A Fiber Detector Radiation Hardness Test

An intense 146 MeV/c pion beam was stopped inside a scintillating fiber detector made out of 12 planes with 16 pixels each, where every pixel consists out of 8 times 8 scintillating fibers of 500 mkm diameter dense packed. The detector was irradiated for 52 hours to more than 1 Mrad at its center. Before and directly after the irradiation the detector has been exposed to a particle beam to compare the corresponding light output. This study was continued during the following three months using cosmic rays. No damage was found taking into account the measurement errors of 5-10 %. In contrast a 9 cm deep lucite degrader became irreversibly non-transparent in the irradiation region.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure

The Journey and Excitement Following the Development of the First Peptide in a Pill: A Brief Overview of Pharmacology and Clinical Trials of Oral Semaglutide

Oral semaglutide is the newest discovery, the first in class peptide in a pill. Sodium N-(8-[2-hydroxybenzoyl]amino)caprylate (SNAC), a small fatty acid, has been co-formulated with semaglutide, which facilitates its absorption from the gastric mucosa. It has 94% homology with human glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1). It comes in three dose forms – 3 mg, 7 mg and 14 mg. It is given as once daily dosing and is recommended in adult type 2 diabetes mellitus patients as monotherapy when metformin is contraindicated or not tolerated and in combination with other oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs). In a phase 3 trial, it has been shown to reduce glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) up to 1.5%, with weight reduction up to 5 kg with a 14 mg dose. There was nonsignificant risk reduction of 21% in 3-point major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and 51% and 49% risk reduction in cardiovascular (CV) deaths and all-cause mortality, respectively. Oral semaglutide was found to be superior to empagliflozin, sitagliptin and liraglutide in both glycemic control and weight reduction. It also exhibits many pleiotropic effects – reduced energy intake, anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic effect, to name a few. Nausea was the most common side effect which was experienced by only 15% to 20% of patients. It was mild-to-moderate and transient. Overall, oral semaglutide has shown its efficacy both early and late in the management of diabetes, irrespective of renal and hepatic impairment

Discharge disposition following vertebroplasty

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A variety of factors, such as pain level at rest and with activity, have been used to assess outcome of the VP procedure. However, few studies have assessed discharge disposition as a reflection of VP efficacy in the inpatient population. The purpose of this study was to compare patient disposition status before and after VP and determine what relationship exists between the treatment and patient discharge status

Survival outcomes of patients with oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer who were treated with radical therapy: A multicenter analysis

Background/aim: Oligometastatic disease for nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients is generally thought to represent a better prognosis with a quieter biology, limited number of disease sites and long-term disease control. In this study, we aimed to determine the efficacy of radical treatment options for patients with oligometastatic NSCLC. Materials and methods: This retrospective trial included totally 134 patients with oligometastatic NSCLC. The presence of oncodriver mutation, tumor stages and nodal status, the number of metastases and involved metastatic site, treatment of primary tumor and oligometastasis, response rate, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were evaluated. Results: Of 134 patients 66.4% were defined as adenocarcinoma, 26.1% were squamous cell carcinoma and 7.5% of patients were in other histology. Based on the treatment of primary tumor, in 36 patients (26.9%) curative surgery has undergone, in addition, 19 (14.2%) patients were received chemotherapy, 73 (54.5%) were treated with chemoradiotherapy, while immunotherapy and targeted therapy were used in 1 (0.7%) and 2 (1.4%), respectively. The preferred treatment for oligometastatic lesions were SBRT in 72.4% of patients, surgery in 10.5%, and both SBRT and surgery in 17.1% of patients. At the median follow up of 31.3 months (range: 9.5–48.5), the median PFS and OS times were 17 and 24.4 months, respectively. Moreover, OS-2 after progression was also 7.2 months. Conclusion: Based on our real-life experience, we demonstrated a significant correlation between good response to first treatment and survival in oligometastatic disease, we also understand that local ablative treatment modalities prolong and also delay both OS and PFS in oligometastatic NSCLC patients OS-2

Laboratorios virtuales de electrónica básica para alumnos universitarios dentro del aula extendida

