Two Cystic Cavernous Angiomas after Radiotherapy for Atypical Meningioma in Adult Woman : Case Report and Literature Review

Ruggeri, Andrea Gennaro,Donnarumma, Pasquale,Pichierri, Angelo,Delfini, Roberto The Korean Neurosurgical Society 2014 Journal of Korean neurosurgical society Vol.55 No.1

A correlation between radiation therapy and cavernoma has been suspected since 1994. Since then, only a few cases of radio-induced cavernomas have been reported in the literature (85 patients). Most of them were children, and the most frequent original tumour had been medulloblastoma. The authors report a case of two cystic cavernous angiomas after radiation therapy for atypical meningioma in adult woman. This is the first case of cavernous angioma after radiotherapy for low grade meningioma. A 39-year-old, Latin american woman was operated on for a frontal atypical meningioma with intradiploic component and adjuvant radiotherapy was delivered (6000 cGy local brain irradiation, fractionated over 6 weeks). Follow-up MR imaging showed no recurrences of the tumour and no other lesions. Ten years later, at the age of 49, she consulted for progressive drug-resistant headache. MR imaging revealed two new well defined areas of different signal intensity at the surface of each frontal pole. Both lesions were surgically removed; the histopathological diagnosis was cavernous angioma. This is the first case of cavernous angioma after radiation therapy for atypical meningioma : it confirms the development of these lesions after standard radiation therapy also in patients previously affected by non-malignant tumours.

Treatment and Follow-up of Human Papillomavirus Infected Women in a Municipality in Southern Brazil

Ruggeri, Joao Batista,Agnolo, Catia Millene Dell,Gravena, Angela Andreia Franca,Demitto, Marcela de Oliveira,Lopes, Tiara Cristina Romeiro,Delatorre, Silvana,Carvalho, Maria Dalva de Barros,Consolaro, Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.15

Background: This study aimed toanalyze the risk behavior for cervical cancer (CC) and the human papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence and resolution among women who received care through the private healthcare network of a municipality in southern Brazil. Materials and Methods: This descriptive and retrospective study was conducted with 25 women aged 20 to 59 years who received care through the private healthcare network and were treated at a specialty clinic in the period from January to December 2012 in a municipality in Northwest Parana, Southern Brazil. Data from medical records with cytological and HPV results were used. Following treatment, these women were followed-up and reassessed after 6 months. Data were statistically analyzed using the t-test and chi-squared test at a 5% significance level. Results: The mean age of the studied women was $27.8{\pm}7.75$ years old, and the majority were married, with paid employment and were non-smokers. The mean age at menarche was $13.0{\pm}0.50$ years old, and the mean age at first intercourse was $17.5{\pm}1.78$ years, with only 8.0% (2) initiating sexual activity at an age ${\leq}15$ years old. The majority had 1 to 2 children (60.0%), while 88.0% reported having had one sexual partner in their lifetime, and all the women were sexually active. A total of 68.0% used a hormonal contraceptive method. All the women had leukorrhea and pain and were infected by a single HPV type. Regarding the lesion grade, 80.0% showed high risk and 20.0% low risk. The most prevalent high-risk HPV strain was 16. Conclusions: These findings provide relevant information on HPV risk factors and infection, as well as the treatment and 6-month follow-up results, in economically and socially advantaged women with no traditional risk factors, corroborating previous reports that different risk factors may be described in different populations. Thus, this study reinforces the fact that even women without the traditional risk factors should undergo HPVmonitoring and assessment to determine the persistence of infection, promoting early diagnosis of the lesions presented and appropriate treatment to thus prevent the occurrence of CC.

Performance Indices for the Evaluation of Microgrippers Precision in Grasping and Releasing Phases

Serena Ruggeri,Gianmauro Fontana,Giovanni Legnani,Irene Fassi 한국정밀공학회 2019 International Journal of Precision Engineering and Vol.20 No.12

In manipulating and assembly tasks, the gripper plays a fundamental role. Tasks at the microscale are particularly challenging due to the possible effect of unwanted stiction. Many different grasping tools (generally called microgrippers) have been developed and are described in literature. The differences rely on size, shape, exchanged forces with the manipulated parts and working principle depending on the application field. Despite the large number of research and industrial cases, each author has developed different and not comparable procedures and indices to assess the device grasping and releasing performance. Therefore, the paper proposes a formalization of methods and indices for the evaluation of the performance of a generic contact microgripper in terms of precision in grasping and releasing and successful rate. This review could be helpful to support the design or the choice of the most suitable gripper according to the properties of the components to be manipulated, the task requirements and the system constraints (i.e., according to the application requirements). The validity of the proposed methodologies and indices is confirmed by theory and experimental data analysis.

