29 research outputs found
Syncope in Elderly People: A Threatening Presentation of Pulmonary Embolism: A Case Report
age. Its prognosis is largely unpredictable, pending the origin of the sudden loss of
consciousness. We report a case of an old woman affected by severe chronic heart
failure, who died soon after the development of an episode of syncope, which was
eventually attributed to pulmonary embolism. Anticoagulant therapy, promptly
instituted, was ineffective. In the differential diagnoses of syncope, pulmonary
embolism should always be considered, especially in old patients with risk factors
for venous thromboembolism such as a severe heart failure. In patients with high
risk of death according to the widely adopted risk stratifications score, aggressive
therapy may be considered also in elderly people to prevent unfavourable
outcomes
Improving elevation perception with a tool for image-guided head-related transfer function selection
This paper proposes an image-guided HRTF selection procedure that exploits the relation between features of the pinna shape and HRTF notches. Using a 2D image of a subject's pinna, the procedure selects from a database the HRTF set that best fits the anthropometry of that subject. The proposed procedure is designed to be quickly applied and easy to use for a user without previous knowledge on binaural audio technologies. The entire process is evaluated by means of an auditory model for sound localization in the mid-sagittal plane available from previous literature. Using virtual subjects from a HRTF database, a virtual experiment is implemented to assess the vertical localization performance of the database subjects when they are provided with HRTF sets selected by the proposed procedure. Results report a statistically significant improvement in predictions of localization performance for selected HRTFs compared to KEMAR HRTF which is a commercial standard in many binaural audio solutions; moreover, the proposed analysis provides useful indications to refine the perceptually-motivated metrics that guides the selection
Endothelial dysfunction in patients with spontaneous venous thromboembolism
Background and Objectives A high incidence of atherosclerotic lesions and cardiovascular events has been reported in patients with spontaneous venous thromboembolism. Endothelial dysfunction is an early marker of atherosclerosis and has predictive value for ischemic events. We have evaluated endothelial function in patients with a history of spontaneous venous thromboembolism.Design and Methods Patients with a history of symptomatic, objectively confirmed, spontaneous venous thromboembolism were included in a case-control study. Exclusion criteria were any known risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, other conditions associated with endothelial dysfunction, estro-progestinic therapy or pregnancy. Controls were age-(±5 years) and sex-matched subjects with the same exclusion criteria but without previous venous thromboembolism. Endothelial function was evaluated by the non-invasive measurement of flow-mediated vasodilation of the brachial artery and of plasma markers of endothelium activation; platelet activation parameters were also measured.Results Twenty-eight cases (8 females; mean age 59±15 years) and 28 controls (8 females; mean age 58±15) were studied. Flow-mediated vasodilation was 3.5±0.6% in cases (95% CIs: 2.2 to 4.8) and 5.7±0.6% (4.2 to 6.8) in controls (p=0.015). Brachial artery blood flow and hyperemic blood flow did not differ between the two groups. Plasma von Willebrand factor and soluble P-selectin levels were significantly higher in patients with venous thromboembolism, while plasma soluble CD40 ligand and urinary 11-dehydro-TxB2 levels were similar in cases and controls.Interpretation and Conclusions Patients with spontaneous venous thromboembolism have endothelial dysfunction, unlike age- and sex- matched controls. This finding suggests that spontaneous venous thromboembolism may be a condition associated with an enhanced risk of atherosclerosis
X-ray properties and obscured fraction of AGN in the J1030 Chandra field
The 500ks Chandra ACIS-I observation of the field around the quasar
SDSS J1030+0524 is currently the 5th deepest extragalactic X-ray survey. The
rich multi-band coverage of the field allowed for an effective identification
and redshift determination of the X-ray source counterparts: to date a catalog
of 243 extragalactic X-ray sources with either a spectroscopic or photometric
redshift estimate in the range is available over a 355 arcmin
area. Given its depth and the multi-band information, this catalog is an
excellent resource to investigate X-ray spectral properties of distant Active
Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and derive the redshift evolution of their obscuration.
