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Background: Emergencies have a great impact on infant and young child feeding. Despite the evidence, the recommended feeding practices are often not implemented in the emergency response, undermining infant and maternal health. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of pregnant and lactating women during the earthquake emergency that occurred in L'Aquila on 6 April 2009. Methods: The study design was qualitative descriptive. Data were collected by individual semi-structured interviews, investigating the mother's experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, infant formula or complementary feeding during the emergency and the post emergency phase. Data analysis was categorical and was performed by using N-Vivo software. Results: Six women who were pregnant at the time of the earthquake were interviewed in January 2010. In addition to the essential needs of pregnant and lactating women, such as those related to the emergency shelters conditions, the main findings emerged from this study were: the reconfiguration of relationships and the central role of partners and family support; the need of spaces for sharing experiences and practices with other mothers; the lack of breastfeeding support after the hospital discharge; the inappropriate donations and distribution of Breast Milk Substitutes. Conclusions: During and after L'Aquila earthquake, several aspects of infant and young child feeding did not comply with standard practices and recommendations. The response system appeared not always able to address the specific needs of pregnant and lactating women. It is urgent to develop management plans, policies and procedures and provide communication, sensitization, and training on infant and young child feeding at all levels and sectors of the emergency response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Graphene-TiO 2 composites obtained by ALD were characterized for strain and doping. • Graphene-TiO 2 composites obtained by ALD were tested for their photo-activity under solar light. • High photo-catalytic activity of TiO 2 -graphene, more than ten times the ALD TiO 2 -silicon one. Abstract The great potential of graphene can be enhanced thanks to the functionalization of its surface. For this aim, different thicknesses of TiO 2 were grown on graphene films by atomic layer deposition (ALD) at 200 °C using H 2 O and TiCl 4 as precursors. The changes in electronic structure of graphene after the deposition of TiO 2 and the influence of graphene in TiO 2 photocatalytic activity under UV–Visible irradiation were studied. Results indicated the presence of inhomogeneity and intrinsic strain effects within the same sample. Undecorated graphene showed pre-existent strain due to the mismatch between graphene film and the underlying substrate, while non-intentional self-doping is caused by the presence of charged impurities. The deposition of TiO 2 films with thickness ≤10 nm led graphene to be p-doped, while strain became the dominant effect increasing film thickness. Oxygen vacancies in the film decreased exponentially by increasing the film thickness leading to a stoichiometric O/Ti atomic ratio of TiO 2 above 10 nm thickness. The combination of TiO 2 and graphene enhanced the efficiency of electron-hole separation of TiO 2 under UV–Visible light, leading to a higher photocatalytic activity tested for methyl red molecule degradation, making TiO 2 /Graphene hybrid material a promising candidate for the photodegradation of pollutants and water purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: More than a year has passed since the initial outbreak of SARS‐CoV‐2, which caused many hospitalizations worldwide due to COVID‐19 pneumonia and its complications. However, there is still a lack of information detailing short‐ and long‐term outcomes of previously hospitalized patients. The purpose of this study is to analyze the most frequent lung CT findings in recovered COVID‐19 patients at mid‐term follow‐ups. Methods: A total of 407 consecutive COVID‐19 patients who were admitted to the Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia and discharged between February 27, 2020, and June 26, 2020 were recruited into this study. Out of these patients, a subset of 108 patients who presented with residual asthenia and dyspnea at discharge, altered spirometric data, positive lung ultrasound and positive chest X‐ray was subsequently selected, and was scheduled to undergo a mid‐term chest CT study, which was evaluated for specific lung alterations and morphological patterns. Results: The most frequently observed lung CT alterations, in order of frequency, were ground‐glass opacities (81%), linear opacities (74%), bronchiolectases (64.81%), and reticular opacities (63.88%). The most common morphological pattern was the non‐specific interstitial pneumonia pattern (63.88%). Features consistent with pulmonary fibrosis were observed in 32 patients (29.62%). Conclusions: Our work showed that recovered