BGP and inter-AS economic relationships

The structure of the Internet is still unknown even if it pro- vides well-known services for a large part of the worldwide population. Its current conguration is the result of complex economic interaction developed in the last 20 years among important carriers and ISPs (i.e. ASes). Although with slight success, in the last few years some research work tried to shed light on the economic relationships established among ASes. Typical approaches employed in the above work proceed along two lines: rst, data from BGP monitors spread out all over the world is gath- ered to infer an Internet AS-level topology graph, and second heuristics taking as input this graph are applied to get economic tags associated to all edges between nodes (i.e. ASes). In this paper we propose an in- novative tagging approach leveraging on the lifetime of an AS path to infer the economic relationships on all edges joining the ASes crossed by the path itself, without cutting-o backup links, that bring economic information as well as stable links. The major ndings of our approach can be summarized as follows: (data hygiene before infer the Internet AS-level topology graph) study on AS paths loops, human error and their impact on data correctness ( life-time based tagging we do not cut-o bakcup links) we evidence those tags are inferred only from a partial viewpoint we evidence the maximum lifetime of the AS path that have contributed to infer the tag of each connection { classication of candidate Tier-1 AS based on three indexes re ecting the importance of an AS { explanation and life-time study of non valley-free AS path

TRASPORTO ATTIVO E SALUTE: MISURAZIONE DELL’INCREMENTO PREVISIONALE DI CICLABILITA’ NELLA CITTA’ DI MILANO E VALUTAZIONE DELLE RICADUTE POSITIVE SULLO STATO DI SALUTE DELLA POPOLAZIONE

INTRODUZIONE: È scientificamente noto come l’inattività fisica sia tra i principali fattori di rischio per l’incremento delle malattie cronico-degenerative. L’emergenza è particolarmente rilevante nei contesti urbani, dove, tuttavia, la maggior parte degli spostamenti copre una distanza inferiore ai 5km, facilmente percorribile a piedi o in bicicletta. Questi spostamenti garantirebbero una sufficiente attività fisica giornaliera. Risulta pertanto necessario indagare quali caratteristiche delle infrastrutture ciclopedonali incentivino o scoraggino l’adozione di corretti stili di vita. METODI: Dopo un confronto con lo stato dell’arte relativo alle correlazione tra trasporto attivo, Physical Activity e salute, è stato redatto un questionario per raccogliere dati sul livello attuale della ciclabilità urbana e quantificare l’incremento previsionale in caso di miglioramento ed implementazione della rete ciclabile. Il questionario è stato somministrato digitalmente e in forma cartacea, per un periodo di 3 mesi nella città di Milano. RISULTATI: I dati raccolti (1675 compilazioni) dimostrano che la scelta della bicicletta come mezzo di trasporto aumenterebbe: nella situazione previsionale il 76,5% del campione (oltre il 21% in più rispetto alla situazione attuale) raggiungerebbe i 150 minuti settimanali di attività fisica raccomandata dall’OMS. È stata condotta inoltre una valutazione dei benefici sulla salute, in termini di riduzione della mortalità causata da malattie cronico-degenerative tramite l’applicazione dello strumento HEAT dell’OMS ha individuato un incremento dei benefici protettivi pari al 5%. CONCLUSIONI: L’indagine condotta ha perseguito lo scopo di individuare gli aspetti da migliorare dal punto di vista del progetto urbano. Scopo principale è quello di sensibilizzare i Policy Makers, evidenziando come gli interventi urbani, soprattutto quelli a piccola scala, potrebbero avere un ruolo chiave nella riduzione dell’inattività fisica e quindi di una maggior salute

Treatment of osteolytic solitary painful osseous metastases with radiofrequency ablation or cryoablation: a retrospective study by propensity analysis

The present study aimed to measure the improvement in pain relief and quality of life in patients with osteolytic solitary painful bone metastasis treated by cryoablation (CA) or radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Fifty patients with solitary osteolytic painful bone metastases were retrospectively studied and selected by propensity analysis. Twenty-five patients underwent CA and the remaining twenty-five underwent RFA. Pain relief, in terms of complete response (CR), the number of patients requiring analgesia and the changes in self-rated quality of life (QoL) were measured following the two treatments. Thirty-two percent of patients treated by CA experienced a CR at 12 weeks versus 20% of patients treated by RFA. The rate of CR increased significantly with respect to baseline only in the group treated by CA. In both groups there was a significant change in the partial response with respect to baseline (36% in the CA group vs. 44% in the RFA group). The recurrence rate in the CA and RFA groups was 12% and 8%, respectively. The reduction in narcotic medication requirements with respect to baseline was only significant in the group treated by CA. A significant improvement in self-rated QoL was observed in both groups. The present study seems to suggest that CA only significantly improves the rate of CR and decreases the requirement of narcotic medications. Both CA and RFA led to an improvement in the self-rated QoL of patients after the treatments. However, the results of the present study should be considered as preliminary and to serve as a framework around which future trials may be designed

Treatment of Solitary Painful Osseous Metastases with Radiotherapy, Cryoablation or Combined Therapy: Propensity Matching Analysis in 175 Patients

aim of this study was to identify outcomes in pain relief and quality of life in patients with a solitary painful osseous metastasis treated by radiotherapy, cryoablation or the combination using a propensity score matching study design

Disposición en la adolescencia a llevar a cabo distintas prácticas sexuales homosexuales

