Search

This work is devoted to the study of a nonthreshold method for detecting acoustic emission impulses. As a method of impulse detection, a statistical ranking algorithm based on comparing the ranks of samples in two neighboring sliding windows is considered. To select the setting parameters of the algorithm and verify its reliability, the modal analysis method is used. The modal analysis is a mathematically exact method that leads to a closed integral equation for the elastic fields in the waveguide and which naturally includes the problem of the selectivity of the mode, offering an idea of the physics of waveguide behavior. The non-threshold algorithm developed in the framework of this paper was tested using 10000 model signals. The results of the research showed its high reliability and accuracy. A numerical experiment based on model signals showed that using the proposed nonparametric rank detection algorithm, in comparison with the threshold method, the location error has decreased by 1.5-2 times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An estimation of the probability of defect detection (POD) is an actual task of acoustic emission (AE) testing. Despite the fact that AE testing is the most sensitive method of NDT, the POD is difficult to estimate. The probability depends on a set of random factors also not directly related to the size of the defect. The probability of detecting defects is currently being studied by many researchers, but the proposed approaches are not yet applied in practice. In the frame of this work, the method allowing to estimate the probability of fatigue crack with help of AE testing method was developed. This method allows to calculate the probability of fatigue defect detection taking into account the following factors: the stage of defect growing, the distance between AE source and sensor and the noise level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Hough transform-based method is developed for the extraction of dispersion curves from spectrograms. This method has been successfully tested using experimental data from both an acoustic emission (AE) signal simulator, and actual AE sources. The method determines the distance to the signal source with an accuracy from 1 to 10% even when the signal arrives only to one sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noise similar in waveform to AE signals is of particular challenge for filtering. Such noise is generated by various mechanical reasons, impact, impact of foreign objects, and precipitations. Friction is the most sophisticated and irremovable source of noise, as it is complex for filtering. Detection of AE signals against friction noise is possible using advanced digital signal processing methods; non-threshold segmentations, adaptive filtering and principal component analysis. Effective noise filtering is achieved both in real time and in post-processing mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (pHLH) is a severe, life-threatening hyperinflammatory syndrome caused by defects in genes of the granule-dependent cytotoxic pathway. Here we investigated the clinical presentation and outcome in a large cohort of 143 patients with pHLH diagnosed in the last 15 years and enrolled in the Italian registry. The median age at diagnosis was 12 months (interquartile range, 2-81), and 92 patients (64%) fulfilled the HLH-2004 criteria. Of 111 patients who received first-line combined therapy (HLH-94, HLH-2004, Euro-HIT protocols), 65 (59%) achieved complete response and 21 (19%) partial response. Thereafter, 33 patients (30%) reactivated, and 92 (64%) received hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, 78 of whom (85%) survived and were alive at a median follow-up from diagnosis of 67 months. Thirty-six patients (25%) died before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and 14 (10%) after. Overall, 93 patients (65%) were alive after a median follow-up of 30 months. Unadjusted predictors of non-response were age <6 months and high ferritin and bilirubin levels, while predictors of pre-transplant and overall mortality were high ferritin and bilirubin levels. At multivariable analysis, high levels of ferritin predicted non-response, while high levels of bilirubin predicted pre-transplant and overall mortality. Despite recent advances in therapeutic management, pHLH remains a life-threatening condition with significant early mortality. Liver dysfunction is the main predictor of poor prognosis.

Glycemic abnormalities are a frequent finding in pediatric oncological patients, both during treatment and after its discontinuation. Moreover, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), impaired fasting glycemia (IFG) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are not rarely diagnosed in non-oncological hematological diseases. To explore the current pediatric Italian approach to the diagnosis and the management of the glycemic alterations in this clinical setting and, thus, to identify and enforce current clinical needs, we submitted an online 23-items survey to all the Italian Associazione Italiana Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica (AIEOP) centers, and surveys were descriptively analyzed. Thirty-nine AIEOP centers were involved in the study. In 2021, among 75278 children and adolescents affected by an oncological or a hematological disease, 1.2 and 0.65% developed DM, while IGT or IFG were widespread in 2.3 and 2.8%, respectively. The main causes of DM were the use of corticosteroids in patients with cancer and the iron overload in patients with thalassemia. Venous fasting plasma glycemia was the most used tool to detect glycemic abnormalities. The performance of oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was extremely limited, except when IFG occurred. Despite the diagnosis of DM, ∼45% of patients with cancer and 30% of patients with one hematological disease did not receive an appropriate treatment. In the other cases, insulin was the drug of first choice. Emerging technologies for diabetes care (glucose sensors and insulin pumps) are not largely used yet. The results of our study support the standardization of the care of the glycemic abnormalities during or after onco-hematologic diseases in the pediatric age. Despite the scarce data in pediatric literature, proper guidelines are needed.

