The problem of environmental disasters due to oil spills has characterized recent history from the early '900, still being an important risk factor for environmental protection. Aim of this research ...is designing and implementation of a non-contact ultrasonic sensor system capable of providing the water level in the marine environment. This system is part of a very low-cost device developed to detect water pollution by non-conductive liquids (i.e., hydrocarbons floating in the sea), exploiting the different conductivities of fluids involved. While equipment and techniques currently used for monitoring marine water pollution are very expensive, this paper focuses on the characterization of a low-cost SRF05 ultrasonic sensor and on its implementation inside a floating organ as a result of data obtained from laboratory tests. A number of experimental tests were conducted using a micrometric linear stage, a triangulation laser, a digital oscilloscope, and a post-processing software. Moreover, changes of climatic conditions, such as temperature and humidity, were monitored in a climatic chamber, aiming to establish the best operating range in terms of sensor resolution and the architecture of a buoy. The sensor showed signal anomalies at regular distance intervals due to anticipated flight times, which led to the adoption of a sensor system consisting in the combination of more SRF05 sensors to optimize the measurement system. In addition, it is presented an analytical method based on ultrasonic signal reconstruction, with the aim to improve the accuracy of the measurement method. The final device is managed to have a sensibility of about 1 mm.
In the last five years, there has been an accelerated growth in the scientific production about Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare by Scholars of the most diverse disciplines. Recently, the ...scientific corpus has been enriched with considerable literature reviews ranging from the overview of large collections of scientific documents to the recognition of the state of knowledge on specific aspects (e.g., in the medical field, ophthalmology, cardiology, nephrology, etc.).
The methodological approaches belong to the scientific fields of bibliometrics and topic modeling. Following a bibliometric analysis of the literature on the subject, conducted on a vast collection of scientific contributions, we also searched for the "latent" themes in the semantic structures of these documents, identified the relationships between them and recognized the most likely to be investigated in the future.
Results show 24 topics about future trends in literature review connecting the field of AI and Healthcare.
This bibliometric review of the literature on artificial intelligence and healthcare allows identifying of some privileged areas of attention by scholars of different disciplines. However, it also reveals the limits of hard clustering techniques, as demonstrated by the presence of some keywords in several groups. The numerous existing reviews must be integrated by reviews based on Topic Modeling techniques, which make it possible to identify topics, historical trends (classical and emerging topics), associations between the documents and to predict, on a probabilistic basis, which scientific fields will be most likely to see development in the future.
The hypothesis to use microRNAs (miRNAs) circulating in the blood as cancer biomarkers was formulated some years ago based on promising initial results. After some exciting discoveries, however, it ...became evident that the accurate quantification of cell-free miRNAs was more challenging than expected. Difficulties were linked to the strong impact that many, if not all, pre- and post- analytical variables have on the final results. In this study, we used currently available high-throughput technologies to identify miRNAs present in plasma and serum of patients with breast, colorectal, lung, thyroid and melanoma tumors, and healthy controls. Then, we assessed the absolute level of nine different miRNAs (miR-320a, miR-21-5p, miR-378a-3p, miR-181a-5p, miR-3156-5p, miR-2110, miR-125a-5p, miR-425-5p, miR-766-3p) in 207 samples from healthy controls and cancer patients using droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) technology. We identified miRNAs specifically modulated in one or more cancer types, according to tissue source. The significant reduction of miR-181a-5p levels in breast cancer patients serum was further validated using two independent cohorts, one from Italy (n = 70) and one from US (n = 90), with AUC 0.66 and 0.73 respectively. This study finally powers the use of cell-free miRNAs as cancer biomarkers and propose miR-181a-5p as a diagnostic breast cancer biomarker.
The recurrent genetic anomalies used to classify prostate cancer (PC) into distinct molecular subtypes have limited relevance for clinical practice. In consideration of WHO 2016 histological ...classification, which includes the introduction of Gleason Score 4 for patients with cribriform component and the definition of intraductal carcinoma as a new entity, a retrospective pilot study was conducted to investigate, by histological review, if there were any variations of Gleason Score and the incidence of intraductal carcinoma and cribriform pattern, intended as "phenotypic" markers of potentially lethal PC, among metastatic castration-sensitive PC (mCSPC) and metastatic castration-resistant PC (mCRPC) samples. Potentially predictive factors were also assessed. Among 125 cases, a variation in the Gleason Score was reported in 26% of cases. A cribriform (36%) or intraductal (2%) pattern was reported in a higher percentage. Of them, a primary Gleason pattern 4 was reported in 80% of cases. All patients with intraductal carcinoma present a
mutation, also found in 80% of cases with a cribriform pattern. This pilot study documented some hypothesis-generating data, as the evaluation of de novo mCSPC and mCRPC as phenotypic/biologic model to be translated in clinical practice. A cribriform pattern/intraductal carcinoma might be a marker of potentially lethal PC. The high incidence of
and
mutations in de novo mCSPC may also have a therapeutic implication.
