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The analysis of the vertical movements of the soil in the Po River plane of the Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy) was updated through an interferometric analysis referred to the 2011–2016 time-span. This activity is a continuation of previous studies on the state of knowledge of vertical soil movements in the same area, analyzed firstly by levelling and GNSS and more recently by SAR interferometry for the periods 1992–2000, 2002–2006, 2006–2011, on behalf of the Emilia-Romagna Region. The survey area analysed was approximately 13 300 km2, which corresponds to the territory of the regional plain. The interferometric dataset was calibrated through the use of velocity time series of several permanent GNSS stations. Among the 36 stations analysed, 22 were included in the study area: 16 were used for the calibration and 6 as check points). The velocities required for the calibration of the SAR analysis were calculated in the period following the important seismic events that struck the territory of the Emilia Romagna Region in May 2012. The interferometric analysis was carried out by TRE ALTAMIRA using the SqueeSAR™ technology. In particular, in order to update the interferometric dataset to 2016, it was necessary to perform a joint processing of the available RADARSAT-1 data and of the data acquired by the RADARSAT-2 satellite using a specific operating mode of the SqueeSAR™ algorithm known as stitching; this approach allowed the joint processing of images acquired in the same geometry by these two satellites. The study of the time series of the GNSS permanent stations used to provide the velocity datum to the interferometric analysis, is described, and the results of the SqueeSAR™ interferometric processing are reported. Statistical analyses on the spatial distribution and the type of scatterers have been performed during the screening and validation procedures of the dataset, and for the identification and removal of the outliers. Finally, the resulting map is described in order to analyse the measured soil movements with respect to the results obtained in past analyses, and the possible geological and human-induced causes, which could have produced them.

3D city models are becoming increasingly popular and important, because they constitute the base for all the visualization, planning, management operations regarding the urban infrastructure. These data are however not available in the majority of cities: in this paper, the possibility to use geospatial data of various kinds with the aim to generate 3D models in urban environment is investigated. In 3D modelling works, the starting data are frequently the 3D point clouds, which are nowadays possible to collect by different sensors mounted on different platforms: LiDAR, imagery from satellite, airborne or unmanned aerial vehicles, mobile mapping systems that integrate several sensors. The processing of the acquired data and consequently the obtainability of models able to provide geometric accuracy and a good visual impact is limited by time, costs and logistic constraints. Nowadays more and more innovative hardware and software solutions can offer to the municipalities and the public authorities the possibility to use available geospatial data, acquired for diverse aims, for the generation of 3D models of buildings and cities, characterized by different level of detail. In the paper two cases of study are presented, both regarding surveys carried out in Emilia Romagna region, Italy, where 2D or 2.5D numerical maps are available. The first one is about the use of oblique aerial images realized by the Municipality for a systematic documentation of the built environment, the second concerns the use of LiDAR data acquired for other purposes; in the two tests, these data were used in conjunction with large scale numerical maps to produce 3D city models.

In the context of cultural heritage, an accurate and comprehensive digital survey of a historical building is today essential in order to measure its geometry in detail for documentation or restoration purposes, for supporting special studies regarding materials and constructive characteristics, and finally for structural analysis. Some proven geomatic techniques, such as photogrammetry and terrestrial laser scanning, are increasingly used to survey buildings with different complexity and dimensions; one typical product is in form of point clouds. We developed a semi-automatic procedure to convert point clouds, acquired from laserscan or digital photogrammetry, to a filled volume model of the whole structure. The filled volume model, in a voxel format, can be useful for further analysis and also for the generation of a Finite Element Model (FEM) of the surveyed building. In this paper a new approach is presented with the aim to decrease operator intervention in the workflow and obtain a better description of the structure. In order to achieve this result a voxel model with variable resolution is produced. Different parameters are compared and different steps of the procedure are tested and validated in the case study of the North tower of the San Felice sul Panaro Fortress, a monumental historical building located in San Felice sul Panaro (Modena, Italy) that was hit by an earthquake in 2012.

