Urban stressors pose a health risk, and individual-level assessments provide necessary and fine-grained insight into exposure. An ever-increasing amount of research literature on individual-level ...exposure to urban stressors using data collected with personal monitors, has called for an integrated assessment approach to identify trends, gaps and needs, and provide recommendations for future research. To this end, a scoping review of the respective literature was performed, as part of the H2020 URBANOME project. Moreover, three specific aims were identified: (i) determine current state of research, (ii) analyse literature according with a waterfall methodological framework and identify gaps and needs, and (iii) provide recommendations for more integrated, inclusive and robust approaches. Knowledge and gaps were extracted based on a systematic approach, e.g., data extraction questionnaires, as well as through the expertise of the researchers performing the review. The findings were assessed through a waterfall methodology of delineating projects into four phases. Studies described in the papers vary in their scope, with most assessing exposure in a single macro domain, though a trend of moving towards multi-domain assessment is evident. Simultaneous measurements of multiple stressors are not common, and papers predominantly assess exposure to air pollution. As urban environments become more diverse, stakeholders from different groups are included in the study designs. Most frequently (per the quadruple helix model), civil society/NGO groups are involved, followed by government and policymakers, while business or private sector stakeholders are less frequently represented. Participants in general function as data collectors and are rarely involved in other phases of the research. While more active involvement is not necessary, more collaborative approaches show higher engagement and motivation of participants to alter their lifestyles based on the research results. The identified trends, gaps and needs can aid future exposure research and provide recommendations on addressing different urban communities and stakeholders.
Despite complex treatment of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, high grade gliomas often recur. Differentiation between post-treatment changes and recurrence is difficult. 18F-methyl-choline ...(18F-FCH) is frequently used in staging and detection of recurrent prostate cancer disease as well as some brain tumours; however accumulation in inflammatory tissue limits its specificity. The 18F-ethyl-tyrosine (18F-FET) shows a specific uptake in malignant cells, resulting from increased expression of amino acid transporters or diffusing through the disrupted blood-brain barrier. 18F-FET exhibits lower uptake in machrophages and other inflammatory cells. Aim of this study was to evaluate 18F-FCH and 18F-FET uptake by human glioblastoma T98G cells. Material and methods Human glioblastoma T98G or human dermal fibroblasts cells, seeded at a density to obtain 2 × 105 cells per flask when radioactive tracers were administered, grew adherent to the plastic surface at 37°C in 5% CO2 in complete medium. Equimolar amounts of radiopharmaceuticals were added to cells for different incubation times (20 to 120 minutes) for 18F-FCH and 18F-FET respectively. The cellular radiotracer uptake was determined with a gamma counter. All experiments were carried out in duplicate and repeated three times. The uptake measurements are expressed as the percentage of the administered dose of tracer per 2 × 105 cells. Data (expressed as mean values of % uptake of radiopharmaceuticals) were compared using parametric or non-parametric tests as appropriate. Differences were regarded as statistically significant when p<0.05. Results A significant uptake of 18F-FCH was seen in T98G cells at 60, 90 and 120 minutes. The percentage uptake of 18F-FET in comparison to 18F-FCH was lower by a factor of more than 3, with different kinetic curves.18F-FET showed a more rapid initial uptake up to 40 minutes and 18F-FCH showed a progressive rise reaching a maximum after 90 minutes. Conclusions 18F-FCH and 18F-FET are candidates for neuro-oncological PET imaging. 18F-FET could be the most useful oncological PET marker in the presence of reparative changes after therapy, where the higher affinity of 18F-FCH to inflammatory cells makes it more difficult to discriminate between tumour persistence and non-neoplastic changes. Additional studies on the influence of inflammatory tissue and radionecrotic cellular components on radiopharmaceutical uptake are necessary.