We performed a thorough X-ray spectral analysis for each object in the sample,
measuring its nuclear column density and intrinsic (de-absorbed)
2-10 keV rest-frame luminosity, . Whenever possible, we also used the
presence of the Fe K emission line to improve the photometric redshift
estimates. We measured the fractions of AGN hidden by column densities in
excess of and cm ( and ,
respectively) as a function of and redshift, and corrected for
selection effects to recover the intrinsic obscured fractions. At ,
we found and , respectively, in broad
agreement with the results from other X-ray surveys. No significant variations
with X-ray luminosity were found within the limited luminosity range probed by
our sample (log). When focusing on luminous AGN with
log to maximize the sample completeness up to large
cosmological distances, we did not observe any significant change in
or over the redshift range . Nonetheless, the obscured
fractions we measure are significantly higher than ...Comment: A&A, in pres
LBT-MODS spectroscopy of high-redshift candidates in the Chandra J1030 field. A newly discovered z2.8 large scale structure
We present the results of a spectroscopic campaign with the Multi-Object
Double Spectrograph (MODS) instrument mounted on the Large Binocular Telescope
(LBT), aimed at obtaining a spectroscopic redshift for seven Chandra J1030
sources with a photometric redshift >=2.7 and optical magnitude
r_AB=[24.5-26.5]. We obtained a spectroscopic redshift for five out of seven
targets: all of them have z_spec>=2.5, thus probing the reliability of the
Chandra J1030 photometric redshifts. The spectroscopic campaign led to the
serendipitous discovery of a z~2.78 large scale structure (LSS) in the J1030
field: the structure contains four X-ray sources (three of which were targeted
in the LBT-MODS campaign) and two non-X-ray detected galaxies for which a
VLT-MUSE spectrum was already available. The X-ray members of the LSS are
hosted in galaxies that are significantly more massive
(log(M_*/M_sun)=[10.0-11.1]) than those hosting the two MUSE-detected sources
(log(M_*/M_sun)<10). Both observations and simulations show that massive
galaxies, and particularly objects having log(M_*/M_sun)>10, are among the best
tracers of large scale structures and filaments in the cosmic web.
Consequently, our result can explain why X-ray-detected AGN have also been
shown to be efficient tracers of large scale structures.Comment: 16 pages, 9 Figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
The web of the Giant: spectroscopic confirmation of a Large Scale Structure around the z=6.31 quasar SDSS J1030+0524
We report on the spectroscopic confirmation of a large scale structure around
the luminous, z=6.31 QSO SDSS~J1030+0524, that is powered by a billion solar
mass black hole. The structure is populated by at least six members, four Lyman
Break Galaxies (LBGs) and two Lyman Alpha Emitters (LAEs). The four LBGs have
been identified among a sample of 21 i-band dropouts with z{AB}<25.5 selected
up to projected separations of 5 physical Mpc (15 arcmin) from the QSO. Their
redshifts have been determined through up to 8hr-long multi-object
spectroscopic observations at 8-10m class telescopes. The two LAEs have been
identified in a 6hr VLT/MUSE observation centered on the QSO. The redshifts of
the six galaxies cover the range 6.129-6.355. Assuming that peculiar velocities
are negligible, this range corresponds to radial separations of +/-5 physical
Mpc from the QSO, that is comparable to the projected scale of the observed LBG
distribution on the sky. We conservatively estimate that this structure is
significant at >3.5 sigma level, and that the level of the galaxy overdensity
is at least 1.5-2 within the large volume sampled (~780 physical Mpc^3). The
spectral properties of the six member galaxies (Lyalpha strength and UV
luminosity) are similar to those of field galaxies at similar redshifts. This
is the first spectroscopic identification of a galaxy overdensity around a
super-massive black hole in the first billion years of the Universe. Our
finding lends support to the idea that the most distant and massive black holes
form and grow within massive (>10^{12} Msun) dark matter halos in large scale
structures, and that the absence of earlier detections of such systems was
likely due to observational limitations.Comment: 8 pages including Appendix, 5 figures, accepted as a letter on
Astronomy & Astrophysics. v2: minor changes in Table 1 caption and Figs. 2 &
3 label
Redshift identification of X-ray selected active galactic nuclei in the J1030 field: searching for large-scale structures and high-redshift sources
