Isolated noncompaction of the ventricular myocardium (INVM) is an uncommon cardiomyopathy characterized by the persistence of fetal myocardium with prominent trabecular meshwork and deep ...intertrabecular recesses, often associated with systolic dysfunction and ventricular dilatation. A 23‐year‐old man from Burkina Faso was referred to our operative unit with a diagnosis of INVM, made with echocardiogram and magnetic resonance imaging and nonsustained ventricular tachycardia. The literature reports the incidence of malignant ventricular arrhythmias in as many as 47% of the patients and sudden cardiac death in almost 50% of them and this supported our decision to perform implantable cardioverter‐defibrillators implantation.
The aim of this study was to assess the proteolytic activity of Lactobacillus sakei (DSM 6333), L. plantarum (B21), and to a lesser extent, L. farciminis (DSM 20184) on meat sarcoplasmic proteins. ...The protein composition was assayed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and capillary electrophoresis after incubation of meat extract inoculated with bacteria. All strains showed proteolytic activity: a band about 94 kDa disappeared in samples inoculated with L. farciminis and L. plantarum and strongly decreased in those inoculated with L. sakei. The intensity of the bands with a molecular weight between 94 and 38 kDa decreased in all samples. Capillary electrophoresis analysis ascertained the disappearance of the fractions corresponding to 8.64 and 8.66 min retention time in all samples. The bands corresponding to 94 kDa and 38 kDa were, respectively, identified as glycogen phosphorylase muscle isoform and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, by in situ digestion of protein gel bands and peptide map analysis using Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization - Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS).
We see increased use of existing observational data in order to achieve fast and transparent production of empirical evidence in health care research. Multiple databases are often used to increase ...power, to assess rare exposures or outcomes, or to study diverse populations. For privacy and sociological reasons, original data on individual subjects can't be shared, requiring a distributed network approach where data processing is performed prior to data sharing.
We created a conceptual framework distinguishing three steps in local data processing: (1) data reorganization into a data structure common across the network; (2) derivation of study variables not present in original data; and (3) application of study design to transform longitudinal data into aggregated data sets for statistical analysis. We applied this framework to four case studies to identify similarities and differences in the United States and Europe: Exploring and Understanding Adverse Drug Reactions by Integrative Mining of Clinical Records and Biomedical Knowledge (EU-ADR), Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP), the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Mini-Sentinel, and the Italian network-the Integration of Content Management Information on the Territory of Patients with Complex Diseases or with Chronic Conditions (MATRICE).
National networks (OMOP, Mini-Sentinel, MATRICE) all adopted shared procedures for local data reorganization. The multinational EU-ADR network needed locally defined procedures to reorganize its heterogeneous data into a common structure. Derivation of new data elements was centrally defined in all networks but the procedure was not shared in EU-ADR. Application of study design was a common and shared procedure in all the case studies. Computer procedures were embodied in different programming languages, including SAS, R, SQL, Java, and C++.
Using our conceptual framework we found several areas that would benefit from research to identify optimal standards for production of empirical knowledge from existing databases.an opportunity to advance evidence-based care management. In addition, formalized CM outcomes assessment methodologies will enable us to compare CM effectiveness across health delivery settings.
Needlestick injuries, mostly due to unsafe needle devices, are a frequent adverse event among health care workers and patients on chronic treatment, such as hemophiliacs. To improve the safety of ...these procedures, a needleless reconstitution system, Bio-Set((R)) has been implemented for the sucrose-formulated recombinant factor VIII (rFVIII-FS) Kogenate((R)) Bayer (Bayer Healthcare, Berlin, Germany). The aim of this study was to collect patients' satisfaction and safety data regarding the administration of rFVIII-FS with this new device.
This was a multicenter, prospective, postmarketing surveillance study collecting data from seven Italian Haemophilia Centers within the framework of an international project involving patients from nine European countries. The patients were asked to fill out two preference questionnaires (one assessing the old method and one assessing the new method) directly after the training and two further preference questionnaries (assessing the new method) after a period of about 3 and 12 months.
A total of 44 male hemophilia A patients were included in the analysis. At the end of the 12-month observation period, physicians assessed the patients' satisfaction with Kogenate((R)) Bayer with Bio-Set((R)) in 40.9% (n = 18) as "very satisfied" and in 45.5% (n = 20) as "satisfied", whereas "not satisfied" ratings were given for 9.1% (n = 4) of patients (data missing from two patients, 4.5%). The compliance of the patients compared with the last method before switch to the Bio-Set((R)) device was rated as "better", "equal", and "worse" in 72.7% (n = 32), 20.5% (n = 9), and 2.3% (n = 1) of patients, respectively. Three patients (6.8%) experienced adverse events, but only one event was related to rFVIII infusion (inhibitor development in a patient who had little prior exposure to rFVIII) itself and not to the new device per se.