Ra prolongs overall survival in symptomatic patients affected by multiple bone-metastatic castration-resistant prostatic cancer, without visceral or nodal involvement. However, many questions remain ...about its mechanisms of action, and its use in clinical practice is still unresolved. First of all, what is the main target of alpha-particle emission, that is, in what way does it influences the tumor microenvironment? When is the best timing in the course of the disease, extending its use to asymptomatic low-volume or even to the micrometastatic phase? What are suitable biomarkers to be employed as prognostic factors and response indicators? Which associations with other drugs and their sequence can offer the best results, and is their effect additive or synergistic? Ultimately, in the current climate of spending review, what is the optimal cost and benefit ratio regarding available treatments? In this review, we tried to answer these questions by analyzing the available scientific literature.
This study aims to examine the potential impact of air quality improvement measures on environment and human health, and evaluate them economically to assess whether they constitute "win-win" ...solutions for carbon mitigation in the short and medium term (2020 - 2030) at the urban level in the city of Milan (Italy). To this end, for five selected policies, the following effects have been evaluated: (a) changes in emissions of major air pollutants; (b) changes in emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs); (c) changes in ambient concentration of air pollutants; (d) changes in the exposure to major air pollutants; (e) changes in the associated impacts on human health; and (f) cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis. The impacts of the five selected policy options were assessed under the assumption of the RCP4.5 scenario for climate change. An Air Pollution - Health Impact Analysis (AP-HIA), can help to answer specific policy questions. It has been observed that European countries are rapidly adopting this methodology as part of the decision-making process for new programmes, projects, regulations, and policies aimed at improving air quality or that may affect it as a co-benefit.
Glioblastoma is the most malignant and widespread brain tumor in adults, with a rapid clinical course. Recently, it has been hypothesized that L-DOPA plays a role in the diagnosis and treatment of ...glioblastoma. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of pretreatment with L-DOPA on the biological behavior of human T98G cells in vitro.
T98G cells were treated with 50 μg/ml or 100 μg/ml of L-DOPA for 4 h and their morphology, growth rate, clonogenic survival and migratory capacity in basal conditions and after carbon ion irradiation were evaluated using standard methods.
Treated cells showed a lower growth rate and an increased migratory capacity that correlated with the dose of tested L-DOPA. Treatment with L-DOPA increased the growth rate of carbon ion irradiated T98G cells compared to control non-treated cells exposed to the same radiation dose.
Our results open further questions about the overall advantage of L-DOPA treatment of glioblastoma.
The concept of early discharge ≤24 hours after Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy (LC) is still doubted in Italy. This prospective multicentre study aims to analyze the prevalence of patients undergoing ...elective LC who experienced a delayed discharge >24 hours in an extensive Italian national database and identify potential limiting factors of early discharge after LC.
This is a prospective observational multicentre study performed from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 by 90 Italian surgical units.
A total of 4664 patients were included in the study. Clinical reasons were found only for 850 patients (37.7%) discharged >24 hours after LC. After excluding patients with nonclinical reasons for delayed discharge >24 hours, 2 groups based on the length of hospitalization were created: the Early group (≤24 h; 2414 patients, 73.9%) and the Delayed group (>24 h; 850 patients, 26.1%). At the multivariate analysis, ASA III class (P<0.0001), Charlson's Comorbidity Index (P=0.001), history of choledocholithiasis (P=0.03), presence of peritoneal adhesions (P<0.0001), operative time >60 min (P<0.0001), drain placement (P<0.0001), pain (P=0.001), postoperative vomiting (P=0.001) and complications (P<0.0001) were independent predictors of delayed discharge >24 hours.
The majority of delayed discharges >24 hours after LC in our study were unrelated to the surgery itself. ASA class >II, advanced comorbidity, the presence of peritoneal adhesions, prolonged operative time, and placement of abdominal drainage were intraoperative variables independently associated with failure of early discharge.
Recent developments in sentinel lymph node (SLN) and radio occult lesion localization (ROLL) highlight the need for a multimodal contrast agent, providing better presurgical PET imaging and improved ...intraoperative mapping thanks to fluorescence detection. For this reason, we have studied a trimodal SLN/ROLL targeting agent (
99m
Tc-
68
Ga-ICG) with commercially available kits of macroaggregated or nanocolloidal albumin (MA/NC-HSA).