COVID‐19 patients who were hospitalized and who exhibited residual symptoms after discharge had a slow radiological recovery with persistent residual lung alterations. Advances in knowledge: This slow recovery process should be kept in mind when determining the follow‐up phases in order to improve the long‐term management of patients affected by COVID‐19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study two-dimensional charge-imbalanced electron-hole systems embedded in an optical microcavity. We find that strong coupling to photons favors states with pairing at zero or small center-of-mass momentum, leading to a condensed state with spontaneously broken time-reversal and rotational symmetry and unpaired carriers that occupy an anisotropic crescent-shaped sliver of momentum space. The crescent state is favored at moderate charge imbalance, while a Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov-like state--with pairing at large center-of-mass momentum--occurs instead at strong imbalance. The crescent state stability results from long-range Coulomb interactions in combination with extremely long-range photon-mediated interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We theoretically investigate the many-body states of exciton polaritons that can be observed by pump-probe spectroscopy in high-Q inorganic microcavities. Here, a weak-probe "spin-down" polariton is introduced into a coherent state of "spin-up" polaritons created by a strong pump. We show that the ↓ impurities become dressed by excitations of the ↑ medium, and that they form new polaronic quasiparticles that feature two-point and three-point many-body quantum correlations that, in the low density regime, arise from coupling to the vacuum biexciton and triexciton states, respectively. In particular, we find that these correlations generate additional branches and avoided crossings in the ↓ optical transmission spectrum that have a characteristic dependence on the ↑-polariton density. Our results thus demonstrate a way to directly observe correlated many-body states in an exciton-polariton system that go beyond classical mean-field theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the potential of very high resolution (VHR) remote sensing images and extended morphological profiles for mapping Chestnut stands on Tenerife Island (Canary Islands, Spain). Regarding their relevance for ecosystem services in the region (cultural and provisioning services) the public sector demand up-to-date information on chestnut and a simple straight-forward approach is presented in this study. We used two VHR WorldView images (March and May 2015) to cover different phenological phases. Moreover, we included spatial information in the classification process by extended morphological profiles (EMPs). Random forest is used for the classification process and we analyzed the impact of the bi-temporal information as well as of the spatial information on the classification accuracies. The detailed accuracy assessment clearly reveals the benefit of bi-temporal VHR WorldView images and spatial information, derived by EMPs, in terms of the mapping accuracy. The bi-temporal classification outperforms or at least performs equally well when compared to the classification accuracies achieved by the mono-temporal data. The inclusion of spatial information by EMPs further increases the classification accuracy by 5% and reduces the quantity and allocation disagreements on the final map. Overall the new proposed classification strategy proves useful for mapping chestnut stands in a heterogeneous and complex landscape, such as the municipality of La Orotava, Tenerife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circulating small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) contribute to inflammation, coagulation and vascular injury, and have great potential as diagnostic markers of disease. The ability of sEVs to reflect myocardial damage assessed by Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is unknown. To fill this gap, plasma sEVs were isolated from 42 STEMI patients treated by primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) and evaluated by CMR between days 3 and 6. Nanoparticle tracking analysis showed that sEVs were greater in patients with anterior STEMI (p = 0.0001), with the culprit lesion located in LAD (p = 0.045), and in those who underwent late revascularization (p = 0.038). A smaller sEV size was observed in patients with a low myocardial salvage index (MSI, p = 0.014). Patients with microvascular obstruction (MVO) had smaller sEVs (p < 0.002) and lower expression of the platelet marker CD41–CD61 (p = 0.039). sEV size and CD41–CD61 expression were independent predictors of MVO/MSI (OR [95% CI]: 0.93 [0.87–0.98] and 0.04 [0–0.61], respectively). In conclusion, we provide evidence that the CD41–CD61 expression in sEVs reflects the CMR-assessed ischemic damage after STEMI. This finding paves the way for the development of a new strategy for the timely identification of