Abstract Background Cryopreservation of human spermatozoa is a widely used technique in the assisted reproduction technology laboratory for the storage of gametes for later use, for the fertility preservation and for sperm donation programs. Cryopreservation can cause damage to membrane, cytoskeletal, acrosome and increased oxidative stress, sperm DNA damage and transcriptome changes. To assess the impact of storage time on the transcriptome of frozen human spermatozoa, semen samples were collected from 24 normospermic donors of whom 13 had cryostored semen for a short-time (1 week) and 11 had cryostored semen for a long-time (median 9 years). Results RNA was extracted from each frozen-thawed sperm sample, randomized in pools, and analyzed by microarrays. Five transcripts were in higher abundance in the long-time respect to the short-time storage group. Functional annotation enrichment disclosed that that the length of cryostorage has no effect on critical pathways involved in sperm physiology and function. Conclusions The storage time of cryopreserved human spermatozoa does not affect pathways involved in fertility.

Identifying the right roofs to install solar panels inside a urban area is crucial for both private citizens and the whole local population. The aim is not easy because a lot of consideration must be made: insolation, orientation of the surface, size of the surface, shading due to topography, shading due to taller buildings next the surface, shading due to taller vegetation and other possible problems typical of urban areas like the presence of chimneys. Accuracy of data related to the analyzed surfaces is indeed fundamental, and also the detail of geometric models used to represent buildings and their roofs. The complexity that these roofs can reach is elevated. This work uses LiDAR data to obtain, with a semi-automatic technique, the full geometry of each roof part complementing the pre-existing building data in the municipal cartography. With this data is possible to evaluate the placement of solar panels on roofs of a whole city analyzing the solar potential of each building in detail. Other traditional techniques, like photogrammetry, need strong manual editing effort in order to identify slopes and insert vector on surfaces at the right height. Regarding LiDAR data, in order to perform accurate modelling, it is necessary to obtain an high density point cloud. The method proposed can also be used as a fast and linear workflow process for an area where LiDAR data are available and a municipal cartography already exist: LiDAR data can be furthermore successfully used to cross-check errors in pre-existent digital cartography that can remain otherwise hidden.

We consider a resource extraction model with the possibility of extending the resource stock by drilling efforts and an oligopolistic competition of symmetric firms. Assuming a hyperbolic market demand, we adopt the open-loop Nash equilibrium to analyze and compare the outcomes of a private vs a common resource pool. For both cases, the drilling efforts of the individual firms strongly depend on the market structure. For a low competition, the efforts increase the number of firms, and the opposite is true for a high competition. On the other hand, aggregate drilling efforts are different among the two types of pools and are opposite to Schumpeterian's hypothesis (i.e., they are either an inverted U-shaped (private pools) or strictly increasing (single pools)).

The European Union's quality policy is an example of a public policy that attempts to deliver public benefits to the entire European society. It's a crucial pillar of the Farm to Fork strategy for the transition to a sustainable European food system. The European Commission presented on March 2022 a legislative proposal on EU geographical indications for wine, spirits, and agricultural products (including PDO, PGI and GI), as well as traditional specialities guaranteed and optional quality terms for agricultural products, amending Regulations (EU) No 1308/2013, 2017/1001, and 2019/787 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 and was approved in April 2024. It aims to increase the dissemination of geographical indications and traditional specialities guaranteed, reduce the time required for their registration and strengthen their protection.

Background: Most premenopausal patients with early breast cancer (eBC) are diagnosed with hormone receptor-positive disease and therefore candidate for adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET). Patients and methods: The Gruppo Italiano Mammella (GIM) 23-POSTER (GIM23) is a multicenter, prospective, observational study conducted in 26 Italian institutions, aiming to evaluate ET choices for premenopausal patients affected by hormone receptor-positive eBC in a real-world setting. Here we report also the results in terms of type of ET prescribed according to the definition of high-risk patients by monarchE and NATALEE trials. Results: Between October 2019 and June 2022, 600 premenopausal patients were included, with a median age of 46 years. Almost half (271, 45.2 %) of the patients had stage I disease, while 254 (42.3 %) and 60 (10.0 %) patients had stage II and III, respectively. Overall, 149 (25.1 %) patients received tamoxifen alone, 83 (14.0 %) tamoxifen with ovarian function suppression (OFS), while 361 (60.9 %) received aromatase inhibitor (AI) with OFS. Patients treated with AI and OFS had higher number of metastatic axillary nodes, higher grade and more often received chemotherapy (all p

