•It is the first time that thermography and functional test has been used in this type of patient.•There is an important correlation of thermography and functional test.•We presents aspects that can ...be improved through future research work and new theories on which to base others.
Considering that infrared thermography is presented as a diagnostic technique for non-invasive, non-ionizing, fast and easy to use imaging and Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy is a clinical condition that seems to be related to changes in the emission of infrared radiation at the skin level due to its neurodegenerative character, we have conducted an investigation by infrared thermography and the use of functional strength tests in the lower limbs in a family of 4 affected members of Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy to try to establish a relationship between the evolution of the disease and the emission of infrared radiation in this pathology at the lower limb level and provide a more general view of this disease for a better evaluation and monitoring of the disease.
•It is the first time that EDMD has been studied with thermography during one year.•It is a job that opens up new lines of research.•There is an important correlation of thermography and functional ...test in one year.
Hypothesis: This study represents a second part of a recently published study about a new form of evaluation and development of rare genetic neurodegenerative diseases. The objective is to provide a more global vision of thermography with respect to the Emery-Dreifuss pathology, through the analysis of the data collection carried out for one year. The basic hypothesis is that thermography could become a valid tool for the diagnosis and follow-up of this pathology because is a very specific tool for registering temperature changes produced by a constant degenerative evolution of this muscular dystrophy.
Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) is a clinical condition characterized by neuro-skeletal and cardiac impairments. By means of thermography, an image acquisition technique that allows the ...recording of the heat emitted by objects or bodies, news insight can be obtained insights about the evaluation and follow-up of this disease. Actually, musculoskeletal disorders are a major cause of counseling and access to rehabilitation services and are some of the most important problems that affect the quality of life of many people. There are urgent both clinical and research needs for the assessment and follow-up of patients with Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy and the thermography is a rapid, non-invasive, easy to use and objective technique that analyzes the temperature of the examined tissue.
The main aim is to offer a new possible hypothesis of validating the thermography techniques that support the evaluation and clinical follow-up of the Emery-Dreifuss dystrophy. To carry out this work we rely on the evidence of the existing bibliography. To perform this work and to evaluate the current situation on this topic, a systematic review was carried and after the application of an automatic and manual filter, inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 0 articles was obtained. Unfortunately, there is a lack of articles that relate the use of thermography in the Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy. Due to the absence of information, we have expanded the search to articles concerning the use of thermography in relation to alterations of the musculoskeletal system compatible with those of Emery-Dreifuss, genetic diseases related to the X chromosome and more generally muscular atrophy. Based on other studies and results carried out in diseases that show signs and symptoms similar to Emery-Dreifuss Muscular Dystrophy, we believe that a new line of translational research could be opened with novel findings and we think that thermography could be an optimal tool for the clinical monitoring of this pathology. We believe that it would be of a great importance to carry out an observational study, to lay the foundations for future works, that relate thermography to the Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophies.
The hypothesis of this work is that infrared thermography could become a valid tool for the diagnosis and follow-up of the Emery-Dreifuss disease due to putative temperature changes produced by a ...constant degenerative evolution of this muscular dystrophy.
To justify this hypothesis we proposed a pilot study with 2 brothers affected of Emery-Dreifuss who present a very different age, with the principal objective to evidence a possible evolution of this pathology. Acquisition and comparison of images of computerized axial tomography (CT) and thermography (IRT) of the distal limbs in 2 affected brothers.
Important image correlations in the region of the thighs and the posterior region of the legs have been highlighted. The comparison between the CT and the thermography showed how the first results are encouraged and promising and open a possible new line of research on the evaluation and follow-up of this disease. Despite this, a larger number of studies are needed to validate the thermography as a diagnostic technique and follow-up of this pathology.
The outcomes of virtual reconstructions of archaeological monuments are not just images for aesthetic consumption but rather present a scholarly argument and decision making process. They are based ...on complex chains of reasoning grounded in primary and secondary evidence that enable a historically probable whole to be reconstructed from the partial remains left in the archaeological record. This paper will explore the possibilities for documenting and storing in an information system the phases of the reasoning, decision and procedures that a modeler, with the support of an archaeologist, uses during the virtual reconstruction process and how they can be linked to the reconstruction output. The goal is to present a documentation model such that the foundations of evidence for the reconstructed elements, and the reasoning around them, are made not only explicit and interrogable but also can be updated, extended and reused by other researchers in future work. Using as a case-study the reconstruction of a kitchen in a Roman domus in Grand, we will examine the necessary documentation requirements, and the capacity to express it using semantic technologies. For our study we adopt the CIDOC-CRM ontological model, and its extensions CRMinf, CRMBa and CRMgeo as a starting point for modelling the arguments and relations.