Derivation and Culture of Putative Parthenogenetic Embryonic Stem Cells in New Gelatin Substrates Modified with Galactomannan

Rafael R. Ruggeri,Adriana Bos-Mikich,Fabiana F. Bressan,Nataly M. Siqueira,Flávio Meirelles,Nilo Frantz,Yeda F. Watanabe,Rosane M. D. Soares 한국고분자학회 2014 Macromolecular Research Vol.22 No.10

Human embryonic stem cells (ESC) lines to be used for cell therapies must be created and maintainedunder strict conditions, excluding the use of undefined supplements. Two key steps in the creation of a new embryonicstem cell line are adherence to the substrate and derivation towards the formation of a primary colony. Thebovine parthenote embryo model was used to test different matrices of gelatin nanofibers and gelatin/galactomannanfilms to be used for ESC derivation and culturing. Gelatin/galactomannan films were made in two concentrations ofgalactomannan, 0.1 and 0.3%, in an aqueous solution of gelatin and tested for gel cytotoxicity using cumulus cells(CCs). CCs showed normal cell morphology, with no sign of lysis or degeneration in any of the matrices tested. Innercell masses of parthenote blastocysts (n=116) were placed onto the gel matrices for culture. There were three or fourrepeats for each matrix. Our results showed a good rate of inner cell mass (ICM) adherence on the gelatin/galactomannanfilms (41%-44%) and one derivative of the gel nanofiber (17% adherence to the substrate). These resultsencouraged us to try new gelatin formulations to increase the rates of derivation and cell proliferation under definedculture conditions to comply with good manufacturing practice directives for the potential therapeutic use of ESCs.

Anything New about Paternal Contribution to Reproductive Outcomes? A Review of the Evidence

Montagnoli Caterina,Ruggeri Stefania,Cinelli Giulia,Tozzi Alberto E.,Bovo Chiara,Bortolus Renata,Zanconato Giovanni 대한남성과학회 2021 The World Journal of Men's Health Vol.39 No.4

Paternal health and behavioral lifestyles affect reproductive and neonatal outcomes and yet the magnitude of these effects remain underestimated. Even though these impacts have been formally recognized as a central aspect of reproductive health, health care services in Europe often neglect the involvement of fathers in their reproductive programs. Following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines for systematic reviews, a literature search was carried out to assess the possible impact of paternal health on reproductive outcomes. The comprehensive strategy included cohort studies and meta-analysis available on PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Google scholar. Crossreferencing of bibliographies of the selected papers ensured wider study capture. Paternal factors were grouped into two categories respectively identified with the terms “Biological Paternal Factors” and “Lifestyle Paternal Factors”. Advanced age may impair male fertility and affect early pregnancy stages. Increased body mass index, smoking, alcohol and recreational drugs, all alter seminal fluid parameters. Hazardous alcohol use correlates with low birthweight in pregnancy and harmful behavioral lifestyles have been linked to congenital heart defects, metabolic and neurodevelopmental disorders in the offspring. Measures targeting paternal health and lifestyle within the first 1,000 days’ timeframe need to be implemented in couples undergoing reproductive decisions. Health professionals, as well as future fathers, must be aware of the benefits for the offspring associated with correct paternal behaviors. More research is needed to build guidelines and to implement specific programs aiming at reproductive health promotion.

Exon deletions of the phenylalanine hydroxylase gene in Italian hyperphenylalaninemics

Francesco Calì,Giuseppa Ruggeri,Mirella Vinci,Concetta Meli,Carla Carducci,Vincenzo Leuzzi,Simone Pozzessere,Pietro Schinocca,Alda Ragalmuto,Valeria Chiavetta,Salvatore Miccichè,Valentino Romano 생화학분자생물학회 2010 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.42 No.2

A consistent finding of many studies describing the spectrum of mutant phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH)alleles underlying hyperphenylalaninemia is the impossibility of achieving a 100% mutation ascertainment rate using conventional gene-scanning methods. These methods include denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), denaturing high performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC), and direct sequencing. In recent years, it has been shown that a significant proportion of undetermined alleles consist of large deletions overlapping one or more exons. These deletions have been difficult to detect in compound heterozygotes using gene-scanning methods due to a masking effect of the non-deleted allele. To date, no systematic search has been carried out for such exon deletions in Italian patients with phenylketonuria or mild hyperphenylalaninemia. We used multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA), comparative multiplex dosage analysis (CMDA), and real-time PCR to search for both large deletions and duplications of the phenylalanine hydroxylase gene in Italian hyperphenylalaninemia patients. Four deletions removing different phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) gene exons were identified in 12 patients. Two of these deletions involving exons 4-5-6-7-8(systematic name c.353-?_912 + ?del) and exon 6(systematic name c.510-?_706 + ?del) have not been reported previously. In this study, we show that exon deletion of the PAH gene accounts for 1.7% of all mutant PAH alleles in Italian hyperphenylalaninemics.

