Extensions of the basic micromagnetic model that include effects such as spin-current interaction, diffusion of thermal energy or anisotropic magnetoresistance are often studied by performing ...simulations that use case-specific ad-hoc extensions of widely used software packages such as OOMMF or Magpar. We present the novel software framework "Nmag" that handles specifications of micromagnetic systems at a sufficiently abstract level to enable users with little programming experience to automatically translate a description of a large class of dynamical multifield equations plus a description of the system's geometry into a working simulation. Conceptually, this is a step towards a higher-level abstract notation for classical multifield multiphysics simulations, similar to the change from assembly language to a higher level human-and-machine-readable formula notation for mathematical terms (FORTRAN) half a century ago. We demonstrate the capability of this approach through two examples, showing 1) a reduced dimensionality model coupling two copies of the micromagnetic sector and 2) the computation of a spatial current density distribution for anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR). For cross-wise validation purposes, we also show how Nmag compares to the OOMMF and Magpar packages on a selected micromagnetic toy system. We, furthermore, briefly discuss the limitations of our framework and related conceptual questions
Context
The COVID-19 outbreak in Italy is the major concern of Public Health in 2020: measures of containment were progressively expanded, limiting Outpatients’ visit.
Objective
We have developed and ...applied an emergency plan, tailored for Outpatients with endocrine diseases.
Design
Cross-sectional study from March to May 2020.
Setting
Referral University-Hospital center.
Patients
1262 patients in 8 weeks.
Interventions
The emergency plan is based upon the endocrine triage, the stay-safe procedures and the tele-Endo. During endocrine triage every patient was contacted by phone to assess health status and define if the visit will be performed face-to-face (F2F) or by tele-Medicine (tele-Endo). In case of F2F, targeted stay-safe procedures have been adopted. Tele-Endo, performed by phone and email, is dedicated to COVID-19-infected patients, to elderly or frail people, or to those with a stable disease.
Main outcome measure
To assess efficacy of the emergency plan to continue the follow-up of Outpatients.
Results
The number of visits cancelled after endocrine triage (9%) is lower than that cancelled independently by the patients (37%,
p
< 0.001); the latter reduced from 47 to 19% during the weeks of lockdown (
p
= 0.032). 86% of patients contacted by endocrine-triage received a clinical response (F2F and tele-Endo visits). F2F visit was offered especially to young patients; tele-Endo was applied to 63% of geriatric patients (
p
< 0.001), visits’ outcome was similar between young and aged patients.
Conclusions
The emergency plan respects the WHO recommendations to limit viral spread and is useful to continue follow-up for outpatients with endocrine diseases.
The AGILE silicon tracker: an innovative γ-ray instrument for space Prest, M; Barbiellini, G; Bordignon, G ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
03/2003, Letnik:
501, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
AGILE (Light Imager for Gamma-ray Astrophysics) is the first small scientific mission of ASI, the Italian Space Agency. It is a light (
100
kg
for the scientific instrument) satellite for the ...detection of γ-ray sources in the energy range
30
MeV
–
50
GeV
within a large field of view (
1
4
of the sky). It is planned to be operational in the years 2003–2006, a period in which no other gamma-ray mission in the same energy range is foreseen.
AGILE is made of a silicon tungsten tracker, a CsI(Tl) minicalorimeter (1.5
X
0), an anticoincidence system of segmented plastic scintillators and a X-ray imaging detector sensitive in the 10–
40
keV
range. The tracker consists of 14 planes, each of them made of two layers of 16 single-sided, AC coupled,
410
μm
thick,
9.5×9.5
cm
2
silicon detectors with a readout pitch of
242
μm
and a floating strip. The readout ASIC is the TAA1, an analog-digital, low noise, self-triggering ASIC used in a very low power configuration
(<400
μW/
channel)
with full analog readout. The trigger of the satellite is given by the tracker. The total number of readout channels is around 43
000.
We present a detailed description of the tracker, its trigger and readout logic, its assembly procedures and the prototype performance in several testbeam periods at the CERN PS.
International - predominantly American - studies undertaken in the ICUs of teaching centres show that inadequate antibiotic therapy increases mortality and length of stay. We sought to ascertain ...whether this also pertains to smaller ICUs in the Veneto region of north-east Italy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such survey in the Veneto area or in Italy as a whole. A retrospective, observational study was performed across five general-hospital ICUs to examine appropriateness of microbiological sampling, empirical antibiotic adequacy, and outcomes. Among 911 patients (mean age, 65.8 years ± 16.2 SD; median ICU stay, 17.0 days IQR, 8.0–29.0), 757 (83.1 %) were given empirical antibiotics. Treatment adequacy could be fully assessed in only 212 patients (28.0 %), who received empirical treatment and who had a relevant clinical sample collected at the initiation of this antibiotic (T0). Many other patients only had delayed microbiological investigation of their infections between day 1 and day 10 of therapy. Mortality was significantly higher among the 34.9 % of patients receiving inadequate treatment (48.6 % vs 18.80 %;
p
< 0.001). Only 32.5 % of combination regimens comprised a broad-spectrum Gram-negative β-lactam plus an anti-MRSA agent, and many combinations were irrational. Inadequate treatment was frequent and was strongly associated with mortality; moreover, there was delayed microbiological investigation of many infections, precluding appropriate treatment modification and de-escalation. Improvements in these aspects and in antibiotic stewardship are being sought.
