Prognostic Factors and Decision Tree for Long-Term Survival in Metastatic Uveal Melanoma

Daniel Lorenzo,María Ochoa,Josep Maria Piulats,Cristina Gutiérrez,Luis Arias,Jaume Català,María Grau,Judith Peñafiel,Estefanía Cobos,Pere Garcia-Bru,Marcos Javier Rubio,Noel Padrón-Pérez,Bruno Dias,Jo 대한암학회 2018 Cancer Research and Treatment Vol.50 No.4

Purpose The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the existence of a bimodal survival pattern in metastatic uveal melanoma. Secondary aims were to identify the characteristics and prognostic factors associated with long-term survival and to develop a clinical decision tree. Materials and Methods The medical records of 99 metastatic uveal melanoma patients were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were classified as either short ( 12 months) or long-term survivors (> 12 months) based on a graphical interpretation of the survival curve after diagnosis of the first metastatic lesion. Ophthalmic and oncological characteristics were assessed in both groups. Results Of the 99 patients, 62 (62.6%) were classified as short-term survivors, and 37 (37.4%) as long-term survivors. The multivariate analysis identified the following predictors of long-term survival: age  65 years (p=0.012) and unaltered serum lactate dehydrogenase levels (p=0.018); additionally, the size (smaller vs. larger) of the largest liver metastasis showed a trend towards significance (p=0.063). Based on the variables significantly associated with long-term survival, we developed a decision tree to facilitate clinical decision-making. Conclusion The findings of this study demonstrate the existence of a bimodal survival pattern in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma. The presence of certain clinical characteristics at diagnosis of distant disease is associated with long-term survival. A decision tree was developed to facilitate clinical decision-making and to counsel patients about the expected course of disease.

Design of a TMD solution to mitigate wind-induced local vibrations in an existing timber footbridge

Daniele Bortoluzzi,Sara Casciati,Lorenzo Elia,Lucia Faravelli 국제구조공학회 2015 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.16 No.3

The design of a passive control solution based on tuned mass dampers (TMD’s) requires the estimation of the actual masses involved in the undesired vibration. This task may result not so straightforward as expected when the vibration resides in subsets of different structural components. This occurs, for instance, when the goal is to damp out vibrations on stays. The theoretical aspects are first discussed and a design process is formulated. For sake of exemplification, a multiple TMD’s configurations is eventually conceived for an existing timber footbridge located in the municipality of Trasaghis (North-Eastern Italy). The bridge span is 83 m and the deck width is 3.82 m.

COMPARISON OF FROST AND DEFROST PERFORMANCE BETWEEN MICROCHANNEL COIL AND FIN-AND-TUBE COIL FOR HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS

SANKAR PADHMANABHAN,LORENZO CREMASCHI,DANIEL FISHER 대한설비공학회 2011 International Journal Of Air-Conditioning and Refr Vol.19 No.4

This paper presents a comparison of frost and defrost cycling performance between a microchannel heat exchanger with louvered fin and a fin-and-tube heat exchanger with straight fins employed as outdoor coils of a 14 kW (48 000 Btu/h) heat pump system. In addition to temperature, pressure and flow rate measurements taken at various locations of the systems, the fin-base and tube wall surface temperature were also recorded by using fine-gauge precalibrated thermocouples on the coils. Further, load cells were used to measure the mass of frost accumulation during heating tests. Data showed that the frosting time of the microchannel heat exchanger is more than 50% shorter than for the fin-and-tube heat exchanger, which is chosen as the baseline system. The average heating capacity and system performance over a frost–defrost cycle are also lower for the system with microchannel heat exchangers. Higher frost growth rate was mainly due to augmented temperature difference between air and the surface of the heat exchanger, and preferential frost nucleation sites on the louvered fins and microchannel tubes. Removal of residual water in the microchannel heat exchanger did not improve the frost performance significantly. Blowing nitrogen on the microchannel coil after defrost removed any visible water retained in the coil after the defrost cycle but the cycle time increased only by 4% with respect to wet and frost conditions. The cycle time of the same microchannel coil starting with dry conditions was about 60% longer than the cycle time in wet and frost conditions.

Endophytic Bacterial Diversity in Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) Leaves Described by 16S rRNA Gene Sequence Analysis and Length Heterogeneity-PCR

Daniela Bulgari,Paola Casati,Lorenzo Brusetti,Fabio Quaglino,Milena Brasca,Daniele Daffonchio,Piero Attilio Bianco 한국미생물학회 2009 The journal of microbiology Vol.47 No.4

Diversity of bacterial endophytes associated with grapevine leaf tissues was analyzed by cultivation and cultivation-independent methods. In order to identify bacterial endophytes directly from metagenome, a protocol for bacteria enrichment and DNA extraction was optimized. Sequence analysis of 16S rRNA gene libraries underscored five diverse Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs), showing best sequence matches with γ-Proteobacteria, family Enterobacteriaceae, with a dominance of the genus Pantoea. Bacteria isolation through cultivation revealed the presence of six OTUs, showing best sequence matches with Actinobacteria, genus Curtobacterium, and with Firmicutes genera Bacillus and Enterococcus. Length Heterogeneity-PCR (LH-PCR) electrophoretic peaks from single bacterial clones were used to setup a database representing the bacterial endophytes identified in association with grapevine tissues. Analysis of healthy and phytoplasma- infected grapevine plants showed that LH-PCR could be a useful complementary tool for examining the diversity of bacterial endophytes especially for diversity survey on a large number of samples.