The role of the public administration is crucial for the development of smart cities. Several scholars have highlighted the need for greater contributions focused on the relationship between public ...administration and smart cities. This work aims to map the contributions on the topic highlighting the status of the field in the recent years. A bibliometric analysis was performed on a sample of articles published in business and management journals. The analysis was carried out using the R‐studio Bibliometrics package. Results show that research on the topic is still in an initial stage and has several gaps that future studies could fill. The study is useful for scholars because it identifies the topics analyzed by previous research and highlights future research questions that could be investigated. The analysis highlighted the areas studied by scholars on the topic: urban planning, sustainable development, governance approach, Internet of Things and information and communication technologies.
Hemangiopericytomas (HPC) are uncommon tumors that originate from perivascular cells of capillary vessels. HPC are about 1% of all vascular tumors and can be found in the head-neck region with an ...incidence between 16% and 33%. HPC is a neoplasm of uncertain malignant potential; it can behave as an aggressive tumor with metastases and increased mitotic activity or as a relatively benign neoplasm with only local development. In this paper we describe a case of hemangiopericytoma with uncertain malignant potential with cervical location associated with a concomitant papillary thyroid carcinoma and lung metastasis of unknown origin; this case led us to follow a specific and uncommon diagnostic and therapeutic strategy.
Industrial Hemp, Cannabis sativa L., is characterized by low content of THC (<0.2%). An edible oil with excellent nutritional proprieties is obtained from cold pressing of hempseed. Since Hempseed ...oil is not reported in a Regulation yet, in order to ensure quality parameters, it is necessary to optimize standard methods (taken from the Regulation for EVOO). In this work, the standard method of quality parameters (free fatty acidity, peroxide number, and anisidine number) were miniaturized and optimized for Hempseed oil matrix. The miniaturized methods result in being sustainable, in environmental and economical perspectives, by using a smaller amount of chemicals (e.g., reagents, solvents), also reducing waste production and the sample needed in relation to the high cost of the Hempseed oil (60–70 €/L). The standard methods of miniaturization, carried out by using the Central Composite Design, allow for great saving of sample (5.35 g vs. 29 g) and reagents (up to 50%).
A concomitant drug-based score was developed by our group and externally validated for prognostic and predictive purposes in patients with advanced cancer treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors ...(ICIs). The model considers the use of three classes of drugs within a month before initiating ICI, assigning score 1 for each between proton pump inhibitor and antibiotic administration until a month before immunotherapy initiation and score 2 in case of corticosteroid intake. In the present analysis, the drug score was validated in a prospective population of 305 patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with ipilimumab plus nivolumab in the first-line setting. The value of the model in predicting overall survival and progression-free survival was statistically significant and clinically meaningful, with an overall survival rate at 12 months of 73% vs. 44% (P<0.0001), and median progression-free survival of 11.6 (95% CI: 9.1-14.1) months versus 4.8 (95% CI: 2.7-7.0) months (P=0.002), respectively, for patients belonging to the favorable group (score 0-1) versus the unfavorable (score 2-4). Further development will be represented by the gut microbiome analysis according to the drug-based model classification and to the outcome of patients to ICI therapy to demonstrate the link between drug exposure and immune sensitivity.
Implementing marine protected areas (MPAs) is an important action to protect fish stocks and to integrate precautionary measures into fisheries management. Fishers’ attitude towards protected areas ...is often linked to the extent to which MPAs affect their activity. However, in the Italian context, there are additional challenges linked to the complex legislative background behind the establishment of MPAs and the difficult access to information. This situation makes it difficult for fishers to comply with the restrictions imposed in these areas and to understand their environmental value. This paper studies the development of a smartphone application aimed at conveying environmental information about MPAs to professional and non-professional fishers operating in Italy. The study reports the results of a three-step process: (i) systematization of the Italian legislation on MPAs and collection of key information on the features and rules of these areas; (ii) development of the mobile application; (iii) stakeholder consultation. The findings suggest that the use of a smartphone application can effectively improve the accessibility of information about MPAs to fishers, allowing them to navigate and interact via the smartphone. If well spread among professional and non-professional fishers, the use of this application has the potential to reduce the occurrence of MPA rule infringements and, what is more important, to increase fishers’ attention on the protection of these areas.
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