high-risk patients and their treatment optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to investigate the role of feature-tracking (FT) strain in long-term risk stratification of patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) who underwent stress cardiac MRI with dipyridamole; to determine if contrast-free stress cardiac MRI with strain measurements could provide comparable prognostic value to myocardial perfusion. This retrospective study included consecutive patients with stable symptoms suggesting possible cardiac ischemia who underwent stress cardiac MRI with dipyridamole. The mean follow-up period was 5.8 years ±1.2 [SD]. FT cardiac MRI analysis was performed for each patient to obtain 2D global peak circumferential strain (GCS). The primary outcome measure was major adverse cardiac events (MACE), defined as nonfatal myocardial infarction and cardiac death. A total of 729 patients (mean age, 63 years ±10 [SD]; 616 males) were included. MACE occurred in 70 (9.6%) patients. The presence of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) ([HR] 2.74, [95% CI: 1.53, 4.88]; P <.001) and stress GCS (HR, 1.06 [95% CI: 1.01, 1.12]; P =.016) were independently associated with MACE. A model based on contrast-free assessment of LVEF and stress GCS showed similar performance for predicting MACE than LVEF and perfusion (P =.056). In patients with known or suspected CAD undergoing stress cardiac MRI with dipyridamole, GCS and LGE presence were independent predictors of MACE. Contrast-free stress cardiac MRI with stress GCS measurement offered prognostic value akin to myocardial perfusion assessment. Stress global circumferential strain represented an additional method to predict major adverse cardiac events in patients undergoing stress cardiac MRI, even without the use of contrast agents. This would be of particular significance in patients with severe renal impairment. • LGE and stress GCS are independent predictors of events in patients undergoing Stress MRI. • Stress GCS > 15% was associated with lower event-free survival than stress GCS ≤ 15%. • Contrast free stress MRI combined with stress GCS measurement provides prognostic information similar to myocardial perfusion evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Aim of the study is to compare manual and semi‐automatic measurements for aortic annulus assessment among different operators. Methods: Eighty patients who underwent TAVI were retrospectively enrolled. The measurements manually performed by an experienced reader for aortic annulus (minimum and maximum diameters, perimeter, area), annulus‐to‐coronary ostia distance and time needed for the whole evaluation, were collected. The same operator (observer 1) and two less experienced readers (observer 2 and 3, with >5 years and 1 year of experience, respectively) assessed the same measurements using a semi‐automatic software. Differences between manual and semi‐automatic measurements, reading time and suggested valves size derived by CT were compared. Results: Very good correlations were found between manual and software‐aided measurements for aortic annulus area and perimeter in comparison with standard measurements for the three readers (ICC range 0.81–0.98). Good correlations were found for the distance with coronary ostia(0.75–0.79). The same area‐derived prosthesis size for manual and semi‐automatic measurements was selected in 96% of cases for observer 1; very good correlations were also found for observer 2 and 3 (ICC = 0.89 and 0.88, respectively). Using semi‐automatic measurements, the mean time needed for CT images was significantly lower for observers 1 and 2 (1.50 and 1.72versus 3.14 min), respectively. Conclusions: Pre‐TAVI CT using semi‐automatic software allows accurate and reproducible measurements, reducing reconstruction time up to 50% and is reliable even for operators with different experience. Advances in knowledge: The use of semi‐automatic dedicated software for CT in TAVI planning is reliable even for operators without long time experience and allows accurate and reproducible measurements improving pre‐TAVI workflow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper reports on an investigation of the effect of the interface layers in enhancing thermal conductivity of Cu-Ar nanofluids. The approach is based on linear response theory combined with equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. For a wettability parameter of 1.4 and volume fraction of 5.8%, simulation results show enhancements in thermal conductivity as high as 50%. Among others, the most salient result concerns the contribution of the vibration modes of liquid Ar atoms around Cu nanoparticles (NPs) in enhancing thermal conductivity of the nanofluid. Our findings reveal that these vibration modes coincide on a large domain of frequencies (10-50ps-1) with those of Cu atoms of the NPs. The enhancement of the thermal conductivity was explained by the increase of vibrational mean-free paths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]