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of basic electronics practical activities with virtual laboratories within an extended classroom. In face-to-face teaching of careers that have practical content, it is essential to carry out practices to consolidate knowledge. Exercising in them involves the student's attendance at certain fixed-time shifts, in a place with limited resources for equipment and space. With the use of virtual work methodologies, it can be achieved that many students have access to practical content to become familiar with instruments and components of basic electronics that are of fundamental importance for the acquisition of practical knowledge. The COVID-19 pandemic has fostered the implementation of virtual laboratories.El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar la efectividad que poseen las actividades prácticas de electrónica básica al realizarse con laboratorios virtuales dentro de un aula extendida. En la enseñanza presencial de carreras que poseen contenido práctico se hace fundamental la realización de prácticas para afianzar conocimientos. La ejercitación en las mismas involucra la asistencia del estudiante a determinados turnos de horarios fijos, en un lugar limitado en recursos de equipamiento y espacio. Con el uso de metodologías de trabajo virtuales se puede lograr que un gran número de alumnos tenga acceso a los contenidos prácticos para poder familiarizarse con instrumentos y componentes de electrónica básica que son de fundamental importancia para la adquisición de conocimientos prácticos. La pandemia COVID-19 ha fortalecido la realización de laboratorios virtuales

Metamorfosi del mitico, linee di sviluppo di una "mitocritica" cinematografica: da Gilgamesh ad "Iron Man".

Il saggio prende le mosse dalla nozione di sermo mythicus, cruciale all’interno della produzione di Gilbert Durand. Con J. Hillman, G, Bachelard e M. Eliade, Durand considera i miti, le immagini e i simboli come elementi strutturali dell’umano. Il mito, in particolare, è definito come il modello di ogni struttura narrativa significativa. L’autore, nel corso della sua lunga e feconda carriera, ha testato sul campo, attraverso una verifica concreta, il valore euristico di tale metodo, ed ha messo a punto un nuovo approccio al tema, definito mitocritica. Grazie a questo metodo, realizza una interpretazione qualitativa delle implicazioni mitico-simboliche, operative all’interno delle narrazioni antropologiche, nelle quali riconosce, per analogia, il meccanismo del sermo mythicus. A partire da tali acquisizioni, il saggio applica simile ermeneutica alla narrazione cinematografica, prendendo in considerazione, in particolare, alcune produzioni relative al sotto-genere dedicato ai supereroi. La domanda guida è: quali elementi strutturali del mitico sono preservati, e quali non lo sono? A quale tipo di metamorfosi sono qui soggetti? Quali elementi strutturali dell’umano condivide il re di Uruk Gilgamesh con Tony Stark, alias Iron Man

Hip Hop and La Bella Figura: How Music Reveals the Unknowns of Italy

Within Italian culture is the presence of a social ideology called la bella figura, which is the tendency for Italians to present their best selves while trying not to create the impression of a brutta figura, which would be a social gaffe or a presentation of one’s self that is considered uncouth. This tendency to project a bella figura is present in the social nature of Italians, but also their politics and economics, with a history of corruption and income inequality that has long been present but rarely addressed by Italians. In the early 1990s, in the midst of a corruption scandal and an economic recession in Italy, hip hop began to make its way from the United States, where it was rooted, across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. Hip hop and rap became especially popular with the youth of Italy, as they used the scene to escape life on the streets and counteract la bella figura. With their provocative language, samples, and music videos, the early rap and hip hop of Italy criticized la bella figura and exposed parts of Italy that were seldom discussed in a public setting. However, as the hip hop scene became more commercialized, the rappers abandoned their tendency to criticize la bella figura and instead embraced the philosophy, creating their own hip hop version of a bella figura. This thesis will provide a definition of la bella figura as it is seen in Italian culture, describe the roots of hip hop and rap in Italy, and explain how as the Italian hip hop scene became more mainstream, it adopted la bella figura. Overall, I intend for this thesis to provide a background on Italian hip hop, and on a broader level discuss how smaller countercultures are affected when they become commercialized.International Relations and Global Studie