first physiological evidence that a significant drop in motor excitability in M1 hand circuits accompanies the disembodiment of the real hand during the RHI experience

Results of a phase I-II study on laser therapy for vaginal side effects after radiotherapy for cancer of uterine cervix or endometrium

Women who have previously received radiotherapy (RT) for gynecologic cancer often suffer from vaginal fibrosis and stenosis. The success of “non-ablative” laser therapy for postmenopausal vaginal atrophy has led to the idea of testing the laser in patients submitted to RT. In this prospective observational study, we selected patients who underwent pelvic RT followed by vaginal laser treatment. We scheduled three treatment sessions (at T0–T1–T2) and three controls (at T1–T2–T3) one month apart. The follow-up (at T4) was carried out six months after the last treatment. Vaginal Health Index (VHI) and vaginal length were evaluated. Sexual function was assessed through Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). Overall, 43 patients with severe vaginal shortening, atrophy and stenosis was enrolled and treated with intravaginal non-ablative CO2 laser. We observed a progressive increase in vaginal length of 9% (p = 0.03) at T2 and 28% (p < 0.0001) at T3; effects were maintained at T4 (p < 0.0001). After the first application VHI showed a significant improvement of 57% at T3 (p < 0.0001). The results were maintained at T4 (p < 0.0001). No changes were found in FSFI. All procedures were well tolerated. In conclusion, laser therapy improved vaginal length and VHI in women undergoing pelvic RT; prospective studies are needed

Neurodevelopmental outcomes of very preterm infants born following early foetal growth restriction with absent end-diastolic umbilical flow

This study aims to assess the impact of time of onset and features of early foetal growth restriction (FGR) with absent end-diastolic flow (AEDF) on pregnancy outcomes and on preterm infants' clinical and neurodevelopmental outcomes up to 2 years corrected age. This is a retrospective, cohort study led at a level IV Obstetric and Neonatal Unit in Bologna, Italy. Pregnant women were eligible if having singleton pregnancies, with no major foetal anomaly detected, and diagnosed with early FGR + AEDF (defined as FGR + AEDF detected before 32 weeks gestation). Early FGR + AEDF was further classified according to time of onset and specific features into very early and persistent (VEP, FGR + AEDF first detected at 20-24 weeks gestation and persistent at the following scans), very early but transient (VET, FGR + AEDF detected at 20-24 weeks gestation and progressively improving at the following scans) and later (LA, FGR + AEDF detected between 25 and 32 weeks gestation). Pregnancy and neonatal outcomes and infant follow-up data were collected and compared among groups. Neurodevelopment was assessed using the revised Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales (GMDS-R) 0-2 years. A regression analysis was performed to identify early predictors of preterm infants' neurodevelopmental impairment. Fifty-two pregnant women with an antenatal diagnosis of early FGR + AEDF were included in the study (16 VEP, 14 VET, 22 LA). Four intrauterine foetal deaths occurred, all in the VEP group (p = 0.010). Compared to LA infants, VEP infants were born with lower gestational age and lower birth weight, had lower arterial cord blood pH and were at higher risk for intraventricular haemorrhage and periventricular leukomalacia (p < 0.05 for all comparisons). At 12 months, VEP infants had worse GMDS-R scores, both in the general quotient (mean [SD] 91.8 [12.4] vs 104.6 [8.7] in LA) and in the performance domain (mean [SD] 93.3 [15.4] vs 108.8 [8.8] in LA). This latter difference persisted at 24 months (mean [SD] 68.3 [17.0] vs 92.9 [17.7] in LA). In multivariate analysis, at 12 months corrected age, PVL was found to be an independent predictor of impaired general quotient, while the features and timing of antenatal Doppler alterations predicted worse scores in the performance domain.Conclusion: Timing of onset and features of early FGR + AEDF might impact differently on neonatal clinical and neurodevelopmental outcomes. Shared awareness of the importance of FGR + AEDF features between obstetricians and neonatologists may offer valuable tools for antenatal counselling and for tailoring pregnancy management and neonatal follow-up in light of specific antenatal and neonatal risk factors

The Italian fund for Alzheimer's and other dementias: strategies and objectives to face the dementia challenge

The Italian Fund for Alzheimer's and other dementias was approved and signed in December 2021. The Fund is financed with 15 million euros in three years. The main goal is to provide new strategies in the field of dementia with a Public Health perspective. The Fund includes eight main activities that will be monitored and supervised by the Italian National Institute of Health: 1) development of a guideline for the assessment, management and support for people with dementia and their families/carers; 2) updating of the Dementia National Plan (DNP); 3) implementation of the documents of the DNP; 4) conducting surveys dedicated to the Italian Dementia Services; 5) promotion of dementia prevention strategies; 6) training strategies for healthcare professionals, families and caregivers; 7) creation of a National Electronic Record for Dementia; 8) evaluation and monitoring of activities promoted by Regions and Autonomous Provinces in the field of dementia, together with the dementia National Permanent Table. These activities are outlined in detail in the present paper

Casual Compressive Sensing for Gene Network Inference

We propose a novel framework for studying causal inference of gene interactions using a combination of compressive sensing and Granger causality techniques. The gist of the approach is to discover sparse linear dependencies between time series of gene expressions via a Granger-type elimination method. The method is tested on the Gardner dataset for the SOS network in E. coli, for which both known and unknown causal relationships are discovered

Risk Factors Associated with Adverse Fetal Outcomes in Pregnancies Affected by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): A Secondary Analysis of the WAPM study on COVID-19