Introducción: La orientación sexual es el deseo/atracción hacia personas del mismo o diferente sexo. Actualmente, se aconseja su evaluación a través de un continuo. Según nuestra experiencia en este campo, existe, ocasionalmente, una mayor o menor disposición a tener relaciones con personas del mismo sexo en función de una determinada práctica sexual. El objetivo de este estudio ha sido llevar a cabo un aná- lisis de esta predisposición en población adolescente. Método: La muestra incluía 400 alumnos (50,5 % chicas y 49,5 % chicos), entre 14 y 18 años (m = 16,39; dt ±1,12), procedentes de distintos institutos de la Comunidad Valenciana. Los participantes cumplimentaron el cuestionario de intereses y prácticas sexuales (Unisexsida, 2014) de 5 ítems. Para este estudio se utilizaron dos ítems: orientación sexual autodefinida y disposición hacia prácticas sexuales con personas del mismo sexo. Resultados: Se observaron diferencias significativas entre chicos y chicas respecto a su disposición a dar besos en los labios, abrazos y caricias desnudos a personas del mismo sexo, siendo mayor en el caso de las adolescentes. Entre la población de adolescentes que se consideran heterosexuales, un 4,5 % y un 59,9 % se encuentra dispuesto a realizar ciertas prácticas con personas del mismo sexo. En esta población existen diferencias significativas entre chicas y chicos respecto a su disposición a dar besos en los labios, abrazos y caricias desnudos y dejarse masturbar por personas de su mismo sexo. Conclusiones: Estos resultados enfatizan la necesidad de dejar de considerar la orientación sexual como una categoría estanca, de manera que refleje la diversidad afectivo-sexual.Introduction: Sexual orientation is defined as the desire/sexual attraction to people of the same or opposite sex. Currently, its evaluation is advised through a continuum. Ac- cording to our experience in this field, there is occasionally more or less willingness to have sex with the same sex depending on a particular sexual practice. The aim of this study was to analyse this predisposition in an adolescent population. Method: The sam- ple included 400 students (50.5% female, 49.5% male), aged 14-18 years (M=16.39; SD±1.12), from different high schools in the Valencian Community (Spain). Participants completed the questionnaire Sexual Interests and Practices (Unisexsida, 2014) with five items, although only the first (self-reported sexual orientation) and the last (disposition towards different sexual practices with the same sex) items were used. Results: Signifi- cant gender differences were found in their willingness to kiss on the lips or to hug and caress naked people of the same sex, which were higher for females. In the adolescent population who considered themselves heterosexuals, from 4.5% to 59.9% were willing to undertake certain practices with persons of their same sex. Significant gender differ- ences were also found in this same population as to their willingness to kiss on the lips, hug and caress, and be masturbated by, persons of the same sex. Conclusions: These results stress the need to stop considering sexual orientation as a tight category to reflect sexual diversity

Prion diseases are efficiently transmitted by blood transfusion in sheep

The emergence of variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, following on from the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic, led to concerns about the potential risk of iatrogenic transmission of disease by blood transfusion and the introduction of costly control measures to protect blood supplies. We previously reported preliminary data demonstrating the transmission of BSE and natural scrapie by blood transfusion in sheep. The final results of this experiment, reported here, give unexpectedly high transmission rates by transfusion of 36% for BSE and 43% for scrapie. A proportion of BSE-infected tranfusion recipients (3 of 8) survived for up to 7 years without showing clinical signs of disease. The majority of transmissions resulted from blood collected from donors at more than 50% of the estimated incubation period. The high transmission rates and relatively short and consistent incubation periods in clinically positive recipients suggest that infectivity titers in blood were substantial and/or that blood transfusion is an efficient method of transmission. This experiment has established the value of using sheep as a model for studying transmission of variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease by blood products in humans. (Blood. 2008; 112: 4739-4745

From micro- to nanostructured implantable device for local anesthetic delivery

Local anesthetics block the transmission of painful stimuli to the brain by acting on ion channels of nociceptor fibers, and find application in the management of acute and chronic pain. Despite the key role they play in modern medicine, their cardio and neurotoxicity (together with their short half-life) stress the need for developing implantable devices for tailored local drug release, with the aim of counterbalancing their side effects and prolonging their pharmacological activity. This review discusses the evolution of the physical forms of local anesthetic delivery systems during the past decades. Depending on the use of different biocompatible materials (degradable polyesters, thermosensitive hydrogels, and liposomes and hydrogels from natural polymers) and manufacturing processes, these systems can be classified as films or micro- or nanostructured devices. We analyze and summarize the production techniques according to this classification, focusing on their relative advantages and disadvantages. The most relevant trend reported in this work highlights the effort of moving from microstructured to nanostructured systems, with the aim of reaching a scale comparable to the biological environment. Improved intracellular penetration compared to microstructured systems, indeed, provides specific drug absorption into the targeted tissue and can lead to an enhancement of its bioavailability and retention time. Nanostructured systems are realized by the modification of existing manufacturing processes (interfacial deposition and nanoprecipitation for degradable polyester particles and high- or low-temperature homogenization for liposomes) or development of novel strategies (electrospun matrices and nanogels). The high surface-to-volume ratio that characterizes nanostructured devices often leads to a burst drug release. This drawback needs to be addressed to fully exploit the advantage of the interaction between the target tissues and the drug: possible strategies could involve specific binding between the drug and the material chosen for the device, and a multiscale approach to reach a tailored, prolonged drug release