68
Ga PET imaging does provide better spatial resolution and makes it possible to predict signal intensity during surgery. The presence of
99m
Tc assesses the efficacy of these compounds
in vitro
and also during the surgery procedure. The aim of this study was to optimise the labelling and tagging of these two radiopharmaceuticals and assess their yields and stability. Kits of MA/NC-HSA particles (Pulmocis® and NanoAlbumon®) were used for sequential radiolabelling with
99m
Tc and
68
Ga. Fluorescent tagging was performed using indocyanine green, a tricarbocyanine dye. The ITLC radiochemical purity of the trilabelled MA/NC-HSA was >95%. Fluorescent purity was measured by scanning the strips with a PhotoDynamicEye probe. Finally,
in vitro
stability tests, performed with DTPA and human serum solutions, assessed the efficacy of fluorescent tagging and radiolabelling.
Recent developments in sentinel lymph node (SLN) and radio occult lesion localization (ROLL) highlight the need for a multimodal contrast agent, providing better presurgical PET imaging and improved ...intraoperative mapping thanks to fluorescence detection. For this reason, we have studied a trimodal SLN/ROLL targeting agent (99mTc-68Ga-ICG) with commercially available kits of macroaggregated or nanocolloidal albumin (MA/NC-HSA). 68Ga PET imaging does provide better spatial resolution and makes it possible to predict signal intensity during surgery. The presence of 99mTc assesses the efficacy of these compounds in vitro and also during the surgery procedure. The aim of this study was to optimise the labelling and tagging of these two radiopharmaceuticals and assess their yields and stability. Kits of MA/NC-HSA particles (Pulmocis® and NanoAlbumon®) were used for sequential radiolabelling with 99mTc and 68Ga. Fluorescent tagging was performed using indocyanine green, a tricarbocyanine dye. The ITLC radiochemical purity of the trilabelled MA/NC-HSA was >95%. Fluorescent purity was measured by scanning the strips with a PhotoDynamicEye probe. Finally, in vitro stability tests, performed with DTPA and human serum solutions, assessed the efficacy of fluorescent tagging and radiolabelling.
Use of a multi-sensor approach can provide citizens with holistic insights into the air quality of their immediate surroundings and their personal exposure to urban stressors. Our work, as part of ...the ICARUS H2020 project, which included over 600 participants from seven European cities, discusses the data fusion and harmonization of a diverse set of multi-sensor data streams to provide a comprehensive and understandable report for participants. Harmonizing the data streams identified issues with the sensor devices and protocols, such as non-uniform timestamps, data gaps, difficult data retrieval from commercial devices, and coarse activity data logging. Our process of data fusion and harmonization allowed us to automate visualizations and reports, and consequently provide each participant with a detailed individualized report. Results showed that a key solution was to streamline the code and speed up the process, which necessitated certain compromises in visualizing the data. A thought-out process of data fusion and harmonization of a diverse set of multi-sensor data streams considerably improved the quality and quantity of distilled data that a research participant received. Though automation considerably accelerated the production of the reports, manual and structured double checks are strongly recommended.
MEASURING PERSONAL EXPOSURE - A MILAN CASE STUDY Visave, Jaideep; Persico, Marco Giovanni; Gotti, Alberto ...
Fresenius environmental bulletin,
08/2022, Letnik:
31, Številka:
8A
Journal Article
Recenzirano
A sensor campaign was conducted in Milan as part of the H2020 project ICARUS (Integrated Climate forcing and Air pollution Reduction in Urban Systems) in order to characterize the exposure to major ...air pollutants of the urban population. The campaigns involved more than 100 participants from over 30 households. Utilizing spatio-temporal data on air pollution and activity data collected from individuals, we were able to identify individual exposure profiles and summarize the information according to specific microenvironments and activities. All participants received personal exposure reports. The paper summarizes the general experience with conducting sampling campaigns in Milan, focusing on the following aspects: sensor selection and evaluation, study design, data harmonization, establishment of the supporting information technology infrastructure, and overall feasibility assessment, including participant feedback.
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