To evaluate the strength of association between maternal and pregnancy characteristics and the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes in pregnancies with laboratory confirmed COVID-19. Secondary analysis of a multinational, cohort study on all consecutive pregnant women with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from February 1, 2020 to April 30, 2020 from 73 centers from 22 different countries. A confirmed case of COVID-19 was defined as a positive result on real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) assay of nasal and pharyngeal swab specimens. The primary outcome was a composite adverse fetal outcome, defined as the presence of either abortion (pregnancy loss before 22 weeks of gestations), stillbirth (intrauterine fetal death after 22 weeks of gestation), neonatal death (death of a live-born infant within the first 28 days of life), and perinatal death (either stillbirth or neonatal death). Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate parameters independently associated with the primary outcome. Logistic regression was reported as odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Mean gestational age at diagnosis was 30.6\ub19.5 weeks, with 8.0% of women being diagnosed in the first, 22.2% in the second and 69.8% in the third trimester of pregnancy. There were six miscarriage (2.3%), six intrauterine device (IUD) (2.3) and 5 (2.0%) neonatal deaths, with an overall rate of perinatal death of 4.2% (11/265), thus resulting into 17 cases experiencing and 226 not experiencing composite adverse fetal outcome. Neither stillbirths nor neonatal deaths had congenital anomalies found at antenatal or postnatal evaluation. Furthermore, none of the cases experiencing IUD had signs of impending demise at arterial or venous Doppler. Neonatal deaths were all considered as prematurity-related adverse events. Of the 250 live-born neonates, one (0.4%) was found positive at RT-PCR pharyngeal swabs performed after delivery. The mother was tested positive during the third trimester of pregnancy. The newborn was asymptomatic and had negative RT-PCR test after 14 days of life. At logistic regression analysis, gestational age at diagnosis (OR: 0.85, 95% CI 0.8-0.9 per week increase; p<0.001), birthweight (OR: 1.17, 95% CI 1.09-1.12.7 per 100 g decrease; p=0.012) and maternal ventilatory support, including either need for oxygen or CPAP (OR: 4.12, 95% CI 2.3-7.9; p=0.001) were independently associated with composite adverse fetal outcome. Early gestational age at infection, maternal ventilatory supports and low birthweight are the main determinants of adverse perinatal outcomes in fetuses with maternal COVID-19 infection. Conversely, the risk of vertical transmission seems negligible

Association of kidney disease measures with risk of renal function worsening in patients with type 1 diabetes

Background: Albuminuria has been classically considered a marker of kidney damage progression in diabetic patients and it is routinely assessed to monitor kidney function. However, the role of a mild GFR reduction on the development of stage 653 CKD has been less explored in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic role of kidney disease measures, namely albuminuria and reduced GFR, on the development of stage 653 CKD in a large cohort of patients affected by T1DM. Methods: A total of 4284 patients affected by T1DM followed-up at 76 diabetes centers participating to the Italian Association of Clinical Diabetologists (Associazione Medici Diabetologi, AMD) initiative constitutes the study population. Urinary albumin excretion (ACR) and estimated GFR (eGFR) were retrieved and analyzed. The incidence of stage 653 CKD (eGFR &lt; 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) or eGFR reduction &gt; 30% from baseline was evaluated. Results: The mean estimated GFR was 98 \ub1 17 mL/min/1.73m2 and the proportion of patients with albuminuria was 15.3% (n = 654) at baseline. About 8% (n = 337) of patients developed one of the two renal endpoints during the 4-year follow-up period. Age, albuminuria (micro or macro) and baseline eGFR &lt; 90 ml/min/m2 were independent risk factors for stage 653 CKD and renal function worsening. When compared to patients with eGFR &gt; 90 ml/min/1.73m2 and normoalbuminuria, those with albuminuria at baseline had a 1.69 greater risk of reaching stage 3 CKD, while patients with mild eGFR reduction (i.e. eGFR between 90 and 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) show a 3.81 greater risk that rose to 8.24 for those patients with albuminuria and mild eGFR reduction at baseline. Conclusions: Albuminuria and eGFR reduction represent independent risk factors for incident stage 653 CKD in T1DM patients. The simultaneous occurrence of reduced eGFR and albuminuria have a synergistic effect on renal function worsening

Bayesian Analysis of Curves Shape Variation Through Registration and Regression

This manuscript reviews the use of Bayesian hierarchical curve registration in Biostatistics and Bioinformatics.Several models allowing for unit-specific random time scales are discussed and applied to longitudinal dataarising in biomedicine, pharmacokinetics and time-course genomics. We consider representations of random functionals based on P-spline priors. Under this framework, straightforward posterior simulation strategies are outlined for inference.Beyond curve registration, we discuss jointregression modeling of both random effects and population level functional quantities. Finally, the use of mixture priors is discussed in the setting of differential expression analysis

The ATLAS fast tracKer system

The ATLAS Fast TracKer (FTK) was designed to provide full tracking for the ATLAS high-level trigger by using pattern recognition based on Associative Memory (AM) chips and fitting in high-speed field programmable gate arrays. The tracks found by the FTK are based on inputs from all modules of the pixel and silicon microstrip trackers. The as-built FTK system and components are described, as is the online software used to control them while running in the ATLAS data acquisition system. Also described is the simulation of the FTK hardware and the optimization of the AM pattern banks. An optimization for long-lived particles with large impact parameter values is included. A test of the FTK system with the data playback facility that allowed the FTK to be commissioned during the shutdown between Run 2 and Run 3 of the LHC is reported. The resulting tracks from part of the FTK system covering a limited η-ϕ region of the detector are compared with the output from the FTK simulation. It is shown that FTK performance is in good agreement with the simulation. © The ATLAS collaboratio