Optical fiber-based sensors have rapidly increased their application fields across multiple engineering sectors. Their physical characteristics, including low weight, electrical passivity, immunity ...to electromagnetic disturbances, and high sensitivity, make them highly suitable for aerospace applications. A flying test bench was recently developed at the Politecnico di Torino to evaluate the performance of optical sensors applied to an aircraft model. To allows their fruition in near real-time, it was necessary to develop a pipeline of software capable of transmitting, saving, and displaying them on the ground. To carry out in-depth tests on their reliability it is necessary to carry out more tests with different sensors and configurations. However, doing flight tests for the sole purpose of testing the data acquisition system is too expensive and impractical. Therefore, it was developed an emulator software that can generate data like that obtained from the real system, saving time and resources. Thanks to it, it is now possible to exploit the complete test bench on the aircraft for the final verification campaign only. The results are therefore very positive and demonstrate the potential of the emulator also for the most recent applications.
The hexacopper(II) siloxanolate cage Cu6{(PhSiO2)6}2(BuOH)5*3 nBuOH has been synthesized by reaction between CuCl2 and potassium phenylsiloxanolate in n-butanol, and characterized by single-crystal ...X-ray diffraction, magnetic measurements and high-frequency EPR (HF-EPR). The complex exhibits a torus-like structure featuring a layer of six copper(II) ions sandwiched between two cyclic (PhSiO2)66- ligands and surrounded by nBuOH molecules. The magnetic properties are characterized by moderate ferromagnetic exchange interactions between the S=1/2 copper(II) centres to give an S=3ground spin state. Variable temperature HF-EPR spectra evidence a hard-axis magnetic anisotropy with g||=2.063, g=2.225and D=0.31cm-1. The cage is very soluble in organic solvents and, upon exchange of the labile nBuOH ligands, it functions as a high-spin hexatopic receptor for monodentate units. Reaction with the trigonal bipyramidal copper(II) mononuclear Cu(tmpa)CN+ in CHCl3/MeOH solution (tmpa=tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine) affords the decacopper(II) complex Cu6{(PhSiO2)6}2{NCCu(tmpa)}4(PF6)4, whose X-ray structure and magnetic behaviour are presented.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
To conduct a systematic review of randomized controlled trials about the safety (number and severity of adverse events) and efficacy (pain reduction and functional improvement) of mesotherapy in ...musculoskeletal disorders, and to compare them with other therapeutic options, in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement.
A search of PubMed, Cochrane Library and Scopus database resulted in an initial total of 16,253 records. A total of 931 articles were included in the study. A final total of 7 articles, published from 1 Jan 1999 until 30 Apr 2020 were selected. Two independent reviewers selected potentially relevant studies based on the inclusion criteria for full-text reading. They evaluated the methodological quality of each study and included only studies of high methodological quality, according to the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale.
Seven studies were included in the meta-analysis, and visual analogue scale scores before and after mesotherapy were considered. A statistically significant reduction in visual analogue scale score in the mesotherapy group was reported in comparison with the control group in all except 1 of the trials. Mesotherapy was found to be a safe procedure with mild and temporary side-effects, such as nausea, fatigue, numbness, sweating, headache, ecchymosis, bleeding, pain and local reaction at the injection site.
Mesotherapy proved to be more effective than systemic therapy in the treatment of local pain and functional limitations caused by a variety of musculoskeletal conditions. However, because of the heterogeneity of the analysed studies in terms of injected drugs, administration technique, associated treatments, frequency and total number of sessions, more randomized controlled trials are needed, comparing a standardized mesotherapy protocol with a systemic treatments.
Synovial tissue research has become widely developed in several rheumatology centres, however, large discrepancies exist in the way synovial tissue is handled and, more specifically, how data ...pertaining to biopsy procedure, quality check and experimental results are reported in the literature. This heterogeneity hampers the progress of research in this rapidly expanding field. In that context, under the umbrella of European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology, we aimed at proposing points to consider (PtC) for minimal reporting requirements in synovial tissue research.
Twenty-five members from 10 countries across Europe and USA met virtually to define the key areas needing evaluation and formulating the research questions to inform a systematic literature review (SLR). The results were presented during a second virtual meeting where PtC were formulated and agreed.
Study design, biopsy procedures, tissue handling, tissue quality control and tissue outcomes (imaging, DNA/RNA analysis and disaggregation) were identified as important aspects for the quality of synovial tissue research. The SLR interrogated four databases, retrieved 7654 abstracts and included 26 manuscripts. Three OPs and nine PtC were formulated covering the following areas: description of biopsy procedure, overarching clinical design, patient characteristics, tissue handling and processing, quality control, histopathology, transcriptomic analyses and single-cell technologies.
These PtC provide guidance on how research involving synovial tissue should be reported to ensure a better evaluation of results by readers, reviewers and the broader scientific community. We anticipate that these PtC will enable the field to progress in a robust and transparent manner over the coming years.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of real-time elastography (RTE) in the diagnosis of graft interstitial fibrosis. We prospectively enrolled 50 patients clinically suspected of ...graft fibrosis. RTE was performed with a broadband linear transducer using a dedicated ultrasound machine. Tissue mean elasticity (TME) was calculated by two blinded operators. All patients underwent biopsy after RTE. To determine cortical fibrosis Banff score was used. The receiver operating characteristic curves analysis was performed to evaluate the accuracy of TME to discriminate between patients with mild fibrosis (F1) versus patients with moderate to severe fibrosis (F2-F3). Inverse correlation between TME values and the degree of fibrosis has been shown (p < 0.05). Patients with F1 had mean TME values significantly higher compared with TME in patients with F2 (p = 0.005) and F3 (p = 0.004). The diagnostic accuracy of TME measurement for F2-F3 evaluated by area under the curve-receiver operating characteristic analysis was 0.95. RTE was able to evaluate kidney fibrosis in a non-invasive way and could be used as complementary imaging during follow-up of renal transplant patients.
Objective The purpose of this study was to explore in greater depth the outcomes of the Italian randomized trial investigating the role of pelvic lymphadenectomy in clinical early stage endometrial ...cancer. In the attempt to identify the patients with poorer prognosis, the impact of age and body mass index were also thoroughly investigated by cancer-specific survival (CSS) analyses. Study Design Survival outcomes of trial patients were analyzed in relation to age (≤65 years and >65 years) in the 2 arms (lymphadenectomy and no lymphadenectomy) and in the whole population of the trial. Results Univariate and multivariable analyses of CSS and overall survival (OS) of patients showed that age >65 years is a strong independent poor prognostic factor (5-y OS 92.1% and 78.4% in ≤65 years and >65 years patients, respectively, P < .0001; 5-y CSS 93.8% and 83.5% in ≤65 years and >65 years patients, respectively, P = .003). Among women ≤65 years, node negative patients had 94.4% 5-y OS and 96.3% 5-y CSS vs 74.3% 5-y OS and 74.3% 5-y CSS for node positive patients ( P = .009 and P = .002, respectively), while among women >65 y, node negative patients had 75.7% 5-y OS and 83.6% 5-y CSS vs 74.1% 5-y OS and 83.3% 5-y CSS for node positive patients ( P = .55 and P = .58, respectively). Univariate and multivariable survival analyses in the whole trial population showed that older age, and higher tumor grade and stage were significantly associated to a worse prognosis. Conclusion Older women faced an intrinsic poorer survival whether or not they underwent lymphadenectomy, and, unexpectedly, irrespective of the presence of nodal metastasis. Only in older patients was obesity (body mass index >30) significantly associated with scarce prognosis.
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