Nutritional status plays a crucial role in the mortality rates of the pediatric oncology patients. However, there is a lack of systematic approaches for nutritional assessment in this population. This study aims to assess the current practice for nutritional assessment and care of pediatric cancer patients in Italy. A 25-items web-based, nation-wide questionnaire was circulated as of January 9, 2023 among physicians within the AIEOP network, composed of 49 national centers, out of which 21 routinely perform HCT. This survey examined the practices of 21 Italian pediatric oncology centers, revealing significant heterogeneity in nutritional practices. Only half of the centers routinely assessed all patients, utilizing different clinical and biochemical parameters. The use of neutropenic diets remained prevalent after chemotherapy or stem cell transplantation., Conclusion: This study underscores the pressing need for unified recommendations to improve nutritional care and potentially enhance outcomes for pediatric cancer patients., What Is Known: • The assessment and support of nutrition are gaining interest in the overall care of children with cancer. • The assessment and management of nutritional needs in pediatric cancer patients, including those undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation, currently lack a systematic approach., What Is New: • There is considerable variability in the nutritional assessment and support among Italian centers treating pediatric patients with cancer. • To enhance nutritional assessment and support for pediatric cancer patients, it is essential to establish shared national and international guidelines., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Fatigue crack in rails and cyclic-loaded train parts is a contributory factor in multiple railroad accidents. We address the problem of crack detection and measurement at early stages, when total failure has not yet occurred. We propose to combine acoustic emission (AE) testing for prediction of crack growth with digital image correlation (DIC) for its accurate quantitative characterization. In this study, we imitated fatigue crack appearance and growth in samples of railway rail and two train parts by cyclic loading, and applied these two techniques for inspection. Experimental results clearly indicate the efficiency of AE in the early detection of fatigue cracks, and excellent DIC capabilities in terms of geometrical measurements. Combination of these techniques reveals a promising basis for real-time and non-destructive monitoring of rails and train parts.

Background: Benzydamine hydrochloride is a locally-acting Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID) with combined local anesthetic and analgesic properties, indicated for the symptomatic relief of pain in acute sore throat. The aim of this study was to obtain an European Consensus among pharmacists, general practitioners and pediatricians on the appropriate use of benzydamine hydrochloride in the treatment of sore throat., Methods: The authors developed a Delphi questionnaire organized into 15 statements focused on 4 topics: the mechanism of action of benzydamine, the benzydamine treatment in an adult patient and in a pediatric patient, and the advantages of benzydamine over other topical treatments. The survey was administered to a panel of to 320 participants including general practitioners, pediatricians, and pharmacists from 6 European countries (Italy, Germany, Portugal, Romania, Russia, and Spain), who rated their level of agreement or disagreement with each statement on a 6-point Likert scale. Consensus was predefined as more than 66% of the panel agreeing/disagreeing with each statement., Results: Panelists' agreement on statements was very high. Consensus was reached for all 15 statements in the Delphi survey, with more than 98% positive agreement on topic 4, suggesting a shared view among European healthcare professionals (HCPs) about the advantages of benzydamine over other topical treatments. A strong consensus (> 99%) was reached for all the statements of topic 1 regarding the mechanism of action of benzydamine, except for its anesthetic properties (79%). Strong agreement was reached for all statements in topics 2 and 3 regarding the treatment of acute sore throat symptoms in the adult and pediatric patient, except for one on the efficacy of benzydamine in preventing post-operative sore throat, for which it was 67%., Conclusion: Because all relevant publications on benzydamine are dated and there are no recommendations on its use for the symptomatic treatment of sore throat in European guidelines, this Delphi-based international consensus may be important in reinforcing the appropriate use and effect of benzydamine in the treatment of sore throat among health care professionals., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Brentuximab vedotin (BV) is an antibody drug-conjugated anti-CD30 approved for the treatment of adult classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), whereas it is considered as off-label indication in paediatrics. The aim of the study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of BV to treat patients aged less than 18 years with refractory/relapsed HL., Materials and Methods: In this multicentre, retrospective study, 68 paediatric patients who received at least one dose of BV between November 2011 and August 2020 were enrolled. A median of nine doses of BV were administered as monotherapy (n = 31) or combined with other therapies (n = 37). BV was administrated alone as consolidation therapy after stem cell transplantation (SCT) in 12 patients, before SCT in 18 patients, whereas in 15 patients it was used before and after SCT as consolidation therapy. Median follow-up was 2.8 years (range: 0.6-8.9 years)., Results: The best response was observed in the 86% of patients; the overall response rate was 66%. The 3-year progression-free survival was 58%, whereas the overall survival was 75%. No statistically significant differences between patients treated with BV monotherapy or combination were highlighted. In multivariate analysis, patients with non-nodular sclerosis HL and not transplanted had an increased risk of failure. Overall, 46% of patients had grade 3-4 adverse events that led to BV discontinuation in five of them., Conclusion: In conclusion, our study confirms that BV was a safe and effective drug, able to induce complete remission, either as monotherapy or in association with standard therapy., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Malnutrition, intended as both overnutrition and undernutrition, is a common problem in children with cancer, impacting quality of life as well as survival. In addition, nutritional imbalances during childhood can significantly affect proper growth. Nevertheless, there is currently a lack of a systematic approach to this issue in the pediatric oncology population. To fill this gap, we aimed to provide practice recommendations for the uniform management of nutritional needs in children with cancer. Twenty-one clinical questions addressing evaluation and treatment of nutritional problems in children with cancer were formulated by selected members from four Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (AIEOP) centers and from the Survivorship Care and Nutritional Support Working Group of Alliance Against Cancer. A literature search in PubMed was performed; during two consensus meetings, all recommendations were discussed and finalized using the nominal group technique. Members representing every institution voted on each recommendation. Finally, recommendations were approved by all authors.