We report the use of electron beam lithography and a bilayer liftoff process to fabricate magnetic Ni nanostructures with constriction widths in the range of 22–41
nm. The structures fabricated ...correspond to the nanobridge geometry. Reproducibility and control over the final nanostructure geometry were observed when using the fabrication process introduced, these two qualities are important in order to carry out a more systematic analysis of domain wall magnetoresistance (DWMR). On the other hand, micromagnetic simulations of structures with the nanobridge geometry were carried out using not only the dimensions of the fabricated nanostructures but also smaller dimensions thought to be achievable with further optimization of the fabrication process. It was found that domain walls with a reduced length of 42.5
nm can be obtained using the nanobridge geometry. Furthermore, the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) effect was calculated numerically and it was found to be smaller than the DWMR, this makes the nanobridge geometry a good candidate for future measurements of the magnetoresistive effect due to domain wall scattering.
We study the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) of a 2-D periodic square array of connected permalloy rings with periodicity of 1 mum combining experimental and computational techniques. The ...computational model consists of two parts: 1) the computation of the magnetization and 2) the computation of the current density. For 1), we use standard micromagnetic methods. For 2), we start from a potential difference applied across the sample, compute the resulting electric potential, and subsequently the corresponding current density based on a uniform conductivity. We take into account the backreaction of the magnetoresistive effects onto the current density by self-consistently computing the current density and conductivity until they converge. We compare the experimentally measured AMR curve (as a function of the applied field) with the numerically computed results and find good agreement. The numerical data provides insight into the characteristics of the AMR data. Finally, we demonstrate the importance of taking into account the spatial variation of the current density when computing the AMR
Abstract
Background
Perianal disease is rather common among Crohn’s disease (CD) patients and quality of life is often worsened by disease activity. This study aimed to assess the possible predictors ...of long-term quality of life after surgery for perineal CD.
Methods
Data of 50 consecutive patients operated on from 2014 to 2018 for perianal fistula or abscess were retrieved. Thirty-three of them had perianal CD while 17 of them had a sporadic perianal fistula and were enrolled as controls. Patients were interviewed with the Cleveland Global Quality of Life (CGQL) and SF-12 quality of life questionnaires. Disease activity was defined as the Harvey–Bradshaw Index (HBI) and Perianal Disease Activity Index (PDAI). Comparisons between CD and sporadic groups were carried out with non-parametric tests and log-rank test and multiple regression models were used to assess predictors of quality of life.
Results
The total CGQL score and that of all its items were significantly lower in CD patients compared with patients with the sporadic perineal disease (p < 0.05) while SF12 sub total did not differ in the two groups. At multivariate analysis, CD diagnosis and perineal disease activity index confirmed to be independent predictors of long-term overall quality of life measured with CGQL. SF-12 mental component (MCS) was predicted by PDAI (p = 0.005) and by HBI (p = 0.03) while SF-12 Physical Component (PCS) was independently predicted by PDAI (p = 0.008), oozing perineal fistulae (p = 0.01) and age at disease onset (p = 0.0003).
Conclusion
Long-term quality of life after surgery for perineal disease is worse in CD patients than in patients with sporadic perianal disease. Quality of life is predicted by local and systemic disease activity and age at disease onset.
Abstract
Background
Risk of surgery is among the highest-rated concerns among Crohn’s disease (CD) patients. Quality of life is often worsened by intestinal surgery. This study aimed to assess the ...possible predictors of long-term quality of life after minimally invasive surgery for ileal, colonic or ileocolonic CD.
Methods
Data of all the 72 consecutive patients operated from 2010 to 2018 for CD were retrieved and 72 patients who had ileal, colonic or ileocolonic resection were selected and interviewed with the Cleveland Global Quality of Life (CGQL) questionnaire and the Body Image Questionnaire (BIQ). Disease activity was defined as the Harvey–Bradshaw Index (HBI). Comparisons between laparoscopic and open groups were carried out with non-parametric tests and log-rank test.
Results
Seventy-two patients who had laparoscopic ileal, colonic or ileocolonic resection and had a follow-up greater than 1 year were interviewed. The total CGQL score was associated with clinical disease activity at the moment of the interview (rho = −0.61, p < 0.0001) and to the presence of extraintestinal complication (rho = 0.28, p = 0.03). At multivariate analysis, disease activity at the moment of the interview and the presence of extraintestinal complication confirmed to be independent predictors of long-term quality of life.
Conclusion
Long-term quality of life after minimally invasive intestinal surgery is essentially predicted by current disease activity. Thus, it is crucial to prevent clinical CD recurrence
Exchange springs are formed in multilayers of alternating hard and soft ferromagnetic materials which are exchange coupled at their interfaces. These systems are rich of interesting physical ...properties, which can be tuned by selecting suitable geometries and compositions. In this paper, we present a computational study of the dynamics of a tri-layer DyFe 2 /YFe 2 /DyFe 2 exchange spring system near the bending field (the field required to twist the magnetization of the soft YFe 2 layer out of the aligned state). The dynamical reaction of the system to small variations of the applied field is studied and its oscillatory nature is analyzed numerically. The behaviors of the decay times, the frequencies, and amplitudes reveal enhanced responses of the system near the bending field
Chronic vascular wounds have a significant economic and social impact on our society calling for allocation of a great deal of attention and resources. Efforts should be oriented toward the ...achievement of the most effective and efficient clinical management. The Angiology Unit at the University Hospital of Padova, Italy, developed a performance improvement project to enhance the quality of practice for vascular ulcers.
The project consisted in a multistep process comprising a critical revision of the previous clinical process management, staff education, tightening connections between operators and services, and creation of a position for a wound care nurse. The previous standard of practice was modified according to the results of revision and the current evidence-based practice.
The new standard of practice reached its full application in September 2015. The number of patients treated and the number of visits in 2015 remained almost unvaried from 2014. However, the total annual expenditure for treating vascular ulcers was reduced by ~60% from the previous year.
Standardization of guidelines and practice is effective in creating an efficient clinical management and in reducing the economic burden of vascular ulcers.
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