Structured Knowledge Representation for Image Retrieval

We propose a structured approach to the problem of retrieval of images by content and present a description logic that has been devised for the semantic indexing and retrieval of images containing complex objects. As other approaches do, we start from low-level features extracted with image analysis to detect and characterize regions in an image. However, in contrast with feature-based approaches, we provide a syntax to describe segmented regions as basic objects and complex objects as compositions of basic ones. Then we introduce a companion extensional semantics for defining reasoning services, such as retrieval, classification, and subsumption. These services can be used for both exact and approximate matching, using similarity measures. Using our logical approach as a formal specification, we implemented a complete clientserver image retrieval system, which allows a user to pose both queries by sketch and queries by example. A set of experiments has been carried out on a testbed of images to assess the retrieval capabilities of the system in comparison with expert users ranking. Results are presented adopting a well-established measure of quality borrowed from textual information retrieval

Hybrid 1D Plasmonic/Photonic Crystals are Responsive to Escherichia Coli

Photonic crystal-based biosensors hold great promise as valid and low-cost devices for real-time monitoring of a variety of biotargets. Given the high processability and easiness of read-out even for unskilled operators, these systems can be highly appealing for the detection of bacterial contaminants in food and water. Here, we propose a novel hybrid plasmonic/photonic device that is responsive to Escherichia coli, which is one of the most hazardous pathogenic bacterium. Our system consists of a thin layer of silver, a metal that exhibits both a plasmonic behavior and a well-known biocidal activity, on top of a solution processed 1D photonic crystal. We attribute the bio-responsivity to the modification of the dielectric properties of the silver film upon bacterial contamination, an effect that likely stems from the formation of polarization charges at the Ag/bacterium interface within a sort of bio-doping mechanism. Interestingly, this triggers a blue-shift in the photonic response. This work demonstrates that our hybrid plasmonic/photonic device can be a low-cost and portable platform for the detection of common contaminants in food and water

The role of neighborhood inequalities on diabetes prevention care: a mini-review

An emerging research niche has focused on the link between social determinants of health and diabetes mellitus, one of the most prevalent non-communicable diseases in modern society. The aim of the present mini-review is to explore and summarize current findings in this field targeting high-income countries. In the presence of disadvantaged neighborhood factors (including socioeconomic status, food environment, walkability and neighborhood aesthetics), diabetes prevention and care are affected at a multidimensional level. The vast majority of the included studies suggest that, besides individual risk factors, aggregated neighborhood inequalities should be tackled to implement effective evidence-based policies for diabetes mellitus

EGF and TGF-β1 Effects on Thyroid Function

Normal epithelial thyroid cells in culture are inhibited by TGF-β1. Instead, transformed thyroid cell lines are frequently resistant to its growth inhibitory effect. Loss of TGF-β responsiveness could be due to a reduced expression of TGF-β receptors, as shown in transformed rat thyroid cell lines and in human thyroid tumors, or to alterations of other genes controlling TGF-β signal transduction pathway. However, in thyroid neoplasia, a complex pattern of alterations occurring during transformation and progression has been identified. Functionally, TGF-β1 acts as a tumor suppressor in the early stage of transformation or as a tumor promoter in advanced cancer. This peculiar pleiotropic behaviour of TGF-β may result from cross-talk with signalling pathways mediated by other growth factors, among which EGF-like ligands play an important role. This paper reports evidences on TGF-β1 and EGF systems in thyroid tumors and on the cross-talk between these growth factors in thyroid cancer

How to Perform Reproducible Experiments in the ELLIOT Recommendation Framework: Data Processing, Model Selection, and Performance Evaluation

Recommender Systems have shown to be an efective way to alleviate the over-choice problem and provide accurate and tailored recommendations. However, the impressive number of proposed recommendation algorithms, splitting strategies, evaluation protocols, metrics, and tasks, has made rigorous experimental evaluation particularly challenging. ELLIOT is a comprehensive recommendation framework that aims to run and reproduce an entire experimental pipeline by processing a simple confguration fle. The framework loads, flters, and splits the data considering a vast set of strategies. Then, it optimizes hyperparameters for several recommendation algorithms, selects the best models, compares them with the baselines, computes metrics spanning from accuracy to beyond-accuracy, bias, and fairness, and conducts statistical analysis. The aim is to provide researchers a tool to ease all the experimental evaluation phases (and make them reproducible), from data reading to results collection. ELLIOT is freely available on GitHub at https://github.com/sisinflab/ellio