We publicly release the spectroscopic and photometric redshift catalog of the
sources detected with Chandra in the field of the =6.3 quasar SDSS
J1030+0525. This is currently the fifth deepest X-ray field, and reaches a
0.5-2 keV flux limit =610 erg s
cm. By using two independent methods, we measure a photometric redshift
for 243 objects, while 123 (51%) sources also have a spectroscopic redshift,
110 of which coming from an INAF-Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) Strategic
Program. We use the spectroscopic redshifts to determine the quality of the
photometric ones, and find it in agreement with that of other X-ray surveys
which used a similar number of photometric data-points. In particular, we
measure a sample normalized median absolute deviation
=1.48||-||/(1+)=0.065. We use
these new spectroscopic and photometric redshifts to study the properties of
the Chandra J1030 field. We observe several peaks in our spectroscopic redshift
distribution between =0.15 and =1.5, and find that the sources in each
peak are often distributed across the whole Chandra field of view. This
evidence confirms that X-ray selected AGN can efficiently track large-scale
structures over physical scales of several Mpc. Finally, we computed the
Chandra J1030 3 number counts: while the spectroscopic completeness at
high-redshift of our sample is limited, our results point towards a potential
source excess at 4, which we plan to either confirm or reject in the
near future with dedicated spectroscopic campaigns
The LOFT mission concept: a status update
The Large Observatory For x-ray Timing (LOFT) is a mission concept which was proposed to ESA as M3 and M4 candidate in the framework of the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program. Thanks to the unprecedented combination of effective area and spectral resolution of its main instrument and the uniquely large field of view of its wide field monitor, LOFT will be able to study the behaviour of matter in extreme conditions such as the strong gravitational field in the innermost regions close to black holes and neutron stars and the supra-nuclear densities in the interiors of neutron stars. The science payload is based on a Large Area Detector (LAD, >8m2 effective area, 2-30 keV, 240 eV spectral resolution, 1 degree collimated field of view) and a Wide Field Monitor (WFM, 2-50 keV, 4 steradian field of view, 1 arcmin source location accuracy, 300 eV spectral resolution). The WFM is equipped with an on-board system for bright events (e.g., GRB) localization. The trigger time and position of these events are broadcast to the ground within 30 s from discovery. In this paper we present the current technical and programmatic status of the mission
An unusual finding of massive pulmonary embolism in a patient during treatment with high-dose ibuprofen
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have
been associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism.
We report for the first time, the case of a
patient who developed massive pulmonary embolism after
a long period of treatment with high doses of ibuprofen. A
65-year-old woman was admitted with severe dyspnea
while on treatment with high doses of ibuprofen for diffuse
spine pain due to arthrosis. A spiral computed tomography
showed a massive pulmonary embolism. No other explanation
for the thromboembolic disorder was found. She
was successfully treated with therapeutic doses of lowmolecular-
weight heparin followed by rivaroxaban.
Ibuprofen was discontinued and replaced by tramadol.
High-dose ibuprofen is likely to have accounted for the
life-threatening thromboembolic disorder
Radial MV networks voltage regulation with distribution management system coordinated controller
The connection of a great number of distributed generation (DG) plants may cause a critical voltage regulation problem in actual medium voltage (MV) radial distribution networks. After a synthetic survey of different strategies reported in literature to solve this problem, a proposal for an active management of the distribution system which makes use of an innovative controller that coordinates the on load tap changer (OLTC) action with the regulation of reactive exchanges between DG plants and feeders, is presented.
In order to test the effectiveness of the proposed regulation, the distribution management system coordinated controller (DMSCC) is applied to a realistic radial structure distribution network and its behaviour simulated in managing the MV system during its worst foreseeable working conditions