Ciencia y Teología en el Renacimiento paleólogo entre Oriente y Occidente: el caso de Isaac Argiro

Isaac Argiro (1310-1375 ca.) siguió la estela de su maestro, Nicéforo Gregorás, tanto en el cultivo de la ciencia profana como en la oposición a la teología de Gregorio Palamás, que Argiro combatió incluso en la persona del emperador Juan VI Cantacuceno. Además de esas inclinaciones espirituales, Isaac Argiro se interesó también por la astrología, como prueba el hecho de que copiara íntegro el Laurent. Plut. 28, 13, que fue el modelo de los manuscritos que se produjeron en el círculo de Juan Abramio, el astrólogo de Andrónico IV (Laurent. Plut. 28, 16, Marc. Gr. 324, Laurent. Plut. 28, 14 y Taurin. C. VII. 10). Esta comunicación trata de estudiar la vinculación entre el interés de Argiro por la astronomía y la astrología de la Grecia Antigua y sus posiciones filosóficas y teológicas, tal como fueron expresadas en sus opúsculos antipalamitas, así como su acercamiento a los círculos intelectuales bizantinos más proclives a un entendimiento con el Papado con vistas a la unión de las Iglesias de Roma y Constantinopla.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Arms down cone beam CT hepatic angiography: are we focusing on the wrong target?

We read with great interest the recent article by Dr. Gonzalez-Aguirre and colleagues entitled ‘‘Arms Down Cone Beam CT Hepatic Angiography Performance Assessment: Vascular Imaging Quality and Imaging Artefacts’’ [1]. One of the most important advantages of cone beam CT (CBCT) is the possibility to evaluate the lesion’s feeders assisting their identification and catheterization [2]. In this set, the patient’s arms positioning is crucial in order not to impair CBCT imaging. Dr. Gonzalez-Aguirre et al. had elegantly demonstrated that vessels’ visualization is independent from the patient’s arms position, allowing to perform the entire procedure without patient’s movements. This minimizes the risk of contamination and reduces procedural time. However, literature shows that the major pivotal strength of CBCT, either mono-phasic or possibly bi-phasic, is the ability to depict in intra-procedurally ‘‘occult lesions’’, not visible at pre-procedural second-line non-invasive imaging (MRI, MDCT) [3]. This ability is not just for show, but yield to some major clinical implications: the visualization of an occult nodule identifies a subset of population experiencing fast tumour growth, having consequences on the number of adjunctive treatments controlling tumour growth (adjunctive RFA, or TACE procedures) and prioritization for transplantation [4]. Moreover, bi-phasic CBCT, with its unique ability to intra-procedural permit nodule characterization, could help in patients’ reclassification and real-time TACE strategy modification [5]. In this light would be a crucial interest for the audience to know whether the CBCT acquisition with arms down does not alter the diagnostic performance of the modality and ability of lesion’s characterization, especially for those lesion localized peripherally, where the beam hardening artefacts have been shown to be significant. Finally, patient’s positioning is fundamental for CBCT imaging. By acquiring the scan with patient’s arm down, liver volume would not be located within the rotation isocentre. This could be a substantial limitation for lesion located within the left liver lobe, eventually hypertrophied, and for high BMI patients

Single injection dual phase CBCT technique ameliorates results of trans-arterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular cancer

Cone-beam CT (CBCT) application to the field of trans-arterial chemoembolization has been recently the focus of several researches. This imaging modality is performed with a rotation of the C-arm around the patient, without needs of patient repositioning. Datasets are immediately processed, obtaining volumetric CT-like images with the possibility of post-processing and reconstruction of images. Dual phase CBCT recently introduced in clinical practice consists in a first arterial acquisition followed by a delayed acquisition corresponding to a venous phase. The introduction of this feature has overcome the limit of single-phase acquisitions, allowing lesions characterization. Moreover these recent advantages have several intra-procedural implications. Detailed technical and acquisition parameters will be widely exposed in this review with particular attention to: catheter positioning, acquisition delay, injection parameters, patient positioning and contrast dilution. Comparison with standard of practice second line imaging [multidetector computer tomography (MDCT) and MDCT/arteriography] demonstrate the capability of detecting occult nodules providing some clinical implications thus potentially identifying a sub set of patients with aggressive disease behaviour. Other intra-procedural advantages of dual phase CBCT usage consist in a better tumor feeder visualization, reduction of proper DSA and fluoroscopic time, suggestion the presence of an extrahepatic parasitic feeder thus resulting in a more accurate treatment. Finally, the volumetrical intraprocedural evaluation of accumulation of embolic agent has proved to be correlate with treatment response if compared with MRI

CMS Software Distribution on the LCG and OSG Grids

The efficient exploitation of worldwide distributed storage and computing resources available in the grids require a robust, transparent and fast deployment of experiment specific software. The approach followed by the CMS experiment at CERN in order to enable Monte-Carlo simulations, data analysis and software development in an international collaboration is presented. The current status and future improvement plans are described.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, latex with hyperref