Background: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infects 90% of the world population, commonly causing self-limiting infectious mononucleosis or rarely inciting a range of malignancies. EBV microRNAs (miRNAs) were discovered by sequencing libraries of small RNAs generated from several EBV-positive cell lines. Little is known about their roles, but their high stability and easy quantification make these molecules potential biomarkers., Objectives: In this study a stem-loop MGB real-time RT-PCR has been used to detect and quantify miR-BART2-5p, miR-BART15 and miR-BART22 EBV miRNAs levels., Study Designs: The profiles of EBV miRNAs levels were evaluated in 51 serum samples of 37 pediatric liver transplant patients subdivided in 3 study groups: EBV seronegative, EBV seropositive and PCR negative, EBV seropositive and PCR positive., Results: miR-BART22 serum levels in patients with positive EBV PCR were significantly higher than those in patients with negative EBV PCR (p=0.0005). On the contrary, miR-BART2-5p and miR-BART15 did not exhibit significant difference in positive and negative EBV PCR patients (p=0.5511 and p=0.3523, respectively)., Conclusion: This study described a method for quantitative detection of miR-BART 22, miR-BART2-5p and miR-BART15 EBV miRNAs in liver transplanted patients, and suggests the use of miR-BART22 as a potential biomarker for EBV reactivation., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Post-transplant high-dose cyclophosphamide (PTCy) is a novel approach to prevent graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and rejection in patients given haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Thirty-three patients with high-risk hematologic malignancies and lacking a match-related or -unrelated donor were treated with PTCy haploidentical HSCT in 5 Italian AIEOP centers. Nineteen patients had a nonmyeloablative preparative regimen (57%), and 14 patients received a full myeloablative conditioning regimen (43%). No patients received serotherapy; GVHD prophylaxis was based on PTCy (50 mg/kg on days +3 and +4) combined with mycophenolate plus tacrolimus or cyclosporine A. Neutrophil and platelet engraftment was achieved on days +17 (range, 14 to 37) and +27 (range, 16 to 71). One patient had autologous reconstitution for anti-HLA antibodies. Acute GVHD grades II to IV and III to IV and chronic GVHD developed in 22% (95% CI, 11 to 42), 3% (95% CI, 0 to 21), and 4% (95% CI, 0 to 27) of cases, respectively. The 1-year overall survival rate was 72% (95% CI, 56 to 88), progression-free survival rate was 61% (95% CI, 43 to 80), cumulative incidence of relapse was 24% (95% CI, 13 to 44), and transplant-related mortality was 9% (95% CI, 3 to 26). The univariate analysis for risk of relapse incidence showed how 3 significant variables, mother as donor (P = .02), donor gender as female (P = .04), and patient gender as female (P = .02), were significantly associated with a lower risk of relapse. Disease progression was the main cause of death. PTCy is a safe procedure also for children and adolescents who have already received several lines of chemotherapy. Among the different diseases, a trend for better 1-year rates of overall survival was obtained for nonacute leukemia patients., (Copyright © 2016 American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In this study, we investigated the factors affecting cell dose harvest and the role of cell dose on outcome. We analysed data from a cohort of 703 patients who underwent unrelated bone marrow transplantation facilitated by IBMDR in GITMO centers between 2002 and 2008. The median-infused cell doses is 3.7 × 10(8)/kg, the correlation between the nucleated cells requested from transplant centers and those harvested by collection centers was adequate. A harvested/requested cells ratio lower than 0.5 was observed only in 3% of harvests. A volume of harvested marrow higher than the median value of 1270 ml was related to a significant lower infused cell dose (χ(2): 44.4; P < 0.001). No patient- or donor-related variables significantly influenced the cell dose except for the recipient younger age (χ(2): 95.7; P < 0.001) and non-malignant diseases (χ(2): 33.8; P < 0.001). The cell dose resulted an independent predictor factor for a better outcome in patients affected by non-malignant disease (P = 0.05) while early disease malignant patients receiving a lower cell dose showed a higher risk of relapse (P = 0.05).

