Fatal course of foodborne botulism in an eight-month old infant

An 8-month old girl, weighing 9 kg, was brought by her parents at 8.15 am to the Emergency Department (ED) for a progressive worsening of weakness and acute respiratory failure. On admission, the baby presented with poor oral intake, a weak cry and extremely weak muscular body control. Poor gag and suck, unreactive mydriasis, hypotonia, lethargy and absence of peristalsis were noted. Laboratory data showed severe respiratory acidosis. Chest X-ray, electroencephalography, encephalic CT scan and MRI were all normal, as were cerebrospinal fluid analysis and viral tests. Orotracheal intubation and continuous mechanical ventilation were applied. The patient received fluids, corticosteroids, aerosol therapy, large-spectrum antibiotics and enteral-nutrition. Further investigation revealed ingestion of an improperly prepared home-canned homogenized turkey meal. Type A botulinum neurotoxin was identified. Trivalent botulinum antitoxin, prostigmine and oral activated charcoal were administered. Generalized flaccid paralysis, areflexic bilateral mydriasis, gastric stasis and deep coma persisted for the duration of the hospital stay, and the patient died of severe respiratory failure and cardiac arrest 12 days after ED admission. Botulism poisoning should be suspected in any infant presenting with feeding difficulties, constipation, descendent paralysis or acute respiratory failure. Supportive treatment and antidotal therapy should be performed as soon as a clinical diagnosis is made. We describe a case of foodborne botulism in an 8-month old infant caused by ingestion of an improperly prepared home-canned homogenized turkey meal, representing the youngest fatal case reported in medical literature

Modular smart energy system

Nanogrid modulare per l'integrazione di sistemi di generazione distribuiti da fonte rinnovabile, colonnine di ricarica e carichi controllabili per l'asservimento di utenze medio-piccole (residenziale e piccole aziende). Il sistema di energy management è dotato di algoritmi di predizione dei consumi e della produzione di energia locale basati su modelli di machine learning e reti neurali. La tecnologia del sistema di accumulo è lithium free con elettrolita di zinco. Il gruppo di accumulo permette di asservire le strategie dell'energy management system, come assorbire i picchi di domanda e accumulare la produzione in eccesso. La nanogrid è dotata di un sistema di presentazione dei dati e di management remoto

Cable-driven agribot prototype: Enabling precision agriculture through innovative design

The ongoing depopulation of rural areas and the increasing demand for high-quality food, along with the need to improve the quality of work in terms of stress, injuries, and social disputes, needs significant attention towards rethinking and organizing agricultural practices to meet these needs and improve the quality of life. These changes call for the implementation of new reforms, incentive systems, and the exploration of innovative systems for field operations. In this context, the research, design, and commercialization of electrified autonomous and collaborative systems capable of precision agriculture applications, known as agribots, are gaining paramount importance. This article presents an innovative multi-robot for smart farming. The agribot is composed by a lightweight cart designed to traverse crop field rows through a cable-way system installed on two heavy carts equipped with a power train system and PV rooftop panels. The agribot is conceived to achieve a high level of autonomy, reduce energy consumption, and minimize soil compaction while working on flat fields with low-height crops. The article is structured in two parts: the first part describes the agribot's ICT network, the heavy carts electric grid and the power systems, providing an energy consumption analysis related to the traversing of a crop field row.The second part focuses on the control, actions coordination, and supervision system (supervisor), implemented using Robot Operating System (ROS). The supervisor system, driven by a decision-making system based on a finite state machine, oversees the execution of path planning for the agribot, providing high modularity and flexibility to adapt to various system actions

Sistema multi-robot per orticoltura sostenibile

Realizzazione di un sistema multi-robot autonomo multifunzionale per l'agricoltura. Il sistema è composto da due carri motorizzati che tramite un sistema funicolare guidano e manovrano un carrello operatore lungo i filari. Il carrello, una volta completato un filare viene sollevato da un carro e posto su una nuova linea di lavoro. Le operazioni svolte dal carrello sono molteplici, quali la semina a spaglio, l'irrorazione e attività di analisi e riconoscimento. I carri sono dotati di un sistema di navigazione autonoma che utilizza un torque vectoring completo con quattro moto-ruote indipendenti. Per integrare l'energia del pacco batteria dei carri, sono stati installati a copertura due pannelli fotovoltaici