It is now well established that solid tumour growth depends on angiogenesis. However, less is known about the generation of new vessels in haematological malignancies and, in particular, in ...preleukaemic-myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). In this study, bone marrow microvessel density (MVD) was assessed by immunohistochemistry and compared in trephine biopsies from 14 controls, five infectious disease (ID), 82 MDS, 15 acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and 14 myeloproliferative disorder (MPD) patients. Statistical analysis (P < 0.001) demonstrated that MDS MVD was higher than in controls and ID (21 +/- 9 vs 6 +/- 2 and 10 +/- 8 respectively) but lower than AML (30 +/- 12) and MPD (40 +/- 12). Among MDS-FAB subtypes, MVD was significantly higher in RAEB-t, CMML and fibrosis subsets compared to RA, RARS and RAEB subsets (P= 0.008). To further investigate angiogenesis machinery, the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was evaluated by means of immunohistochemistry in control, MDS, AML and MPD biopsies. Even though VEGF mRNA expression was reported in the past in AML cell cultures and cell lines, in our samples VEGF expression was found to be particularly strong in most of the megakaryocytes but significantly less prominent in other cell populations including blasts. Since our findings suggest a correlation between angiogenesis and progression to leukaemia, additional work is now warranted to determine what regulates the generation of new vessels in MDS and leukaemia.
Documenting the relevant aspects in digitisation processes such as photogrammetry in order to provide a robust provenance for their products continues to present a challenge. The creation of a ...product that can be re-used scientifically requires a framework for consistent, standardised documentation of the entire digitisation pipeline. This article provides an analysis of the problems inherent to such goals and presents a series of protocols to document the various steps of a photogrammetric workflow. We propose this pipeline, with descriptors to track all phases of digital product creation in order to assure data provenance and enable the validation of the operations from an analytic and production perspective. The approach aims to support adopters of the workflow to define procedures with a long term perspective. The conceptual schema we present is founded on an analysis of information and actor exchanges in the digitisation process. The metadata were defined through the synthesis of previous proposals in this area and were tested on a case study. We performed the digitisation of a set of cultural heritage artefacts from an Iron Age burial in Ilmendorf, Germany. The objects were captured and processed using different techniques, including a comparison of different imaging tools and algorithms. This augmented the complexity of the process allowing us to test the flexibility of the schema for documenting complex scenarios. Although we have only presented a photogrammetry digitisation scenario, we claim that our schema is easily applicable to a multitude of 3D documentation processes.
The aim of this study was to validate the Hammersmith functional motor scale for children with spinal muscular atrophy in a large cohort of 90 non-ambulant children with spinal muscular atrophy type ...2 or 3. All had a baseline assessment (
T0) and were reassessed either at 3 months (
T1) (
n=66) or at 6 months (
T2) (
n=24). Inter-observer reliability, tested on 13 children among 3 examiners, was >95%. Of the 66 children examined after 3 months 4 had adverse effects in between assessments and were excluded from the analysis. Forty-two (68%) of the remaining 62 reassessed had no variation in scores between
T0 and
T1 and 13 (21%) were within ±1 point. 9 (37.5%) of the 24 children reassessed after 6 months had no variation in scores between
T0 and
T2 and another 9 (37.5%) had variations within ±1 point. Our study confirms previous observations of the reliability of the scale and helps to establish a baseline for assessing changes of functional ability over 3 and 6 month intervals. This information can be valuable in view of therapeutic trials.
LMNA gene mutations have been associated with several diseases. Some of them are muscle disorders, including the autosomal dominant and recessive forms of Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD2 and ...EDMD3), limb-girdle muscular dystrophy 1B (LGMD1B) and congenital muscular dystrophy (MDCL). With few exceptions, most of the studies are focused on one of these phenotypes and data on large cohorts of myopathic patients are lacking. The aim of our study was to evaluate clinical, neurophysiologic, histological and molecular features of 77 myopathic patients mutated in LMNA gene and followed in different Italian neuromuscular centres. Patients with predominant or exclusively progeroid/lipodystrophic or cardiac phenotype were excluded. The cohort included 36 (46.8%) patients with LGMD1B phenotype, 30 (39%) with EDMD2 and 11 with MDCL (14.3%). Mean age at onset was 10.3 ± 12.3 years in patients with EDMD2, 29.5 ± 17.6 in LGMD1B and 0.4 ± 0.5 in MDCL. Independent walking was reached in all patients, with the exception of 4 (5.2%) MDCL, who never acquired the ability to stand up. Another 4 (5.2%) patients (3 LGMD1B and 1 EDMD2) lost ambulation, and 3 EDMD2 (3.9%), required monolateral support to walk. Cardiac involvement was found in 57 (74%) patients. Pacemaker or ICD were implanted in 42 (54.5%) patients (21 EDMD2, 18 LGMD1B and 3 MDCL), while heart transplant was performed in 5 (6.5%) patients (3 EDMD2 and 2 with LGMD1B). Six (7.8%) patients died due to cardiac problems (3 EDMD2 and 3 MDCL). Only 5 (6.5%) patients required non-invasive ventilation (4 EDMD2 and 1 CMD), confirming that respiratory problems are not a major issue in LMNA-associated myopathies. Ten novel mutations were detected. Despite EDMD2, LGMD1B and MDCL phenotypes are part of a continuum spectrum, their identification is clinically and prognostically relevant.
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