Objectives: Our study analyzes 40 years' experience with pediatric Langerhans cell histiocytosis patients., Materials and Methods: Between June 1968 and December 2009, 121 patients (79 males, 42 females; median age 4.13 y) were diagnosed at our center (74% monosystemic disease; 26% multisystemic), treated according to current protocols. We evaluated the response, the survival, and the neuroendocrinological sequelae., Results: Overall survival (OS) for all patients was 93% at 10 years from diagnosis, event-free survival (EFS) 77%. OS for patients younger than 2 years and older than or equal to 2 years was 82% and 97% (P = 0.003); EFS 48% and 87% (P = 0.001). OS for patients diagnosed before and after April 1, 1991 was 84% and 98% (P = 0.007), EFS 66% and 85% (P = 0.03). OS for monosystemic and multisystemic disease was 100% and 71% (P < 0.001); EFS 88% and 45% (P < 0.001). OS for "risk" patients (involvement of bone marrow, spleen, liver, lungs) and "low-risk" patients was 50% and 94% (P = 0.007), EFS 37% and 54% (P = 0.06). Fourteen patients developed diabetes insipidus, 7 patients growth hormone deficiency, 2 hypothyroidism, and 1 neurodegeneration., Conclusions: Our study confirms improvement of pathogenetic knowledge and treatment over the last 20 years. Age at diagnosis older than or equal to 2 years and standardized treatment are associated with improved prognoses. Multisystemic involvement, especially with "risk" organs seem to be correlated to a worse outcome.

Improvements in treatments available for oncohematologic diseases have made it possible to treat patients at more advanced stages of the disease and thus at greater risk of fungal, bacterial, and viral infections; these may be extensive and have aggressive evolution. In particular, chemotherapy at high doses and allogenic bone marrow transplant expose patients to an increased risk of infection, especially because of the period of aplasia and the condition of immune depression subsequent to the procedure. We presented a case of a 15-year-old adolescent girl diagnosed with combined relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukemia 2 years after completion of first-line chemotherapy that, at 120 days after transplant, erosive lesions of the palatal mucosa at the left hemipalate in the area adjacent to tooth 2.7 were detected, of approximately 2 mm in size. These gave rise to an orosinus communication. Various therapeutic possibilities are examined. These cases are not frequent. Diseases and their related complications require an in-depth knowledge, on the part of the stomatologist, to recognize the early signs of involvement of the oral cavity and, on the part of the oral surgeon, to decide the most appropriate therapeutic strategy.

This study was aimed at ascertaining whether extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is an effective treatment for pediatric patients with steroid resistant graft versus host disease (GvHD). Fifteen patients with acute GvHD (aGvHD) and 10 patients with chronic GvHD (cGvHD) were enrolled in the study. At the start of the ECP protocol, aGvHD was staged as II (n=7), III (n=4), and IV (n=4). The response rate was 100% for aGvHD II, 75% for aGvHD III, and finally 0% for aGvHD IV (P=0.02). In multivariate analysis, the strongest predictor for ECP response was the aGvHD severity: aGvHD II 100%, aGvHD III-IV 30% [relative risk (RR) 5.071, confidence interval (CI) 95% 2.2-5.5, P=0.0016], this translates in a higher risk of transplant-related mortality for ECP nonresponders (RR 5.26, CI 95% 3.4-6.2, P=0.02). cGvHD was diagnosed as limited n=3, and extensive n=7; the response rate was 100% and 28% for limited or extensive cGvHD, respectively (P=0.03). For cGvHD the strongest predictor for ECP response was the absence of visceral organ involvement (RR 5.17, CI 95% 2-4.9, P=0.001), and the highest risk of transplant-related mortality was among patients not responding to ECP (RR 12.4, CI 95%, P=0.02). Our results suggest that ECP can rescue good-risk GvHD-patients, whereas for advanced, poor-risk GvHD patients, new therapies are required.