Distal femoral osteotomy versus lateral unicompartmental arthroplasty for isolated lateral tibiofemoral osteoarthritis with intra-articular and extra-articular deformity: a propensity score-matched analysis

( Gianluca Piovan ),( Luca Farinelli ),( Daniele Screpis ),( Venanzio Iacono ),( Lorenzo Povegliano ),( Marco Bonomo ),( Ludovica Auregli ),( Claudio Zorzi ) 대한슬관절학회 2022 대한슬관절학회지 Vol.34 No.-

Purpose: Lateral unicompartmental arthroplasty (UKA) and distal femoral osteotomy (DFO) represent surgical solutions in cases of valgus malalignment and isolated lateral osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. The aim of the present study was to assess the clinical results, complications, and the overall postoperative alignment of a series of DFO and lateral UKA with a minimum 2-year follow-up in active middle-aged patients. Methods: Patients with valgus knee and isolated lateral OA who underwent opening-wedge DFO or UKA from 2017 to 2019 were reviewed. Each patient was characterized by a joint line convergence angle (JLCA) > 3° and mechanical lateral distal femoral angle (mLDFA) < 87°. We excluded patients who underwent meniscus or osteochondral allograft during DFO. The Oxford Knee Score (OKS), Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), complications, and postoperative alignment were assessed. Propensity score matching was used to identify comparable patients. Results: The DFO and lateral UKA groups consisted of 29 patients each. No statistically significant differences in gender, age, body mass index (BMI), length of follow-up, or limb deformity were reported between the two groups. In the DFO group, OKS was reported to improve from 27.51 to 38.59 (p < 0.05) and KOOS from 51.14 to 67.2 (p < 0.05). Similarly, in the UKA group, OKS improved from 26.23 to 35.43 (p < 0.05) and KOOS from 50.12 to 65.91 (p < 0.05). However, the improvement in OKS and KOOS (delta) did not differ between groups (p = 0.35 and p = 0.95). The DFO and UKA groups were characterized by similar postoperative hip-knee-ankle (HKA) angle measurements of -3.26 and -3.00, respectively (p = 0.65). No patients in the UKA group underwent revision or other knee surgeries during follow-up. No infections were detected in either group. In the DFO group, no cases of nonunion or delayed union were reported. However, 40% of DFO patients underwent plate removal. One patient in each group was characterized by progression of medial OA with Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade > 3. Conclusion: UKA and DFO represent an effective treatment in lateral knee OA with intra-articular and extra-articular deformity. Both surgeries were able to provide a significant and comparable clinical improvement. Level of evidence: III, comparative retrospective cohort study.

Terahertz emission characteristics of GaMnAs dilute magnetic semiconductor under 650 mT external magnetic field

Alexander De Los Reyes,Elizabeth Ann Prieto,Karim Omambac,Jeremy Porquez,Lorenzo Lopez Jr.,Karl Cedric Gonzales,John Daniel Vasquez,Mae Agatha Tumanguil,Joselito Muldera,Kohji Yamamoto,Masahiko Tani,A 한국물리학회 2017 Current Applied Physics Vol.17 No.4

We investigate the effects of an externally applied magnetic field on the terahertz (THz) emission of Gallium Manganese Arsenide (GaMnAs) films grown via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Results show that low Mn-doping in GaMnAs resulted to increased THz emission as compared with a SI-GaAs substrate. Further increase in Mn-doping content resulted to a comparably less THz emission, which is attributed to reduced crystallinity and higher free-carrier absorption. Under an external magnetic field, the contributions of the Bup and Bdown-related THz emission were observed to be asymmetric: possibly due to intrinsic magnetic properties of GaMnAs.

Toward unrestricted use of public genomic data

Amann, Rudolf I.,Baichoo, Shakuntala,Blencowe, Benjamin J.,Bork, Peer,Borodovsky, Mark,Brooksbank, Cath,Chain, Patrick S. G.,Colwell, Rita R.,Daffonchio, Daniele G.,Danchin, Antoine,de Lorenzo, Victor American Association for the Advancement of Scienc 2019 Science Vol.363 No.6425

<P>Despite some notable progress in data sharing policies and practices, restrictions are still often placed on the open and unconditional use of various genomic data after they have received official approval for release to the public domain or to public databases. These restrictions, which often conflict with the terms and conditions of the funding bodies who supported the release of those data for the benefit of the scientific community and society, are perpetuated by the lack of clear guiding rules for data usage. Existing guidelines for data released to the public domain recognize but fail to resolve tensions between the importance of free and unconditional use of these data and the “right” of the data producers to the first publication. This self-contradiction has resulted in a loophole that allows different interpretations and a continuous debate between data producers and data users on the use of public data. We argue that the publicly available data should be treated as open data, a shared resource with unrestricted use for analysis, interpretation, and publication.</P>