The Domains of Human Nutrition: The Importance of Nutrition Education in Academia and Medical Schools

open28noHuman nutrition encompasses an extremely broad range of medical, social, commercial, and ethical domains and thus represents a wide, interdisciplinary scientific and cultural discipline. The high prevalence of both disease-related malnutrition and overweight/obesity represents an important risk factor for disease burden and mortality worldwide. It is the opinion of Federation of the Italian Nutrition Societies (FeSIN) that these two sides of the same coin, with their sociocultural background, are related to a low "nutritional culture" secondary, at least in part, to an insufficient academic training for health-care professionals (HCPs). Therefore, FeSIN created a study group, composed of delegates of all the federated societies and representing the different HCPs involved in human nutrition, with the aim of identifying and defining the domains of human nutrition in the attempt to more clearly define the cultural identity of human nutrition in an academically and professionally oriented perspective and to report the conclusions in a position paper. Three main domains of human nutrition, namely, basic nutrition, applied nutrition, and clinical nutrition, were identified. FeSIN has examined the areas of knowledge pertinent to human nutrition. Thirty-two items were identified, attributed to one or more of the three domains and ranked considering their diverse importance for academic training in the different domains of human nutrition. Finally, the study group proposed the attribution of the different areas of knowledge to the degree courses where training in human nutrition is deemed necessary (e.g., schools of medicine, biology, nursing, etc.). It is conceivable that, in the near future, a better integration of the professionals involved in the field of human nutrition will eventually occur based on the progressive consolidation of knowledge, competence, and skills in the different areas and domains of this discipline.openDonini, Lorenzo M; Leonardi, Francesco; Rondanelli, Mariangela; Banderali, Giuseppe; Battino, Maurizio; Bertoli, Enrico; Bordoni, Alessandra; Brighenti, Furio; Caccialanza, Riccardo; Cairella, Giulia; Caretto, Antonio; Cena, Hellas; Gambarara, Manuela; Gentile, Maria Gabriella; Giovannini, Marcello; Lucchin, Lucio; Migliaccio, Pietro; Nicastro, Francesco; Pasanisi, Fabrizio; Piretta, Luca; Radrizzani, Danilo; Roggi, Carla; Rotilio, Giuseppe; Scalfi, Luca; Vettor, Roberto; Vignati, Federico; Battistini, Nino C; Muscaritoli, MaurizioDonini, Lorenzo M; Leonardi, Francesco; Rondanelli, Mariangela; Banderali, Giuseppe; Battino, Maurizio; Bertoli, Enrico; Bordoni, Alessandra; Brighenti, Furio; Caccialanza, Riccardo; Cairella, Giulia; Caretto, Antonio; Cena, Hellas; Gambarara, Manuela; Gentile, Maria Gabriella; Giovannini, Marcello; Lucchin, Lucio; Migliaccio, Pietro; Nicastro, Francesco; Pasanisi, Fabrizio; Piretta, Luca; Radrizzani, Danilo; Roggi, Carla; Rotilio, Giuseppe; Scalfi, Luca; Vettor, Roberto; Vignati, Federico; Battistini, Nino C; Muscaritoli, Maurizi

Structured and shared CT radiological report of gastric cancer: a consensus proposal by the Italian Research Group for Gastric Cancer (GIRCG) and the Italian Society of Medical and Interventional Radiology (SIRM)

Objectives Written radiological report remains the most important means of communication between radiologist and referring medical/surgical doctor, even though CT reports are frequently just descriptive, unclear, and unstructured. The Italian Society of Medical and Interventional Radiology (SIRM) and the Italian Research Group for Gastric Cancer (GIRCG) promoted a critical shared discussion between 10 skilled radiologists and 10 surgical oncologists, by means of multi-round consensus-building Delphi survey, to develop a structured reporting template for CT of GC patients. Methods Twenty-four items were organized according to the broad categories of a structured report as suggested by the European Society of Radiology (clinical referral, technique, findings, conclusion, and advice) and grouped into three "CT report sections" depending on the diagnostic phase of the radiological assessment for the oncologic patient (staging, restaging, and follow-up). Results In the final round, 23 out of 24 items obtained agreement ( >= 8) and consensus ( 0.05). Conclusions The structured report obtained, shared by surgical and medical oncologists and radiologists, allows an appropriate, clearer, and focused CT report essential to high-quality patient care in GC, avoiding the exclusion of key radiological information useful for multidisciplinary decision-making

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements