Con l’incertezza di misura un giudice derubrica un reato di guida in stato di ebbrezza

Per la prima volta in Italia, per quanto a conoscenza degli autori, un reato per guida in stato di ebrezza è stato derubricato sulla base di considerazioni metrologiche e della valutazione d’incertezza a partire dalle specifiche di accuratezza fornite dal costruttore nel manuale operativo dello strumento in uso alle forze dell’ordine e non, come finora avvenuto, sulla base di una verifica dello strumento impiegato. Questo articolo discute le motivazioni giuridiche e metrologiche che hanno indotto il giudice a emettere la sentenza

A Metrological Approach to Ethical and Legal Issues in Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence has developed in an impressive way during the recent years, and is now being applied to almost every field of human activities, slowly replacing human beings in operations whose level of required skills has significantly increased. Collaborative robots, or cobots, are a reality in industrial production, as well as virtual reality and robots driven by human motions from remote sites allow operators to control operations in dangerous areas. AI algorithms perform data searches and present the results in a very efficient way, so that they are helping decision makers in critical fields, such as medicine and justice. This poses new and somehow unforeseen ethical and legal problems that must be covered to avoid generating wrong or even illegal results. Some of these wrong results might be generated by the use of input data that might not be sufficiently accurate, especially when they are collected from the field, or whose limited accuracy is not properly considered when processing them. This paper aims at considering a possible, metrologically-sound approach to ethical and legal issues met in AI

Periodontitis Stage III–IV, Grade C and Correlated Factors: A Histomorphometric Study

Background: Periodontitis is a disease that leads to serious functional and esthetic dysfunctions. Periodontitis exists in different forms, and its etiology is related to multiple component causes. Two key processes involved in the evolution of this pathology are angiogenesis and inflammatory infiltrate. The aim of this study was to understand if important factors such as smoking, gender, age, plaque, pus, and probing pocket depth could influence the histomorphological pattern of generalized stage III-IV, grade C periodontitis (GPIII-IVC), which is a particular form of periodontitis. Methods: Eighteen subjects with GPIII-IVC were enrolled in this study. The percentage of inflammatory cells and the vascular area were measured and evaluated in relation to each periodontal disease-associated factor. Results: Females showed a significant increase in the percentage of inflammatory cells compared to males (6.29% vs. 2.28%, p-value = 0.020) and it was higher in non-smokers than in smokers (4.56% vs. 3.14%, p-value = 0.048). Young patients showed a significant increase in vascular area percentage compared to older patients (0.60% vs. 0.46%, p-value = 0.0006) and this percentage was also higher in non-smokers compared to smokers (0.41% vs. 0.55%, p-value = 0.0008). The vascular area was also more than halved in subjects with residual plaque on tooth surfaces (0.74% vs. 0.36%, p-value = 0.0005). Conclusions: These results suggested that even if these factors are commonly related to the worsening of periodontal status, some of them (pus and periodontal probing depth (PPD)) do not affect the inflammatory and vascular patterns

Outcomes of COVID-19 patients treated with continuous positive airway pressure outside ICU

Aim We aim at characterizing a large population of Coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) patients with moderate-to-severe hypoxemic acute respiratory failure (ARF) receiving CPAP outside intensive care unit (ICU), and ascertaining whether the duration of CPAP application increased the risk of mortality for patients requiring intubation. Methods In this retrospective, multicentre cohort study, we included COVID-19 adult patients, treated with CPAP outside ICU for hypoxemic ARF from March 1 st to April 15th, 2020. We collected demographic and clinical data, including CPAP therapeutic goal, hospital length of stay (LOS), and 60- day in-hospital mortality. Results The study includes 537 patients with a median age of 69 (IQR, 60-76) years. Males were 391 (73%). According to predefined CPAP therapeutic goal, 397 (74%) patients were included in full treatment subgroup, and 140 (26%) in the do-not intubate (DNI) subgroup. Median CPAP duration was 4 (IQR, 1-8) days, while hospital LOS 16 (IQR, 9-27) days. Sixty-day in-hospital mortality was overall 34% (95%CI, 0.304-0.384), and 21% (95%CI, 0.169-0.249) and 73% (95%CI, 0.648-0.787) for full treatment and DNI subgroups, respectively. In the full treatment subgroup, in-hospital mortality was 42% (95%CI, 0.345-0.488) for 180 (45%) CPAP failures requiring intubation, while 2% (95%CI, 0.008- 0.035) for the remaining 217 (55%) patients who succeeded. Delaying intubation was associated with increased mortality [HR, 1.093 (95%CI, 1.010-1.184)]. Conclusions We described a large population of COVID-19 patients treated with CPAP outside ICU. Intubation delay represents a risk factor for mortality. Further investigation is needed for early identification of CPAP failures

Gamma-Ray Burst observations by the high-energy charged particle detector on board the CSES-01 satellite between 2019 and 2021

In this paper we report the detection of five strong Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) by the High-Energy Particle Detector (HEPD-01) mounted on board the China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES-01), operational since 2018 on a Sun-synchronous polar orbit at a $\sim$ 507 km altitude and 97$^\circ$ inclination. HEPD-01 was designed to detect high-energy electrons in the energy range 3 - 100 MeV, protons in the range 30 - 300 MeV, and light nuclei in the range 30 - 300 MeV/n. Nonetheless, Monte Carlo simulations have shown HEPD-01 is sensitive to gamma-ray photons in the energy range 300 keV - 50 MeV, even if with a moderate effective area above $\sim$ 5 MeV. A dedicated time correlation analysis between GRBs reported in literature and signals from a set of HEPD-01 trigger configuration masks has confirmed the anticipated detector sensitivity to high-energy photons. A comparison between the simultaneous time profiles of HEPD-01 electron fluxes and photons from GRB190114C, GRB190305A, GRB190928A, GRB200826B and GRB211211A has shown a remarkable similarity, in spite of the different energy ranges. The high-energy response, with peak sensitivity at about 2 MeV, and moderate effective area of the detector in the actual flight configuration explain why these five GRBs, characterised by a fluence above $\sim$ 3 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ in the energy interval 300 keV - 50 MeV, have been detected.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ

Fatality rate and predictors of mortality in an Italian cohort of hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Clinical features and natural history of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) differ widely among different countries and during different phases of the pandemia. Here, we aimed to evaluate the case fatality rate (CFR) and to identify predictors of mortality in a cohort of COVID-19 patients admitted to three hospitals of Northern Italy between March 1 and April 28, 2020. All these patients had a confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection by molecular methods. During the study period 504/1697 patients died; thus, overall CFR was 29.7%. We looked for predictors of mortality in a subgroup of 486 patients (239 males, 59%; median age 71 years) for whom sufficient clinical data were available at data cut-off. Among the demographic and clinical variables considered, age, a diagnosis of cancer, obesity and current smoking independently predicted mortality. When laboratory data were added to the model in a further subgroup of patients, age, the diagnosis of cancer, and the baseline PaO2/FiO2 ratio were identified as independent predictors of mortality. In conclusion, the CFR of hospitalized patients in Northern Italy during the ascending phase of the COVID-19 pandemic approached 30%. The identification of mortality predictors might contribute to better stratification of individual patient risk

How future surgery will benefit from SARS-COV-2-related measures: a SPIGC survey conveying the perspective of Italian surgeons

COVID-19 negatively affected surgical activity, but the potential benefits resulting from adopted measures remain unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the change in surgical activity and potential benefit from COVID-19 measures in perspective of Italian surgeons on behalf of SPIGC. A nationwide online survey on surgical practice before, during, and after COVID-19 pandemic was conducted in March-April 2022 (NCT:05323851). Effects of COVID-19 hospital-related measures on surgical patients' management and personal professional development across surgical specialties were explored. Data on demographics, pre-operative/peri-operative/post-operative management, and professional development were collected. Outcomes were matched with the corresponding volume. Four hundred and seventy-three respondents were included in final analysis across 14 surgical specialties. Since SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, application of telematic consultations (4.1% vs. 21.6%; p < 0.0001) and diagnostic evaluations (16.4% vs. 42.2%; p < 0.0001) increased. Elective surgical activities significantly reduced and surgeons opted more frequently for conservative management with a possible indication for elective (26.3% vs. 35.7%; p < 0.0001) or urgent (20.4% vs. 38.5%; p < 0.0001) surgery. All new COVID-related measures are perceived to be maintained in the future. Surgeons' personal education online increased from 12.6% (pre-COVID) to 86.6% (post-COVID; p < 0.0001). Online educational activities are considered a beneficial effect from COVID pandemic (56.4%). COVID-19 had a great impact on surgical specialties, with significant reduction of operation volume. However, some forced changes turned out to be benefits. Isolation measures pushed the use of telemedicine and telemetric devices for outpatient practice and favored communication for educational purposes and surgeon-patient/family communication. From the Italian surgeons' perspective, COVID-related measures will continue to influence future surgical clinical practice

The story of the right measurement that caused injustice and the wrong measurement that did justice; How to explain the importance of metrology to lawyers and judges [Legal Metrology]

The paper shows how critical is forensic metrology in finding culprits. An example is given of a real case, where DNA profiling failed and, absent reliable witnesses, an innocent could have been charged of a murder he never committe