The great majority of Italian patients who switched from an older method of rFVIII reconstitution to rFVIII-FS with the new reconstitution method preferred the new method. The ease of use, perceived safety from needlesticks, and the speed of reconstitution were identified as main advantages by the majority of patients.
Neuroimaging with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is one of the most useful tools available to study the human brain in vivo. Several techniques provide insights into the human brain's structure, ...function, and connectivity. The aim of this study is to showcase the feasibility of employing advanced neuroimaging techniques within the clinical routine in a patient with a neurological disorder. An 83 years-old male patient with right motor aphasia and somatosensory impairment underwent a clinical and advanced neuroimaging MRI protocol with 3D-T1, FLAIR, diffusion-weighted and tensor imaging, and resting state functional MRI. Advanced neuroimaging post-processing was employed to perform cortical and subcortical brain segmentation, white matter fibers tractography, and functional connectivity (FC). These analyses revealed an impairment of the left posterior insular cortex that showed low cortical grey matter volume, high restriction in diffusivity maps, and an increased FC as a compensation mechanism. The results pointed towards a left insular cortex stroke and the patient was then admitted to neurology for hospitalization. This amalgamation of cutting-edge technology with clinical practice underscores the pivotal role of neuroimaging in the contemporary management of neurological disorders, heralding a new era of precision medicine tailored to individual patient profiles.
Interleaved converter for fast charge of battery system Dannier, Adolfo; Guerriero, Pierluigi; Coppola, Marino ...
2018 International Symposium on Power Electronics, Electrical Drives, Automation and Motion (SPEEDAM),
2018-June
Conference Proceeding
The paper deals with a high performance fast charger system for Zero Electric Vehicles (ZEVs). The proposed converter, which is built upon two interleaved three-leg two-level Voltage Source ...Converters (VSC), allows for a substantial increase of the total output power, thus leading to a high reliable topology. Furthermore, this approach allows a strong reduction of the output voltage ripple while exhibiting excellent dependability characteristics. The performance of the proposed DC/DC converter is validated by an extended numerical analysis, which confirms the effectiveness of both the control strategy and the system topology.
Species interaction networks are shaped by abiotic and biotic factors. Here, as part of the Tara Oceans project, we studied the photic zone interactome using environmental factors and organismal ...abundance profiles and found that environmental factors are incomplete predictors of community structure. We found associations across plankton functional types and phylogenetic groups to be nonrandomly distributed on the network and driven by both local and global patterns. We identified interactions among grazers, primary producers, viruses, and (mainly parasitic) symbionts and validated network-generated hypotheses using microscopy to confirm symbiotic relationships. We have thus provided a resource to support further research on ocean food webs and integrating biological components into ocean models.
Risk of nodal involvement in T1 colorectal cancer is assessed by tumor histological features. In several tumors, the ratio between neutrophils and lymphocytes (NLR) or platelets and lymphocytes (PLR) ...have been applied to lymph-node metastases prediction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of NLR, derived NLR (dNLR) and PLR in predicting nodal involvement in T1 colorectal cancers.
NLR, dNLR and PLR in surgical resected T1 colorectal cancers were retrospectively calculated and analysed in nodal positive and negative cases.
Data regarding 102 patients were considered. Nodal involvement rate was 10.8%. NLR values were higher in node positive patients (P=0.04). A trend toward significance (P=0.05) was found for higher dNLR values and positive nodal status. For NLR, ROC curve analysis allowed to choose a predictive cut-off value of 3.7 (AUC of 0.69; 95% CI: 0.48-0.89). Nodal positivity was reported in 71.5% of high NLR patients; only two N0 cases (28.5%) were registered in high NLR group (P<0.001). The logistic regression analysis aimed to evidence the predictive role of high NLR in node positivity resulted in a significant OR of 37.1 (P<0.0001; 95% CI: 0.48-0.89). NLR allowed to distinguish N0 from N1 patients in 99.4% of cases.
NLR<3.7 was associated with lower risk of lymph-node metastases in T1 colorectal cancer patients. NLR could be used with histopathological data to identify patients at lower risk of nodal metastases.
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