Emergent Dynamics of a Thermodynamically Consistent Particle Model

Ha, S. Y.,Ruggeri, T. Springer Science + Business Media 2017 Archive for rational mechanics and analysis Vol.223 No.3

<P>We present a thermodynamically consistent particle (TCP) model motivated by the theory of multi-temperature mixture of fluids in the case of spatially homogeneous processes. The proposed model incorporates the Cucker-Smale (C-S) type flocking model as its isothermal approximation. However, it is more complex than the C-S model, because the mutual interactions are not only 'mechanical' but are also affected by the 'temperature effect' as individual particles may exhibit distinct internal energies. We develop a framework for asymptotic weak and strong flocking in the context of the proposed model.</P>

Emergent Behaviors of Thermodynamic Cucker--Smale Particles

Ha, Seung-Yeal,Kim, Jeongho,Ruggeri, Tommaso Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics 2018 SIAM journal on mathematical analysis Vol.50 No.3

<P>We study the flocking dynamics of a generalized Cucker--Smale (C-S) model for thermodynamic particles. The original C-S model deals with flocking dynamics of mechanical particles, in which the position and momentum are only kinematic observables. Thus, the C-S model cannot describe a phenomenon caused by different “internal energy (temperatures)” between particles. Recently, a new particle model for flocking was proposed to model a flocking dynamics in an ensemble of thermodynamic particles on time-independent communication networks, where spatial dependence in the communication was neglected. In this paper, we extend a thermodynamically consistent particle to incorporate communications depending on the positions of the particle and study its asymptotic dynamics, such as formation and nonexistence of mono-cluster flockings in terms of an initial configuration, coupling strength, and ansatz of the communication weights.</P>

A global existence of classical solutions to the hydrodynamic Cucker-Smale model in presence of a temperature field

Ha, Seung-Yeal,Kim, Jeongho,Min, Chanho,Ruggeri, Tommaso,Zhang, Xiongtao World Scientific Publishing Company 2018 Analysis and applications Vol.16 No.6

<P>We present a hydrodynamic model for the ensemble of thermodynamic Cucker-Smale (TCS) particles in the presence of a temperature field, and study its global-in-time well-posedness in Sobolev space. Our hydrodynamic model can be formally derived from the kinetic TCS model under the mono-kinetic ansatz, and can be viewed as a pressureless gas dynamics with non-local flocking forces. For the global-in-time well-posedness, we assume that communication weight functions are non-negative and non-increasing in their arguments and initial data satisfy non-vacuum conditions and suitable regularity in Sobolev space. In this setting, we use the method of energy estimates and obtain the global existence of classical solutions in any finite time interval. We also present an asymptotic flocking estimate using the Lyapunov functional approach.</P>

Health Promotion at Work: A Comparison of Policy and Practice Across Europe

Verra, Sanne E.,Benzerga, Amel,Jiao, Boshen,Ruggeri, Kai Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute 2019 Safety and health at work Vol.10 No.1

Background: Promoting healthy lifestyles at work should complement workplace safety programs. This study systematically investigates current states of occupational health and safety (OHS) policy as well as practice in the European Union (EU). Methods: OHS policies of EU member states were categorized as either prevention or health promotion provisions using a manifest content analysis. Policy rankings were then created for each prevention and promotion. Rankings compared eight indicators from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks-2 data on prevention and promotion practices for each member state using Chi-square and probit regression analyses. Results: Overall, 73.1% of EU establishments take preventive measures against direct physical harm, and about 35.4% take measures to prevent psychosocial risks. Merely 29.5% have measures to promote health. Weak and inconsistent links between OHS policy and practice indicators were identified. Conclusion: National OHS policies evidently concentrate on prevention while compliance with health and safety practices is relatively low. Psychosocial risks are often addressed in national policy but not implemented by institutions. Current risk assessment methods are outdated and often lack psychosocial indicators. Health promotion at work is rare in policy and practice, and its interpretation remains preventive. Member states need to adopt policies that actively improve health and well-being at the workplace.