The European Commission REPowerEU plan accelerates diversification and use of renewable gases, frontloads energy savings and electrification reducing European dependence on Russian fossil fuels.The green transformation of the energy system will bring Europe towards climate neutrality by 2050. Construction of several new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals has begun in the European Union to increase gas imports from other countries. LNG, despite being a planet-warming fossil fuel with an elevated carbon footprint, is a cleaner alternative to oil and coal and so it is considered as a “bridge fuel” necessary as a short-term alternative. In Italy new projects for floating storage and regasification units(FSRU) are increasing. About renewables, in addition to wind and solar, geothermal energy could be also expanded. Last but not least, green hydrogen generated by electrolytic processes powered by renewable sources is a climate-friendly alternative that could replace natural gas, coal and oil in hard-to-abate industries and transport. In the Emilia Romagna region in recent years several projects related to green transition have been proposed. Among them a small scale LNG onshore storage, an offshore LNG FSRU, one green hydrogen production plant and two projects about geothermal Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). These projects are under Seveso III Directive due to the presence of dangerous substances: LNG, hydrogen and LPG (butane/isobutane) in ORC plants. All these projects will contribute reducing CO2 emissions, but also safety aspects must be considered. Scope of this work is to describe main characteristics of these major hazard installations and relative risk assessment in order to share experience for the future. Top events and accident scenarios identification and prevention and protection measures description could help authorities to better understand safety issues about these projects during the authorization process.

BackgroundKRISTINE is an open-label, phase III study of trastuzumab emtansine + pertuzumab (T-DM1 + P) versus docetaxel + carboplatin + trastuzumab + pertuzumab (TCH + P) in patients with HER2-positive, stage II-III breast cancer. We investigated the association of biomarkers with clinical outcomes in KRISTINE.MethodsPatients were randomized to receive neoadjuvant T-DM1 + P or TCH + P and assessed for pathologic complete response (pCR; ypT0/is, ypN0). HER2 status (per central assessment), hormone receptor status, PIK3CA mutation status, HER2/HER3 mRNA levels, tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte levels, PD-L1 status, and NanoString data were analyzed. pCR rates by treatment arm were compared across biomarker subgroups. Analyses were descriptive.ResultsBiomarker analyses included data from all 444 patients (T-DM1 + P, n = 223; TCH + P, n = 221) enrolled in KRISTINE. Biomarker distribution was balanced across treatment arms. All subgroups with higher HER2 amplification/expression and immune marker levels showed numerically higher pCR rates in both arms. Mutated versus non-mutated PIK3CA tumors were associated with numerically lower pCR rates in the T-DM1 + P arm but not in the TCH + P arm. In a multivariate analysis, Prediction Analysis of Microarray with the 50-gene classifier (PAM50) HER2-enriched subtype, HER2 gene ratio ≥ 4, and PD-L1-positive status positively influenced the pCR rate. Biomarkers associated with lower pCR rates (e.g., low HER2 levels, positive hormone receptor status, mutated PIK3CA) were more likely to co-occur. Dynamic on-treatment biomarker changes were observed. Differences in the treatment effects for T-DM1 + P versus TCH + P were similar to those observed in the intent-to-treat population for the majority of the biomarker subgroups.ConclusionsAlthough our biomarker analysis did not identify a subgroup of patients that benefited from neoadjuvant T-DM1 + P versus TCH + P, the data revealed that patients with higher HER2 amplification/expression and immune marker levels had improved response irrespective of treatment arm. These analyses confirm the role of HER2 tumor biology and the immune microenvironment in influencing pCR in the neoadjuvant setting and reaffirm the molecular diversity of HER2-positive breast cancer.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT02131064. Registered 06 May 2014.

Objectives: To date, studies have not provided definitive answers regarding whether previous immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment alters outcomes for cancer patients with COVID-19. Methods: The OnCovid registry (NCT04393974) was searched from February 27, 2020, to January 31, 2022, for patients who received systemic anti-cancer therapy in the 4 weeks before laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. Propensity-score matching using country, vaccination status, primary tumor type, sex, age, comorbidity burden, tumor stage, and remission status investigated differences in predefined clinical outcomes comparing those who had or had not received ICIs. Results: Of 3523 patients screened, 137 ICI-only and 1378 non-ICI met inclusion criteria. Before matching, ICI patients were older, male, enrolled at centers in Italy, and had histories of smoking, thoracic cancers, advanced cancer stages, and active malignancies (P ≤0.02). After matching, there were 120 ICI and 322 non-ICI patients. ICI patients had no differences (odds ratio: 95% CI) in presenting COVID-19 symptoms (0.69: 0.37-1.28), receipt of COVID-specific therapy (0.88: 0.54-1.41), 14-day (0.95: 0.56-1.61), or 28-day (0.79: 0.48-1.29) mortalities. However, ICI patients required less COVID-19-related hospitalization (0.37: 0.21-0.67) and oxygen therapy (0.51: 0.31-0.83) and developed fewer complications (0.57: 0.36-0.92). Conclusion: In this propensity-score matched analysis, previous ICI therapy did not worsen and potentially improved COVID-19 outcomes in patients with cancer.