The Offline Software Framework of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is designed to unveil the nature and the origins of the highest energy cosmic rays. The large and geographically dispersed collaboration of physicists and the wide-ranging collection of simulation and reconstruction tasks pose some special challenges for the offline analysis software. We have designed and implemented a general purpose framework which allows collaborators to contribute algorithms and sequencing instructions to build up the variety of applications they require. The framework includes machinery to manage these user codes, to organize the abundance of user-contributed configuration files, to facilitate multi-format file handling, and to provide access to event and time-dependent detector information which can reside in various data sources. A number of utilities are also provided, including a novel geometry package which allows manipulation of abstract geometrical objects independent of coordinate system choice. The framework is implemented in C++, and takes advantage of object oriented design and common open source tools, while keeping the user side simple enough for C++ novices to learn in a reasonable time. The distribution system incorporates unit and acceptance testing in order to support rapid development of both the core framework and contributed user code.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, presented at IEEE NSS/MIC, 23-29 October 2005, Puerto Ric

Study of phenolic content and antioxidant activity of Greek red and white wines by means of classical methods and FTIR

Phenolic and antioxidant contents of wines are very important in terms of both flavour attributes and health benefits. Changes occur during ageing of wine in containers (e.g. wooden barrels) in relation to their antioxidant activity and phenolic content. Vilana, Dafni, Kotsifali and Mandilari single variety Cretan wines, were vinificated to determine their antioxidant activity and phenolic content Wines were aged in different containers after two vinifications. Changes in the above characteristics were determined every three months for a twelve month period. Stainless steel with and without oenosticks containers, American oak, French oak, Acacia and Chestnut barrels were used for wine ageing. As far as phenolic and antioxidant contents are concerned, ageing of wine in chestnut barrels, Kotsifali and Mandilari (red wines) and in Acacia barrels for Vilana and Dafni (white wines), gave the best results, achieving the highest phenolic content and antioxidant activity after 12 months of ageing. The phenolic fingerprints of Vilana, Dafni, Kotsifali and Mandilari wines were determined for the first time. The phenolic fingerprint of wines has been recently used for the authentication and discrimination of red wines. In this study, attempt has also been made to use the phenolic fingerprint of white wines, for authentication. Differences were observed in Kotsifali and Mandilari (red wines) and in Vilana and Dafni (white wines) directly after vinification, allowing their discrimination. Also the changes in their phenolic fingerprints were monitored during ageing in different containers for a 12 month period. The effect of hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein on wine spoilage induced by acetic acid bacteria was also determined. Hydroxytyrosol was better than oleuropein in controlling the increase of volatile acidity, causing wine spoilage. Wines treated with 0.5mg/l hydroxytyrosol showed control of volatile acid production, and may be a promising alternative to sulphites in wine production in the future. Finally, extracts obtained from olive oil mills and winery by-products were used in Vilana vinification instead of sulphites and antioxidant activity and phenolic content of the wines determined

An Open-Source 7-Axis, Robotic Platform to Enable Dexterous Procedures within CT Scanners

This paper describes the design, manufacture, and performance of a highly dexterous, low-profile, 7 Degree-of-Freedom (DOF) robotic arm for CT-guided percutaneous needle biopsy. Direct CT guidance allows physicians to localize tumours quickly; however, needle insertion is still performed by hand. This system is mounted to a fully active gantry superior to the patient's head and teleoperated by a radiologist. Unlike other similar robots, this robot's fully serial-link approach uses a unique combination of belt and cable drives for high-transparency and minimal-backlash, allowing for an expansive working area and numerous approach angles to targets all while maintaining a small in-bore cross-section of less than $16cm^2$. Simulations verified the system's expansive collision free work-space and ability to hit targets across the entire chest, as required for lung cancer biopsy. Targeting error is on average $<1mm$ on a teleoperated accuracy task, illustrating the system's sufficient accuracy to perform biopsy procedures. The system is designed for lung biopsies due to the large working volume that is required for reaching peripheral lung lesions, though, with its large working volume and small in-bore cross-sectional area, the robotic system is effectively a general-purpose CT-compatible manipulation device for percutaneous procedures. Finally, with the considerable development time undertaken in designing a precise and flexible-use system and with the desire to reduce the burden of other researchers in developing algorithms for image-guided surgery, this system provides open-access, and to the best of our knowledge, is the first open-hardware image-guided biopsy robot of its kind.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, final submission to IROS 201

Trial Practice - Judge and Jury - Absence of Counsel

Absence of Counsel-In a recent series of decisions the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that any communication by the judge with the jury other than in open court and in the presence of counsel for all parties requires reversal notwithstanding the absence of prejudice. Gould v. Argiro, 422 Pa. 433, 220 A.2d 654 (1966). Kersey Mfg. Co. v. Rozic, 422 Pa. 564, 222 A.2d 713 (1966). Yarsunas v. Boros, 423 Pa. 364, 223 A.2d 696 (1966)

Timing and Time Perception: Procedures, Measures, and Applications

Timing and Time Perception: Procedures, Measures, and Applications is a one-of-a-kind, collective effort to present the most utilized and known methods on timing and time perception. Specifically, it covers methods and analysis on circadian timing, synchrony perception, reaction/response time, time estimation, and alternative methods for clinical/developmental research. The book includes experimental protocols, programming code, and sample results and the content ranges from very introductory to more advanced so as to cover the needs of both junior and senior researchers. We hope that this will be the first step in future efforts to document experimental methods and analysis both in a theoretical and in a practical manner