ABSTRACT Introduction: The introduction of Single-Port (SP) platform opened the field to new surgical options, allowing to perform major urological robot-assisted procedures extraperitoneally and with a supine patient positioning (1–3). Nevertheless, a comprehensive description of different supine access options is still lacking (4–6). In this light, we provided a step-by-step guide of SP extraperitoneal supine access options also exploring preliminary surgical outcomes. Materials and methods: Transvesical access was performed by a transversal incision 3cm above the pubic bone, after the anterior abdominal sheet incision, the bladder was insufflated with a flexible cystoscope and the detrusor muscle was incised at the level of the bladder dome. Similarly, the extraperitoneal access was carried out with a 4cm incision above the pubic bone, once visualized the preperitoneal space the prevesical fat was gently spread. The Low Anterior Access was performed with a 3cm incision at the McBurney point, the abdominal muscles were then spread. A gentle dissection was used laterally to develop the retroperitoneal space. Results: Overall, sixteen different procedures were performed with supine extraperitoneal access on 623 consecutive patients. No intraoperative conversions occurred. The median access time was 16 (IQR 12-21), 11 (IQR 7-14) and 14 (IQR 10-18) minutes in case of transvesical, extraperitoneal and low anterior access, respectively. Notably, 81.5 % of patients were discharged on the same day with a postoperative opioid free rate of 73%. Conclusion: The Atlas provides a comprehensive step-by-step guide to successfully perform all major urological SP procedures extraperitoneally and with supine patient positioning.

Transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) individuals face an elevated risk of cancer in comparison with the general population. This increased risk is primarily attributed to an imbalanced exposure to modifiable risk factors and a limited adherence to cancer screening programmes, stemming from historical social and economic marginalisation. Consequently, these factors contribute to poorer clinical outcomes in terms of cancer diagnosis and mortality. A focal point of interest is the potential carcinogenic effect of gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT). It is crucial to recognise that GAHT serves as an essential, life-saving treatment for TGD individuals. Therefore, if a demonstrated direct correlation between GAHT and elevated cancer risk emerges, essential shared decision-making discussions should occur between oncology practitioners and patients. This narrative review aims to collect and discuss evidence regarding potential correlations between GAHT and the most prevalent tumours known to be influenced by sex hormones. The objective is to comprehend how these potential carcinogenic effects impact health and inform health interventions for TGD individuals. Unfortunately, the scarcity of epidemiological data on cancer incidence in the TGD population persists due to the absence of sexual orientation and gender identity data collection in cancer centres. Consequently, in most cases, establishing a positive or negative correlation between GAHT and cancer risk remains speculative. There is an urgent need for concerted efforts from researchers and clinicians worldwide to overcome barriers and enhance cancer prevention and care in this specific population.

There has been continuous progress in diabetes management over the last few decades, not least due to the widespread dissemination of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and automated insulin delivery systems. These technological advances have radically changed the daily lives of people living with diabetes, improving the quality of life of both children and their families. Despite this, hypoglycemia remains the primary side-effect of insulin therapy. Based on a systematic review of the available scientific evidence, this paper aims to provide evidence-based recommendations for recognizing, risk stratifying, treating, and managing patients with hypoglycemia. The objective of these recommendations is to unify the behavior of pediatric diabetologists with respect to the timely recognition and prevention of hypoglycemic episodes and the correct treatment of hypoglycemia, especially in patients using CGM or advanced hybrid closed-loop systems. All authors have long experience in the specialty and are members of the Italian Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology. The goal of treating hypoglycemia is to raise blood glucose above 70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L) and to prevent further decreases. Oral glucose at a dose of 0.3 g/kg (0.1 g/kg for children using “smart pumps” or hybrid closed loop systems in automated mode) is the preferred treatment for the conscious individual with blood glucose